Stumbled upon this place by the amount of high reviews it has on yelp. To my disappointment the sashimi wasn't fresh. The texture was good, however the taste was off. The fish seemed to have a hint of sourness to it. It wasn't so bad that I would consider the fish bad, but it wasn't fresh. As for their rolls, they were okay. Either heavily sauced or had something like mango, avocado, or another potent fruit that would mask the fish. Their menus aren't Japanese like at all. It's very Americanized if anything. The service was so-so. We came in during a rush, the host seemed to be frantic and the server seemed rushed too. read more

This place was good until it wasn't. Our friend brought up his food allergy and the waitress went back and forth with him about what he was and wasn't allergic too. After that interaction, she was nothing but rude and barely even checked on our table. "SIDE NOTE" Be nicer to paying customers and more understanding to people with food allergies! This is life or death for some! read more

I live a block from Kai and have gone here for majority of the time for my sushi fix. They have a nice outdoor seating area as well during the summer months and a friendly staff. I always get the sashimi appetizer, for some reason I think it is a really good deal especially because the pieces are like two pieces and tasty. Then I always try something on their specials board or order any of the variety of rolls. The complimentary salad and fruit at the end are great as well. read more

Sushi is over priced and quality isn't that good. The miso soup didn't leave a good taste in my mouth.

This is our local place. Favorite! Really good food! Always fresh, fast service, friendly staff. BYOB and NO cork fee :) read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - Sakura blossom, west town and volcano. All equally delicious!! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We got to the restaurant around 730 on Friday night and were the 3rd party in line. There was quite a bit of commotion squeezing waiting patrons and they have 5 chairs and limited standing room for those waiting for a table. Within about 15 mins, a hostess came and jotted down names of those waiting. Soon there after a table became available and the first 2 parties got into an argument about which of them was there first. It got uncomfortable quickly and I was glad my friend and I were seated quickly. For being such a popular restaurant, I expected better management of wait times and such. We placed an order for 3 rolls and were brought 2 orders of cucumber salad which was light and refreshing! Our 3 rolls were served on 2 plates. The hamachi special roll had really thick slices of jalapeno and I had to remove them off my rolls. The Chicago fire roll was unevenly cut, which also surprised me. The ocean roll was the best of the 3 rolls and we ordered another along with the white tiger roll - the latter was ok and not as good as our second ocean roll. The service was far from hospitable as various staff rushed us to leave. In fact, someone came to our table and asked if he could take our check before we had any cash or cards on the table. Next someone asked if we could move to another table since they had to join our table with another. I was looking forward to eating here but overall, my experience left a lot to be desired. Not sure if I came on an off night, but there are plenty other spots I'd return to. read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - Chicago fire roll (left). Hamachi special (right). - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We had a great take out experience. Food was prepped and ready when we arrived. The outside patio was packed, which was a good sign. One couple wanted to eat inside and that's where all of the pick up orders were placed. Other than that, the food was delicious. read more

This is more of a 3.5/5-- decent prices for decent sushi. The menu is pretty standard-- sashimi, traditional maki, and some specialty rolls. I quite liked the dynamite roll; not so much a fan of the West Town, which was a little too salty from the smoked salmon, or the Lobster Mania, which was a little too creamy. The udon (off the menu, but you can ask for it) is also not bad if you're craving something warm. The restaurant is on the small side and dimly lit in a strange/awkward way, and the seating is definitely on the cramped side. Overall, though, a nice place to get decent quality sushi for a fair price. read more

Absolutely love this spot. This sushi bar is very relaxing and aesthetic in its own way. It's BYOB which makes it 10xs better and makes the environment 10xs more comfortable. The servers are also very friendly and there to fulfill your every need! read more

My favorite sushi restaurant! Always fresh and well priced with a wide variety of selections.

