(Kari's Rating 8.25/10) I've been here a few times and it check your box off for Asian food. I've come here for happy hour and gotten the oysters, which are delicious twist with a ponzu sauce and scallions. We also ordered two rolls, the Gorilla and the Hotate Volcano and you have to get the skewers. The skewers are flame grilled over and open fire. This gives a lovely smoky flavor to the meat. Would come back! read more

Stopped into their new location in the New City Plaza on a whim since I was early for a movie across the street. According to the waiter, they moved to this location 2-3 weeks ago. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The ambiance is pretty standard.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I stopped in around 245pm on a weekday. Started with a beer and the pork gyoza--was told they only had veggie so went with that. The gyoza was delicious and chili oil with it was pretty flavorful too, but I do wish it had some chili flakes and texture in it instead of just oil. I also had a spicy tuna roll and the waiter was talking about a new cocktail he was experimenting with so I ordered one of those too. Both things were delicious! I think for the ambiance the menu seems a bit overpriced but the service was amazing and the food was fresh and tasty. read more

Union - Spicy Tuna - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Overall this place was just okay. Our service was pretty poor. Our server was nice, but the food came out extremely staggered and the staff seemed as if they didnt know what we ordered. We ordered edemame to start out, and a few minutes later we were asked if we ordered a 2nd order which we had not. After a few minutes of ordering, I recieved one of my sushi rolls within a couple minutes, and we all received our food at different times, including the last person in our group to receive her food halfway through all of us finishing eating. The sushi was just average. It was not worth the price compared to other sushi places - the sushi just did not seem fresh. read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Came here to celebrate my son's birthday. When I lived in Chicago many years ago, this was one of my fav restaurants. We had reservations and the place was not busy at all on a Thursday evening. The manager greeted us and was also our server for the evening. She mentioned that Union Sushi has a change in ownership and that the menu may get an overhaul. We had a bunch of items from the sushi menu as well as a couple of items from the BBQ menu. From the BBQ menu, we had the Shrimp skewer and the prime skirt steak. Both were perfectly grilled, delicious and flavorful. From the sushi+negiri menu, we had the creamy scallop crispy rice. The manager recommended this and it was so good. Also had a number of sushi items: unagi, ebi, maguro and madai. All were fresh and delicious. We also had the ebi ten. For cocktails we had the lychee martini and old fashioned. Both were good. I loved that the lychee martini really had a nice lychee flavor to it. You can really tell it was lychee! While everything tasted great, I thought it was pricey for the portions served. Will be interesting to see what changes are being contemplated with the new ownership. read more

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Our waitress A was a sweetheart but the food was average. The bbq is better than the sushi, highly recommend the pork ribs or the lamb chops read more

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[[HIGHLIGHT]]The new location is stellar - wonderful food![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Can't wait to come back. The new city roll shogun crunch and the crispy rice are all musts. read more

Had this delivered and unfortunately most of the food (sushi rolls) were inedible. I give them credit for presentation, but beyond that, I wasn't able to finish it. Will possibly try it again. Maybe this was a one off. read more

[[HIGHLIGHT]]Great sushi and drinks in fun atmosphere with a large sushi counter and open bbq grill.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The Smoke Show was a delicious mezcal drink, which paired well with my yellowtail negiri, salmon avacado roll and spider roll. read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We sat at the sushi bar and the sushi chefs were kind. Tasty sushi (we got the madei chili which had nice heat and the signature roll with sushi -- both very good) and we enjoyed the dragontinis. However, the vibes and energy were very off when it came to the staff and their interactions. read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We tried a few different sushi rolls and all of them were pretty good. You can tell that the fish is fresh and the ratio between the filling and the rice was perfect. They had some tempura rolls that were tasty as well. I'd like to come back and try more of their bbq options. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The interior is also nice, could be a good place for an easy dinner.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

[[HIGHLIGHT]]Great place.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]The wood burning grill is the center of the restaurant, and you can watch the barbecue as well as the sushi chefs.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] There are tons of good choices on the menu, and everything has been delicious. The staff is friendly and efficient. Definitely worth a try. read more

