This is going to make some diners angry, but I really wanted to say this about Sai Cafe- we went early on Saturday night, with our whole family and 3 year old grandchild. We noticed there were a lot of other families there, all with young children or slight older ones, and EVERYONE was treated with great diligence and respect. All the children were very well behaved, and ate with relish, including our grandson who "ordered" (he told her what he wanted ) a large bowl of rice, which was served immediately. This was the best dining experience we have had in Chicago, where children were both welcomed and treated as "real" people. I realize that not everyone wants to dine near children and I also don't like the screaming variety; however there seemed to be an effort to put families together. The food was great, the service was great and the sense that all our family was very welcome will make this a permanent restaurant on our list. Not to mention that it offers a chance for children to learn to be good dining patrons. read more

Worst delivery place ever! We ordered and after delivery realized they gave us the wrong rolls. When we called they said they would correct and bring us the right order. We didn't want to complain as we were afraid of what they might do to our food. So after 2 hours waiting we called and told them the story and they chick on the phone said we'd get $7 off our next order AND HUNG UP ON US, literally hung up the phone without additional info from us. Oh and by the way, the food we did get sucked so I'd encourage anyone to refrain from going there and definitely would not order from there. THIS PLACE IS AWFUL! If there were zero stars as an option I would pick that!!! Spread the word! read more

My favorite sushi place in Chicago. Rolls are fresh and delicious, they never skimp on fish, and prices are absolutely reasonable. Best rolls are the Salmon/Avocado and the Spicy White Tuna crunch. These in handrolls are fantastic too! read more

Went here to use a gift certificate I'd gotten at a fundraiser , drove down from the suburbs and had a nice meal. Low and Behold the certificate expired a couple months ago . They chose not to honor it. Talk about losing face. Decent sushi , no class. read more

I'm a huge sushi fan and have heard good things about Sai Cafe, so I went there last night with 2 of my girlfriends and as soon as I walked in, I was overcome by the fishy smell. It honestly almost made me nauseous, but we wanted to try it out, so we stayed. I had the ginger salad, spicy white tuna crunch roll, and regular spicy tuna roll. The spicy crunch was pretty good, but the regular spicy tuna was pretty fishy. A couple hours after leaving my stomach hurt and both of my friends had upset stomachs also. Fishy and no good! read more

If you like really overpriced canned tuna this is the place to go. Great service and super nice staff!.... But like I said, the tuna was bland. Also, one of the rolls was the size of my fist.. Which would've been great if it was a tasty roll! But it was not. read more

The volcano roll here is amazing...lobster with a cruchy topping. I've never been less that pleased with the freshness and service.

...so its Monday night...and I find myself in Lincoln Park with a craving for sushi. What to do? ....call your pal and head over to her favorite local haunt, Sai Cafe. This is the second time I have eaten here, so I now rule out the "new" factor (where you can sometimes be mesmerized by something unfamiliar). From the seaweed salad...to the toro tartar...and on through the white funa (my personal favorite) and yellowtail (not forgetting the creamy scallop roll)...everything was fresh, melt in your mouth flavorful and done with elegance. I wasnt in the mood for beer (which I typically have with sushi)...so i tried the sparkling rose brut...and it is a magical compliment to Sai's ocean treasures. The atmosphere is fun and lively...although I think the overall decor is a bit spartan and lacking style. Aside from needing a makeover...this is one of the very best sushi spots that I have sampled. Special note....The tables in the front window look cozy...cant wait to try them. I now know why my friend adores this place...it is truly stunning. Well done, Sai Cafe... read more

This place is really good! I'm not a sushi 'connoisseur', so I'm not sure if their sushi is the best of the best, but I definitely enjoyed everything. Furthermore, the service is exceptional and the ambiance is very upscale. The food is beautifully presented! I felt like I should be paying $50 for my meal, when, in reality, Sai Cafe's prices are extremely reasonable. I think that this place would be great for a date night or girls' night. I'll definitely be going back! read more

The sushi is always fresh, flavorful, and skillfully made. The ambiance is dark and inviting. It is reasonably priced for the quality of the food. An all around classy and quality restaurant. read more

the service is good, the sushi is great, i love the seafood soup and they have this really delicious plum wine. my boyfriend and I come here for sushi often and we love it!!!! read more

I have only had the name sake avocado roll (salmon and avocado) and the spicy white tuna crunch. Both are very fresh and have a decent sized piece of fish in the roll (an important factor for me). One of my favorite places for sushi in the city! read more

Came here for dinner with the family and it was such a pleasant experience. The sushi is one of the freshest I've ever had. Get the salmon appetizer! It just melts in your mouth and was my favorite of the night. It's a bit pricey, but for good reason. I look forward to dining here again. :) read more

I have been here twice. Loved it once and didn't like it the other time. Overall, I am not crazy about it because the staff are not very helpful. read more

I liked the place a lot when I walked in - very cosy, comfortable and different from other sushi places. But the sushi turned out to be just ok. read more

This is the first restaurant I ate at as a new Chicago resident and I was quite happy. The prices were reasonable and the food was very good. Clean and good service. read more

Love this place. The Halloween maki is my favorite. We get sushi delivery at least once a week from here, and they never disappoint.

