Very rarely do I write Yelp reviews, but I feel as if I must do it for you reading this considering trying this place out. I took my boyfriend here, and we actually had a nice time--until we got food poisoning. It came on like a sneak attack 24 hours later. We hadn't eaten together since dinner at Katakana the night before, and we became very violently ill within an hour of each other the same night. Neither my boyfriend or I have ever had food poisoning before, and after that atrocious experience, I hope to never go through it again. If you still decide to go here, you're a masochist.
Review Source:HORRIBLE SERVICE killed our experience. Delicious food, great presentation but severly understaffed and waitstaff needed attitude adjustment. Host was rude to our server which should NEVER happen in front of customers. Segregation is back in full force as we noticed all the walk-in clients were seated on one side and those with reservations must have been given to the premium staff on the other side.  One of our friends had a gross piece of cartiledge in her sashimi and one average sized pot of green tea was jacked to $6 a pot.  If its not complimentary in sushi restaurants it's at least  never this expensive!!!
Beautiful flavors, sad to write such a bad review.
Made a reservation for a party of 5 for a Friday night birthday dinner. We were one of 4 tables occupied.
* The service was so incredibly slow that we were there for over 3 hours.
* We called a few friends, since there was clearly space, and had to cajole the manager (or whatever he was) to allow them to join us. It was truly putting him out to shove a couple of tables together.
* Menus were masking taped together and rife with typos.
* Ambiance is confusing. Clearly a re-purposed bar, but is now aiming to be a sexy sushi spot. Maybe take down the disco balls? The flashing lights? The "Picasso" murals that actually have "his" signature painted on?
* Sushi was sub-par. Rice was akin to what I make at home, presentation was sloppy, bland flavors. Some pieces literally had no fish in them. Rice and mayonnaise, um.
* The kicker - at the end of the night the cranky manager dude brings over a desert with a candle on it. He puts it down on the table. It's a banana. On one end, 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream with chocolate drizzle. Strategically placed at the other end is a trail of whipped cream. Um.
During my third visit to this place I fell in love. Â Yes, it's quiet. Â Yes, the decor is a bit off. Â Yes, the prices might be a bit high for the location. BUT the Suma Godzilla roll is to die for. Â When they serve this roll they'll tell you to try it without the soy sauce cause it's so good and they're right! Â The roll explodes in your mouth. Â Anther favorite is the house salad. Â To give the salad the Katakana flare they add fresh orange. Â It's amazing! Â One other quick mention if your not in the mood for sushi. Â Try the Beef Yakisoba (noodle dish). Â You will not be dissappointed!
Please spread the word about this place as I'd hate to see them close their doors!!
I wasn't too hungry when I walked in... it was a little past lunch time and I suspected I'd just go with some edamame and one light roll...
$50 later, (between a friend and I) I was a happy gal.
The place was dead - only one other table in the whole restaurant. The server was extremely friendly and helpful. He served us edamame (good) and a house salad. The ginger dressing was sweeter than most Japanese dressings, and it was amazing. I may or may not have drank it from the bowl when I was finished. I don't regret it.
For our rolls, I was in an indecisive mood, so I told the server I liked crab and shrimp, and I was pretty open-minded about everything else. He asked me if I liked a few other things and made a roll specific to my liking. I'm sure they don't do this when the place is busy, but the roll was absolutely delicious. Top 5 sushi rolls I've ever had. I also got a spicy crab roll which was pretty good - nothing to write home about, but generally pretty pleasing.
My friend got the chicken teriyaki - it was delicious, as well.
I can't attest for the bad service I seem to see through many of these yelp reviews - as we were 1 of 2 tables in the restaurant, but I had a great experience and will be going back soon.
A good friend of mine once told me that when you are choosing a sushi bar, look for the signs: intricate layout of the restaurant, cleanliness, and a non-fish smell.
This place was great! It was a little cold when I first came in, but nothing green tea couldn't fix! We got the Gyoza, Dragon Rolls, and Philadelphia rolls. Everything was delicious! I would definitely come back, I have more to try!
Decided to check this place out on Saturday because I have been trying to use up all the <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a> certificates I have.
I read some Yelp reviews before I went there, but I usually don't take them to heart....a lot of people are just SUPER picky buttholes and don't let themselves enjoy anything.
