Katakana Sushi Bar

Went here for Valentine’s Day last night. What a hoot this place is. There was a blues and jazz duo playing live music, which was not of any quality, but tremendously entertaining. Our miso was fair, but our shrimp shumai came out rather cold. Still ate it because I’m a man. Sushi had strawberries and kiwis on it, with spicy sauce. The other entrée was their beef tenderloin, this tasted like cold gyro meat. These two plates came out 20 minutes apart. I refused the tenderloin and asked to see the manager. The waitress came back and told me that the manager has «cut his hand open» and could not see me now. It takes a combined effort to run a restaurant this poorly. The two other tables I talked to were equally unimpressed. This place is a joke, don’t go here.

If you order take from here it will be late and the fish will be rotten!
Ordered on grubhub and was told that there was nothing Katakana was going to do about the spoiled eel they sent to poison and kill us. Good thing the food was 20 minutes late, otherwise… Oh wait, there’s no upside to this story!
This place, sucks!

If you are looking for good, even decent sushi DO NOT GO HERE. The service is horrible and the fish is not fresh. The ambiance is awful and I agree with some of the other reviews that this is a «cover up» for an illegal business.

Ate here on a Friday night around 8 and there were only two other people eating. I liked the ambience. Nice lounge music and nice interior design. Service was friendly and knowledgeable.
Ordered the volcano, sumo godzilla, and bonsai. Volcano came with actual fire in the middle of the plate. Nice effect, but it made the sushi have a slight burnt taste. The sumo Godzilla looked really good but had a just OK flavor. The bonsai was also just OK. The rice was overdone because it too loose causing the sushi to easily fall apart.
I have eaten sushi at other places that has much better flavor. This will be my only visit here.

When it comes to sushi, I want fresh, fresh, fresh. I wonder how anything could be fresh in a place that has no customers. I walk by this establishment at least twice a week at various hours and have never seen more than two souls inside. I reluctantly ate here after a small meeting held in the basement space (dark, sticky floors, from beer spills?). I went with a snack of California rolls to avoid raw fish I wasn’t sure I could trust. It was decent, apart from it falling apart at the slightest touch. Service was hard to find, even though we were the only party present. This voluminous space and how it stays open remain a mystery to me.

NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO
I almost forgot to review this place until I looked at my past CC statement and had terrible flashbacks and major rage. My wife and I went about 2 weeks ago on a Thursday evening and were SO unimpressed and disappointed we wasted our increasingly rare night out.
The service was NON-​EXISTENT despite the fact that we were the only two people in the restaurant (should’ve taken that as a sign). Our server was unhelpful with menu info and was never even in sight for us to wave her down when we needed more water. She also failed to mention that there were no refills ON COFFEE when we ordered a second round — we were expected to read the fine print on a menu we had turned over to her at the beginning of the meal. No apologies or understanding when we were upset upon getting the bill. Oh, and the spout for the cream we were originally given had spoiled, moldy milk clogging up the spout.
The sushi was average at best and both my wife and I left feeling ill.
And what’s with the Picasso paintings adorning the wall? Maybe this used to be a tapas bar or something before? Just seemed indicative of a general lack of attention to details.
There are PLENTY of better sushi places in the city. We made the mistake of staying in the neighborhood instead of going to our favorite places elsewhere. NEVER AGAIN.
With any luck (and by all indications) this place will be outta business in no time. There is a good looking bar space in there that could be better utilized by restauranteurs who know what the hell they’re doing.

Avoid this place like the ebola virus. The waitress was cold and indifferent. There were only two other people in the restaurant when we arrived on a week night (the space could probably hold around 100). The sushi (that’s what this place is supposed to be known for right?) was the WORST I’ve ever had in my life. The rice was so poorly cooked I could have chipped my teeth on it. We brought our own wine and received a $ 5 cork fee. The one positive thing is that an old menu online advertised tempura (they do not have it anymore) and the waitress said the chef could accomodate our request. Oh yeah, I should mention that the prices are OUTRAGEOUS and they add an automatic gratuity fee of %18. It’s a shame because this is a nice space that could be used a lot more effectively. Once again, worst sushi EVER.

Wow. This place would look great if you’re on drugs. The lights don’t stay the same brightness and they change colors and flicker. It’s weird.
So, the server comes over and asks is if we would like a drink. Water was fine. It’s BYOB and they don’t list drink options. She says she’ll be back with the menus.
Five minutes go by and here she comes. She hands us the specials menu (all named after EDM artists) and tries to play it off like that is the entire menu. I convinced her that there must be more and she was clearly annoyed and very reluctantly handed us a full menu to share.
After ordering, what seemed to be the manager came to ask us if everything was going ok. I got out a «kinda…» and before I could get anything else out he said «GREAT!» and gave us the thumbs up and walked away.
We ordered some normal sushi and some special dubstep sushi. Man! Let me tell you something! That sushi was bland. Every single roll. There was one that had three kinds of fish and sauce and it was fried. Nothing. Tasted like fried nothing. Half of the rolls weren’t even rolled properly. Like, fell apart when you picked them up.
Save yourself the trouble, go somewhere else and get yourself some decent sushi and actual service.

