Blufish — Restaurant in Northfield Township

Update 1/20/23: Upon receiving my initial review the management reached out to express their own disappointment in creating a poor experience for a guest. It was among the more sincere customer service engagements i've ever been part of. In light of a substantial part of my frustration being the inability to share my experience with the manager the evening of my first visit, I welcomed the call.

Where I said never again, I'm walking back that statement and accepting the manager's invitation to visit again. The manager, Eric (I apologize for assuming the spelling, I recognize there are numerous variants) went through the trouble to research my reservation, order, and staff interactions to help educate both his team on opportunities to impress their guests, and simultaneously help me understand the impact of staff levels and the challenges involved in providing a great experience to both staff and guests. I genuinely appreciate the opportunity for this conversation.

I'm choosing to update my rating to a more positive level but also leave my original experience in this review for two reasons:

1. It happened, and people should be aware in the event it's a pattern and not an anomaly.
2. More importantly, is to recognize off-days occur, and with the right follow-up and effort, even a bad night can result in broadly positive experiences.

I will update further after my return visit.

Original: I visited on 1/13/23, catching up with a friend I hadn't seen in 2 years. There were 2 of us. This was my first trip to the Glenview location, but I had high expectation as i've visited Park Ridge on many occassions. I was incredibly disappointed. I made a reservation 3 days in advance, arrived 5 minutes early for my reservation, and was seated promptly. Good start, but it ends there. We sat for nearly 10 minutes before we got to place our drink order. When we were finally asked for our order, the server was pleasant enough, but not timely. It was another almost 10 minutes before the drinks arrived. Keep this in mind. When the drinks did arrive (20 minutes in), we placed our food order. Luckily, the wait for our food was only about 10 minutes as well, which was fine. 30 minutes total in our visit. We got to start eating and continued enjoying our conversation. We took roughly 20 minutes to eat our dinner, during which we finished our drinks, but the server never came by for us to order a 2nd round. 20 minutes without a visit to the table. When we finished our food, i asked for a dessert menu. Which i received promptly, but along with that menu delivery was the verbiage "I dont want to rush you guys, but host has asked me to tell you that we limit the time of our guests to 90 minutes".

Say WHAT now? This wasn't presented to me during my reservation, check in, or posted any where in any way in the restaurant. Mind you, barely 50 minutes had elapsed and we were already at the point of wanting dessert AND another round of drinks. At this point, I was done. I asked for the check and to speak to the manager on duty. I was refused the opportunity to speak with the manager. On the way out, I counted at least 6 empty 4-seat and 3 empty 2-seat tables. So WHY were were rushed so heavily?

Never again, Glenview. You fooled me once, you will not...

Wow, Wow, Wow.

For the last 3 months, I have dined here at least 7 times with family and friends all very happy and leaving with full bellies of nice quality foods.

Having experienced both the lunch specials along with the rolls and even dinner entrees, you truly can’t go wrong with someplace like Blufish.

The lunch special is for sure a standout served Monday - Friday with items being around 20 bucks after tax. In my opinion, great deal!! Not only do you get the main, but you also get a spicy tuna roll, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken with soup or salad. Everything is pretty good on the lunch with my only critique that the entree meat is on the smaller side. It is though made up by the quantity of items served with.

My only other ask is if we can get the recipe for the dressing?! From all the Japanese restaurants we have tried in the Chicagoland area, their dressing is by far a favorite of ours.

We have tried a few of the rolls but they are just okay. Not one has completely stood out to us, but it is possible we just aren’t ordering good ones. Dragons were nice but the mozzarella one was a little off putting as the cheese wasn’t melted.

As for the best quality item to get here is always the sashimi lunch / dinner. The raw fish always tastes super fresh and for a good price you get so many pieces. I do wish sometimes I knew what I was eating :)

BluFish is located in strip mall with ample parking and outdoor seating. Generally, services has always been good for the served, but the bartender is a huge standout. My only negative experience would be from the host who was quite off putting on a Saturday afternoon.

There are more positive ways to greet guests and she did not do that. The restaurant was also empty at that time and I don’t think having a small quiet puppy in its carrier is an issue…

All in all it’s a nice place. Best of the 4 locations I believe that they have. Check them...

Our first time here definitely won't be our last! Heard about this location from a co-worker and that it was the best of the Blufish locations. We arrived on a Monday night and were greeted by a very friendly staff who clearly cared that our dinner date was a great experience. seated in a booth, our waiter Matt was awesome, pacing our experience perfectly. We began with drinks, I had a beautiful Aviation (complete w/ flower petal) while my girlfriend had a pear cider in a chilled glass. My drink especially was worth writing about, beautiful balance of flavor and alcohol. After left with our drinks for a bit we ordered an appetizer of edamame. It came quickly, and was a good size, though it could have used a bit more salt. One we had finished this, we ordered our Maki.

They have a nice selection of sashimi and sushi, with many of the latter being unique combinations I have not seen before. We ordered a Veggie Maki, Crunchy Muffy, and Smokey Bear. All of them were delicious, easily some of, if the not the best, sushi either of us have had. The Veggie Maki was larger than most other restaurant's offerings, and beautifully layered with avocado. The Smoky Bear was equally delicious. Not often a fan of raw fish, the seared salmon atop this rolls was phenomenal, as was the tempura shrimp in both rolls. We finished eating just as the restaurant was closing, but were not rushed out, and had a nice conversation with the desk staff as we exited.

This was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in a long time. The amazing food was heightened by the delightful service. My girlfriend specifically said, "11/10, would recommend". Indeed, I would recommend this to anyone, and can't...