OMAKASE YUME — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Incredibly intimate experience with amazing food and exceptional customer service. I went here May 14th at the 9 o'clock service. I was supposed to go to the 5:00 o'clock service but I messaged them and asked if they had any openings for later in the evening and they came back and said yes they could do that for me. Now, considering it is a very limited seating situation, 6 seats in total, I don't imagine that would be doable every time, but I got lucky. You walk in and it is very cozy and calm. They walk you over to your assigned seat and you sit and wait for the others to show up. They hand you the menu and tell you what would be on the menu for the evening and what pairings (wine, sake, and the NA pairing which I don't remember which one that was) could be added to your order. I opted for sparkling juice and one of the hosts suggested I get the Yuzu juice. It was really good! Oh it's relatively ambiguous online if they have alcohol and the answer is yes. They have Wine, Beer, and Sake. They have a whole menu dedicated to their selections of alcohol. Anyways, the chef comes out and starts preparing the food for you. I will say, because the setting is so intimate, you can hear everyone's conversations and can easily pick up on how they're feeling with their facial expressions and body language. In saying that, you may come in with some bad customers who make things awkward or uncomfortable around others. And, that has nothing to do with the restaurant but you definitely can pick up on what kind of experience your fellow seat mates want to have and it may interact with yours. Beyond that, the food was incredible. If you could put the experience of the food into one word, it would be "Ocean" or "Sea". You get a sense of the vastness of the ocean, its inhabitants, and the complex flavors that each piece of fish has. I would have to say my favorite was definitely the Fatty Tuna. It was topped with black salt, and the texture of the crunchy salt with the super soft fish was out of this world 🤤 The chef was relatively reserved but present. He would look up occasionally to see the people around him and the conversations they were having, and can see when some people don't take the same kind of care in their experiences. As he's putting the prepared sushi on your plate, he would tell you the name of the pieces he made and also tell you what kind of fish it was. Another thing was the hosts. They were so lovely and knowledgeable about what was being served, and if you got a pairing, they would explain the process in which that particular alcohol was made. I feel bad because I had booked a Lyft before my meal and had been so engrossed in the experience that I did not realize my Lyft driver was already on the way to pick me up. So, I had to leave before my desert, but I'm still so, so grateful for the experience I had at OMAKASE YUME and hopefully one day I can take my family here to try...

For my ratings, I would say 3 stars means "it was enjoyable and I would not be opposed to coming back". This honestly might be a 2.5 star place for me due to the price and expectation.

All the things you expect from a great omakase may not be present here. The seating is quick. The pacing feels rushed. Even though it's only 6 seats, the dinner is extremely impersonal. Ignoring the food itself, it felt like I was in a cafeteria. Not once did chef make eye contact and it really didn't feel like he cared to there. For what the customers are paying, I would really expect some sincerity. I respect the craft, the years he's put in and the effort. But if he is the embodiment of a 1 star omakase then I really don't think he met the mark. It felt like I was in a cafeteria.

Ambience wise, for the price the place is subpar. Decor is fine but you can hear cars from the street. Often times you hear Yume described as intimate, but I feel it lacks warmth both form service and ambience. So I would describe it as "small" as opposed to intimate. I don't think I'm conflating "calm and zen" with "lack of warmth".

The meal isn't really memorable. The fish selection is standard, quality is good, rice is great, nigiri structure is solid. The sequencing is a bit strange and the Otoro came mid meal which meant the cleaner lighter fish (golden eye, kampachi) which came after we're very forgettable. The later pieces that were torched also felt a bit over done. It's also strange to me that the regular omakase pieces can't be re-ordered. It gave me a bit of pause in ordering the off menu specials, only because the turn around on those items might be questionable.

Sake offering is interesting. The server will indicate that she might recommend a lighter sake for the opening and more full bodied sake for the latter, but given that the sake comes in a caraffe (about 6 pours) it would be hard to drink that much alongside the meal and keep pace. Sake by the glass might be more enjoyable.

Overall ignoring the price, I enjoyed my meal, but honestly no more than a standard date night out. For what they charge here, I can't really recommend it. For a fraction less you can get slight worse but similar sushi with better ambience. Again, the food is decent, Yume loses points mainly on all other criteria. And for what you pay, they need to deliver all around. If the point of an intimate omakase is to watch the chef, be excited for the next piece and to really feel like you're someplace special, then Omakase Yume falls really short. This place would better operate as a 45 minute standing counter service. I don't think I'll be returning. Again I respect chef and his efforts, but overall for the price I felt...

UPDATE: what the restaurant replied here does not match what the receptionist was insisting when we called. We indicated that one of us were not feeling well and the person making reservation ONE MONTH agao, only got a reminder text 1.5 hour before the cancellation deadline but was only able to call after busy workday, thus missing an hour into the 48 hour policy. All they said was we can't give exception to everyone because already many people are cancelling. And they were like: "If you can't make it because of unexpected situation, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to find other customers to come and dine in instead." This is ridiculous and reflects poorly on the core value of this restaurants and how they treat their customers.

So OMAKSA YUME, either you do what you claim in your reply below consistently or you ADMIT that there is a mistake when you handled our call.

As a responsible person, let me give you some suggestions: Have a better understanding that people have job and they don't work like restaurants hours where you can check text every minute during a work day. Go have your reservation app send out reminder texts at least one day ahead of your deadline like all other restaurant does, and then you have a better ground to ask people to "notify" you as soon as possible when their plans change. When you have chance to provide good customer service, DO IT RIGHT THEN, don't come back and try to sugar coat with lies to fix the situation because you are worried that an angry review might make you look bad.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Had a reservation made 1 month ago and we wanted to cancel our reservation due to the current pandemic situation. But they insist on charging the cancellation fee even though it has only been 1 hour into the 48 hour policy. Things move so rapidly recently, and many people are gett anxious, even banks are giving grace periods to loans and stuf.. But it seems like all this business cared about, is getting their money. They were like "we can not give exception to everyone", well what kind of exception have you given then? For the short term, yes it will let you make that free money but you are losing many long term businesses. Shame on this business and the owner. I wish you guys go out of business soon and more local and smaller business can get your...