How can I count the ways to lose business
1. Tell customer to hold over 15 min and obviously forget about them.
2. Try to call back it goes straight to  voicemail for another 15. -one star
3. Another day again straight to voicemail. Seriously do they only have line.
4. In the areas anyway so stop by for takeout, food is just ok.
Onto a new place to try for sushi
I really wanted to like Shinju, especially since I live so close by, but my dining experiences here have only ranged from lackluster to extremely disappointing. The palatine maki I ordered has an overwhelming unpalatable taste because of the oshinko and when I picked out the salmon to have a look, the piece of fish was not only tiny but ill-prepared---cut so inexpertly that it looked like a dog had chewed it before it made its way into my roll.
I've also had the all-you-can-eat sushi option here, which is similarly lackluster. Normally I opt for nigiri when I do that, and none of the fish tastes that fresh. The pieces are also small and very heavy on the rice underneath. Appetizers are tasty but some (like the dumplings) taste like they came directly from a frozen package bought in Chinatown.
Go across the street to the sit-down for sushi---or better yet, make a trip that's worth your while and visit one of the myriad sushi options that are NOT in Hyde Park...
A wise man once said that if you go to a sushi buffet, you will leave unhappy. That wise man was me every time I went to Shinju.
It is a good unhappy though. I stuff myself full of
1. Salmon
2. Eel
3. Shu mai
4. Seaweed salad
5. Tamago
and then I am blissfully sad.
Those 5 are the best of the buffet. The rest you can do without, especially the new stuff on the pink pieces of paper.
Also, their bento boxes are tasty, but my memory of them has been clouded by a fog of regret.
Good food and nice atmosphere, but this place only gets 3 starts because of the service. At first we attributed the slow service to the fact that we told our server that we were waiting for the rest of our group to meet us at the restaurant. However, although there weren't that many people in the place, our server took so long after our group had assembled to take our order. Then, she botched our check and made out our bill to be $130 instead of the $90 it was supposed to be... quite a difference. If I hadn't caught it, we would've been gypped out of $40.
The servers also mentioned that the credit card machine was "broken" but that they could try... and came back to tell me that I was "very lucky" because there were no problems! Could it be that they just try to have customers pay in cash in order to avoid the fees from the credit card company...
All in all, $21 for all you can eat dinner with not-so-great service was not really worth it.
The best deal here is the all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner. Great variety of rolls, sushi, and appetizers- it's the perfect place to go when you're starving. The quality of the fish is so-so but this is compensated by the great services. Once, my friends and I stayed there until really late and it's pouring inside. The owner offered to drive us home (we live in Hyde Park). Definitely a very friendly restaurant and a lovely place to go for some tranquility.
Review Source:went to all you can eat on a week night with my fiance. we've been to many sushi places in chicago and have always been disappointed (based on our experiences in other major cities and even small ones all over america and canada) This place was another disappointment.
The service: sub-par, they forgot my entire order and didn't bother to even ask why i was sitting there while my dining partner was chowing down for 35 minutes. when they did finally re-take my order my appetite had been chipped away and so i ordered only a few rolls which still took another 15 minutes. The place was not busy, it was just after the dinner rush so it was half empty.
The food: made well, tasted good, kudos, the only reason i'm giving 3 stars instead of the 2 i had originally planned.
For a $50+ bill, i am again disappointed on the sushi front in Chicago & I will never come back here again.
Best place for sushi in Hyde Park! The servers are really nice and it's BYOB!
My favorite dish here is the Tofu teriyaki and vegetable tempura, which is $10 and comes with salad and rice and is super delicious! And big portions!
All-you-can-eat sushi is $20 which is a good deal if you have a huge appetite because you have to finish everything you order or you will be charged. My friend who opted for this option on the menu had a difficult time doing so.
Individual rolls are around $4, which are a really good size and not as small as the price might imply. The sushi is very tasty and the ambiance is cozy yet chic (for Hyde Park).
How do you mess up sushi?
