Went there for the first time on a Saturday afternoon and really enjoyed it. It was half off the maki dishes at that time, and so my friend and I had an order of Toyko and Rainbow maki with edamame to start. Was not disappointed and would definitely go again! Staff was friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere was neat, especially with all the window-watching potential of being right on Diversey.
Paul K.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Been here a couple times due to the convenience of it being close to home. Decent place, great interior design, and very clean too. overall great atmosphere. The sushi overall is better than most places I been to, and the price was fair too. Besides the sushi here, other stuff was kind of meh… the curry was ok, and the same goes for their teriyaki entrée too. Probably be back, but only for the sushi.
Alex R.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Chicago, IL
Used to really love this place but they’ve made some changes here which have notched it down IMO. They recently upped their prices and changed the house salad which was maybe the best part of the meal here. Pretty solid sushi overall though, fun/lively ambiance. Great people watching as the entire storefront is a big window facing Diversey. It’s right next to the Diversey brown line stop and it is BYOB, but there is a corkage fee. Overall a good sushi spot in Lincoln Park /Lakeview.
Just i.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Schaumburg, IL
Very average place. Sushi taste very average, seriously nothing special. Service is also meh Came here for lunch, nobody said a word about any specials. Got a lunch box of sushi. Decent for 12 $, but again– nothing to be wowed with. However what really put it down to 3 stars is that a server charged me A DOLLAR for a side(2 table spoons) of vinegar. I definitely will not die from paying a dollar for some vinegar(not the source or a dressing, literally generic white vinegar), but I find it pretty bogus and somehow even pathetic and petty to charge a dollar for two table spoons of vinegar. Btw unless you are going there for specials– it’s pretty overpriced. No reason for such prices, not in the menu, not in the interior or service, not in the quality of food.
Karolina T.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Came here for lunch on a Sunday right when it opened. The staff was super friendly and allowed us to sit where we wanted and even turned on the soccer game we wanted to watch. We ordered an assortment of sushi as well as a noodle dish. They had an awesome discount on all Nori sushi so I thought everything was delicious, presented nicely, and worth the price. They sell alcohol here but you can bring your own wine bottle for a corkage fee of about $ 7-$ 8 which isn’t bad at all. The place is very clean, and neat fact– they had a mouthwash dispenser in the bathroom!
Melissa F.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
Nori came highly recommended and lived up to the hype. My friend and I loved the swanky but unpretentious atmosphere. I don’t love the corkage fee, but the prices are low overall, so I’m sure they have to make it up somehow! We stared with edamame, which was good. My friend enjoyed her shrimp tempura roll, and I forgot the other one she got. I enjoyed the Mexican roll, with its cilantro and spicy chili oil, not to mention its super fresh tuna. The fire dragon was fabulous. I loved the textural contrast between the raw tuna, chopped spicy tuna, and shrimp. Some rolls aren’t half off Mondays, but many are. Regardless, the prices are more than fair given how fresh and carefully made the rolls are.(I’ve heard rolls aren’t as fresh on Sundays and Mondays, but as far as I could tell, this was not the case!) Highly recommended.
Fadi S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
First timer and will definitely be back. A good friend brought me here to check out on a Monday. The place was fairly crowded and had a lot of energy going around for a sushi spot. The location was in a really nice part of Chicago. The sushi specials they have are a wide variety. I loved the Tokyo and ninja rolls. I would definitely come back here especially on Mondays where they do half off sushi.