Great food and service. Had some sashimi and a couple rolls - all were great. The sashimi is sliced a little thicker than some other sushi places but it still tasted great. Also had a starter salad - it was very fresh and the dressing was great. read more

Tastes good. The food is fresh and well prepared, but kind of expensive for its quality. Quiet atmosphere which is perfect for a casual dining. The signiture rolls amazed me while the sashimi is not worthy to its price. read more

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This is a lunch time sushi Yelp. Came in for a quick sushi lunch and only had sushi and a salad. The salad was good and the sushi was really fresh and tasty. We had the flaming VIP and Ocean rolls off the regular menu and the spicy tuna and crab crunch roll off the pick two lunch special menu. I liked the ocean roll the best. The only problem we had was that I had to go inside and track down our waitress any time I wanted anything even though the place was practically empty. read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - Delicious, big side salad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Read most of the great reviews here about how fresh the sushi/sashimi is and how that blonde white male server is somewhat of a tool. The freshness of the sushi/sashimi being the BEST on Chicago is (in my opinion) untrue. And if it is true, then I feel bad for the general population of sushi livers here. The latter part of my original first statement is true. That server is quite a tool as he really rushes the orders and seems in it only for tips. And if part A isn't up to standard, then part B will never really amount to much for him. I ordered the octopus salad. Extremely underwhelming as the octopus seemed a bit old which borderlined stale... My spicy tuna roll was quite bland for a spicy tuna roll. I was surprised about that. My sashimi appetizer was also "just ok" as I was hoping for a really smooth melt-in-your-mouth texture. It was not much different from a pre-packaged Saran-wrapped take out sashimi. Best part was when I asked if they took AMEX and the owner came to me and said "we do, but I don't like to take it because the merchant fee is too high". He ended up taking it after we both made fun of how high the fees were compared to the other major credit cards. If you don't want to take AMEX, then don't have a "we proudly accept AMEX" sign at your establishment and don't tell me you take it when I ask. read more

Good sushi place for the money! Seating is pretty limited and we waited 20-25 mins for a table on a Saturday around 8. The sushi was pretty good and not too expensive. They have a pretty limited menu as well but a good variety. The service was very good and the waitress was very on top of all the tables. For appetizers we got the squid salad which we really enjoyed as well as the spring rolls. For rolls we got a dragon, spider, unagi, salmon and shrimp tempura roll. Street parking is available but pretty limited. Overall a good place, we'll be back! read more

A neighborhood gem! Always delicious, fresh sushi and apps. My husband and I go here regularly for a casual date. It's cute and it has BYOB. In the summer's it's lovely to sit outside. And the orange they bring you in the end is a nice touch! read more

Really tasty! No wine though :( BYOB bring your own bottle :))) Perfect sushi! Nice clean cuts, fresh read more

This is my favorite sushi place in the city. Service is fast and their sushi has amazing value! Their fish is very plump in each sushi piece and two specialty rolls + udon + green tea ice cream made the night one of the best dinners I've had in South Loop! read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is legitimately one of the very best sushi places in Chicago. My wife and I have been here over 15 times in the last few years. The value, outdoor patio, and quality of food are fantastic. Plus, it's BYOB (with no cork fee). An excellent place for a night out or a date. The train is nearby but not too loud when sitting outside. The dynamite and super crunchy rolls are both incredibly good. The service is always fantastic and you can expect to walk away feeling like a valued guest. read more

Well, you can tell they're still working out a couple kinks, but both the food and the service were great! As soon as we walked in the gentleman approached us on how he can help us. Almost too enthusiastically, letting us know we could sit any place we liked and that menus were ready for our inspection. The feel of the place is a mix between trendy sushi bar (wood paneled walls and modern seating) and cheep take out restaurant (paper check-off menu and Chinese take-out type to-go bags) Besides the man at the door, who was also the man who took our order, the sushi guys behind the bar took a moment to say hello and ask how our day was going. I ordered the 'Chicago fire' and the 'spicy salmon' which were both very tasty. I would point out however that neither of them were hot or spicy as their titles might suggest, and was the reason I ordered them. But they were really good all the same. My friend made a good point that the food we received was particularly good for a small restaurant that just opened and has a whole lot of menu options. I understand that there is another location so they obviously had practice from there coming in. I was actually sad to see the previous restaurant, Dona's, go out of business. But as a comparison, when they first opened, their food and service left something to desire. Over time however they seemed to get their act together. Kai, on the other hand seems to have started out knowing what they're doing. Sushi was delicious, service was fast and extremely friendly. I will be back soon! read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - very delicious - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

