The Shortline — Restaurant in Belvidere Township

Food is good, but just order it to go. The “service” is terrible. We didn’t have a waiter/ it was a self service concept, but no one let us know this. We found this out after waiting some time for drink refills after almost done with our pizza. There is no self-serve drink station so I went up to the bar to ask for a refill mid chew. The bar tender said she was going to give me a to go cup since they were closing. I had just told her that I didn’t know we had to get our own drinks and that I wanted something quickly so my food could go down. (In my opinion, it would have been quicker for her to just refill my cup that i had already brought up.) Before the pizza, we had ordered sushi rolls and crab rangoon. After each item was dropped off, first the crab rangoon in a to-go bag, then 10 minutes later, the sushi in to-go containers, no one asked how everything tasted or if they could get us anything else. After the sushi, I had to stop her as she walked away for some soy sauce, but the look on her face and energy gave annoyance. Which is why after a guy came out with the pizza and quickly walked away, I didn’t bother asking him for plates, so we just ate it on a napkin. At one point, the bar tender came up to us to let us know they were closing while still eating. As we walked up to pay, there were 2 men at the bar drinking. I asked the “server” while paying what time the bar closed and she said the restaurant closed at 9. I asked, “oh, but what about the bar, she said “the whole restaurant closed at 9”, and I said “oh” and turned towards the 2 men and the bar tender who came up to us earlier to let us know they were closing. She then says, “they are just finishing up their drinks”. It looked like to me the bar tender was getting them another drink. This was a VERY bizarre and unwelcoming experience- coming from someone who worked as a server in the past and who enjoys new restaurants. There were no smiles and it had a very cold “get the hell out” energy. Sad to say as I want locally owned...

So excited to see a sushi place in my town especially when my children and siblings visit as sushi is always their number one request for dinning out. However my visit today for the first time was a little disappointing. First I will say the restaurant looks great as they did a wonderful job of rehabbing an old building. Second was disappointed because we had to get up and go order our food at the counter and pay right away. For a sushi establishment I prefer to run a tab as one never knows how much they want to eat. So of course this was the case with me today as I just wanted to stop with a friend and see what this new place was about. I ordered the miso soup and the avocado sushi. Miso soup was not how I remember it and had it many times elsewhere and normally love it. The avocado sushi was great and it is the first time ever seeing a generous portion of avocado on it. Super great sushi! I then thought maybe I would try another sushi but was not wanting to get up and place another order( This is why I rather be able to run a tab / have a waiter/waitress). But did not want to waste anymore plastic either! THE MAIN CONCERN* of my visit and the reason for a lower rating is that everything is served on plastic and all disposable eatery and I do not support any establishment that cannot serve on real plates and use real utensil's and to consider the environment. For this reason it why my children and family would not be able to consider this establishment in the...

I hate leaving low reviews, I would much rather give five stars. Maybe this is just a set of expectations and comparisons set by our favorite sushi places, but this experience here was not good for us. Coming in to get a menu at the cash register, ordering and paying and then having self serve drinks felt more like a trip to McDonalds than any sushi place we had ever visited. We were sitting near the kitchen and there seemed real confusion about how to even make the rolls we had ordered, and they came out one at a time slowly. But at that pace at least it gave us something to work on while waiting. But the taste didn't really suit us, the rice seemed mushy and textures overall just weren't pleasing to us, not like sushi we have had anywhere else. Surf and turf is one we usually get, but it was cold here unlike other places we have been. I don't know if that is right or wrong, just different and totally changed the taste experience. It was made differently as well, but that is to be expected, just not a fit for us. Having said all that, it truly is a matter of expectations and preferences, and there are several very positive reviews on here so you might consider that and check it out for yourself, but we had higher hopes and spent quite a bit of money on rolls that we didn't end up eating. The shining point was the firecracker calamari appetizer which...