Sarah S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Sooooo… Nori is BYOB but they have some ridiculous bottle charge(I think it was $ 8?) and they only allow wine — 1 bottle. We didn’t realize this and brought a bomber and were told they’d allow it this one time for the $ 8 charge. Ummm pass! They have beer and other drinks there so really no need to do BYOB here… you’re better off not doing it. I went for dinner with a few friends and service was shaky — she walked away at first only taking 3 of 4 people’s orders. Oops! But other than some forgetfulness issues throughout, she was nice enough and got us taken care of. We ordered curry, noodle dishes, donkatsu, maki, sashimi — everything was very delicious. My order of gomae-ae was one of the best I have had around Chicago. It wasn’t slathered in peanut sauce like they often are and had delicious flavor. It was fabulous for a girl like me trying to do the healthy living thing. I also had a variety of sashimi that was plated just beautifully and served nice & fresh. They even added slices of avocado onto my plate which was a sweet addition! Everyone’s dishes were plated so nicely looking like artwork on the plate. I love gorgeous plating for sushi. When we arrived around 6pm, it was desolate but upon leaving at 8pm, Nori was jam packed! Our table was very awkwardly places in a corner and we had to manuever to great lengths in order to work our way out. That was slightly annoying. Despite any logistical and service shortcomings, my entire party was pleased with our food and we’d come back to Nori — no question!
Dominique M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 DePaul, Chicago, IL
Had a 6:00 reservation for Valentine’s Day. Surprised to see the place pretty empty at that time but it filled up fast within the next hour. The V-Day special was 50% off wine, so we started with a bottle of wine and edamame. We ordered 5 rolls to get a little bit of everything. The fish tastes SO fresh and they gave you huge chunks. The rolls are HUGE. We finished up with mango Mochi and green tea ice cream for dessert and the total bill was a lot less than what we were expecting to pay Sushi rolls: Chicago Crazy Crunchy — SO good. could’ve ordered 2 of them SAkura Tuna — also very good but very similar to the crazy crunchy Heartbeat(v-day special) — looked a bit complicated but once you took a bite all the flavors mixed together perfectly. would like to see this one added to the menu and not just a special occasion roll. Rainbow — just wanted a roll with tons of fresh fish on top and this did the job! Fire Dragon — Delicious! perfect amount of heat. very tasty. I’m sure the regular Dragon would’ve been fantastic as well.
Linda M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
I love this place!!! Best deal you’ll find for sushi. Half off during lunch time and half off all day Monday. The sushi tastes great and the staff is very friendly. It’s also BYOB. Personal favorites: Tokyo maki, Caterpillar
Courtney W.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
My favorite place to go for sushi! I’ve been coming here to satisfy my sushi cravings for a few years now. I love that they have half price maki. That’s definitely a steal. Their sushi is always fresh and delicious. I always leave satisfied. The restaurant is clean and the customer service is great!
Shay H.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Gurnee, IL
Went here last week with my boyfriend. First off, service is great. Good spot for a date or groups as they have larger tables. The points off are for quality of fish. We ordered edamame and Nori’s Cheese Sticks for appetizers. Edamame was warm but a couple were cold… :/. Didn’t care for the cheese sticks, they barely had any crab but did have a similar flavor to carb rangoon. If you’re looking for standard sushi this is the place to go. They also have good deals on Mondays for happy hour(I heard from a friend). They also do take out. The dragon roll was good, the eel’s texture was good. The tamago was lacking in flavor, missing that slightly sweet flavor. I wouldn’t order that again. We also ordered the Aloha roll, this is where I take major points off. The fish tasted off. So I’d avoid the hamachi here. As that wasn’t to our taste we decided to order something on a whim, the banana tempura roll. Delicious. The crunchy texture of the tempura with the warm smoother textures of the banana was really nice. Drinks: On special sake and their jellied sake(sorry of like aloe juice texture but alcoholic). Overall, we’d go again, but we’d avoid certain fish.
Olivia J.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
I’ve only gone to Nori for lunch and when they have their special: 50% off maki rolls! And boy is it worth it! Caterpillar and dragon maki rolls look and taste so good and you really can’t beat the price. During the week, the lunch hours aren’t so bad. I’ve never had to wait for seating and the waiters are very nice. On a side note, the bathrooms have mouth wash for after your meal! It’s a great idea and I’ve never seen that in any other restaurant establishment! :) Also important to know(as several other Unilocalers have already mentioned) that nori does charge a $ 7 fee for BYOB!
