Tonight, we were in the West Loop and decided to try an establishment new to us. We chose…read moreMomotaro, since we love Japanese and Japanese influenced cuisine.
We had to make a late reservation since nothing was available earlier. We tried walking in earlier and there was a 1 hour and 45 min wait. So we kept our reservation for 9:30.
Upon entering, the manager and the host were very friendly and promptly sat us about 15 min early. The ambiance is really nice, but the music... is way to loud. You have to yell across a standard 4-seat tabletop to communicate. Since everyone has to yell, the crowd noise then amplifies this issue. I've never understood restaurants that try to be a nightclub. You can have music at normal levels to keep the energy without causing your patrons to yell.
Once we were seated, the waitress came over within 5 minutes. She was friendly, but slow. After she offered us water, she was didn't return to the table for 20 minutes to take drink orders. After we ordered drinks, it was another 15-20 to help with the menus. We asked about portion sizes (shareable vs not shareable). We were told each plate was good for 2-4 people. I'm not sure what portion sizes she classified suitable for sharing... but no way were a majority of our dishes enough to share.
We ordered edamame, which we were able to share. We really liked how they salted it, sometimes you get edamame and it's bland. We also ordered spicy tuna sushi (6 pieces), Komodo sushi rolls, pork chops (comes with 2 pieces), 2 orders of wagyu sliders (only 2 per order), hotate batayaki (3 scallops), shishito peppers (8 grilled peppers), and yakatori don (chicken bowl with rice and a soft egg).
I have tried many Japanese restaurants and have been to Japan as well. Loved the food. To start with the good, we really liked the pork chops. They were on the rarer cooked side but delicious. The sliders were really good as well. Tons of flavor and each one was a decent size. These 2 items we felt were slightly over priced but felt we got a great food experience for the money. The shishito peppers were barely grilled and bland. They literally were no better than what my teenagers can do on the grill. Absolutely not worth $12 for peppers. Each sushi roll was decent but very small very overpriced for what you get. There is nothing special about either roll. I have gotten better spicy tuna in the city, that comes with 8 rolls for half of momotaro's price. The scallops were very fishy. I love scallops, and I wouldn't order these again... no way! $22 for such. Small serving that was too fishy compared to other establishments. My chicken bowl yakatori don) had a great presentation. That's where the dish ends. The toppings overpowered the chicken. The chicken tasted like plain boiled chicken that was so bland, literally no flavor to it.
After we were done, the waitress came over about 15 min later, asking if we were interested in dessert. We told her no, we were full and ready for the check. We sat around for over 20 minutes waiting. I'm watching our server talking in the corner with 4 other servers. Laughing, on their phones, etc. after watching them for over 10 minutes I walked up to the front host and asked for a manager. The girl, was prompt, and very friendly. I discussed my dissatisfaction with the service. It was slow, terrible for the price point of the restaurant. The manager brought the check to me fairly quickly and apologized. She didn't ask what they could do to make it right, nothing. Not until after the bill was paid she conveniently asked what they could do. Little late at that point.
Overall, we have been to many low and high end restaurants in Chicago... River North, West Loop,, Manhattan, Munich, etc... and this was about as bad of service as you can get. With all the options in the city, I don't recommend this one.
