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Japonais - Chicago, Illinois

Hip and Trendy but Not Impressed with the Sushi

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Restaurant Category : Japanese, Sushi

Japonais Restaurant and Lounge – Chicago, Illinois: Sushi is quite the “in” thing right now among the young and the hip, and consequently, fashionable Japanese fusion restaurants and contemporary sushi bars have been sprouting all over the country. As can be expected, a lot of these trendy restaurants are all form but severely lacking in taste and substance, and it won’t be a surprise if these establishments don’t last long term. One such place is the Japonais Restaurant and Lounge, an ultra-hip restaurant located right on the Chicago River. A beautiful place for beautiful people, this is where one goes to “see and be seen” but not the best place to go for great sushi.

The décor, no question, was impressive with its stunningly chic interiors, elaborate lighting, and earth tone furnishings, perfectly combining European elegance and Japanese minimalism. The downstairs bar overlooked the river and was ideal for people watching. The night we went there, the place was crammed full of people and the patrons ranged from the “it” crowd to the wannabes.

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As typical for a chic and trendy restaurant like this, we arrived a few minutes before our reservations only to be told that we would had to wait 30-45 minutes (in the bar of course, so we could buy ridiculously overpriced drinks). Trying to find an open table and worse yet, finding someone to wait on us once we were seated turned into a huge chore. They probably do this on purpose to help kill time while guests wait. Why did I even bother to make reservations, I wondered to myself.

Regardless, after 45 minutes of pushing the hostess to get us seated we were told our table was finally ready. Upstairs, the dining room was gorgeous but the tables were so close together that we were practically dining with our neighbors.

From waiting so long, we ended up ordering a wide array of Sushi: Sashimi Akami (Tuna), Sashimi Hamachi (Wild Yellowtail), Sashimi sake (Salmon), Sashimi Botan Ebi (Sweet Raw Shrimp), Special Tuna (Salmon tartar topped with sliced tuna, avocado sauce and wasabi tobiko sauce) Special Salmon Maki, and Spicy Mono (Spicy octopus roll topped with spicy tuna tartar and sweet unagi sauce).

The food was decent but with the sashimi at $3.00 - 4.00 per piece, it was definitely not worth the money. I have had far, far better sushi and sashimi at other, maybe not as glamorous, places but that served way better food and fresher fish, for sure. To cap it off, we had a Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand nicely priced at only $48.00.

The food in Japonais simply lacked freshness, quality and creativity and was overly hyped because of its chic design and hip patrons, which did nothing to justify the exorbitant prices. I may have been voted best sushi restaurant in Chicago before but base on my visit, Japonais Restaurant and Lounge in Chicago is Between Bombastic and Not.

What I liked: The décor

What I didn’t like: The food, the attitude

Rating: Between Bombastic and Not

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