Sagano Japanese Restaurant

Mr. Lee does an outstanding job his food is consistent and excellent each and every time I eat there in my opinion it’s the best sushi in the Chicagoland area. Thank you very much for the wonderful meals that we have there see you soon.

I love sushi and have been searching for a spot in the barrington/​lake Zurich area that is reasonably priced without sacrificing quality– sagano is it! Rolls are nothing fancy but are larger than expected and delicious. Try the Boston roll!

I have eating at a lot of Japanese restaurants this is by far one of my favorites. I wish it was closer to where I lived. The owner and the guy who makes the sushi is friendly and knows what he is doing. He is very generous with the fish even in the maki rolls. The fish is fresh. Everything is delicious. The tempura udon is delicious. Though the atmosphere can use come improvement– its the food that keeps me coming. Id rather revisit a place with amazing food and not that good atmosphere rather than a place that has bad food and good atmosphere. They even give you a hot towel to clean your hands when you start. The maki rolls are much bigger than other sushi places I have been to. Love their warm saki. I make sure to come back every other month or two!

Good food, but dull. Atmosphere makes me feel like I’m eating in an old folks home. Wait, the commuter train will whiz by and rock you back to reality. Not memorable

Last time I was there they wouldn’t serve us and took our menus back. Won’t be back at all.

My favorite sushi restaurant in the northwest suburbs. The spicy tuna is a must have!

Service was good and the sushi was pretty good but I felt it was a little overpriced. Locally this is the top spot for sushi.

I’ve been coming here for years and always enjoy the meal. This week I discovered at hidden treasure on their menu … sasadango. This is a great desert treat that we all loved. It’s red bean paste wrapped by a special green mochi layer (apparently flavored with mugwort according to a web search). The whole gooey log is wrapped in a really interesting display of bamboo leaf. If you’re a fan of both mochi and red bean stuff you’ve got to give this a try. It’s a bit on the sweet side, but wonderful.

Freshest sushi I’ve encountered everywhere. Always back for this and the charisma of Mr. Lee doesn’t hurt either

Sagano is a worthy alternative when you’re in the mood for Japanese food and don’t feel like going all the way to the Arlington Heights area for all the great places over there. It’s located right along the train tracks in downtown Barrington. They have a tiny parking lot behind the building but you can just park at Jewel next door and walk over if it’s full (although it never is). When you walk in you’ll immediately notice all the plants everywhere. It’s like you’re eating in a garden. It’s never been busy at all when we come here for lunch. Maybe 1 or 2 other tables max. It’s good if you’re in the mood for a nice quiet lunch.
Food: I’m honestly not really a fan of sushi, so I can’t really comment on that, although I heard it’s pretty good here. I’m usually the only one ordering off the main menu when we come here haha.
Tempura — The tempura here is alright. It’s a little lacking in flavor for me, and just tastes like plain fried food. You definitely need the dipping sauce to give it some life. They usually give a few shrimp, a slice of sweet potato, a piece of broccoli, a carrot, a green bean, and one onion ring for their tempura.
Karaage — The chicken karaage was great. The texture was just amazing with a super crunchy, battered outside and juicy, meaty inside. There was just enough ginger flavor, but not overpowering. If it wasn’t so expensive per wing, I would’ve just ordered a bunch of these as my meal.
Udon Soup — Really refreshing soup with a very light seafood based broth. It’s not very rich like a pork based ramen, but it’s still flavorful and has plenty of saltiness. The noodles in the soup are the best part. Super thick with just the right amount of chew. The soup is literally just broth and noodles with no garnishes, which is actually the way I prefer it. Throw some togarashi on there and you’re good to go.
Beefkatsu — Like the karaage, the breading on this was really good. It had a great crunchy outer layer but the beef cutlet inside was still very tender. The sauce that came with it was very bold and tangy. It was almost like a more intense Asian-​style barbecue sauce.
Overall, Sagano offers decent Japanese food close to my office in Barrington. It’s does the job when my co-​workers are in the mood for some sushi and has enough options for a non-​sushi lover to enjoy.

We noticed a bad smell outside when we were walking into the restaurant, like bad fish, but we were walking past the poorly-​located dumpster so we continued. Unfortunately, the inside of the restaurant also smelled strangely bad. We got 5 different maki rolls and the fish in all cases tasted fishy which is a huge problem for sushi. The veggie rolls we got were not good. The house special roll was ridiculously large and very difficult to eat. The food took a long time to come despite there being only 1 or 2 other parties in the restaurant. The service was slow but ok. The non-​sushi items must be good because I wouldn’t eat there again if I was paid to and yet some people seem to like it. The décor is very 1980’s and with lots of live plants, but I couldn’t get past the smell of the place even if everything else was good.

