Macku Sushi

I’ve been too hard on my favorite restaurant. They still have my loyalty and love. See my original reviews for specific feedback

I ordered take out from this restaurant a couple of months ago and it was not a good experience. There was one dish that tasted off, and I ended up sick (vomiting) most of the night afterwards. I called the restaurant owner the next day to let them know, assuming I would get a discount or at least take off the dish that made me sick. Or at the very least an apology — but NO! He said it hadn’t happened to anyone else and that it could not have been the food at the restaurant. I have never been sick after a sushi restaurant before, and the entire day, I had eaten bland foods that were definitely fresh and highly unlikely to have made me sick (think raw fish vs bread, which one do you think is the culprit?!). I was entirely displeased with the entire experience, from getting sick to the rude owner. Will not be going back nor recommending this place to anyone.

I went to Macku last night for the first time with my girlfriend. Our server Alex was outstanding. He provided tons of information about the menu, chef specials, and recommendations. The sushi was outstanding.
Note that this is a pretty upscale place and the prices are high (though reasonably justified). If you are coming on a budget and hope to leave full, consider other options.

We were visiting from out of town. Came here on a friend’s recommendation and told the waiter we wanted to try some of the nigiri — what did he recommend? the chefs tasting menu. Ok. Food was great. Bill was $ 500 for 2 people. A heads up would have been nice. Great food but we felt a bit duped. We cannot recommend this place and certainly will not be returning, which is somewhat unfortunate because the food was quite good.

I got takeout last week. We got the sushi dinner for two. It was almost enough food, but we should have gotten a few appetizers to go with it. But the sushi was delicious, and well priced. I was quoted 25 min, I got there about 30 min later and still had to wait 10 min. There seemed to be some confusion as to which takeout order was mine. So the takeout wasn’t perfect, but the staff was friendly. We will be back, we hope to dine in next time.

In love with the food here. so fresh and yummy and beautifully served. Will come back as many times as I can!

Ordered in. Stingy, at best. Probably trying to survive or just greedy. Sad to say, I live up the block and wanted this place to be good.
Nigiri was small and more expensive than other options in the area. The ikura salmon roe was wrapped in cucumber, which allowed for less row did not compliment each other at all, terrible.
Spider roll. Where’s the crab? I’d wager they use 1 soft shell for every 2 rolls they make. More like a California roll with a very small piece of crab in each. No end pieces with legs.
Hamachi ebi tempura another joke, all rice, very small piece shrimp tempura and even smaller yellowtail.
Spicy tuna eel I wanted to be good having not seen before but was just barley mediocre and probably the best of the three.
Not satisfied, I’d go or order from Butterfly, Seadog, or Coast before going back here.

YOU. HELLO. Why haven’t you come to this establishment yet? Or if you have, why haven’t you gone more?! You even call yourself a sushi lover?
All I can say is that Macku… IS A GENIUS. He blew my mind, body, and whatever else in my mortal body out of its terrestrial confines. I repeat… OUT OF ITS TERRESTRIAL CONFINES. I must say that my poor wallet has been weeping for weeks at the abuse I put it through in this establishment. What to get? Well… the signature nigiris provides a bombastic explosion in your mouth. Oh, and the venison entrée? It made me lose the several marbles that I had left after the signature nigiri destroyed my mind. Don’t forget to order one or all of the excellent desserts to complete your experience that was sure to leave you weeping out of sheer joy.

Initially put off by the host who greeted us as if we’d made a mistake and entered the wrong dining establishment. He eventually asked if we had a reservation. we did. His tone changed but felt perfunctory at this point.
Thankfully our server approached with gracious demeanor and was ready to provide a great dinning experience.
The food. We opted for a six course set menu. We began with a Lychee martini. I didn’t love it or hate it. It simply wasn’t memorable. First course arrived. White asparagus soup w/​a Corn based crab broth & kimchee dumpling. The varied flavors of this dish defy description! Hands down the most delicious soup I e tasted in ages.
The next two courses Whitefish tempura appetizer and
Tuna sashimi were also beautifully presented with robust condiments adding deliciously unique flavors.
Spicy tuna roll arrived next. Almost too pretty to eat. After taking a bite clearly the word spicy was typo.
The course of assorted night included salmon, tuna and squid each prepared with a tasty drizzle atop. Mouthwatering! The final course, fried chicken atop a drained bed of rice, left much to be desired. The dryness of of the chicken paired with the mundane sauce made for a dull conclusion to an overall good meal.
It’s not bad but there are definitely better venues in Chicagoland. If you’re in the area give them a try.