Having tried sushi at one of the neighbouring sushi bars in Hyde Park, I wanted to try Shinju Sushi for comparison. I really don't know where to start. It may have been bad timing on my part, but the questionable greeting, having the main menu snatched before I opened it (I guess I was taking too long looking at the sushi menu too long), to the orders coming out instantaneously, the whole experience was off key.
The texture of the sushi was like that you would have after letting the sushi sit in the refrigerator for a day. It was also reminiscent of that which you get pre-packaged. Although the seafood in the sushi was not fishy, you could tell that the preparation had been done in advance and ready-to-server upon ordering. There is no other explanation, especially when as soon as you place your order the server comes back immediately with it. For the shrimp tempura maki and the unagi maki that I had, the sauce on both was much too sweet.
The prices are cheap and are inviting for the college students who have budget restrictions. But for those of us who have discriminating palates, Shinju Sushi is fine for a sample only.
was craving for sushi and wanted to try a new place. since i had this place bookmarked forever, it was a opportunity to give this place a try..this place is kind of small and when we went in, it wasn't busy..
took at look at their ayce menu and was a little disappointed.. every roll sounds plain except the 4 add-on roll to the menus which was santa, snow white, mini godzilla, and chicago fire...
my friend ordered his miso soup and when it came out.. it was very dark and he said it was the worst miso soup he has ever drank lol.. after we place out orders.. our waitress came back and said.. "this is a lot of rolls and she doesn't want to make too much sushi that we cant finish.. also said it would be $5 for each roll that's left on the plate".. me and my friend just looked at each other and said "oh that's fine.. we will finish it and we understand the charge for unfinished food"
another waitress brought our food out and said "you guys ordered too much food, so here is half of what you guys ordered.. if you guys want more.. just fill out another sheet.." wtf... haha... i thought we came to an agreement that we will finish it and if not.. we understand the charges... o well
the sushi wasn't that great compare to other sushi buffet.. their spider roll taste horrible, shrimp tempura was bad, snow white isn't great, santa was eh... the only 3 rolls we kind of enjoyed was the chicago fire, mini godzilla, and spicy scallop ... Â
one of the top worst sushi buffets I've been to... didnt like their service and didn't like their sushi... i would much rather go to house of sushi instead.. and i don't even like house of sushi...
Bad service on top of great food can make for a good restaurant - even a good experience to tell stories about. Conversely, crappy service along with mediocre food and bizarrely inflated prices can make for a horrible restaurant. Sad to say that Shinju is the latter type.
Their online order form was broken, so my order was just ignored. I would not have been informed of this had I not called them, which is criminal. And the food itself was way too expensive. $5 for a five piece roll. You have to spend well in excess of $30 to eat well. That said, the all you can eat lunches and dinners are good deals if you bring a laptop, some friends, and just hang out for three to four hours. But other than that, this place is too terrible to eat at. If only there were an actual sushi place in Hyde Park.
I am a huge fan!
I love their $20.99 all you can eat dinner. I have been there a couple of times when I am starving and I have loved it. You can order as many maki or nigiri as you want! Their spicy tuna is not that good neither is salmon skin roll. But the nigiris are pretty good. I have also tried not getting the all you can eat but the cost came close to $18. So, I recommend you go with the all you can eat dinner.
P.S. Their sushi has never sent me to a hospital.
Thumbs up:
service
food
prices
Thumbs down:
umm...nothing really
i'm no sushi guru (this is my first sushi in chicahhhgo) but it was good, and fairly reasonably priced. It was also BYOB, which is fun.
I think lunch buffet at $14.99 would be a great deal. I spent about $11 on two rolls and a single nigiri (sp??) thing and was almost full. Waitstaff was nice, and interior was cute. Not shabby for HP...
I am writing the review as i finished my sushi delivery order.
This place is a rip off. The food is meh but wayyy overpriced, Sashimi is as thinly cut as it can ever be. I bought $10 sushi and ended up having 6 piece of nigri and 3 pieces of sashimi that dont even match up to a normal piece of sashimi down town. I would never come here again.
And Hyde Park has other options for food.
P/s, the only good thing here is ice cream. But overpriced anyway.
Gross sushi. Shameless rip-off.
