Izakaya 88

Execellent service and food! Very good sushi very fresh, very excellent prices, the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu and gave excellent recommendations on items in menu. The Mai Tai was delicious. The décor is nice and the establishment is very clean. I highly recommend this restaurant.

This is my favorite place for Asian cuisine in the area. The service is very quick. The dining area is beautiful. It reminds me of a Las Vegas lounge. It is great you have options for food. You can choose off their menu, Shogun’s menu, or from a long list of sushi and specialty rolls. The prices are quite reasonable. Great ambiance for a date night or night out with friends. If you want the food without the fuss of sitting at the grills inside Shogun, this place is a nice option.

I had great hopes coming here. The ambiance was nice, the lounge looked promising (though completely empty), and the woman behind the host table was really nice and helpful. Even the beer prices are fantastic. That’s unfortunately where everything nice stopped.
I was a little unsure where to sit, rather than help me though, an Asian server was very short with me when I asked if I can go ahead and sit anywhere.
The bartender took some time to help me, which was fine but she was only helpful until I ordered food. I barely saw her and she never came to check in on me. She spent more time talking with her co-​workers than even coming to see how I was doing, and I wasn’t doing well.
My food came quickly but wasn’t very good. The garlic fried rice was REALLY overseasoned, the Korean beef tacos were mediocre (and sadly the best thing I had), and the gyoza came to me cold. And by cold, I mean they sat at the service window for a couple minutes and when I bit into them, they were doughy and filling was undercooked. It also tasted like the pre-​packaged frozen gyoza I can get at an Asian grocery store, which is really disappointing if that is true since gyoza is not difficult to make for a restaurant of that caliber.
Because my server (name redacted) was not getting that I was done eating, it took her literally 5 minutes to finally ask me if I was done, and I had to pull all my empty dishes towards the end of the bar and cross my arms and lean back. The restaurant had maybe TWO tables and there was NO ONE at the bar. The bartender passed me 6 times, each time she could have easily simply asked me how I was doing. She didn’t even bother.
Coming from the service industry myself, it should be obvious how the simple things can really make or break someone’s experience, especially a first impression. This is simply one of the worst experiences I had and it was solely due to the lack of service and care from the bartender and servers. If I really got the impression that they cared about their job and customers first, I would think that this is just a fluke night and I would give it a second chance. But no one in the restaurant greeted me as I left or while I took my time leaving, said a word to me. This tells me there’s a fundamental problem with how the place is run and/​or how they see certain customers, in which case I can’t recommend this place to my colleagues or employees.
I hear a lot of mixed reviews about Shogun and I’d likely give them a chance, but otherwise if I want to go to a more authentic Japanese Izakaya or similar experience, I’d much rather drive to Chicago. I hope this place changes the way they treat all their guests because it could have some great potential.
*addendum*
I want to be clear that I had a personal problem with the experience, not just anyone in particular. From what my colleagues have told me, their experiences were different so obviously YMMV.

My family and I have been regulars at Shogun for a bajillion years. I never went to the club that they opened in this space, but my mom insisted that we eat at Izakaya when I was visiting. I had my misgivings, as I like the comfort of Shogun, but it was a really nice experience. We had an early dinner on Sunday, so the place was very quiet. The décor is nice, comfortable upscale if you will. Our server was very polite and mostly attentive, but he did seem like he’d rather be doing something else.
We ordered the shrimp tacos (spicy), pork tacos, Rockford roll (I can’t go without when visiting town), and the chocolate cheesecake for dessert. The shrimp tacos were quite spicy (we did ask for it), but not too hot to eat. The pork are my favorite of the two, but both types are flavorful and delicious. The Rockford roll is from Shogun, and it’s my favorite sushi roll from any of the places I’ve ever had sushi. I don’t even want to talk about it right now because I’ll start drooling, which would look weird at work. Suffice to say, I wish I could eat them every day. The cheesecake was good, but nothing stellar. It came in a coconut sauce, which didn’t taste like anything to me.
Our drinks were good. I had a Samurai (maybe? I’m not really sure). It was the right amount of boozy and tart. Mom’s drink was a raspberry chocolate martini, which was very good. I’d definitely return on my next visit.

