The Izakaya

Lesley Chavez a month ago

We had Izakaya saved for a while after noticing that a lot of people were rating their burger really highly, so we finally decided to give it a try. We went on a Friday around 6 p.m., hoping to beat the dinner rush, and since we didn’t have a reservation, we were happy to snag a couple of seats at the bar. When we arrived, it seemed like a lot of people were finishing up their meals, so by the time we got our drinks, our side of the bar was pretty much empty. The bartender took our order, but that was about the extent of the interaction. There wasn’t really any check-in to see how the meal was or whether we were enjoying our drinks. On a busy night, we probably wouldn’t have thought much of it, but since things had slowed down quite a bit, it was noticeable. For drinks, my husband ordered the Tokyo Bloom and I got the Peach Boy. Neither was particularly memorable. The Tokyo Bloom was definitely the better of the two, while I wouldn’t order the Peach Boy again. It was very acidic, and I’m not sure if the yuzu was the reason for that. We started with a few small dishes: the otoro sashimi, shishito peppers, and a tuna tostada. The shishito peppers and tuna tostada were both pretty g

Ryan Wantland 3 months ago

Been wanting to eat dinner here for a while and I'm so happy to have finally tried it. Ambiance and service were both killer - there's no mistaking you're in a hidden joint in a big cosmopolitan city. Happy to report the food matched the atmosphere! Our favorite dishes were the Satsumaimo Fries, Happi Salada, and Chahan - all amazing and full of well curated flavors. Sashimi was a little disappointing and a bit more fishy tasting than we were expecting. Still an amazing meal overall and I can't wait to return.

Jason Caldwell 4 months ago

An amazing Japanese bar experience. It can be a bit loud with low lighting, but that's part of the ambiance. The staff were all very welcoming and professional. The menu is well curated to offer a variety of dishes and everything that came out of the kitchen looked splendid. The temaki was well prepared and easy to assemble. The skewer was amazing - juicy inside, crisp outside, and generally an explosion of flavors that was hard to beat! As you'd expect, they have an extensive drink menu and it's hard to go wrong there!

David Ye 4 months ago

food: okay i get the hype the burger was really good. i was surprised how no frills it was pretty much just 2 juicy patties. i really like the cocktails too. the scallop hand roll was yummy and the tuna tostado was alright but i will say they both had similar taste profiles with a background heat that clouds other flavors. tostado was also hard to eat in the fact it was hard to rip. now the worst part unfortunately is the uni pasta. the flavor overall was so good but the uni pieces we got were bitter which means they are bad or treated with tons of chemicals. really disappointed one of the mains was used with bad ingredients and not caught by the kitchen service: nice staff but the servers seemed to be all over the place. not just because it was busy but seemed to barely check in as well. ambiance: coolest part, really like the vibe but very intimate and hard to hear

Nikhil D'Mello 6 months ago

The Izakaya at Momotaro was great. The vibe is super cool, and being downstairs makes it feel even more special. It’s really pretty inside, especially sitting at the bar, and the service was great too. It is pretty loud though, so just know you’ll have to talk a little louder. We got the uni pasta, the spicy chicken sando with satsumaimo fries, the Nagoya style tebasaki wings, and the Momo Royale burger. The uni pasta was nice and the noodles were definitely good, but it could’ve used a little more flavor. It was good, just not my favorite. The spicy chicken sando was delicious and was probably my favorite thing we got, and the satsumaimo fries were sooo good, especially with the sauce on the side. The wings were flavorful, but they got pretty sticky and I kind of wish they were a little smaller or easier to separate. The Momo Royale burger was good, but nothing too special to me. Not sure what all the hype is about! I’ve definitely had better burgers in Chicago. I’d come back for the good food and good vibes, but next time I’d try out different dishes like donburi, hand rolls, or tonkatsu.