I got into a jam, a friend helped me out, and I offered to buy her dinner. She had taste for sushi. My first stop was Groupon and I’m glad it wasn’t Unilocal,after seeing the negative reviews here. We would have missed out on what my friend considered impressive dishes and plating. We started with edamame and spinach salad, followed by summer maki and volcano maki. My friend finished with a hamachi nigiri, I just had a cup of coffee. Our server, Eva, was excellent, cordial, and prompt.
In all honesty, I have a favorite sushi restaurant that I like to frequent. But it wouldn’t take any arm-​twisting to get me to return to Katakana.

This place is always a ghost town because the employees are not cut out for customer service (hint: NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!) and neither the overpriced food or service is great. The waitress tells the owner when people have been sitting for awhile and not ordering anything. Of course the owner comes in and promptly throws his customers out after berating them and screaming about how much rent HE pays every month.
It seems as though the restaurant name changed recently because of all the bad reviews it was getting, but its still the same none the less. Don’t patronize this place. There are much better restaurants that are desperately seeking customers in the area.
The BBQ place across the street closed down and Katakana should’ve fell to the wayside long before them. I can only assume the owner either lives in the restaurant or is super rich and can afford to eat the losses every month from having a restaurant with literally little to NO CUSTOMERS! The most I ever seen was 5 people at this place on a Saturday night and that was almost 6 months ago! Every time I walk past this place, no matter what the time it’s empty and the waitress is just lollygagging at the bar trying to look busy in-​case a customer walks in.
Do not go here, pretty much everyone in Logan Square already knows why, I’m officially warning the people on Unilocal.Check out the other reviews and carefully read about what goes on here. I’ve heard about the owner just «adding» a $ 900 DJ fee to someone who had a bachelor party there even though that person not only brought his own DJ equipment, but DJ’d the party himself! Not only did the owner try to act is if he (the owner) personally hired a DJ for the party when he clearly didn’t, he refused to waive the ridiculous fee and tried to intimidate the customer by trying to fist fight him in the bar. The customer had to actually go to court over this fiasco.
Again, HOW IS THIS PLACE STILL IN BUSINESS???

This place is pretty alright … If you get the groupon you really can’t go wrong. It’s byob and you can guarantee to get a table pretty much any time of day and any day of the week. The place is huge and usually pretty empty… Makes you wonder why… But like I said, if you have a groupon you really can’t go wrong.

Super empty for a weekend night, and the waitress was a little off. It seemed like she might have just been awkwardly trying to look busy while not trying to bother us too much, but it just came off a little weird.
The food was okay. Definitely pricey for sushi, but I assume that is because everyone used the $ 20 for $ 40 Groupon.

Not because I’m from Miami, but I think this place must be a drug-​deal coverup.
LOLs aside, how else can a restaurant in Logan Square afford the rent when on a Friday at 8pm, hubby and I were the only souls there?
We’d gone groupon-​crazy when we first moved to the hood as a cheap way to get to know the area. We popped in here one night and could hear crickets. This place didn’t just open btw.
We were seated immediately by the window and while the décor was cool and the space was huge, I couldn’t understand why I felt something was off.
The waitress greeted us and told us about specials. We ordered the seafood soup (the best item here), the sumo godzilla and 2 other rolls I disliked so much, I forced myself to forget what they were. Godzilla out-​shined the other rolls but it wouldn’t stand up to another godzilla somewhere else. The seafood was fresh but the ratio of rice to seafood was way off. I felt like I was eating 80% rice, which is a way for them to save $ on fish, I guess, but an even quicker way to have an unhappy sushi lover.
Thankfully we BYOB’d, so we kept sipping to make up for the disappointing meal. While the server was nice and knowledgable and the place is a 5 min walk from my house, there’s way too many sushi options in Chicago that aren’t creepily empty at all times. Unless I win a free meal, I will not be back.
I also found it fishy that this place had 2 different Unilocal entities with varying reviews. Was the owner trying to start over or cover up past negative reviews? Idk. Seems fishier than the rolls I had here.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
I don’t know what could be worse for the stomach than bad fish with ‘special’ smell. If you have to eat a roll, it would be safe to take the fish out of it. This place is DANGEROUS!!!

