Lure Izakaya Pub

Summary: Food tastes bad. Ingredients are not fresh or creative. Sub-​par service, felt horrible after dining there. If you would like to try a good Japanese izakaya place, there are better place out there in Chicago.
Here’s our story:
We love Japanese izakaya and wanted to try a new place other than our regular izakaya joints and so we decided to try Lure. Reading some reviews and seeing some of the pictures, my boyfriend and I were excited.
Upon arriving at the place, a black brick façade greeted us which covers the front of the restaurant so you can’t really see into the actual restaurant unless you walk further in. At first, I thought it was an interesting entrance as with those trendy restaurants nowadays but later on I felt like they should have knocked it down to allow us some view of the outside or some sunlight.
The hostess lady greeted us and escorted us to our table, which we were seated in the front section right next to the glass window facing a view of that black brick front entrance façade (the hostess lady ended up being the most helpful person for our experience! props to her). The restaurant was quiet despite being a Saturday evening, only 6 other persons were there. Once seated, she served us water and inquired if we had dined there before. We never dined there so she went on to explain the menu sections and informed us that they also specials of the day to which our waiter will be right with us to explain.
****The Real Scoop****
A few minutes later, the waiter (a guy with a dark beard) came over and was so soft spoken, it was hard to hear him against the background music. He asked us if we would like to start with any drinks. We weren’t given a drink menu so we asked him if we could have the drinks menu. He replied so rudely that they didn’t have a drinks menu and that what they have were «red wine, white wine, beer, sake», literally just listing the categories. For us, we were like uhh… I guess you don’t want to sell your alcohol since you don’t want to bother explaining what you really have in detail so we declined the drinks. This is the beginning of where it goes down hill. After that interaction, the supposedly waiter just ignored us when he would come back to our section and skip over to his other tables.
The hostess came back to our table after a while and asked us if we had heard anything about the specials yet, of course we didn’t! The waiter didn’t even bother to mention about it after we declined the drinks, he just walked away. Anyways, the hostess was nice enough to come back again and showed us the ipad with the specials. When we were ready to order, we informed the hostess since she was the only ONE who was still checking on us.
We ordered the special langoustine, tiger fries, kyuri sunomono, and karaage first just to test out the flavors and the portions. Boy! Was I glad that we only ordered those because when the food came out and we analyzed the individual dishes, it wasn’t good. Langoustine has very delicate flavor, but I couldn’t taste a single thing. It was so bland and not worth the money. Tiger fries were raved by many reviews— the fries were definitely from some distribution wholesaler, pre-​made, and fried at the restaurant, the sauce was a mismatched of flavors as well. Third dish, kyuri sunomono. The pickled cucumber tasted like the commercial ones that you can buy from Mitsuwa market. If the restaurant counts itself as a creative place, maybe they should look into Sumi Robata’s kyuri because they actually did pickle the cucumber from scratch and it tasted good! Last dish, karaage — nothing special, bland. Please… Itto sushi can do better! Noted, we did receive a complimentary amuse-​buche of ebi yaki, it’s like the takoyaki round balls but with shrimp. That was the only fresh dish, the batter was crispy and probably the highlight of all the dishes.
If this was not juicy enough, we also had the pleasure of interacting with our supposedly waiter one last time. He came to drop off our karaage to the table and rudely shoved the food on our table. He noticed that our table had plates scattered all over and there was not enough room to place the karaage so he put the new dish down on the very edge of the table with half of the plate still hanging out, ready to tip over to the floor. There was no intuition to clear some of our empty dish or help reorganize the plates on our table. Wow.
That was really the last straw. I was so annoyed and was ready to get out the door asap. At the beginning, I was taking pictures of the food so I can post a review about it later. As the meal progressed, I lost the mood to take pictures of the other dishes — very disappointed indeed.
My boyfriend and I rushed to finish the last bits of our food and was glad to leave this establishment. Overall, we felt like we weren’t welcome, the food wasn’t up to our standard and expectations. We definitely won’t be coming back nor should you even waste your money and time here!