Really love this place! Had previously been to Macku Signature on Halsted, and this location is every bit as awesome. We did the omakase which is superb — a carrot soup to start followed by a few nigiri dishes, sushi rolls and a teryaki chicken dish — each a party of flavors in my mouth. True to the chef’s style, the presentation of each course is very well done and will impress.
The setting is fairly intimate with the option to sit at the sushi bar or at a table. Clean and modern.
One tweak: The service was too fast in some cases where we received the next dish before we had finished the prior. Communication between the server and the chefs could help smooth that out.

Discovered Macku Sushi with a Gilt City voucher. Visited early-​ish on a Friday night. Restaurant was empty when we arrived, but filled in as the night went on.
Food was great overall — really enjoyed all of the Sashimi and Nigiri. Also, the white asparagus dessert was AMAZING!
The downside of this restaurant is the price. We were sitting at the sushi bar and the chef asked if we wanted him to select a few things for us and we said ok thinking that we’d get 2 – 3 dishes. He ended up keeping the food coming way too fast before we could stop him — we ended up with a bill that was MUCH higher than we wanted/​realized since we weren’t ordering. It would have been nice to be warned about the cost of these things or have had the option to stop the food from coming.

Love this place. There is always something different on the menu. From Flying Fish Sushi to Scallops from Japan. The flavors are amazing. They have plenty of non-​sushi items. We tried the Cod with Chocolate Miso. um yeah that was delicious.
Service is solid, the food comes up fast and its a quiet little place I have never had to wait to get into. Plenty of places you walk to from here after dinner and get a cocktail. A place you need to check out.

had groupon for this place but had reservations about it based on what i read about toro (another sushi join) in lincoln park. what i’m saying is that reviews were great about toro but was really very average (my review is in Unilocal).
but! wow!
i have been turned off to sushi in the chicagoland after having sushi in hawaii. but this place wowed me.
small restaurant with a bang. what wife and i noticed was each dish’s presentation compared to pricing. each entrée is around 15 – 20 bucks but presented more like a 30 – 40 dish else where. that’s a lot of thought into each food.
Uni Uzura: this is uni with raw quail egg. not on the menu but you should ask for it. uni and the egg pop in your mouth and blend in well together. altho, if you like uni and egg yolk A LOT, then maybe the combo is not for you… it’s good but cancel out some of each other’s best flavors. i’m one of these people but i liked this one a lot too.
«fresh» uni: the uni comes «out of the shell.» i thought this meant that the tentacles would be moving but is was cut in half, ice was inside the shell and uni is cut into 4 pieces and put on top of them ice. this last tidbit is important. more on this later.
white Asparagus soup: 2^nd best dish we had here. comes out on flat plate and i think many others have commented on it but it’s creamy deliciousness.
Duck: great presentation. like i said, dish looked much more expensive due to how they arrange your food but only 15 bucks. but it’s duck so it’s good. catch was that the sauce it came in was a bit too buttery/caramelly…don’t know how else to put it or i don’t know what the culinary description for this attack on palette is but it wasn’t for me. i think too «western?» instead of eastern asian. you might enjoy.
cod: same as duck. great presentation but similar palette issues as duck. not sure if all entrees are like these but both these were.
botan ebi: had 2 of this. one after the other cause so good. you can’t go wrong with the bruleed motoyaki and it was excellent. also, fried head is good. ties with asparagus soup for 2^nd place.
handroll: can’t remember which handroll wife had but it was good. either the unigi or shrimp tempura. she got done gone pregnant (yes!!) and she is staying away from raw sushi despite how much she loves them. so it was one of the cooked ones. very good.
flan: ladies and gentlemen, in first place, flan! this thing was god’s gift to eaters. we all eat so that means all of us. wow. so very, greatly excellent. there is a pic of this in the gallery by someone else. you need to try this one.
overall, great place. there was a bit of a blunder but despite it, it was still deserving of 5 stars.
oh, the reason uni coming fresh out of the shell here might be a problem is that you need to order 4 if you’re going to order uni. that’s why i couldn’t have another uni uzura because i didn’t want the whole thing and wife couldn’t have any.
we’ll definitely go back and order the omakase. neighboring table seemed to have it and dishes looked great.