I ordered the sashimi and sushi combo for $17.95. This includes 4 pieces of sashimi, 4 pieces of nigiri, and a spicy tuna roll. The nigiri included one stick of imitation crab (yes, really) and one piece of omelet; only the two remaining pieces were actually fish. The tuna roll was made from a compressed fish paste, rather than actual pieces of tuna (U of C students, it's the same stuff they use at the Reynold's Club). This must be the cheapest possible way to produce a sushi roll that (technically) contains fish.
Come on! $17.95 isn't that cheap. If you have the misfortune to end up eating here, I'd suggest going with the $20 all-you-can-eat option. Then you can select the best of what they have rather than getting served the dregs.
The fish was also pretty bad, even by Hyde Park standards. Everything was chewy (not fresh) and unusually salty.
I love this place. I'm honestly a regular costumer. When they first opened I came like all the time. Now I've  restricted myself to coming once a month. lol.
The sushi is great and the prices are cheap. Wait, let me correct that last statement, I ONLY get the buffet style. Set price for lunch is $14.99 for dinner it's $20.99. You can order as much as you want and trust me it's way cheaper to get the buffet style. They make it to order when you fill out the sheet.
Now there is a catch, you have to finish everything; what you don't finish you have to pay for. So don't be like my cousin and order EVERYTHING because you can. He was an idiot and ended up being sick from eating too much. lmao.
Definitely recommend this place =}
For the price, Shinju is decent quality sushi; the fish is fresh, and the rolls, while un-inventive, are really well made. The service is always warm and personal, and it's a good choice for a casual lunch or dinner.
The eel and the whitefish are the best fish on the menu; I'm partial to the tempura rolls and the (real) crab as well. If you're a miso connoisseur I wouldn't order it here, as it's pretty salty and not very flavorful.
Service is always warm and friendly, and the food is the fastest sushi I've ever found that still manages some quality.
SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI
All you can eat is a good value if you're not a wimp.
Includes nigiri, which is nice. Â Was not a fan of the Chicago or the Boston Maki, however.
I also woke up the next day with a sushi hangover. Â Not super fun.
This is a pretty stellar all-you-can-eat sushi spot, pretty comparable to better known Sushi Para II or House of Sushi and Noodles in terms of price and quality.
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The sushi here isn't exceptional, but it's tasty, fresh, and super cheap. My favorite things on the menu are any of the spicy maki rolls, or the scallop and bacon salad.
In short, a good neighborhood spot that makes the Hyde Park dining scene a little better.
If you don't finish the all-you-can eat sushi, you don't get your free scoop of ice cream. :(
We almost found this out the hard way, but our server was nice enough to make an exception this time. Afterall, I think they  gave us an extra shrimp tempura roll which filled us up that we had to leave a whole roll untouched.  This normally would've meant no dessert and getting charged for that uneaten roll.  However, the waitress was kind enough to let it slide and brought our dessert!
For $14.99 and all you can sushi, you really can't complain. Â My fave was the futo maki roll and shrimp tempura roll. Â In addition we got the philly roll and california roll. Â The gyoza was really good and the miso soup was great, too. Â Our green teas and water were always refilled promptly. Â I really liked this place. Â We were SO stuffed after all that sushi!
In a month I get to say good riddance to Hyde Park living. Â Oh I've ate your average fair for far too long. Â Culinary mastery will never be put an article on this chunk of the city. Â But just as I make my escape what do I find, a sushi place that is cheap, tasty, and even has smiling servers. Â Feasting at this rare diamond in the rough I find that there is a glimmer of hope for the neighborhood after all. Â
Now I'm not one to complain that I didn't get the expensive stuff on the all you can eat or that they charged me an extra dollar because I didn't finish my edamame. Â My the green tea cup was always full, if not always hot, and my sushi came quicker than any other place I've been in Chicago. Â Shinju you do what you claim, no frills sushi for cheap, and for that I give you 5 stars.
It's been a while since I've added anything new to my list of AYCE sushi restaurants - and luckily a random search led me to this place, which is nice being on the SOUTHSIDE and all.
