Hanabi Japanese Restaurant

I am writing this review as I’m sitting here. The place is practically empty on a Saturday night at 7:30 pm. That should have tipped us off to run the other way. But we decided to give Unilocalers a benefit of doubt and stay.
What a mistake!!! We ordered about $ 80 worth of sushi between the two of us, and every single piece is disappointing us. The portions are horrendous. Apparently, the owner is the only sushi chef, so the service is super slow. But the pieces have very thin sliver of sushi on top of what I can only imagine to be about 10 grains of rice squeezed into a tiny teeny sushi rice.
Are u kidding us??? Where did u learn to make this atrocity??? I’ve lived in Japan for few weeks, and the sushi chefs there would cry at what passes for sushi here. The yellow tail and white tuna aren’t fresh at all and are almost bitter. The squid are cut up all weird with a piece of seaweed on it (which it shouldn’t have), because it’s the only way to hold the squid on top of that joke of a sushi rice. They didn’t bring out our red snapper, and the ama ebi seemed old and disgusting. Tamago (egg) is the only thing decent sized, but only probably because it’s cheap to make. Unagi is so small it’s almost non-​existent, but their hand roll is so full of rice that it’s exploding. They are out of half the things on the sushi menu, and are surviving on making rolls with leftover fish pieces.
The owner needs to shut the place down, go over to other japanese restaurants and see how others are making sushi. Stop using disgusting, old, wrongly-​thawed fish, and learn to make «real» sushi.
When the fish is as thin as your fingers but the rice is quarter of that size, you know it’s wrong place to be.
Btw, we never got our pieces of red snapper, and owner yelled that it went out in the first order in Korean and lied!!! Thank God I took a picture of the plates for Unilocal BEFORE we ate!!! We had to show the pictures to prove that the owner was lying. And btw, if you are reading this, we are Korean so we understood you and your lie.
Also, even though the portions are half of other establishments, the prices are 10−30% higher than all the sushi restaurants in the area. (Please compare $$ with other restaurants for detail). We are never coming back, and strongly urge others to not visit this place. It’s a joke of a restaurant and we still left 15% tip even though the service was almost non-​existent.

Outstanding. Some of the best sushi I have had in a very long time. We sat next to the sushi bar and watch as each plate of art was created. Magical! The food was very fresh and delicious! I will be back again!

Rosie the Riveter is here! She’s making sushi behind the sushi bar… This place totally puts me in a girl power mood. The first thing you notice when you walk in (at least I did) is a female sushi chef holding down the fort in her gangsta sushi uniform. Moving like a smooth ninja, she does not speak, but just rolls and cuts swiftly behind that bar.
But lets take a couple steps back and discuss the location of this joint. It was my first time here, I had a
certificate, I typed in the address on my waze GPS, it took me through the dark garbage lined back alley then finally brought us to this place which was hidden all the way in the corner behind Garden Fresh Market with a unlit sign. Let’s just say it’s little tricky to find.
We walked in, stood in the middle of the restaurant, waiting for someone to notice so that you can be seated… Always awkward especailly when you are convinced that the entire restaurant is staring at your giant zit on your chin which decided to appear that day.
We ordered:
Omakase (chef’s choice) — came on a cute little bridge with a catepillar roll (average), about 5 pieces of assorted sushi (fresh and delicious. I was pleasantly surprised to find a wasabi smear under the fish on top of the nigiri rice ball-​always a plus in my book!)and 2 balls of crispy scallop rice (too much fried batter mixed in)
Fire Mountain Roll — Delicious except too much crispy tempura flakes
Golden shrimp app –A lot of golden yolk sauce aka cholesterol sauce for 3 tiny strips of shrimp.
Beef Asparagus app — Teriyaki sauce was excessive and it was all I could taste.
Mango Mochi Ice Cream — Average. I liked that they cut it into quarters — easier to pop in to my belly!

My favorite sushi place! The sushi is nothing super special but for a friendly sit down meal it’s perfect, many different options to choose from with both drinks and food. Great and friendly service! There is a sushi menu and a very large main menu that has other oriental foods besides sushi. I recommend the spicy tuna roll or salmon skin for a blast of flavor. For a drink, they have Saki for adults and other alcoholic beverages along with normal sodas. I recommend getting Ramune, a Japanese marble soda!(look it up) It was amazing! I enjoy coming to this place! I hope to return soon!

Really a 3.5 star place. Service was fine. wifie’s lunch salmon teriyaki with stir fried veggies was good ($ 8.75). My lunch E with ½ chef special roll and 4 piece sushi ($ 11.95) was fine, but portion size wasn’t too big and I was still hungry afterwards… The toro piece that I had today was fine but didn’t wow me. Miso soup (free) was fine too. Pretty decent food but no wow factor. Would go again cuz their price point is fine too.