We shared quite a few of the different fish dishes and they were all delicious and not that expensive. I would recommended the fish specials, tuna poke, grilled salmon, and duck. The décor was modern and elegant. Would definitely go back!

Went for reservations tonight, Sunday. Door was locked. Called sister restaurant, Strings 2, apparently now closed on Sunday, but not CLOSED. Will try again.

No crowd on a Tuesday night. We had our doubts when we saw that, but the food spoke for itself. Service was quite with the music. Satisfied after sharing four dishes. We will return!

I’m writing this additional color commentary to supplement the review from
Sean K., live from my bathroom, where I’ll likely remain for the rest of the day. I was a guest with the above reviewer at Lure yesterday evening. To put it nicely, I won’t be returning. Promises from management of seven course meals that will «make up for» our disastrous experience here sounds about as appealing to me as the 25+ strands of mushy, tasteless pasta that remained strewn across our table for the entirety of the meal.
To start, the managers visit and pushing of the upcoming seven course meal experience was as demeaning as Trump demanding that Mexico pay for a border wall. We’ve just had a shit experience with you (likely one of the worst meals of all our lives) and now we are all supposed to contribute hundreds of dollars to experience another one? The attempted upsell here was as sleazy as the worst lower back tattoo. No thanks.
Since documenting every part of our shitty costumer experience last night is about as easy as retreating from Iraq, I’d like to highlight a few additional infuriating issues that occurred.
— We waited 30 minutes + for second drinks (there were literally 7 guests in the restaurant, so not sure how this was acceptable
— The table next to us were apparently revered guests from Indiana. Instead of cleaning off our table, refilling out water or providing me with utensils, this table was given — wait for it– literal terrariums in the middle of their meal. Now, I like science class too, but the priority order seems complete out of whack here.
–The mussels were rancid. Everyone felt sick after the meal. Spoiler alert: one day later, we don’t feel great either
— Management visits to the table are as smooth sailing as the upcoming republican convention. We were visited by no fewer than 4 people who continued to make excuses for the low quality of the meal, but would not offer any type of resolution, or apology. One woman even literally ran away while we were explaining the situation to her.
I’ve been to several other restaurants that have occupied this space over the years, but at this point even an abandoned building would be a vast improvement over the disastrous spectacle that is Lure.

I’ve never written a review on Unilocal.But sometimes when you have a dining experience that is so spectacularly bad (despite its four star Unilocal rating), you are compelled to warn others away from a restaurant. This was such a dining experience.
This is a shared plates restaurant, yet they have a number of noodle soup dishes. We asked if the soups were generally for a single person. We were assured they’d bring us small bowls so we could easily share. They brought the bowls, but there was no ladle for the soup, making splitting very difficult. We asked twice for a ladle, and the servers seemed baffled by the concept of a ladle each time. In addition, the servers screwed up our orders.
The food itself was even worse than the service. We ordered a seafood noodle dish. It contained mussels and shrimp, both of which were rancid. My friends already think they have food poisoning from this dish. The red snapper fish special tasted worse than super market fish sticks. And then mixed in with the edible (using that term loosely) portions of snapper were these garnishes, presumably made from the fish. Thinking they were edible (as they were mixed with the food), I popped one in my mouth. It had the texture of a brittle pine cone and no taste whatsoever. We had plates of uneaten food on our table because it was just bad, bad bad.
At the end, we had made our displeasure known with the service and the food. Yet we had an experience to cap our meal which was really just the cherry on this shit Sunday. The General Manager approaches us and introduces himself and another gentlemen who was the head chef. Thinking we were going to get a very necessary apology for our terrible experience, we were awed as the General Manager proceeds to up-​sell us on a «very special» 7 course meal event they have upcoming. It was absolutely appalling and clueless. As if we would EVER visit this restaurant again. I was the person who recommended that we visit it, and it was a meal so bad that none of us felt like going out to Boystown afterwards, as we had initially planned. I speak not in hyperbole when I say that this was the one of the worst meal experiences I have had in my entire life.
The four-​star average for this restaurant is a total farce. I suspect that friends and family of the owners and employees of this restaurant have given some of the positive reviews boosting this restaurant’s school. Do NOT come to this restaurant if you value acceptable food and/​or acceptable service.

