Chika - Omakase

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 CHIKA – A Hidden Gem Inside a Speakeasy in San Antonio If you’re looking for a unique, intimate, and flavor-packed dining experience, CHIKA is THE place. This Tokyo-style omakase restaurant is literally underground, tucked away inside the speakeasy Easy Baby, located beneath Amelia’s Lounge Bar in the Creamery District. 🕵️‍♀️🍸🍣 From the moment you walk down the stairs, you know you're about to experience something special. The ambiance is cozy, mysterious, and refined. Two skilled chefs prepare sashimi and nigiri right in front of you, explaining each dish as they serve it—making it feel both personal and elevated. The best part? Their signature concept: a fusion of Tokyo flavors with a San Antonio twist they call “Santokio.” 🎌🤠 It's creative, flavorful, and beautifully executed. The ingredients are incredibly fresh, the service is exceptional, and the whole vibe makes you feel like you're in on a delicious secret. 🙌 📍 Location: Underground – inside the Easy Baby speakeasy, below Amelia’s Lounge Bar at the Creamery District. 🎯 Perfect for a date night, special occasion, or if you're simply a true sushi lover.

The chefs begin by saying this is not a typical omakase and they are 100% right. From the fun hip hop blasting, to the fire show, to the humor, to the ever changing menu - Chika does it differently indeed. It was a refreshing experience for my husband and I. Chefs took us on a 2 hour experience where each course served was incredible. I can’t wait to go back and see what the offering of that night will be. I’ve done omakases at many places and some I will never go back - Chika is a place I can’t wait to go back to again.

Entertaining to eat and the sushi was delicious. Ambiance and omakase was good but wish there were more to eat. Not a buffet of course but maybe something a bit more filling or extra side dishes besides the sushi. The price is quite high knowing its a rarity to find good sushi in San Antonio, but given pieces cut a fish market would be nice in this town. Wine and sake is only available to pair but why not beer? Thank you N

Do yourself a favor and ignore the bad reviews. My husband and I have had omakase at 6 different restaurants in various places in the US. And Chika was our favorite! We have been sushi lovers for many years, decades actually, and even plan on doing a sushi tour in Japan. So we are pretty serious foodies. What chefs Jonathan Reyes and John Ramos have done here in San Antonio is nothing short of phenomenal. Pure artistry. Flavor combinations and profiles that will amaze and satisfy, sometimes mystify you. Worth every penny. Can’t wait to return.

To start, I really wanted to like this place. It was $150 pp and must prepay. The ambience was dark and mysterious.The fire show was interesting! The chefs had great energy and friendly. Unfortunately, the food was not great. Of the 12 courses served, I say 3 was good. The avocado, salmon and wagyu nigiri. The rest was skippable. I think the chefs are capable and talented but the design, setup and timing of this experience is a fail. The setup of the counter is quite high so most people (our entire party) could not see what the chefs were doing. Additionally, there were about 2 dozen people and two chefs. It took 10-20 mins at times between each nigiri. And when it came, we were rushed to eat them very quickly. I could go on about the fails but I think the points above is enough. As a side note, I have been to about a dozen omakase and eating sushi for about 2 decades stateside and overseas. Sorry chefs, I wish you the best of luck.

My husband booked us for my birthday dinner and it was INSANE. 11/10 I would come back here and not just for the food, but for the service (Karina, lookin at you girly pop <3) and the show (John x2 ). The atmosphere was excellent, considering we were 1 of 2 couples that night, and the menu selection was top tier- they freestyle every reservation so it’s never the same menu items! Each course just kept getting better and better. Our favorite thing to do is try new foods whenever we travel, including a sushi tour we took in Japan over the course of 2 weeks. This Omakase has easily entered our top 5 eateries, right next to the ones we had in Tokyo, Kyoto and a spot we frequent in San Francisco. It’s hard to find such a unique culinary vision, especially from chefs who originate from San Antonio themselves!

An Omakase dinner you must try. Hidden in the basement of The Creamery, Chika is a hidden treasure. James Beard nominated: you won’t want to miss out on this dining experience.