It's easy for us to get to this place, but even if we didn't live nearby we'd still come here for great sushi! We've pretty much stopped going anywhere else. read more

Cute spot, right next to the Armitage brown line. The sushi is pretty solid and the edamame was great. I had the Rainbow Maki. It was really good. Nice spot for a date. I'm definitely coming back. read more

I have been going to Sai for years. The scallops appetizer is amazing. The spider, fashion, and shrimp tempura rolls are really good. Their prices have jumped dramatically though. A little too expensive for what you get now. read more

Good solid sushi place with a reasonable priced menu. The hamachi jalapeno and tuna tartar appetizers were phenomenal. Also recommend the spicy white tuna crunch roll. The sake selection and desserts were slightly disappointing, and the service was ok. But all-in-all, a very good casual sushi place that I would visit again. read more

Sai Cafe is a delicious sushi spot and I have dined here for the past 5 years. The owner also owns Hachi's Kitchen in Logans Square. The fish is flown in fresh everyday which make the sushi melt in your mouth. My favorite appetizer is the Ahi Poke and the Scallops. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The owner is absolutely wonderful and always chats with us when we dine. This is definitely my favorite sushi in Chicago. I would highly suggest everyone give it a try :) read more

Excellent sushi for a reasonable price. You won't find fancy, inventive rolls. However, old standards are well executed.

my husband and i have been eating at sai cafe for over...i dont know, like 10 years. when they first opened, they were just one small room. in the past few years, they have expanded. however, they are still quite busy. despite being busy, jim, the owner, always seems to have time to greet his customers by name. this place is cozy, friendly, and consistently delicious. its our favorite sushi place in the city of chicago and we have been just about everywhere. cant say enough. try it out and see for yourself. read more

The food was good, environment was very noisy. If you pay with a credit card the fun begins... They ask for your ID to make copy of it, and they put all that confidential info on receipt as well! so everyone could access it! The place is so cramped that you can easily reach the neighboring tables with your arms. The owner is also very scary! While you are eating she will come and fix with mean expression your fork and the plate. She never smiles either. Another weird thing... they put 20% tip automatically to your bill so you have no choise in deciding how much the servers deserve. They expect the downtown Chicago price for the location in the middle of nowhere. read more

I thought the service and the atmosphere were fantastic, and we sat in the front booth which was pretty neat. We came with high expectations but were slightly disappointed at the quality of the food. We had the deep fried oysters (funny how one bad oyster can ruin an entire dish), volcano maki, spicy tuna maki, and the yaki-soba. The volcano roll was fine. The spicy tuna roll wasn't bad but it looked like they food-processed the tuna so it had a weird consistency. The yaki-soba was the best I've had though. Get the lychee mochi ice cream if you go here; that was the highlight of the evening. read more

My wife and I are from Japan, grew up in Tokyo. We are temporarily staying in Chicago this year. To be honest, we got disappointed a lot of times since we started living in Chicago with most of Japanese restaurants. But this Sai Cafe is a kind of exception. They are doing a great job. They are using very fresh fishes at the satisfying level even for us Japanese and their chefs certainly have authentic technique to cook rice, flavor it and shape it into Sushi. Especially their Dragon Maki is fantastic. It would be loved even in Tokyo, I assure, since they know what is good eel and how to cook it properly. About Nigiri (usually Sushi, not Rolls) are shaped with very good skill, sushi rice is properly seasoned (actually that is rare here in Chicago), and they are doing a good effort to get fresh fishes as much as possible (we know well we can not expect in Chicago; an inland city as much freshness of seafood as in Tokyo). Apparently they have good chefs and chefs are doing their best in limited environments. Only one disappointing thing we experienced there is their soups. Both of Miso Soup and Clear Soup is not good. Broth is thin. I couldn't taste soup stock. Miso paste used for Miso Soup is apparently cheap one. Clear Soup has too many ingredients though Clear Soup is supposed to be enjoyed with its taste of soup stock. It tells us that chefs are probably not from Japan. Maybe, they are trained at very professional sushi restaurant somewhere but it seems they have no idea what is the authentic Japanese Miso and Clear Soup. That kind of ignorance can hardly happen to Sushi cooks trained in Japan. I am very sorry for it. I hope they would get a chance to learn about soups from someone, since Miso soup has a strong power, at least for Japanese, to reverse the total evaluation of restaurant. I think so it does for American customers who are familiar with good Japanese foods. (They can get an idea at Oysy. Their Miso soup is much better, though it is a little weird experience for us that they serve their Miso soup at the beginning of lunch course. We have Miso soup 'during' meal, or at the end of meal when we have alcohol). read more

Probably my favorite neighborhood sushi restaurant. Great food! Love the white tuna crunch and the dragon roll. Staff is super friendly and always go out of their way to make us feel at home and comfortable with our 2 year old. Worth checking out. read more

