SUSHISAMBA Chicago

How this place is so highly rated, I have no idea. People keep trying to have us for dinner here and it’s always loud, we’ve hade to wait 30 min past our RESERVATION time, and didn’t get to eat until 2 hours after our scheduled time. The service has been down right rude. We avoid whenever possible.

I really enjoyed our dinner at Sushi Samba. The main reasons for this positive rating are due to:
1. Great atmosphere & décor. Such a happy, lively place with a bright colors, trendy décor and good music.
2. The sushi was fresh and well presented. Even though some of the menu items definitely catered to the western palate overall the presentation and flavors were very good making this a place I will come again
3. Good service. The service was quick, professional and waiters/​waitresses well informed.
4. Reasonable prices. Hard to find in this part of the city making it another reason to visit.
Overall a good place to bring kids and adults alike and worth a visit in town.

I really wanted to like this place. My old boss used to go to the Sushi Samba in London every time he was on a business trip, and I figured it had to be amazing in Chicago as well.
The décor of the place is great— love the Pit area, which really is like a pit in the middle of the restaurant, a little lower than the rest of the restaurant, very cool atmosphere.
Beyond that, everything else was mediocre. I had the Nina Fresa cocktail– a muddled strawberry martini– apparently one of the best sellers, but just okay. Nothing special. Ordered the bobo Brazil— of which I could barely taste the wagyu beef. The veggies in the roll overpowered the taste of the wagyu.
The Samba Rio roll was alright— I like lobster… it was good. But nothing to write home about. The sea bass on the Robata menu was pretty good though— that was done well. I’ll give credit for that! Service wasn’t bad either.
But overall, I’d come here for the ambiance, but not the food. Whatever, I just wanted to try it and see for myself.

Samba sushi has delicious fusion sushi and robata (grilled meats!) We had the skirt steak, yellow tail ceviche, bobo brazil and neo-​tokyo rolls. All were super tasty, full of flavor. The zingu beer was light and delicious. The lychee bubbly hit the spot with refreshing sweetness. Our waiter, Christoph, was very attentive, entertaining and full charisma. The manager, Adam even came to check on us. It’s a fabulous team at Sushi Samba!

I’ve been out of the Unilocal game for a minute, but had to come back to see if our experience at Sushisamba was standard.
The good and only reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1: the atmosphere is trendy and very aesthetically pleasing. However, while the two dishes we stuck around to eat were OK, they were way overpriced for the quality. I’ve had better sushi elsewhere for much cheaper. The food wasn’t the issue though.
The service was absolutely terrible.
Like, really really really bad…
First we came in with a $ 150 dollar gift card and were told there was nothing on it (I have found out today there is still definitely $ 150 left on it, but considering I am not and argumentative person, we assumed something was wrong with the card and sat down at our table anyway).
It took us roughly 20 minutes just to catch a glimpse of our waiter to take a drink order. He seemed to sprint by our table and, without even stopping, would say he would be right over. I guess that’s effort right? We decided to go sans alcohol for a few different reasons and ordered a couple green teas… you know, boiling hot water and tea bags. After another 20 minutes, our tea (not worth $ 8 dollars mind you) arrived, as well as an additional order of said tea. Everyone seemed very confused about the young couple who wasn’t drinking on a Saturday night, I guess. No big deal, double orders can happen. I’ve worked in a restaurant. I know it’s a thing.
However, after our waiter took our order of calamari and 1 roll, we never saw him again until our food arrived. The waitstaff in our entire area of the restaurant seemed very confused. We were offered another tables’ meal before we were able to place our own. They brought us double orders of the hot tea that took forever to receive, and water wasn’t refilled the entire time we were there.
After an hour and a half, 1 order of tea, 1 sushi roll and small dish of calamari, we got fed up with waiting, paid our $ 50 dollar bill (remember 2 hot teas, 1 small plate, and 1 sushi roll) and walked over to Zed 451. Our dinner there was incredible, the waitstaff were fantastic and funny, and we STILL spent less than if we would have stuck around for more of the train wreck that night at Sushisamba.

Haven’t had sushi in a while and decided to stop here after seeing my doctor. I got to this place around 6:30pm and it was pretty empty. The décor of the restaurant was pretty cool and the ambiance was relaxing. When I arrived I was seated right away by a friendly server.
I honestly forgot the names of the 3 rolls I’ve ordered but they were good. I enjoyed my alone time at Sushi Samba.

