Bistro Wasabi

Beautiful, modern, always neat and clean, nice atmosphere, and friendly staff.
Most importantly everything is FRESH and TASTY…
LOVE their specialty cocktails.

Bistro is a nice modern and classy Asian restaurant serving very good sushi dishes. I really like their take on the tempura calamari which are more thicker stalk like version than the calamari I’m used to. Their raspberry spicy shrimp is a great tasting appetizer. Their Maki are delicious but I’ve yet to try their sashimi to do a full review. Unfortunately their menu selection is not that large and the portion size follows the same path so it feels a bit overpriced however well made, and it is, everything is. Still the good quality and how close it is to me make this a go to sushi place!

The food is always good Everytime I go. The only reason it’s not 5 stars is bc it is a bit pricey. But that doesn’t stop me from coming when I have some money saved up :)

Amazing fresh sushi and attentive wait staff! Nothing comparable in the suburbs!
My favorite: Sapporo roll.
Ahi tuna appetizer is so high quality, tender, incredible flavor. Never had tuna so exquisite.
Best drinks in the area as well, experienced talented bartenders.

Really good food and great drinks, a modern somewhat fancy place.
We had kind of sassy waitress. Some people don’t really want their waitress telling you what to order and disagreeing with your choice. Awesome food, just a little taken aback by the waitress.

Really cool vibe inside this place and our food was decent with a unique presentation. However, the service was somewhat slow, we had to repeat a couple of things we ordered and it was a week night. (It made me wonder how bad a weekend night would be). I’ve had much better sushi, in the area, for much less money. We did enjoy the calamari tempura and Kamakazi Roll if you can handle a spicy tuna roll.

Nice to have great sushi so close! Good for carry out too.
The non-​sushi family members like the chicken with black bean sauce.

Go to Sushi Joint. Always fresh sushi. Great wine specials during the week. Been there at least 50 times and have never been disappointed by the food.

Reliably great sushi every time that I have eaten at Bistro Wasabi!

I’ll admit, I was not thrilled to dine here to begin with — but this area didn’t have a lot to choose from and we couldn’t make it back to the city before I murdered people with my eyes due to hunger.
It’s another one of those surprises in a strip mall. Walking in — it looks straight out of an Ikea show room. It’s actually very modern and cute — almost all white with a huge glass bar.
The drinks are very good. If you’re going somewhere for just martinis, this is your place. Otherwise, head on down the street to another strip mall and take your chances.
Most of the food we had was mediocre, the timing was terrible — either it came out too slow or some dishes came out way before the other person’s. One of the dishes was supposed to be seafood and vegetables and was actually just a weird looking salad. It’s actually fairly pricey too.
If they could step up their food game, this could be a promising place.

For the love of all things, do not eat here. The only thing I hate more than crappy food is crappy, overpriced food.
The good:
When you pull up and see a strip mall, your heart will sink. But when you go inside, it’s modern and bright. The hostess is very friendly. There are some minor design flaws that will probably only drive OCD suffers mad, such as the unevenly cut strips of felt material on the wall, but overall the room had a good vibe. There’s a lively crowd. You will have higher hopes than when you got out of the car.
Yes, as everyone said, the martinis are good. My pomegranate martini was fine, the pineapple upside down martini was above average. Go ahead and order a drink – you’ll most likely enjoy it.
The average:
The avocado and cucumber maki was fine, even if it took quite a long time to come out. You probably can’t go wrong with simple maki. Order with moderate caution.
Oh my goodness, the bad:
Here’s where it all fell apart. My dining companion ordered the chicken teriyaki dinner. It came out about 10 minutes before my entrée. Very poor timing. And poorly executed. The chicken was bland and overcooked. (At least the broccoli and asparagus were good.)
Now for the pièce de résistance…the spicy chirashi. The menu said (I assumed chef’s choice) sashimi & vegetables in spicy sauce with caviar over rice. All things I love. What could go wrong?
What I got (10 minutes after my friend’s’ cooked entrée) was a bowl full of what was probably tobiko roe with rice (the two best parts, as they at least were true to the menu description), mixed greens (like you’d get out of a carton at Jewel), slathered in gooey sauce, sprinkled with chopped up, unrecognizable chunks of raw fish, and topped with unidentifiable slices of something that may have been plain tofu.
The waiter didn’t tell me what kind of «sashimi» was in the dish – as he seemed a little disorganized and rushed – but it *looked* like bits of tuna, salmon, and perhaps hamachi sliced up into nickle sized pieces. It *tasted* like disappointment and broken dreams.
This is not spicy chirashi with vegetables. This was a very bad $ 24 seafood salad. The above description does not fully describe how horrible this was. If only my phone wasn’t dead I’d have taken a photo, as that would at least give you a visual representation of this culinary disaster.
Summing up, if all you want is a martini, average maki, and/​or broccoli and asparagus to snack on, you could come here in a moment of sheer desperation when you’re stuck and starving in Hoffman Estates. Otherwise prepare for a $ 90+ letdown (including the tip – none of this was the fault of the poor guy slinging this garbage).

