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Bob San Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Sushi Bars Restaurants Japanese Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
1805-09 W Division StChicago, IL 60622
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
(773) 235-8888
- Nearest Transit:
-
Division (Blue Line)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 4 pm - 11 pm
Fri-Sat 4 pm - 12 am
Sun 3 pm - 10 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Valet
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
288 reviews for Bob San Restaurant
Review Highlights
"In fact, the veggie House Crunch is also amazing."
(in 56 reviews)
"The flounder, & super white tuna were the best."
(in 14 reviews)
"The pan fried scallops are the greatest thing in the free..."
(in 7 reviews)
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288 reviews in English
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Review from Pete V.
2/4/2012 1 Check-in Here
The good: Fresh fish, awesome service, clean and modern ambiance, and terrific hamachi collar, great Sunday night happy hour.
The bad: Sushi rice was questionable, tempura was simply okay, and prices were on the high side.
We had dinner at Bob San on a Sunday night and indulged in their special...half off hot sake and Kirin beer. We ordered a bunch of rolls, tempura and of course the hamachi collar, which is not on the menu, but came highly recommended by some friends of our. Fortunately, they had one and it was every bit as good as our friends had described it. We also ordered a ton of rolls and a few pieces of nigiri. I came away thinking the sushi rice was a tad undercooked and a little too sweet. Usually, I mention these things to our server, but we were so carried away by our conversation that I forgot to mention it. However this brings up a good point about Bob San...the staff was so nice an courteous that even after they were closed and we were still talking and having a grand old time, they let us stay as long as we wanted and never said a word. I definitely upped their rating a star for that. In fact, on our way out one of the sushi chefs came over and thanked us for visiting and chatted with us a bit about Hawaii and Pidgin English. I can't believe how nice the people are here!
If you looking for a chill, stylish place to grab some sushi and drink sake, then Bob San is the place to go. Great location and friendly staff with good drink specials...a no-brainer for a Friday night. -
Review from Kirk P.
Chicago, IL
10/26/2011
Two Words: "House Crunch". Tastes like a little ball of heaven.
The service is always great even half hour before closing. The food is always delicious.
This is my go-to sushi spot. Love it. -
Review from Tiffany k.
Chicago, IL
9/25/2011
Miso, vegetable tempura, hamachi roll, fresh philly roll, and the white tuna with avocado roll = $30
Everything was fresh - super fresh. I've never had fish this fresh! What the HELL? We are not close to an ocean, so there better be a darn good explanation for this one. FRESH FISH! What more could you ask for in sushi?
The tempura was delicious, and the pieces were HUGE. My only complaint is that the veggies were more breaded and deep fried than just dunked in tempura batter - I am used to a really light batter, but this was kind of crunchier and heavier. Whatever. It was delicious (they tricked me into eating eggplant, which I hate, so good job!).
Everyone needs to come here. Staff is friendly, and atmosphere is cozy and pretty romantic.Listed in: date spaces
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Review from Aaron and Tal C.
Chicago, IL
1/2/2012
This is one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had in Chicago. We came in on a week-night, and the restaurant was completely empty. Still, the waitress came by every 30 seconds and seemed so annoyed, as if every minute we spent looking at the menu was costing the restaurant hundreds of dollars. The food was pretty good, but at the end of the meal, we were overcharged on 3 items that we ordered, and after pointing it out to the waitress, she said that wasn't possible and then made us show her on the menu. We then had to wait 20 minutes for them to fix it, and the manager came by with an "apology" which was nothing more than an excuse. Good sushi, but next time, I'll go somewhere that actually cares about my business.
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Review from Lucy B.
Chicago, IL
9/24/2011
1. Super friendly servers, greeted by literally every one that works there when we walked in the door!
2. Food delivered fast and presented nicely
3. Taste was great, nothing spectacular but we got was we ordered and it tasted good.
4. One negative that takes from another reviewer...the crab in the spider roll was fried lightly, however it was REALLY greasy and left that sort of wet grease taste in my mouth. Not the best, but otherwise perfect dinner, no complaints. -
Review from Brittany K.
Chicago, IL
9/17/2011
My roommate and I were hungry and after waiting a while at another restaurant for a table gave up and came here.
The service was kind of slow, and while they have a BYOB policy, it a 12 dollar cork free. I think that is rather large for Wicker Park.