A group of us try to do sushi once a month. We try to find a deal. We try to find a BYOB. We try to find an AYCE. And we can find a lot of this, but sometimes the sushi is just not good. I saw this place come up on my Yelp feed and since it is in the South Loop and a BYOB, we thought we would check it out. Eight of us showed up around 5:30. You could easily walk right past this place and never see it. It is small - maybe seats about 20. Inside was sparse, but clean. Service was friendly, attentive, nice, welcoming - really great. We brought 4 bottles of wine and they opened them and brought us an ice bucket immediately. They give everyone a paper menu and pencil and you mark off the rolls you want to order. We probably ordered 16 different rolls in total. I think our bill came to $189, plus tax and tip. The regular rolls, like spicy tuna, were good and priced at about $6.00. The specialty rolls ranged from $13 - $16, and most were not good and were no bigger or fancier or any more special than the spicy tuna. Some of the flavor combos on the specialty rolls were off and some just tasted bad. I think the lobster roll was horrid, as did the rest of the group. The volcano roll was the only memorable one. Service and BYOB are such huge pros for this place, but the below average to below-average sushi are cons. I may or may not come back, but wouldn't seek this place out or recommend it. Sushi = 2 stars BYOB = 5 stars Service = 4 stars Price = 3 stars Overall = 3 stars read more

Nice Sushi Restaurant. The place ain't fancy, but they have good sushi at a reasonable price. I had their standard sushi platter. It was quite nice with a nice assortment of Nigiri and a generous Tuna Roll. The Miso soup was nice. I splurged on the Seaweed salad. For dessert, I had a Salmon roll and some Maguro tuna and one piece of Toro fatty tuna. I would go back! read more

Outstanding Sushi. So far the best sushi I've found around me here in Streeterville. Dinner is served!

I'm leaving this 5 star review to balance out the ridiculous one star someone left due to the sushi chefs not using gloves while the food was being prepared. Unless you've only dined in fast food restaurants your entire life, you should know that any great restaurant establishment do not use gloves during food prep. Even gloves can spread food borne illness, just like hands, it depends on the person and how careful they are. read more

Generous sashimi portions, flavorful fish, and I'm sold. If you are looking for simple, this is your place. If you are looking for fancy roll creations and flashy presentation, go elsewhere. They seem to shine in the nigiri/sashimi world, and not so much in the razzle-dazzle roll world. Though I did notice that many of their rolls had cream cheese in them - blergh. It's a true no-frills sushi joint - paper menus that you mark (rather awkwardly as there is no space for numbering or to indicate nigiri vs sashimi...oh well), and basic seating. When I was in there, the place was FREEZING, but that may have been a one-off experience. A nice outdoor patio, but we are past the point of using that (almost). BYOB, and they'll provide glasses (no corkage). Place only seats maybe 30, max. On a Friday evening, it was empty when we rolled in at 7, but there was a wait by 8ish, so plan accordingly. read more

Hubby and I frequent their location on Grand, so we were thrilled to hear that a new location was opening up much closer to us! They don't have delivery (yet), so we ordered take out. Food was quick - they said 15 minutes and they meant it - and it was tasty and just as reliable as the original location. I had inari, avocado roll, and sweet potato roll, and hubby had California roll and dancing eel roll. We both enjoyed our choices! The staff at this location were super friendly and outgoing. When I walked in the door, the sushi chef greeted me and we chatted about how I found out about the new location (which was on the Sloopin' blog). They gave us a complimentary salad for being one of the first customers and supporting their new space, which was a nice touch. The restaurant itself is BYOB, like the original location, and they are working on opening a patio! My only complaints are 1. the inari was $1.50 more than on the online menu, and 2. there is no sign that shows this place even exists. They still have the old signs from Donna's Cafe, and it's a good thing I knew that they had taken over Donna's space or I never would have known where to look! All in all, a great new addition to the South Loop and I have no doubt that hubby and I will be regulars! read more

Love that this place is BYOB! We need more of these in Chicago! The sushi was good and reasonably priced. I'm docking them a star, though, because the specialty rolls were too experimental with the flavors in my opinion. I'd suggest choosing the fresh-tasting sashimi, sushi, or regular maki instead. I definitely plan to come here again! Pro tip: this restaurant is very small and has very few tables inside so I would suggest calling ahead to book a reservation. read more

So I've been twice now and each experience was truly pleasurable. Staff: Very friendly and super attentive Food: What can I say, it was high quality sushi, they don't hold back on the ingredients and everything tastes fresh. The tuna, the avocado, the salmon. All pretty top notch. Seating: Decent size, large outdoor patio area, more than usual in the south loop. read more