Upon walking in the place is big and very nicely decorated. I love all the big pieces of artwork on the walls. For a Saturday night at about 8:30 PM I thought it would be more live, but at one point me and my mother were the only people in the restaurant. I wonder how they have stayed open for 3 years with this little clientele.
I actually thought the food was very good. None of my fish was "chewy" and it was all very fresh. Â I had the sashimi dinner which came with 10 pieces of sashimi and one Maki roll and it came to the table on this little boat which my mom absolutely adored and of course proceeded to take 75 pictures of. My mom's shrimp tempura roll and Beef Fried Rice were also delicious.
BYOB is great. Easy Street Parking.
I don't want to say anything bad about the service, but I kind of feel like my waitress needed to study up on her menu. When I asked her a couple things she always had to have me wait while she got the manager, she was very nice though.
To sum it up.....I would probably come again IF I had a coupon, but not just because. There are other sushi places that are way better in the city.
*The MENU selection is HUGEEEEEE...it needs to be scaled down some.*
Byob! Â Recommend (in order) Black pearl, volcano, krazy kana, rock roll. They have deals on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> and some mailers. Â Look out for one before you come.
Review Source:Miami maki was good.
White tuna sashimi didn't melt in my mouth like should a bit chewy, and that's strange when you are eating raw fish.
Sumo godzilla roll was pretty with red green roe. Â This roll was on the sweet side.
Samurai maki good but did taste a little fishy initially - not a good sushi quality.
Miso soup wasn't tasty and way too many scallions.
Beautiful presentation but overall the food needs improvement. Â Ingredients didn't taste as fresh and crisp as it should. Â Say no to mushy sushi!
Ginger was dry and prolly old.
I will give a better rating if the next time improves. Kinda pricy but large servings.
Had a Groupon  $50 value  for $25 cost, that I bought without knowing anything about the place.  I dont really understand why this has so many negative comments--One thing, is they had no business the Sunday night at 6-7 pm that we were there--I am serious--we were the only ones in the place.
Very nice restaurant with easy street parking
BYOB
EXCELLENT tempura exectuion--the Red Snapper Tempura was one of the best fried fish dishes anywhere
Very,very nice treatment in the place
Food is good and nicely presented
Not sure what is going on here--but at half price, it was 4 star Yay! Im a fan
My boyfriend and I went here because he had a Groupon that we wanted to use and we are big sushi fans. We came here on a week night and were the only people there. That was our first red flag.
The rolls were just terrible. They looked only slightly better than the ones that I made myself at a sushi making class. The rolls were simply falling apart and you could tell that the person making the rolls is a novice. Additionally, the rolls were lacking flavor, indicating that they have a lack of high quality ingredients. For the prices on the menu, we were expecting a mid-range sushi place. I now realize they must have huge overhead in rent and by having no patrons, are forced to have low quality sushi with a mid-range price tag.
We ordered a rainbow roll, volcano, sumo godzilla, big chicago, and the tropical mango maki. We absolutely love mango on sushi, so we were very excited about the Tropical Mango - it was the worst one we tried. The Volcano was the best, and even that was just mediocre. The rest were just bland.
Bottom line, save your money and calories for sushi that is actually worth it!
The reviews scared me, but do not be deterred! The "neon lights" were paper lamps, the light color changed every so often. Â I liked the open atmosphere. Not the quietest restaurant but I Â thought it was good for groups. There were some rolls that were bland...but not ALL of them! All the tempura ones were good.
Our waitress, K, was friendly, and nice.
I bought the Groupon and was looking forward to trying out somewhere new. This place is great. I brought 5 friends with me and we bought a ton of food! The food was honestly so delicious. I love the sushi coming out on a boat. It's so creative and just really adds to the atmosphere. It was very clean and a really nice open space. I hate sushi places where you're basically sitting on your neighbors lap. Here you can actually have a conversation without having your neighbor on top of you!
We had Franco (sp?) as our waiter and he was very nice. He helped us make great food choices and everything came out really quickly.
Look forward to going back!!
I went here with a girlfriend for dinner on a weeknight, thanks to a Groupon.
It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything to really write home about either, and I honestly don't know that I'd go back if only for the prices -- the rent on this restaurant must be pretty astronomical (it's huge, but at 7pm there was virtually no one there - just us and two other tables), since rolls like spicy tuna (so, one ingredient + sriracha) are $9.