Had edamade, dumplings, and some sushi rolls. Not the best I've had, not the worst but I wasn't jumping for joy at the end of the meal. Maybe good if you're dying for sushi.
The one thing that really put me off was the fact that I could see our server sitting down at the sushi bar its self eating. If you're going to be unobservant to your table, at least go in the back where I can't see you. -
Review from matt w.
Chicago, IL
9/8/2011
Bob Sans has always shown me the utmost friendliness and great service every time I have gone in. The host greets you, the sushi bar guys greet you, the servers that are standing around greet you! I love a place that isn't to pretentious to greet a customer but its becoming hard to find in this neighborhood.
The food is always fresh and good, and reasonably priced. The hot Sake is better then most I have had and they have 22 OZ Kirin's for seven bux, so like that too!
Bob Sans, since my little spot ( Aki ) closed, you have done well in replacing the void in my sushi heart, thanks!! -
Review from ellen s.
Chicago, IL
6/22/2011
Bob San is the best. Anyone who says different does't know better. There is no need to ever go to any other sushi place in the neighborhood. Places keep opening up and closing but Bob San stays.
It is consistant and delicious, and if the man is behind the bar, he is humble.
Make sure to try a spicey oyster shooter. The roe and the sauce, it gets me every time. You're missing out if you don't try it just once.
I've been to Arami and these other places, but keep coming back to Mr. Bob for the best atmosphere, best service, best fish, best portions; hands down, the best sushi. -
Review from Sue Janna T.
Chicago, IL
8/1/2011 1 Check-in Here
I'm sitting in Bob San right now and I'm waiting for a waitress to acknowledge us....... waiting........ waiting..... still waiting...... still waiting....... still waiting......
JUST KIDDING. I'm not really sitting there right now. But I did think about writing this review on the spot since I had nothing better to do. Right when I was getting up to flag someone down, a waitress finally came to take our order.
Appetizers:
We ordered "lightly battered" tempura veggies which turned out to be 99.999999% batter and oil. Pretty sick, if you ask me. My boyfriend commented that the beef wrapped asparagus tasted like the beef was steamed and a store-bought sauce was dumped over it. He said it would've been better if there was some flavor infused in the meat. I thought it was all right.
Sushi:
We ordered two rolls, the Alaskan roll and the Holy Mackerel. They got the order wrong and gave us the Alaskan roll and a Kappa roll. We pointed this out to them and they quickly made us the Holy Mackerel and let us keep the Kappa. Sweet. Except, the Holy Mackerel turned out to be kind of gross. I know that mackerel has a strong taste, but this one was down right fishy, if you know what i'm sayin'. The other two were all right.
Drinks:
Got two Kirin beers. Pretty good. Got the Lychee Martini. Very weak. Very small. And $10. Yeesh.
Thanks for the free Kappa Roll, Bob San, but I won't be coming back. -
Review from Katie R.
7/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
Bob San has outdoor seating and you can get dinner for pretty cheap, if you're not into the fancy rolls. Although, I've noticed the waitstaff does look at us weird if we order "boring" things like water and one-ingredient sushi rolls.
I've been here with bigger groups as well, and it's always a good time. -
Review from A G.
Chicago, IL
8/20/2011
Pros: nice ambiance, outside seating is nice, plenty of servers who were polite, crazy fast service, price was reasonable.
Cons: the sushi was average, not bad, just lacking in flavor. -
Review from Elizabeth b.
Chicago, IL
6/9/2011
Here's a breakdown of why Bob San rocks:
1. It's open late when not many sushi places in the area are
2. The owner's always hanging around the sushi bar area chatting with people and all the chefs are really nice and friendly.
3. A cool decor (think artsy fartsy lights that remind you of octopus)
4. GREAT food! Try any of the dragon rolls- esp. the House Crunch!
Also it's pretty moderate pricing for sushi. Totally worth it! -
Review from Meghan B.
6/2/2011
I love Bob San. I've been on a sushi binge the last few weeks and ordered takeout probably more times than my budget allows.
Service for dining in and taking food out is always super fast and friendly, there's a nice variety of rolls and the price is reasonable. Definitely glad to have it in my hood! It's also less pretentious than some of the surrounding sushi joints. -
Review from Ha-ti N.