This restaurant is clean with nice setting, very good first impression. We were there around 11:30am, ordered 2 rolls and one sushi set lunch (for two of us). the rice of both sushi and rolls were hard and dry, tasted like overnight rice. (I can't accept sushi restaurant give hard and dry rice to customers, this is the most basic technique they need to learn.) They are more expensive then the other sushi restaurants. I usually pay around $9.5 for a dragon roll, but then they charged $12.95 for the same thing, and I don't see any bigger or better then the others. Two of us paid more then $40 including tips. (no drinks) One more star giving to the beautiful lady who served our table and gave us one more bowl of miso soup as complimentary. read more

What a cute little gem! I just moved to Chicago from NYC and have found most sushi places to be very mediocre (except the really high end ones). Kai sushi changed that for me. Prices are fair and the food is amazing. Every roll we ordered was good. My husband is vegetarian and he tried the veg rolls which were as good as the other rolls we were all eating. The patio is really nice to sit on a warm day. BYOB- if you are more than 4 people they charge a fee of $3 per person for the byob which I think is very fair. The best part- they give these oranges which are super sweet and very interestingly cut. So glad I came here and will definitely be a regular moving forward read more

Kai Sushi - South Loop - Free orange. So interestingly cut and simpler sweet. I asked for a second one just so that I could post a picture - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you to order the Ocean roll lol! If I could have one roll for the rest of my life, this would be it. I'm set for life!!! For appetizer we got the squid salad (awesome for being only $5!!!) which taste like your normal, expected squid salad. Then I ordered three rolls: ocean roll, super crunchy roll, and lobster mania roll. The ocean was obviously the star of the show it was packed with stuffings and not a lot of rice around it (you can judge a good sushi restaurant by the amount of rice they wrap around their sushi to stuff you up). The super crunchy roll was recommended by our waitress, analisa. She was super sweet with positive vibes!! And her recommendation was good too, I really enjoyed the super crunchy roll! The lobster mania were stuffed with a good amount of lobster and you can definitely taste the lobster so I also liked that roll. The rolls comes with a complimentary cucumber salad which I used as a taste pallet cleanser between rolls. For dessert I had the green tea ice cream, which I thought could be more strong but ice cream is ice cream so no complaints there. All in all, literally, everything is good here!!!! Haha you honestly cannot go wrong. Great place to dine at after an eventful day at the Field museum because it's less than a mile away! read more

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The Sushi place is decent . It's a small sushi place with nice servers but there is a funky fishy smell. But my friend really wanted sushi so , sushi we had!! The sushi is ok . I forgot to take a pic but the ocean roll didn't look the pictures on Yelp . It didn't have sauces with it . But if you are really craving sushi and need a sushi fix ,this place will do . read more

Best sushi I've had in a very long time! Ginger salad is awesome.... and so was all the fresh sushi!! Highly recommend ! read more

I have never dined at the Kai on Grand so I have no comparison. We came here on the third day that they were open and we were impressed. The place was pretty busy and even with only one waitress working the space(its not huge but not tiny enough for one) we were treated attentively. The rolls came out quickly and all were tasty and beautiful, I perfect addition to the South Loop! read more

I thought South Coast was my favorite sushi in the south loop until I tried Kai. First of all it's BYOB!!!! The sushi is sooo fresh and so delicious!! My favorite rolls are the Dynamite and Volcano. Had them both on more than one occasion and tasted extremely delicious each time! Gotta try this place. It's like a little hidden gem on State st! Yum read more

BYOB sushi spot walking distance from my apartment and a yelp check in discount of a free roll? Pretty much amazing. This place isn't the biggest place in the world so I wouldn't say to come here with a huge group, but for a small group or a date, or even picking up food to go, this place is pretty spot on. The miso is great, they kept the green tea flowing nonstop during our meal, and the sushi rolls were great and the chirashi was so fresh! Plus the staff here is so nice too. We sat at the sushi bar and the sushi chefs you can tell love what they do, and you can tell they put in so much effort into each dish you order. This random guy sitting next to us with his beer he brought out of his bag (BYOB really is awesome), also commented on how amazing and consistent this place is and how it is one of his fav spots for sushi around. Very affordable, and the flaming VIP roll I may have to order again since it was awesome--spicy crab with seared salmon and I want to go back and try the Green turtle roll with salmon and mango and avocado! And I will come prepared with my own BYOB fun then too! read more