Kristy D.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Champaign, IL
We took advantage of the half off maki on a Monday night. We called earlier in the day for a six pm reservation and were promptly seated when we arrive. I highly recommend doing this, as things really picked up while we were here and saw many parties waiting quite awhile for a table. Food was good enough. Half priced maki doesn’t apply to their signature maki, but still plenty of options to choose from including Mexican and caterpillar. I wish the fire ball appetizer were spicier or served with sriracha on the side. The biggest draw for me to write this review is to warn Unilocalers of the change in byob policy. As other recent reviews have mentioned, there has been a recent change in the policy. You will now be charged $ 7 for each bottle of wine you bring in to have with your meal. We saw so many diners bringing in their own drinks only to be surprised by the new charge. Aren’t you glad you read this review?
Krystina N.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Cragin, Chicago, IL
My go-to sushi spot! Everything is fresh and reasonably priced. Try their spicy shrimp fireballs, they’re awesome! Also, Monday-Friday half priced maki till 4pm. Monday’s it’s half off all day. Can’t go wrong. That being said, they have an additional special every day, so that’s worth asking about. I’m pretty sure they’re sake is ½ off on Wednesdays…
Emann B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Half price lunch specials for delicious rolls! We had a dragon, a rainbow, and a spicy tuna. The seaweed salad to start was cool and briny. Such lovely and friendly staff, very accommodating of my little tyke lunch companion.
Eddie C.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
Overall: High quality half priced happy hour sushi and Vikings football. Food: We ordered half price salmon rolls, rainbow rolls, tuna rolls, etc. — This place was a bit of a hike from my place but definitely worth it. We were the only ones in the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and was delighted to hear that it was happy hour. Needless to say, my gf and I ordered a ton of rolls: like 4 for each person. The tab was under 30 bucks — need I say more? The fish is fresh and the sushi rolls were well made and high quality. The gold star though was that because we were the only ones in the restaurant, the waitress let us turn on the Minnesota Vikings game. I got a few stares and comments as people came in for take-out, but that’s to be expected. Skol Vikings and go Nori Chicago. Definitely would come back.
Craig R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Stopped in here on my own due to a sushi craving: –The Chirashi Don was an entire meal for two on its own: The bowl, miso soup, seaweed salad and edamame. I was bummed there was no tuna in my Chirashi :(. –The staff was very attentive and kept my water glass full(I drink a ton of water!). –I like the décor, especially the Halloween charm :). –It was quiet and easy to grab a seat, as you can see it was pretty empty. Definitely a place I’d stop in again, but not on my own. I would have loved if they had an actual sushi bar I could sit at. I don’t like sitting alone at tables in sushi places, just a personal preference.
Bree N.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
As a vegetarian, I’m always excited when I have a lot to choose from on a menu and it was this that made me want to give Nori a shot. There’s a specific part of the menu for vegetarian maki — I went with the simple avocado maki & the sweet potato tempura maki. The only problem with the sweet potato tempura was that the sweet potato wasn’t fried in the tempura like I’ve had at other sushi places, so it was a little harder and less crispy than I would have liked it. Other than that though it was delicious. The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because I was misled about the corking fee. Other reviews say there isn’t one for the first bottle, but when we got there we were told no matter what there was a charge of $ 7 per bottle. So my boyfriend and I had to save our wine for home, which isn’t a huge deal, but it was a little annoying for a BYOB place to charge so high of a fee for one bottle of wine.
Jay R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
I remember when you had to search to find a sushi place in Chicago. They are still not on every corner like Starbucks or Walgreens but if you are craving sushi you won’t have to look very hard. Nori is a great place to not have to look to far for, and I live in the hood so my sushi craving is cured with ease. Quality fresh fish and unique rolls plus good service and the kicker they have a stellar ½ price deal. Everything is ½ price from the Nori maki roll section of the menu before 3 everyday and all day on Mondays. I can eat the hell out of some excellent sushi for the cost of fast food. Some of my favs The Ninja Maki — Sweet potato tempura and avocado topped with torched spicy kani kama, unagi sauce and tempura crumbs Tekka Maki — Fresh big eye tuna(whole piece not the chopped up stuff) Escolar Jalapeño Maki — Escolar and jalapeño Spicy and buttery all in the same bite Soft Shell Crab Maki — Soft shell crab, avocado, cucumber, masago mayo, unagi sauce and scallion A great neighborhood place but worth a trip to get here also.
