Shinsen Evanston

Y'all.My kids and I briefly lost our minds, bought Metallica tickets and drove up to Chicago "really quick" for 36 hours of sightseeing before the concert.We aimed for Evanston first so I could visit a store I follow online and as it was lunch time we stopped our stroll here at Shinsen. We were definitely dressed for summertime car travel, but the staff was so friendly and seated us right away. It wasn't super busy so I felt less bad about our casual attire.We all ordered something different and it was ALL spectacular - from the presentation to the taste. I was surprised and so happy we had gone a bit overboard with our lunch choice...beyond a basic sandwich or fast food options. The boys were impressed as heck with the beautiful interior and cleared every last bite of their meals. Two thumbs up from this crew!

Our go to neighborhood spot for food. The tantanmen is seriously incredible, but really all the food is incredible.Family friendly. BYOB.

My husband and I felt so welcomed from the moment we walked in. The service is exceptional, they always checked in on us even though it was semi packed inside. We started with the green team which was 10/10! It brought our entire meal together. It also came with almond cookies which was not that sweet. For food we got:Octopus maki - 4/5, it was nothing special. The octopus was super chewyRed curry mussels - 3/5, the red curry was really salty, the star of this dish was the chimichurri bao buns. SO GOODSkirt steak robata - 5/5, my husbands favorite part of the meal. The steak was perfectly cookedPad see eiw - 4/5, absolutely delicious. There was bits that tasted burned but this was the most flavorful dish we got and was my absolute favoriteThere's donburi here that we didn't get on this trip but will definitely come back to try!They also have outside seating as the weather gets warmer!!

This place was super cute! The ambiance was great with such great service, everyone was so helpful and so sweet. The nigiri wasn't fresh, the rice was pretty hard and the fish wasn't the best except for the white fish. The spicy tuna roll and black dragon roll were pretty good though! The shallot fried rice with chicken was the best thing we ordered, it came out on a skillet with an egg yolk and will definitely come back for that. Would definitely return to try the other foods, just would skip out on the sushi next time!

What a delicious mother daughter date night dining in at Shinsen! Shinsen is a fun, vibrant and modern Pan Asian cuisine restaurant. Good for small get togethers and date nights. Highly recommend the Sweet & Sour Calamari ( Lightly battered calamari sauteed with sweet and sour sauce, wasabi aioli, sesame seed, mango salad) as an appetizer! They almost look like tteokbokki at first. Very fresh and delicious. The mango salad complements the calamari very well! The Pad See Eiw is definitely a must try! The grilled pork in the dish is tender and juicy. We also got Spider Maki and Salmon Avocado Maki. Lastly, don't forget to save room for dessert! We ordered Crème Brûlée (Thai Tea Creme Brûlée, with lychee ice cream, Valrhona chocolate crumble)to end our night. Food service is on the slower side so do give yourself extra time when dining in at the restaurant.

My sister was in the hospital nearby and wanted sushi, so I found this restaurant via good yelp reviews. We ordered a skirt steak bento box, black widow maki, shrimp and tuna maki. I ordered on the phone via pickup and it was ready within 25 minutes. The exterior is unassuming with cute patio seating. The interior is cozy and dimly lit. I ensured I was given silverware and asked several times about soy sauce (as my sister requested this specifically). When I arrived at the hospital and unpacked the food, there was no soy sauce despite the employee assuring me there was. I was quite upset, and called the restaurant back. The manager of the restaurant DROVE TO THE HOSPITAL to deliver me the soy sauce that had not been placed in our carry out bag. This impressed me so much and displayed so much compassion. I couldn't thank her enough and my sister was so grateful. The food overall was tasty. I enjoyed the bento box and felt it was a great portion size. The black widow maki was a hit. Overall, I would recommend this place again due to them correcting their errors with the carry out order in such an above and beyond way!

I love this place!! My favorite is the creamy tum yum ramen! All of their food is super flavorful and you have to try the Thai iced tea!

