Sushi Samba Rio

06/25/08

very pricey bad food

by southsider25 at Citysearch

This is a very cool place very trendy with lots to look at. That is the best compliment I can give sushi samba rio. I made a reservation for 5 people and when we arrived they had lost our reservation. Instead apologizing or anything close to it we were seated very quickly ?felt rushed ? at what seemed to be the worst possible table in the restaurant. As I said the ambiance was very cool would be a fun place to come on a weekend for some drinks and maybe a few appetizers, but that?s it. Our waiter was very nice tried to help as best he could in recommendations, but overall the food was just bad. I had the tuna ceviche and all I could taste was onions and jalape?o and I am pretty sure onions weren?t even supposed to be in it. I also tried the samba rio roll which was horrible. All I could taste was cucumber and bad cucumber at that. All of my guests had similar experiences with their food as well little or no taste. The worst part of the dinner came when the bill arrived. WAY TO EXPENSIVE!! So not worth the money. If you are looking for a cool place to go for ambiance and a few drinks by all means go have fun, if you are looking for a decent meal I would go to burger king before I would ever go here again.

• Pros: fun ambience
• Cons: bad food sevice drinks and pretty much everything else

02/29/08

Sushi Mumbo Jumbo

by davis676 at Citysearch

Decent food but EXTREMELY OVER-PRICED. Sushi was disappointing - we had eel/avocado rolls which tasted like an avocado. Server was attentive and nice but I think she was compensating for the restaurant's shortfalls, such as A) AWFUL SEATS, THE ABSOLUTE WORST, with an unaccommodating host who was a greasy looking dude, looked like he would jump into a stall with Swifty from Basketball Diaries, B) OUTDATED WINE/BEER LISTS, as in we ordered a wine, "We don't have it", then I ordered a beer, "We don't have it", C) OVER-COOKED MEAT that was as tasty as the Denny's steak and eggs platter. We are polite people, but please, don't charge like a top-notch place when you so obviously LICK RICE OVALS - $4.00 for Japanese rice as a "side". They must have it cooked by the top chef in Japan then flown to Chicago, otherwise, why would a 30 cent "side" be marked up to $4.00?

02/25/08

Gets the spirit on!

by nychi at Citysearch

I just moved from ny, i've been to the other sushi samba's there....though i hate chicago for its disgusting weather, this place made my eye's light up. It truly lives up to its siblings in NY, has the same vibe, the decor is beautiful, service great and sushi as great as ever!

02/18/08

Totally Love This Place!

by ajeanc at Citysearch

Fun music, great atmosphere, hot guys, cool design, amazing food, delicious & fun cocktails...mmm!! It's always my number one option for entertaining or just a night out with friends. It's chill, but upbeat, comfortable, but high-end and the menu has options for everyone. Even my picky friend loved just about everything we ordered. Oh and...I just recently discovered they have really H-O-T rooftop lounge, definitely check it out! I felt like I was all the sudden in Miami or near a beach (BTW its enclosed and open year round).

• Pros: Menu Variety, Fresh Fun Cocktails, Something for everyone, All will love it

02/11/08

great brunch

by jcelle1 at Citysearch

I went there last Sunday with some friends visiting from out of town and had a blast. We split the family style brunch ($15 each) and stayed for a couple hours. The French toast is the best I've ever had. They have a non alcoholic specialty drinks (forgot the name of it) that was really good too.

• Pros: family style brunch for $15

02/11/08

Trendy dining experience with quality food

by btodd at Citysearch

I was so surprised to read thew reviews below when I signed on. My husband and I were in Chicago for the weekend..and decided to try the hot spot...Saturday night the place was jamming...the cocktails were yummy...the strawberry cocktail went down like water! My husband enjoyed the fresh fruit mojito....the chilean sea bass skewer was delish...we had do order another one...the tuna and yellowtail ceviche were tasty and fresh....the el topo roll ...salmon with cheese was fantastic! my husband loved the kobe roll...we then moved onto the red snapper..the presentation and taste was superb! The chocolate banana dessert was a perfect way to end a perfect evening....

01/29/08

Trendy, but bad service

by ucgsb at Citysearch

We had our christmas Party here. We had terrible service where many people left hungry, were yelled at by wait staff, and were not even afforded the decency of dressed tables or even tables that weren't broken. We were ignored by management.

A request for a vegetarian dish was responded to by wait staff telling me to eat the potatos that came under the chicken.

Requests for linens , table replacement, and serving utensils were ignored.

Al in all a good party marred by poor service.

• Pros: Very trendy and upscale.
• Cons: Wait staff and management could not be bothered with us.

01/18/08

sucked

by jaysato at Citysearch

this place sucked. it just looked nice. its not about the art of the sushi. not at all. your paying high price for something that doesn't fill you up and something that doesnt taste as good. better off eating at oysy.

12/17/07

AVOID VALET PARKING OF SUSHI SAMBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by nora100 at Citysearch

People, be carreful of Sushi Samba Valet Parking, during the lunch, our car was damaged at their parking place, our car was parked event at tow zone and they don't even bother to pay for the damage.We had a very expencive lunch $7100!!!!!!!!! Very expencive sushi!!!!!!!!!

10/12/07

What a waste of money

by loki101 at Citysearch

I went to Sushi Samba with a few of my friends last weekend and not one of us like it. The sushi was really bad-- it smelled and tasted murky. Nothing we ordered was on par with the prices. This stuff tasted like half-off sushi from Jewel. If that wasn't bad enough, the service was a joke. Rude, snotty and unattentive. I will never go back.

• Pros: location
• Cons: food, service, prices, basically everything