I dine at pl8 often and am constantly finding new favorites. As some other reviewers have mentioned, the specials are really worth a try - I especially like the special maki, as they are usually very creative and delicious. The sushi is VERY fresh and generous portions are served. I always request the low-sodium soy sauce, so the sushi and maki do not taste salty. The chinese entrees are quite different from your typical chinese fare, and although the standards (kung pao chicken,orange peel, etc) are delicious, my favorites are the more unique offerings like Mei-ji Shrimp (stir fried shrim p and fresh asparagus)and Dry Stir fried Shredded beef (wok friend been strips with finger bamboo and scallions). My son prefers the Mongolian Beef, and my daughter, the Chicken fried rice. When asked if they would prefer take out from another restaurant, they insist on pl8 because the food tastes fresher and less greasy. I talked to the manager about this last time I was in and I was told that only the highest quality ingredients are used in the dishes - free range chicken, top grade beef, fresh vegetables. The Ching Chong Noodle soup and spicy chili fish are also worth mentioning because the white fish used in these dishes is quite delicious and complimented by the selected ingredients. The appetizers are unique with something to fit every taste. Again, my kids prefer the pot stickers- which are great.. But my favorite has to be the tuna and avocado sumiso (big eye tuna and avocado in a light soy-miso sauce), and my all time favorite, the hand grenades (make sure to eat it all in one bite to get the advantage of combination of flavors). You will also find fresh fruit and other ingredients in the cocktails and drink offerings. Care is taken that these are imaginative and tasty. I appreciate the fact that the wine is very reasonably priced, with no bottle over $40. Desserts are also good with some new offerings that are great, especially the wonton wrapped cheese cake with fresh strawberries and drizzled in a chocolate sauce. The kids love the chocolate banana wontons and traditional mochi. The decor is fabulous - very cool vibe, especially for the suburbs. The staff is friendly and responsive. If something is not right, the management is happy to fix the problem directly and to your satisfaction. Pl8 is very kid friendly and welcomes families. Be sure to make a reservation - especially Friday and Saturday nights. There is not a big waiting area - and some weekends can have an hour or more wait for a table. I love this restaurant - and everyone that I have recommended to try it has been very pleased as well. read more

Let me tell you, I am very picky when it comes to sushi and asian cuisine in general. My boyfriend made reservations for us here as recommended by a friend and I have to say I was very hesitant. Turns out, it was the best sushi I've ever had. We ordered a bottle of wine to share, enjoyed the peanuts at our table (which were incredible) and ordered one entree and several sushi rolls to share. Everything was top notch. We got dessert on top of all this and our bill was still under $60. We are planning on going back on an upcoming date-night. read more

I thought this place was great! We ordered nigiri and sashimi and rolls and all turned out great - the white tuna roll was especially good! Our waitress was knowledgeable and friendly and did not hurry us along. The place was pretty full when we went on a thursday night - the decor is OK... a little cheesy alas we are in the suburbs. read more

One of the better options for dinner in the NW burbs, did take out, but the inside looked nice and was filling up around 7pm on a Sat, the take out was ready on time, they checked the order for accuracy while I paid and everything was good when we got home and had dinner, would go back again for take out and even dine in at an outdoor table when it gets nicer out read more

I'm happy we found a great Asian place in Barrington! Pl8 has been open for two years but I just found it this weekend. Great Asian food in the burbs! read more

Great Asian food! My husband and I are addicted to the Peppered Beef and Broccoli - yum!

Delish! A very wide range of sushi options, fun drink menu, excellent service and nice atmosphere. Prices are reasonable for what you get and the location. I've been four or five times and haven't had a negative experience yet. read more

Excellent food!! I highly recommend the crab Rangoon chopsticks! We ordered both Chinese dishes and Sushi. Both were great!