Great menu and atmosphere for date night or conversing with friends. Easy to experiment and try new things from the sushi menu. For about $ 80 (plus tip) my wife/​date and I had a great evening, did not have yell to be heard, tried new things, had a great relaxing time, and ate some (OK, A LOT of) really outstanding food. We ate at the bar and the only down side was one bartender may have been new (not very attentive, helpful, or enthusiastic) and did not seem to know the drinks or food. Maybe she just didn’t like us (?) but her counterpart tried to jump in and help. Only down side. We had great food and will date there again instead of the loud Shogun side. We finally found a place we agree on enthusiastically.

I went to dinner here last night. We had sushi and tapas and a meal from shogun. There were four of us, not one of us left happy. Our waitress was new or very nervous as it wasn’t really busy but she was hard to catch to ask a question or for any help. Ok the food– the reason why we went we were in Rockford I used Unilocal and checked out reviews for a few restaurants that sounded yummy and came across izakaya 88. All reviews looked awesome! So I said this is where we should go, first thing I tried were the meatballs– pretty good, I thought so far so good, then we had pork belly it was ok half was yummy half was hard to chew. Then a sushi roll comes and I thought it was boring, sounded good on the menu but I had 1 piece and I was done. We tried oysters– no thanks they were fried and still didn’t taste good! The oysters came with a mocha cream sauce that was not good and the pairing between the two just didn’t make sense to my palate and no one else at my table either. We ordered more sushi and more tapas to be just even more disappointed, tuna tartar should not be hot! So at this point I’m mad, we’ve tried several plates, I decide to order from the shogun menu, I’ve had shogun hibachi and really enjoyed it before but this time it was not up to par! Different location should not make a difference! Food is my life, I don’t eat out much but when I do I just want to eat some good food, real food. I love sushi and tapas just not izakaya 88 I will never go back, and I am sorry to my friends I brought there last night. I hate to be a food snob but I’m just so confused on why there are so many good reviews for this place?! It is scary to me that so many people enjoyed the food here! You all Need to get out of the city life and get some real food where someone has put their whole heart into it. I’ve come to realize that it is hard to go out to eat and be fulfilled, the last several times I’ve gone out I’ve been disappointed, and it hurts my heart! being a chef myself it is very disheartening to experience food gone wrong. I hope I was at izakaya 88 on a bad night but I don’t think that was the problem. I will say one good thing tho– the prices were pretty dang good — but for tapas that is pretty normal. I’d rather have payed a much higher price and have had better quality.

Martini is cheap. The décor is some of the best in Rockford. The sushi menu is creative. The tapas menu is swanky and inexpensive.

Ok, how to begin this review… I’m a bit of a food and lounge snob. ok, more than a bit. having moved to chicago recently from nyc, i was told by friends both back home and here that the one thing i will miss the most is the food, and they were right. not to say the food in chicago is bad, but it does lack the certain ethnic authenticity i’ve grown up with, the flavors that some places here are hinting at but not quite there.
I had to take a trip out to rockford. i had heard about this town and was expecting the worst, to my surprise it is a great place with some better than average places to eat and drink. shogun was a great dining experience but the mixture at izakaya, the dining and lounge feel, brought me back to the lower east side of nyc. reminiscent of some of my favorite places just on the interior aesthetics alone.
the food popped. that’s the only word i can use to describe it. it’s fusion, which was a great surprise for me. the flavors i had missed were there. when you have a small group of people and no one is talking because they are too busy eating, you can sense the food is good.
the drinks were as to be expected, well made and not watered down, which seems to be a sad trend at other places. i was surprised that they had a good selection of craft beers, usually you only find that in the major cities (at least those are the only places i’ve been able to find them). they have a decent wine selection too, and i got lucky with half priced wine on a tuesday! you have to forgive my excitement at this, they offer half priced wine on tuesday’s and thursday’s. thursday’s where i come from is the major happy hour day, but tuesday is always just tuesday, so it was an added treat (and the way my gf likes to drink wine, it was a relief on my wallet as well).
they have an enclosed karaōke room with glass walls and tables to eat and drink while singing the night away. we didn’t go in, but it looked like people were enjoying it. the décor of the entire place had that city feel to it, dim lights, flat screens all around to catch the games no matter where you sat (let’s be honest, facing your gf while being able to watch the nets/​bulls game while she’s talking to you and her not really knowing is a major win… except for the nets, great game though).
over all, the vibe is great and the waitstaff were friendly. the bartender was great and we just felt comfortable. the entrance is through it’s more traditional sister restaurant, shogun. if you are going to be in rockford for a business trip, or if you already live there and are looking for a great place to be with friends or a date, i’d suggest izakaya. i have to go back there during the week, hope it’s on a tuesday or Thursday for the drink specials, but knowing my luck it’ll be a monday.
btw, i heard there might be outdoor seating in the future, which means this might be the place i visit most each time i get sent out there. something about outdoor seating on a summer night that appeals to me.