Freaking incredible!! San Antonio needed this! I've been 2x now & each time has been an incredibly different, amazing experience! The vibe, the food & the chefs are top notch! Very affordable for what you are getting & the wine pairings are great. I wish y'all so much success & will be back monthly, for sure! Thank you for doing this for San Antonio!

Chika is the most creative omakase place I've ever been to. The ingredients are top-tier, every bite is amazing, the service is warm and quick, and the wine pairings are perfect. But for me, the coolest part is that the chefs are basically DJs. They prepare each course to a handpicked playlist while you're sitting at the counter. It feels like dinner and a show. Cool vibe, amazing food, 10/10.

If you're looking for an omakase experience highlighting traditional Japanese cuisine, you will either be delightfully surprised or dissatisfied. This is unapologetically a uniquely San Antonio experience and is captured in each of the dishes. If I was to knit pick, I would recommend setting up the wine pairing after everyone is seated. Very minor and certainly not worth demoting this to a 4-star experience. Great spot, great venue, and uniquely San Antonio!

I wish I could give this place a higher rating, but I can't justify a five-star review. Upon arrival, we had a couple of drinks at Amelia, which I love. That bar is great. They call us at 6 to be seated Chika is located in the basement beneath Amelia. I had really high hopes because someone recommended it to me, and maybe they just set the bar too high. The best part of this experience was the service. The chefs were awesome, and our waitress was attentive and nice. However, for the price, I think they should offer more sushi pieces. If you want anything other than wine or sake, make sure to grab a couple of cocktails from upstairs. I've had Omakase more times than I can count, and this one was definitely not what I was expecting. I think we had a total of nine courses, more than half of which were small bites and random things that weren't sushi. I definitely will not be going back.

I wish I could give a better review, but unfortunately I can't lie my thoughts because I love Japanese sushi culture. This is just my opinion as a person who knows real sushi and wants to eat good sushi in San Antonio, and also for who wants to eat similar quality of sushi like you could in Japan (I understand this omakase is not authentic Japanese style and it's a fusion of Japanese and Mexican cuisine). First, something positive! Free parking is available, which is a plus. After the parking, it was kinda difficult to find the place. But when I found it, I was excited about the gorgeous looking interior of the building. The bar and lounge area at the entrance was very beautiful. I'd like to come back for the bar and lounge someday. Chika is located downstairs. The server was very nice and well mannered. Fish grade was good. I liked Otoro and Unagi. A chef's fire performance was very entertaining, although music was a bit too loud all the time. If you like to watch entertainments and loud party music, you'll love it. Serious criticizing from here... The most important ingredient of sushi is actually rice. I was very disappointed with it. It was so unfortunate because they had great quality of fish. Their rice was very mushy and the flavor was not well balanced. One of the chefs told us they use "Koshihikari" which is one of famous Japanese rice brands, but sadly it doesn't matter at all because it was not cooked and seasoned right. Literally it ruined every single piece of sushi they made. It was really sad. Another disappointment was the first dish. They served a little bowl of pickled daikon radish and cucumber with tajin seasoning. Pickled daikon is not expensive to get, nor cucumber. It should be complementary for the expensive omakase course if they still want to serve. The taste was just like regular pickled daikon with cucumber. Honestly I don't know if tajin seasoning made it taste different or better. Nothing unique, very boring and felt cheap. I saw some pictures of nice grilled shrimp dish or carpaccio dish on Yelp. If I could get those appetizers, I was happier. The third disappointment was the last dish. We had Japanese castella and matcha flavored ice cream. The taste was nothing special. I don't know if they even baked the castella, maybe it was from a package. I think the chef probably forgot about preparing the whipped cream for the dish beforehand because he started making it, but he gave it up soon and just served it without whipped cream. It didn't look and taste like a dessert from a fancy omakase restaurant. Lastly, my friend and I chose to sit at a bar counter to watch the chef's work. But the counter is too high to see the kitchen. One of the chefs was using the countertop for the final decoration for sushi, but I wanted to watch from the beginning of the creation; how they create the shape of "nigiri sushi". I don't recommend to sit on a counter with extra $15 unless you want to watch the fire performance closely. Maybe I had too much high expectations, because the other reviews were good and their instagram looked nice. I wanted more sophisticated omakase experience for paying about $145 including the service fee (the fee was automatically charged when we booked).

