Not the best around
The only thing decent about this place is that you can get apps, soups, sushi, nigiri, and sake for $3.
We ordered 6 different rolls. The rolls were nothing special, nothing stood out, and most of them were bland.
Our appetizer came out after all of our sushi was consumed and only after I had to remind the waitress that we ordered it. The tempura vegetables were decent but the ponzu sauce tasted watered down.
The service was slow. There was one waitress for the entire restaurant, it's a small place but at least 10+ tables. The atmosphere was nothing to remember. Not bad if you're starving and on a budget I guess.
I came here with one of my girlfriends and it was raining cats and dogs so I was not happy when I walked in. Once we sat down I was instantly in a better mood because the sushi was AMAZING! Got everything I wanted and my bill for 3 people (the other one came later) was $30 which consisted of 6 rolls, corkage fee, and edemame.
It will be really difficult for me to find another sushi restaurant better than this one in the city! Although its not the highest scale restaurant, my overall experience was perfect!
Came here for the first time with a couple friends and I was not disappointed.  The service  and  sushi were excellent.  I'm also a vegetarian and they had a great selection of vegetarian choices to pick from.  Very moderately priced too and i hear they have  great happy hour specials every day up until 7:00.
Review Source:Went here on a busy Valentine's evening. They don't take reservations for under 5 so we had to wait 10 minutes for a table. But the staff was attentive and courteous. The place itself is pretty small and apparently they have great happy hour specials, and after 7 30 the place was almost deserted. Not the most romantic atmosphere.
They have a pretty good selection of rolls and the nigiri/sashimi was all good. Having visited Japan, I can attest that it's obviously not as fresh, but it was still quality. The prices are decent for what you get and they have pretty much anything you can ask for.
Overall, another good sushi joint in Chicago. It's hard to judge them since they are all so good and there are so many of them. And, of course, it's BYOB.
Atmosphere: 7/10
Service: 9/10
Food: 8/10
If you like this place! I only can call u . U don't know sh!& about sushi then !!! Wow!! Eating sushi all my life . Love mostly the place I go to . But this place is like ...wtf !!!! I guess poeple like this place cause it cheap . And low class poeple don't know crap about good sushi . Sorry to say that , but seriously ....
Review Source:We had a good experience here on a Groupon and would definitely return, especially to try their happy hour special that runs through 7 PM. Â (It says "cash only" clearly in big type on the happy hour menu, btw.)
First, we had an excellent server and were pleased to find out that their daily special wine and beer prices were valid on the Groupon, even if the happy hour prices were not. No coupon or too late for happy hour? Â Don't worry, their regular menu prices are reasonable, e.g. $5 for an import bottle of beer. Â They also accept credit cards for anything except the happy hour specials.
Among the four of us we sampled steak teriyaki, tempura, vegetarian house noodles, miso soup (non vegetarian) and mushroom soup (vegetarian). Â Everything was very good. The only thing a bit on the meh side is the decor.
My boyfriend and I went here for dinner during their happy hour (12pm-7pm). Â We ordered five rolls and one seaweed salad, and our total bill was less than $20! Â Some of the other reviews made me nervous about the quality of the food, but I was more than pleasantly surprised. Â My favorite roll was the 312, which has sweet potato tempura and cream cheese. Â The decor was cute, the server was incredibly polite and attentive, and the presentation was very nice. Â We will definitely be returning!
Review Source:wow i wish i could give this less than 1!
this is my first review as a yelper and i am appalled by the level of service. I am a server and have been to yuki hana many times for their special sushi hour ( and have always tipped accordingly). However I was a guest tonight, that tried to pay with a credit card and got verbally harassed by a server named JAY ( how ever this might not be his real name because I asked him after the whole altercation). So i tried to pay with my card and he informed us that it was only cash, and we stated that we were paying $40, so was there any way we could pay with card, and he pointed across the street and said (there, go there, if you need cash, because as you read the menu says cash only). So we got up to get cash, as we see him pointing at us and telling the entire restaurant that we were crybaby's about having to pay cash.
All I can say as a server is that I have never in my life wanted to write such a negative comment on a restaurant that i have frequented so often.
I will never go back unless i know that Jay (or the guy with shaved dark hair) is gone.
crybaby's? really we are only customers asking a question about payment.
