Mirai, Reviews and Discussion

So with all the talk in the "good sushi options" thread I had the opportunity to grab a late dinner at Mirai this evening. There's no dedicated Mirai thread so now is as good a time as any to start one.

My experience at Mirai tonight is best told in three parts. In fact, it had all the makings of a classic tragedy: an exposition ripe with unsettling foreshadowing, a moment where it seemed all misgivings were for naught, and an unfortunate conclusion that at once seemed avoidable yet completely predictable.

So I'm being somewhat overly dramatic, but it's only because I think this place has the chops to be good. Unfortunately, it falls noticeably short on a variety levels, from the execution of the food to the tact of the staff.

Part I

I showed up a little after 10 PM to a sushi bar that was about 1/3 full. I had called ahead a few minutes before just to give them warning and they said it wouldn't be a problem. Service bungle number one was seating me right next to the sushi pass where servers were constantly congregating. It just wasn't a particularly pleasant place to sit with John-the-artist-cum-waiter hovering right behind me asking the itamae which table had the roll covered with sweet eel sauce versus the roll with the spicy mayonnaise sauce. Not a huge deal, but there were plenty of other seats open.

I also happened to be sitting right in front of the roll fabrication section. Now I'm not one to judge the quality of a cook's work by his or her race or ethnicity--white, yellow, black or brown, if you can cook, you can cook and I certainly realize Hispanic line cooks make the food in probably 85% of the restaurants in this country--but the respect for the product really was not evident in my experience. The fish cooler was terribly unorganized, fish and copious amounts of prepack eel and [gasp] krab stick were being haphazardly flung around. The two gentlemen I was sitting in front hardly effused authenticity or inspired confidence.

So whatevs, the place doesn't seem ideal but at least there's no Chicago Fire Roll. Unfortunately, there's not much else either. The selection of fish was totally disappointing. Only two types of white fish, snapper and fluke! No yellowtail derivatives, no scallop, no mackerel, only blue fin tuna. They were "out" of uni, the snapper, and mirugai. I don't blame them for this since I came so late in the night, but the fish selection was rather slim on the whole.

And to sum up Part I, an exchange between the gentleman sitting next to me and one of the itamae:
Guy [after date gets up to go to bathroom]: So, where did the sushi chef BJ go?
Itamae: You mean BK, I think. He left about six months ago.
Guy: Oh.
[Couple minutes pass]
Guy: Do you know where BJ went, what restaurant?
Itamae: BK. I think he went to some hotel downtown.
Guy: Right, BK. A BJ is what I'm going to be getting later. [cue smarmy laugh]

Oh man.

Part II

After running through the menu with my waitress I made my selection. After telling me they were out of uni, I asked her if she was sure. She was. I asked her to check with the chef. She assured me they were out. Uni is one of my favorite foods but if they're out, they're out. I tried to forget about it.

First, I received a gratis spicy tuna roll. A nice gesture I thought, since I was a single diner and sometimes kitchens like to do that kind of thing. I wouldn't order it myself but it wasn't bad at all either. It then becomes clear that this roll was not for me (I had thought they just made an extra and sent it my way). The waitress comes over and says, "Oh my mistake, that wasn't supposed to be yours." The sushi chef comes over a few seconds later and says, "Oh yeah, that was supposed to be for the guy next to you." Okay, I get it. If a restaurant makes a mistake like that, its staff isn't supposed to make you feel like they're doing you a favor. Stated differently, the guest shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable for receiving an item that wasn't intended for him or her, especially if it's something as trivial as a spicy tuna roll. It almost felt like they were blaming me for taking it. Just a poor example of service recovery.

Next was the king crab nigiri. Like crab, a bit of mayo, some lemon, and spices. I was unimpressed. The crab flavor didn't shine and the nori was soft. I hate soft, cheap nori.

Then I had the monkfish liver wrapped in octopus with ponzu. A nice dish in thought, contrasting textures and all, but not executed all that well. The quality of octopus wasn't great and was sliced much to thickly. The idea, I think, is for the octopus to give the dish a bit of chew to foil the creamy liver. Instead the octopus was too thick and texturally assertive such that it overpowered the delicate liver.