This was such a cool experience. The vibes are top notch. It doesn't feel like you are in San Antonio. We got the wine pairing which included 5 different wines (recommend). I feel like many people complained about the amount of food for the price, but we felt the quality was top notch and worth it. The fish and rice all melted in your mouth. We loved the ambiance and intimate setting. The one negative is I asked for all pescatarian in the booking and that was completely ignored. Do not go in with any food preferences. However, they do acknowledge allergies. Ignoring that fact, we had an amazing experience.

So cool! Speakeasy/club vibes. Start by waiting in a swanky bar (Amelia), then get escorted down through a basement night club (Sweet Baby) to a tiny room in a back hallway. Each bite is highly composed, takes a while to put together, and is served at once to the whole room. Described at "San AnTokyo" - Japanese fish with San Antonio flavors. Every bite was incredible, not a single disappointment. And even with a lot of spicy flavors being thrown around (Serrano, ancho, Thai Chile) - nothing was too spicy for me (and I'm a HUGE wuss). The showmanship was great, too. Chef Reyes was also the DJ, he set the bar on fire, he torched bone marrow to drip fat onto sushi. It was such a good time!

Omakase experience with a twist was genuinely superb to most other locally available. Pricing is a bit surprising after "fees" what was $95 each, for two ended up $250...there's a real press to order booze and when asked for alternative it wasn't received too well by the wine somalier. He reluctantly agreed to "go all the way to the bar" for us to have a topo Chico, then had to keep asking for water refills that he splashed on my designer bag even though I'd moved it twice. It's really dark in there so you don't get much of the experience to see plating unless you use flash on your photos so an overall great experience with some mild adjustments we might've enjoyed more.

This place is awesome! Everything from the ambiance, lighting and service to the food and wine pairings...it's not like anything else you'll find in San Antonio. The chefs curate a unique experience with each meal, so you'll never eat the same thing twice. I've eaten there about 6 times and have enjoyed it every time. Love the local flair and fusion of San Antonio and Japanese flavors! Can't recommend enough for a great dinner and fun experience.

Chef Jonathan Reyes created an intimate, lively omakase experience with a fun twist on traditional sushi. I loved sitting at the bar and chatting with the chefs, this made the experience even better! Everything tasted amazing and will be back!!

Wait, why was this the best omakase experience I have ever had? Everything was straight up perfect. I literally have chills writing this. We made reservations here and a credit card was required. We had trouble finding the place but no big deal. We went into Easy Baby and had to ask the staff and they instructed us to wait until they were ready to let us in. Once they were ready, they gathered all of the parties and led us down the stairs and into the dining area. It felt exclusive, almost like we were about to get initiated into a cult. It was dark in there and they were playing jazz type music which was super relaxing. All of the seats were full and there were mostly pairs of people of all different age groups. We originally planned to only do the omakase, but were tempted to do the wine pairing. It was the best decision. I think it was less than $50 per person and came with 6 different wines - I honestly don't remember because I blacked out by the end of it LOL. They kept it flowing! A glass was never empty. All of the different courses that came out were so unique and flavorful. The chefs explained what it was and how to eat it. I don't even remember how many rounds there were but there was more than I expected. Sometimes after omakase I leave feeling hungry but not here! The chefs were super chill and made conversation with the guests. They didn't mind all the pictures that we were taking. The vibe took a turn (for the better) when we explained that we're from Southern California. It was at that moment that they started playing west coast rap music like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac LMAO!!! It definitely got poppin in there and was the perfect way to get hyped for a night out. 1000000/10 would recommend!

Our meal time was at 8pm and didn't get seated and our first dish until 8:45pm. They literally served flavored ice. Didn't get first sushi until about 9:30. Got like 5-6 PIECES of sushi overall plus a few appetizers. No dessert. WAY too little food especially at that price (over $200 with the wine pairing). The 5-6 pieces tasted good but the whole experience sucked. They said at the beginning they would feed us until we "tapped out" but then just ended things when they had barely given us any food. You sit at a long bar like table and they play the music very loud so can't really talk to your group. If you're going to pay the price then you might as well go to Mixtli. Very very disappointed with my experience at this restaurant.