Quick lunch? Sure! Dinner night out with your girlfriends, not so much! This place was recommended to me by a friend who said "they have GREAT/ best sushi", so I decided to try. Upon arrival we were seated promptly, it was Thursday night at 8:30pm the place was sort of empty, we got a nice table by the fireplace. Service was good, everything was timely, water, drinks etc. Later sushi arrived and it was just "ehhhhh" very little creativity, no presentation, I was pretty bummed out. My friend who has exceptional taste palate, was not impressed by the food. I've had better as well. I'd return for lunch if in the area just not with my friend :) read more

Love sai cafe!! It's such a comfortable atmosphere and a menu to die for. Only issue- when coming on a Friday night, it's slow to get a table even with a reservation. One hostess was doing takeout orders with a full (very small) waiting area that was getting more and more crammed by the second. Other than that, great service and ever greater fried rice! The sushi was fresh and delicious. Definitely coming back! read more

I walked by this place everyday on my way to the el and had no idea what was inside--a surprisingly large and elegant space, with exposed brick and, of course, delicious sushi. There were four of us, and we ordered miso soups each, the combination tempura appetizer, and five maki rolls: Halloween, Spicy White Tuna Crunch, Tako Sansai Maki, Ebi Tempura, and Spicy Tuna. My favorites were definitely the Halloween and the Spicy White Tuna Crunch. The Spicy Tuna was standard, the Ebi Tempura was a little comically large, but good, and I didn't try the Tako Sansai Maki due to an octopus aversion, but the others loved it. The service was great too, and every staff member we walked by on our way out said "Bye, thank you!" read more

Amazing experience. Jimmy at Sai Cafe was a superb host. Jimmy's and the serving staff's recommendations were extraordinary. Nothing over sold and every dish amazing - from the simple Cucumber salad in rice wine vinegar to the 3 color tobiko to the spice Ahe Poke (spicy tuna). read more

What a quaint, cozy sushi bar. Good service and fresh fish. The menu prices on their mobile internet site and yelp's menu did not match the prices I paid. For instance, I do not mind paying $21.00 to $28.00 for chirashi. However their $26 chirashi dinner only included 2 pieces tuna, 2 pieces salmon, 1 piece yellow tail, 2 pieces escolar and 1 shrimp and were sushi cut not sashimi cut! (and poorly cut to boot). Something about the rice just was not right. The $10 soft shell crab maki was 1/2 of a crab and 4 pieces of compact, thick rice and cucumbers. Nothing special and probably will not return. read more

Sushi was fantastic, staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. I would recommend 10/10 times.

I've been walking past Sai Cafe for months without ever realizing just what a wonderful dining destination it was. I'm actually not a big sushi fan (I know, I'm odd) but found that their starters, both hot and cold, were fantastic. Top favorites were the pan fried scallops, the black cod miso, and the kani su (king crab and cucumber). Both the owner and the sushi chefs were so friendly--all stopped to say hello. read more

Food is tasty and prepared well. They offer average sized portions. The drawback of this place is the service. You have a sip of water and servers think they should be tipped extra for filling up your water glass after you have a sip. They do not offer a diverse server group of people. The waitresses they do hire do not have intrinsic motivation in their job, their greed (money money money) for tips comes across in their body language as they are taking your order or bringing out your plate of food. One does not get the feeling from their waitresses of "thank you for choosing our restaurant today how can I serve you" when eating there. It is a turn off from the generally good food. read more

Very fun place with a great atmosphere. Good and fresh sushi.

AWESOME!!! The servers remember me and know what I am going to order. The owner such a nice man! Now the Dragon is sssoooo goooodddd!! When they have the green tea creme brulee you have to have it the best dessert ever read more

Ate there with my family for about the 1000th time in the last 15 years (well, fairly, not the 1000th, but I'm sure it's in the 100's). Sai and it's sister restaurant (Hachi's Kitchen) are the only Sushi joints we eat in Chicago. James and May, the husband and wife owners, are about the hardest working people you'll ever meet (you'll meet them as they work the room ensuring that your meal is perfect). I've been served by the same waitresses for 10 years now (imagine a restaurant that keeps wait staff for a decade!). I've eaten at sushi restaurants with nicer decor and fancier menus (no surprise in a city this large), but I've found none that serves really big, incredibly fresh fish the way Sai does. We've never had anything but great meals there and it's our go-to for all out-of-town guests. The menu is pretty broad to accommodate non-sushi eaters. I'm told the tempura dishes are good --I stick with Sushi. One quick note for the yelper below who complained about "frozen tuna". It's my understanding that ALL salt water fish to be served raw is flash frozen (there are no freshwater sushi fish because of the risk of parasites) as a precaution against contamination. I also understand that just about all the salmon you'll get at sushi restaurants is farmed, not caught wild. read more

My wife and I took an out-of-town friend with our daughter and her roommate. We had a great time. We ordered the Chef Menu. While it was a little pricey, the food was amazing. The Kani-Su (alaskan red king crab with cucumber, served in vinegar sauce) and Grilled Black Cod with miso were particularly fantastic. We were able to take our time and talk and eat and never felt rushed. read more