I should note the tea now. First of all, it comes in an ugly, foil-sealed packet with a little tea bag inside. Lame. It also comes in a Western-style teacup with a handle and all. Lamer. Given the way it was served it crossed my mind they might try to charge me for this tea. In the end, they did. Totally lame. The tea wasn't even good. I've never heard of a high-end Japanese restaurant charging for generic tea before. Total crap.

So now the part of the story that almost redeemed the restaurants somewhat numerous shortcomings. The sushi I ordered was actually quite good. The rice was a bit meh, the quality/size of the grains a bit too large, but the fish was solid. Again the selection sucked but what I did have was quite nice. The otoro was more like chutoro-plus, but it was still damn tasty. The chutoro was more assertive in flavor so I liked it more. Two types of fresh eel were on offer in addition to the precooked vacuum stuff from Taiwan. In all, I had two pieces of chutoro, one otoro, one botan ebi, one sake, and one of each of the eels. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the quality of the fish itself. At this point in the meal I was marginally satisfied but tragedy was brewing.

Part III

So just a couple minutes after finishing up and getting my bill I overhear a couple sitting a ways down the sushi bar ask about uni. They happen to be seated in front of one of the real itamae, as opposed to my roll drones, and received two wonderful pieces. Needless to say I was a bit perturbed given how much I wanted it earlier and how emphatically my server assured me they were out without checking with the chef like I asked her to. Just then, she comes back and says something like, "Well I hope you enjoyed everything. Hopefully we'll have some uni the next time you come." I then direct her eyes to the itamae. She tells me it's the king crab mixture. I tell her to look again. She does, she asks the chef, and is like "Oh well, sorry." This is what really left a bad taste in my mouth. A good example of service recovery would involve her asking the itamae to make me a quick piece before I left as an apology for not following through earlier. Of course, no such recourse was offered. Between that and seeing the charge for the tea my former state of relative satiation was replaced by a sense of overall annoyance with the restaurant. After tax, tip, and a beer, It was like $65 or something. Not all that expensive in the sushi picture but I didn't feel like it was a particularly good value for the experience. The prices per piece are pretty cheap if we're talking purely dollars though.

So yeah, this place is alright but it's certainly not good. They have pretty solid fish but fall short in just about everything else. There's not a lot of care that goes into the food, from the disorganization in the cooler to the way the fish is sliced and handled.

My quest for a fulfilling Chicago sushi experience must continue on.

BrianZ, interesting report.
FWIW, I make it a point to sit as close as possible to the (main) sushi chef as possible - waiting a bit if neccessary. That way (or also) I bypass the waitstaff if I think they aren't communicating as I want them to with the itamae. Further, I tend to not believe the waitstaff - reasoning that they have no idea about the specific condition of specific cuts/items.

Of all places, I've had good experiences at a kaiten place (Sushi Station; page1 of the sushi options thread). Uni wasn't on the conveyor - not that it should have been - so I asked the waitress, she did go and ask one of the sushi chefs, but he seemed to brush her away (too quickly I thought). So a bit later, I went up to him and asked if he would make me an ume-shiso roll to wind up my meal and by any chance did he have any uni? He had, it was very good, I had seconds

Life's too short to have bad sushi, take matters into your own hands...

BryanZ wrote:So with all the talk in the "good sushi options" thread I had the opportunity to grab a late dinner at Mirai this evening. There's no dedicated Mirai thread so now is as good a time as any to start one.

My experience at Mirai tonight is best told in three parts. In fact, it had all the makings of a classic tragedy: an exposition ripe with unsettling foreshadowing, a moment where it seemed all misgivings were for naught, and an unfortunate conclusion that at once seemed avoidable yet completely predictable.

Part I

I showed up a little after 10 PM to a sushi bar that was about 1/3 full. I had called ahead a few minutes before just to give them warning and they said it wouldn't be a problem. Service bungle number one was seating me right next to the sushi pass where servers were constantly congregating. It just wasn't a particularly pleasant place to sit with John-the-artist-cum-waiter hovering right behind me asking the itamae which table had the roll covered with sweet eel sauce versus the roll with the spicy mayonnaise sauce. Not a huge deal, but there were plenty of other seats open.