This is not a typical omakase. The Chef mentions during the intro that it is the "San Antonio experience". The room was really dark and hard to see the dishes. We also paid the extra to sit at the bar, but you can't see the Chefs prep anything. I also didn't like when they pre-made the pieces THEN handed them out. The waiter was great and answered any questions we had. On to the food, it was definitely different. The sushi rice was a little too mushy for our liking. Some combinations were interesting and not in a good way...chorizo overpowers tuna. I got a wine pairing, but none were from Japan. I had Italy and Spain for most of the wine.

This is a trendy restaurant located behind a dance club. There are two experienced chefs who prepare a single serving of sushi at a time to the clientele. With each piece of sushi they tell a backstory behind it. This goes on for several rounds. Between each round they played jazz and R&B music to get everyone in an intimate yet festive mood. Each piece of sushi was unique in flavor and original in creation. They never serve the same menu twice. You also have the option to pair the sushi with chilled sakes. There is a gentleman there who ensures the sake stays cold and that your glasses are not empty. Finally there is an option to purchase a dessert. The proceeds from the dessert sales go towards a charity. The food was delicious but was served in small quantities. Be ready to eat some appetizers somewhere else before coming because you will not fill up on the menu. Basically you're paying for the presentation and the full experience. This is a great place for a date or as part of a girls night out.

This experience was quite disappointing. We were told the show would start at 8pm, but we ended up waiting for 30 minutes because the previous group ran late. Once seated in a small room, the chef started burning sage, which filled the space quickly. It was overwhelming and uncomfortable, especially right before eating. Personally, I found it unpleasant and it irritated my nose. The appetizer was tsukemono (Japanese pickles). The chef explained a lot about it, but honestly, it tasted like something you could buy at a regular Japanese grocery store--just ok, nothing special at all. The only part I genuinely enjoyed was the wine pairing, which was interesting and thoughtfully selected. But the food overall didn't match the high price point. Portions were very small, and the taste didn't justify the cost. They also placed the chopsticks vertically, which is culturally inappropriate and felt careless. Overall, very disappointed. This place is overrated and overpriced. I would give it 2 stars at most--maybe even just 1.

Eating at Chika is a fully immersive culinary experience. We sat at the sushi bar and got to chat with the chefs who were both down to earth and yet fastidious and obsessed with the craft of creating amazing food. They call their style "San AnTokyo" sushi, which is a perfect description of the flavors. The wine pairing was generous and flowed on and on. I can't wait to go back and bring more people to experience this San Antonio treasure! It was more than a meal - it was an ecstatic sensory experience!

This is the most enjoyable culinary experience in San Antonio right now. That's it, that's my review. I'm only typing more because Yelp requires it.

Amazing! Absolute Best dining experience in San Antonio! The food was top notch and unique. The wine pairing was perfect. The chef's were great! You get a completely different experience each time you go. Will go once a month to enjoy the best sushi in SA.

My husband and I gift experiences instead of material gifts for Christmas and thought Chika sounded fun. The experience was fun - we were instructed to meet in a bar nearby, given a glass of bubbly on arrival and then taken to the sushi bar. Fun journey to a place we wouldn't have found on our own (that's the point, I know). But the fun ended there. The sushi was tasteless. For each round the chef explained everything he had prepared on top of the (exotic) fish but I got no taste of fish and not much of what ever else was in the mix. Lots of rice compared to the amount of fish. We have had $500 omakase in NYC and $12 sushi trays at HEB and I'm just not going to say it. This was not good sushi or good value. The only good thing about it was we did the wine pairing so we were at least happy while we spent $300 on sushi that was totally subpar.

Fucking incredible!! San Antonio needed this! I've been 2x now & each time has been an incredibly different, amazing experience! The vibe, the food & the chefs are top notch! Very affordable for what you are getting & the wine pairings are great. I wish y'all so much success & will be back monthly, for sure! Thank you for doing this for San Antonio!

I've been dreaming about the day a high end Sushi experience makes landfall in SA... the time has come. Think Uchi meets sushi by scratch with a touch of San Antonio. You're welcome in advance.

Excellent Omakase experience! The staff, the food and service were all great. very excited to have a legit omakase here in the Alamo city! we will be back.