The food was ok, it was not exceptional, just ok. The Kimchi Ramen was entirely too salty.

The wait staff was ok, there were not a lot of patrons so I honestly expected wait staff to tend to us better (party of 5, this is important later in the story).

I brought my family downtown Chicago to watch the Air and Water show. We randomly picked Niu Japanese Lounge for a late lunch after leaving the Air Show.

It was 5 of us, my wife, my adult daughter, my two juvenile children and myself. After reading the menu we made our orders. I really was not upset with the quality of food nor the quality of service, as described above. The problem came when we wanted to pay the bill. The bill was $215.00, I expect high prices downtown Chicago. What I did not expect was a 20% gratuity added to the bill. I expressed my concern to a waitress, her response was she was not the manager, I then asked please bring the manager. The manager explained that it was their policy to charge 20% gratuity. I responded that they cannot charge anyone anything with giving notice, she informed me that it's was on the menu. I asked to see the menu again. When she brought the menu, she showed me their notice of gratuity of 20% will be added to parties of 6 or more. I explained we are a party of 5, then she insisted that they have "put the paper work in to lower the number of patron on the automatic gratuity charge". I informed her that what she is doing is illegal. She insisted that it was their policy. I informed her that her restaurant's policy does not override or out weight the law. It was not until my wife said she was willing to call the police to figure out if we were correct or not, after that she took the 20% gratuity off the bill.

During all of this arguing the party next to us was intently watching it all unfold. A young man from that group walked over and asked "they charged you gratuity?" I said yes at 20%, he was in a part of 4 and said "they charged us a Covid surcharge". Now we became aware of what Niu Japanese Lounge is doing, they illegal charge people extra on whatever they can get away with, there was no covid surcharge on our bill.

Gratuity is define as voluntary because you are happy with service. I enjoy paying gratuity for good, great, and exceptional service. I never tip below 10% and I would never tip them 20% for their level of service.

Food was ok, portions was small, wait staff was ok, prices were high compared to similar restaurants. Arguing with a customer over gratuity is ridiculous. I still gave 15% gratuity.