If you're more interested in rolls that have more than one ingredient, expect $13 -- and they're not huge rolls with a lot of pieces or anything, just the standard 8. The sushi was good, but I felt kind of silly paying $12 for a California roll that had superthin pieces of salmon laid on top, and $4 for a bowl of miso soup is kind of nuts.
Overall, for the $40 groupon we got three rolls to share and 1 bowl of soup for $41.
It's nice that its byob with no corking fee, but after my friend and I were finished eating, we waited a good 15 minutes to even see the waitress again; she took our dishes, asked if we wanted anything else ("no thanks, we're all set"), and tended to the two other tables (bringing out just one plate of food and a check), disappearing in between, not even looking at our table to see if we might want the check.
Overall, it was decent sushi, but way overpriced for what it is -- and where it is -- and the service was sort of slow.
After a long break from yelp, the experience I had yesterday inspired me to write again. What can I say positive about the dining experience I had at Katakana & Koko's the other day... Well, the water was good. It had ice in it. The shitty sushi came in a little boat which was nice. Everything else was horrible.
Let's start with the drinks. I ordered a lemonade and my bf ordered an iced tea. His first words after taking a sip were "that's not iced tea". I laughed and took a drink of my lemonade. It was not what I was expecting. It was carbonated, acidic and just undrinkable. I spit it out. When the waitress came back, we tried to be nice and asked for new drinks- a coke and a sprite. She came back with 1 glass of coke, obviously confused. We decided to just share it and move on at this point.
Next, the sushi arrived. It came on a little wooden boat which was cool. The boat was the coolest part of this restaurant. The sushi was...how can I say this....completely flavorless. It was ill prepared, kept falling apart, overpriced, unsatisfying.... We spent the majority of our time there talking about how awful it was and how we wished we would have been smart and went to the bbq shack across the street. How romantic.
Also, the music was horrible.  It was like Clay AIken station on Pandora radio. I almost wanted to ask for a steak knife so I could slit my wrists. There was not another customer in the restaurant and yet 2 disco  balls hung precariously above the sushi station.
Why did I think getting a groupon for a random sushi place was a good idea? I read reviews on here and I doubted you. Sorry Yelp, I won't make that mistake again. We were trying to save money and we ended up getting charged $75 for a sushi lunch somehow and when we tried to explain to the waitress that the numbers were off, she didn't understand. We were so annoyed we decided to chalk it up as a loss and get away from that horrible place. We left the restaurant and spent the next 20 minutes trying to guess her nationality as she barely spoke English.
To sum it up:
Sushi: BAD
Lemonade: BAD
Iced Tea: BAD
Service: BAD
Music: BAD
Miso Soup: Decent
Price: Waste of $$, I feel sick. But, the ice water was excellent.
I'm going to get my gripes out of the way first. Â It's always cold and service can be slow (which is expected when there's 1 waitress and 10 tables). Â However, I actually really enjoy this place. Â It's close enough to me, the owner is a really nice guy and the waitresses are always very apologetic if it's taking too long. Â On the upside, they're very friendly and patient and love recommending sushi to my mother. Â
I've had several dishes (rice, noodles, sushi, appetizers, entrees) and the only thing I've had that I wasn't crazy about was the scallops. Â It's not that they were bad, they just weren't as memorable as other things I've had. Â Then again, the asparagus that accompanied it was so flavorful and cooked perfectly for my tastes (not too hard but not overly soft), this could be why I wasn't as crazy about the scallops.
It took me awhile to finally come here, but I'm glad I finally have as it's not only filling, but it's good as well. Â I just wish it wasn't always so cold. Â Granted, the heat does come on, but because it's such a large space, it ends up cold again. Â I've learned to just bring an extra hoodie.
Went here for an anniversary dinner.
First of all, im not sure why everyone is complaining about the service, it was great. the waitress was very nice, and she knew the menu. Â In fact, Â i enjoyed our service because she did not come up to us every 2 minutes, which i find very annoying when it happens.
that said, there were things i wasnt thrilled about.
1) it was a bit chilly inside. To be fair, we chose to sit by a window with a metal frame (cold), but there was a vent above us, and when it was starting up, it shot a nice breeze of cold air at us. It wasnt HORRIBLE, because after about 20 seconds the air warmed up, but still, that was weird.