Chicago, IL
6/16/2011
Bob San was disappointing to me. Coming in, I should've known what I was going to experience. Loved the decor/atmosphere, it was lively and fun. HOWEVER, the food - most importantly was less than decent.
Key word: Americanized. Not enough variety. I have never experienced more poorly rolled sushi - every time I picked one up, it would immediately fall apart. I don't mind a bigger sized roll usually but this really irked me especially when it started crumbling apart. The rolls didn't even taste that great and they definitely used way too much rice. For this price? A total rip off.
The fish didn't taste fresh either - the sashimi yellow tail and salmon were very very average. Actually - probably below average. The cuts were smaller as well. The worst thing for a sushi/sashimi eater is un-fresh fish. It was no good. I was not a happy camper.
Don't go here. It's not worth it. I don't understand the hype either.
The hostesses were very nice though. -
Review from Morgan M.
5/1/2011
Bob San was the host for a dinner night out that called for sushi and specialty cocktails. Que a grumbling stomache noise prompt.
With reservations already in order, I stumbled in only to find our group tardy for the party... Yikes...and strike one for the restaurant.
While the table was being held, we set ourselves primly at the bar that was fairly empty and ordered up some drinks, since it was going to be a while and all.
Here is my question to the lot of you. How can one serve a Lychee martini without an actual lychee as the garnish?
An orange adds flavor, as does a lemon. This left me a little disappointed, but the drink itself was stellar so I'm grading this biddy on a curve.
Thirty minutes later, the group made their way and we were seated at the table. Pret a porter, or shall we say ready to order.
Edamame, easy. A couple of spicy rolls and a couple of simple rolls with crab and avocado. The rolls were enjoyable from the bites that I was able to get. Our group ended up ordering an extremely minimal amount of food and for that I feel absolutely rotten for the restaurant.
For holding the reservation, and a large table. I would have been pissed off. The servers, despite the little order, were pleasant.
Sadly, more drinks were ordered than food. I would like to go back to Bob San to try the food and actually take it in from a foody perspective. I enjoyed the couple of bites that I managed and could see the potential.
Overall, this will make it into the go to list as a retry. Many apologies to the restaurant folk who managed great customer service knowing that the reservation was not going to be quite as much as they originally expected.
PS....please put lychees in your martinis!! Thanks -
Review from Kyle B.
1/30/2011 2 Check-ins Here
It's very rare that I go into a place and everything goes right. I mean, usually when I head into a place on a whim (on a weekend night no less) I expect at least a wait. Me and a buddy of mine popped in here last Friday and were greeted by friendly servers and fast service. We were seated within five minutes. Bonus.
We sat up at the bar (this is the way to go, trust me) and were immediately handed refreshingly warm hand towels followed by a rather extensive menu. As we perused the many options, we began a conversation with the sushi chef who was extremely friendly and very helpful. I'm pretty sure we're best friends now. Seriously, we're thinking about getting friendship bracelets.
Within another ten minutes, I had a fresh beer in front of me and had already placed my sushi order. We barely even had time to start up another conversation before our sushi arrived. They were all like "BAM! Sushi!"
While eating, we noticed a rough caricature of a one "Bob San" behind the counter which happened to also be behind a guy that looked uncannily like the "Bob San" caricature. After awkwardly staring at the guy for a good five minutes, he finally asked us what we were looking at and we explained that we were trying to determine whether or not he was the guy in the cartoon. He laughed and said it was indeed him, then began a rather interesting conversation with us about the history of the restaurant. We are also best friends now, and I decided that he could also have a friendship bracelet.
All in all, this place is a great place to grab some quick sushi in a great atmosphere. It's not quite as trendy as a place like Coast, but it has some very solid options for sushi, sashimi and many other Japanese favorites. Some of their signature rolls were a little pricey, but overall the prices were pretty standard for sushi in the city. I would most definitely go back to Bob San. Especially since my new best friends work there. -
Review from Chantal L.
Chicago, IL
1/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
Let me begin by saying this rating is regarding the CLUB scene on a Saturday night, NOT the restaurant. Apparently this place doubles as both...the rating is for the club dub ;).