I also happened to be sitting right in front of the roll fabrication section. Now I'm not one to judge the quality of a cook's work by his or her race or ethnicity--white, yellow, black or brown, if you can cook, you can cook and I certainly realize Hispanic line cooks make the food in probably 85% of the restaurants in this country--but the respect for the product really was not evident in my experience.

Part II

After running through the menu with my waitress I made my selection. After telling me they were out of uni, I asked her if she was sure. She was. I asked her to check with the chef. She assured me they were out. Uni is one of my favorite foods but if they're out, they're out. I tried to forget about it.

First, I received a gratis spicy tuna roll. A nice gesture I thought, since I was a single diner and sometimes kitchens like to do that kind of thing. I wouldn't order it myself but it wasn't bad at all either. It then becomes clear that this roll was not for me (I had thought they just made an extra and sent it my way). The waitress comes over and says, "Oh my mistake, that wasn't supposed to be yours." The sushi chef comes over a few seconds later and says, "Oh yeah, that was supposed to be for the guy next to you." Okay, I get it. If a restaurant makes a mistake like that, its staff isn't supposed to make you feel like they're doing you a favor. Stated differently, the guest shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable for receiving an item that wasn't intended for him or her, especially if it's something as trivial as a spicy tuna roll. It almost felt like they were blaming me for taking it. Just a poor example of service recovery.

Part III

So just a couple minutes after finishing up and getting my bill I overhear a couple sitting a ways down the sushi bar ask about uni. They happen to be seated in front of one of the real itamae, as opposed to my roll drones, and received two wonderful pieces. Needless to say I was a bit perturbed given how much I wanted it earlier and how emphatically my server assured me they were out without checking with the chef like I asked her to. Just then, she comes back and says something like, "Well I hope you enjoyed everything. Hopefully we'll have some uni the next time you come." I then direct her eyes to the itamae. She tells me it's the king crab mixture. I tell her to look again. She does, she asks the chef, and is like "Oh well, sorry." This is what really left a bad taste in my mouth. A good example of service recovery would involve her asking the itamae to make me a quick piece before I left as an apology for not following through earlier. Of course, no such recourse was offered.

My quest for a fulfilling Chicago sushi experience must continue on.

BryanZ,

Seems as if the Chicago dining scene is not treating you so well . You do not seem shy or at least not with a pen so if you were not happy with your seating arrangement why not ask to be moved?? As far as the restaurants numerous snafus, there is no excuse for any of them, but sometimes when you roll in late that happens (as Buford chronicles in Heat).

Try Tsuki Sushi,

Mkiss

Shrug... in the "big" sushi thread, I said Mirai has the best fish I've had in Chicago. I stand by it. The other stuff, while unfortunate, doesn't contradict that. It's just as likely that a return visit would get you the opposite experience. A couple of visits ago the wine buyer was in the house and we ended up tasting three or four things just because he wanted some feedback. A very nice time.

When I first sat down it wasn't clear that the itamae I was in front of were only making rolls. With that said, I could've (should've?) asked to move based on location alone. Usually it doesn't bother me, and really the location itself was the least of my concerns, I just got a firsthand view of how little care these two gentleman put into handling fish.

basis, you're right, I do think the restaurant has the potential to be good. It just wasn't firing for me last night. The fish quality was good, I'll certainly concede that. I'm not sure how to reconcile that with the limited menu selections (again, I don't blame them for being out of stuff that late in the night).

Part of my impressions were also derived from the crowd and type of things other people were ordering. I know that's certainly no fault of the restaurant but the proportion of rolls to nigiri and, even more expressly, sashimi, was just out of whack to my tastes (read: 10 roll plates to 3 sushi plates to 1 sashimi plate). I like my sushi restaurants serene and jewel-like or, if not that, boisterous places that are all about fish (perhaps analagous to like Peter Luger's or another old-school steakhouse).

BryanZ wrote:Part of my impressions were also derived from the crowd and type of things other people were ordering. I know that's certainly no fault of the restaurant but the proportion of rolls to nigiri and, even more expressly, sashimi, was just out of whack to my tastes (read: 10 roll plates to 3 sushi plates to 1 sashimi plate).

Welcome to Chicago!

Seriously though, you should give them another shot. I don't think I've ever run into "supply" issues at Mirai, but I will say that the service has never been that much better than what you describe. And definitely eat at the sushi bar because I've found the wait staff there to be clueless at best.

