Rise Sushi - opinions?

Hello All,

I am headed to Rise on Friday night for some sushi. This is not my choice, as I've heard very lukewarm things about this spot, and would love to try another place. However, my sister raves about the place and I'm treating for her birthday dinner.
Any other opinions on Rise? Things that are great that will prove my untested opinion wrong? Other good things to know? Inform me!

Thanks,
Katy

Rise Sushi
3401 N Southport Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
773-525-3535

Ugh, Rise is mediocre at best. Some of the rolls are ok, but I've never been impressed with the quality of their fish. Service can also be an absolute disaster.

Not that you have a choice, but in the same area and general price range, I would consider T-Spot.

Loud, loud, loud. When I was there, I found it difficult to hear the person seated next to me, and he has a booming voice. I remember not being impressed with the fish, but wasn't turned off by it either. It was decent. I do recall my guests enjoying the cocktails.

I think Rise is not bad. Do I prefer other places? Yes. But, I've never had an issue with the freshness of the fish or anything I didn't like there. I think I enjoy their "honey roll". We frequent it more, because its right up the street. Service wise, I've had it all over the map. I wouldn't say that the service is rude or inattentive necessarily - more like odd. One time we went in a large group on a weekend night and they brought out the incorrect roll. When we pointed out the error, one of the chefs immediately prepared the correct one. When the bill came, however, the waitress attempted to charge us for the incorrect roll, which was more expensive. When we pointed out that we hadn't actually ordered that, she got a little sassy. But ultimately it was resolved with little fuss and the manager comped us on the roll. So, I can't really fault them there, since mistakes can be made.
The room can get super loud the later it gets on a weekend night. If this is a huge issue for you, I would say go earlier.

My quick take: Service can be annoying and the food is average.

Service details: I've eaten there 4 or 5 times, and encountered service problems almost every time.

Once we had a large group--about 10 people--and one person was running late. They refused to seat us until the party was complete, and once everyone had arrived, they told us that they'd given away our table, so we'd have to wait longer in the bar. Meanwhile, we watched our table sit empty (after all, there was only one table set for 10 people) until they decided to give it to us about 1/2 an hour later.

Another time I was with a friend who ordered uni with quail egg and ama ebi with the head. The uni arrived but the waiter managed to spill the quail egg on the way to the table (it tipped over) but didn't offer to replace it. When his ama ebi arrived, it only included the raw shrimp, no the fried head/shell. We asked about it and got a shrug while being told that the chef had thrown away the shrimp head by accident.

Other times there have been very long waits after we've been seated while waiting to order or waiting for the food to arrive. (This seems to be more of a problem when you're with a larger group, and the wait isn't limited to sushi...hot food is slow to arrive, too.)

Sometimes people write restaurants off just because they're located amongst middling places and trend-seeking crowds. If doing so leads those people to avoid Rise Sushi, good for them. It was impossible to keep the fried shrimp in a pool of Panda Express type glop from splashing my shirt, and when I saw the $19 price tag, I knew I'd really been taken to the cleaners. I also paid the extra $3 for real crab in what became a $9 California roll that had an indiscernible quantity of the upcharged crustacean buried in a massive coating of sugared rice and giant chunks of avocado. To no avail, I tried to wash it all down (or away) with a ginger-based cocktail that tasted like lighter fluid.

I have nothing good to say about Rise other than it's on the way from the El to my apartment. Expensive, loud, and low quality. Since we discovered Bentonara we've never been back.

Had remarkably good sashimi at Rise a few weeks ago, though perhaps I hit them on a good night, because at Shine (their sister restaurant) last Friday, I had remarkably bad sashimi.

Can't say that I've ever had anything better than average at Rise. It always struck me as one of those places frequented by people who say they LOVE sushi but then order only rolls.

David Hammond wrote:Had remarkably good sashimi at Rise a few weeks ago, though perhaps I hit them on a good night, because at Shine (their sister restaurant) last Friday, I had remarkably bad sashimi.

Since they had no fewer than 7 sushi chefs behind the sushi bar, seems possible that there might be some variation from one to the other. That said, I didn't order sashimi or nigiri because for me, pre-cut slices sitting in glass display cases = avoid, and that's the Rise method.