I cannot speak to the service or ambiance because I got it delivered through GrubHub. The Alaskan roll was pretty good -- a little expensive though. The zucchini skewers were good. They probably had a little too much on them for me. In terms of the chicken karage, it was spicier than I prefer. I am obsessed with the chicken karage at Gyu Kaku and was hoping this would be similar. This place might be good for people who like extra on everything. That just happens to not be me. read more

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My friend and I stumbled in here after a Pilates class. We opted for 2 different types of sushi: Spider and caterpillar. IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! MUST TRY read more

Union - Outside of restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Friendly staff, good happy hour selections. Spicy tuna roll is just about the right amount of spice. The shrimp tempura roll is very good too. read more

Union - Happy hour Menu - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

[[HIGHLIGHT]]Great place for happy hour or dinner with a group.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]We went on a Friday evening and it wasn't too busy, the atmosphere was chill and we didn't have to wait to get a table.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]I could even hear the train as it went by every ten-ish minutes.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] For appetizers I recommend the seafood tempura and the edamame. Next time I'm back I want to explore more from the Barbecue menu. We really enjoyed the spicy tuna crispy rice and the madai chili specialty sushi roll. read more

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We swung by union sushi to grab supper and some happy hour drinks. Our fellow Yelp elite friend suggested this place. You can always trust a Yelp elite for great suggestions and as expected, this place didn't disappoint. We took full advantage of the happy hour by ordering the French 75, a mule and some house sake. This place had decent vegetarian options and we ordered the zucchini skewers, shiitake chive sushi and some chicken karaage. I love the fact that they let you customize the sushi to make it vegetarian. The server was very sweet too. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The ambience was nice and clean with tons of seating.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The only con is that their menu online is not up to date. Otherwise, this is such a great hidden gem and I will definitely be back. read more

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My best friend and I came for dinner as we are huge sushi lovers! We parked at a nearby parking lot and walked less than a mile to the restaurant. We were greeted by the host and immediately loved the vibe of the place. It was moderately loud and pretty vibrant, perfect place for a night on the town. We were seated upstairs and we loved the view of the restaurant from our table. We started with cocktails, I had a signature cocktail (I don't remember the name of it but I know it had ginger beer in it and came in a copper cup). My best friend had a classic French 75, we loved the cocktails. The appetizers were pretty good, we had the calamari and our favorite was the Truffled Tuna. I had the Pacific Coast roll and my friend had the Hotate Volcano roll. We absolutely loved the food! We had great conversation with the bartender who was super friendly. We will definitely be back! read more

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This was some of the best sushi I've had and I've had a lot of sushi! The flavor was fantastic, we ended up ordering two more rolls than we planned on. The service was great and friendly! It was a little slow to get drinks, but it wasn't a big deal. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The ambiance was nice and modern.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

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Surprisingly, and amazingly so good. So literally not more than a mile away, we can get into a location look for something nearby saw availability and was beyond surprise the point that I have to say they have the best to tuna tatki plate and oysters! Did they mention they offer lamb chops on the grill? Service was out of control great. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Ambiance is definitely good.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] It just checked off all the marks for us and to be honest the availability is what attracted us at first but then everything else is far superior. read more

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If I were to describe our experience here in one word, I'd say: AMAZING! We ate here on a Thursday night and opted to sit at the sushi bar so that we could watch the sushi chefs working their craft. Seeing the sushi chefs at work was a treat - they clearly had masterful knife skills, and this helped convince us to order more sushi mid-meal as well. We also got to chat with one of the sushi chefs briefly, which was fun! FOOD // + Truffled Sake roll (5/5): if you love salmon like I do, this roll is for you! There's salmon in the roll, plus more salmon on top. The fish was incredibly smooth and buttery; it seemed very fresh and not previously frozen. The flavors were also on point, with the sesame chili and truffle honey coming together into an explosion of flavors with every bite. + Dragon roll (4/5): even though I'm normally not a huge fan of shrimp tempura in my rolls, I enjoyed this roll. I wish there had been a bit more unagi in each bite - some pieces had no unagi since it was layered on top, alternating with the avocado - but it was still good. + Chu toro (medium fatty tuna) hand rolls* (5/5): we found out from a friendly bar table neighbor that we could order hand rolls even though they were not listed on the menu, so we first got two chutoro hand rolls to try. The sushi chef gave us a delicious blend of soy sauce and fresh wasabi (with a few other ingredients) that was absolutely incredible with the hand roll. I ended up using the sauce on my remaining rolls too - it was so good! + Spicy scallop hand rolls* (5/5): also very good! Personally I loved the Chutoro hand rolls more, partly thanks to that mouthwatering sauce, but this was also great. *Note on the hand rolls: we didn't ask for the price of these up-front, which we probably should have in hindsight to avoid any surprise upon seeing the bill. Each hand roll is more expensive than the nigiri/sashimi version. But the price made sense considering that the hand rolls have more fish in them. SERVICE + AMBIANCE // Service was pleasant and attentive. The restaurant has cool decorations and was playing lots of hip electronic dance music when we were there. (As an EDM fan, I approved.) Overall, Union Sushi + BBQ seems like a great spot for a date night, friends' night, or a treat yo'self night! read more

