Lure Bistro

Love the half off sushi night here. Went to try and watch a basketball game on the patio because the weather was beautiful. Walked up to the bar at 9:20 and was told the kitchen was closed. The hours say 4pm-​10pm, so I assumed the kitchen would at least be open until ten. Very disappointed.

Eh… I learned my lesson from prior experiences when turned away or treated poorly from the host staff, so we made a reservation this time, because in prior visits we have enjoyed their food and patio atmosphere. Being the first great Tuesday with nice weather, we were ecstatic to get a table and enjoy some half priced sushi. Sadly, we ended up being at the restaurant for 2 hours, not by any doing of our own. Of course I understand it is your busiest sushi night, but… staff appropriately, as we had never had this problem in the past. 2 rolls, 2 beers each, 2 hours! Never again! Service was very slow but nice! Food was awful, my husband had his go to favorite (in the past) surf and turf roll… which now has green and red peppers, corn, onions, and tempura
:(not like the visual and edible art this once was, it looked and tasted more like left over Mexican food! After this experience, I hate to say, we will not be back and since they are going more toward «Asian fusion» you are better off checking out Ballantine but if you want real sushi… cross the street and go to Youngs.

The service was ok, but several «mix-​ups’ on billing. The mistakes were quickly glossed over but the aura of possible hoodwink was too obvious to ignore. Eventually the bill was corrected. The walleye was a 5, the chicken pasta was very good, but the sushi left room for improvement.
The ambience was worth the other shortcomings but on a less perfect evening you might not think so.

Finally tried this place out and I’m glad I did! They have a really good sushi, and it’s half price on Tuesdays which makes it really worth it! Haven’t tried any of the entrées and I probably won’t, as the rest of the menu gets a little too expensive for me, but I’ll definitely be back on a Tuesday for me, especially «The Baconator» yum!

I’ve only been here for the sushi on two occasions. The sushi isn’t anything special to me but living in Orange County for nearly 8 years gives my taste buds a biased opinion. Sushi or sashimi here isn’t worth the money. I did ask the itamae on both visits to create a roll of his own off the menu but he just made an item already on the sushi menu. The staff is nice in general though. 3 stars for staff, cleanliness and hometown of Willoughby.

A hidden treasure in Willoughby. We like to go on specials nights/​days to get a good sampling of sushi rolls and such. The service has always been spot on and attentive even during the most busiest times. I love the place so much I had my b-​day party there (12 – 14 people) the place was CRUSHED that day as I picked a ½ price day because my family isn’t as adventurous as I am with sushi so I wanted them to sample a bunch of different kinds. (even got mom and dad to try eel) even though the places was crushed our server did his best to keep it together, there was a couple of minor errors they were quickly remedied. On the negative side the dinning room is TOO LOUD !! we’re talking echo chamber here! wood floors, plain vaulted ceilings and the icing on the cake glass top tables !! They have since added table cloths on the tables but that room NEEDS some artsy sound absorbing fabric hanging from the ceiling and maybe some tapestries on the walls !! We have dined outside and I hate eating outside but in the summer its the only option on ½ price roll day as the bar is closed. If you sit at the bar you’re more than likely going to have a new BFF… a fly (or 2) Also choose a seat away from the sink or bar trashcan… flys love um. BTW, for those who are meat eaters I have dined with those who have had the burgers and got a thumbs up from all of them !

The Sushi is very good especially if it is on Tuesday when many of the choices are half price.
The atmosphere is very nice, but can be very noisy when busy.
Our biggest gripes are first the parking. Downtown Willoughby in general is a mad house on any night. Willoughby lacks convenient parking and is very patron unfriendly. Most parking is either very limited with many areas listed as no parking or valet only. The other problem is that when you come to downtown Willoughby and find a space in a parking lot it will usually say for XXXXXX business and that all others will be towed.
The other problem is that after planing to go to Lures for over a week we called them and they never mentioned that Reservations were recommended. When we got there at about 5:00pm on a Tuesday and finally found a parking space 2−½ blocks away we were told that there would not be any tables until 8:30pm. This was despite the fact that most of the restaurant was empty and my wife and I are relatively fast eaters and do not dawdle at the table. It is pretty bad when a restaurant can not fit two people in during a weeknight at 5:00pm. They have very limited space in the dining room and I do not know why we were not offered a seat at the bar.
It will be a long time before I bring my family or business clients back to Lures.

