Marina M.
Yelp
My boyfriend and I were in Chicago to celebrate our anniversary and since this place is was so close to our hotel and had good reviews on here, we decided to check it out.
If I had to summarize my experience in one word: underwhelming.
Perhaps, it was my fault because I had high expectations but I felt that Mirai did not fully deliver. We ordered a variety of things: a couple of specialty rolls, nigiri, chawan mushi, and maki rolls.
Here's the breakdown of the food:
1) Chawan mushi was delicious, a very small portion for the price but it did have crab and shrimp in it, overall I did enjoy this dish.
2) Chef's special rolls (special salmon and special hirame): I would skip these. I felt that they were very overpriced, and that the tempura flavor overpowered the flavor of the raw fish, which I did not care for.
3) I think the nigiri trio was the highlight of this meal for me. The fatty tuna was decadent to the nth degree, the marinated salmon was super amazing (I got another order of it bc of how good it was), and the fresh salmon melted in my mouth. I do think it was a great deal for the price.
4) The maki rolls were good, though I felt they were slightly overpriced, since they were very small (most of them were 6 pieces with the nori on the outside).
5) I did enjoy the nigiri that I ordered (madai, zuke, aka anago) with the exception of the ikura. Not sure why they chose to dip and soak the rice into soy sauce and then place salty salmon roe on top but I felt it ruined the taste. I prefer when it is just sushi rice with a little bit of wasabi, wrapped in nori with ikura on top, that way the briny taste of the roe is highlighted. I did feel that the nigiri was overpriced as well.
6) I got a lychee martini and my boyfriend got a Sapporo. My martini was good but once again it was overpriced but I kind of expected that.
Now a few words about the restaurant/service:
1) It's a very small place, the bathroom is not even in the restaurant but in the adjacent hotel. If you want to come here, make a reservation and don't expect a lot of leg or elbow room.
2) The service was good, but not exceptional. At one point they forgot a part of my order. There were 2 people who were helping the customers, so I do feel that they might have been overwhelmed since they place filled up quickly, we never had to wait too long for anything so I do appreciate their promptness.
If I would come here again, I would do things a bit differently: skip the drinks; order a few maki rolls but not the specialty rolls; get the nigiri trio and other nigiri.
Overall, I felt the experience was overpriced, and I have had better sushi, I could have spend my money better elsewhere.