The food...it was okay. Wasn't anything special. Tasted kind of plain to me, and im not a huge food snob.
The presentation of the food was amazing though. They brought us a swan made out of an apple before our desert, and may i say, it was pretty freaking sweet.
We had a youswoop (groupon type of thing), so we paid almost half off, which made it affordable, but its generally not that expensive. pretty average price as far as sushi places go.
it was good, i just wasn't amazed or thrilled about this place. Wouldn't mind coming back, but there are other sushi places i would rather go (Kin Japanese Restaurant)
So I stopped in for dinner on this rainy thursday evening and I was the only person there. My waitress greeted me at the door and sat me by the window. After a look through the menu I decided to ask for a recommendation, what ensued was the most unwarranted, rude comments I've ever received from anyone without being provoked.
she was very condescending and i stood up after dismissing her and took my beer and business to Brand BBQ Market, a place that values their customers.
Wow, money laundering establishments are the only other business that survives with 1-2 customers a day!! That's the usual headcount I see every time I drive by.
We ate there once had delivered the other time. Had to call to cancel the delivery after 50 minutes of no-show...I live 0.2 miles away. The rolls are ok, but too much flare and not enough content. I want to eat rolls, not decorate my stomach with them.
Don't go to this restaurant on a Sunday.
I ended up reserving a table for two for Sunday, in advance. Their website said they were open at 11am on Sundays. We arrived around noon and the place was still closed. I called their number and asked to speak to the manager. Unfortunately for me, the manager said they were still closed because of a wedding last night and was completely unapologetic. I felt like the manager was trying real hard to say "oh well, that's the way it is, get over it."
When we got there, there was no sign on the door stating why they were closed, I had to find out from a "manager" who gave me attitude. It's as if they think they're the only good sushi restaurant in Chicago. And it's a shame because I will never be going there for my sushi now. I'll stick to Agami and Sushi Luxe, thank you.
If there was an option to give a half star, I'd still have to think about it.
Save your time and energy on a better place.
I used to live a stone's throw from this place, and when it opened up I danced and cheered in the streets because I don't feel like going out of my way to get sushi, alright?
I've been here a handful of times now (I live about a 5 minute bike ride from here now...couldn't stay away!) and while I see what fellow Yelp-ers might be complaining about...I still think this place is pretty great.
I LIKE the fact that I can always walk in here and get seated. Yeah, its huge and always empty, but why should we complain about that? I've always had lovely service and the wait for food has never been that long.
If you like pleasing your tastebuds, get the Sumo Godzilla Roll. Then come back and thank me.
Yeah, I do think everything is pretty overpriced, but I appreciate the fact that it's BYOB and they go out of their way to pour wine for you. Plus they have always given us a 20% coupon to return with.
My mouth is literally watering right now thinking of their rolls. You should go. It's delicious.
I had a great experience here. Â After my sister and I each bought Buyitwithme coupons ($25 for $50), they said we could use both of them at the same time. Â Between six people, our bill was only $85, and we only used one coupon. Â So we will be back to use the other.
I do think most items on the menu are overpriced. Â The sushi was pretty good, nothing fancy...even the fancy named ones with a gagillion ingredients. Â Our server was very sweet and on top of things. Â One thing that did bother me was that everything on the maki menu had basically the same ingredients, just written in different order, with different prices. Â The menu was waaay too big in my opinion, I think they should narrow things down, or make a "make your own maki" option. Â
Also, they spelled "Traditional," with a c, "Tradicional," making us think this was a Mexican Japanese place. Â The decor is really nice as well, a very open and bright space with.
Which would you like first... the good or the bad? Â
The good:
The place is beautiful and its located next to a Tastee-Freeze. Â Its location stretched my safety limitations farther west than normal, but overall it wasn't that horrible. Â There were only 2 other couples in the restaurant so we had our pick as to where we wanted to be seated. Â We chose the bar. Â Also at the end of our meal, they gave us 20% off our next meal (not so bad seeing as we have 2 more deal of the days to use)...