Really great place for sushi. Had the opportunity to go with friends and sit outside enjoy the nice weather in June. Food was good as we did some apps and sushi outside. Drinks were ok… I’ve had better. Good service and the free Valet is nice touch.

Our friends along with my husband and I were looking for a restaurant in the area that had clam bakes. After reading in a local news flyer about Lures menu, we decided to give them a try so I made a reservation for 7:15. We arrived on time, but ended up standing and waiting for our table for 10 minutes. I chalked it up to the fact that they were probably packed. When we were finally led into the restraint I could see a lot of empty tables so I wasn’t quite sure what the hold up was all about. After we were seated we waited another 10 minutes for our waiter. This seemed to be the theme for the night. Our friends and my husband ordered the clambakes, each with a different entre. I ordered the filet since I’m not a big fan of clams. The first dish that came out was the clam chowder. It seemed like they made it right there and then because it took almost 15 minutes to bring it out. According to my friends and hubby, it was quite delicious. All the food was good except for a few things. One of our friends got the crab legs with her bake. She asked for hot melted butter, but they were all cold. So cold that they started to congeal. The biggest disappointment, however were the corn fritters. They were pure salt balls. So bad that it burned my throat. We mentioned it to our waiter and he relayed the message to the chef. When our waiter came back he said that the chef tasted them, agreed wholeheartedly and blamed it on his sous chef. We were told by our waiter to come back next week when he was sure they would be much better! Not a we are so sorry, let me take some money off your bill, or offer us something else. Lure, to us, was always the place to go for a great dinner and beyond excellent service. Not really that place anymore. If I’m going to put out that much money for food, I expect excellent food and top notch service.

Best night to go is half price sushi night on Tuesdays. Good way to be able to try a couple new items at a good price. Outside patio is nice to sit on in the summer!

I have a tendency to sit at the bar when I can because most times service is faster. This concept proved to be untrue on my recent visit here.
My friend and I chose to sit at the bar on the patio and what a cute patio they have. We each ordered a glass of house wine during happy hour and I enjoyed their house cab very much. We each also ordered the red and white sangria which was delicious. We ordered the calamari for an appetizer but after waiting roughly a half hour we decided the bartender forgot to put in our order. When we asked about it she said the kitchen was backed up and that it would be out shortly and within a few minutes it was out (we know she forgot about it because when i went inside to go to the bathroom no one was inside dining and there were only about 6 tables outside of people). We also ordered the Lure burger and the Luau maki roll. The maki roll was okay but nothing about it really popped out. The tuna was great but it lacked the punch of flavor I was hoping it would have.
The bartender stopped coming by after we got our food. We were going to order another drink each but she seemed to busy chatting with people she knew than to see if we needed anything else. We ended up just getting our check and going to another bar for drinks.
Maybe next time I’ll try sitting at a table…

Had dinner here for our 36 wedding aniversary, have been to this resatraunt many times because it was one of our favorites for years and is close to home. Have been disappointed with too salty crab stuffed grouper (a house specialty) in the past and was reluctant to order again, 3 times ago so salty it not was not edible, last two times it was good, this time again way too salty, our server said to leave a review so here it is! Husband liked his rib steak, wine we picked was great, service was good since the patio was packed and we were inside, so we could talk, and they were understaffed. I Just wish I could have tasted the grouper and crab and not all salt for my dinner, two hours later and all i can taste is salt, uhgggg.
Have learned to go around the corner to Youngs Sushi (the original chef for sushi years ago) and not spend a ton of money for a lot of unseasoned rice on Tues. Chef needs to learn a ton of salt does not flavor food, so tired of over seasoned salty food in restraunts, come on chefs ther is more to flavor than salt!!!

Lure has been a part of our normal going out date nights with my husband since we have been married. We stopped coming here for a while because service had been a problem and inside was dirty so we only came when we could sit on the patio.
I met my girlfriends up here last week and we had reservations. The table was ready right away and the server was there as soon as we all sat. He was right on ball.
We all had sushi for dinner with a couple drinks. I did have to use the bathroom and had the opportunity to go inside again. Very clean now. The place has turned around in every aspect. The place has an amazing tiki style themed patio and even on a week night draws a large crowd.
Our sushi came out and of course was delicious. We ate every single peace !
A must go place for summer patio dining.