Great ambiance. We sat in the bar area and it was very perfect for a date night with its dark lighting and big booths and high tops. The bar itself is nice and spacious with a large flat screen TV. Food was good. Big portions and you can choose white or brown rice which I love. There are tons of selections on the menu. We chose Chinese food tonight but will be back to try the sushi. We got a specialty chicken dish that was a little sweet for my taste. I wish it was spicier, but the chicken was tender and veggies nice and fresh. You can probably ask for spicier or sweeter. The noodle dish with beef was good too, but the beef was thinly sliced. Wish it was a little thicker. Service was slightly slow, especially at the end waiting for the check. Overall good experience. Make reservations. read more

This is our favorite sushi restaurant in all of Chicagoland. The service we get is consistently outstanding. We always ask for Anna's section as her recommendations among the vast menu are always spot on. Sushi chef Chris out did himself with an original roll that included shaved lemon ice that imparted multiple taste sensations that had to be truly savored. Phenomenal. Our cocktails were delicious as always and the desert creations will not disappoint. If you enjoy sushi come check them out. read more

My husband & I are new to the area. We were excited to find Pl8 - an excellent sushi restaurant! We've been several times and will continue to go back! read more

I have had dinner at PL8 3 times. The food is generally very good but watch out for the drinks. My last visit I had a mojito and 20% of the mint was starting to decay. It looked horrible with brown decaying leaves in the drink. Before I saw the brown stuff in my drink I tried it and it was the worst mojito I have ever had. After seeing what was in my drink I sent it back in exchange for a beer. I emailed PL8 at their website so they could make sure it didn't happen again and they didn't bother to respond. I think this was my PL8 experience. read more

I went to PL8 for my birthday lunch back in Nov. 2012 with my mother and my teenage daughter. We ALL love sushi. The service was perfect! Our waiter was fun and extremely knowlegeable about everything on the menu. I found their menu a little bit extreme, almost like they were trying too hard to be different. However, the food was very good. We all agreed that we enjoyed the food but that there are 1-2 other places we enjoy a bit more. It's definitely worth a visit - but bring lots of money. It is on the high end as far as prices go. read more

Pl8 is one of our favorite restaurants. Not only do they have Great food, but their prices are very reasonable. I love all the specials they have and the service is fantastic. We have never had a bad service or food experience while visiting Pl8. I also love the events they have. It is a great experience to try something different. read more

Loved it. This is my third time there and still enjoy the energy and food there. White sangria is my favourite :))

The food was excellent - we had Sesame Chicken and a Vietnamese beef dish. The service was very helpful and prompt. The staff appears well-trained and supervised. This is a place we will visit again, and soon. read more

This was my third visit to Pl8. The first two visits were very memorable. Both the food and service were great. The last time the food was still great but the service was subpar. They literally started closing down the restaurant while we were still eating. Chairs were put on top of tables, the waiter asked for our salt shakers. we were told we could not get coffee because the kitchen was closed before we finished eating. This might be understandable if we arrived shortly before closing but we arrived at 8 to a restaurant that closed at 9! There were still people at the bar when we left..earlier than we wanted to. All in all, not a great experience. read more

I've eaten at PL8 several times. I like the atmosphere, the servers are always good, and the food is a step up from the Asian food available in the area. I enjoy the General Tso's Chicken, but sometimes I'm tempted by the sushi. read more

Good food and OK service but this place is filthy. From the front door to the booths to the tables. Very uncomfortable to dine here

Great food, fun atmosphere, AWESOME drinks and a great staff! Be sure to try the Saki Sangria! Will definitely be back!

Absolutely definitely the worst service/food in a decade. Came here with my family for dinner last week. First impression is that it was very loud, Took a while to seat us. Waiter disappeared for 15 mins, ordered our food and waited an entire hour. My mom got her plate 45 mins before everybody else, so she watched it grow cold while we waited..After an hour of waiting I asked what the deal, people were leaving and the place was about to close. When a meal is delayed at least bring out some snacks for the wait; they did not. Finally got our food, aunts shrimp plate said it was the worst thing ever (mixture of vinegar and soy sauce) and wet crispy The wait was blamed on my chicken which was a very small, unsubstantial chicken breast that was cut up Ate the food and paid a BIG price for a poor meal. First yelp report I write (and probably last) but I recommend that people avoid Pl8 like the Plague read more

