Izakaya Nomonomo — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

We made a reservation for 7 pm on 03/01, but upon arrival, we were seated all the way in the back, right next to the bathroom, despite other available tables of the same size in the main dining area. When I requested a different table, the hostess (or possibly a server in training) promptly accommodated our request. However, it would have been preferable if they had been considerate enough to assign us a suitable table initially, given that we had made a reservation in advance.

The entire water pitcher and our water glasses emitted a strong odor and taste of Clorox bleach. Although we refrained from requesting replacement glassware due to our prior table change request, we opted to order drinks instead of risking further inconvenience. We did not want to appear overly demanding, but the odor and taste were quite noticeable. (As a note, it usually takes significant issues for me to leave a 1-star review.)

While I understand that this is not a McDonald's dining experience, I found the portion sizes of certain dishes to be unreasonable. For instance, the sashimi carpaccio consisted of only 5 thinly sliced pieces of fish for $17, and some of the yakitori items seemed overpriced in comparison.

I would not have minded the pricing if the courses had been served in a logical order. At a high-end restaurant, one expects professional service commensurate with the price paid. However, after our appetizers arrived, entrees were served before any of the yakitori we had ordered.

I discovered what appeared to be a piece of metal scrub in my mentaiko udon, approximately 3 inches in length. Upon informing our server, he apologized and offered to comp the dish. However, upon his return from the kitchen, he claimed it was merely a piece of onion hair, not metal. At that point, I chose not to pursue the matter further, assuming the dish would be deducted from the bill regardless.

Before receiving the check, we were offered a visibly cheap-looking complimentary cheesecake as an apology for the unpleasant incident with the dish. However, upon reviewing the bill, I noticed that the mentaiko udon was still listed. When I brought this to the server's attention, he responded dismissively, offering to remove it from the bill but implying that I was seeking free food.

Overall, despite ordering three appetizers, four drinks, four yakitori items, and two entrees between the two of us, we felt as though we were treated poorly. The quality of the food was mediocre at best. It's unfortunate that Chicago lacks many options for authentic izakaya-style cuisine at reasonable prices. However, one thing is certain: I will not be...

At 19:00 on a Saturday, the dining room was mostly empty, service was poor, and the food ranges from unremarkable to inedible. The overall experience reminded me of the opening scenes of a "kitchen rescue" show.

I spent most of the hour I was there staring either at the empty bar or the empty glass in front of me.

Except for the edamame, everything I ordered was inexplicably drowned in some kind of treacly barbeque sauce.

And not just every yakitori item that came off of the grill, either. I attempted to eat a bizarre take on kitsune udon that was finished with an ill-advised "tempura crunch" that had the taste and texture of pine wood shavings and whose tofu had mysteriously been fried in the same tomato pasty, breakfast-cereal-sweet sauce that was used to finish literally everything thing else I ordered.

Sitting at the bar, as I said, I was mostly ignored, but did have a front row seat to some pretty gnarly cross-contamination.

I watched one cook repeatedly do the thing they tell you not to do in the training video where you pick up a dirty spoon from a prep counter, dip the spoon in a bin of uncooked ingredients, dip it in one or two different dishes, wipe it on the dirty rag dangling from your apron pocket and then set it back on the prep counter to be used again.

Servers were finishing dishes at the pass over the bar with a set of disposable chopsticks that just sort of... laid on the bar when not in use. Over and over, I watched the various members of the front of house staff pick up those poor chopsticks by both ends, fumble with them, dip them deep into the bonito bucket, dip them into the scallions, stick them into every dish coming over the pass and then drop them back onto the bar when finished (so the next guy could scoop them up and do the same).

At one point, I was given a dish that I hadn't ordered. It took some poking and prodding with my personal utensils to determine it was the wrong thing, but when I handed the dissected bowl back to my server, they turned around and set it down on the table of the group directly behind me.

All of which is a shame, because I had a lot of hope for this place and had been looking forward to it, but it ultimately ended up being a bit...

Don’t waste your valuable time or money here; you’ll be better off lighting a $100 bill on fire than wasting your time at this extremely mediocre establishment!

My partner and I came here on a Friday night and were extremely disappointed by the food and experience. You know how sometimes when you start eating at a place and about 20% through the meal you already know that you made a huge mistake with the place you chose? This is basically what happened here.

Starting with the food, almost nothing on this menu is worth checking out. All of the food came out lukewarm or cold. There is little to no seasoning used on anything. Nothing feels homemade. If you like spicy food, this place literally doesn’t have that. We even asked for some chili oil on the side, which somehow even tasted bad. The only semi decent thing we had was the beef udon soup, but even that lacked character. It almost tasted like frozen steak-ums thrown on top of Costco instant ramen noodles and topped with bland au-jus sauce from the chef’s leftover Al’s Italian Beef that he had for lunch. Trust me when I say you can probably whip up better food in your own kitchen than coming here.

Regarding the service, nobody was unfriendly or anything like that, but our food just came out in a horrible order. The heavier item came out first, and the small plates came out last. After we finished all our food, we hadn’t even gotten one item, and then the final item came out at the same time as our check. The waitress was kind enough to remove it from the bill, but it seemed out of order and disorganized.

Overall, it was disappointing. Chicago is a culinary gold mine and wasting a Friday night dining experience during the cute holiday season is annoying to say the least! I hope this place gets their act in order, because I would hate for others to go through...