Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge

Fresh sushi in stylish, minimalist surroundings draw couples to this sexy Southport storefront.

(773) 525-3535

3401 N Southport Ave
Chicago, IL 60657 41.9435 -87.6638

Get Map & Directions »

Neighborhoods: Lakeview, North Side

SHINEMORIDA.COM

Hours:

Sun-Thu 4pm-10pm

Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm

Price:

$$$

Last updated 2.17.11

Category:

Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Diners Club, Discover, Visa, MasterCard

Restaurant Special Features:

Romantic Dining

Cuisine:

Japanese, Sushi

Smoking Permitted:

Section

Editor's Tips

What People Are Saying About Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge

The Owner

Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge

Owner

Rise Sushi features fresh sushi and sake. Also carry-out, delivery and catering are all available. They only use the freshest ingredients. Never frozen. All fish is delivered fresh daily from the best fishermen in Eastern Canada and the Northern Pacific.

Provided by CityGrid

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

The Scene – Lofty, modern and minimalist, this upscale Asian eatery stands out on casual Southport Avenue. Blond wood tables and lightly finished floors give a spare but comfortable feel. Wire-wrapped lamps hanging above the sushi bar add a whimsical touch; French windows open the place up to the street. Chill at the bar or in the sake lounge while waiting for a table. – – The Food – Rise is a welcome addition to a neighborhood starved for Japanese cuisine. Kick-start your meal with a tangy oyster shooter with quail egg or a plateful of addictive edamame (fresh…