Been going to this place for 8 years. What can I say… At times its super busy but quality of food is always superb! Today 10÷24÷15 Sarah (owner) was on fire! The places was packer, customers were giving waitresses an «evil eye» but damn that girl can work. Kept her straight face and making sushi non stop!!! Dont know what happened to her helper sushi chef, but she can manage!!! Awesome food, awesome place. Appreciate regulars! Anything you order comes just perfect. Thank you Sarah!

The sushi was all very tasty and fresh. The place is small so if you go on a weekend I would suggest making a reservation. Service is a little slower because the sushi chef/​owner appeared to be the only one making the sushi. It was worth the wait though because the sushi was really good. Have been to a ton of other sushi places and would prob go to Hanabi again.

Beautiful, fresh sushi — the rolls were gigantic, and filled to the brim with tasty, fresh fish. So many choices — creative selections — extensive menu. The volcano roll was to die for — I’ve never had anything like it. Best part? The price! This place is beyond reasonable, and they have many discounts to take advantage of. Try it — you’ll love it!

I was really excited to check out Hanabi from all the great reviews on here, but unfortunately I was really underwhelmed. I ordered a miso soup, eel avocado roll, spicy tuna roll, and the spicy chicken udon. The miso was good, nothing different from most sushi places, and the sushi rolls were also good — nothing special. My biggest problem comes with the udon. I was so excited for spicy chicken! But overall, the dish was incredibly bland. The broth had barely any taste, and there were maybe 4 pieces of chicken — not spicy at all. I doused my dish in sriracha to make it taste decent. I haven’t been in the Chicago suburb area long, so I don’t know if Japanese restaurants are just lackluster in general here, but I was not very happy with my experience.

Strangely tangy miso soup — not necessarily bad, just different. Same with the sushi rice, which seemed to be completely lacking rice vinegar. The fish was pretty good, but the way the rice was prepared made for a rather bland meal (not something I’m usually opposed to, but this was extreme).
Great customer service, though, so I’d recommend it to anyone who finds that their flavor preferences are satisfied here.

As an EXTREME sushi lover, I was disappointed with this place because I had read multiple good reviews before picking this restaurant. We had a party of 6 so we ordered a lot of food. The service was quick, but the fish was subpar.
We ordered: the red dragon roll, white dragon roll, LA roll, Stevenson HS roll, and spicy tataki roll. These came out first and looked beautiful– but way too much sauce and glitz that covered the taste of the fish (and most likely was the reason I got sick later that night).
We also ordered the sushi and sashimi combo for two. It wasn’t the freshest sashimi and nigiri I’ve tasted but not terrible either. Cuts were average size. This combo came with 2 house salads and 2 sake bombs that only came out at the end because we had to ask for them multiple times.
Other things we ordered that were average and not noteworthy: tempura appetizers and hanabi udon. We received free miso soup and edamame, but I was actually disappointed that we never got mochi ice cream like all the prior reviews had mentioned.
In conclusion, I will not be coming back, but mostly because I got sick from too many fancy rolls and sauce.

4 out of 5.
1. Foods were great, but dessert was… — their maki rolls don’t have much rice, but contain lots of fish and other stuff. Price was reasonable. Shumai (5 pcs) was great for the appetizer but it has wasabi flavor, so be careful. Agedashi tofu (5 pcs) was delicious!
Rainbow roll tasted similar to any other sushi restaurant, so it was average.
I also had other two of their signature maki rolls (don’t remember the name.), they were sooo good. One of the best sushi rolls that I had recently.
They have hands down the best eel sushi. It was so fresh and just melting in my mouth. Don’t forget to try some!!!
But mochi ice cream was. really bad. I’m a big fan of mochi ice cream, but this one was the worst. Mochi part was so dry and hard, instead of fresh and chewy. So I had to scrape out the ice cream part and threw the mochi away.
2. Service was meh (I took out 1 star because of this) — There were about 5 tables but only one server was working. She barely stopped by our table. But they have a bell button at each table, and you can just press it to call server if you need something.
3. Their décor is casual and simple — I liked how they have a small couch in the restroom.
I’ll definitely come back and recommend to check it out!
(But I won’t have mochi ice cream again.)

Although the sushi was good I will never, ever come here again (and I have gone to hanabi for ten plus years). After a waiter messed up our order and we brought it to the waiter’s and subsequently sushi chef’s attention (who is the owner), the sushi chef/​owner started YELLING and SCOLDING the waiter about being lazy and how grateful the waiter should be for the opportunity to work there. Um… Go do that in the back, stop embarrassing yourself. This went on for at least twenty minutes. We felt so uncomfortable that we could not enjoy our food. So unprofessional, such a horrible experience. I go out to eat to relax not listen to soap operas.

Second best sushi ever.
Best Sushi in Chicago area this far.
The Chef’s Special maki was awesome! It’s massive and sweet and spicy but you can get it mild.
You just can’t go wrong with this place.
A little tricky to find. But its worthy.