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I love this place! Such a fun vibe and amazing food. I like that they play music here but it's not super loud. The food is fresh, flavorful, and delicious. It is presented as well. We tried the Tuna Tataki, Miso Soup, Shishito Peppers, Madai Chili, Hotate Volcano , and Mentaiko Scallops. Each dish was a 10/10. Both the sushi rolls madai chili and hotate volcano were outstanding and each had 10 pieces. The Tuna Tataki is a must try. The scallops were perfectly cooked and loved the sauce on it. The service is great and the food arrives quickly. Our server was super sweet and friendly and made me the best mocktail- Raspberry. Check out this vibrant and trendy place for delicious food that is reasonably priced. read more

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[[HIGHLIGHT]]Great food and ambiance.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Robata grill and traditional as sushi and Nigiri. Been going to the restaurant for 10 years. read more

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So bad. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Bad vibe, bad service, and very sub-par sushi.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]I don't get how it's always so packed?[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I'll never go back lol read more

Union - Spicy Tuna - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Excellent! The food is is absolutely delicious! The service is spot on. Highly recommend if you're traveling to Chicago, specifically River North. read more

Came here for the Valentine's prix-fixe menu and had a series of unfortunate events. After being seated and receiving our menu, it took around 25 minutes for the waiter to come back and take our order. Each menu item was staggered and in total took us 2hr15 to receive all of our food (they told us we had a 75 minute limit on our table because of how busy service was). Drinks took a long time to come as well after being ordered, and it just looked like service was not well coordinated at all. read more

[[HIGHLIGHT]]I had a business dinner there last night and really enjoyed both the food and atmosphere.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The appetizers and sushi rolls were very fresh and tasty. The only BBQ we tried was the Skirt Steak which was absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended! read more

This restaurant was a must-try in Chicago. The restaurant is beautiful with sit-down dinner tables as well as bar seats available. The food was delicious. As far as specialty rolls, the red dragon and mango maguro were amongst the best sushi rolls I have ever had. For dessert, we had the matcha shortcake, which featured a very soft, airy cake with whipped cream, and strawberries. We also had the deep dish chocolate chip cookie: it came out warm with heaps of vanilla ice cream, and it was gone within a minute. read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Food and cocktails are always top notch. Love the sushi with purple rice and their shishito peppers are some of the best I've had

The place it's having a minimalistic layout but very nice and friendly. The staff it's very nice , polite and attentive. The food was fresh and good. It's amazing cuz they have every day happy hour and the portion and big and so tasty The sushi it's always fresh and with a lovely presentation. Don't miss the signature cocktails because are fire. read more

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LOVE THIS PLACE! I work across the street and always been wanting to check this place out. Let me tell you no regrets and will be a regular from now on. It's a two level place and alllllll vibes ! Perfect for date night or group of friends. Sushi taste fresh, juicy and delicious every single piece. Try the Mentaiko Scallops and thank me later because I promise you will love it ! Service is excellent and shout out to the host he was amazing. Parking can be found in near by garage (spot hero it :)) or if you're lucky to find a spot they have side street parking as well. read more

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Sushi was great. The chef was amazing and very engaging and knowledgeable. Bill was a little on the higher side but it's sushi...usually always expensive. [[HIGHLIGHT]]It was empty when we came for dinner.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I'd come back here though just cause of the chef. read more