Latisha P.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Los Angeles, CA
Came for dinner! Solid sushi that will have you satisfied. Didn’t try too much but we were happy with the rolls we got. ROLLS Heartbreaker roll(4 stars): good textures good salmon Caribbean(4 stars): strawberry and mango combo was surprisingly good. Lighter roll. SERVICE Kate is awesome! So sweet and gave great suggestions, thanks Kate for taking care of us!
Nicole L.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Chicago, IL
Just a heads up there are some reviews claiming ½ price rolls before 6PM. This is not valid. Also, be aware that the check-in offer for one free maki is only for parties of 4 or more. So don’t expect a free roll on date night. Okay now that all of that is cleared up lets talk about the actual sushi. Overall sushi was just fine. Don’t think I’d come back. Also service was pretty bad and my waitress walked away from me in the middle of my sentence but I chalk that up to the language barrier.
Keith C.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Chicago, IL
Decent sushi joint. They don’t have AYCE but do have BYOB. However, you can only use 1 bottle per party. You can bring more bottles but they won’t let you drink them. They will hold for you until you leave. Corkage fee is $ 7. Service could be a little better. It took them a while to bring us a menu. I wanted 2 pieces of uni as part of my order but the waitress came back and said that the uni wasn’t fresh and didn’t recommend it which was nice on her part. Sushi came out fast and the fish was fresh. If i needed sushi and was in the area, i could see myself coming back.
Jessica A.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Chicago, IL
This is one of my go-to sushi spots. Especially for their half price Nori maki at lunch time. I have been there many many times for both lunch and dinner service and have not once been disappointed. The service is always nice. Not overly attentive(as is usually the case with sushi places) but not bad. Some of my favorite maki include: spicy shrimp(perfect amount of spice), ninja maki, and Tokyo maki. Those are must trys!!! Go to Nori! You won’t be disappointed!
Lucas W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Wilmette, IL
The sushi is very good, but it’s unnecessarily pricy. Also, it may be BYOB, but if you bring beer, there’ll be a $ 1 charge that they don’t tell you about because they do actually sell a couple beers. Got a couple rolls and seemingly every roll was double digit prices except the typical simple things like spicy salmon or spicy tuna. The fish was always high quality though and the rolls very flavorful. If you’re alright paying more for some sushi which while above average doesn’t reflect the price, then Nori’s a good option. I may go back, but I feel I can get sufficiently high quality sushi elsewhere for a portion of the price.
Patty C.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Chicago, IL
I had a decent lunch here. Their makis are half-price before 4pm, and they have lunch specials. I ordered the sashimi lunch special and a seared scallop maki. The scallop maki was okay, nothing special. The sashimi lunch box came with a miso soup, side salad with ginger dressing, gyoza dumplings, and a Cali maki. I’m not a big fan of miso soup, but theirs was pretty good. The sashimi was fresh, the gyoza was good, and the salad was good too. The Cali maki was okay. Overall, everything was decent. I ordered green tea as well, and my total was about $ 20 before tips.
Justine M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Chicago, IL
Great sushi. One of the better spots I’ve had. I suggest getting the Chicago Crazy and Red Nori. Loaded sushi, but hits all textures. The service was GREAT. I went with a friend with diary diet restrictions and the waitress was very accommodating and sweet. The inside is small so I assume it gets crowded during peak times. I went on a weekday around 5:45 and not too many people dining. The perfect crowd comfort. I’ve also ordered delivery via their online ordering system and delivery is fast. I also suggest trying the calamari with the honey wasabi mayo. My favorite sushi in the lincoln park area so far.
Trevor-n-Aliza P.
Rogers Park, Chicago, IL
Great spot. They only allow you to bring wine and you will have to pay a $ 7 corking fee.