You have no idea how much it irks me to have to spend over an hour traveling up to the Northside just to get some all-you-can-eat sushi. Â Instead, it only took us about 35 minutes to get to the Hyde Park area. Â True, we got lost for about an hour and a half, leading to visiting many stores during this adventure, but all the walking and shopping made us even hungrier - and we were about to take it out on an unsuspecting sushi joint!
Once we found the place (hidden behind some large trees near Ribs 'n' Bibs), we entered and realized we were two out of four people in the establishment. Â During the entire time we were there, only three tables were ever populated. Â Well, more sushi for us, right?!?
(Follow along as the stars come and go!)
AYCE sushi - 4 stars right off the bat. Â We got our menu and pens and started marking off all the things we wanted to start with for Round 1.
Miso soup for starters, and I sadly had to agree that it was not served hot enough, which kinda ruined the experience. Â (-1 star) Â The gyoza, however, were quite awesome and may be some of the best I've ever had (+1 star).
It was at this point that we also got soda, and I was delighted that it was free refills and they served Mountain Dew (from their Pepsi fountain) which is something that I NEVER find in a sushi bar (+1 star). Â The glasses for the soda, however, were freakishly tall and comically were too tall for the standard straws we were given, leading to some hilarious fishing-for-straw action in-between our frequent free refills.
My free refills were frequent - somehow the waitress didn't like my girlfriend as much as I do and her service wasn't as great (-1 star for not loving my GF like I do).
Then there's the sushi. Â I was disappointed that all of the rolls available on the all-you-can-eat deal are on the "Classic Maki" section of the menu, which means we were unable to try any "Special House" rolls like the Volcano or Dragon or Gozzila [sic] or Sub Marine. Â It did, however, spare us from the American Maki which sadly features that processed American cheese (-1 star for keeping us from the good rolls - and for having American cheese sushi at all).
So anyway, we also got the Chicken Fingers and Spring Roll appetizers, which were good and strangely came with the same sweet/spicy sauce. Â And the nigiri sushi wasn't as rice-laden as some have claimed (+1 star for appetizers and nigiri). Â The maki sushi rolls were okay - nothing spectacular and nothing disgusting (that we tried). Â The only anomaly was the Christmas Maki which contains yellowtail, tuna, cucumber and red tobiko. Â I don't know how that equates to Christmas, but the overall taste was extremely bland, which was off-putting (-1 star).
Lastly, I have to make mention of the dessert and what I found in the bathroom. Â No, those two things have nothing to do with each other - probably going to regret phrasing the sentence like that. Â Anyway, if you survive your rounds of all-you-can-eat sushi and appetizers (we went 3 rounds and definitely each got our $21 worth), you are entitled to a scoop of ice cream (+1 star for desserts). Â They only have three flavors, though: chocolate, strawberry and green tea. Â My ice cream tasted exactly like standard Breyers ice cream, except my Breyers is kept at home in a way that doesn't result in annoying gritty ice chunks like theirs did (-1 star). Â Once we finished and paid, I got to head outside and tell my girlfriend about what I saw in the men's bathroom.
Apparently Shinju Sushi is okay with having their fuse box unlocked and located in the men's bathroom. Â Upon thinking a few blocks of bloating walking later, a dishonest person could theoretically wait until nightfall, order a lot of food, eat it all, then during a trip to the bathroom switch off all the fuses and escape in the ensuing darkness and chaos.
I'm an honest man, though. Â And a good tipper. Â Even during a non-stellar sushi meal. Â Because it was at least an all-you-can-eat sushi meal, and I'd like them to stay open, in order to convince more of my friends to get their asses over to the Southside because who doesn't love all-you-can-eat sushi?
Final tally: 3 stars. Â Still worth going, and it will still make my AYCE Sushi list. Â And we will likely be back as we continue to explore Hyde Park and find lots of good things about the Southside for the pleasure of rubbing it all in the noses of our Northside friends.
Shinju does what it does very well. It doesn't try to be some high-end sushi place- it serves reasonably priced sushi and appetizers.
The tempura sweet potato rolls are fabulous, and the rest of the sushi is pretty damn good - I've never been disappointed when I've gone here. The veggie tempura plate is huge for its $7 price tag, and excellent.