We arrived around 11pm to find no wait, yet a cover? The bouncer knew my date but no offer to hook us up, however he did ever so graciously share this event was "promoted" and will surely get busy. Hmmm, let me begin by saying I am VERY selective about paying a cover however given it was my date's choice and he was footin' the bill, I agreed.
The ambiance was sleek, modern and the music was good....interestingly enough, well drinks were the same price as the cheap stuff and the drinks were OK.
After sizing up all 10 people in the front room, curiosity led us to the back room, where the other 8 or so occupants resided. This includes the DJ, wait staff, and 2 young ladies with clip boards dedicated to gathering contact info of every person there, sometimes inquiring a second time....jeez, you just asked me 5 mins ago, it's not like I'm lost in the crowd! LOL
Ironically enough, around 12:30 am, the same bouncer came by with his hat / coat...apparently they sent him home for the evening due to low turn out... needless to say, we were right behind him out the door.
Promo shomo...always go with your gut...we should have turned away at the mention of "cover" for this place! -
Review from PJ H.
8/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great food at reasonable prices compared to other sushi places on the Division Street strip. They have a BEAUTIFUL outdoor seating area so perfect for a nice summers night. I'll definitely be back....
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Review from Kaitlin M.
Chicago, IL
1/28/2011
This place was great. The service, food and atmosphere was good.
I prefer authentic sushi and they had a majority of these sort of rolls. The fish was very fresh and the prices were just right. -
Review from Natalie H.
Chicago, IL
9/10/2011
My husband and I started coming to Bob San eight years ago when we lived a few blocks away, and though we have moved up to Andersonville, we carry out from Bob San often. The salmon sushi is the best we've tasted anywhere and the shitake salad is delicious. Everything is consistently fresh and we love the friendliness and warmth of everyone who works there. We will be giving in to our Bob-San cravings for many years to come.
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Review from Gina H.
Chicago, IL
2/6/2011
Bob San is a local neighborhood sushi spot for me that I hit up every few months. One of the things I love about it is that you can always get a reservation even on a Saturday night, so if you're panicking last minute to find a place to eat before you go out with the girls/guys or your significant other, this is a great spot! It's also reasonably priced - went there for dinner last night with one of my friends, had some wine/sushi rolls etc and only paid about $30, not bad.
Some of my favorites - Sashimi: the Super White Tuna is literally the best piece of sashimi I've ever had! It tasted like a piece of heaven mixed with butter.. D-lightful! Only way it can be better would be if a piece of bacon were wrapped around it, and er, guess that sort of defeats the purpose of a sushi place - but hell, I'm a Chicago gal, we love bacon.
My favorite rolls: The Unagi eel/cucumber roll, which is always my favorite at any sushi spot, is good, the Chili Spicy Scallop hand roll was ridiculous (very spicy) and fantastic.
The service in my experience has always been great so I'll give this place a solid 4 for the food, ease of reservation, ambiance, and service. -
Review from Juliette B.
Chicago, IL
7/19/2011
best. sushi. ever. i stopped trying new places years ago b/c everything is SO good here. the only other place i'll go is naniwa for lunch..it's the same owner. prices are reasonable and the rolls are simple and delicious. the place itself is nice, it's quiet enough for conversation but loud enough to be lively. service is always great too- whether you have a large group or a table of two.
the pan seared scallops are amazing. they are by far the best scallops on the planet. -
Review from Chelsea F.
Chicago, IL
2/23/2011
It's been awhile since I've been here but I remember it being somewhat decent. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites but I wouldn't object to going there again.
I enjoyed the super white tuna piece, red snapper piece which tasted pretty fresh.
My only complaint was that the place smelled like bleach. Not exactly what you want to smell when eating sushi. -
Review from Debbie P.
Chicago, IL
1/29/2011
Hubs and I walked here in 15 degree weather the other night because we had yet to try the place and we live just a few blocks away. I wish we hadn't waited so long to stop by!
We sat at the sushi bar and had a fun and friendly chat with the guy behind the counter. Among others, I'll say the House Crunch and Creamy Scallop Nigiri are delicious, as is the Miso (it's really, really good miso. Not sure what they do to it).
The light fixtures are meant to look like sea creature parts, which is odd but I get it. One of them, however, curiously resembles dripping saliva, a uvula, or something else I don't want to discuss here. Other than that, I liked the ambiance of the place and will definitely go back, if only for the convenience. -
Review from LR D.