... and on to the bad
The bad:
Our server was extremely sweet, but seemed to be confused or just uneducated when it came to the menu. Â We would ask questions and she had no idea what we were talking about. Â For starters we ordered the Chilean sea bass and beef pot stickers. Â The sea bass was very salty, but the asparagus that came with it was really good. Â Our server forgot to give us our pot stickers - we had to remind her and received them at the end of our meal. Â We ordered a bunch of different maki (that didn't look that fresh in the glass case), the fire cracker maki being the best. Â It comes in a large pirate ship, which to be honest, really threw me off. Â
Here we are sitting in a really nicely designed restaurant and out comes our food on a giant pirate ship? Â Seems really off kilter even for me. Â When we got the check, we saw they added 18% gratuity, which seemed odd because there were only two of us. Â The service was 15% at best, considering she forgot one of our plates and was unhelpful when it came to the menu. Â
the reaaaaaal bad:
There were sharp spoke like things underneath the bar top that were a nuisance and painful. Â When the sushi chef came around to see what I was talking about, I noticed a swastika tattoo on his wrist. Â It was on the smaller side, but lets be honest, there are no such things as small swastikas. Â He tried to put his hands behind his back, because I was STARING - probably gawking, but its really unfortunate because the chef was actually really nice. Â My boyfriend and dining companion is Jewish, and he tried to rationalize the situation. Â I was very irked by it. Â The chef had other noticeably gang related tattoos and I would recommend to the owner to provide him with the proper cover up.
The only redeemable qualities were the friendliness of the staff and cleanliness of the dining area.
The food was horrible. The ingredients were not fresh. Even the pickled ginger lacked flavour.
My boyfriend and I had just moved into the neighbourhood and wanted some quick and easy food. The place wasn't crowded, which I'd signalled to my boyfriend as a bad sign. He argued that we were eating early and that it may not be that bad. Oh, but was it ever!
The spicy California maki had imitation crab meat. The California sunset maki had salmon on it that actually smelt fishy. Now, I am not an expert, but I know that salmon, when fresh, is pretty much odourless. And when a fishy odour is coming off the fish, it's a sign the stuff is no good. And yet it was being served?! The Red Dragon maki was tasteless.
We didn't finish our meal and left $45 (after tax and tip) later, hungry and incredibly disappointed. For the prices they charge, you would think you'd get passable food. This stuff wasn't even worth consuming, it was just that bad. They give out 'coupons' for 20% off your next visit. This must be the ONLY way they can get people to come back.
If I could give this place NO stars, I would have.
The same old american-ized sushi joint. An excessive-compulsive list of rolls that attemps sophistication with the unfitting word: "maki".
While everyone ordered a roll, I chose the sashimi dinner. Folks, if you want to know how good a Japanese place is, order nigiri or sashimi, and let the chef choose (omakase-style). Rolls drenched with sauce conceals the quality of the fish, and cannot serve as an accurate measure.
Sashimi dinner was listed on the at $25 with 9 piece of sashimi, 8 nigiri, and a roll. And the sashimi (real thin) came, and the roll in an awkward martini glass (what?), but the nigiri was missing. When I questioned the waitress, she said that she "should of told me" it was a mistake on the menu - the 8 nigiri was actually not part of the set.
I'm sorry, but negative points should be allowed on yelp. This is beyond a waste of money. Thank goodness we went there just to use our <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> certificate that made the meal half off.
Without going into the strange and bizzare decor, or the irregular intervals of service, or the pirate boat on which they serve your rolls (again, what?), I can firmly say that this place should deserve half a star.
I called to see if they had inari. I explained what that was (because they did not know) and was told that inari is Korean not Japanese. Not being Korean or Japanese, I could not argue. I explained to the guy on the phone what I was looking for (rice in a fried tofu pocket), and he said in Japan that is called oyako don. I took his word for it. I was coming from the train and picked it up. Upon entering an unidentifiable cleanser odor (yes, odor, not smell) overwhelmed me.
In all fairness about the dish itself (upon being given a huge bag), I should have noticed that it was a bit big for what I was looking for, but on the phone he said it was a big portion. When I got home it was a tofu and vegetable fried rice dish. I decided to give it a shot. Not what I wanted at all. The tofu had that icky waterlogged texture still. It was overly sweet.
I then looked up inari on the Internet and found that all the places and definitions that I googled classify the dish as Japanese and not Korean.
As much as I want to support local businesses, local businesses should present themselves in a manner where locals would want to support them. I will not be back.
Were going nearby and wife needed sushi, so took a chance on Katakana. Here's our take since there are so many mixed reviews.
