10 piece omakase is a total rip off. The cost is $133, not $125 like the menu says. You get $83 of nigiri sushi you can just order off the menu normally, a $5 miso soup, a $10 (or less) dessert, and a hand roll which certainly does not make up the difference.
Get omakase elsewhere.
Anway De
For an omakase, Arami was an underwhelming experience. I had reserved online for the ichiban omakase, the link was broken, so I called them to make sure that I reserved for the correct thing. But when I showed up, they said they didn’t have us down for it initially. However, they had spots and moved us over to the omakase table. Don’t get me wrong, the food tasted pretty good, but the atmosphere, the presentation or the taste wasn’t up to the par for a typical omakase experience. Maybe their a la carte food is worth trying out and we should’ve just done that.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
LiamD
We believe that Arami is one of the better Japanese restaurants in Chicago. However, when it comes to Omakase they are awful and deserve zero stars. The reviews we relied on when making the reservation for our Omakase experience at Arami are wrong. We agree the food is fresh and the chefs are inventive but if you are fortunate to have experienced Omakase elsewhere you will be deeply disappointed with Arami. Our Complaints are simple and could quickly be remedied if Arami was serious about their offerings. Our complaints include: 1: If you are sitting for Omakase your view of the preparation should not be blocked as it was for us by the sushi fridge at Arami. Rather than being able to watch a master chef practice his art, our dishes were prepared out of view. 2: We think a fair expectation of Omakase is that the chef will devote his time and attention to the guests sitting for Omakase. This time and attention would include an explanation of the ingredients and the sourcing of each plate being presented. Although the food was delicious it seemed thrown together. Our experience was that we were an inconvenience for the chef. There simply was no time to discuss our plates with the continuos humming of the ticket printer going off in front of us. This is not the fault of the chef but rather the fault of management. There were at least 3 other chefs behind the counter working other orders as well as a fully staffed kitchen, there is no reason why the Omakase chef should have been tasked with filling orders outside of those sitting for Omakase. Lastly we should note that halfway through the experience we were presented a bowl of soup that we didn't know was coming, we accidentally stretched as it was being placed in front of us by the servers and spilled it on the table. At this point we were beyond frustrated that we asked for the bill and left. There is a good chance we will dispute this charge since the experience we booked was clearly not delivered.
John Berkebile
We celebrated our wedding anniversary here and they were amazing! The fish was so fresh and our server was extremely informative and helpful, one of our new favorite sushi spots!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ryan Breneisen
Absolutely wonderful. I return when I can, it always meets my expectations. A classy establishment that delivers a wonderful experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Phillip Tang
Such a lovely sushi restaurant. The sky light, large wooden beams, and brick in the dining room are beautiful and create an intimate atmosphere. All of the sushi was phenomenal and the service was outstanding.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Spencer Millen
Excellent food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Trio Maki
Riana Reyes
Came here for date night on a whim and was able to make a reservation last minute! When we checked in the host stand we were walked to the dining area and were asked if we wanted to do sushi bar or table. We opted for the sushi bar and have no regrets! I love watching the sushi chef make the nigiris in front of me and was able to keep an eye out in any pieces that caught my interest. The sushi master who was at the nigiri station was very knowledgeable and walked us through doing omakase in the future! Our server was also very sweet and went through and described many of the dishes to us when they arrived. The flow was service felt appropriate and the ambiance was homey yet sophisticated. We’ll be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Carol Lin
In a world of crazy huge sushi rolls (which I do enjoy!), Arami offers a lovely palate cleanser. Savor high quality fish with excellent flavors that won't overwhelm you. It's been a while since I was last here, but last Friday, the sushi was scrumptious. Our waiter, Zach/k, was more than happy to make helpful suggestions, of which we took him up on several. Overall, I found the service nicely not pretentious, but still professional and personal. My friend and I enjoyed the hamachi carpaccio (not pictured), kinoko itame, zuke sake hotate, trio maki, spicy tako maguro, one of the daily special nigiri (can't find it on the menu), and not pictured, the chutoro serrano. I would have them all again, especially the carpaccio, mushrooms and the trio maki. My Off-White Negroni was a healthy serving and delicious; as was the sauvignon blanc. Can't wait to return!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Christina L.