Editor's Tips

Know Before You Go:
For a more relaxing dining experience, come to Rise after rush hour ends, when trains to the nearby Southport stop on the Brown Line run less frequently.
What to Drink:
Try one of the specialty cocktails, including martinis made with sake, mango and lychee fruit.
ambiance
100.0% positive
  1. “think rise sushi has a great selection of fresh sushi and the atmosphere is beautiful but as you have read already, most of the staff is rude and not worth the $7 odd dollars they make an hour.”
  2. “The ambiance is nice.”
  3. “The wait staff is friendly, the atmosphere private and fun.”
  4. “My wife and I used to frequent Rise regularly back when it was new to the neighborhood and found it to have a cool atmosphere with fairly good sushi.”
  5. “The place had gone from a hip, cool atmosphere to an excessively loud and annoying place where you couldn't hear yourself think, let alone have a conversation.”
dessert
75.0% positive
  1. “We were ready to order dessert when the waiter brought the check and said we couldn't order dessert because they were closing.”
  2. “Their chocolate martinis are really good as well.”
drinks
100.0% positive
  1. “This simple sushi bar is perfect for sushi lovers without deep pockets.”
  2. “Great food, minimal environment, sophisticated look, and even better drinks.”
food quality
89.6399974822998% positive
  1. “Try the Rise roll and for the non-sushi lover, the veggie fried rice is excellent.”
  2. “The food was uneven, the fish in the yellowtail hand roll was definitely not fresh, it smelled bad and tasted very fishy!”
  3. “The fried rice is good too.”
  4. “Also, if there is someone in the group who does not like sushi, their japanese food (orange chicken) is also very good.”
  5. “went deaf enjoying the great food at this place.”
  6. “The sushi did not seem that fresh.”
  7. “My wife and I used to frequent Rise regularly back when it was new to the neighborhood and found it to have a cool atmosphere with fairly good sushi.”
  8. “The sushi is outstanding, it clearly is fresher than many other sushi restaurants in the city.”
  9. “the sushi was amazing and now i always come here to eat it.”
  10. “The sushi was fresh and excellent.”
  11. “Best of all they are the fastest sushi home delivery; if you like to share your sushi with your cats in front of the TV.”
  12. “Highly recommend for fine sushi.”
  13. “With all the great sushi places in the area I won't be heading to Rise for a 3rd bad experience!”
  14. “really like the shrimp tempura and suggest trying the chef's specials.”
  15. “Food is delicious.”
  16. “This simple sushi bar is perfect for sushi lovers without deep pockets.”
  17. “Good food and I'm deaf”
  18. “This is an excellent spot for sushi lovers!”
  19. “other than that, the new server we had was great and the food we had was delicious!”
  20. “i've been to rise a handful of times and the food is delicious and our servers have been nothing but polite and helpful.”
  21. “This is my favorite sushi restaurant in the city.”
  22. “clean and modern sushi shack”
  23. “have even gone there with a group of 8 people and still had a fabulous time and excellent quality food.”
  24. “highlight was a waiter who got the order wrong, and then right there at the table scraped his mistake sushi roll off the presentation plate leaving behind the remnants of the mistake roll and a rather disgusting display of smushed sushi.”
  25. “All the sushi were amazing and so delicious!”
  26. “think rise sushi has a great selection of fresh sushi and the atmosphere is beautiful but as you have read already, most of the staff is rude and not worth the $7 odd dollars they make an hour.”
  27. “The sesame chicken and calamarie are sooooooo good!”
  28. “The sushi is always fresh and they have a variety of types of sushi rolls.”
  29. “The sushi is really fresh.”
  30. “Must go if you appreciate fresh sushi”
  31. “food was great, the service was excellent- i think we all literally dreamt of our food later that night.”
  32. “The sushi itself is mediocre, far below the quality of other trendy sushi spots.”
  33. “food was good but not worth the attitude.”
  34. “The rolls are all fresh and flavorfull and Rise even offers some unique and tasty alternatives to the traditional fare.”
  35. “Instead of bringing the sushi out to us in segments, as it was ready, our server brought our huge order out all at once.”
  36. “It is my favorite spot for sushi.”
  37. “Great food, minimal environment, sophisticated look, and even better drinks.”
menu variety
100.0% positive
  1. “The sushi is always fresh and they have a variety of types of sushi rolls.”
  2. “think rise sushi has a great selection of fresh sushi and the atmosphere is beautiful but as you have read already, most of the staff is rude and not worth the $7 odd dollars they make an hour.”
overall
100.0% positive
  1. “This is my favorite sushi restaurant in the city.”
  2. “went deaf enjoying the great food at this place.”
return potential
100.0% positive
  1. “Will never go back or recommend this place.”
service
51.91999912261963% positive
  1. “The good isn't good enough to put up with terrible service.”
  2. “have been there multiple times and have NEVER encountered poor service.”
  3. “It is not a kid friendly place.”
  4. “have even gone there with a group of 8 people and still had a fabulous time and excellent quality food.”
  5. “i've been to rise a handful of times and the food is delicious and our servers have been nothing but polite and helpful.”
  6. “did like the restaurant itself and our server was friendly and helpful.”
  7. “i'm not sure what all the talk about poor service is about, i've certainly never experienced it.”
  8. “Everyone has always been friendly and attentive to me and my party.”
  9. “highlight was a waiter who got the order wrong, and then right there at the table scraped his mistake sushi roll off the presentation plate leaving behind the remnants of the mistake roll and a rather disgusting display of smushed sushi.”
  10. “And to all the people who said they had bad servise boo you!”
  11. “other than that, the new server we had was great and the food we had was delicious!”
  12. “have been here twice and the staff is not friendly.”
  13. “The attitude of the manager was ridiculous.”
  14. “The service was not good either.”
  15. “Instead of bringing the sushi out to us in segments, as it was ready, our server brought our huge order out all at once.”
  16. “The wait staff is friendly, the atmosphere private and fun.”
  17. “With the way this place is run and the very bad attitude of the staff I suspect the place has it's days numbered.”
  18. “word to Rise, seriously think about cleaning kitchen on a large # of your employees, you do have a great resturant and a beautiful theme.”
  19. “The service has been consistently horrible.”
  20. “I'd reccomend it to people who like Sushi.”
  21. “have not encountered poor service or long waits.”
  22. “The host or manager was rude.”
  23. “food was great, the service was excellent- i think we all literally dreamt of our food later that night.”
  24. “think rise sushi has a great selection of fresh sushi and the atmosphere is beautiful but as you have read already, most of the staff is rude and not worth the $7 odd dollars they make an hour.”
  25. “Don't know why stupid people complain about Rise and the staff!”
  26. “We were ready to order dessert when the waiter brought the check and said we couldn't order dessert because they were closing.”
value
100.0% positive
  1. “Instead of bringing the sushi out to us in segments, as it was ready, our server brought our huge order out all at once.”
  2. “think rise sushi has a great selection of fresh sushi and the atmosphere is beautiful but as you have read already, most of the staff is rude and not worth the $7 odd dollars they make an hour.”
  3. “food was good but not worth the attitude.”
wait time
100.0% positive
  1. “have not encountered poor service or long waits.”
1 Star Rating: Poor

08/21/11

felt compelled to write my first review ever

by scwjd2009 at Citysearch

To put this review in perspective - I have eaten pretty much every type of food at every type of restaurant and I've NEVER felt compelled to write a review of a restaurant.. EVER! So here I am, writing about how absolutely awful my experience at Rise was.