My boyfriend and I were here this past week and were stoked to try the baconator roll amongst others, since I am a serious sushi lover and he has just gotten into it.
As for the ambiance, this place must be great for outdoor patio seating because it was packed and the noise level was pretty high, so if you’re looking to enjoy a nice and quiet romantic evening, I suggest eating inside (which we did). Upon being seated, we were asked for our drink order by the woman who seated us. After that, our server did not come by to take our order for maybe another 10 – 15 minutes… we’ll choke it up to the fact that the inside was pretty empty versus outdoors where he was also tending to.
We ordered several rolls, including the baconator, spicy tuna, bacon nigiri, Cajun seared tuna, tsunami roll, chipotle shrimp roll, chicken bacon ranch roll, and dragon roll. We also got two slices of the cheesecake to go. My boyfriend ordered a beer but it didn’t come with a cold glass, in fact, it felt like a warm glass fresh out of the washer. In hindsight he said he wished he asked for a cold glass, because 5mins into pouring his beer it went warm and couldn’t finish drinking it – so, word of advice and ask for a cold glass.
Overall, the first couple of bites of the sushi were delicious, most likely having to do with the fact we were starving. Otherwise, we would rate this as mediocre at best. The flavors of most of the rolls were just not there… very bland and dry unfortunately. We would agree that the Cajun seared tuna nigiri and the tsunami rolls were the best ones. Least favorite were the chipotle shrimp which had virtually no flavor at all and the dragon roll was seriously lacking as well. The worst part of the meal was our coffee flavored cheesecake which we ate when we got home. It tasted very bleh, perhaps because the texture seemed like it just came out of the freezer. We only got through one of the slices and tossed the other one in the trash.
If we did not use our $ 100 Open Table gift certificate, we surely would have regretted the $ 100 check that came at the end of our meal. We will not be returning unfortunately, but at least we finally got to try a sushi roll with a piece of bacon in it.

3 Stars is A Ok… which is what this place is. Okay. GF and I went on a Wed night. Service seemed off –Hipster, stoner type server seemed confused. Everyone has off days. I had Sushi and she had orange roughy. The roughy looked and tasted great… HUGE portion… part of it was undercooked (the fish flesh had that gelatinous/​clear look in the thickest part). My sushi was «okay».
I love the atmosphere — but think this would be best as a summer patio place for appetizers and drinks.

Baconater sushi was different and delicious, something you don’t normally see. Wasn’t a fan of calamari, it was more a maple sweet sauce but I prefer spicy or marina or something of that sorts. Not a huge sushi eater but what we got tasted good the lox and salmon bagel sushi and spicy tuna, the place has a huge outdoor area which looks like it would be awesome in summer and inside had a cute feel to it the decorations were just enough that it wasn’t too much. For non seafood eaters I saw some things on the menu such as pork belly and chicken paparkash. Would like to go back and try something other than sushi as well.

As a WestSider who traveled over to the dark. er. East side to meet up with some friends, I was hoping for a bit more.
We came on a Tuesday which happened to be the ½ off sushi night. I was pretty stoked because all the rolls were included in the special, not only the boring ones.
Our friend, who suggested the place, ordered the chicken potstickers. She doesn’t like seafood, but she suggested the place… hmm.
That aside, my husband and I shared a large plate of a few different sushi rolls. Unfortunately, as beautiful as they were when they came out, I really cannot say much about their taste. They were just OK. If I would have payed full prices for those rolls (not cheap!) I would have been pretty disappointed.
I ordered some habanero drink. I was hoping for a spicy drink with some sweet to break the flavor, however, all I got was super spicy. (and I like spicy things, so it wasn’t just be being a whimp!)
We did get to sit outside though, and they have a great patio. The atmosphere and the service were pretty good. I’d maybe like to come back again to this place and try some non-​sushi since our friend recommended it based on the non-​sushi menu items.