The $20 all-you-can-eat is great, and includes ice cream as well as almost their full menu to choose from. The Lunch all-you-can-eat is even cheaper, but has a smaller selection. It's a great deal for the student crowd this place caters to.
This place is awful. Â I brought my boyfriend here in the spring and we had both saved room for a delicious night of all-you-can-eat sushi, but we just ended up losing our appetites. Â Two main offenses:
1) I ordered tea and the tea I got was cold. Â So when the waitress came back, I asked if she could reheat it for me. Â When she came back with my cup, the tea was exactly the same - cold. Â What the heck? Â So again, I asked if she could microwave the tea. Â The waitress got visibly annoyed, grabbed my cup and left in a huff. Â Okay, I'm sorry to bother you twice, but it's not my fault, and I think as a paying customer my tea deserves to at least be warm.
2) Our sushi was bad. Â And by bad, I mean literally bad. Â It reeked of rotten seafood so badly that my boyfriend and I couldn't even try to stomach it, even though we hadn't eaten $20 worth of food yet. Â I ended up wrapping a whole bunch of sushi in a napkin and stuffing it in my purse (b/c you have to pay extra if you have leftovers). Â I threw it all out once we stepped out the door of Shinju, but I couldn't get the smell out of my purse without airing it out outside for a week and then scrubbing it down with soap.
I strongly discourage anyone from going to Shinju Sushi. Â I used to be a huge supporter, because when they just opened they were very gracious when we had a friend's birthday party there (that's why I gave 2 stars instead of 1). Â But people joked that maybe they were so nice only b/c they were new and trying to gain customers. Â SO TRUE. Â Once the customers came, they had no problem with compromising their customer service and serving rotten sushi.
Don't go. Â Just don't.
I placed a delivery order 30 minutes before their kitchen closed, and my doorbell rang 15 minutes after I got off the phone. Lovely!
The miso soup is delightful, and the vegetarian rolls are creative and tasty. Their dining area has now more than doubled since they bought the space next door, so no more crowding around the little knee-height tables, yay! They're also BYOB.
Sidenote: they have a couple of tropical fish tanks hanging around, which creeps me out.
Today, my friend and I were practically attacked by the waitress.
Let me start with saying that the food itself wasn't horrible. I ordered the miso soup, wakame (seaweed) salad, and a salmon roll. I was impressed with the prices of the place, and my friend ordered the $15 lunch buffet which was a great deal.
The miso soup was pretty salty, and my friend remarked that whenever she comes to the place, the taste always changes from bland to too salty. The salmon roll was okay-- I could tell that the sushi wasn't the freshest, but it was satisfying enough. I was in love with the seaweed salad and even small talked a little bit with the waitress, as we shared our praise for it. The slightly lemon flavored seaweed had a wonderful crunchy texture and was presented beautifully next to a large pile of thinly shaved carrots. There were also some salmon caviar on top which were tasty and added to the presentation.
Now when we came into the restaurant, the waitress explained that I couldn't eat from my friend's buffet because she was paying for it. We both agreed.
After we finished our meal, my friend had about 2 small pieces of the roll left over. She finished a massive 3-4 rolls, but had these two slices left over. She urged me to eat it, and I was hesitant, but just ate it for her.
Immediately the waitress comes over and begins to chide my friend like as if she were her mother, saying, "I saw you eat her food. You said you understood that you were going to be the only one eating that food. I will have to charge you extra for this!"
She left us baffled in our chairs, completely embarrassing my friend. She was turning red and was starting to apologize. The waitress returned to say, "I will have to charge you the price of an extra roll for that."
I began to see red. I normally don't like to become angry and argumentative, but I snapped back at her, "Wait a minute. That doesn't make any sense. I shouldn't have eaten that piece, but it's not like you are losing money. She didn't order more rolls just so I could eat it. She was going to throw it away. Would you have charged her if she didn't eat it and you threw it away?"
"No," the waitress said.
"Then why are you charging her extra? I could understand if she was ordering a bunch of rolls so that other people could eat it, but she was done and was going to throw it away! Why are you going to charge her?"