To start, the place is incredibly loud, though it could have been 1) the drunk frat boy to my right who was slurring his words at the top of his lungs about a threesome that he was trying to make happen 2) the party of 30 right behind me, or 3) the group of 5 that was doing drinking games at the table. It was like they managed to take all of the douche in chicago and cram it into 300 square feet. Admittedly, not Rise's fault but I mention it in case anyone wants to go who is allergic to fish or moron.

The service was awful. When I told the waiter that we had to move because it was too loud he gave us a dirty look and came back to tell us that it would be a 45 minute wait for a new table. When I said we would just take it to go, he gave us another dirty look and took our orders.

45 minutes later the food still isn't at the table. I'm still sitting next to the guy who is now drunker and louder (which I didn't think was possible). The food finally arrives at the table. My sushi and my girlfriend's terriyaki are both luke warm but I'm willing to pay for it just to get the hell out of this place.

We leave, take the food home, and heat up the food. Which brings me to my last gripe.

The food - it's not really that good. Maybe it's the fact that my food sat around long enough to be luke warm but this is Chicago - there are a million better sushi joints like Oysy or Makisu or Toro. The flavors are mush and the spices overpower the fish.

In the end, it certainly wasn't worth the price, the bad service or being stuffed in between a bunch of jerkoffs. This was honestly more belligerent of a crowd than any bar that I've been at during dinner hours coupled with the least attentive wait staff I've ever seen (the table next to me (not the frat boy) was also angry about their service, and they had a different waiter).

So, in conclusion, I wouldn't go there again if it was free and they had their shitty wait staff hand feeling sushi rolls dipped in happiness.

1 Star Rating: Poor

03/16/09

the worst attitude ever

by foodiegirlchicago at Citysearch

I placed a catering order, they got it wrong, then wouldn't give me a credit. The attitude of the manager was ridiculous. I will never go there again. The good isn't good enough to put up with terrible service.

  • Pros: nothing
  • Cons: awful customer service
1 Star Rating: Poor

11/23/08

Strike 2 you're out!

by mkay75 at Citysearch

I used to love this place but the last 2 times were horrible. Last night I ordered the Chirashi and the sashimi was served on piping hot rice. EWW. The service was not good either. With all the great sushi places in the area I won't be heading to Rise for a 3rd bad experience!

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

06/02/08

Trendy, hip, sushi bar!

by ChicagoKid12328 at Citysearch

We went to Rise over the weekend, and was a little scared after reading other reviews. This is not "traditional" Japanese cuisine. This is Americanized Japanese cuisine, with a dash of Chinese and Thai food. The Sushi rolls are great, and original. The Mexican Maki was my favorite. Huge martini list. Service was great. Trendy atmosphere. You either will like it or you won't.

1 Star Rating: Poor

10/27/07

From great a couple of years ago to horrible today.

by arh2007 at Citysearch

My wife and I used to frequent Rise regularly back when it was new to the neighborhood and found it to have a cool atmosphere with fairly good sushi.

We hadn't been there in about a year when we visited last night for dinner. The place had gone from a hip, cool atmosphere to an excessively loud and annoying place where you couldn't hear yourself think, let alone have a conversation.

After waiting for a table for over 30 minutes (when we were next on the lsit and several tables remained open) we left - after being treated extremely rudely by both the hostess and manager.

We'll never return to Rise as there are just far too many better Sushi restaurants in the city.

  • Pros: Nothing really
  • Cons: Too loud, rude service

The Details on Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge

Place Categories:

  • fresh sushi
  • terrible service
  • great quality food
  • favorite flaming maki rolls
  • recommend place
  • mediocre experience
  • cool atmosphere
  • helpful new server
  • favorite spot
  • recommend dragon roll
  • clean sushi shack
  • order dessert
  • unique alternatives
  • attentive everyone
  • excellent veggie fried rice
  • helpful nothing
  • friendly staff
  • original sushi rolls
  • recommend highly
  • rude manager
  • friendly wait staff
  • definitely not fresh fish
  • perfect simple sushi bar
  • very bad attitude
  • recommend new york roll

Message from Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge

  • Sushi
  • Sake
  • Carry-out, Delivery, Catering

Rise Sushi features fresh sushi and sake. Also carry-out, delivery and catering are all available. They only use the freshest ingredients. Never frozen. All fish is delivered fresh daily from the best fishermen in Eastern Canada and the Northern Pacific.

Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge
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