I went here for dinner once and I found the food to be lacking (it sucked). The portions were small and the prices seemed to be just a tad too high. The service was slow but they were very friendly and seemed to be trying to do the best with what they had, which didn’t appear to be much. We had the sushi and the only thing that ended up making it even palatable was ordering some spicy mayo on the side to use as a dipping sauce/​condiment. First time I’ve ever had to do anything like that with sushi and I’ve had my fair share. The meal for two people came out to around 50 $ and the damn portions were so small that we ended up going out for a bite afterwards. There again, first time I’ve had to slip in a 2^nd dinner to fall back on after the first. I doubt I’ll be going back to this place. For those of you who want to give it a try, good luck!

I was really excited to use my Groupon here, even though the reviews were less than stellar. The menu looked great and I was excited to try some new kinds. First, it was a pretty slow night there (maybe 4 or 5 other tables) and the service was extremely slow. If I was there with a big group I wouldn’t have minded, but I wasn’t so I would have liked my food a little quicker.
Finally, I got my appetizer (stuffed tempura jalapenos) they were my favorite part of the meal. The presentation wasn’t that great but that doesn’t really matter.
I also ordered Black Pearl, Mexican and Sumi (I think it was called) rolls. The sumi rolls were good, the others not so much. Not the worst, but I don’t know if I would be wanting to go there again.
Maybe I shouldn’t have tried new rolls and just stuck to the basics that I know I like, but usually the fun part of going to new sushi restaurants is to try new kinds! This place is BYOB which is always fun, so that is a plus. I would possibly come back again with a large group but I would be careful about what I chose (probably stick to the basics).

Monday night was my second time here, and while both times I have come on a weeknight, I haven’t seen more than 1 – 3 other tables occupied.
We had the $ 40 for $ 20 Groupon and between 2 of us we got 3 rolls and didn’t even spend the $ 40, nor did we finish the rolls! So for the price, you can really fill up here. Quality doesn’t suffer too much considering quantity, and service wasn’t bad. It is BYOB so that’s a definite plus. Basically it is (especially with a Groupon) a thrifty way to enjoy a decent sushi night out, just don’t expect a lot of lively atmosphere. it is very quiet!
Recommendations: The Sumo Godzilla and The Night Life

Bought a Groupon to this restaurant never having been there before. I’ve been to a couple of different sushi places in the city and this one is definitely up there. Here’s the breakdown:
1. Location: Not the best neighborhood in the city, but definitely up and coming. Took us a bit to find the restaurant since it blended in with all the other shops on the street.
2. Appearance: It’s a huge place, and we were the only ones there (Wednesday afternoon, right before Thanksgiving, so I’m not really surprised…). Really clean and well decorated.
3. Staff: VERY friendly and attentive. Waiter/​Host knew the menu very well and gave us some of his suggestions. The guy behind the bar making the sushi was really nice as well.
4. Food: DELISH. I don’t know that I’ve ever had sushi this great. Had the Godzilla maki and the Sumo Godzilla maki. Both were EXCELLENT. I still can’t get over the great blend of flavors they provided. I’m not a fan of miso soup but this one was definitely tasty. Ginger salad was to DIE for.
5. Price: Not too expensive but not cheap either. But totally worth the service we got and the great food. They gave us a 20% off coupon for the next time we visited.
Overall: Wonderful experience. Would go back again, hands down.

Decided to check this place out on Saturday because I have been trying to use up all the
certificates I have.
I read some Unilocal reviews before I went there, but I usually don’t take them to heart… a lot of people are just SUPER picky buttholes and don’t let themselves enjoy anything.
Upon walking in the place is big and very nicely decorated. I love all the big pieces of artwork on the walls. For a Saturday night at about 8:30 PM I thought it would be more live, but at one point me and my mother were the only people in the restaurant. I wonder how they have stayed open for 3 years with this little clientele.
I actually thought the food was very good. None of my fish was «chewy» and it was all very fresh. I had the sashimi dinner which came with 10 pieces of sashimi and one Maki roll and it came to the table on this little boat which my mom absolutely adored and of course proceeded to take 75 pictures of. My mom’s shrimp tempura roll and Beef Fried Rice were also delicious.
BYOB is great. Easy Street Parking.
I don’t want to say anything bad about the service, but I kind of feel like my waitress needed to study up on her menu. When I asked her a couple things she always had to have me wait while she got the manager, she was very nice though.
To sum it up… I would probably come again IF I had a coupon, but not just because. There are other sushi places that are way better in the city.
*The MENU selection is HUGEEEEEE… it needs to be scaled down some.*

Had a Groupon $ 50 value for $ 25 cost, that I bought without knowing anything about the place. I dont really understand why this has so many negative comments – One thing, is they had no business the Sunday night at 6 – 7 pm that we were there – I am serious – we were the only ones in the place.
Very nice restaurant with easy street parking
BYOB
EXCELLENT tempura exectuion – the Red Snapper Tempura was one of the best fried fish dishes anywhere
Very, very nice treatment in the place
Food is good and nicely presented
Not sure what is going on here – but at half price, it was 4 star Yay! Im a fan