Chado Sushi (CLOSED)

Frenetic Herald Square is no haven for sushi snobs, hence the buzz when chef Mike Lim, formerly of the cultish Sushi of Gari, signed on at Chado. Unfortunately, there are scant signs of Gari’s refinement here. The black-leather decor has all the sophistication of a hotel lobby, and bumbling waiters confer in anxious huddles before answering basic questions about the menu. The generic food isn’t complex enough to warrant that: The spicy Chado Roll was an uninventive fusion of shrimp tempura, seaweed salad and avocado, overwhelmed by an avalanche of crunchy tempura flakes. A saccharine bean sauce engulfed the Sea Rock Roll, a mix of rubbery salmon, cucumber, shiso and avocado. Desserts weren’t available when we visited, but it’s just as well—escaping the crowd of tourists and sake-bombing twentysomethings was enough of a treat.