BryanZ wrote:basis, you're right, I do think the restaurant has the potential to be good. It just wasn't firing for me last night. The fish quality was good, I'll certainly concede that. I'm not sure how to reconcile that with the limited menu selections (again, I don't blame them for being out of stuff that late in the night).

I think you'll find this in general in Chicago, unfortunately. My guess is that the demand for toro/uni/et al isn't enough for a lot to be brought in. I'm also inclined to prefer a smaller selection of higher quality than the opposite; if the chef doesn't like the uni available, I'd rather him not buy it.

BryanZ wrote:Part of my impressions were also derived from the crowd and type of things other people were ordering. I know that's certainly no fault of the restaurant but the proportion of rolls to nigiri and, even more expressly, sashimi, was just out of whack to my tastes (read: 10 roll plates to 3 sushi plates to 1 sashimi plate). I like my sushi restaurants serene and jewel-like or, if not that, boisterous places that are all about fish (perhaps analagous to like Peter Luger's or another old-school steakhouse).

This is a case in point of what I was saying. How does one say, in a non-offensive way, that Chicago palates in general are not, um, sophisticated? Certainly this board is a LARGE exception to that statement, and it's not like there isn't a ton of great food in this city. But you are going to see 50-67% rolls served anywhere you go. It's just kinda how it is here. It's worth noting though, that Chicago sushi is MUCH better now than it was ten years ago, and there's no reason to think that it will continue to get better, with more premium cuts available, etc.

mkiss wrote:
Try Tsuki Sushi,

Mkiss

Sorry, I have to disagree.

I had a terrible, terrible dinner at Tsuki the other night. The rice was so dry I couldn't pick the nigiri up without having it crumble to pieces. The fish in the nigiri was warm (ick!) and dessicated to the point of almost being jerky. My companion ordered some awful roll with mango and raspberry-flavored corn syrup. We also had a tuna sampler (chutoro, otoro, super white, bluefin, tuna cheek). Again, small pieces of dried out fish on dried out rice. It was the worst sushi I've ever had, and I'm thankful it didn't make me sick. We went on a Weds. night, when they have an all-you-can eat special. Maybe that explains the poor quality, but certainly does not excuse it.

Sorry to hear of your horrible dining experience, BryanZ.

All these dining experiences and exorbitant cost are why we always make our own sashimi, nigiri and temaki at home. We eat better than my in-laws in Japan and it's ALWAYS all-you-can-eat uni and mirugai at our place.

My latest and greatest score: live botan ebi (spot prawns)



The heads (sans eyeballs and head spike) prior to deep-frying

Jay K wrote:Sorry to hear of your horrible dining experience, BryanZ.

All these dining experiences and exorbitant cost are why we always make our own sashimi, nigiri and temaki at home. We eat better than my in-laws in Japan and it's ALWAYS all-you-can-eat uni and mirugai at our place.

It wasn't all that horrible. The majority of it was just not that pleasant either.

I'm guessing you guys get good fish at Mitsuwa here in Chicago because that's where I shop at home in NJ. I've always enjoyed their fish, though it can get expensive. And, of course, I've been known to eat 1/4 lbs. of uni in one sitting (one of those palates they sell at Mitsuwa).

I've found the wait staff there to be clueless at best.

The sushi I ordered was actually quite good.

These two sentences pretty much sum up my experiences at Mirai. Very solid fish with a healthy side of attitude from the waitstaff. For the money, I'd much rather go to Katsu (the uber-hip vibe isn't that important to me and I think the food at Katsu is a generous step-up from Mirai).

I like Mirai a lot. I've never sat at the sushi bar (though I always ask to sit downstairs since I never feel cool enough to sit upstairs). Also, I've never gotten any attitude from the wait staff. I've tried almost everything on their regular menu and am always very satisfied with the quality of fish. In the last two years, I've really only gone to Mirai for their house rolls: tuna tuna salmon, spicy mono, special zuke and the gyu maki. (I might be forgetting one.) I don't even open the menu.

Mirai is just a really good option for me. My sister only eats rolls and enjoys “hipper” establishments. One of my friends, a frequent dining partner, 9/10 times just eats straight sashimi when she goes out for sushi. Mirai is actually one of the very few places where she’ll eat rolls.