Softest, tastiest Miso-​marinated Chilean Sea bass I’ve had. The robata version is served over huge, crunchy, whole Peruvian corn kernels and I could swear there’s a few sprinkles of the best Mac n Cheese powder you can find.
And listen, that green bean tempura with truffle aioli could be considered a sharing appetizer, but you wouldn’t want to after tasting it. Very crisp batter, great tasting and bright beans, aioli is truffled and creamy like the best hummus.
The menu has been revamped recently.
Lunch service was friendly, laid back and the bartender wanted to make sure I was having the best experience possible, I’m confident.

Dinner for restaurant week at 7pm on a Thursday night. My friend was running late so I was able to wait in the waiting area which is pretty spacious and nice. The hostess was also kind enough to bring the menu over to me to review while I was waiting. I came during Restaurant week and the menu had quite a few options which was nice.
Food:
Salmon seviche Flatbread — tasty
Sushi — I would have to agree with Andres D that we can get sushi like this elsewhere for cheaper.
Dessert — tasted like pumpkin cake — not really anything special
Atmosphere: dim lighting, good for group gatherings or dates –very spacious
Customer Service: waitress was friendly, but not really helpful. For example, when we asked what he recommended, he said everything is good here… um. that doesn’t really help. but ok​.It seemed like he was buzzed or had some drinks later on during our dinner because he forgot to bring out the drinks we asked for and we had to remind him a couple times.
Parking: valet parking available as well as street parking around the area
Wait time: make reservations and you won’t be waiting long… I went on a Thursday night and it wasn’t as busy around 7PM, but later into the night. it gets busier.
Not sure if I would come back although I like the set-​up inside the store.

Hello,
So I had a private party here a few weeks ago with my group the 312 social group that I have on meetup (yea I know it’s original –after the zip code– bla bla bla). This was the third time I brought my group here since September.
Most of the 125 plus attendees where professionals who were mostly single professionals between 28 – 48 yrs of age.
Anyways the staff treated us like gold and everyone had a nice time.
You could not ask more of the staff.
This place upstairs on their third floor lounge and there was a few drink specials.
We had a DJ who at first must have though he was at Spy Bar because he played thump thump kinda music. I kept on going up to him and asking him to play some dance music that people could dance to or pretend to dance to. The Sushi samba manager also asked him to play good music and the guy had a tough time doing so. In the summer the DJ who was there played some good stuff. When I told him «try to play stuff with words» he then kinda understood what was going on. We all have off night’s.
All in all Akbar and the staff over there treated me and my guests very well. I would definitely have an event at Sushi Samba again. It’s ope of my favorite places in the city because they know how to treat people when they get there and the food is always good. This has been my experience.
Sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due.

Rough Rough Rough.
Had reservations and came into SushiSamba on Saturday night for my friend’s 30^th birthday dinner. It was a party of 8 (which our server should have easily been able to handle) and although we had 2 people in the group that were gluten-​free, they made it not an issue when we booked the reservation.
The dinner started at 7 and ended at around 10 (not our choice but the lack of good service). We started with drinks and appetizers and then all went around and ordered in a quick fashion. The food awkwardly came out because the BF and I ordered meals from the kitchen since we weren’t feeling sushi and everyone else got theirs from the sushi bar. I ended up getting my tempura shrimp and scallops first and waited politely until everyone else got their food. The next plate to come out was the BF’s chilean sea bass (15 mins after mine). And 15 mins after that, the rest of the group got their sushi boat.
One of the gluten-​free people got theirs on a separate plate and it was fine but the other had to reorder hers because of the fact that they stuck her 2 gluten-​free rolls in the middle of everyone else’s normal sushi. Just one more delay. The most annoying part is that the server/​/​food runner had no idea why you couldn’t put them all together. It seems like a more common/​standard thing lately, properly educate your staff.
I have no complaints about the taste of the sea bass or the shrimp/​scallops that I had for dinner and the sushi looked quite good. The dessert was very good also.
Here are my main issues with why I’m giving a 2 star:
1. ¹⁄₃ of the stuff on the menu as an appetizer that I had asked the server about they were out of. What?!!
2. The service was exceptionally slow. I could have fallen asleep at the table if I would have been with boring people.
3. We get the bill and it was an absolute cluster of nonsense. With having 8 people and 6 of those people being «couples», you would have thought the guy would be smart enough to separate these things and also add gratuity (Isn’t it normal for groups 6 – 8 to add that??)
In any case, although the food was fine, I would not come back here. I was highly disappointed especially since it looks quite modern and trendy on the inside. I would have rated a place with fantastic service and less awesome food higher.