Came here for brunch and I had a pretty amazing culinary experience! In no particular order, we had:
Tuna poke with avocado and togarashi — it’s your typical poke. It was a little on the slimy side though…
The What Came First crostino (toast): duck breast, runny egg, green tea vinegar and balsamic. I thought the duck breast was cooked well, and I liked the flavors with the grean tea vinegar and balsamic.
The Miso french toast with plum honey, black salt and edible beautiful flowers. This was my favorite entrée. Read below for my favorite app:
Age Mono (deep fried) avocado with togarashi and lime: usually, anything deep fried is pretty damn good. But a deep fried avocado??? It’s just creamy deliciousness all wrapped up in a crispy, crunchy batter. I would get this again!
Gonna have to come back here to try all the different udon too! Stay hungry, my friends.

After walking past this place a few times and being curious about the rebranding, we decided to give it a shot for family dinner on a Saturday night. It was an incredibly disappointing meal and way overpriced for the quality of the food and the service. We will not be coming back and even if we wanted to, I expect this place will be closed very soon.
Our primary waiter was new, he said it was his 4^th day on the job, which is fine — however, there was no senior waiter training him or keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn’t screw up. This new waiter knew nothing about Japanese cuisine or the items on the menu. He brought the wrong bottle of sake to our table multiple times and we had to correct him each time. He also took ages to prepare our cocktails, which were sadly the highlight of the meal. When asked about menu items, he could barely pronounce the names, let alone explain what they were or offer suggestions. A few other waiters tried to help out throughout the meal and seemed to be a bit more educated that ours, but it would’ve been better if one of them had been responsible for our table and the new guy had just been shadowing so he could learn a thing or two before taking on his own table.
Half of the items we tried to order were out of stock and then mid-​way through our meal we were given a completely different menu on an iPad. Apparently they’re in the process of changing their menu? Would’ve been nice to know about that before ordering. The dishes we did get to try were fairly tasty but the portions were small and the presentation was odd. It seems like something has changed since this place opened a few months ago based on the older Unilocal reviews, maybe a new head chef? Clearly it’s not working out very well.
Our tab for a table of 4 was almost $ 400 and we all left hungry and dissatisfied. More than half our tab was liquor because we were waiting so long for our food that we just kept drinking to make the experience palatable.

If you remember Suki you know how Japanese tapas can be amazing, this place fell very short. So short that I was embarrassed that I brought my father here. At this price point you would expect a high level of flavor but nothing delivered.
We had several different waiters over the course of the meal and they just said «we all just sort of help out here» then said something in French to another server which was just kind of odd. All the things we saw on Unilocal pics they did not have in stock. We had to ask a few time for specials till someone came along with an iPad with a secret menu on it. We got two fried fishes the one that was fillet had little care taken to remove the bone s. There plating was awful too. The blue shrimp came in a soup bowl that made it hard to see into and share, mine was chewy. After $ 400 we left disappointed and went and grabbed a cheap pizza.
I hope when they do the next rebranding, they make this place look less like prison. Maybe a cheap sushi bar. After having sushi at what was formerly Macku which was not as bad. But even then the head chef was putting truffle oil in some of the sushi. If you know anything about sushi you would know it’s about the delicate favors of the fish, truffle oil is way to over powering and lingers when you try other fishes.

