Coast Sushi

05/19/2008 Posted by kjc123

I live just a few blocks from Coast and I have been dying to try it. I put my name in and was told it would be a 45 minute wait. After 45 minutes, I checked in with the hostess and was told we were the next table to be seated. AN HOUR LATER we were finally given a table. The wait was unacceptable!!! Once seated, it was another 15 minutes before our server corked our wine. The glassware was dirty and our server was never around. If I am going to wait that long for sushi, I would much rather drive across town to Toro Sushi, where a 45 minute wait means 45 minutes--not 2 hours.

Pros: food was fine

Cons: disorganized hostesses, terrible service

12/04/2007 Posted by patrickhayes

I thought the sashimi was excellent. large fresh pieces. The guy who took the order was very nice and so was the delivery guy. So, I can't comment on the restaurant it self. I have never been. The sashimi on the other hand. I would definitely recommend it.

09/24/2007 Posted by kiki80

I have been to several sushi places in Chicago and Coast is by far the best-- not to mention that it is BYOB! The food is fresh and innovative-- but there are also basic rolls and sashimi for sushi purists.The seseme scallop appetizer is unreal. Great scene too. It can get loud and there is usually a wait, but nothing out of the ordinary for a good restaurant on a weekend night. Overall, fabulous restaurant!

Pros: food, atmosphere, location, BYOB!

Cons: service is nothing special

09/09/2007 Posted by jenjordan75

I have no complaints about the food at Coast. Very fresh and inventive. And the service is often excellent. The only downside is the crowd. It always seems like you have to be under 35 to enter the place (and in the hippest fashions of the seasons). Nothing wrong with hip, young crowds mind you!!! But it may just not be some folks favorite scenes - esp. if you like chronologically and sartorially diverse diners.

08/29/2007 Posted by greatgirl

We were missing an item from our order and called to see if our credit card was charged. Erin, a part-time worker, accused us repeatedly of lying. It was an appetizer! I will never eat here again. This place could care less about customers. The way we were treated is inexcusable and insulting. There are real Japanese restaurants in Chicago that serve good food. Take your business someplace else!!!

Pros: None

Cons: Customer Service

08/21/2007 Posted by gscott10

How can ANYONE like this place? It's SO pretentious there, and their food isn't even good! Not to mention it's also very dark. Maybe they turned down the lights so no one could see how much of a terrible job the chef was doing! I couldn't believe how overpriced everything was, considering how the sushi tasted bad and how our waitress treated us like we were the plague. Ugh. I have a bad taste in my mouth just thinking of coast sushi.

Pros: none

Cons: snobbiness, overpriced not-so-good food, bad waitress

06/16/2007 Posted by ashleyj430

Great place for sushi. Plus the specials are always fantastic. We have been here twice, once for Vday, and once just for a date, and each time we had an excellent server. Great sushi, always fresh. cons: sort of loud and can be pricey. Recommend to everyone

Pros: Service, fresh sushi, and byob

Cons: Loud and very cozy

03/08/2007 Posted by jbickfo

We went here based on such great ratings from everyone else, and the fact that it was BYOB I thought would be fun. All I can say was that it was quite fun, and the food was good, but the portions were small, the restaurant was loud, and the bill was more than I expected. That pretty much sums it up. Again, I liked the sushi we had, no complaints there, but it was a little small. We each ordered a sushi dish, and ended up ordering a third because we had so little. Compared to other places in the city we've gone, we were a little disappointed. Oh, and it was very very loud. Maybe it was because it was Friday (or Saturday, i forget) night, but it was so hard to talk, it was not a good place for conversation.

Pros: Nice setting, BYOB, tasty dishes

Cons: Expensive, not exceptional food, service was kind of slow, very loud!

02/19/2007 Posted by wifeofthegreat1

My girlfirends and I (a party of 5) called on Firday for a reservation the following evening at 7:00. We were told to "just come in". I wasn't really sure what that meant, so we decided it might be safer to arrive at 6:30. We were seated right away, but told that the table was reserved at 8:30, so if we could try to be courteous and keep our dinner at around 2 hours it would be appreciated. I thought that was a nice way to put it. When I asked why I was told to "just come in" when they do take reservations, she explained that they reserve half of the restaurant and leave the other half open for walk-ins. Nice! We brought 2 bottles of wine. The only other BYOB place I had been to was more of a diner looking restaurant and I wasn't sure what to expect. WOW! THe lighting was just perfect to set the mood for a fun night wiht friends or a romantic evening for 2. The section we were in was half bench, half chair. Plenty of room. We brought 2 bottles of wine which were tended to by our server all evening. I was afraid I would be drinking my wine out of a pop glass, but they immediately arrived with stemware asking how many would be having wine. Not a bad deal! Our server was wonderful! Very fun, knowledgable and attentive. It was a Saturday night and we never waited for anything. Plus we never felt rushed to get us out by 8:30. The food was awesome. We had a scallop appetizer that was so good we actually ordered a second. The maki was very flavorful. The Dragon and White Dragon rolls were our favorite. I tried the wasabi maki...awesome. They had a hamachi carpaccio appetizer that we should'v gotten, but didn't. We ordered so much and wanted more. They had a lot more "specialty" maki than most places I've been ($12-13 each). Most of the time when I order a "special maki" it comes and it is rather large, which I expect. These were still rolled small and tight. Not necessarily bad, just unexpected. 5 girls BYOB $50 each with tip. Great!

Pros: Service, BYOB, ambience, excellent sushi

Cons: parking (no valet), a little more expensive than usual

01/17/2007 Posted by lklancnik

Honestly, this was once my favorite BYOB sushi spot. The food and atmosphere was, and still is incredible. Their volcano roll is spicy and crunchy and presented beautifully...my fiancee raves about the beef and asparagus appetizer. In spite of the wonderful food and sleek space, I will never go back. On two important occasions, once while family was in town, and once for a friend's birthday, we have been the unfortunate victims of incompetent hostesses. After calling two weeks in advance for a prime dinnertime reservation on a weekend, and securing a table for 5, I was called 1 day prior to that reservation by the hostess to tell me that they would be unable to fulfill my request. Then, a month later (after begrudgingly forgiving Coast for botched reservations), we again tried to dine there. We called to make a res., and were told that they never accept reservations for a table larger than 4 on weekends between 6:30 and 9:00. So we took our chances and decided to walk-in. When we got there, we were asked why we didn't make a reservation!!!!!!!! And that my friends is why I will never go back. (But, if you must go, please save yourself a headache and go on a weekday.)

Pros: ambiance, selection of house maki, BYOB, white dragon roll

Cons: lack of cabs, long waits, incompetent hostesses, unreliable service, inattentive staff