Hayashi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Gurnee

Key takeaways: expensive/low value for dollar; curt/rude staff; closing process invades the dining room nearly an hour before closing time.

The devil is in the details here. The food is good, but very expensive for the portion sizes. I'd say it's pretty typical of this restaurant type, actually, nothing really remarkable. Prices were 20-30% more than seemed reasonable. Entrees include only rice—no soup or salad. It would have been forgivable if the main items were portioned more generously, but that was not the case.

Goma-ae appetizer was maybe an egg's volume of spinach, hardly deserving of its $5 price tag. Two small filets of mackerel ("Sio" Yaki saba, $14) came accompanied by two long slices of carrot, two slices of zucchini, half a dozen green beans, and an (admittedly delicious) deep fried item I have not been able to identify. The Beef Nabe Udon ($13) fared slightly better in the value assessment, but not by much, as it was mostly udon and light on the meat and vegetables. Both entrées were tasty, but lacking substance.

Also lacking was the service—far from the usual friendly and helpful norm at Japanese establishments. I would go so far as to characterize the waitress's behavior as rude, especially her attitude toward us when the minute of "officially clos[ing]" came and she practically demanded that the check be settled even though we were not yet finished. In fairness, though, it seemed like nobody wanted to be there until closing.

The whole (visible) crew consisted of two sushi chefs and two waitresses. The sushi chefs busied themselves with cleaning the countertop display case, then fell back to watching videos together on a smartphone well before closing time. At various points, we saw one waitress or the other: bring a bucket of soapy water and large red rubber gloves out and set it on the sushi bar; fiddle with a smartphone only half concealed behind the kitchen curtain; and peek through the curtain several times in the space of a minute to see if we were finished. Those are just the obvious occurrences, and nearly all occurred before closing time. The display case cleaning was starting as we arrived, roughly 45 minutes before closing.

It's also worth noting that the waitstaff working tonight wore sneakers under their uniforms, which were in plain sight as they walked around. That further killed the decor, I think. The outfits just didn't...

I have dined at Hayashi several times, but my experiences was disappointing. The sushi and sashimi were dry and tough, indicating a lack of freshness. While the tempura and miso soup were satisfactory—dishes that are relatively straightforward to prepare—the quality of the sushi and sashimi was lacking. Additionally, some tables were wobbly, which made dining uncomfortable. The restaurant's compact size also contributes to a lack of privacy, as conversations from adjacent tables are easily overheard. This environment makes intimate discussions challenging, so opting for takeout might be a better choice.

On a positive note, the staff were generally kind, especially during my visit with Filipino friends. However, an incident occurred where a waiter accidentally spilled miso soup on my friend. Regrettably, they neither replaced the bowl nor adequately cleaned the table, and no apology was offered. The waiter's concern seemed more directed toward potential repercussions from the owner rather than our experience as customers.

Upon realizing the staff were Filipino, I expressed my thanks in Tagalog when leaving, but received no acknowledgment. This led me to wonder if they preferred to maintain the restaurant's Japanese facade.

In summary, while the service had its courteous moments, the overall dining experience, particularly the quality of the sushi and sashimi, was disappointing. Given the ambiance, food quality, and the issue of wobbly tables, takeout might be a preferable option for those considering a meal from this...

This place is really cute inside, a little crowded but nice. The employees were all really friendly and helpful, too, which is why I didn't want to give less stars. The food was really hit or miss though, honestly. I wish the menu was clearer about what comes with each item. I had the steak teriyaki and tempura combo, which came with rice and miso soup or salad. I got a salad and regretted it. I normally really like ginger dressing but it was really strangely sour and not salty at all, just sour ginger taste. The miso soup my friends got looked good. The steak was good but small portion, the tempura shrimp were great and big, but the tempura vegetables were really disappointing. They look great but the carrot, onion, and pepper were super undercooked and almost completely raw inside. My friend got karaage, which was really overcooked bone in wings instead of what I'd normally consider karaage. Deep fried gyoza were really good. Other friend had chicken teriyaki which they said was good, though the portion was small as well. Pork katsu was extremely thin and small but good. Girlfriend had chirashi which looked great, she said it was excellent and the portion seemed generous. Overall, for the price it was a bit of a disappointment, but the employees and restaurant were so nice that I...