Lawrence Fish Market Chinatown — Restaurant in Chicago

Disappointing ramen!!!! But great sushi!!!

We tried their classic ($14) and spicy ($15) ramen. The broth was fine but the noodles and pork belly were not. The bowl size was standard to other ramen places.

The noodles weren't ramen noodles they were I believe Cantonese style noodles that tasted and looked like spaghetti noodles. The pork belly although the portion size was big for each piece, it was very rough and chewy and not tender at all! I ended up not eating the pork belly. The pork belly in my ramen and my partners also had an odor and was not marinated bc it didn't have the dark color on it from being marinated, the pork belly was white in color and not tender. I prefer shinya ramen on halsted as their pork belly is so tender and delicious and has no smell. I didn't make a big deal about it to the waitress bc I just decided I won't be ordering it again, just wanted to give it a try since it was listed on their menu but I definitely don't recommend any of their ramen at all!

BUT I will say this place doesn't specialize in ramen like shinya does so I guess what do you expect from a seafood market place.

The sushi on the other hand was absolutely delicious which makes sense as that is mainly what they serve!!! It was some of the best sushi I've ever had and I've eaten at a ton of sushi places in Chinatown and the north side of Chicago.

The sushi portion was a generous size which I truly appreciated, the rice was soft and the inside of the sushi roll was well stuffed. We ordered the caterpillar roll which had broiled eel and fresh green avocado. And we ordered two pieces of unagi on rice ($2.50 each). The caterpillar roll ($12) was excellent and would order again.

The individual unagi on rice pieces were good but the piece of unagi was smaller than other sushi places I've eaten at and they put way too much sauce on the unagi bc it was overly sweet. It tastes fine but just wouldn't order it again since the piece was smaller than the norm and was overly saturated in the sweet glaze/sauce. It was $53 total with taxes before tip.

The decor is simple and clean, plenty of tables, bathrooms are well kept and the service was quick and friendly.

I will definitely be returning ONLY for the sushi rolls which were fresh quality and delicious!!

Hard to find...

As a local, I LOVE this spot! It’s walking distance to my house & it’s so lowkey. I’ve gone up north to their first location for years & having Lawrence Fish Market this close to my apartment has been dangerous for my wallet.

Now I’ve gone quite a few times since their grand opening in winter 2024, I even popped in the first week they actually opened. I’ve dined in & done quite a few pickups & I’ll say their service is excellent. The staff were sweet & attentive, mind you, I go when it’s typically slower because their dinner service can get slammed since they get a LOT of to go orders in the busy times. I also recommend to everyone if you plan on order in takeout, be mindful that the wait times can go from 30 min up to like an hour/hour & a half because of the complexity of what you ordered & how busy they are.

On the weekends they do have more sushi chefs available which will help a lot, & they do phone notifications when your stuff is ready for pickup.

Also, the receipt photo is also what I paid the first time I came (it was two of us) & we went all out. On a typical order we’ll get a bunch of fresh sushi & pay around $45-$60 tops.

I haven’t actually tried their ramen yet because I’ve been obsessed with their sushi tbh. I’ll get to it eventually & post an...

I'm not sure why but I came in for dinner with my husband and spent $150. I've been eating here for several weeks and noticed a lot of the servers that I used to know quit!

They hired this new server named Kevin. For some reason my bill had a forced 20% gratuity (for 2 people!) and he said that was my bill. I barely even got serviced but he was trying to force us to pay more.

It is SO NOT COOL to pressure customers into paying more. Because you want tips, you could just be nicer.

The worst part being that I could hear them in the background arguing about tips and how much money they made that night. Maybe don't talk about that when you just tried to scam me??

Edit: the business claims they refunded my tip, when clearly it is impossible and they have no access to my credit card or account. It would be strange if they did.

I haven't received any funds back. This is probably them doing PR to save themselves. Would've been better if they never...