Izakayas are meant to be casual after-​work drinking places where you can eat small bites that go well with alcoholic drinks. With that said, although Lure is not really an izakaya, the food was delicious. Now onto the food:
Grilled beef tongue: Typical, nothing extraordinary about this dish. A bit pricey for the amount given.
Blue shrimp: Good but so small :(I wish I had gotten the fried head like some reviews have suggested.
Wagyu carpaccio: This was aight. Not spectacular, good but for the price eh. Didn’t stand out to me as the best wagyu I’ve ever had.
Tuna poke: This was really good. Nicely marinated and it’s made spicy here. Honestly, comparing to most other Chicago upscale fusion restaurants, they gave a nice portion of it.
Udon: How udon should taste; a bit expensive for a kitsune udon but it at least had a decent broth. Nothing wow.
Karaage-​don: Small as well but the karaage was nicely seasoned. Rice was soft.
Yamaimo ebi: The flavours on this is really good. If you are not used to eating gooey kind of textures, skip this. Yamaimo is slimy, much like natto or the insides of okra.
What you should take from this review: Do try different kinds of tapas, but if you want to be full, make sure to order a gohan/​rice dish and an udon. Everything else will be extra tasties. Prices are a bit high, so this is not a traditional izakaya but it does serve decent eats. 3.5 stars overall.

Underwhelming… went in for brunch and ordered a few things that were also on the dinner menu according to the server. A foie gras dish, and a duck dish… both sounded great on paper, but lack of favour…
the duck — taste just like pieces of chinatown roasted duck topped with some hoisin saue
the foie gras — taste like pieces of fat =/​
the salmon sashimi — too much sauce… felt like i was drinking soup…
I guess we don’t really need to go back for dinner…
we also ordered the miso french toast… again…sounded great on paper, but the favour got lost in the execution…
i thought the miso sauce would be «injected» into the french toast, topped with the jammy sauce… so sweet and savory… but it was basically like basic egg-​dipped french toast on the middle of the plate, miso sauce on one side of the plate while the jammy sauce on the other side of the plate.
i put the sauces on the french toast when i took the first bite and the jammy sauce totally overpowered the miso favour… =/​
good idea… poor execution
and the servers didn’t seem to be familiar with the menu…

Great service and great flavors. The grilled mackerel and the fried river crabs were fantastic. Really good Udon and Japanese pickels.

As someone noted to me recently, with really good Asian food, you start with the eyes. And this chef has mastered presentation to start.
Better still, the taste and flavors are impeccable.
I have been to Lure three times, with three different groups of people within the past month, and all groups have all been consistently dumbstruck by how good the food tastes. This has become one of my favorite places, with an excellent set menu and so far an even more excellent «off menu» selection of dishes.
The cocktails are amazing and represent an excellent ‘artisanal’ set of drinks with a unique infusion, which so far beat the ‘traditional’ base recipes (like their equivalent of a mojito, ‘Hypnotize Mesmorize’. which was only twice as good as a base mojito).
Lastly, their fusion of Japanese, and new American — an elevated Japanese cuisine — is exceptional in taste and presentation. And we could not speak higher about the front of the house (Ian is stellar), the kitchen (Chef Maku), and all other staff who were friendly and inviting and made the environment truly hospitable.
As a friend noted to me, for those who miss Japonais… this has a lot of the hallmarks of that place. though perhaps a bit closer to the authentic — and phenomenally tasting — Japanese cuisine.

First time visit — food was fantastic and service courteous and helpful. Whole flounder, tuna poke and salmon fantastic. Everything else great as well. We’ll be back for sure.

Blew me away. World class food, beautifully presented, fantastic service, and the prices were very reasonable. We went last Saturday and loved it so much we came back again the following Wednesday. Need I say more? I am Japanese, my dining companions were not, but we all loved it.

Overall it tastes good. Kind of westernized the traditional Japanese food. Fishes are really good here. I like the salmon, the grill snapper, highly recommend the scallop, yummy. the beef is not tender enough, do not recommend.

Stopped in here on a Friday night with a reservation @ 8 PM expecting it to be packed. I was awed, we were one of maybe 4 tables in the entire establishment. In all honesty, until a week before I hadn’t even heard of this place, I thought it was still Macku. It doesn’t seem they did the best job notifying people of the opening, especially given all the hype that was Macku.
That being said, we had a very enjoyable night. The booth we were sat in was big and comfy and our server was super knowledgeable about the menu. Although they have a default consistent menu, there must have been 10+ specials going on between food/​drinks. Most of these were fish which makes sense given the shelf life.
We ordered numerous items, and although some might consider it a very easy to find item, my favorite was the eel :). It was tender and juicy and didn’t have the super seafood flavor that seafood gets when it isn’t super fresh. The Tiger fries were also extremely tasty, holy cow were they crispy! No soggy fries (which I despise) and they had a great kick to them.
We had a few other items as well, each delicious in their own right. The only thing that threw me a bit was the price point, it is a bit on the high side for the area.

