Wowowow Izakaya did not disappoint!!! It was pretty small on the inside so makes sense why it's…read morehard to get a reservation. The inside was dark, but full of energy, super lively and fun. We ordered the burger and chicken sandwich and they were both AMAZING. The homemade bao bun was sooo soft and the chicken was very crispy. I loved the japanese sweet potato fries it came with and loved the aioli sauce they came with even more. There were definitely more items I wanted to try & can't wait to go back!!!

This izakaya is dimly lit and very nicely decorated. They have a smaller menu but the food didn't…read moredisappoint. We tried: - hamachi collar 10/10 (perfectly sweet, melted in your mouth) - blistered shishito peppers 10/10 (great sauce) - ebi katsu don 8/10 (the rice to toppings ratio was off, too much rice and not enough toppings but the tempura shrimp was good)

Had our new years eve dinner here and we got seated quickly and the vibe was great!…read more We ordered a few things off the daily specials menu and was pleased to see the discounts at the end. Everything was good, but my favorites were the chicken skewers as the chicken was super tender and the smokiness/sauces on the skewers were really flavorful but not overwhelming. We got drinks and ended up ordering a decent amount of food, which was a little pricey but we decided it was worth it for the holiday.

The food at Izakaya Shinya was worth a try! I love how you can order so many smaller dishes to…read moreshare, but I do feel it is a little pricey for what you get. The chicken and onion was our favorite since it was juicy, and the green onion paired with it so well. The presentation of the dishes was very nice as well since they come out individually and sometimes even on a grill. The service was decent; they greet us right away and brought out the food relatively quick. It was very cramped in the restaurant, so it's a little hard to come here in a big group. The ambiance was absolutely beautiful inside though! It gave off a Japanese bar decor, and I loved how they were playing Naruto and Demon Slayer on the tvs.

I had an amazing experience at Ikigai! The food was incredibly fresh and delicious . What really…read moremade the experience great was our waitress, Summer, who was friendly, attentive, and excellent at recommending dishes we ended up loving. She recommended we try the chicken skin skewer and it was the best thing I ordered! Amazing food and outstanding service made this a place my boyfriend and I definitely will return to!

Such a wonderful spot! Fantastic happy hour. Everything was made fresh and tasted delicious…read more Service was super friendly, and they even brought out a free birthday mochi for my friend. We got the karage, three of the skewers , and the spicy salmon and tuna rolls. This place, along with the entrance is a bit hidden, so would love to see them market themselves more as I think it's a spot people would really love, especially for more affordable sushi in the River North area. Quiet and cozy ambiance for casual outings but also cute enough to be a date spot. Got seated immediately. Service was a bit slow, but that's only because they seemed to have one host/server working at the time, who was working super hard and kept a super pleasant and attentive vibe. I will definitely be back!

One of the best Omakase experience I've ever had. I booked last minute during a Chicago business…read moretrip and was able to get a seating for one: I came at my time and had a drink alone at the bar and had an awesome conversation with the bartender Brandon who shared some stories about Japan with me. I was seated at the sushi bar shortly and to my surprise I had the chefs table all to myself! It was very beautifully decorated and clean and got to meet Chef Shoji. I was well taken care of by both the staff and Chef Shoji and he meticulously explained every dish and we chatted about everything from his time in America, Japan, and even shared some of my life stories. All in all the dinner service was about 90 minutes with maybe 12-15 or so dishes? I was absolutely satisfied and more. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience having personalized service!

Delicious food delicious experience, amazing tasting food love the experience love the staff love…read morethe fine dining

Cody our server gave excellent service! He paced all our courses amazingly as well as offering…read moregreat menu recommendations and all with an extremely hospitable attitude. Cody was friendly, funny and attentive while also respecting the time I got to spend with family and not intruding. Thank you Cody!!

The low lighting and earth tone colors really help give the restaurant a moody, evocative vibe…read more This was our first stop visiting Chicago for the first time for an event, and it did not disappoint. We tried walking into a few other restaurants nearby, but they felt claustrophobic and chaotic, whereas Momotaro immediately made us feel like we could breathe again. Everything we ordered was absolutely delicious. The portions are deceptive, you think one or two choice dishes wouldn't be enough, but everything was extremely filling with every bite. This was probably my favorite version of mapo tofu I've had in a long time, and the bao bun sliders were so delicious, we almost ordered another plate of them!

The service and food were outstanding and I will be back! I think they are one of the best…read morerestaurants in Chicago!

On this bitter cold Friday and having spent the last 5 days hunkered in my condominium, "Cabin…read moreFever" hit me like a lightning bolt, and I needed to get out and about. It was lunch time and I knew exactly what I wanted - Hot Soup; any kind of hot soup: Udon Ramen Soba Wonton Matzoh Ball It didn't matter as long as it was HOT! My wife investigated our choices and she came up with TenGoku Aburiya near Fulton Market. This small / lovely restaurant was very busy but we secured a table and their menu fit exactly what I wanted: I got their Maki Set + Udon which was Udon Soup that came with Spicy Tuna Roll and California Roll - PERFECT! My wife got a Bento Set which she loved Some hot Japanese Tea along with great service and a very quiet "Zen" like atmosphere, we couldn't be happier. Oh, I forgot, the price here for a ton of food was not Chicago prices, but Los Angeles prices which was unbelievably GREAT!

The service here was absolutely incredible the interior looks super detailed as well and it was…read moreoverall a great vibe. The food was some of the best yet unique type of food I've ever had. Yakisoba and Osaka style okonomiyaki was probably the best thing (besides deep dish) that I've had in Chicago while visiting. 100% recommend here please come!