The waitress didn't have much to say. I asked for the check, and she came back and barked, "I didn't charge extra!" like as if she were doing us a substantial favor.
My anger was slightly subsiding, so after we paid, I decided to talk to her again and explained, "I understand I shouldn't have eaten my friend's pieces, but you can't treat people like the way you just did. My friend comes here very often, she loves the food here. But with your attitude, you'll lose customers."
"That's fine," she tartly replied. I was furious again, and we left without leaving a tip.
We were so upset that my friend didn't even get her usual green tea ice cream for dessert because she lost her appetite. This was probably the most unpleasant restaurant experience I've ever had in my life, and I think Shinju Restaurant would benefit greatly if they retrained their servers on customer service and general common-sense etiquette.
God!!!!
My feelings toward sushi are like what fellow yelper Tina B. feels toward fried chicken. Â When it's good, it's one of the best things on earth. Â When it's bad, it's still pretty damn good.
I had low expectations for Shinju when I walked in. Â As far as quality of food goes, they didn't quite smash those expectations to bits; they went up just a sliver above.
That's okay, because bad sushi is still delicious. Â But you get exactly what you pay for. Â Have you ever gone out for sushi and eaten a lot of food, and when you saw the bill were surprised by how SMALL it was? Â Neither have I, until I ate at Shinju Sushi.
I didn't opt for the all you can eat lunch - like most all you can eat situations, they're only a good deal if you eat a shit load and want to unbutton your pants afterward. Â I still ate a lot of food. Â I ate
Miso Soup
Two pieces of Saba Mackeral Nigiri
One Spicy Tuna Roll
One Vegetable Tempura Roll
Even I have the brains to not order anything special at a student sushi joint.
All for less than $16. Â
Plus, they were playing all this great old music which really did make me feel young again. Â Green Day. Â Smashing Pumpkins (the few upbeat songs they sang) Â I may have even heard some Shiela Divine. Â
Sigh. Â I was one of Sheila Divine's groupies. I worked for Roadrunner Records in exchange for free tickets and backstage passes to all their concerts. Â Those days . . .
By the time I headed out, they had started playing eighties music. Â I walked out to the tune of an acapella version of "Jessie's Girl."
Besides being an attentive sweetheart, my server sort of looked like one of my close high school friends. Â Well, we were close until the Sadie Hawkins dance of 1999, but that's a whole other story . . .
Point is, there's a young, feel good, cheap vibe. Â It's an inexpenive college sushi joint - nothing more, but still satisfying.
Shinju offers affordable, unpretentious, tasty sushi. As a vegan, I'm especially grateful for the robust vegetable sushi selection.
Many reviewers have complained about poor service, but I have found all the staff attentive and friendly. I admit that the place can feel like it's run by inexperienced staff. The owner, Buk, is in his mid 20's and just recently immigrated to the US from Thailand. I'm sure he will smooth out the rough edges over the next few years.
This is a definite 3.5 on my scale, but I'll give Shinju the benefit of doubt and bump them up to a 4 (until Yelp lets us put in half rankings).
I was visiting Chicago and my friend wanted to know what I wanted to eat. Despite my requests for deep dish, which we put off until later in my stay, we decided to go for all you can eat sushi. That always sounds good in theory, and hearing from him that they made the sushi as you ordered (and not buffet style, that's a recipe for disaster), I was sold.
It's a tiny place in a relatively non descript, quiet part of south Chicago. It was pretty full when me and my friend came for dinner, so expect a wait if you have a big party. Having been a sushi snob most of my life, I wasn't super impressed by the roll selection, nothing bad of course, just nothing fancy.
In any case, since we were doing all you can eat, there was no need to be picking rolls. Go for the nigiri, that's where you'll make your money. So I settled on a round of 8 pieces of nigiri.
What I received was some of the blockiest pieces of sushi ever. And I mean blocky in that you got way too much rice. I get it, it's all you can eat, the restaurant needs to save money somewhere, but when it becomes an ordeal to eat that much rice, it gets to you. They were lucky that the fish was actually quite fresh and a pleasure to eat. It was just that the rice more often than not overpowered the fish. Sad times.