I was expecting more from the price point ($ 38 after tax and tip pp), but glad to have tried this new Lakeview spot.
The dining set up was a little awkward and uncomfortable in my opinion. If you’re at a communal table (not all parties are set up this way), you’re sitting in backless stools with nowhere to put your coat or purse. I think most of my group opted for the drape-jacket-over-chair-and-hope-that-said-jacket-doesn’t-touch-the-ground-or-fall technique, but I noticed the group behind us had their coats bundled bulkily in their laps. Easy fix: get a coat rack… or eliminate Chicago falls, winters, and early-​mid springs! None of the place settings at our table had napkins either when we arrived (rookie miss), and when we asked for extra napkins the first time, the bus boy brought literally one.
Service was forgettable. Our waiter wasn’t as attentive as I’d expect for a less than half full restaurant, and water service was provided by the hostess and another staffer altogether who weren’t particularly keeping an eye out for our hydration. The glasses are rather small too, so you WILL need water refills.
Foodwise, highlights for me were the hamachi (crispy skin, expertly prepared), fried avocado (creamy and crunch textures, with a spicy kick), and tuna poke (colorful presentation, fresh tuna). Fried ebi (shrimp) was very fresh as well. Other dishes tried that were fine were the unagi (I’m not a big eel person to begin with), fried squid legs (they really got the frying thing right!), and the chicken over rice. I wasn’t a fan of the clam soup or the mussels because they tasted a little fishy to me. Scottish salmon was too salty and dry on the inside, the bone marrow didn’t have much flavor and just tasted like plain fat, and pork belly was sufficiently fatty, but lacked meat (and I also wanted crispiness). Though the waitress claimed our lives were about to change upon presenting us with the Tiger fries, I thought they tasted like Arby’s fries, but straightened. In fact, we supposed the kitchen had totally forgotten about the order of Tiger fries because they arrived at the very end of the meal and atleast 10 minutes after our last dish was dropped off and rest of the plates cleared. Were they grinding the tiger in the back?
Parting tip: don’t accidentally pour the centerpiece, a cylindrical vase of water housing plant roots, into your drinking glass. If you’re not paying attention and of a cloudy mind, I could see it being mistaken as a pitcher of water. :ox

I guess this place had the most quiet opening ever — no social media, not any press that I saw, and it’s juuuust a little outside of all the foot traffic on Diversey/​Belmont/​Fullterton, etc. It’s surrounded by apartments and you’ll pretty much miss it unless you’re looking for it. When you do see it, it looks like some random unapproachable lounge that opened in the wrong part of town. When our favorite servers from Strings 2 were promoting it in September, I was like, «cool! when do they open?» Super awkward cuz it opened in July… apparently.
We came on a late weeknight, and it was mostly empty. I’m not surprised given the location, but I do think Lure is a great special occasion/​weekend venue. The food is simple and homey, but refined just a bit for their concept.
Things of note:
Everything is served «small plates» style — and they are SMALL plates. I don’t think the plates can be shared by more than 2 people because the portions are maybe 2 – 4 bites, tops. The plates/​prices add up quickly, but it also means you get to try a lot of stuff!
Super vegetable lacking menu — outside of some pickles and mushrooms it’s mostly meat and fish and noodlecarbs.
Best thing we had: fried whole fish. We had a snapper for $ 18, one of the specials they were running, and it was really fresh, fried crispy and served piping hot. We devoured that thing. We also loved the blue shrimp and the addictingly briny mussel broth.
The mushrooms were a miss, and I would steer away from the super generic things you can get everywhere else (eel rice, pickles, etc). They are more expensive here and not necessarily any different/​better.
If you’re not familiar with the cuisine, the servers were really great at explaining and guiding the table next to us, who were asking a lot of questions, so this could be the place to go and try to branch out!

