The Omakase Room at Sushi-san

Chicago is a city that does omakase very well but this place in particular is phenomenal. The omakase experience begins by being escorted to the upstairs portion of Sushi San where you are able to enjoy a pre dinner drink if desired. The ambiance is cozy, modern, dimly lit. The actual seating area for dinner is a 10 seat counter that provides for a very intimate and fun experience. The best part was watching chef Kaze Chan's mastery with the ingredients, many of which are imported from Japan. He is truly an artist. Other staff members were very attentive as well. The 18 course experience truly provides a variety of different tastes, textures, flavors. From start to finish it was a beautiful symphony.Definitely consider the sake pairing as well- they have a great selection offered. Definitely worth the price for the experience provided!

First omakase experience in the US and have to say I was impressed! The staff was incredibly attentive, and the chefs were phenomenal - shared a ton of detail about each course and created a memorable experience from start to finish. The cocktails and sake were another bonus. All around solid experience and would recommend.

This is one of those experiences that you should definitely do before you die. If you like sushi.If you don't like Sushi, it's probably not for you. 16. Individual courses hand prepared by a Japanese master chef and his assistant. Each ingredient, specific, deliberate, and with a thorough explanation. Presentation ambience are immaculate. It is very pricey, but absolutely one of those things you should do.I never knew something like this existed until my wife took me and I can't wait for our next time !!

// SummaryAmongst the best sushi omakases in Chicago, with a personable sushi chef that makes it more than just a meal, but an experience.// ExperienceI originally came in with a pairing with the omakase, but changed it to a non-alcohol pairing since I went a bit hard the night before. Glad they were able to accommodate without any issues, as some places may not be so willing. Each dish was wonderful in presentation and flavor, and the progression was on point. Now did it merit a full $250/person price range? I don't necessarily think so - but it didn't necessarily detract from my enjoyment of the mastery of the chef to give us a fabulous experience. // ServiceService was impeccable and the sushi chef had an enjoyable sense of humor that is not necessarily common amongst his peers. His story-telling about particular fish and also recalling some of the stories with his "regular" patrons made it an entertaining evening.// AmbianceThe Omakase Room is upstairs from the main restaurant. They have a waiting room / lounging area where they seat people to wait for the full seating of folks to arrive. In the waiting room, they get you started with a nice and refreshing drink and a hand towel to clean your hands. Overall, the decor is simple and homey for you to enjoy your meal.// ConvenienceBooked online through Tock with relative ease. It was super easy to get to, and was a nice walk from where I was staying in Fulton Market.

This was my first omakase, and I was very delighted by the overall experience. Your reservation starts as soon as you walk through the doors of the Omakase Room, which is upstairs of Sushi-San. While loud downstairs, the upstairs is a lot quieter, giving it a cozy and intimate feeling. Inside the Omakase Room, you are welcomed into the lounge initially, where a server provides warm towels for your hands, and a drink menu to peruse. As a side note, the drinks on the menu are not complementary or part of the package price. Unless you are celebrating a special occasion as indicated by your reservation notes, you may be offered complimentary champagne, which my partner and I gladly accepted as we waited for the rest of the evening to unfold. As the remaining guests trickled in, we sipped on our drinks, and were eventually seated in the 10 seat sushi bar, which surrounded the master and partner sushi chef. The small number of seats/patrons, along with one server being assigned to each party, made my partner and I felt very taken care of throughout the entirety of the evening. Our server in particular seemed very knowledgeable about the drink offerings. My partner ordered a few cocktails to pair with the sushi, and I myself opted for the spirit-free cocktails. I appreciated how the cocktails were also omakase style (bartender's choice). So while I didn't know exactly what would be coming next, I was made aware that whatever drink it was, it would be curated to intentionally pair well with each "course" (2-3 sushis at a time). In terms of the 18 course omakase, I really enjoyed every single dish. However, I personally felt like my experience was very raw sushi forward. I do love raw fish, but it was one after the other, which personally made me feel a little sick after awhile. I personally wish the raw dishes were broken up a little, but maybe that is just how omakases go. Though, I will say, they do provide a dish of ginger for you to cleanse your palate after each dish which is nice and refreshing. My only complaint is the price point. After dining here, and evaluating other omakase options in the city, it seems that there are comparable spots with similar offerings and same number of courses, but at a portion of the price. I guess I'd have to try those other spots before making any further comments, but from first glance it seems to be a bit overpriced. Overall, I highly recommend if you're looking for an elevated omakase experience, and are not too concerned about the cost.

