Union Sushi + Barbeque Bar — Restaurant in Chicago

This place is a nice Japanese restaurant that serves ramen, sushi, and grilled food. The atmosphere is nice and everyone is pleasant.

Mushroom Ramen: What I got this time around was the Mushroom Ramen. It actually doesn't explicitly say what kind of broth and tare it was, but going by the taste and color, I'm going to assume it was a shoyu ramen. It was very light and refreshing as vegetarians tend to be. Topped with three kinds of mushrooms, fried onions, sprouts, green onions, pickled chilis, tofu, seaweed, gobo (some sort of root), and cabbage, this ramen had no shortage of toppings. Everything on there was very delicious. Seasoned perfectly and having a good distinct flavor (except for the tofu, I was actually a little disappointed with that). One mistake that's on me is way too much chili oil. I dumped the whole container they gave me and it ended up being a bit too spicy for me. Regardless, I did enjoy it. The noodles were firm and straight. Great all around and with a plethora of great toppings and great tasting broth this ramen did not disappoint. I will definitely come back to try their other ramens.

Beef Cheek Ramen: So I came back here like I said I wanted to last time! This time I got thier Beef Cheek Ramen! Again, they don't explicitly say what kind of broth it uses, but I went off taste and it seemed like it was a beef broth based shio ramen. The toppings consisted of pulled beef cheek, green onion, ginger, tofu, fresh chilis, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and shredded cabbage. Their online menu also says it should have had shiitake mushrooms, but I did not see or taste any in there. Let's start with the broth. Honestly, it was pretty bland. They completely underseasoned, and besides for the beefy flavor, it did not really have much else going for it. I was hoping for a bit more since I'd never had a beef broth based ramen before. Onto the noodles themselves. Again, nothing really special going on here. They were a bit soft and the word I want to use to describe them is flimsy. No bounce or spring to them at all, but they tasted fine at least. The toppings though is where this ramen shined. The beef cheek was absolutely amazing, as was the fried tofu. The fresh veggies were also great. Chilis has become one of my favorite veggetables toppings on ramen. The online menu said that the tomatoes should have been roasted, but I don't think that was the case in my bowl. Regardless they were good as well. And then finally the parmesan cheese. I'm pretty sure it was a gimmick more than anything. Didn't really add much as it was just kind of a blob in the middle. Overall, the ramen was alright. After the vegan ramen last time, I was really hoping this meaty one would be at least as good, but unfortunately that was not the case. I'll still definitely be coming back though. Just not for this bowl. That Pig Tail Ramen looks quite intriguing... Besides the ramen though, I ended up being charged more than the online menu said the bowl cost. That left a sour taste in my mouth even though it wasn't much. Overall, this visit has dropped my score of this place by one star.

Seafood Ramen: As are Union's other bowls, this is one unique bowl. The Seafood Ramen bowl has a mellow seafood broth topped with mussels, fried calamari, napa cabbage, shrimp, chilis, and scallions. Let me tell you right now they do not skimp on the toppings here. Plenty of mussels, a nice pile of fried calamari, and a couple shrimps. I had more than plenty to eat. On top that, every one of those toppings were absolutely delicious. If I had to make one complaint, it would be that the calamari was a bit too salty. The broth itself was very mellow. Not strongly fishy at all as you might think a seafood broth might taste or smell. Instead it was more fresh ocean tasting. Salty and with just a hint of the seafood it was cooked with, it was absolutely wonderful. The noodles here were firm, straight noodles, which is my preferred kind so those were...

All in all I would highly recommend Union Sushi to anybody, including my own brother who started out as an apprentice in a Japanese restaurant at the age of 14. (Check out the documentary Jiros Dreams of Sushi. Yeah, it's like that) Not sure whether I am in the minority, but I have become quite wary of the ubiquitous presence of sushi places & esp. the so-called fusion restaurants in the US. It seems that everybody who knows how to roll rice wrapped in nori has decided to call themselves a Japanese chef and open up a sushi restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised after taking a bite of the oyster (and everything else I tasted there afterwards) and impressed by the ingredients used, esp. the freshness of the seafood. Every dish (that I tried) was painstakingly designed and prepared and tasted and looked wonderful. The two rolls I had: Old City Market and (off the menu) spicy taco (octopus) were excellent. The octopus was not chewy at all which made it a rare and enjoyable treat. (Not sure whether they massaged taco for 40 minutes the way the apprentice was made to do so in the aforementioned documentary?)

They have an extensive drink menu, esp. sake. Folks there are knowledgeable and passionate about sake, esp. Ken the Barkeep. It's always a wonderful experience to drink at a bar when the person behind the bar is just as excited, if not more, about the drinks they are serving you.

It is unfortunate that not too many people know about the ancient Japanese grilling method called Robata which is featured in this restaurant also. Instead of Robata, they have to use "Barbeque" in the name. This may create confusion and may lead people to think of, well you know, BBQ, and may deter vegetarians from visiting here. That would be a very sad thing since Union also has an extensive vegetarian menu and they cater to any dietary restrictions you may have. Just ask. Vegetarians are definitely not second citizens here.

I appreciate very much the fact that the owner(s?) and team spend a lot of efforts and thoughts in the food and drinks they are serving their customers. The restaurant really is a work of love, it seems. I wish them years of success, and I can't wait to...

The first time and last time we were here was over a decade ago when this joint first opened up. It was one of the first Japanese robata grill joints in Chicago downtown and I remember our experience was good, nice ambient and sushi selections. I remember that I didn't care for the ramen and there was really nothing memorable. We decided to give it another try after all of these years, just to confrim the reasons why we haven't been back. The ambient is ok, much brighter then before, weird layout with tables and seats wrapping along the walls and that big pillar in the middle. The Saturday we were there, it was about 60% capacity, wasn't busy. The menu changed drastically, it used to be much bigger with higher end offerings, wine / sake paring and such, now it is just like a neighborhood sushi joint (I think that is what they going for now), the sushi was good, but for some reason, they were really wet, drenched in sauce (luckily they were light) and infused oil. Fresh fish. They took the ramen off the menu which was a bummer because that is the typical order at the end of the Japanese meal. The robata was OK. The skirt steak order has a good amount of it, very tender but it is missing the grilled flavor. The chicken thighs were a bit over cooked, dry. They only had 3 beers left on the menu. The service was OK but the food came quite late considering their capacity that night. The robata came up first and we had to wait for the sushi, and we didn't get our last orders of sushi even after we finished eating everything else, so we had to cancel the last orders and leave. Again, nothing special and nothing memorable, the menu is too limited. It went from a high end date night joint to a screaming baby, bachelorette party neighbor joint. It is...