Chicago, IL
8/22/2011
Every time I go its great, nice ambiance, Best Sushi so far that I have tasted in Chicago, attentive staff, but not too overbearing.
:) -
Review from Nicki W.
Chicago, IL
5/27/2010
NO NO NO! I'm so turned away by this place based solely on the horrific service. 5 of my friends and I came in last Sunday night around 9pm. It was a lovely night and the patio was close to dead. We were in the mood for some light food and nice cocktails. Service is such a large part of dining out and they need to get their act together over here because there are plenty of other sushi spots I would rather dine at.
I was the first to arrive, so I took a seat and relaxed. It wasn't until 10 minutes of relaxing went by that I started to get anxious. I had yet to be approached by anyone. I had been seated by the hostess and servers were all around me, but nobody bothered to make eye contact, say hello or ask me if I would like a cocktail. This is huge. Another 5 minutes go by and finally someone comes over and I order my cocktail. 10 minutes later, I finally get this cocktail.
The turtle behavior didn't stop there. Once all my friends arrived, the same thing happened. I think everyone was sitting there for a good 20 minutes before our cocktails even got delivered. The sushi was boring and nothing special (by the time it actually came out). We kept wanting to order more, but nobody was around so we got frustrated and asked for the bill. This took another 15 minutes. The bill was around $250, but I'm sure it would have doubled if she had checked back with us more often. That's their loss. I'm over it! -
Review from Greg N.
Chicago, IL
2/1/2011
Probably the best thing about Bob San is you never need a res even on a Saturday night. So guys if you drop the ball and need a go to place to take your date without a res, this is it!
The standouts are the Dragon and house crunch rolls.
You will also notice how there is always an army of waiters and waitresses. In fact they always seem to have way too many server staff, but I guess thats not too bad of a flaw.
I find pricing at Bob San to be reasonable for the quality. -
Review from Matt P.
Chicago, IL
1/27/2011
Bob San is the sushi place that I love to go on a date with my wife. It was the first place that I got her to try sushi.
Anyway, it is reasonably price and has a good variety of rolls. But most important for a sushi place is that it has always tasted fresh. -
Review from Nycole H.
Chicago, IL
11/22/2010
I haven't had GREAT sushi in so long, and that is a huge bummer for me. So I was all revved up to try somewhere new with big hopes. My friend and I ordered about 5 different roles and I can't say that any of them stuck out at all. I left feeling like I ate just one roll, there was no significant difference and we ordered unique different things.
The service was great, they were very nice there. It was late during the middle of the week so I understood it being empty. It's a very nice atmosphere but thats not enough to bring me back.
Unfortunately I'm back on the hunt for a new sushi place that I'll love. -
Review from Kelly M.
Chicago, IL
3/31/2011
I'll admit to only giving this place one shot, but my reaction seems to echo many others. "Meh" is right. There are too many other places I'd rather go for sushi. Nothing was downright bad, but it wasn't good either. I will say they were incredibly friendly and I like the space, but unfortunately, the food was just not up to par. Sorry Bob San!
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Review from Majel k.
Santa Barbara, CA
9/20/2008
I just had another great dinner at Bob San.
The fish has always tasted great when I've gone here, maybe it's a coincidence?
We got a bottle of wine, so drink service wasn't an issue, but I don't remember ever being stressed out about the service here.
Everything we had was great; we even got "adventurous" and tried the Holy Mackerel roll (neither of us had ever had mackerel that we knew of...) That one was fine, but the escolar overshadowed it, as usual.
We were full of delicious sushi and wine for just over $75. I've had and will have even better sushi at other places, but so far there's been nothing wrong with Bob San for me. -
Review from Andrea R.
Updated - 10/1/2009
Bob San used to be one of my favorites, but it's dropped off my radar in recent years as I've discovered sushi delciousness elsewhere- Marai, Kaze and Butterfly (to name a few).
I came here with a large group of girls to celebrate a bday last Friday night. It was near empty, which made me think it's fallen off the radar for others as well. I opted to share sushi with my good friend and bride-to-be Mindy S. Mindy was determined to eat healthy thanks to her wedding dress diet and I was all for that as well...I had heard rumors of bday cake to be served later in the evening.