We usually love this place, I mean you get what you pay for but geeze a verbal assault? unnecessary ....because like you I pay my bills with tips... (crybaby)
I finally stopped in to Yuki Hana for a quick sushi dinner. I arrived around 8:00 on a Monday night and there were 4-5 small groups seated at tables. I sat down and was given a water and menu immediately. My server was very polite and came over as soon as I closed my menu to take my order.
I selected miso soup, a California roll and a Namasaki roll (salmon and avocado). My soup and rolls were delivered to me promptly at the same time. I wasn't overly impressed with the miso soup - I felt it was a bit too salty for my taste. Both of my rolls were fabulous! The California roll was fresh and balanced. The Namasaki roll included a generous serving of fresh salmon.
When it comes to sushi I prefer my rolls to be simple. That being said, freshness is the telling factor when I evaluate the quality of sushi at a restaurant. For my first trip, this place definitely lived up to my expectations.
I really enjoyed my trip to Yuki Hana and definitely will go back to try the Happy Hour special.
With so many good sushi places around, there's no reason to visit this place. Â Their rolls have little substance and drowned in sauce and tempura crumbs, making every roll tasting the same. Â The decor is bare and boring. Â Most high reviews are probably from people that can't appreciate good, fresh sushi.
Review Source:Yuki Hana is a cop-out for sushi. A lot of people think it's good, but it's so bad. Prices are really really cheap, especially during happy hour, but you def pay for what you get.
Most rolls are deep fried or drenched in sauce that you can't taste the fish. If you look at the rolls, the fish is so teeny tiny. They do offer some sashimi, but if they don't have quality meat in their rolls, I'm not going to bother trying.
It's also BYOB but they have a corking fee!
I would've given it 4 stars if the experience was based solely on the happy hour deal, which is fantastic. I went with my friends nearly weekly for happy hour, the sushi rolls are pretty good for the $3/role. However the last time we went, we were nickle and dimed for every last penny. We brought some wine, and a few beers... we are charged a cork fee, that's ok, must be new we thought...O wait 2 more cork fees? Really? First time we've been charged one, none the less 3. We asked our server about them and he said 'o ya they're new.' OK? We asked to speak with the other lady, we explained our problem and told her we came here quite frequently and if she wouldn't mind taking off one or two of the ridiculous cork fees. Her answer was in no way an english word... she said some mangled single word, shook her head (not in any particular way) and walked away. I gave it two stars, but after reliving the experience in my mind it has to be one. Ridiculous is the only word that comes to mind.
Review Source:My new favorite sushi place!!! I love Sushi and crave it all the time ... but my wallet doens't always love it! This place is perfect!!! During their happy hour EVERYTHING on the menu is $3!! I thought it had to be a lie .... but it isn't! I HIGHLY suggest the Chi Town Heat! Soooo Delicious! The service was great too! Can't beat $3/glass or $9/bottle of wine! :)
Review Source:Ive honestly tried sushi all over Chicago and haven't been too impressed :(
Yuki Hana I had heard about from a few people and said they have $3 rolls until 6!
Finally I went and it's so good! I have been 4 times since and plan on going more!
These rolls honestly are some of my favorite i've had
VOLCANO ROLL and CHI TOWN HEAT are both very delicious!
also BYOB and they have Saki, wine and Beer!
Just not much here to really make me want to go back. Â We walked in and stood in the middle of the restaurant for at least 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged that we were there. Â Service was slow and I felt like I had to search out my waiter when he was needed instead of him coming to us. Â
Food was ok but not great.
Happened upon this sushi bar/restaurant with my mom on our way back home. The happy hour 12-7pm deal is the best that I've seen int the city. $3 for 2 pc nigiri, a range of appetizers and specialty rolls which is where the best deal is to be had. Try the Kobra; it was the best out of the six rolls that we tried.
Also tried the mushroom soup which was too salty and seaweed salad which was a-ok; will definitely come back to take advantage of that happy hour special. Also BYOB! :D
I came here last night with a friend in an effort to use a groupon. Â The restaurant is small but seating was super easy- I walked in and they told me to take an open two top that was just sitting empty. Â I was quite happy about that because lots of small sushi restaurants won't seat you until your entire party is there. Â And even though my friend wasn't there yet, they still seated me right away.