Place: sleek, nice paintings, lighting, music. somewhat empty on a Saturday night. Large space. Nice date place or a place for a large amount of people.
Service: decent. nice set up for your BYOB seekers. Brought a bucket of ice for our bottle of white wine. give you regular wine glasses.
Food: We read the web site and were impressed by the background of the owner / chef. Web site indicates he has years of training in Japan and so forth. The Japanese food we had was excellent. House salad had a nice flavor, lots of cucumbers. Gyoza were some of the best we've had. Nice and meaty, lots of flavor. Scallops with green beans had great flavor and the sauce was very tasty. By this time were were scratching our heads at the negative reviews..........then came the sushi.....
Sushi: Had three rolls, all had that matted store-like-sushi rice. The rice is the downfall here. They use that Trader Joe's, cold matted rice....and it was very thick around the sushi. By the time we stripped off the rice, the rolls were moderately tasty. Not the best, but not the worse we've had.
Summary: This is a good place for Japanese food. We wish we ordered the entrees instead of the sushi. If you are a sushi hound, my guess is that you will be disappointed. If you like creative flavors and really good Japanese food and BYOB, you'll be pleased.
Hope our take helps! Wish I read this review before our visit.
I love the  big open space and the service is wonderful.  It's also quite close to where I live and reasonably priced.  The menu is expansive and it's BYOB.
It is cold in here. They try to help with space heaters but dress warm and if you get cold easily stay away from the windows. :)
This structure would make an awesome sports bar or bar & grill type place. Â Unfortunately, the experience here does not come with sports, charred meats OR a bar! Â What they provide is second-rate sushi. Â The fish is far from fresh, and they mask this with a boatload of condiments. Â This is not to say that the food is unedible, but it's just not good. Â Enjoy an excerpt taken from their website below:
"Katakana is committed to serving only the finest foods, made with the freshest ingredients. All of our dishes are made from scratch. Our traditional d?cor and friendly servers create a memorable dining experience. Wellington's is committed to serving only the finest foods, made with the freshest ingredients. All of our dishes are made from scratch. Our inviting d?cor and professional servers create a memorable dining experience."
Did they really copy and paste a phrase from someone else's website?! Â Katakana and Koko seems to be an afterthought, not the dream of a passionate chef or restaurant owner.
Oh come on, people! This place is NOT THAT bad.
My husband and I came here for a quick lunch today. For appetizers, we got a tuna sashimi and a salmon nigiri. I ordered the Volcano Roll (highly recommend) and the Shrimp Tempura Roll. My husband ordered the Grilled Steak entree. The food and service were A-OK. I love how they leave a pitcher of water at your table so you're not stuck flagging the server down.
I'm taking a star off for only providing one piece of sashimi/nigiri per order. Most places I've been to provide two pieces per order. Obviously, the latter is preferable. The other star off is for the competition. I mean, let's be frank -- there are better sushi joints out there in a similar price range. However, I still think this place deserves some respect though. Just my two cents.
A weekday evening and the place was a ghost town. Two visible staff members and a couple at the sushi bar who may have actually been part of the staff too, I couldn't really tell.
I imagine that this restaurant got a deal on keeping all of the old decor and furniture from the previous restaurant that went out of business. Thus the odd mixture of items throughout the restaurant. Like the wall art, the Latin furniture, visible ventilation design, club music, and the neon lights. Damn these lights. Throughout our meal the color-changing LEDs made it impossible to discern what we were eating just by sight alone. "Is that cheese? Is that lettuce? No wait, it was a carrot! ...or was it? :("
The leftover music was all a generic club remix from last year, not that I expect the latest in bumping beats or hip hop at a sushi restaurant, but it was clearly old and generically remixed work that probably belonged to the club/restaurant that previously inhabited this cursed location. The music fit the ambiance in that the restaurant didn't care what sort of dining experience it delivered so long as it keep barely afloat and trick enough customers to coming in.
While the staff didn't care, they were polite at the very least. Although they brought out my companions appetizer first. And then her complimentary roll. And then her entree. After several minutes - tadah! My appetizer showed up. But wait, my entree was clever and claimed to be fashionably late to the party.
