New Sushi Restaurant in Naperville, IL
Prairiehm
First off, my apologies to whomever (Lash???) it was that sent me e-mail
about this subject. Your message got nuked somehow and I wasn't able to
respond in kind back to you. You are right, there is a new Japanese
restaurant in town called Yamado on Ogden Ave. across from Portillo's just
east of Washington St. in Naperville. I went there today for lunch. If
you know this area, I don't have to tell you that parking and getting in
and out was a nightmare. It's located in a small strip shopping center
with spaces for about twenty cars. You can also use Burger King's lot
next door. About all I can say is at least they don't cut the sushi in
half like Sakura's of Tokyo. Again I am confounded as to why the sushi
places in the 'burbs out here, (Sakura's, Sushi House, and this one) serve
only one piece of nigiri-zushi per serving!!!!
It appears that this restaurant is run by Koreans. In addition to
standard Japanese fare, they also offer Koren specialties such as
Bibim-Bop and "Korean-style" Chirashi-zushi (Chirash II), whatever that
means. On the plus side, it was very nicely appointed and well-lit and
the sushi bar and preparation area was spotlessly clean. No tell-tale
fishy odor of unsanitary conditions. The staff was very friendly and the
manager/owner was very attentive. The Ita-san, while not gregarious, was
not overtly hostile (like at Sakura's).
The Ita-san (at least at lunch) was not very adept and the maki I had was
sloppily prepared. On the other hand, it was also quite tasty (broiled
Hotategai, Kappa, Masago, Avocado). Masago is identified on the menu, but
the gunkan-style sushi I ordered seemed to be Tobiko (I'm no expert at
telling the difference, but from everyone else's description, it seemed
more like Tobiko, very small and gritty as opposed to crunchy and salty).
No quail egg was available to go on top of the *Masago*.
Most fish appears to be frozen. I had Tai which the Ita-san had to pry
apart to cut. The aforementioned maki (windy-city maki) was made with
Hotategai which he nuked in a microwave and then grilled. I have never
seen a microwave behind a sushi bar in my life up to this point (yes, I'm
sure it was a microwave and not an IR oven). Very little variety (of
sushi) on the offered menus and forget about going off-menu. No oshibori
offered nor available (another western suburb trend which I can't stand).
Prices are very expensive for the relatively lower quality of the food.
Examples given below are menu prices doubled to reflect "normal"
nigiri-zushi serving of two pieces.
Uni=$6.50
Toro=$6.50 (BTW it was n/a that day)
Amaebi=$6.50
Saba=$4.00
Hamachi=$4.50
Unagi=$4.50
etc.
They have lunch specials but none of them include sushi. You can get a
teriyaki or tempura "box" which also contains three slices of California
Roll for $6.95. My bill for a lunch consisting of four pieces of sushi
(Uni, Hamachi, Tai, Masago) and one Windy-City Maki, with tip, was almost
$20.00! Remember, this is for single-piece servings of sushi.
I might go back in two or three months to see if there has been any
improvement. They've only been open a month now, so perhaps it's too
earlier to judge, but my suggestion is that unless you're really, really
in the mood for sushi, it's better to wait until you go into the city and
have some great sushi as opposed to the mediocre stuff offered up here in
the western 'burbs.
Ken Cho
Hi fellow Chicagoland sushi aficionado :)
>First off, my apologies to whomever (Lash???) it was that sent me e-mail
>about this subject. Your message got nuked somehow and I wasn't able to
>respond in kind back to you. You are right, there is a new Japanese
>restaurant in town called Yamado on Ogden Ave. across from Portillo's just
>east of Washington St. in Naperville. I went there today for lunch. If
>you know this area, I don't have to tell you that parking and getting in
>and out was a nightmare. It's located in a small strip shopping center
>with spaces for about twenty cars. You can also use Burger King's lot
>next door. About all I can say is at least they don't cut the sushi in
>half like Sakura's of Tokyo. Again I am confounded as to why the sushi
>places in the 'burbs out here, (Sakura's, Sushi House, and this one) serve
>only one piece of nigiri-zushi per serving!!!!
I won't go into racial makeup of suburban sushi restaurant owners but
it's my experience that those that are not owned by Japanese or Korean/Japanese
usually kinda skimp out... um, Sushi House being a prime example. (I'm kinda
new to this newsgroup so I don't want to start any trouble ^_^)
[snip of review]
Yeah, your review's right on target with mine... and having recently
come back from a trip to Tokyo and several great sushi restaurants, it only
seems that much more depreciated in nature. Yamado, I will give high marks for
trying and service (service is usually a pain in Korean owned restaurants...
relax, I'm Korean myself) but the food I couldn't justify myself a second trip.
>I might go back in two or three months to see if there has been any
>improvement. They've only been open a month now, so perhaps it's too
>earlier to judge, but my suggestion is that unless you're really, really
>in the mood for sushi, it's better to wait until you go into the city and
>have some great sushi as opposed to the mediocre stuff offered up here in
>the western 'burbs.
Yeah, I may go back in three months just to see if they've 1)gone out
of business or 2)shape up abit.
Wasabi o-kudasai!
A Chicagoland sushi guide is forthcoming on my homepage,
Kenneth Jin-ho Cho - www.aquila.com/ken.cho - ken...@aquila.com