SUSHISAMBA is a great special occasion place. It’s absolutely stunning inside, really modern but still comfortable.
I went for a birthday party with ten people but they wouldn’t seat us until the entire party arrived so good thing there was a bar. I had a mojito, berry smash and a pepino all of which were delicious. If you are daring enough, they also have drinks that include muddled jalapeño or a wasabi blend.
We ordered a ton of stuff off the menu. I don’t typically like calamari but it was pretty good here. The El Topo wasn’t as good as I hoped, but the filet was amazing. The Samba Rio was good and if you like crab you should try the Celebration Roll.
The service was good considering we had a large group. I’d go back, but mostly for the drinks and ambiance.

Very modern place with loud music. We got to try their restaurant week menu as well as extra variety of sushi. I really liked the food and drinks. The service could have been better though. At some point I felt like they are putting too much effort: there so many servers and managers around but at the end all of them forgot who should have brought me a straw. Also, when they had other customers taking a table next to us, the waitress just moved the table separating it from ours and it hurt my elbow as I did not expect and she never said anything that table next to us will be used. Other than that its worth if you like Japanese or South American food (thats the mix they have).

I’ve been to SUSHISAMBA in NYC and Vegas… wasn’t a fan either time I went. So when my friend suggested we go to the one here in Chicago I reluctantly said yes. Well I should have followed my gut and declined.
Once again I was disappointed overall with my dining experience at SUSHISAMBA. However, I will say that the Chicago location had excellent customer service. Everyone working there was nice and friendly. Our waiter was knowledgable about the menu (both drink and food).
Chicharron Calamari — was lukewarm and blah. The fried plantain that came with the calamari was good.
Scottish salmon flatbread — was OK, but once I put some soy sauce on it the taste rating went from OK to very good.
Braised Lamb Shank — I did not like this at all. The lamb was flavorless which was really disappointing since I love lamb.
Kabocha Cheesecake — was good and I liked all the caramel that came along with this dish.

I really enjoyed my evening spent at Sushi Samba. They are vegan/​vegetarian friendly and have their own separate menu. I had ordered the Mushroom tobanyaki which was delicious, mushrooms were sautéed perfectly. I tried the veggie tacos they were also good but nothing to special. By far my favorite food item was the side of coconut rice. The coconut rice was cooked to perfection. The dessert we had was the Samba spilt mmh this was incredibly good as well.
The décor is beautiful I love the club/​lounge/​restaurant ambiance. The bathrooms are interesting, never experienced anything like them before. The music is really loud in Sushi Samba, which I enjoyed. Some people may not like talking loud over their dinner but to each his own.
I enjoyed my evening dinner here and will definitely be back.

Somewhat tough meat that has sat out too long isn’t my thing. That said, the sausage on the meat plate was fantastic. A tad bit greasy, but really tasty. The sushi tasted fine, but wasn’t anything spectacular, both in creativity and taste.
The service is fantastic, though as a large group with the upper floor to ourselves, I’d expect more than one hurried bartender for 100 people.

My friends and I came here to continue one of their graduation celebrations, but unfortunately Sushi Samba didn’t deliver.
To start, the service was quite slow. Our server took our order fairly fast, but the actual service was slow. It took quite a while for our dishes to come out even though it wasn’t a busy night for them. When our order came out, I was severely disappointed with each dish.
The mushroom tobanyaki (poached organic egg, wild Japanese mushrooms, garlic chip) was way too salty. After the first bite, we all decided that we should send the dish back. When they asked if we wanted a replacement, we decided to skip it as we weren’t too hungry to begin with and figured that we could be satisfied with just the seviches and tiraditos that we ordered.
We ordered an assortment of four seviches and tiraditos for $ 33.00 based on our server’s recommendation. Unfortunately I did not like any of the dishes we ordered. We ordered the two yellowtail seviches and tiraditos and one kanpachi sashimi tiradito, but unfortunately I don’t remember our fourth option – It might have been the salmon sashimi seviche. The fish wasn’t fresh at all, and it made me worry that I was going to get a stomachache from eating raw fish that wasn’t fresh. Luckily, that didn’t happen at all. Apparently I now have a stomach of steel.
I used to work for a destination management company, and I regret that I once recommended this restaurant to some of our clients without having tried this place out myself. The restaurant looked nice on the website, and at the time, the rating on Unilocal might have been higher. So for any of my past clients, if you happen to read this review today, I am so sorry, please forgive me. I will never again recommend a restaurant simply based on other people’s reviews.