Amazing omakase experience! I've been a long-time fan of Sushi-San and in particular their lunch specials so I was excited to try the omakase. We arrived around 30 min earlier to our reservation and grabbed a drink in the main dining room. The servers were nice enough to expedite our orders and brought our drinks upstairs to the omakase room when our reservation came along. Note it is a separate tab so we did have to pay for our drinks before heading upstairs. On the second floor, we waited in the lounge and were treated to a sweet green tea drink to sip while we waited. Once we could head into the omakase room, we were greeted by the chefs and I was immediately impressed by the ambiance. It is more contemporary than traditional omakase rooms with hip hop music, blush velvet chairs and gallery style lighting where above each sushi plate there is a spotlight. This made taking pictures easy as there was the perfect ledge to display and capture each piece of sushi.Every single course was divine! We started with a complementary glass of sake, toasting with the chefs which set the stage for a great dinner. My favorites included the Otoro Tartare with Caviar, Hokkaido and Santa Barbara Uni Gunkan, Otoro w/Caviar and Snow Beef Japanese A5 Wagyu.I loved that there were some interesting twists on classic nigiri including Yellowtail Belly w/Banana Pepper, Maitake wrapped with Salmon, and Uni Ice Cream. While we didn't have a menu during the dinner, we were presented with the menu as we were heading out after we finished and it was a wonderful surprise to see the chefs' signatures on the menus as well. The service and food were spectacular and would definitely come back for future celebrations!

An intimate dining experience from the moment you walk in the door. Prep, presentation and food all contribute to a memorable evening. For those who like to take food pics, this place has amazing lighting and each diner gets their own lazy Susan so you can rotate your food around to get the best angle for your photo.

WOW. I have been to my fair share of omakase's but this makes the top of my life. You walk into a hustling loud casual vibe of sushi San to be taken upstairs to a classy sophisticated waiting area where you can start with a cocktail only for the curtains to be drawn opening up to a beautiful counter for 10 people. The sushi chef was very interactive and made it a fun dinner, the group we were sitting with was also a blast so the whole dinner was fun. 18 courses of the most delicious sushi and other Japanese specialties including mostly fish flown in from Japan. The cocktails were to die for I ended up loving the Japanese old fashion. Overall was an amazing omakase experience and I would forsure go back. Our waiter told us the chef changes up the menu almost every 4-6 weeks so it's worth going back for a different food experience.

An amazing sushi experience right in River North. The room is an unexpected high class beautiful oasis hidden behind the secret door (not that secret but it sounds good right?) on the second floor of sushi-san. Starting from the drinks at the lounge, it's such a welcoming experience and the servers there are amazing. Then leading up to the 10 person sushi bar, you feel pampered like no other as it seems like the waiters and waitresses outnumbered the patrons. Sushi wise, it wasn't the most amazing experience I've ever had but it was very very good. I can't even describe what came out so I'll let the pictures do my talking for me. For the special occasion of my beautiful partners bday, it was totally worth it but for a pure food experience my guess is I could find just as high quality for a more reasonable price. Not sure I'd go back but loved my only trip there!

Truly one of the best dining experiences. Everyone is incredibly attentive and knowledgeable. Some of the best sake and sushi I've ever had. Definitely recommend and very worth it.