Izakaya Shinya — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

IF YOU WANT THE WORST SERVICE IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO PLEASE COME HERE. Head my warning: I experienced the worst service I have ever experienced in my life at this restaurant. I went last night with my friends and was excited to have some good Japanese food but instead I received a extremely terrible server with the worst attitude ever. I showed up a couple minutes late because of traffic while my friends had arrived on time. The server immediately came over and badgered us about ordering even though I hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at the menu. I was so thrown off she didn’t even say hello or introduce herself which whatever but honestly she’s lucky she didn’t or else I would be putting her name here. The coursing was absolutely horrendous as my friends SIDE of rice came out first, 10 minutes before the actual entree came out then ten minutes later someone else’s main came out and then again 15 minutes later the next main and then finally 20 minutes later out came mine. My friends are nice so they wanted to wait but then all of our food was cold. Even my main that came out last was lukewarm. If this was the system that the restaurant usually does that’s fine but we weren’t warned. The server came by maybe once or twice in that time frame and I had to ask her for soy sauce and chili oil, which she made me feel stupid for asking for it LIKE WHAT??? The dirty looks were sending honestly.To top it all off she tried to force us to all pay on one card or split it evenly. She couldn’t bare the effort it took to make it convenient for us even though she clearly had a modern system that would make it easy for us to pay separate. I am just absolutely disgusted by the way we were treated, I’ve never given a bad tip but this time I did and obviously she whipped the iPad around immediately to check it (she probably knew what she getting and wanted me to know that she saw it) I felt no guilt knowing she knew she got a bad tip for the HORRIBLE SERVICE. And knowing how rude and petty this woman was I didn’t even wait for a to go box I asked 15 minutes before the check came because I knew her immaturity would win and she wasn’t going to give me one. And I had half a bowl left of a $20 ramen. I work in a restaurant so service workers are my people and clearly the owner is not aware of who he has on the floor. If you want to know the server I was at one of the booths on the left side of the restaurant right in front of the bathroom hallway. It was a 8oclock reso on 7/16. She had long brown curly hair and the meanest snarl I have ever seen and eyes that automatically roll anytime anyone asks for anything. I hope this server receives shitty tips until she learns to grow up and be a good server. I can promise you we were all saying thank you and being nice despite everything and she wasn’t even listening. Just goofing around in the back with the rest of the servers instead of doing her job. NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN. There are far too many good Japanese restaurants with good service to ever step foot in this place. Food was good though even cold, I do recommend...

TLDR: 5/5 A unique hangout space with good vibes and decor, perfect for late night bites and drinks. Unique cocktails and tasty yakitori. We would be back to give more of the menu a try and to enjoy the company of friends.

Ambiance: 5/5 cute decor with umbrellas hanging from the ceiling and lanturns in the wall like you would find hanging up walking down an ally in Japan vibes. A bit bigger than what one might find in the golden gai district but a nice chill vibe of drinks and small bites.

Food: 4/5 Everything came out hot and fresh. The smaller plates had great flavor from our beef tongue to eggplant all were nicely cooked or had a slight char taste as one would find at a typical yakitori place. We also got a few "main" dishes that were filling and tasty. However, the main dishes, although they were good, I definitely would have just gotten a bunch more of the smaller plates. The eel was good, and the broth with rice reminded me of a rice porridge. My friend ended up with tori katsu and curry, which he cleaned up the plate, and rarely does he finish his food. One can only assume he liked it a lot.

Drinks: 4/5 Unique cocktails that I would want to try more of. I had the Kochi Yuzu Citrus, which had a lovely citrus forward flavor and the rum hidden extremely well... almost would call it a more aggressively less sweet lemonade that catered to my taste buds. The other drink, Mt fuji apple martini, was not to my taste, but it wasn't bad. The blended apple into the drink gave it an interesting texture, i would recommend it stiring it up every now and then as the vodka did settle more towards the bottom when the blended part rose to the top.

Service: 4.5/5 A bit slower to start off, as we were motioned to take a seat. However, it picked up afterward once the orders were placed and very friendly staff.

Overall: 5/5 Food was great, and the ambiance was chill and relaxed. The service redeemed itself from the initial seating and waiting for menus/drinks/to order. We would come back for a nice late night chill spot to hang out, have drinks, and eat some small...

TL/DR: Chaotic service, rude staff, wrong orders, bland food, and zero hospitality, except for one decent server. Got attitude instead of water and chicken. Never again.

My visit to this restaurant was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time.

From the start, things felt off. We were seated by one person, then “greeted” much later by a server who didn’t even say hi, just asked, “Are you ready to order?” She never introduced herself and seemed annoyed when I asked for water, which they hadn’t brought until I requested it. She was blonde, had a piercing on her belly, and was the only one carrying a tablet, easily the worst server I’ve ever had.

On the bright side, there was one server who stood out for being genuinely kind and attentive, a bald guy with a beard, blond and glasses. I wish I’d gotten his name because everyone else there could really learn from him.

The rest of the experience was chaotic. Dishes came out at random times from different people. Three of us ordered fried rice they brought two, then much later the third. I ordered stir-fried noodles with chicken, and my dish came so late my friends were nearly done eating and to top it off, it didn’t even have the chicken I asked for. When I flagged someone down and politely mentioned the missing chicken, he didn’t apologize just said, “Well it should have chicken…” as if I was wrong. It clearly didn’t. He eventually took it back, and I had to wait again.

No one ever checked on our table. We had to ask multiple times for drink refills and more water and were mostly ignored. The skillets they serve food on were scorching hot, and my friend actually got burned because they don’t warn you or say a word, they just drop the food on the table and walk away.

The only thing that happened quickly was when the girl with the tablet came to drop off the check, funny how that was the only time she moved fast.

The food? Bland and forgettable, with small portions that don’t justify the hassle. This place is disorganized, inattentive, and disappointing. I’ll...