Incredible- loved Arami and would highly recommend. We have done a la carte as well as omakase and both have been phenomenal.The omakase experience was particularly lovely. Each course was meticulously prepared and thoughtfully crafted. They are also able to accommodate to gluten free.
Dietary restrictions: Very accommodating to gluten freee
Really nice service, and the food was great. The portions do feel a bit small.Otherwise, I loved it.
Ben K
Honestly everything was great, however, when the check came there was a 5%(!) admin/healthcare fee on it. This fee was never mentioned by our server and never mentioned on the menu. This left a really bad taste in my mouth after a great meal. If you need to charge more money, just raise your upfront prices.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Charlette San Juan
Overall great experience. We went for an early dinner omakase experience and it did not disappoint. The chef mostly stuck to the menu except he gave us a fresh oyster at the beginning instead of Uni shooter. The whole meal was such a great experience, the fish were fresh and it was fun watching him prepare the food right in front of us. Their sake offerings were quite impressive. Highly recommend the omakase experience! It took us about 130-140 minutes to complete all 16 plates.
Parking: Could easily find street parking within the block
This is pure deception. To sum it up, it was $90 per person for $30 quality food. My friends and I came here during the “Chicago restaurant week” for the $59 Omakase set…it turned out to be a total disappointment. The 6 nigiris were all horrible, the fish is “supermarket shelf” quality, the rice is cold without vinegar and wasabi (the typical rice for Omakase should be body temperature to ensure its taste and should be seasoned mildly with vinegar and wasabi )…their chef explained that “they are trying to make Omakase more accessible for the broader audience. But if you are not serving food of omakase quality, do not call it Omakase!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Amanda Martinez
The restaurant week menu was boring and overpriced. The nigiri was just your basic fishes. For the price point, the service should be better. I was trying not to get my plate taken away as I was eating my last bite but then the wait to the next course was at least 20 minutes. If you order an omakase, it should come with an experience but they didn’t even bother to explain what was on the plate. Disappointing all around.
10 piece omakase is a total rip off. The cost is $133, not $125 like the menu says. You get $83 of nigiri sushi you can just order off the menu normally, a $5 miso soup, a $10 (or less) dessert, and a hand roll which certainly does not make up the difference.
Get omakase elsewhere.
For an omakase, Arami was an underwhelming experience. I had reserved online for the ichiban omakase, the link was broken, so I called them to make sure that I reserved for the correct thing. But when I showed up, they said they didn’t have us down for it initially. However, they had spots and moved us over to the omakase table. Don’t get me wrong, the food tasted pretty good, but the atmosphere, the presentation or the taste wasn’t up to the par for a typical omakase experience. Maybe their a la carte food is worth trying out and we should’ve just done that.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
We believe that Arami is one of the better Japanese restaurants in Chicago. However, when it comes to Omakase they are awful and deserve zero stars. The reviews we relied on when making the reservation for our Omakase experience at Arami are wrong. We agree the food is fresh and the chefs are inventive but if you are fortunate to have experienced Omakase elsewhere you will be deeply disappointed with Arami. Our Complaints are simple and could quickly be remedied if Arami was serious about their offerings. Our complaints include: 1: If you are sitting for Omakase your view of the preparation should not be blocked as it was for us by the sushi fridge at Arami. Rather than being able to watch a master chef practice his art, our dishes were prepared out of view. 2: We think a fair expectation of Omakase is that the chef will devote his time and attention to the guests sitting for Omakase. This time and attention would include an explanation of the ingredients and the sourcing of each plate being presented. Although the food was delicious it seemed thrown together. Our experience was that we were an inconvenience for the chef. There simply was no time to discuss our plates with the continuos humming of the ticket printer going off in front of us. This is not the fault of the chef but rather the fault of management. There were at least 3 other chefs behind the counter working other orders as well as a fully staffed kitchen, there is no reason why the Omakase chef should have been tasked with filling orders outside of those sitting for Omakase. Lastly we should note that halfway through the experience we were presented a bowl of soup that we didn't know was coming, we accidentally stretched as it was being placed in front of us by the servers and spilled it on the table. At this point we were beyond frustrated that we asked for the bill and left. There is a good chance we will dispute this charge since the experience we booked was clearly not delivered.