Lure was a wonderful dining experience from start to finish. I’d like to stress that service was top notch from the hostess to our server and all the other waitstaff who helped ensure we were having a good time. And while the service and ambiance were both great, the food is what earns this place five stars in my opinion.
We had a medium sized group of 7 and shared 21 dishes, so we had a chance to get a bit of variety in small bites. My personal favorites were the hamachi kama (I woke up thinking about it the next day), the unagidon, pork belly, and steamed mussels, but I don’t think there was a single dish we sampled that anyone disliked. Some of the others included the wagyu carpaccio, ebi fry, tiger fries (very crispy and yummy fries but didn’t blow our minds), sakamushi, tuna poke, karaage gohan (amazing), bone marrow (some of us wished it came with bread of some sort to spread), ika geso, fried avocado, and beni shake. The beni shake was just a tad too salty but still tasty. There was also an extensive list of specials which we didn’t even tackle – perhaps next time, as we did salivate over some of them going to the other tables.
The fact that it was an izakaya was a little wasted on me since I didn’t partake of a drink. Those at the table who did seemed to enjoy their cocktails, sake and beer.
One small area for improvement could be in terms of comfort. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant which consists of high tables and metal stools, which became a bit uncomfortable over time. There was also no where to put our jackets so many of us ended up placing purses on the floor and sitting on our lumpy outerwear. I can see winter coats being a problem when the weather gets colder. A small discomfort won’t stop me from going back, though.

Each dish was better than the last. My favorites in order: foie gras, tuna poke, wagyu carpaccio, oysters, tiger fries (would be excellent with beer) and salmon zuke. They gave us a serving of the avocado for free but I would pass. The service was excellent and cocktails were fresh and delicious. Will be coming back with a group so we can order everything!

Food was ok but not great — cocktail presentation showed no love from the bar — they ran out of garnishes on a Friday night at 8 pm — not true style Izakaya… It was more a small plates Japanese restaurant. Service was great — ambience was not warm — felt like it want finished opening for business …

Wonderful. From the moment I walked in to Lure, I was greeted and treated very special-​as if I was the only one at the restaurant.
I asked to be served something nice and was treated to the eel on a bed of rice. Tender, wonderfully seasoned and so smooth I ate it with a spoon to get all the flavors. Oh my.
bTW, I sat at the counter and had the pleasure of interacting with the Chef and owner who is a star in his own right.
I was then presented with a gift of spinach in tinfoil with a welcomed spice. Very favorable but not overdone. Just a nice mouth warmness.
I Will come again soon and try out his other spots Many thumbs up. Coming back.

The dishes are good. But not great. Came here twice now and had a good experience, but definitely left with mixed emotions about dishes. Some great, some I can pass on.
Service was probably the best thing there! Décor/​ambiance is nice, but not comfortable in my opinion.

I love this place. Food was so great nice and clean. All server very profressional. They explain us about food

I’ll keep it short because I think the reviews below capture the Lure Izakaya experience pretty well:
(1) We also had Ian as our server. I would follow him to whatever restaurant he works at. SO knowledgeable about the dishes and ingredients. I loved every recommendation he made. Hands down one of the best servers I’ve ever had at a restaurant, and I used to be a server, so that’s probably saying a lot…
(2) Delicious, interesting food. There are so many more things I want to try.
I’d go back here again and again.

Absolutely awesome Japanese food. Made my two Japanese friends homesick eating there. I will definitely be back.
Service was excellent and the atmosphere very nice.