Driving by and saw this place… looked intriguing so I looked it up. Good reviews. Bookmarked… and scheduled a GNO for Friday… now to make reservations…
RESERVATIONS /​HOSTESS /​CUSTOMER SERVICE
WTF. You call… If it’s during reg business hours… And no one answers you’re supposed to leave a message or try back later. Really? And if you want to make reservations just leave a message and they’ll call you back… unless they get busy. Then they won’t.
And then when you call while on the way to meet your group… they don’t have a clue and aren’t taking reservations… too full… etc. Maybe you should respond with an apology and response like ‘we will do our best to accommodate your party when you arrive? Pretty amateur… and seems like that level of service has happened to others.
Get on OpenTable or say you don’t take reservations… but answer the phone. Seriously?
AMBIANCE
Décor. Gorgeous. Love white and silver. Made me less irritated with the mom pop shop phone dealio. Lightning is perfect to make you want to chat and lounge… had to fix exposure on all the pics I took though. ;-)
SERVICE
Decent a little slow at times. Food seems to take forever but 2 hours isn’t horrible if you’re enjoying the convo. Busing the sushi bar (seated there after a 15m wait was fine…) seemed inconsistent. Putting the dishes on a nearby empty table seemed to help.
MENU /​FOOD /​DRINKS
It’s a mystery… menu seemed more like an outline… is this to dodge promises you can’t keep? Had to stick to well knowns or ask the disappearing waitstaff… so we stuck to favorites… sushi rolls overall (took a poll) were good but not amazing… dragon/​spider/​sapporo… presentation is better at Sushi Ai and Wildfish.
Oh the Sapporo was a recommendation to me by the waitress… mediocre. :-/​
Where this place shines is the appetizers and sauces. Seared Tuna was definitely delish. Crab cakes too. Fish Carpacchio… teriyaki sauce was light and not overly salty…
The martinis tried were unanimously applauded as good and strong. Wine was also. My watery virgin Mai Tai was charged appropriately on the bill as «Orange juice.» I should have asked for no ice and more cherries.
SUMMARY
It’s quality over quantity which I like… but I’m not gonna lie… the service needs to ramp up to justify $ 18 appetizers and $ 25 – 50 entrees. Pros are some of the menu items and interior… major cons are the poor customer service.
Substance counts just as much as looks… imho.

So I’m no sushi expert… but man! This place is so delicious! & the service was outstanding! The beef asparagus rolls were so flavorful. The outside of the restaurant is not so appealing but once you step on the inside the atmosphere totally changes! It’s incredible. Love the scene too.

My boyfriend and I are always looking for new sushi places to try and we tried this location on a recommendation. Our server, Bianca, was awesome! She was very helpful in explaining food and drink options, as well as the current specials. Our sushi rolls took some extra time, (although we didn’t notice), due to it being busy and she brought us free martini shots, which were fantastic. The sushi was fresh and the tempura vegetables had a great coating that wasn’t greasy, as many other sushi restuarants serve them grease covered and with not good dipping sauces. We had asked about dessert and I had questions on the moochi flavors. Without asking, Bianca brought me the additional flavors of ice cream to try, for free.
All in all, it was a great experience and we will definitely be back for appetizers, sushi, ice cream, and drinks!