When my friend arrived we decided on 4 rolls- and I must say, all were delish. Â We loved that they were all named after movies- Point Break, Iron Man, Psycho, Mortal Combat... pretty cool names. Â I was surprised they don't have a roll named Jaws though, to stick with the whole fish/movie theme. Â
I also liked that its BYOB.
My only suggestions are:
1. Work on the website- its kind of odd and awkward and not so user friendly. Â No hours are posted, nor is their reservations policy (apparently you need 5 or 6 people in your party to reserve a table). Â There is no info on their happy hour (which the Yelp community seems to love), nor does their website inform you that this famous happy hour is cash only. Â
2. The menus I've seen online are not the same menu that they had in the restaurant... so update your menu on your website so that I can order delivery/carry out!!!
3. Perhaps it's just my computer, but when I click the "menu" link here in yelp, it brings me not to their menu but to the menu of a restaurant called Midnight Express which appears to be a restaurant in Manhattan. Which I find less than helpful.
My dine- in experience was very nice- good service, BYOB, tasty rolls, and people seem to rave about their happy hour specials which I'd like to return to check out. Â I would definitely return, but I really wish they'd post an up-to-date menu online and fix the yelp menu link while they are at it!
After consider the food, service, and prices during sushi happy hour, I would sooner say this place is 3.5 out of 5 stars. I have only gone during sushi happy hour, but I've been a handful of times.
I enjoy their Flying Salmon, Volcano, and some other roll that I can't remember right now that includes super white tuna, and they are all $3 each during sushi happy hour between 12 and 7 pm every day. The food is fairly good, and the selection is not bad during happy hour, considering how cheap it is. The eel is pretty rubbery and small though, so don't get that.
The place is BYOB, but the servers are not consistent with the corkage fee policies. Sometimes, they've charged my party $5 per table, while others charge $5 per person. The service as a whole has been hit or miss.
* In the past few months, they changed their policy so they are cash only throughout happy hour, so come prepared!
So, this is a difficult one because I was going between 3 and 4 stars, so I'll just go right in the middle and say this place is a 3.5. The ONLY reason this place gets a 3.5 is because of their happy hour... which is just ridiculously awesome! I had a groupon here for awhile...which expired, so I was in the area and figured I would use what I paid for originally. Luckily, I had cash on me because happy hour is ONLY CASH. I had no idea about it, so for those who don't know, it's 12-7 everyday. I wasn't allowed to use my "value paid" because you can only use it for the full price menu, however, it ended up being way less with happy hour than if I used the $15 off I had. It was a little less than $30 with 3 rolls, a few sushi pieces, two smoothies, two mi-so soups, and edamame... how amazing is that?!
I am huge sushi buff, so this def does not get my vote for best sushi in town, however, it's not terrible ESP when paying only $3 per roll (including a few specialty rolls). I had the spicy mi-so soup that was well... spicy. And we both had delicious green tea smoothies which were only $2 each.
Service was eh... The girl didn't seem to be happy to be working there, let alone serving us. I had to remind her a few times about some of the items that we ordered, she also brought us the wrong drink, which she later exchanged for the right one but it took awhile. Also, the sushi took forever. We were going to a show after wards, so good thing we still had time because we would have been late.
Regardless of the slow service and the A-OK sushi, I will def be back, but only for happy hour because I can't imagine paying full price at this restaurant. It's def the best happy hour I encountered anywhere... :)
Swung by for some tasty sushi this past weekend. Â They still offer $3/$4 happy hour specials (Hello, saving money!) and it is still BYOB with no corkage fee (Again, saving more money!) Â
What was new?!? Â They redesigned the menu and many of the sushi rolls are named after movies. Â How awesome is that?!? Â We had the: Â Mortal Combat, Scarface, etc... Â As always, the fish was fresh and the rolls had a contemporary spin to them? Â
Will I be back?!? Â Yes, please! Â Perfect place to stop by on my way home from work.
I've only been here during Sushi happy hour, so I will preface my review with that.
I've been here 8-10 times by now in the last 6 months. Why?
Because for $3 per roll, and $3 for appetizers, you can actually get sushi of enjoyably quality, eat until you are satisfied, AND come in under $25 for 2 people. WIN.