We celebrated our wedding anniversary here and they were amazing! The fish was so fresh and our server was extremely informative and helpful, one of our new favorite sushi spots!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Absolutely wonderful. I return when I can, it always meets my expectations. A classy establishment that delivers a wonderful experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Such a lovely sushi restaurant. The sky light, large wooden beams, and brick in the dining room are beautiful and create an intimate atmosphere. All of the sushi was phenomenal and the service was outstanding.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Trio Maki
Came here for date night on a whim and was able to make a reservation last minute! When we checked in the host stand we were walked to the dining area and were asked if we wanted to do sushi bar or table. We opted for the sushi bar and have no regrets! I love watching the sushi chef make the nigiris in front of me and was able to keep an eye out in any pieces that caught my interest. The sushi master who was at the nigiri station was very knowledgeable and walked us through doing omakase in the future! Our server was also very sweet and went through and described many of the dishes to us when they arrived. The flow was service felt appropriate and the ambiance was homey yet sophisticated. We’ll be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
In a world of crazy huge sushi rolls (which I do enjoy!), Arami offers a lovely palate cleanser. Savor high quality fish with excellent flavors that won't overwhelm you. It's been a while since I was last here, but last Friday, the sushi was scrumptious. Our waiter, Zach/k, was more than happy to make helpful suggestions, of which we took him up on several. Overall, I found the service nicely not pretentious, but still professional and personal. My friend and I enjoyed the hamachi carpaccio (not pictured), kinoko itame, zuke sake hotate, trio maki, spicy tako maguro, one of the daily special nigiri (can't find it on the menu), and not pictured, the chutoro serrano. I would have them all again, especially the carpaccio, mushrooms and the trio maki. My Off-White Negroni was a healthy serving and delicious; as was the sauvignon blanc. Can't wait to return!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Incredible- loved Arami and would highly recommend. We have done a la carte as well as omakase and both have been phenomenal.The omakase experience was particularly lovely. Each course was meticulously prepared and thoughtfully crafted. They are also able to accommodate to gluten free.
Dietary restrictions: Very accommodating to gluten freee
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Omakase
Restaurantji Recommends
Really nice service, and the food was great. The portions do feel a bit small.Otherwise, I loved it.
Honestly everything was great, however, when the check came there was a 5%(!) admin/healthcare fee on it. This fee was never mentioned by our server and never mentioned on the menu. This left a really bad taste in my mouth after a great meal. If you need to charge more money, just raise your upfront prices.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Overall great experience. We went for an early dinner omakase experience and it did not disappoint. The chef mostly stuck to the menu except he gave us a fresh oyster at the beginning instead of Uni shooter. The whole meal was such a great experience, the fish were fresh and it was fun watching him prepare the food right in front of us. Their sake offerings were quite impressive. Highly recommend the omakase experience! It took us about 130-140 minutes to complete all 16 plates.
Parking: Could easily find street parking within the block
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Zuke Sake, Seaweed Salad, Miso Soup
This is pure deception. To sum it up, it was $90 per person for $30 quality food. My friends and I came here during the “Chicago restaurant week” for the $59 Omakase set…it turned out to be a total disappointment. The 6 nigiris were all horrible, the fish is “supermarket shelf” quality, the rice is cold without vinegar and wasabi (the typical rice for Omakase should be body temperature to ensure its taste and should be seasoned mildly with vinegar and wasabi )…their chef explained that “they are trying to make Omakase more accessible for the broader audience. But if you are not serving food of omakase quality, do not call it Omakase!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
The restaurant week menu was boring and overpriced. The nigiri was just your basic fishes. For the price point, the service should be better. I was trying not to get my plate taken away as I was eating my last bite but then the wait to the next course was at least 20 minutes. If you order an omakase, it should come with an experience but they didn’t even bother to explain what was on the plate. Disappointing all around.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
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