**I give a FOUR STAR for the fun, creative, and customer friendly experience we had!
Came to Lure Bistro on a Tuesday as a belated Father’s Day celebration. This first time experience there has got to be the funniest restaurant encounter I have ever had! First off, our server was so adorably awkward (he claimed it was his first day). Right off the bat I confirmed with him THREE TIMES that he was sure the entire sushi mention was half off. He said yes every time. This was the first mistake of many over the course of our hilarious meal.
First he forgot my dad’s beer order (no big deal). Then, we received an appetizer that we thought we hadn’t ordered, and the server agreed and said sorry. In actuality, it was what we ordered! How confusing, haha. Regardless, appetizers were so delicious. Then we took a Lure Shooter shot which prompted us to order mass amounts of sushi because why not! It was all half off! Once the sushi arrive, we realized the server placed an order of two Tuna Rolls instead of the Two Timing Tuna Roll. All was well though, and the two rolls were comped and we got the right roll. But then, towards the end of the meal, the server informs us that he was wrong about all sushi being half off! Without much prompting though, he informed us to not worry and it would be comped to the half off price he promised us. By the end of the meal, we had to send the check back three times before he got it right! Once he even gave us the wrong bill, haha! I swear, our entire meal was practically 50% off.
Anyways, it was a great experience despite all the mishaps! Taste wise, the sushi was only okay. If you are looking for beautifully simplistic sushi meal, do not go here! This is the type of place where you go for crazy rolls stuffed with everything imaginable.

Really all that needs to be said is: Baconator sushi.
But seriously, I love the sushi here. I would come here every half-​price Tuesday if I could. Julie is the best server! Very attentive but not at all intrusive or annoying. I have yet to be disappointed by anything I have ordered. With that being said, I have never tried their entrees other than sushi (and of course their AYCE crab legs in the summer). Great atmosphere, love sitting outside! A must-​try, in my opinion.

A big *shrug* for Lure from us. A paste of Siracha and mayo seems to drive their «Asian fusion» menu but the concoctions just don’t seem to work for us. We found many of the fusion items more nauseating than pleasant — an example of the end result not coming out better than the sum of its parts.
Hard to attest to the freshness as most of the things served to us were drenched in some creamy or heavy buttery sauce. I can say the oysters-​on-​the-​half-​shell ($ 24.00/dz) and the hamachi (yellowtail) nigiri ($ 7.00÷2 pcs) were definitely fresh tasting.
Probably the best part of our dinner in taste and surprise were the ahi poke nachos appetizer ($ 9.00)! If there’s anything that’d bring us back to Lure it would be this appetizer and was a +1 star to this review!
Quail egg (raw) shooter ($ 2.50)… hmm, won’t order that again. It was just an unimpressive raw egg mixture. Oyster shooter ($ 3.00), it is what it is — alcohol inundates everything. I’ll just stick to the oysters-​on-​the-​half-​shell which were good just by themselves (with lemon juice). Although I prefer a more Japanese flavor to this delicacy like what other traditional Japanese restaurants do instead of cocktail sauce.
My wife’s crab-​encrusted grouper entrée ($ 25.00) was a mess of fish and crust that tasted like and had a consistency of a bland omelet with a side of polenta that had even less flare than porridge. Totally disappointing.
Lobster chowder ($ 7.00) was pleasantly stocked full of lobster meat and tasted good.
Mushroom pierogis ($ 8.00) were simply too saucy and dumped full of cream. Bad.
The rest of us stuck to the sushi menu — $ 15 for «two-​timing tuna» roll (futo maki) and another $ 15 for a «lobster popper» roll. OK, again with the freekin’ mayo sauce on rice? The tuna was definitely better than the lobster salad option, though, if I had to choose. Unless Option C is available…
Yes, someone just had to order the bacon sushi ($ 3.00÷2 pcs)! And yes, it was just crisp bacon on rice. Thankfully the bacon sashimi wasn’t ordered which is literally just a piece of crisp bacon.
I have to admit the lemonade ($ 2.00) was delicious! LOL!
Desserts were pleasantly surprising: coconut cheesecake ($ 6.00), crème brûlée ($ 6.00), and German chocolate tart ($ 6.00). Non-​Asian but the better part of our dinner!
Although I prefer traditional Japanese cuisine, that doesn’t mean I can’t be wow’d by Asian fusion. But whereas traditional cuisine generally has relatively strict rules about how things are supposed to taste, the creative freedom and lack of these rules can make or break «fusion» cuisine. And fusion just doesn’t work here at Lure.