This was my first time to this location. I visited Macku Signature a few times before they closed it to reconcept. I thought Signature was pretty great so the other one must be too. Oh boy. Not the case.
We popped in around 7 on a Sat night and were seated right away. Our server was friendly but the pacing was odd. She seemed to be knowledgeable about the food but said things like, «we’re not known for our rolls.» Which gave me pause. We started with the dish with the beets. It was the best part of the evening. Although a guy plopped it down, mumbled something, and took off. We stared at it for a few mins to make sure it was what we ordered because it sounded like he said «octopus» which we did not order. Another guy saw our predicament and confirmed it was the beets.
Then we got one of their signature items that our server highly recommended. It was salmon with mushrooms and truffle oil… I had to put it in my napkin. I couldn’t chew the salmon which gave me whoopsie tummy. Also it was in need of seasoning and there was no trace of truffle flavor. My boyfriend said his piece was like steak so its a no wonder that my body rejected it. In this case, I was glad it was just 2 pieces. Then we got two regular style rolls even though they’re not known for it. I needed something familiar. The rice to other stuff ratio is way off. The rice was falling out of it! It made the rolls really lack any kind of personality. Although that tough salmon killed my interest in more fish. We also got the live scallop special which we had at Signature before. It was pretty great but not great enough to save the dinner.
I had the sake martini which was eh. It really was just vodka and sake with a whisper of cucumber. It also was in need of some pizzazz.

More of a 4.5!
Wanted to go to the Signature location but they were temporarily closed. Nonetheless, all worked out and enjoyed my experience very much here at Macku Sushi.
Space was what I expected, cute and intimate.
We were greeted warmly and service throughout was perfect. Our server was very helpful and everyone was just very friendly.
We got the tuna tartar to start, although our maki rolls came out first, but no big deal, as no item took too long to come out in general. I thought the tartar was pretty good and had a spicy kick to it. Think it could have used a bit more brightness though. The accompanied shrimp and cream cheese rolls were pretty good as well. The shrimp tempura roll was also quite good, but not outstanding. The only somewhat disappointing item was the spicy spider roll. As another Unilocaler noted, they used imitation crab stick. While I did see that they also used soft shell crab, this was completely masked by its lesser counterpart. For a place with such creativity and finesse, using imitation crab was quite a letdown.
Anyways, I got the live uni as mentioned was a special for the night. Many places don’t even have uni, let alone a live one, so if you’re into that type of thing, it is a must try for sure. It was delish for me and I could definitely taste the difference between fresh and not fresh uni. A server was describing the sea urchin to my boo, as he’s never had it before, comparing it to oysters, which is a good comparison. Since the boo isn’t a big fan of oysters, he thus didn’t care for the uni. More for me!
We also got the Japanese flatbread and a beef tenderloin entrée. Both of these were fantastic. The beef was a little smaller in portion than expected, but the flavor was amazing. The balsamic reduction was super yummy and balanced. The sweet potato strips were also a nice touch. The flatbread was also very good and all components worked very well together.
Almost never order dessert but thanks to fellow Unilocalers, definitely is a must at Macku! I’m a sucker for anything green tea, so we got the green tea mousse and the popular asparagus pudding. For not being a cake type of dessert, both of these were beyond satisfying! The green tea mousse was delish and full of matcha flavor. Having it paired individually with mini marshallows, chocolate, biscuit sticks, and raspberries made it very fun and functional. Aside from the asparagus pudding from being beautiful in presentation, it was delicious. Not even sure how to describe the flavors, but it was amazing.
We had a Gilt City voucher so that helped but still a little pricier than your average Japanese spot, but as indicated, it is more than your average spot, and is definitely a standout and what I’ve been looking for. Worth it.
Must come back and try more dishes, especially the soups, as I failed to get the last time. While the makimono wasn’t bad, I feel like their sushi rolls are a tad subpar to the rest of their items here, so I would start with everything else first.

An amazing Gilt offer got us here.
The food was delicious. Their hand-​rolls are some of the better ones that I have had. In fact, I would recommend them to anyone who comes here (especially the spicy scallops).
My main issue is the service. Our server consantly was second guessing our food selections, recommend that we go with California Rolls, and did not seem interested in even telling us about the specials that Macku has (they have good specials).
The food made it A-​Ok, otherwise this would of been a 2 star review.