It isn't the best sushi I've ever had, and I probably would be a bit more discerning if I was paying $12-13 for the specialty rolls instead of $3. But at that price, I am more than satisfied with the quality of the rolls. Over the course of visits, I've tried just about every regular and speciality roll. When my boyfriend and I come, we usually share 1 appetizer, and then between the 2 of us get 6-7 rolls to share.
Their Tempura fried rolls all tend to start to taste the same after awhile, but their sweet potato roll is a go to favorite every time.
I have started to research other sushi places since it is a trek to get to this one from Hyde Park, especially on the weekends. There is always  paid street parking available in the 2-3 surrounding blocks, and if you are in here before 7 you are going to get a steal.
If you are looking for a place to take someone who's new to sushi and get a chance to sample a lot of different flavors for a very reasonable price, this is the place to go. You'll be able to find those you like more or less without feeling like at $8-10 a roll you're out half a meal if you experimented with a new roll.
My friend and I came in last night because she had a Groupon (which ended up causing problems later...). Â Not a bad place, really. Â It has that generically chic thing going on. Â I'm a terribly picky eater, but even I thought the food was pretty good--I had the garden rolls and sneaked some of my friend's muugii bomb. Â For dessert, I wanted to have cheesecake, but they had run out. Â Same with the fried dough and chocolate mousse. Â I ended up trying mochi, which I found was pretty damn tasty.
The happy hour prices are fantastic, but because we had the Groupon, we had to order from the full-price menu. Â When my friend decided she didn't want to use the Groupon, we were told that it was too late, so that was kind of...eh. Â
Our waitress was really very sweet and helped out as much as she could with the Groupon dilemma. Â The problem was that the place was packed (hello, 7 on a Friday night) and they didn't have enough wait staff to go around. Â We spent a lot of time sitting around.
Next time I'd like to go during happy hour when it's not so busy. Â Otherwise, not the best spot to be if you're hungry and/or on a time crunch.
My boyfriend and I were super happy to stop in during the happy hour special last Friday. Everything we had was really good- we had 2 rolls, nigiri, an appetizer and a ton of drinks and everything came to $30. Uhmazing.
BUT! We stopped in just after 5--again, on a Friday--and were one of maybe three tables there. Really great, friendly service. But not even an hour later, the place was packed, a line out the door for a table and our service really suffered. I get that it's busy, but it didn't seem unmanageable and certainly not surprising considering happy hour goes until 7. Kinda disappointed, particularly after reading the other reviews. We waited forever for our check so we could leave- I felt bad that people waiting for a table had been giving us the stinkeye for looking like we were just sitting there--sorry dudes, wasn't our fault!
I went back to Yuki Hana on Saturday night to try some full-price sushi. Â The quality was still as good, but the service lacked all around. Â Plus, the full-price is over-priced. Â Thank goodness we had a Groupon.
Despite the $3 deals being over, the drink deals go all day. Â I'm still confused why this place is BYOB and also sells drinks, but that is neither here nor there. Â
The sushi was good enough but the problem was in the service. Â It took much to long to get someone to take our order and much much longer to get the food. Â We didn't get our miso soup for about 20 minutes, and then didn't get the salad until we asked for it a 2nd time... it arrived AFTER the sushi. Â We also asked for extra ginger since this place skimps on the ginger... too bad that ginger isn't useful AFTER you've eaten all the sushi because it takes them 45 minutes to bring the ginger over....
I'll go back to my regular haunts after this experience... unless I happen to catch the happy hour!
(Sung to the tune of Subway's $5 footlong)
$3. Â $3. Â $3 SUUUUUUUSHIIIIIIIIII.
Yep, that's right. Â Yuki has happy hour specials for $3. Â Not just sushi, but appetizers, drinks and soup. Â Most of the specialty rolls on the happy hour menu are fried, so if you are watching your waist-line, stick to the standard maki rolls that are fresh nigiri, seaweed and rice.