Came here with a friend that use to bartend here and grabbed a couple drinks, rolls and ahi tuna. It was really good and fresh and everyone that works here is really nice. Had a blast and had great food and drinks! Definitely recommend this place if you’re around!

We have been coming here since they opened. Love, love, love this place! The freshest most delicious sushi you will ever have! Once you eat here you will not like sushi anywhere else!

Went here for my birthday (valentines day) and had such a great time!
the food here is fresh as can be, fileted per roll to order.
we sat at the sushi bar because I love watching them roll sushi
everything that we ordered was delish! I can’t even decide what my favorite was, they all blew me away!
This is a great place but make sure to call and reserve a spot at the sushi bar, it’s such a great seat!

If I were basing this review solely on décor they would get 4 stars. Sleek & modern & gorgeous inside. Their homey strip-​mall location does not do them justice in this regard. Because of their location I was expecting more of a casual sushi-​joint, which is what we wanted, but I won’t hold that against them.
However, service & food trump décor in my book, and that’s what the 2 stars is based on. As mentioned in other reviews, there isn’t really much of a description, or no description at all, on their various offerings on the menu. Maybe a sushi pro remembers what is in a Dragon Roll, but I do not. The menu also does not list how many pieces any of the rolls are so we weren’t sure how much food to pick out for 3 of us. Some rolls came with 5 pieces and others arrived with more.
We came on a Friday night and business was steady, but they were by no means crazy busy. You would think they were, however, based on the 2 servers rushing around & being inattentive and the fact they only had 2 people working the sushi bar so food took entirely too long to come out. We ordered Shrimp Tempura to start (it was entirely too greasy & not great compared to what we’ve had at other sushi places), a Dragon Roll, the Bistro Wasabi Special roll, and the Philly. We thought we might order more but the 3 of us decided to wait and see. And we certainly waited… for even just the Shrimp Tempura to come out. At one point our server came over to say that things had died down now & our order was up next so it shouldn’t be too much longer (it was… and we still hadn’t even received our Shrimp Tempura). She said if we did want to order something else hot it would come out quickly. Um… yeah, we ordered Shrimp Tempura ages ago & it’s still not here so I don’t think so.
The Dragon Roll & the Kamikaze Roll (which we ordered later as we wanted more food) were the only ones that were a manageable size to put in your mouth whole. The Philly roll and especially the Bistro Wasabi Special roll were HUGE (just 5 pieces each but very big around). Even for the guys those rolls were uncomfortably large to try and put it all in your mouth at once. And, if you’ve ever had sushi, it’s generally not a good idea to try and eat a slice of a roll in 2 bites because it’s going to fall apart. The rolls were all just «okay»…nothing spectacular. The hot rolls actually seemed overcooked.
So, it wasn’t terrible, but we wouldn’t bother to go back.

It’s Friday night & I want sushi!
I had this place bookmarked for awhile & finally had a chance to try it. Aside from the location being hard to find on my iPhone, everything was great. Although on the smaller size and the fact that they were busy, we were seated quickly at the sushi bar.
We shared 4 rolls between us, their special, the one with pico de galo, salmon, and a really amazing one I can’t remember. All were great and tasted very fresh.
Only peeve was that they didn’t have a large variety of rolls to choose from & did not have descriptions. But it was a great dinner that ended up costing $ 20 a person.

Second time I’ve been there — equally good as the first. This time, based on other reviews, I decided to try one of their «table-​side martinis». Wow! A traditionalist, my typical order is a Gray Goose Vodka Martini, extra dry. No foo-​foo drinks for me. But, I was intrigued by the «Saki Martini» they had listed on their menu. And, it was amazing. The taste was different from vermouth. It had a slight sour taste to it. Outstanding.
As for the Sushi, spectacular. The only complaint I have is the price. The service is great; the quality of the food wonderful; the ambiance is nice. The décor is Asian modern and very sparse. The bar is all glass and quite beautiful.
Price-​wise, I’ve had sushi as good as this in places much less expensive. 25 miles northwest of Chicago should have some price advantages, but this is even more highly priced than the best in the city. But, as an advocate of local businesses, I will be back. The bar is pretty cool. Maybe next time I’ll just go for the martinis…