A fancy, cozy restaurant to hangout with my birthday girl. Service was good, server was friendly and introduce us the drinks very patiently except one red flag, she keep asking us if we need more food instead of telling us that's over enough for two first time visit girls. Finally we have to bring the to go box back home before our next scheduled, in order to not waste of them. The food are more focus on the better looking than the Ingredients quality. So overall, a good Instagram date place. I'd like to rate 3.8 out of 5. read more

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Sushi was pretty good and pretty fair priced. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The interior is super spacious and nice.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Also enjoyed the appetizers. read more

First time stepping into Union Sushi since they re-opened under new management. It was a last minute decision on my way home from elsewhere so I sat at the bar. Uganba was my bartender/server and was so friendly and on top of everything. Could not have asked for better bar service. Sushi was fresh and the menu was unique. Not your average sushi rolls (although they have a few basic rolls if you prefer) and although most are $16-22 per order, they won't let you down on flavor. My fave was clearly the Pacific Coast roll (10-piece) and the presentation was so beautiful! I wanted to jump on the Black Rice sushi babdwagon, but it didn't work out for me. It was too mushy and threw off the taste of the fish IMO - oh well! Yelp tip: Turns out they do have a weekday happy hour from the time they open 4:30pm til 6pm. I got there well after but I'd definitely head back there to get half off sushi! Why not get a deal when you can? Note: The space really echoed so between the house music, people talking & a few crabby screeching kids it detracted from the otherwise chill neighborhood vibe. read more

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Wow -- This place was worth the craze! I highly recommend a high-counter seat so you can be placed in-front of the grill (if you enjoy things like that). The sushi was delightful! And the service was exceptional! I believe her name was YuYu? She was so sweet and endearing, I highly recommend her if you ever step in. Thank you for a wonderful experience! read more

Union - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We came here about a year ago while visiting Chicago for a wedding. We happen to stumble upon this place without knowing what we were getting into. We got a variety of different items and all we can remember is everything was delicious and came out in a timely manner. One thing we literally dream about all the time is the wagyu Next time we are in Chicago we are coming back here! read more

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Great service, and the food came out quick, fresh, and delicious. They never let our waters run empty, and they were attentive without intruding on conversation. The Quinn roll was our favorites and the skirt steak is tender and flavorful. Tuna Tataki is generally a go to for me, but here it was slightly sweeter than I like, but my husband said it's his favorite ever! Small piece of advice, get the seafood tempura rather than the union tempura plate! More bang for your buck. read more

The chef is great! The fish is fresh and top notch. Really good happy hour specials, but take advantage of the BBQ, hand rolls and sashimi. read more

Union - Chef created salmon roll - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I saw Union Sushi and Barbeque Bar on the restaurant week list and gave it a try! Off the more limited menu, I ordered Chilean sea bass Lamb chops Madai chili sushi roll Hotate volcano sushi roll Matcha shortcake I think the portions were a bit smaller because of restaurant week, so check other pictures for more accuracy. Everything was fresh, flavorful and delicious. The flavors on each dish paired very well together and had a good mixture of textures. I loved the sushi rolls! I also tried a friend's Truffled Sake and Spicy Mango Maguro. The truffled Sake was so light, clean, and fresh and the mango maguro had a good sweet and spicy flavor to it. I definitely did prefer those over my sushi rolls, but I liked mine too! I'm so glad I checked Union Sushi out! I would definitely come back for a fancier occasion and try other items on the menu. read more

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I am so disappointed. I loved coming here because of the GF option but unfortunately won't be returning. Last night myself and two friends went to dinner, it had been well over a year since we had seen each other so we took the opportunity to have dinner and catch up. Not even an hour and a half into our dinner did the hostess come over and tell us they needed the table for a party so we would have to leave. And I am not over exaggerating we were trying to wrap up conversation and TWO MINUTES later the manger came back to our table to tell us to leave AGAIN. The entire dinning experience was off with two different servers and dirty plates on our table the entire time and we still took care of the staff when it came to paying the bill. We probably would have ordered another cocktail had they come to our table to check on us, however they neglected our table then told us we had to leave. [[HIGHLIGHT]]May I also note when we left it wasn't even full, there were about 5 tables open. I guess customers aren't a top priority.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more