So, What's Niu?

In the window of the old Max and Benny's space on E. Illinois St.--

I must resist the urge to be tasteless here.

Trendy faux spelling...fusion....lounge...

This does not bode well.

Northern Illinois University?

I dunno, what's gnu with you?

(sorry, really tired...)

made it out to Niu with some friends.. they had been for Niu's opening party 3 or 4 weeks ago so thought they'd bring us back..

VERY good food. Unfortunately that's about the only good thing to say about this place. The bar speed, kitchen speed, service, and management are far beyond bad.

A bullet point list of low points at Niu:
-A bottle of Saki we ordered took our waiter about an hour to retrieve from the kitchen. Then he brought the wrong bottle when it did come.
-We ordered drinks and 30 minutes later still didn't have them. Then when they came, one person's drink wasn't there. The waiter said it was "coming right up" .. The drink? A scotch on the rocks, probably the quickest drink to make. 20 minutes later it came, he had obviously forgot. Tip: Pre-order all drinks 30 minutes prior to you actually wanting them. All rounds took this long. Tip to waiter: write it down.
-There was one bartender working, yet 5 or 6 people at the sushi bar making sushi (plus another kitchen that had chefs making the cooked entrees)? What kind of ratio is that? Tip to Niu: people stay happy when they aren't waiting on drinks, even if your food takes forever. You also make more money.
-We kept ordering the same drinks, and somewhere mid-meal the glasses got noticeably smaller. Cheapskates. Tip to Niu: if your bar takes 30+ minutes to get drinks out, making them smaller is not going to make anyone happier nor will it speed up the bar.
-5 at our table ordered sushi, one person ordered sashimi, another a regular entree. The sushi came first, though the waiter had forgot to put in one of our rolls so that came another 30 minutes later. The sashimi came long after we had finished eating our sushi.
-The birthday boy's entree *never* came, the whole night. We repeatedly asked the waiter where it was only to hear "it's coming right up" ... It never came. Waiter knew this person's meal was not there and apparently didn't go to the kitchen to do anything about it. He repeatedly lied to us. Did he even check? There's no excuse in the world for this. This is a kitchen problem, a waiter problem, and a management problem.
-To add insult to the missing entree, I saw one of the chefs taking pictures of some of the plates he was giving to waiters. Taking pictures of your food on a Friday night??? Clearly misplaced priorities in that kitchen.
-At the very end of the meal--after the entree had been canceled--our waiter brought us Champagne glasses and said the manager had sent out something for us. 5 or 10 minutes later out came a $15 bottle of Brut California sparkling... The waiter said "this should sweeten up your night" (as if the sparkling wine were sweet? he obviously had no clue what he was serving) and proceeded to pour us all glasses. He over-poured every glass and it poured out the sides and spilled all over. Furthermore, who has dry Brut sparkling wine at the *end* of the meal??? Nobody, unless they're getting trashed.
-When our check came (the fastest thing he did all night), the entree which never came had not been removed and nothing had been comped. He claimed the entree was a mistake, but we still shouldn't have had to even look at it on the receipt after the disgusting experience we had. And they really should have done something for us given our terrible dining experience. A free bottle of fake Champagne doesn't really qualify as doing anything in my book.
-The space was nice. We were at a table in the very back (next to the fake forest) that was spotlighted with very bright lights. The lights were so distractingly bright, I felt like I was in a tanning bed. Plus you couldn't look up whatsoever without being blinded. Bugs were attracted to the bright lights, and there were bugs (fruit flies mostly) flying everywhere as we ate (one landed in a drink).

The food:
-We had a crispy calamari appetizer that was made from fried calamari that was then stir fried in peppers. Very good.
-Rolls were good in general. The "sexy Mexican" was purported to be popular, I found it to be just OK. It tasted like the sauce on a Big Mac to me, and it was all cheese/sauce and no meat. Though really pretty to look at. A cam phone pic of the sexy Mexican:

-Rasberry mojitoes were delicious.

The meal was well over $60/person. It's a terrible shame that our experience was so bad, because the food and drinks were pretty good. But clearly the waiter was incompetent. Clearly the management has no idea what's going on in their restaurant. Clearly they need more bartenders and/or chefs.

