KITARO GRILL & SUSHI LOUNGE — Restaurant in Lemont Township

The food is great, but the service is horrible.

We’re regulars and we arrived at 8:35 after I got off work (and they didn’t close until 9). When going inside the lady didn’t give us the option to sit because “they’re were closing soon”.

We already knew what we wanted to order and we drove 35 minutes to get here because it’s our favorite sushi restaurant. And then she recognized my boyfriend (because he’s a regular) and asked us why we came so late and where I worked, to which I responded with Oakbrook and then she went on to ask us why we didn’t get sushi from there.....what??? Do you not want our service?

We told her we wanted to eat here because we like the food and then she brings out our food in to-go containers. Fine we’ll clean up after ourselves and leave right? Wrong.

We got our food at 8:52 and we’re told we had to leave because they were closing and the employees wanted to go home. Where I told her we drove all this way and I didn’t want to eat in my car and she reminded us again that they close at 9. We wanted to eat as much as we could before 9 because 35 min old sushi isn’t as great. Well then the lights turned off and everyone walked out in their coats and stood outside and in front just looking at us.

I work in the food industry and I understand how it works. Yes it is annoying when people come in last minute, but we came 30min before closing and knew what we wanted. I don’t want to have to find a new favorite sushi restaurant, but after this I think I...

Selling your restaurant must be like selling your house-- goes to the highest bidder but aches a little when you find out the new owners are destroying the beloved home you built from scratch. Love the old owners and they made us want to eat there more often. They were very kind people and were very good with customer service. Unfortunately the new owners act like you are bothering them and don't understand this actually will impact their business. Food is still good, but my family will no longer eat here due to the new owners' attitude problem -- unless it is the only option.

Update: I've heard from many more locals that they experienced the same negative treatment. Seems like some of that staff has been purged, but unfortunately, as predicted, the food value suffers and staff no longer has clear delineated and appropriate roles . Clearly trying to cut costs, food portion has been cut significantly and all staff are doing A to Z tasks within the restaurant. Paint, decor looking worn and used. This is a dying restaurant and warrants a rebranding with a new vision (please) or you will keep hemorrh aging money (please dont say you are not) until you close. Serve good food at a good value, have a clean and updated environment, have the appropriate staff with appropriate roles, and you will be successful. Look at Oishi Sushi in Willowbrook serving much better quality fish AND all you can eat....

I am not even going to take the time to give this lousy excuse for a sushi place even one star. I went here once already, unfortunately suffering from food poisoning the same night. As I thought this was a fluke, I went back a second time and noticed that the "sushi makers" do not even use gloves! Not only is this a health violation, but nothing goes better with sushi then fresh bacteria. After I asked the "manager" if they could put on some gloves, she looked at me like I was crazy and was very rude. When the sushi finally did arrive (45 minutes later) there was a massive hair in one of the rolls. I again pointed this out and she said "sorry, there is nothing I can do". Not only did she not comp that roll, she seemed to care less about the whole situation. For 3 rolls between me and my wife, it cost $62 without any extras. To top off this oh so glorious night, me and my wife both got sick again. Needless to say this place is terrible, and though it may be the one and only sushi place in Lemont, I would rather eat the sushi at the Jewel next door. Overpriced, dirty, bad service, this place needs to be shut down...