I have to say I expected a lot more than what we got! We dined at pl8 over the weekend. The place is really cool and funky and I liked the downtown feel but they fell way short when it came to the service and the food. When we first came in the hostess was rather rude and I am not sure why. We were sat and we thought that things would get better. WRONG! The service was less than perfect. I am not going to throw someone under the bus but our server didn't seem to care about us at all. She was going threw the menu at rocket paced speed. We barely understood a thing she said. We tried some sushi which was the only good thing we had then we both had one of their specialty dishes. I believe mine was the 7 flavors chicken. It was bone dry and my husbands food was even worse. Not to mention that the place was really overpriced. I had heard mixed reviews and wanted to check it out for myself. But if anyone wants to be treated like they are in a fast food restaurant while paying fine dining prices this is the pl8 for you. read more

Pl8 is great. Don't let the strip mall store front fool you, feels like downtown Chicago once inside. Good service and the 7 flavor chicken is what everyone at my house craves - sending us back for more. I've dined here at least 10 times. The bar is inviting as well. Pl8 is a great place to celebrate any occasion with chocolate banana wontons for dessert. Sushi is top rate as well. read more

On Friday night I ordered carry out from Pl8 for convenience. The staff checked the order before giving it to me. When I arrived home and opened the bag I realized that they did not give me gluten free chicken but instead breaded shrimp which is not gluten free and which I cannot eat due to dietary restrictions. I called Pl8 and spoke with the manager who said she had packed the order (but apparently didn't pay attention to the fact that the receipt said GF chicken, not breaded shrimp). The manager's solution was for me to drive all the way back to the restaurant for the food I ordered or get a credit for next time. A credit for next time did not solve the problem that I still had nothing that I could eat for dinner. I drove back to the restaurant to retrieve my food. I asked the manager if I could receive a credit for the inconvenience of returning to the restaurant to pick up the proper order as it was 100% their error. The manager stated they didn't do that and turned her back on me and walked away. Pl8 has a gluten free menu but management is clearly ambivalent toward patrons with dietary restrictions or food intolerance. Management is also not interested in satisfactorily correcting their errors and clueless about customer service. We will not be returning and I would not recommend this restaurant to family or friends. Skip it if you want to avoid poor customer service. read more

After a strong opening and a great addition to the area restaurant scene when it opened, it is disappointing to write this review. Three of us had lunch there this past week ordering a few of our favorites as we have frequented this restaurant but had not been in a couple of months. All of our entrees had chicken and all three were abysmal. We concluded that it was the chicken. It was not quality chicken at all. Perhaps even chicken "parts". Unfortunately, none of us have any real desire to return. On another recent visit, we could not even get a pot for the tea we ordered as they were all out...it was not a busy lunch visit. Apparently all were chipped or broken so only had "a few" tea pots left for service. And the cups and saucers provided did not match, meaning the cup did not fit in the saucer. Not a contrived mismatch type of thing. Attention to details and quality product are apparently waning and now they are not the only Asian "show in town". read more

Completely stunned. For starters, I didn't know about this place until now. At first look, you could probably miss it in the corner of the Foundry. I didn't expect much walking in except maybe some good food and a new restaurant to add to the rotation. The decor is awesome. I love the lights in the dinning room. The sunken bar looks awesome but we ate in the dinning room this time. Our waiter was awesome. Went over the menu with us and was really knowledgeable about all the dishes. We started off with some edamae and crab rangoon chop sticks. Then we ordered about 10 sushi rolls. It took a little bit of time but hey its 10 different sushi rolls. Once they came out, it was well worth the wait. The four of us were shocked staring at a huge wooden plank full of sushi. My girlfriend had to take a picture of it right away. My favorite of the 10 was the renken roll (probably spelled differently). This thing was awesome, just as our server had suggested. The spider roll was huge. The Godzilla and Dragon rolls were great too. We were all stuffed. This place has it all, decor, service, and great food. I can't wait to go back and maybe, just maybe, get around to the Chinese dishes. read more