At 5 pm, the place was pretty deserted, but that could be a result that it was a holiday and it was still early evening. Â Kevin was our server and was very helpful with making his suggestions on his favorites. Â
Their Thai coffee smoothie is divine, flavored nicely and. Â The mango one that the bf had was ok, but dutily noted that it's not made of fresh fruit. Â
This is a nice quaint place to get some really great sushi. Â Parking is fairly easy, and there are tons of dessert places within walking distance
The B.Y.O.B. thing was the selling point, and it just went up from there. They have happy hour specials, that we had just missed, but oh well, we had huge bottles of beer to drink.
Ordered up some edamame, which was nothing too special, but what's new?
My companion got the "screaming samurai," which he enjoyed very much. And the name?! They had a lot of fun-named ones.
I ordered the vegetarian mushroom rolls, which I honestly hadn't seen before, and then I took it a step up by asking for wassabi inside, instead of the avocado, it normally is stuffed with.
SO GOOD! And the portion was bigger than I had imagined. I'm used to there being four - six rolls in an order. I think mine was closer to eight, and my companion's was closer to ten or twelve.
On top of the place being really nice, and intimate, the wait staff was super awesome. I tried to remember the name of our waitress, in particular, because she was so sweet, and put up with the two of us getting drunk and clowning!
If any of the business owners read this, she was the waitress working 12/27/2011, around 7-8pm. And she deserves a raise and/or bonus.
;)
My head was about to explode when I first heard about Yuki Hana; Happy Hour seven days a week from 12-7 with $3 appetizers, maki rolls, nigiri, plus BYOB. I was expecting a pot of gold and leprechauns to come out because it felt like I was at the end of a double rainbow.
Yuki hana translates to snow flower in Japanese. It's an appropriate name since this is a hidden gem. Located on the northern part of Clark St., it is easy to see why it is overlooked by its appearance and close proximity to many popular restaurants. Make no mistake, this place is as special as a real snow flower.
After devouring half of the menu, the true blossoms were Chi Town Heat, 312, and the Volcano maki rolls. For the nigiri, we couldn't help but order garlands of white tuna and unagi. For only $3 for two pieces of nigiri, you almost felt like you were getting a deal under the table. Both the texture and temperature of the fish and rice were spot on. I was expecting lower quality for the prices but that wasn't the case at all.
On the downside, there was only one sushi chef so it took some time for the food to come out. Also, the restaurant is quite small with an occupancy of probably less than 50. These are minor issues in comparison to the flourishing attributes of price and quality.
I went here for their happy hour special ($3 a roll or for two pieces of nigiri!). The selection is large, and their special rolls are very good. We ate a lot of sushi and probably would have paid less than we did if not for the large amounts of nigiri that were ordered. I'm guilty of getting a few, myself, so I won't complain too much. It was a bit slow seeing as how there was only one person working the sushi counter. However, the solution was simply to order more sushi before we were finished with our current bunch.
Normally, when I go to an all-you-can-eat or buffet sushi place, I'm left thinking, "that was okay for the price." That's not the case here. I was thoroughly happy with the rolls we ordered especially the Chicago Fire and the 312. I would say that the 312 was probably my favorite of the whole meal. It's, essentially, sweet potato fries done tempura style in a roll that's also fried and covered in spicy mayo and the sweet sauce normally found on eel. For our last call, a very wise friend of mine ordered two 312s. That was a very wise decision, indeed.
There's no doubt about it, I'll definitely come back here. I really can't believe the quality of sushi we got for the insanely low price.
Wonderful neighborhood sushi place with phenomenal prices during their happy hours. I like that you order in staggered fashion--if you're done with one maki, you can simply ask for another and it isn't a hassle for anyone. I wouldn't recommend their prices during their non-happy hours, but they aren't horribly overpriced.
The staff is friendly and the food is prepared quickly, and there aren't a whole lot of customers, so the atmosphere is relaxed and pretty quiet, with a great music mix. If you want an honest opinion about a specific menu item, the staff will give it to you.
BYOB
This place is one of those that I can take or leave. Everything was just mediocre, including the atmosphere, service, and food.
Nothing about the food really stands out. The speed with which our food came out was a bit slow, too, especially considering how dead it was at the time.
On the plus side, though, it is BYOB, and the sushi rolls are reasonable in price. With so many other choices, I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to return, but if you live nearby, it could be nice for take-out...