I think I had a food-​gasm!!! The flavors are amazing! My date and I had never been to Shogun before, and we didn’t know that we needed reservations. We were told that there would be a 45 min. wait. We asked the hostess if we could be seated at the bar and order off the menu. She proceeded to seat us inside of Izakaya 88, which is off to the right of the Shogun entrance. The ambiance is trendy and urban, but warm and casual. The menu is ala cart, but they do have a selection of entrée items available. I had the Salmon and he had a combo platter. Off of the ala cart menu we ordered egg rolls. With the entrée you get soup AND salad. The salad came with a creamy raspberry dressing and the soup was a clear chicken and vegetable broth. It was so good, I almost didn’t need the entrée. Next up in the flavor assault, was the egg rolls. A plate of 4 came with a tangy sweet sesame sauce. I could have been good with all of that. but oh no! Next up was the Salmon! HOT and tender without being mooshy, served with noodles and sautéed vegetables… I just could not stop eating it!!:) Service was great, food was amazing and the ambiance was fabulous. Definitely a great place to bring friends, grandma and grandpa, girlfriends or for a double date! There is a bar and lounge area just inside the door if you want to go there just for the drinks. They do have a partitioned off area in the back corner for larger parties who may want privacy. After 8 o’clock, it wouldn’t be very respectful to adult patrons to have your children there. There was a crying baby throughout the first half of our meal. Dinner, one drink each, appetizer and a better than average tip… about $ 70. We sat next to the enclosed karaōke room. It is really cool! I’ve never seen anything like it around here! But oh… the flavors! 5 Stars!!!:)

Having eaten here twice, I can state with certainty that Izakaya 88 is the most interesting thing to hit the Rockford restaurant scene in who knows how long. The décor is cool and laid back, and I immediately felt a sense of relaxation. The food is stellar, at least what I’ve sampled so far. The meatballs are so tender and flavorsome, as much as I wanted to try something else, I had to get them on both of my visits. The sauce accompanying them is complex and tangy. The price is reasonable considering you get three golf-​ball sized meatballs. I’ve also sampled the miso cod, the ponzu stick and the Hollywood roll from the sushi menu. Can’t say anything bad about anything I’ve tried. Everything is fresh, thoughtfully prepared and extremely imaginative. We experienced excellent service on both of my visits, and the prices are as reasonable as it gets! Looking forward to sampling more in the future, and perhaps-​just perhaps, may belt one out on Karaōke night sometime.

Izakaya 88 is the new tapas restaurant that opened up inside of Shogun. My first time trying the restaurant was on NYE and I absolutely loved it! They have a full menu of interesting Asian Fusion items that makes me want to come back to try more. We started w/​the Brie salad; we were quite surprised to see that it came w/​2 brie wedges, leaving us extra to bring home for a late night snack. The rest of our food items included Chicken Curry (very good and a lot for tapas although the mozzarella cheese threw me off a little… it could be a meal if you weren’t really hungry!), Honey Pizza (n deliciously-​odd combination of honey, garlic, and powdered sugar), Pork Belly (not healthy, obviously, but incredible with the salad greens and fried croutons), and Soft Shell Crab BLT (fried crab inside a BLT on white toast). The server even brought me a side of kimchi (it wasn’t on the menu but I saw it was a topping on the oyster burger). They should add kimchi to the menu!
The only problem was that the kitchen lost our first order so we had to wait, which wasn’t a huge problem since we were enjoying our $ 4 Sho-​garita and entertaining our 10 month old daughter while enjoying the ambiance. However the server felt bad and comped our drink order. Our entire bill, before tip, was only $ 38!
They also have a karaōke room surrounded in soundproof glass. (I don’t sing but it looked like a nice setup.)
This new restaurant gets 5 stars from me! Delicious food, reasonable prices, kind staff, and cool looking restaurant. They even have happy-​hour from 4:30−4 with $ 4 food items including some sushi rolls, fish tacos, and more. I’ll be heading back there really soon!