So one of our dining companions was holding up their phone and saying "Bad Service," and we laughed, because we thought the waiter would think we were complaining about them, and not the phone connection. It wasn't so funny when some of our dishes came out right away and the remainder arrived about 15 minutes later. The waiter apologized, saying that there was only one sushi chef on duty.We couldn't complain about the food, as most of us enjoyed our dishes: the Pad See Eiw (demolished), the Shallot Fried Rice (sizzling and fragrant), the Shrimp Avocado Maki and the Shrimp Tempura Maki (chef's kiss), the Chirashi (fresh and delish). I ordered the Shoyu Ramen but found it a little bland, and I didn't like the texture of the chicken. I should have ordered the Tantanmen Ramen (spicy chicken broth, sesame paste, ground pork, gai lan, bean sprout, scallion) but when they told me it was 2 stars out of 3 on a spice spectrum, I got a little scared. The Crispy Spicy Salmon Maki was delicious (not spicy though) but very attractively presented. The ambience is pleasant and the tables are well spaced. Service, although short-staffed, was friendly and pleasant. (We had so many questions and took a while to order, so they were very good natured.)They brought out a cream puff with a candle on a decorated plate for the birthday guest, although only 1 out of 4 who tried it liked it, but the thought was appreciated.Minor quibbles aside, I definitely would come back for the sushi and some of the rice dishes.

Wow this was one of the best dinners that I've had in the Chicagoland area in a long time!We ordered the following dishes:Pad See Eiw: 5/5. Flavor was delicious, the roasted pork on top was very well done. The noodles are medium thickness noodles and not as wide as the traditional pad see eiw noodles are, but I did not mind this as it was still delicious.Shallot Fried Rice with Shrimp: 5/5, delicious, not too garlicky, the shrimp was a perfect protein choice to complement the rice.Crispy Spicy Salmon Maki: 4/5. This had a good flavor, and you would enjoy this if you like crunchy sushi rolls. This was deep fried on the outside so it was very crispy. I couldn't taste too much of the salmon as the predominant flavor was the crunchy outer layer.Skirt Steak Skewer: 5/5. This was super tender and perfectly cooked. Multiple people at my table voted this as their favorite item on the table.Chicken Thigh Skewer: 5/5. Also perfectly cooked and a crowd favorite at the table. The skewers were surprisingly a stand out item from the dinner.Black Dragon Maki: 4/5. The presentation was amazing and the taste was good. The predominant flavor of roll however was the shrimp tempura as the cut of eel on the top of the roll was pretty thin.Red Curry Mussels: 5/5. Very nicely done and served with 5 small fluffy green scallion buns. There's a lot of delicious curry left at the end so we paid for two extra bowls of white rice to scoop up the curry.Overall the food was amazing and I would definitely come back in the future. Honestly the quality of the food was so good that it felt like we were eating from a tasting menu at a Michelin star restaurant. If I could give any suggestions for improvement, I would say that the service was a little on the slow side and customers had to wave down the waiters at times for drinks, orders, the check, etc. So I would say, don't come here if you're in a rush but definitely set aside 1.5-2 hours to enjoy a nice, leisurely, and very delicious meal here.

We had just dropped off our kid at Northwestern for the NHSI Cherubs Theatre program and were looking for a light bite before heading to the airport. Seeing the very positive Yelp reviews, we decided on Shinsen, and were not disappointed.We arrived a little past 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon, and there were just a few diners and we were seated right away. The waitress brought us menus and a flask of water and returned shortly thereafter to take our order. We didn't order much - just enough to get us through the afternoon - so this review is based on a limited sampling.Negihama maki - this is pretty much the metric that I use to judge a sushi restaurant, because I order this everywhere I go. In some cases the makes are small with measly amounts of yellowtail, but that wasn't the case here. There was a generous amount of fish in the roll, and there wasn't any of that tougher and sometimes fishier red edge that is sometimes found on yellowtail.Salmon avocado roll - this also came with a nice chunk of salmon, but the highlight was actually the avocado, which was soft in texture and buttery in flavor. Nicely done.Skirt steak robata - two skewers of tender beef cooked to some between medium and medium-rare. Light sear on the meat, excellent flavor especially with the provided dipping sauce.The restaurant had an overall pleasant atmosphere. The large windows allowed for plenty of natural light on the sunny afternoon that we visited. The ambiance is overall very nice and the decor is modern and tasteful. Service was attentive and friendly. Prices are a little higher than what I usually see back home in California, but not usurious either.