Wow! My friends took us to this restaurant while we were visiting Chicago, and it was amazing. We…read morehad a reservation and did show up about 15 minutes late. The hostess said we could still be seated but another reservation was coming an hour later. I had never had okonomiyaki before, but I got to try three different kinds plus some yakisoba. We ordered four dishes and shared them among the four of us. We got the pork belly yakisoba, pork osaka style okonomiyaki, shrimp osaka style okonomiyaki, and the mushroom and yuba Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. My favorite dishes were probably the pork ones, but I really liked trying all of them! When our waiter asked if we wanted dessert, we said how the hostess told us we would need to leave by a certain time for the next reservation. However, he said we could order dessert anyway. I thought it was weird the hostess was being so finicky about the time, since usually 15 min late is within reason. We did get the red panda. It's mostly ice and a little ice cream, but it was very good and so cute! I would definitely come here again! It is a bit loud if you have anyone in your party who has trouble hearing. You are also quite close to other people in the restaurant.

My friend recommended me this place so bad, so I went with high expectations, hopefully he was…read moreright. Everything was delicious, I liked hot and sour soup so much, it was so tasty and flavorful. Steak was so juicy and sauce for that was amazing. We were there around 10pm on Friday night, but there was no wait, we were lucky. The restaurant is really beautiful, a lot of paintings, really nice ceiling decors. I will definitely go back and take my other friends with me.

My first time here, I made a reservation and was seated right away. I recommend reserving ahead of…read moretime since there's limited seating. The place is small and cozy, love the decoration.I ordered pork belly and it was charred to perfection with the meat melting in your mouth. I also ordered Spicy Mexican Roll and the 2am Roll and both rolls are amazing. Definitely recommend both to try, no fishy taste. Perfect amount of sauce

This is an excellent sushi place - great vibe, young crowd, and terrific food…read more We started with the roasted edamame and the tempura shrimp, followed that with three rolls, and finished with sashimi - it was all excellent, the beers were very cold, and the service was solid (not excellent but very good for the price point) Prices are not cheap but not as crazy as some other places (Juno is better, but it can get really pricey). Sushi-San is Defintely on our regular list

I came here on a weekday for lunch and highly recommend it. It was not too crowded and food came…read moreout pretty quickly after ordering. I like the modern vibes of this location. Seating was comfortable. I tried their express lunch menu, which is a great option if you're here during lunch time. You get to pick 3 items from the list and I chose tako taco (a little spicy but highly recommend- one of my favorite things that day), salmon avocado (I'm not a personal fan of the Meyer lemon sauce), and tuna avocado rice bowl. Each item is smaller portioned but all together it's a substantial lunch set. I also tried the express sushi and sashimi lunch set, which comes with a delicious seaweed salad which I would order on its own as an appetizer. The lunch set comes with their "oh-my-kaze." This includes salmon, hamachi and tuna. One piece of tuna was substandard and had a big piece of sinew in it. Our server quickly switched it for another piece. The only dish I would skip is the Peking duck sizzling rice. The taste was fine- a little on the sweeter side with the hoisin sauce but the portion was more of an appetizer size. It's also not a true Peking duck, which focuses on a crispy duck skin and this dish just featured duck meat.

This is some of the best sushi I've had anywhere, including in Japan. Perfectly cooked and…read moreseasoned rice, fish that's been carefully chosen and prepared, and a menu that reflects tradition but also elevates it beyond the mundane. They've put the same level of attention and care into their selection of sakes. Service was warm and friendly, but never pushy or bothersome. They sent me a free dessert when they overheard my wife mention it was my birthday, it was a complete surprise. They also very thoughtfully asked if I'd like them to sing (I did not). That kind of thoughtful service reflects the comfortable, laid back atmosphere they've maintained, a welcome change over many high end sushi establishments that can be too stuffy. If you love sushi, you owe it to yourself to visit Kaido.

Kaido Sushi came as a top sushi recommendation to me from another Yelp Elite and it did not…read moredisappoint. It's located in a strip mall and the inside isn't overly large. One can sit at a table or the main sushi counter. The night I visited, it was rather slow which allowed staff to thoroughly wait on us. I asked a couple of questions about the menu. Our server explained that the most popular rolls were the Garlic Salmon, Mafia, and Hamachi Truffle. Most premium maki come as 8 rolls with the exception of Pink Flower and Tequila which are served as 6. All rolls are made to order with fresh ingredients. I also loved that they offered three options for veggie rolls as it's still my preference! To start, we ordered both the Lychee-tini and Old Fashioned cocktails. They couldn't have been more different in flavor profiles. The Old Fashioned was spirit forward yet smooth. It had a really nice finishing note that directly came from the Japanese Whiskey used. The Lychee-tini was sweeter and had good flavor. I also loved that there was actually a lychee at the bottom of the glass. For mains, my husband got the Mafia and Hamachi Truffle rolls per the staff's recommendation. He explained that the Mafia rolls were more of a mild heat. He preferred the Hamachi Truffle roll as it had a more unique and depth of flavor. I got the Black Garden roll without the jalapeño. I loved the freshness of the rolls and thoroughly enjoyed the veggies mixed with the sauce it had. We both agreed that all rolls tasted like they were made with premium, high quality ingredients. Once we finished, the chef came out to ask how we liked everything. Kaido's service level was amazing with staff clearing plates, refilling water, checking in on how we were doing, and just making sure we had the best dining experience. The details didn't go unnoticed and makes perfect sense why they have such an amazing Yelp score! Highly recommend visiting Kaido Sushi and looking forward to my next visit!