11/08/09

night club or culinary experience?

by abfoodie

Cuisine remained inventive, superbly executed and presented, but the ambience and service had deteriorated considerably since our last dinner a year ago. The very loud music made it impossible to have a conversation even with the closest neighbor and considerably detracted from the culinary experience. Glasses and silverware vibrated with the music! Service was hurried and superficial, management seemed devoted to the night club ambience and did not seriously care about our repeated complaints. I was sorry to see the efforts and creativity of the culinary team ruined by the management team. This new "ambience" did not correspond to my memory of past experience here, nor to the description and press release ("Intimate setting"?) in the restaurant website. Seemed disrespectful not only to the customer, but also to the cooks and their team.

• Pros: culinary experience
• Cons: Loud night club ambience, poor service.

11/03/09

OVER RATED

by jvb2008

I love Sushi! and we were so excited to try Japonais for dinner, it was recommended to us by a close friend. and it was a true disappointment. The nigiri lacked flavor, and the rolls were mushy and tasted like they had been covered in mayonaise. Grocery store sushi has more excitement than last nights spread. A very expensive night or bland mush. Would not recommend this to anyone. I am sure there are much better sushi places in the area... check them out unless you are looking for and expensive night on the town with very little flavor and loud music.

• Pros: service was prompt
• Cons: food was tasteless

08/22/09

Bad waitress, decent food

by asimon123

My husband and I went to Japonais tonight. We love to sit at the sushi bar. While in the past we have had impeccable service, tonight our waitress had a very bad attitude. She was rude when we asked questions, and was generally unprofessional. The food was decent, but not worth the price. Worst of all, the women's bathrooms are a disaster, dirty and old toilet seats, a generally dingy environment with more of a "club" feel than a nice restaurant. The level of quality of this place has gone down and pales in comparison to new rival, Sunda.

• Pros: Good food
• Cons: Run down bathrooms, rude waitress, overpriced

07/01/09

Love the food and atmosphere

by ohiran

Enjoyed many dinners with family and friends here. Always enjoyed everything we ate here. Price is the only drawback.

• Pros: Everything is done well.
• Cons: Price

02/08/09

Don't eat here if your hungry

by TobiesDad

OK! THIS PLACE S*KS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Came here with my wife hungry and ready to eat a meal. What I ordered was a steak but what I got was about five small thin slices of beef and some sissy decorations of sauce and parsley around it. The bill was $185.00 plus tip for a bottle of shiraz a steak and an order of fish for my wife. Ok it was more like a goldfish covered in a few pieces of lettuce. We ended up eating McDonalds afterwards. Bottom line If your hungry then don't eat here. If you want to waist your money or listen to some soft sissy food critic then eat here.

11/30/08

Poor management. Cannot get the orders right. Disappointed. Read on...

by BostonUSpartan

I am so sick and tired of the incompetence exhibited by the staff and sushi "chefs" at this place. If I order a salmon and cucumber roll, inside out, and easy on the rice (with emphasis on the last part), I fully expect that my $7.75 roll will come out as ordered. However, on each of the three separate occasions on which I have dined at Japonais, they have been unable to get it right. Instead, that pile the rice on and give very little fish. This is unacceptable for the price. I would much prefer to spend $6.00 per roll at Coast or South Coast where they understand english and care about satisfying their customers. The other day, my wife had to return her salmon roll THREE times, only for them to **** it up each time. It is quite apparent that management at Japonais has no interest in providing quality service and food, but is more concerned with staying "trendy" for the bags that frequent there after hours to drink in the lounge. I will not visit Japonais again.

• Cons: Very little fish to rice ratio. Poor management.