We attended a holiday party here the other night and I must say all in all we had a very nice time. The party started out in the 3^rd floor lounge. We had drinks and appetizers were served. The Kobe beef pot stickers were ok, but the yellow tail sashimi mini tacos were really good, but messy to deal with, without plates.
Dinner was on the first floor and we were brought a succession of items starting with sushi and sashimi and ending with Brazilian steak and sausage. It was all quite tasty. Dessert was a sampling of flan, a very light custard and mocha.
The food was interestingly combined and over all tasted very good. I must admit, I found the blasting music to be uncomfortable. I had to yell all night to talk to my dinner companions and constantly ask them to repeat what they were saying. That takes away some of the fun of things.
I’m glad we had a chance to try this place. It is off the beaten track for us. It was a nice party, just a noisy one!

I have been dying to come here and finally got to check it out for a friend’s birthday.
We were seated on the third floor in the lounge area before it got busy. The waitstaff was always around, and was very friendly.
There was a ton of comfy seating, though some people may not enjoy eating sushi on a couch, I think there is something relaxing about that. The modern décor was pleasing to the eyes, and the lighting was perfectly sensual.
The food itself was delicious, and the dessert is unique and so flavorful!
They have exotic drinks for every taste.
The music was spot on for the atmosphere, dancy but chill at the same time.
I will for sure be making a return, and I highly recommend it for special occasions, or just for a fun and yummy night!

Prior to coming here, couple of my friends (including my husband) said this place is overrated and that it isn’t as good, just overhyped. I still wanted to come here to say that I came here for the experience.
My husband and I came here for dinner on my last day of work in downtown before I start my new job next week. It was pretty quiet at 6pm, but probably because it was very cold outside. I love the atmosphere inside — it is so hip and colorful! Very creative restaurant. My husband ordered different kinds of foods to try. We started with one order of the yellowtail taquitos. which btw was really good. The taste combinations of taco shell with fish is yum! Then we had an order of yellow tail sashimi tiradito (sp) and salmon tiradito (sp). The salmon one was soo good. I love the mix of the fish with the sauce and nut. The yellowtail was okay, but salmon is a winner!
We ordered 3 rolls — their special spicy tuna, salmon avocado, and spicy yellowtail. My husband really like the special spicy tuna. I love the spicy yellowtail best. The sushi was really good. We also ordered several pieces of the salmon nigiri, yellowtail nigiri, and striped bass nigiri. My favorite nigiri was the striped bass! YUM!!!
We ended the night with the Samba split which was banana split with crème brûlée, berries, caramel corn, and ice cream. This is such a creative concoction of food and I love the mix.
My husband and I had an enjoyable time. Our waitress, Rachel, told us they switched up their menu which is a plus because my experience at Sushi Samba differs than what I’ve heard from my friends who came here few years ago. Even my husband changed his mind. Rachel was really nice. We really liked that! I like friendly and nice service, so we gave her a good tip. Rachel also gave us each brazillian cookies at the end. Nice!
It is a little expensive than other restaurants, but we expected that since it’s popular and located in downtown.

I enjoyed my recent visit to Sushi Samba! It wasn’t as awesome as the first time I went, but it was still pretty good. The main reason for taking away two stars is that it was SO hot in there, and somehow really humid, even in the back of the place. For a place that looks so sexy, they should know that there’s nothing sexy about eating sushi while you’re sweating.
I asked the waitress for a cocktail recommendation, and she told me she liked the Nina Fresa, which has Svedka Vodka, muddled strawberries, orange liqueur, and guava. Yum, right? It sounded great but I thought it would be too sweet, so I ordered the Chu-​Cumber, which is made with shochu, St. Germain, muddled cucumber, and lime. Well she ended up bringing me the one she recommended but I didn’t want, but I was too desperate for a cocktail that I drank it anyway. Kind of a bad way to start dinner!
As far as the sushi goes, it was good! I recommend ordering whatever looks good off of the «Samba rolls» menu… pretty creative stuff! Here’s a quick rundown of what we decided on:
–Pacific roll: king crab, avocado, asian pear, soy paper, wasabi-​avocado crema, $ 16.00
–El Topo roll: salmon, jalapeño, shiso leaf, fresh melted mozzerella, crispy onion, $ 14.00 (this one was absolutely incredible)
–Samba rio Roll: Maine lobster tempura, romaine, avocado, cucumber, tartar sauce, $ 17.50
The food was very, very good, but again it was just a little hard to enjoy it considering the temperature of the place (and having the wrong cocktail… boo.) I would definitely go back but I might sit at the sushi bar instead of a table, it just seemed like a better experience. Give it a try and eat as much sushi as your heart desires!

la dernière fois que je suis allée à Chicago j’ai voulu voir ce dont parlaient les filles de sex and the city à propos de sushi samba. Il y en a un aussi à New-​York, un à Miami. J’aime beaucoup le décor, c’est très grand il y a des patios, et les sushis sont originaux et divins.