Wow, this was really disappointing. I came here years ago and really had a good meal. And with Macku Signature being 2 blocks from my house, I have been there a few times and it has been great each and every time. So, I figured going back here would be a can’t miss. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Now there were certain aspects that were very good, but as an overall experience, it failed. The space itself looks run-​down. The shelves that hold the glassware are dusty. The windows are dirty. Paint is peeling. The bathroom was unkempt. The heating duct vents were grimy. Not appealing.
The service was good.
The cocktails were average. Not one of the better Old Fashioneds I’ve ever had, and my girlfriend’s drink lacked punch.
The food started off very good, stayed there for a couple courses, then went steadily downhill. The udon was flavorful but far too salty. The seared tuna appetizer was quality, but the sauce was heavy and masked the fish instead of enhancing it. The signature hamachi was perhaps the best item we had all night, but it fell short of the execution of the same dish at Signature. The flying fish special was good for what it was, you could tell the fish was high quality, and the presentation was excellent, but be warned that flying fish has a VERY fishy finish. The most disappointing items were the sushi rolls, both hand rolls and regular. Bland, the fish was not high quality, and ridiculously they used CRAB STICK. Our meal cost $ 170, and we friggin’ got friggin’ crab stick in our friggin’ roll. That is lame. I would expect that from one of the all-​you-​can-​eat places, but not Macku. That is some major weak sauce right there.
There really ain’t no way in hell I am ever going back to this Macku.

Okay so I just recently had dinner here and I was not impressed at all. First of all, it’s pretty small and tables are right next to each other so you are right in your neighbors food: I think there’s only like one or two more private tables by the window so I would request those if you get there. But it’s not overly loud here which is nice but I didn’t feel like it was intimate either.
Let’s get to the important stuff. Our service was eh. Our server seemed cold the entire dinner, didn’t smile, didn’t offer any good recommendations, felt annoyed if I asked for a straw or extra sauce or anything. It’s like I get it’s not the best job being a server but work for your tip. Anyways, when making my order of like ten different things he just looked at me and didn’t write anything down as to show off or I don’t know what, but then he had to come back three more time asking me to repeat what I wanted. That’s a star right there. Then all the sushi was brought out at random times which I’m not the biggest fan of. Just the whole service left a sour taste in my mouth and we also felt kind of rushed out of there even though I made reservations like a week in advance.
Then onto the sushi. I really didn’t like it. All the rolls were over stuffed with rice and very little fish. My spicy salmon had cilantro in it and didn’t say that in the description so can we say gross. The eel spicy tuna roll had no eel. The individual eel pieces for $ 5 a piece were tiny. I mean where is the fish?! I felt like I’m on survivor eating all rice. Maybe I should have just ordered sashimi where I could have experienced their fish because I can’t tell you much on the quality of it since I ate mostly rice and seaweed.
I guess I have to stick to what I like when it comes to sushi and stop experimenting with new sushi places. Oh well, they really need to revamp their service and add more fish to all the rolls. Even their hand rolls were lacking! I do not think I would be back anytime soon or ever.

Me and my boyfriend had a big dinner here.
The service here is good.
But for me, this is kind of more like American style Japanese food. I do not think this would go well with Chinese or JP people.

Macku is a sushi restaurant that knows quality sushi and specializes in their art. We sat at the bar and were greeted instantly by Joe, the sushi chef, who was happy to tell us what his recommendations were and instantly got us started with the fresh scallops that they had just gotten in that day.
The scallops were phenomenal. Super fresh, perfectly presented with the perfect accompanying flavors. $ 18 for the order were totally worth it given the quality of the scallops.
We ordered a variety of signature nigiri — salmon, hamachi, unagi, tako and one order of the signature sashimi mebachi (big eye) which we had assumed for $ 15 would include more than one piece, but it was in fact one piece that we split (and it was delicious!).
The signature nigiri is what makes Macku stand apart from the other top sushi joints in Chicago. They add a certain wow factor to nigiri that was exciting at first, but after the first round, we wanted to go back to the classic style and appreciate the fish on its own. We added a few non-​signature nigiri — another order of hamachi, white tuna, and sea bream.
Overall the quality of the fish at Macku is about as good as it gets in Chicago. The salmon was a tad bit disappointing, but everything else was perfect. On top of it, we had delicious cocktails — both the saketini and the lychee martini were refreshing and perfectly made.
This is not the place you come for a scene or a River North Sunda or Roka type of vibe, but if you’re looking for true sushi genius and top quality fish, this is the place for you.