First we started off with a few orders of the pan fried scallops for the entire table. These used to be my favorite and after one taste I remembered why. I dare you to eat just one because they are SO good! 3 scallops later (told you i couldn't eat just 1) it was sushi time! Mindy and I split a rainbow roll, hamachi, and eel roll. All 3 rolls were fresh tasting and yummy, but not as delicious as the sushi I've had at my favorite spots listed above. Of course that didn't stop us from eating it all...
For dessert the waitress was sweet enough to bring out a mochi ball with a candle for my friend's bday. This was the perfect pre-dessert before the 2 cakes we'd devour at the bar later in the night.
It's always nice to go back to an old favorite and while those scallops are still delicious, I'll probably stick with my new favorites in the future.Listed in: My favorite restaurants in…, Best Date Spots in Chicago, Sushi in Chicago
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/18/2006
If you're looking for good sushi, but don't want to spend as much as Marai go across the street to… Read more »
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Review from Kelly S.
Chicago, IL
1/18/2009
We had an 8:30PM reservation at Bob San last night. Five of us wanted to eat here for a before gig/business dinner. We had to be somewhere by 11:30PM at the latest and thought we'd have plenty of time. Wrong.
One of us was 10 mins late so they gave our table away. Fine. It was his own fault. We finally sat down at 9:20PM. We figured we'd still be on time for the show. Our waitress took our drink order and 25 MINUTES later our Sake arrived. She then took our food order. It was about an hour before our first plates arrived. When it did, it was only 2 of the numerous items we had ordered. Items came to us VERY SLOWY over the next 45 minutes.
The house crunch roll that a friend recommended was good. Everything else was just mediocre/ not good at all.
After we ate and were full, they sent over a complimentary COLD shrimp tempura on the house to show remorse for the incredibly slow service. At this point we just wanted to get the heck outta there.
I don't care if it was a busy Saturday night. Sushi should not be a 3 HOUR ordeal. By the time they finally got us out of there, the whole restaurant was basically empty.
We left the restaurant at 11:30 and arrived late for the show. The whole meal was a disaster.
We won't be back. -
Review from Melissa M.
Chicago, IL
5/30/2009
I am a sushi fanatic -- I love it and would eat it every day if I could -- so, I was excited to try Bob San.
Let's just say my experience left much to be desired. Unless they called and gave me a free meal, I probably would not be back. I'm disappointed -- cause I love sushi and expected this place to be great. -
Review from JC D.
10/28/2007
I don't want to say mediocre, but just o.k.
The place has a mod decor. Come dressy or casual.
I'm a vegetarian, so I was happy to see a vegetarian section.
The tempura was yummy, and I loved the sweet potato.
My cousin loves toro, but they don't serve it here. WTF?
I've never been to a place that has it on the menu, but doesn't serve it.
They don't even try to fake it by putting a price next to it. It just says "NP."
My crunchy rolls were good, and my avocado rolls were not too bad.
Everything was decent.
My favorite had to be the mochi ice cream. I had the green tea and my cousin the red bean. It's rolled in a chewy rice dough on a toothpick. The mochi was probably the best part of the meal.
The place is a bit pricey, but I left very full. -
Review from Andre W.
5/25/2009
Ventured over on the this nice, wet evening after wanting to try for quite some time. Pretty nice spot and very clean. Comfy and cozy atmosphere with dim lighting (I like)
I ordered the Chili spicy tuna and Kanpyo (vegetarian roll with marinated squash) as they were nicely sized and delicious. Service was great and the staff was very nice!!! Checked out the drink menu and saw some great selections, but I stuck to the water. Prices were not bad either
Good place to check out and the food was delish!
Definately will return! -
Review from Brett D.
7/2/2008
Bob San is a solid choice for sushi on the Division strip... but with Mirai just a few blocks further down I almost feel like why bother?
They do have a nice selection of sushi basics here... you'll find your standard rolls; california, spicy tuna, dragon, rainbow but not much else. Their premiere 'Crabby Dragon' with soft-shell crab, unagi and avocado which at $16.95 is the most expensive maki on the menu, pales in comparison in not only flavor but especially in size to the likes of the 'Godzilla' and 'Giant' rolls you'll find at Wabi or Butterfly for the same price point. The small 6 pieces were laughable when they arrived at the table so we abandoned the Bob San rolls altogether and moved onto some sashimi....