Still, I got what I came for, which was to be satisfied with my sushi. I was definitely feeling too full for anything after all that rice, so me and my friend waddled home, content. A good night, but not great.
If you're looking to get sushi from somewhere in Hyde Park, this is without a doubt your best option. I wouldn't necessarily call the sushi at Shinju "great"; Â rather, it's the lesser of two evils... or a few evils (Kikuya, Sit Down, and de Rice come to mind...).
My friends and I decided to order some sushi last night to accompany our night of drinking in... of course that idea came to mind at 9:50 PM. Remembering that Shinju opened recently, I looked up their website to find that they closed at 10:00. We quickly called, and they were more than happy to still deliver as long as we ordered immediately. Perhaps it was the state of the economy, or the fact that Shinju's key demographic, the U of C college student, was home for winter break, that caused them to readily accept our order 3 minutes before closing time. Regardless, we were quite thrilled, especially because of their rapid delivery (sometimes it pays to order right when people are trying to close for the night). If I was working there I probably would have told us to go to hell when we tried to order. Kudos to Shinju.
The maki itself was pretty decent. We ordered the christmas, volcano, shinju, chicago, spicy scallop, and spider maki. From what I tasted, everything was a little bland (except for the volcano roll: slather enough spicy mayo on + jalapeno and how can you not have flavor?) and nothing was really worth worth mentioning. Although everything seemed fairly fresh, the maki was just average, which for Hyde Park sushi, is a pretty big compliment.
My only real complaint was that the sushi was awkwardly packed into carryout containers and nothing was labeled, which makes it hard for 3 drunk people to differentiate between 6 different rolls, and their were no cups provided for the soy sauce.
Although I can't comment on the actual restaurant, the delivery seems to indicate good service and average maki, which is perfect when you're craving sushi and don't feel like trekking out of Hyde Park. Considering prices were reasonable and the sushi decent, I'd definitely order from Shinju again.
I have tried this place 3 times. actaully twice, the first time I went was the grand opening, and I was scared away by the crowd. Â the place is very small.
second time I went for lunch during weekday, and it wasn't bad. Â they had some ottoman and coffee table by the front door, which I think was a bad chooice. Â it takes up a lot of space, but doesn't really offer much seating. Â I mean, come on, who wants to eat sushi bending down.
I order couple maki rolls and they were decent, services was fast, I was really impressed by the miso soup, which had lots of tufu and kelp in it, A+.
Yesterday I went with a friend for lunch. we each had a teriyaki entree, which comes with miso soup, rice and house salad. I had chicken teriyaki, and wow, it was huge! and chicken breast grilled to perfection, very good. Â I also like the house salad with a spicy-mayo dressing, yum! Â my friend was impressed by Shrimp Tempura too, Â so I think we will definitely go back for these again.
The Midway, University of Chicago Laboratory School's stellar high school newspaper, was bursting with articles and interesting ideas today. However, the thing that immediately caught my eye was a full-page ad for Shinju Sushi. What? A new sushi place in Hyde Park? I must try it! First, I checked out the webpage. After wading through some link-less links and spelling errors, I decided that I liked the menu; it has quite a lot of options, from interesting salads to bento boxes, and better yet, the price was right! I was planning on ordering for take-out, but when the weather turned super lousy, I decided to order in. Despite what Yelp currently says, they do deliver!
I ordered miso soup, shumai, and spicy scallop rolls. There are quite a few interesting drinks on the menu involving flavored soda water and sweetened condensed milk (the Japanese answer to Bubble Tea?), but I ordered a diet coke (I only have skim milk in my house right now!). 40 minutes later, a nice young man rang my bell, came up to my apartment, and delivered me my food. He didn't even have to scratch my credit card number like other Hyde Park restaurants do when they deliver.
