Mirai Sushi — Restaurant in Chicago

I don't know if the sushi chef was the main guy or if they pulled in a dishwasher to cut their fish last night, but it was clear that whoever cut the fish last night had no idea how to do it. I ordered the $89 sashimi plate, which is supposed to have 12 pieces. Sashimi is typically and most properly cut thicker than fish for nigiri. The fish served last night was so thin, and clearly not as it was supposed to be, because I got several extra pieces and half pieces - not because the chef was being generous, but rather because the slices were almost certainly for nigiri. Perhaps this would be ok if it was a $29 plate, but it was an $89 plate. If you are going to charge top dollar, you had better have a top preparation. The Blue fin tuna was the weirdest texture I have ever had. It was spongy, and not in a good way. Further, I ordered a piece of Uni, and it was horrible. Tiny pieces that tasted like old uni - not creamy, not sweet, not briny. When I mentioned the piece was terrible, the response was "It's from Hokkaido." I can't even count how much Hokkaido Uni I have had in my life, but again, this drek was worse than what you would expect at a supermarket take away. To their credit, they removed the Uni from the bill. Finally, I had one of their specialty rolls - the Summer Roll - a substantial dish. While it was generally good, it had a very weird texture, likely from the avocado, that kind of made the mouth feel like it was old slimy fish. I got past that and ate the roll, because its positives outweighed the weird mouthfeel, but they should really reconsider using components that together make one question if they are eating bad fish.

If the meal of sashimi, a roll and tea had cost under $50, I probably would have given the place three stars. It cost $150. Unacceptable. They need to step it up, or stop trying to pass themselves off as a top line...

I was super impressed by Mirai Sushi's Gold Coast location. Just around the corner from my home, it is nice to know that a quality sushi establishment is within arms reach.

I absolutely love the design of the dining room here. Yes, it is quite small. However, I believe intimate would be a more appropriate descriptor of the space. It is somewhat dimly lit, and the ambience is quaint, trendy, chic.

I was greeted by a warm hostess and sat at the bar along the preparation station as I was dining alone. As this was right at the beginning of dinner rush on a Friday evening, I was lucky to be one of the first persons sat at the bar (within 20 minutes others started filing in). Make a reservation on Opentable to secure your spot!

I thought the service here was great. My waiter followed up with me the perfect amount of times throughout my meal, as did the hostess. Given the size of the restaurant, I was secretly demanding great customer service as it's less people to cater to. Mirai did not disappoint on that front.

They also didn't disappoint on the cuisine. The spicy mono was incredibly delicious. The tuna tartare was fresh, sweet, and spicy and complimented the savory, spicy octopus. The fried rice was great, however, it would've been perfect if it had more bacon and/or bits of chicken added to the rice as well.

My only small complaint overall is that the two sushi masters did not interact with the diners at the bar. This isn't mandatory nor is there a sanction that requires this. However, imagine how esteemed we would've felt had the chefs mingled with the guests that were directly in front of them, watching as they prepared all of the yummies.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is not your commercial style sushi restaurant. You have to really enjoy and know about sushi to appreciate this place...

The food was great, but I have never felt so disrespected — especially while dining and celebrating a very special occasion. The service was awful, they checked on our table every hour so we were starving. We were there for 3 hours… meanwhile we sat maybe 6 inches away from a table that was getting great service, free items etc for their wait times. When we did get the food, it was very good sushi— but there’s so many more wonderful sushi spots in Chicago who are kinder to their patrons. It really ruined our special celebration, spending 3 hours there, spending over ~$300 for like 3 bites of food not even omakase (also a friend tried to send us wine and they told us we didn’t need it bc we already had wine — right?! Lol she gave me horrible vibes in general, mean spirited She might’ve been the owner bc as she mingled with friends, her server was running around like crazy.) And then the bill came and they said they tried to contact my friend bc the “card didn’t go through” but she had no missed calls. She also said when she called to send us the bottle of wine she was rudely told to call back bc “they’re too busy for that.” She called back and they rushed her off the phone. Essentially this whole experience, after we heard such great things, was truly disappointing. I almost felt humiliated for celebrating our betrothal, but I didn’t allow them to win! Still tipped 20% bc I understand they’re busy but to see other tables receiving better service and as a former waitress with years of restaurant experience., I understand a bad night. Hope they can...