Being from New York there are a lot of good restaurants and a lot of bad restaurants.
Sushi being one of them.
But when I come to the burbs and I want sushi I kinda get nervous. But then I found Hanabi.
Everything was spot on and fresh. The best sushi Ive had in a long time!
Definitely coming back…

Great sushi and good service!!! just look at the yummy boat of sushi

Hanabi is a quaint Japanese sushi restaurant hidden in the back corner of the what used to be the Dominick’s and Blockbuster plaza. I guess this means I’m old? Now this plaza has a Garden Fresh and some type of workout place where the BB used to be. Anyway, you wouldn’t think of coming hear as it is not visible from the major intersection.
Hanabi was a good selection as it is open on Monday’s, unlike most Japanese sushi restaurants. If you are coming to Hanabi I suggest you make use of one of the many deals that they offer. I’ll let other Unilocalers reviews list them out for you but some of them include discounted meals while it is also worth checking out the
offerings for group on like deals.
They have a sushi bar and tables for groups of four. Miso and edamame come complimentary with an order of a sushi roll. When you are ready to order there is a button either on the wall or somewhere close by that you can hit to get your waiters attention. All the rolls were good but they did not provide wasabi or ginger. This is not wrong as this is how it is done in Japan but most American Japanese sushi places will offer these two things. We also had a Japanese ginger salad, gyoza, and a few other items which were all pleasing.
Hanabi is a nice treat and I definitely recommend checking it out.

This is my all-​time favorite sushi place in the entire universe. I’ve been a regular here forever and I never get sick of it. Their sushi menu is absolutely spectacular and they have amazing chefs prepare it fresh for you while you wait. The fish is always delectable and the sushi actually melts in your mouth. I actually thought sushi was pretty gross until I tried it at this place — it turned me into a believer! Apart from that they also have an amazing menu with teriyaki, udon, sukiyaki, and a variety of rice dishes if the fish isn’t right for you. I’ve gotten nearly everything off of their menu and have never been disappointed. The complimentary tea and miso soup are also great and they have sake bombs if you want to play it up a notch.
If you come in between 8−9pm on a weekday you also get 30% off your check. This place is definitely worth checking out. I would recommend it to anyone. :)

This is my kind of local sushi place. My husband and I are becoming regulars at this place, which we’re certainly not alone. It’s been around since before I was born pre-​1988 and there is a reason why they’re still around. It was fun going to their outdoor patio. We chatted with the people around us and they told us how this was the first Japanese restaurant in the vicinity. Both tables were friendly and both drove more than 20 minutes to get to their favorite Japanese place. Unfortunately, we haven’t found a ton of «local-​type» places in Buffalo Grove. This is certainly one of them. The people who go here know they’ve found a gem.
This place is unassuming. It’s in a strip mall and the patio overlooks a grocery store parking lot. The menu looks old, but your food and service is top notch. The waiters were enthusiastic about the food and about how wonderful the sushi chef is to work for. The sushi was very inexpensive but of clearly excellent quality and is beautiful. The presentation of the food and the extras (included miso and rice ice cream balls). They don’t nickel and dime you here. We shared a large beer and don’t think they charged us more than 4.50 for an imported Kirin. You could feel comfortable coming here dressed up for a date or after yoga.
They also have a deal where if you go here 5x you’ll get 35% off your whole bill. I’d highly recommend this place as your go-​to local sushi place.

Dragon and LA rolls are delicious! I would highly recommend.
Spicy scallop is funky due to the mayo. Unagi was great but I love eel!
Overall, great suburban spot for sushi! I will be back. Service was fast and amicable.
It has some pop music in the background.

I’m really glad I finally found a place decently close to my house with food of this quality at reasonable prices. Although it tastes like there is some Korean influence to the dishes, they were all presented and executed well.
Hot tea: A little light in flavor but the temperature was good and it was frequently refilled.
Miso soup: About average in flavor and saltiness compared to other restaurants.
Salad with miso dressing: Served a little too cold but the vegetables were fresh and crisp.
Tempura udon: Good flavor and temperature to the broth, good texture to the noodles. The tempura was served off to the side so it was very crispy and in a good portion size.
Golden shrimp combination box: Every component was good in this dish except the vegetables were a bit too greasy. The golden shrimp has a nice fluffy texture to the yolk with crispy shrimp underneath. One of the better versions I’ve had around Chicago. The gyoza was very crispy on the edges and the maki tasted fresh.
Tonkatsu: Good texture on the fried batter, the pork used could have been a little bit fatter for extra flavor. The sauce was the right consistency, maybe could’ve been a bit sweeter and less salty. Still executed relatively well.
Mochi ice cream balls: Nice way to end the meal.
This restaurant is not the tastiest and does not have the largest menu, but it does execute good food at good prices. I’ll definitely be back here soon.