I don't like being an asshole but..... 1. We came because of the yelp coupon, they said it didn't work anymore and they haven't taken it down yet... OK that's fine 2. Went to the bathroom and they had no soap, asked them to add some and they never did. Do the employees wash their hands properly? 3. Waited 30 min for the server to get us water and ask for our order (not busy a busy night) 4. Sushi came out slow very slow. I saw the sushi on the bar for 20 min before they brought the plate to us 5. Didn't get chop sticks or utensils with our sushi 6. The sushi did not taste good maybe it was because of the bad experience leading up but it was not good quality. read more

Now that I've been given a regular business situation in the South Loop, I'm in a search for a regular sushi bar, a staple in my diet. Sadly, this won't be it. My general rule for ethnic food has always been: don't expect much from an ethnic restaurant if it isn't being run by people of that ethnicity. But for me to stick to this rule in Chicago I would need to forgo sushi, as I have yet to even hear about a Japanese-operated sushi bar. So it's quite common for them to be run by others - in this case I would guess Korean. When I arrived for dinner, I asked to be seated at the sushi bar. I was told it was unavailable - not reserved, but just being used as a waitress "staging area". This did not bode well, as part of the allure of a regular sushi bar is developing a rapper with the chef. Not here. So snagging a table, I was brought a paper, small-print menu and a pencil stub and asked to select my dinner. Huh? So what's the waitress for? The problem with this method is that you can't pace your own meal. Hardly different than grabbing a couple of sushi containers from the Jewel around the corner. The edamame were terrific - fresh and a good quality. Miso soup was meh. Green tea was hot and well-prepared. The menu was filled with a whole raft of useless nonsense - I mean really, who eats unagi with cream cheese? Japanese food doesn't even use cheese! Then the sashimi platter arrived. While the portions were generous, it was obvious it was sliced by someone that didn't know what they were doing. A real sushi chef knows how to slice the fish relative to the grain, this guy did not. And the slices were arranged unimaginatively on a truckload of shredded daikon. The fish was very fresh and tasty, including the smoked salmon. The final food shock was the California roll. It was no larger in diameter than my thumb. That's not a California roll. It was pathetic. The staff were profoundly unfriendly. A manager was busy berating a waitress when I arrived, and it seemed to continue for another 15 minutes or so. No one ever greeted me, and while my waitress was friendly, the entire mood in the place was not friendly. I'll continue looking for my Chicago sushi nirvana. read more

Excellent sushi! The rolls are elegantly prepared and taste delicious with indubitably high-quality fish, crab, eel, etc. I came to this venue on a sunny Saturday afternoon with two friends, and we got seated immediately. No need to make reservations for lunch. Our rolls were served beautifully together on the same plate. Miso Soup: 4.5/5 -- Small bowl of soup for $2. Served complementary with a platter. Glad it wasn't unexpectedly rich, for it really set our appetite for the following. Dancing Eel Roll: 4/5 -- If you've never had cream cheese in a roll, go for it. Flaming VIP Roll: 4/5 -- Spicy crab and salmon. Great stuff but would have preferred a tempura with the same ingredients. Texas Roll: 4.5/5 -- The inside of the roll has yellow fish, cream cheese, and jalapeño sauce along with shrimp tempura! Amazing. Spicy Hamachi: 4.5/5 -- The waiter mentioned this was his favorite non-tempura roll, and it reached that expectation. Served with a jalapeño on top. Volcano Roll: 5/5 -- Fantastic, full of spices, and even added avocado. Dynamite Roll: 5/5 -- It's basically shrimp tempura topped with baked scallops and spicy crab. You could see the smoke rising from the dish when the waiter presented it to us. Sakura Blossom: 5/5 -- It's a great problem to have: so much great sushi that it's hard to pinpoint a favorite. Green onion, cream cheese, and asparagus wholly fried to perfection. Definitely well worth the visit if you live in Chicago! I will be back again and again and again. read more

Consistently incredibly fresh and high quality sushi, each and every time we go. Love their squid salad, shrimp shumai, any of their sashimi, and their uni is perfection. If they have the salmon belly or the spicy curry udon, order it. They are both incredible. With no corkage fee for their byo, Kai is delightfully well priced and our neighborhood go-to, sometimes 2-3 tines a week. We have never once been disappointed. read more