We come here about once a month for dinner and always sit at the sushi bar.. Mr. Lee always has fresh fish and makes a larger than average roll! I know that some might not like the larger sized rolls but they are always tasty and fresh. I usually just do a couple of roll’s and a sushi sampler and am never disappointed!

Love this place! I’ve only tried the sushi and it’s amazing! My favorite is the dragon roll. I’ve tried almost all of the rolls and they are all great. I’m hungry just thinking about it.
The service is good. I’ve never seen this place full which is a plus because that means you get great and speedy service. I’ve never waited for a table. Employees are always smiling and nice. Prices are great too!

My wife and I just thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful Saturday dinner at Sagano. The experience was quite positive. The atmosphere was warm and cozy and quite nice. The service was attentive and timely but never too much. The star was definitely the food! The sushi was incredibly fresh with the highlights being the sweet shrimp Nigiri (best we’ve had) and the super white tuna sashimi. The Dragon roll and spicy super white tuna roll were excellent. We also had excellent miso soup and yakitori.
The only thing that holds this from a five star rating are some small things that seemed odd and although nitpicky were of note. Paper napkins and cheap chopsticks definitely did not add. And the dishes were re-​usable plastic rather than porcelain. This is not five star quality and seem odd compared to the level of fare. There was also fake crab in the Rainbow roll but that was outweighed by the amount and quality of fish on the outside of the roll.
The other huge plus was the price. I have never had such a fine sushi experience at such a shockingly low price point. A terrific experience!

I have lived in Barrington Hills for 23 years and started going to Sagano when it opened almost 20 years. Having had the opportunity to enjoy sushi in many places in the world including Japan, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Vancouver I have found that Mr. Lee, the proprietor, provides some of the finest sushi anywhere. He not only demands the freshest fish from his purveyors but his ability to display his mastery of the knife is uncanny. Few sushi chefs I have observed, harbor his skills. I spend 3 – 4 months a year in Los Angeles and have eaten at the best. Give me Sagano, please.

Sagano is a terrific find in the Barrington area. The lovely couple that owns the restaurant is always so kind and amiable.
Food is delicious. If you want genuine Japanese cuisine, this is the place to go. The sushi is fresh, and I’m especially impressed by the sea urchins. The lobster dish is out of the world! It’s so amazing that I can’t find the right words to describe it. The Chilean sea bass is cooked to perfection. The scallops and fresh oysters aren’t a bad dish to try either.
Service is impeccable. The sushi chef and the wait staff are always on top of their game. Tea/​water is constantly refilled and orders don’t take too long. FYI, if you become a regular at this restaurant, the owner prepares a sake box just for you.
Anyways… I highly recommend Sagano Japanese Restaurant!

One of the best nw suburb sushi restaurants. Huge pieces, friendly service, and quality product make it closer to 5 stars.
Dragon roll is worth the price…$ 14
Takeout service is preferred if there are no seats at the bar (approx. 8, so it can fill up fast).

I haven’t had the chance to sit down in the actual restaurant, but I’ve gotten take out often, and — quite honestly — nothing beats this place.
I don’t know how, but all the fish I get from here tastes like they’re fresh out of the sea! Their chicken wings/​legs are also startlingly well-​cooked — the outside is crunchy, but the inside is as soft and tender as can be. And the starters! Usually I skip over the salad and miso soup given in other places, but I always eat the ones given here. I even find myself wanting more!
This is an excellent place to visit, if not frequent — that is, if your budget allows it. I don’t find it too expensive at all, as I think I’m paying for the quality and quantity. But, hey — everyone’s got their own opinion.

the sushi at this restaurant is amazingly fresh. trust me it’s as good as it gets without being next to the ocean!

This place is a great little Sushi resturant. It has everything you want and the sushi you NEED. Great rolls priced reasonably. Sagano features a full menu of Japanese dishes. I can’t wait to try all the different dishes. I’ve had the maki rolls twice and the sashimi platter. The rolls are huge and delightful. The platter was amazing. The fish was top quality and delicious.
The service in this place is pretty standard. It’s usally Mr. Lee and one server covering all the tables. I always sit at the sushi bar and watch Mr. Lee make magic. You can tell a lot of people come here often. It seemed everybody said hi to Mr. Lee when they came in, and he knew they’re name. Impressive.
Japanese beer is available along with saki. Sometimes in the summer it can get pretty hot in there. One time there was a fruit fly flying around my head. Overall great place in Barrington to get Sushi. It’s well done here and done right.