Oh beef don, how coy of you. If only you had tried to gussy yourself up a bit instead of being a microwave meal that Costco sells in an economically sound whole sale size. I surprised myself at how amused I was that my $12 entree was actually just a microwave meal. Egg, beef, onions, egg and bell peppers do not have the same texture unless they've been processed, frozen and reheated together. Although, I must give credit where it's due. The sauce was freshly poured out of the Kikkoman bottle right before exiting the kitchen so it was fresh and ready for my mouth.
The salad that came with my companion's entree was not fresh. But at least it was plentiful. It could be found in the salad itself suggestively coated in ginger dressing and cheese. It was also located under the tonkatsu. And it was even under my appetizer! It almost seems like they overstocked and couldn't figure out what to do with it! No, that'd be tasteless! Surely they thought it was a good idea to decorate all the meals with it, and let me tell you! It was beautiful, you know, if I were blind.
Boy, but we did get a margarita glass full of blue mints. And the parking in the area is free! See, redeeming qualities!
You may criticize me for not picking the sushi, but I had wished to avoid food poisoning. I didn't personally sample the fish, but nothing in the sushi bar actually looked fresh. Or less than several days old. And if the restaurant didn't think a menu was good, they wouldn't include it on the menu, right? Man, when much of your meal is frozen, microwaved food, your profit margin must be huge. Without this intense markup, how else are they going to make a profit?
Come here for the finest neighborhood microwaved food, blue mints and free parking. Oh, the water was free too.
Barf city, population Katakana & Koko. Â I signed up for Yelp just so I could warn hungry Chicagoans. Â Extremely overpriced for what it is. Â I had one roll and miso soup for a whopping $17, a price that I could have paid to have a YUMMY meal for two with a nice boy down the street at somewhere worthwhile like 90 Mile or Revolution Brewery. Â Or I could have FEASTED with said nice boy at Tastee Freez for that matter, and had a better meal. I'm not a gastronomical genius by any means, so if you read this and think "muh" and want to try it for yourself, by all means!! Don't say I didn't tell ya so. Â
The upside: (warning, extreme sarcasm ahead) this summer there will be a b.y.o.b. lounge in the basement!! But you have to spend $20 on gross sushi to be allowed to sit down there and listen to the music and do your dancing with the booze that you bring. Â I have a "b.y.o.b. lounge" too, it's called my apartment. Â And it has better food, music, and probably a better dance party for FREE (though, now I'm just speculating, which is unfair to Katakana & Koko).
Sigh.
My personal review of this joint would be three stars, but that's because I'm a Chicagoan. As a Chicagoan-til-Chicago-ends (the only Kanye quote I ever utter), I don't quite get this place. I'm a little fascinated with this place as a rather delicious oddity, but it's an oddity. Still, I'm trying to be the less-dignified Roger Ebert of Yelpers: I try not to review places based on my personal taste, but on its objective appeal and execution, particularly with regard to its intended audience (not me).
In short: I'm gonna be fair.
Katakana & Koko is really good at being what it is, if not a little clumsy. The joint's clearly filling the shell of what was once a Mexican restaurant, but hey, it's a recession. Business loans don't come easy. Give 'em time. They've spit-polished what they've got and refurnished the place very comfortably and slickly, which brings us to what seems to turn most people off: the slickness.
This place would fit in very well in Seattle or San Francisco, where the trendy joint is more often merged with a sushi bar. Some pretty random stuff plays on large screens on the walls, and some of the decor clearly states they'd like to find a dual use as a light entertainment venue (and the space is segregated rather well for the purpose). This isn't a Chicago thing. Chicagoans will be weirded out by it. Chicagoans should chill the hell out.
The food is very fresh - which goes a long way with me - and while it doesn't always come out quickly, did I mention fresh? The prices aren't bargain basement, but the portions are very, very generous -- bring a date, split $20-30 worth of grub, and you won't go home and snack.
The staff are very, very polite and accomodating, though they're still a little green at their new gig. Again, I think this is something that will improve with time, as this place is very new, and very quirky. I like quirky.
The very picky aren't going to like this place, but if you're looking to get some decent sushi with company in a casual space, and aren't in the mood to be shoulder-to-shoulder with your typical Urban Sushi Douchebags, this place is a solid bet. They'll grow into the fourth star.
Let me tell you how excited I was to see a new sushi place come into Logan Square!! Â Especially a BYOB.