The miso soup serves 2. It was luke warm, which was a little upsetting, but I microwaved it. I love miso soup, and this was fine. It had a pleasant amount of kelp and tofu in it. The shumai were good, not too doughy. The accompanying dipping sauce had too much rice vinegar in it for me, which was disappointing, because normally I loooove dumpling sauce. The spicy scallop rolls, which were 6 for $4.95, looked like the rolls I buy at Whole Foods, but definitely tasted better. The spicy sauce was rather tasty, there was a generous amount of roe, and the scallop itself had a good texture. The cucumber added a nice crunch. They were quite generous with the soy sauce and wasabi. And the diet coke? Not a can, Â but a 12 oz. fountain drink size. That was a pleasant surprise!
One of these days I might actually get up to 53rd and eat at the restaurant. But for now, as I'm swamped in student work, I am grateful for the delivery service. Shinju is definitely an upgrade from the completely unprofessional vegan deli/veggie fast food joint that was there before (which I tried in vain to like), and really, isn't it just nice to have a new place in Hyde Park? Take that, you NIMBYs!
I came here with 2 of my girlfriends on Saturday. We got there about 6:00 p.m. and got a table. It is small in there. It started to get busy as it got later.
We all decided to get the all-you-can-eat. I tend not to like to do the all-you-can-eat because I know I can't eat that much, but decided to try it.
Sushi was ok, but it wasn't bad and wasn't great. I ordered the miso soup which was a bit salty. I had a piece of unagi (eel) and kani (crab). Unagi was nothing special. The crab was not fresh and my friend and I think it came from a can. I also got the unagi roll and chicago roll.
My friend ordered the seaweed salad and that was very good.
I do like how the all-you-can-eat offers appetizers, nigiri and makis. Most just offer makis for the all-you-can eat. Also, ice cream comes with it.
I don't like the small space. The waitress dropped some plates behind my friend and when we left and was at Target, she noticed it was splattered with liquid. I think it was soy sauce.
Also, saw the waitress getting ice from the soda machine and they were falling on the ground and she didn't even bother to clean it. A few customers were saying to watch for the ice.
They only came by once to asked if we wanted anything else or ice cream, but we were stuffed. I also felt like they gave us the check just to get us out of there since people were starting to wait.
Rule 1: Sushi is supposed to be fresh. Â
I sat across from the chefs and watched them pre-cut nigiri for lunch. Â They had just started doing the salmon, but there was fish in very small amounts already cut and I was the first customer. Â I suspected it was from the night before, and indeed when I got those cuts -- they were smelly. Â From that point on, I knew I would never return because I don't want to spend any time in the emergency room - and spoiled fish will send you there.
They put a huge amount of rice on the nigiri -- way more than any other place I have been - all intended to stop you from bankrupting them on the all you can eat menu. Â I ate half the rice, and got the talking to you've read about on other reviews. Â No hamachi on the lunch menu, fyi. Â They also don't have white tuna.
The rolls and hot items were all acceptable, but the nigiri is comparable if not worse than what one finds at the grocery store. Â All you can eat is always a scam at sushi places, and I should have known better - but now you do.
I'd give it a 'meh'. Â I still like chain restaurant Ra better. Â
I had the Sub Marine Roll, which tasted good, but they were out of ginger! Â
What the hell kind of reputable sushi place is out of ginger? Â That's like being out of mild sauce at Harold's Chicken Shack......like having an iPod with no earbuds...... a strip club with no poles. Â
ANYWAY, we had a language barrier similar to the lady who reviewed first, but the waitress was trying. Â
But then the check came and they did the no-no. Â They added the gratuity (there were 5 of us) before the tax.... therefore taxing the gratuity. Â Well I'll be! Â We did the math to see what the difference was and it wasn't appreciable enough for anyone to care, but we will remember for next time (if there is one) to check that. Â
Oh yeah, I also order calamari. Â They were fried with the kind of breading you use on cheese or fish sticks in grease that was obviously too hot. Â I don't know about you, but I'm not into calamari fried hard. Â I guess they weren't 'bad' they just could've been better. Â
Sushi-wise this place gets a C. Â
Service C- Â (we had to ask for silverware.....and it wasn't just silverware. we hadn't been provided with chopsticks either)
I'll prolly just stick with Ra or Shine til the new sushi place further west on 53rd (53rd & Kimbark I Â believe) opens.
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