Niu is fairly new, yes... But they've been open long enough that so many things shouldn't be going this wrong in a single meal. I'm always willing to give places a second chance, but I'd have to think hard before giving Niu another try (or have a really compelling reason to do so).

Of the 100's (if not 1000s) of dining experiences I've had in Chicago, Niu probably rank this in the top 2 or 3 *worst* dining experiences.

Hmmmm...


Sushi, Mojitos, and anything called "sexy mexican" is a combo that is more than enough to keep me away.

Thanks for the warning.

saluki9 wrote:Sushi, Mojitos, and anything called "sexy mexican" is a combo that is more than enough to keep me away.

i agree it seems like a bizarre combo... but not unusual... and for that matter it usually works. any sushi restaurant these days wouldn't survive without some crazy mix of things to set them apart from the other 1000 sushi joints that have opened lately. you're more than welcome to not order a mojito from their full bar, of course, too.

i'm pretty sure Niu is kind of a copy of Shine in Lincoln Park... the guy who opened Niu used to manage at Shine, and they're both similar concepts (both fusion restaurants, serving both sushi and traditional food)... one person in our party is actually a waiter at shine and was planning to switch to niu...this experience is making him think twice about that I think.. (also unfortunately because of this we felt like we couldn't give anything less than a 20% tip. ugh.)

dddane wrote:

saluki9 wrote:Sushi, Mojitos, and anything called "sexy mexican" is a combo that is more than enough to keep me away.

i agree it seems like a bizarre combo... but not unusual... and for that matter it usually works. any sushi restaurant these days wouldn't survive without some crazy mix of things to set them apart from the other 1000 sushi joints that have opened lately.

I agree. It seems like new places have to do more than just serve old school sushi and sashimi -- every new place that's opened in the past six months (Blu Coral, Kansaku, South Coast, Ninefish) seems compelled to do more than serve simply pristine fish. In a way, this is cool (it shows some kind of evolution), but I must admit that I usually prefer just the freshest possible fish (which is why I liked the retro, stripped-down, no frills, hold-the-gold leaf and doilies sashimi I had at Torishin last Friday).

Ate there Saturday night. Before we left, I made the bold declaration that I intended to embrace the new sushi I have elsewhere derided -- Bring on the Sexy Mexican! -- but I have a hard time getting into sushi that dresses up raw materials and fish until you can't taste the fish. I'm not saying there isn't a place for this kind of sushi, it's just very challenging for those of us who prefer seafood commando-style. That said, I thought the chirashi (my personal benchmark) was quite good.

Service was very friendly, though sporadically clueless (the waiter had to go "check" on queries regarding ingredients several times -- I asked if they had fresh wasabi, and the waiter said, "I'll check," and then returned seconds later to ask, "What's raw wasabi?").

If you go, they have parking validation only next store -- not, as I learned, across the street.

Hammond

If the Kung Pao was any indication I'd stay away from the cooked food at Niu. The kitchen didn't seem to know how to use a wok, as it tasted like a steamed dish with sauce poured over the top and some peanuts thrown on top after the dish was plated.

For what it's worth for those, like me, who work in the area and regularly grow bored with the local chain-based dining options, Niu does have a nice lunch special - sort of a psuedo bento. For $13, you get soup (miso), salad (greens w/ ginger dressing), a california roll, and an entree of your choice (pad thai, curries, terriyaki, kung pao) and rice. I can't speak to the cooked dishes, but workmates have enjoyed them.

During lunch, a large selection of their gigantic (10 to 12-piece) rolls are also on special - half price. So for $5-7, you can get a big maki that might not attain "great sushi" status but certainly beats, in quality, certainly, but also price, the "sushi" many people buy from nearby Jewel and Trader Joe's. I liked the Mellow Yellow and the Strawberry Fields.

Although, typing those two ridiculous names and remembering that Niu calls itself a "japanese fusion lounge" made me wince a bit.

Haven't been to Niu, but at least it doesn't have a website like this.

This is interesting. As an employee at Northern Illinois University, this place might have some propriety problems using the letters Niu. At least that is what I have been told.