Mark T.
Yelp
There is an issue I have with some breweries, that being their beer menus are greater than 50% IPA's, when I am averse to IPA's. Substitute IPA with crab (i.e. the imitation sticks), crunch, and/or some kind of tempura, and we arrive at the same problem.
In fact, I made a spreadsheet (you can tell I'm a "man in finance," can't you?) Their AYCE Dinner menu has 24 "signature" rolls. Of these: nine have crab, ten have tempura-something or crunch (effectively, bread), one is fried, and one is rolled with soybean paper instead of nori. That leaves a grand total of three rolls from their menu of 24 signature items I would be open to ordering.
Not only am I generally not a fan of these ingredients, but I feel as though they cheapen the roll. As if they are added only to add heft, i.e. they are added to make the roll appear bigger.
The two I ordered, the Sunny Roll and Fire Phoenix Roll did have crab (oops - didn't realize how many contain 'crab' sticks. While the fire phoenix was decent (thanks at least in part to the torched salmon), the sunny roll was a massive miss. The crab on top made the whole thing feel like something you'd get at a cheap buffet. Neither of these rolls seemed high quality. Not gas station level, but also not something I would order again.
Where I do want to give some points is the nigiri. The salmon nigiri specially allowed the fish to shine, and only here one could tell it was high quality. Similar with the Ikura nigiri and the eel handroll - perhaps not S-tier, but very respectable.
Where it comes to the service, I thought it was friendly, and appropriately fast and attentive. The vibe is modern with lovely and not overdone gold tones.
I wanted to give them a huge amount of credit for value, for $32 for AYCE sushi in Chicago is a killer deal on the surface. However, the quality and selection were such that I cannot see myself returning.