The Izakaya at Momotaro

Nice spot for date night or going out with friend! Dark moody ambience - we had no reservations and were able to grab a spot by the bar. Food was absolutely delicious though slightly small portions. Favorite items to recommend would be the lamb chops (best I've had so far) and the banoffee dessert! Literally would have both items everyday if possible.

I love that this place is a speakeasy restaurant, it was all of our first time and it was a cool experience coming here! I would highly recommend trying their Momo Royale burger. It comes with sweet potato fries too so it's well worth the price as the quality of the meat was amazing and even the bun, which was so soft. The fries were also amazing, I really liked the texture of it and would also recommend ordering this as an appetizer if your dish doesn't come with it already. I'm not a big fan of uni but their uni pasta was pretty tasty, although the portion was tiny and I can't imagine getting fill off of only that alone. Our server was phenomenal and made sure we had a good experience which we appreciated. So glad I got to try this place while I was in the city!

Randomly walked in here on a Friday night with friends. Staff were not friendly since one of them promised us table and mentioned to the other staff but the staff didn't follow up and ignored and later after 5mins when I asked him about the table he said it was gone but later gave us a table. Drinks are a bit pricey. We got the sake flight but sakes were really good and smooth. Ambient atmosphere and hippey. Food we got the Chicken wings and sweet potato fries. The chicken felt old as it had a foul smell and fries were okay. I don't think i will come back

The good: the food was great. The dishes were all fresh, as described and did not disappoint. The redeemed: our server hardly smiled and had a clipped tone with us the first 10 minutes. I don't need my server to gush and fawn, however a smile might help. I get they might be having a bad day and they don't have to have smile plastered on their face, however the reality is that it's kind of part of the job. But somehow we must have redeemed ourselves because they warmed up a little bit as our meal went on. Bussing service was awesome. The not so great: the music was way way way too loud. Our table had to scream at each other to have a conversation. Not really enjoyable on that front. We came with kids under 21 and had to wait 15 minutes for our table and there really wasn't much of anywhere decent to wait because we could not go to the bar. Our reservation was at 8:30pm and we understand that restaurants can't always seat people on time. However there were 4 tops available when we arrived. They told us "our table" wasn't available. So we had a special table?? When we checked on the status at about 8:40pm, there were tons of 4 tops open. We had seen lots of others get seated before us....including 3 people. We were confused on the policy.The food was very good however we probably won't return.

I wish I could give a better review, but the service was terrible. Let me start with the good - I got a matcha cocktail which was great, sweet but not too sweet! I also got the burger which everyone was talking about on tik tok, and it was delicious! However, I came with 4 of my friends and we sat at the bar and at the end asked for separate checks (all of us only got one drink and didn't split any food, pretty simple). The bartender took 20 mins to figure out the check, charged my friend for a chicken sandwich she didn't get, and charged me for two different bills. I called the restaurant to get the extra bill refunded, and they said the manager would get back to me but never did. So I wish I could recommend this place but the simple issue of paying the bill really turned me off!

Great atmosphere at the Izakaya with dim lighting and very small tables. We started with the cucumber ala bagel which was a lox salad. I liked the different textures but it was a little hard to eat together. Next came the pirikara gyu which had tender A5 meat and a mix of vegetables all sitting in a glaze. Very tasty and even better with the rice soaked in the glaze. The third dish was the momo royale, the reason I wanted to come. The burger itself had a nice char and sauce but I was very disappointed in the bao bun. I was expecting more of a steamed one that had a softer feel. The sweet potato fries on the side were crisp and nice to dip in the aioli. After the burger came the wings. The glaze was very tasty but the wings weren't crispy and hard to eat since they were full wings. The last thing we had were the red miso lamb chops. These were the best thing we ate and incredibly tender. Truly an amazing job on the cook. Very creative menu that has tons of options. Reasonably priced and easy to get a table at. Highly recommend coming here and sharing a bunch of dishes.

The vibe of this spot is a speakeasy vibe. We entered through momotaro and the host guided us towards the elevator in the back to get there. Overall the service was wonderful, everyone we interacted with was attentive and helpful. The food was crazy delicious. We had the momo jr which was MYO hand rolls which were good but not the best I've had. But the burger was the true star of the show. I cannot think of one better. The banoffee dessert was such a great way to end the meal. Idk why this place has a lower 4 star rating...one of the best restaurants I've tried in Chicago!!

one of my favorite restaurants in west loop is Izakaya at Momotaro and it's on the bottom level of the building. It's a low-key Japanese gastropub, and it was my friends' first time here. We started off with some yellowtail sashimi which was beyond buttery, and my favorite sashimi that they have here. Then, they brought a little gift out for us which was salmon temaki. this was also very flavorful and the creamy avocado yuzu mousse was a nice separation in taste from the salmon but still light. For the mains, we all got the memo royale burger which comes with yuzu mayo, and satsumaimo fries. The fries are sweet and salty, but the burger is a different beast. It was very succulent and reminded me of a big mac. I love the bao bun that the burger patties are sandwiched in between, and overall this is a top tier spot for me.

Who doesn't love a good burger?! Izakaya has consistently made top burger spot lists in Chicago, and I NEEDED to try it out for myself. And the burger did not disappoint Since this is below Momotaro, it definitely has a more casual/ speakeasy vibe which I really liked. The star of the show really is the food, and the burger was one of the best I've had in Chicago so far (everything from the bun to the sauce ratio was perfection).

Met a friend here after work for a drink, but after a colleague hyped up their burger, my friend and I decided to also get some food - the burger did not disappoint. 10/10 would come back specifically for that (even though the drinks and service were also good).