I went on a Friday night with 2 friends, kind of odd because were basically the only ones in the place, but I guess it was still on the newer side. Â Overall the experience was alright, however, a bit bothersome as upon dining there was one of the review companies (not yelp) in the place taking pictures of us & they were all up in our faces and didn't even ask our permission or offer to comp anything...jeez without us, there'd only be staff in there for their pictures.
The service was okay, however the waitress was a bit on the slower side. Â The food was good, seemed fresh and there are lots of good rolls to choose from. Â
The decor is a bit odd and doesn't seem like a typical sushi place, but good for them for not following the trend. Â Also, their menu had numerous typos which doesn't leave a good impression and is very sloppy.
I'll have to try this place again since now they've been in the swing of things a bit longer.
I have been to many sushi restaurants in Chicago. Let me tell you this was the worst place that I have EVER eaten at in my life.
These rolls were big as my thumb (and I have small hands).
Second the prices on the menu did not match the quality of the food. Quality? Does this restaurant know what that word means.
I suggest anyone, especially if you have never tried sushi before, to not patronize this establishment, Â
Furthermore, even though this place is in the neighborhood, I still know that I have to got out of the neighborhood for even satisfying sushi.
In rating this place I gave it one star cause that is the lowest rating this system will allow. It is barely worth a half a point.
The menu is overpriced and the portions are fit for a newborn child.
Have you ever wanted to try a sushi place with overpriced, tasteless rolls? Â Then head on over to Katakana & Koko. Â
There was not one specialty roll under $10. Â Even their basic maki rolls (yellowtail w/scallion) were averaging $8. Â I closed my eyes and made a wish that this would have been the best sushi ever! Â Twas not.
The rice for the rolls was dry and had no flavor. Â I had to double check to make sure I had fish in my roll as it literally had no taste. Â I know fish isn't supposed to smell "fishy" or taste "fishy", but it is supposed to have flavor. Â
Do you also want super slow service along with a bizarre atmosphere? Â Then Katakana & Koko is the place for you. Â
We waited over an hour for our order and we were a table of six. Â The place wasn't remotely busy and we didn't order anything cooked. Â Our server was nice and I can't fault her for a slow chef.
The decor seems to be left over from its former incarnation of Katakana Fiesta. Â Exposed brick with faux bricks painted next to it. Â The arched doorways had the faux brick to make it looked like a the plaster was cracked. Â I did not feel like I was in a modern Asian restaurant. Â I felt like I was in a Mexican Cantina. Â
Our group left feeling hungry and cheated. Â In fact, I'm starting to wonder if the restaurant should have paid me to eat there,
One of my resolutions for 2010 is to become a true pescetarian. I've been a flexipescetarian for about a year now. That's actually the nice way of saying that I steal the fishy maki of my dining partners (sometimes trading veggie maki along the way). When a group of six of us decided to try out the new sushi place in Logan Square, I decided that this was the day I would order my own fish!
Looks like I either chose the exact right or exact wrong place to transition. You can't taste the fish here.
Actually, you can't taste any of the ingredients on a lot of their rolls. I got the Mexican Maki (which I guess is a fusion dish since this used to be, and still looks like, a Mexican restaurant) - a bargain on this overpriced menu at $5.95 (most rolls are still in the double digits). Filled with hamachi tuna, avocado, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno, and chili sauce, I should have been able to taste something. I expected a spicy kick. I didn't even get a flavor.
I should have been wary of this place from the start based on their overly fashionable web site. I've discovered that if you can dance to a sushi place's web site, they're usually overcompensating for some really bad maki. And this place is definitely trying to overcompensate for something by being super suave. They were actually projecting fashion shows onto one of the wall (and playing Sade throughout our meal). At least the lights weren't too dim to eat by.
But their worst crime against good taste (not counting the bad taste of the maki) was burning major amounts of incense. Sure maybe the smell of the incense is there to compensate for the lack of taste of the food but it just made things worse. Especially since the slow service had us sitting in the smell zone for hours!
Shockingly, the best roll of the night was actually one I stole from the other flexitarian at the table - the spinach roll. It was flavorful and tasted just like a spinach pie. Hmm...a veggie maki. Maybe I should reconsider my fish eating.
No, I should just never set foot in this place again.
Still, so help me, if they drive the Tastee Freez next door out of business in their quest to "fashionize" the neighborhood, they are losing their second star. That would for certain be a crime against simple common decency.
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