The pieces were lovely! Cut well and tasty fresh... perfect buttery salmon, super white tuna with scallion, sweet shrimp and quail egg with ikura. I missed my sweet shrimp heads though, I love to munch on those fried suckers but I have noticed several Chicago sushi joints tend to opt out of serving them. Could just be a West Coast thing or maybe they fear the Midwesterners are afraid to have their food stare back at them but I dig it!
Our service was very slow and our waitresses had a tendency of disappearing for long periods of time seemingly exactly when we needed something. Being outside on their large patio in the warm summer air made it so much more tolerable, not sure how I would have felt about it had I been seated indoors.
I think I'd skip Bob San next time in favor of Mirai, but I wouldn't complain if someone really wanted to come here, I'd just stick to the pieces and shy away from those puny but pricey rolls.Listed in: J'Adore Al Fresco, Smitten with Sushi
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Review from Katie H.
Chicago, IL
4/14/2008
I might give this restaurant five stars if it changed its' name to "Daniel San" because that would be an awesome Karate Kid reference.
Bob San is pretty rockin' though. I'm come to accept that if you want decent sushi in this city you have to be willing go into deficit. Let's be honest though, I could say this about most of my eating habits. See, I'm the kinda broad who drinks Gentleman Jack when I ought to be drinking Red Dog.
But sushi cravings cannot be ignored for long, especially in a neighborhood where uppity sushi joints are as common as those dratted indie bake shops. Aki Sushi, Bob San, Blu Coral, Blue Fin, Coast, Mirai, Papajin, Usagi Ya (if I'm being alphabetical and OCD) are all within walking distance of my house. My regular dining companion and I decided upon Bob San because it seemed like it had a reassuring amount of customers (Aki Sushi doesn't) but at the same time wasn't flooded with rich wankers (MIRAI!!!).
We were able to get a last minute reservation on a Friday night but I don't know that we needed one as the weather was so crappy. The host staff was very welcoming, but they welcome you in Japanese (and those girls were blatantly not from Asia) so I felt a little sorry for them.
I instantly started to like this place when they presented me with a hot towel when I sat down. It was freezing out that day so I put it on my (face) cheeks to warm up. Awesome. We took a long time figuring out how much to order but we ended up with just the right amount of food. I should've written down what I ate because as lame as it sounds I really can't remember (they all had a Japanese title, ok?). All the rolls were great and I especially enjoyed the salmon sashimi appetizer. I do however remember dessert - they have awesome red bean ice cream and mochi (the latter is the perfect size for those who don't want to commit to a huge dessert). You also get orange segments too at the end of your meal which is a nice touch.
Expect to spend some money here but in the world of sushi I think Bob San is what I'd call mid-range. I'll be all over this place again when they open up their covered patio on Division. -
Review from Caroline A.
Chicago, IL
12/17/2006
This might be my new favorite sushi spot. I've been getting a bit tired of all the fusion places. Bob San is a great authentic restaurants. The food is awesome! We started with the cucumber salad - always a great palette cleanser. Then we had a few rolls... I have to say that the wasabi was perfect in terms of potency.
The decor needs some work, but I think thats part of the charm. The restaurant filled up very quickly. When we left, the space was very full. I think they even had a wait. Will be back to try the rest of the menu.Listed in: I take my sushi seriously
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Review from Megan B.
Chicago, IL
3/5/2009
I finally went to Bob San after walking by it once or twice every day for the last 3 years. Keeping me from going there were mediocre reviews and the impression that it was overpriced.
Indeed, I found that the sushi was just mediocre when I finally went. However, the maki was actually more reasonably priced than I expected. Most rolls were 6 pieces and cost around 6 or 7 dollars - fairly standard. None of the three rolls I tried impressed me though. The fried yellowfin roll tasted too fishy for my liking (I think the fish was overcooked). The tempura crunch roll was the best of the three, but still nothing that amazing.
The décor was both odd and hum-drum at the same time. Not sure how that is possible. An modern art installation on one wall was reminiscent of sperm impregnating an egg. Service was standard.
In the future, if a friend suggests going to Bob San, I would go along, but I would never make this suggestion myself.Listed in: Unique Ukrainian Village &…, Make Me Maki