09/23/08

Missing belongings

by Kath0000

Birthday night started off great....it was my first time at Japanois with few of my friends. Food was good, atmosphere pleasant, and serive nice. We decided to have drinks downstairs at the lounge after dinner. The 3 of us sat in the bar area talking and laughing for about 30 min. After a drink we left upstairs to get our car from valet and noticed right away that we didnt have our camera. My friend rushed back downstairs and everything was cleaned off....including the Birthday envelope I had left with money. They claimed that nothing was there and assumed maybe someone walked by in that 2 minutes and took it. The catch was that no one was down there except 2 elderly couples in the corner talking. The bus boys and some manager was standing by us the whole time while we were there. It made no sense that within that time frame both the $300 camera and envelope with money was gone. Bar cleaned off, garbage searched, and items nowhere in sight. We spoke with another manager who instead of taking action she gave us the "We are not responsible for lost or stolen items, here's my card, and we'll call you if it turns up"! The only people near us that whole time were the bus boys who were cleaning near and around us before, during, and after. Im the last person to point fingers and accuse, but that situation made no sense. You couldnt miss the camera and envelope. I would have liked to seen something done at that moment when it was reported. Not treated as if it was our problem and that their employees would have never done such a thing. Very sickened by this experience and will never go back! Just look at the other reviews yourself. Your treated like a child and not a customer who, by the way, spends well over $100 each. I am disgusted and frustrated!

08/29/08

Yikes

by smartdiner85

I loved the food at Mirai (Japonais' sister restaurant), and always ordered the tuna tuna salmon and spicy mono. With that said, I have taken my boyfriend to Japonais a few times, however with the lack of quality customer service by the wait/bar staff and management he has grown a strong hatred for this infamous River North sushi spot. Its such a shame because I love Mirai, but I live in the River North, and we cannot even enjoy one single night at Japonais without feeling judged or becoming upset. If anyone is looking for Japonais' sushi, go to Mirai! They offer the same menu (with some additions and exceptions like the rock) without the pretentious atmosphere. Its my favorite sushi restaurant in town and I always take advantage of the upscale dining lounge upstairs.

Don't waste your time, money, and energy investing in a restaurant that does NOT deserve to be open! If there are any good reviews on this site, its probably because the managers posted them or made their staff do it.

Oh, yes and one more thing...they recently got busted a little over a week ago for flies in the kitchen and on the prepped food. YIKES!

• Pros: tuna tuna salmon, spicy mono, kani nigiri
• Cons: everything else

07/23/08

Don't beleive the hype

by dmaris13

I've dined at most of my fair city's finest places. I have also been to several real Asian restaurants. I've been to Japonais a couple of times for cocktails but never ate there because everyone I know has told me it is average at best. I had a friend in town. She had read about it in and wanted to try it, so we went.

Lets start with the positive aspects, the decor (It is a beautiful place with atmosphere) and the Host and Server were polite. That's it.

Now, let me share the negatives of my experience.

We started at the bar where I was served a drink in a broken glass the cut my lip. With bloood running down my chin, I brought the issue to the bartender?s attention. She gave me a napkin for my cut, replaced my drink and she may have mumbled "sorry" but she said it and turned and walked away so fast that I couldn?t tell. This was at 5:15 pm . They open for dinner at 5pm, so it wasn't like she was busy. I think she really didn?t care.

My friend was so taken by the atmosphere that she wanted to stay for dinner, so we did. Now lets talk about the food. The potions are ridiculously small. That wouldn?t have been an issue if the food was great, even good, but it was just bad. The Lobster Spring Rolls and Crab Cakes had a nasty freezer burnt taste. The Maki rolls were falling apart, had little meat and were dry. 3 of the 5 the Oysters Gratin seemed to have no oyster in them. The Koby beef tasted like skirt steak. I like skirt steak but the entree cost $75. Similar steak is available down the block, on a bun, with fries and a drink for $8.

Better Asian food can be found throughout the Chicagoland area for half the price.

Don't go to Japonais.

• Pros: Place looks great
• Cons: Just bad food, and I love Asian food

06/01/08

Overall, Simply Average

by malexan

I really do not understand how this is considered to be one of the better restaurants in Chicago. I here that it is Opera favorite. I have to admit that the food is good. Some of the better sushi I have had, however, the restaurant is just too loud. I wanted and expected to have a great meal instead I was seated at a table that was too small for the party that I was with and I had to strain myself to hear the person next to me. For a place that is supposed to be this nice that is unacceptable. In the end I have to mark in not recommended simply do to the atmosphere. I have never been to a place that has missed the mark by so much.

• Pros: Good food and you get to say that you dinned at Japonais.
• Cons: The atmosphere and thus, the price. Just as loud as the Cheesecake Factory but 8x more money.