Nobu Chicago

Reviews

• JM

  Justin Moreno

  Jul 1, 2026
  1.0
  Would not recommend, especially if you are coming from out of town. Planned a night in the city and stayed at the Nobu Hotel and figured we would have our dinner at the restaurant which proved to be a mistake. Nobu Chicago advertises themselves as a Michelin star restaurant yet the service we received was terrible and the food was lackluster. We ate three different dishes before our server came back to check on us. Didn't see her for 20-30 minutes and due to this we decided to leave and go elsewhere. This derailed all the plans we had for the night due to having to start over dinner at a different restaurant. Nobu Chicago did not live up to the name which is very disappointing as I was very excited to give them a try, oh well.
• IW

  Ian Tang Wee

  Jun 29, 2026
  1.0
  The food was amazing, but the service and overall hospitality was far from it. Our Lovely 4 year Anniversary turned out to be a big let down. We arrived and we seated promptly and proceeded to the brunch buffet. The food was remarkable and fish so fresh and vibrant. When we got back to the table, a server (I assume) stopped over and gave us water. She didn't introduce herself, welcome us, or even offer us a drink menu or ASK. She did wish us a happy anniversary but that was it. As the meal was coming to an end, we went to the dessert table. The desserts are in a separate room over by the bar. There were several employees hanging out with a gentlemen who I found out was an off the clock employee. He was wrestling with another employee and almost knocked into my wife. I also heard another employee shut it down and heard him using EXTREMELY inapropriote language. This made us VERY uncomfortable. I gave him a look and he seemed to stop, but then he came over to her and proceeded to ask what her favorite dessert was. He then proceeded to be loud and honestly ruined our afternoon. The icing on the cake was that when we returned to our table after getting some dessert, the staff had cleaned our table and were resetting it. At that point, I was over it. We asked for the check. When I Asked our server who the gentleman at the bar was, she informed me he was an employee of the restaurant/hotel. 5 min Later, someone came to the table (not sure if they were a manager, they never introduced themself) and comped the meal. Overall the food was excellent, however the anniversary we had in mind was ruined. Off duty staff should be held to the same standards as if they were clocked in. We did not feel welcome at all. We were considering staying the evening at the hotel, but quickly changed our minds after the encounter, lack of service, and unprofessionalism.
• DV

  Divya Verma

  Jun 28, 2026
  2.0
  This was my first time going to nobu and I was so disappointed in the flavors of the menu items especially the nigiri items. We ordered the king salmon, tamago and uni. The uni flavor was disgusting, my fiancé and I have had uni many many times before. But this one tasted like the dirty tank water it was sitting in. I had to spit it out in my napkin. The tamago and salmon nigiri pieces looked dried out like it has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. Extremely disappointing and off putting. The black miso cod that everyone raves about, was sweet. We didn’t taste any miso flavor just a sweetness that was less to be desired. The wagu dumplings had an incredible sauce but the meat inside had no flavor. Tasted oily from the wrapper and we have to cover each bite with the citrus sauce to truly enjoy it. We enjoyed the yellowtail app and sashimi salad. Our cocktails and banana miso cake were great. But overall, the food items are extremely overpriced for the quality. I would easily go to 10 other sushi/peruvian spots on Chicago over Nobu.
• MD

  Max Drozdowski

  Jun 22, 2026
  1.0
  Absolutely pitiful let down from this massively popular location, and I deeply regret taking my father here for our last father's day before I leave for college. The issues start at the valet itself which is in it's own world. 1 valet boy was genuinely applying his best which I respect but the other one was standing around hiding inside for a good 10 minutes while we stood right outside of the entrance waiting in the car during the pouring rain and once he finally got around to the car neither did he open EITHER of the doors not for the old man nor me. He couldn't even be bothered to say anything along of the lines of enjoying our time here. Just "I need your keys". Note that the valet couldn't start my car or open the door for anyone when we came back after eating. JOKE behavior and this is supposed to be valet that costs 42$ minimum? Wildfire's and fogo de chao's are both 20 and don't give you an attitude. The hostesses and bar were both friendly and I won't mention them here but you're reading to know about the food. This meal costs around 250$+ for 2 people including tip for server and valet and 1 drink and for what it is its very sad. It's numbingly loud inside for such a place, you can tell most of the guest's are fighting eachother to be louder than the table next to them and the party of a dozen seated directly behind us didn't make it any better, have some class. In the image I included with my father on my plate is every single piece of sushi available. If you're going here to spend that money you're doing it because you like japanese food so we both know the selection is extremely limited. Aside that there is a lot of "children's" choices in the form of fried chicken & waffles and such, and a small table where you can choose some sort of steak's, if you're imagining a filet mignon or ribeye or even just a new york forget about it there's none of that maybe prime rib if you're lucky. They have a major problem with food temperature here because the the tuna crispy rice is consistentally cold inside of the rice but the fish is an uncomfortable warm-ish. I saved the worst for last, if you like seafood then you would obviously get the oysters here and I don't have the words in my vocabalary to describe them. There's maybe 12-15 of them out on the ice for a moment at a time before people jump at them and cut in line to fill their tiny plates. They're luke-warm, extremely small, and who ever is responsible for shucking them must've been in a rush because the 5 oysters I ate were equal part rock/shell to oyster, more spitting than swallow going on here. I didn't bother getting dessert because I filled up on the server's attitude when he stared me down during the payment screen's tip selection, but my dad claims they were good. Absolutely disrespectful behavior and entitlement from the server who never provided their name to us.
• MT

  Michelle Tamir

  Jun 15, 2026
  3.0
  The food is the star of the show, and at Nobu, that's exactly where your attention should go. The sushi selection is focused rather than sprawling: tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and shrimp tempura are your fish options, but what's there is done well. Highlights include salmon sashimi with ponzu, two salmon and two tuna nigiri variations, a yellowtail/asparagus/truffle maki that earns its place on the menu, and solid renditions of the classics: california roll, tuna maki, and a shrimp tempura roll. Rounding out the spread are breakfast staples: waffles, egg on toast, miso cod bites, salmon, and salads. I came for the fish, and the fish delivered. Now, the rest of the experience. For $80 a person, the offering is competent but basic. The sushi selection, while good, is limited, and the value proposition leans heavily on the Nobu name. Service was friendly but unreliable. We were greeted warmly, but our sparkling water had to be requested twice, and our server was so absent during the meal that we were nearly halfway through before we could even place a drink order. When the cocktail finally arrived for my dining companion, it was so diluted with oat milk she sent it back. Timing created its own quirks. A 1:45pm reservation means you're catching the tail end of the morning-to-afternoon rush, and by then, every plate in the house had cycled through the dishwasher. We were handed plates still radiating heat from the wash cycle, not ideal when you're about to lay sushi on them. The bussers, while clearly working hard, were startlingly loud: plates clattering, the occasional slam that turned heads across the dining room. And our server had an unfortunate habit of reaching for plates that still had food on them (this happened no fewer than five times). The dessert table was pitched to us as the highlight of the buffet. It was, in fact, the low point. Chocolate raspberry with no discernible raspberry. Yuzu cream that tasted of neither yuzu nor much else. Banana miso that missed the miso entirely. These read as generic event catering desserts, not the closing act of a meal at a restaurant of Nobu's caliber. Come for the sushi. Temper your expectations for everything else.

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