This is a great place! Â I am so excited to report we have finally found a place that we can call our Sushi Hang-out. Â We have been here a few times and have yet to see a roll we didn't like. Â Try the Moogi Bombs and order the Godzilla roll for sure.
One of the best parts o Yuki Hana is an amazing Sushi Chef and BYOB! Â Yes a Sushi place and BYOB...We were very happy to know we wouldn't be taking a side job to pay our bill. Â Bring all of your friends and enjoy a fun evening.
When I go out to dinner with friends and can chill and enjoy what we are there for...I can not complain...I would say this, it would be nice if the servers could be faster.
I so wanted to love this place, but it really was disapoinging. Â The sushi left me nausious and very disappointed. Â The restaurant itself is a really cute shop on one of the queiter stretches of Clark. Â Our server was extremely friendly, although there was a slight language barrier. Â
I started off with the spicy miso soup, which was huge and the highlight of my meal. Â My better half ordered the seaweed salad, which the sushi chef made fresh from the sushi bar. Â Those two were really the best part of the meal. Â The sushi itself was so disappointing. Â Here is what we got:
California Roll - best of the sushi, but how can you butcher it.
Spicy Tuna Roll - small ricey pieces that had very little filling and were almost flavorless.
Chicago Fire Roll- The concept was interesting, but it lacked flavor. Â It could have used some sort of sauce to give it some pazzaz, but it was not good.
Rainbow Roll- Some of the seeweed seemed to be old and chewey and the worst part was the shrimp pieces. Â The shrimp was dried and old looking. The two shrimp pieces were inediable.
I feel really bad writing this review, becasue I wanted to like this place and I am usually very easy when it comes to my reviews. Â This sushi itself was quite possibly the worst that I have ever had, but I had to give it 2 stars because the server and sushi chef were really nice.
Holy crap, this place is so friggin S-L-O-W. How does this place even survive? Seriously?
The hubs and I came here on a Sunday at 6 pm to find the restaurant at 50% occupancy. I first took this as a good sign. We ordered the tempura calamari appetizer, chicken teriyaki, and two sushi rolls. It took 55 minutes for our appetizer to come out, and another 20 minutes for the rest of the food to come out. WTF? Seriously, this is completely unacceptable. I didn't want to complain to the server, because she was absolutely sweet and attentive, kept continually filling up our drinks (what else can she do when we're foodless?) and kept apologizing about the delay. The food was good, but this could be an inaccurate assessment as I was extremely hungry after waiting over an hour to the point that cardboard would have passed to be just as tasty as a filet mignon.
After my experience here, I'm baffled by their $3 all-you-can-eat sushi special. How does this work when it takes over an hour to make two sushi rolls with two sushi chefs behind the counter?
I'm truly baffled. No more Yuki Hana for me.
Looking out your window, it's hard to believe but it's true... we are just exiting eight months of winter. Eight months of cold weather, precip, gray skies, and SAD. It's been rough. One such wintry evening when I wanted to eat dinner and noticed that I'd let my grocery shopping lapse and had nothing to eat, I wandered out into the dark, sleety night, sad, lonely and in need of sustenance.
A funny thing happens when i am over-hungry. I get very picky and will only be satisfied by a certain thing. Sometimes it's a sandwich. Other times, it's a burrito. This night, I wanted, nay NEEDED, udon. Udon would defeat the cold, chilling hand of winter that had enveloped me and refused to let go. Udon. So, I slip slided away down streets and carefully watched my step so as not to bust my perky buttocks on the cold city sidewalks. A couple of flicks on my Yelp mobile app and... success. Yuki Hana had udon. It was open. It was not expensive. Check. Check. Check.
Some chit chat, a nice waitress and some minutes later, I was out the door, on my way back to my place, with udon on my mind. I had a beer at the ready, Modern Family to watch and warmth to ingest. It was exactly what I needed. The broth was salty, savory and the slightest bit fishy. The tempura was nicely breaded, the noodles were thick and the (imitation?) seafood worked it out. Since I had, what felt like, a quart of broth, I was only going to eat half. Wrong. I guess good food, funny comedy, hoppy high-alcohol beer, SAD, and starvation = eating all of your large order in one setting. The sun's out now. I feel warmth on my skin. But, I have my eye on you, Chicago weather. Anymore funny business, and I am udon-bound to put you in your place.