Am I imagining things, or did I see another sushi place (besides Kamehachi) while driving somewhere up and down that stretch of Wells St. in Old Town? And if I did, has anyone been there and have anything to say about it?

(If I am just imagining it, never mind.)

Edited to add: I see the place I'm thinking of, Cafe Sushi, has been mentioned in this thread--but only once, and more than a year ago. Has anyone been there since then?

I lived near Cafe Sushi (formerly known as "cafe sushi.com" for no clear reason) a while ago and tried it out. This was maybe 5 years ago? It was pretty crappy sushi, and I never went back.

Well the years went by and every time I happened by I would take a look and there was never more than a smattering of people inside - which is really shocking when you consider what a great location that is. I always figured it would just turn into a Starbucks one day like eveywhere else does.

So two weeks ago I went by and the place was packed, although almost entirely of 20 somethings from what I could tell. I also noticed that the awning had changed to simply "Cafe Sushi," so maybe they lost the bad juju when the dropped the dot.com pretensions, maybe they got a new chef, maybe they were just swamped with a bunch of patrons with no taste, but I found it unusual.

Not that this answers your question in any way, but I am also interested in what is up. I'll be interested to see the responses.

In the interest of continuity there's a short but concurrent discussion of Oysy sushi going on in this thread.

I was severely unimpressed with my visit.

I am new to the board and have been slowly making it throught this massive sushi thread. I just moved here from NYC and considered Yasuda my go to sushi joint. I lived nearby, had developed a relationship with Yasuda-san, and pretty much considered him the best as far as quality and price/value (never been to masa, but have had many sushi experience in NYC that were 75% of the price and 20% of the quality.)

I go in and out of Mega-Maki phases (currently I am out of mega-maki) and thus haven't been to a sushi restaurant since I have moved here. Katsu is the only one on my list and I promise to report back when I go.

I have been digging in to some fine dining, steak, and ethnic (thai avenue was great.)

Thanks for all the info!

Chico

Jstevens75 wrote:Went to Aki Sushi on Division last night. Nicest people in the world, couldnt have been more accomadating. However, we were the only people in the restaurant for the 2 hours we were there.

The problem, very substandard fish. Poorly constructed yet creative rolls. I know they are trying to be price concious compared to mirai, but 4 rolls and an app were still $85 before tip and drinks.

I give them six months max. Too bad, cause if they had done it right they could have been really successful, affordable sushi on that street could get a lot of run off from Mirai and Bob San.

J

well, they lasted way more than six months, but I'm sad to report that not much seems to have changed since Jstevens75's report. We were the only patrons in the place tonight, and the sushi was south of mediocre. Some pieces were still frozen, while others were clearly past their prime level of freshness. Extremely friendly people, nice place, bad food, no customers.

Where do people recommend in the NW/W burbs for sushi? I've had recommendations for Sakuma in Streamwood and Sakura in Rolling Meadows. My wife is more of a fan of rolls than sashimi so out of those two Sakura looks better, but looking for more opinions.

Wildfish
60 S Arlington Heights Rd
Arlington Hts, IL 60005
(847) 870-8260
http://www.swordfishsushi.com/wildfish_arl/wildfish_arl.html

My standard for sushi remains Vancouver BC. Also, I lived on the west coast for a few years and I found the sushi to be generically superior to ours in Chicago. Of course good fish is good fish and I have had fantastic experiences here, usually when asking for the house recommendation.
I recently returned to Wildfish and found the nigiri and sashimi to be top notch. I believe that all of their sashimi is fresh, never frozen, and the portions are substantial. While the quality of the salads seems to have faltered slightly since my last visit the sushi, rolls, miso, and specials were all very good.
Though my ultimate preference would be all you can eat shushi for 25 dollars canadian in B.C., I believe that even at their prices wldfish is certainly worth the trip in the NW burbs.

Also, since the topic has been mentioned in this thread maybe some one more familiar with fish sourcing and general food service providers could go into more detail regarding where Chicagoans get fish and how quality is measured and ensured.