The décor is minimalist, comfortable and lovely. The ambient music is tasteful and not too loud. We began our meal with the steamed mussels, which were in a flavorful broth. I think the proprietors should rename this dish, because «steamed mussels» doesn’t sound as tasty as the dish truly is. They should rename it, «perfectly prepared mussels in the most delicious broth you’ve ever had!» We also had the mixed oshinko which was perfect. I spent a semester in Japan, so I know my oshinko. The calamari (which the menu called «squid legs») came next and were some of the best I’ve ever had. It was very lightly dusted in breading. Then we had the whole red snapper (fried) which was a gorgeous head-​on presentation. The fish could not have been fresher. I ate its eyeballs, head and tongue and it had clearly never been frozen. It was perfect. Then we had the «river crabs,» which are tiny deep-​fried crabs (similar to soft-​shell crabs, but smaller). They were interesting. Then we had the «hamachi kama» Yellowtail cheek, which was perfect! It was moist and fresh with a perfect amount of glycation and salt. Finally we had the grilled mushrooms, which are cooked in a foil pouch. In addition to the freshness and quality of the ingredients, here are a few more of my favorite things about our experience:
1.) Our server, Ian, was beyond excellent and he made me a delicious freshly brewed iced green tea, which was not even on the menu.
2.) Every dish was accompanied by a brilliant housemade sauce, every one of which was fantastic!
3. The prices are terrific! We ordered a ton of dishes and expected our bill to be $ 100, but after tax it was only $ 63.
4. Nothing was overdone. Every protein was cooked to perfection and none of the fried stuff was greasy. Every course had an entirely masterful execution!
If I were going to make a suggestion to the owner on how to improve, I would advise them to get cloth napkins. Many of the dishes are finger-​food, and having a cloth napkin would have been nice.

A great addition to the lakeview/​lincoln park. Seems like everything that opens is exactly the same, but finally something totally out of the box. Imagine my delight when I heard Japanese + tapas. Add fresh made cocktails or sake and you have a perfect combination. We had 10 dishes and they all were incredible and large enough for four to get a good bite. Probably the most authentic Japanese I have had in a while. More a restaurant than a bar (which was good), but some people were just drinking too. Open till 2am. Best new opening in this hood, 2015.

Came here before a show at the laugh factory a few blocks away.
Gorgeous room, love the secretive entryway that keeps the buzz concentrated in the room. Some «steampunk» elements to the décor but overall modern, clean, polished & very comfortable.
Lure advertises as an Izakaya pub, implying that this is a bar where the snacks to keep your alcohol in check are small, tasty, and affordable enough to keep them coming over a long post-​work drink sesh.
The one star lost here was for the limited drinks selection– menu has 6 sake, 6 white wine, 6 red wine, 6 average looking cocktails.
Food was 5 stars though, portions matched prices and we really did get to try so many things! Grilled mackerel was just that– whole fish butterflied, charred, and served whole. hot crispy and fresh. Oysters and scallops from the cold menu were winners (and inexpensive!) The fried sand fish were my favorite– eat the salty crunchy little fish head to tail dipping in a flavorful sauce as you go. Fried crabs were very small– battered lightly, crunchy but tender, so tasty
For course 2 we got a couple of blue shrimp, I’m not a big fan of raw shrimp so my companion ate both though was still on the fence. HOWEVER after the shrimp were done the chef took the liberty of frying the heads for us to crunch on while we awaited our final course. We have asked at other establishments (often to confused looks) it a chef would save and fry up the heads off of a headless shrimp dish– here no asking! And holy were they delish. Finally, two of the larger dishes we chose arrived– unagi (BBQ eel over rice) which was just comfortingly perfect, and for dessert Udon noodles served in a clear broth with a perfect amount of spice, modestly dressed with tofu skin, fish cake slices, greens & tempura crumbs. The noodles are so fresh, chewy, just perfect it may have been my favorite dish for its heartwarming complex simplicity.
Last notes– they give you 10% off your bill if you pick up a coupon in the entryway to the dining room. Ambience was not rushed. Music was lounge-​y, with darker shades of house/​chill out music tinged with techno rhythms & light industrials influences. I think this will be a great pre or post bar spot and we’re lucky to have it in the neighborhood! So just keep expanding your drinks program, eh?

As a super fan of chef Macku, I was really excited to go to this restaurant. He can just use simple ingredients but make it incredible. The quality of the fish was the best I’ve ever had. The food is displayed beautiful. The cocktail is also really good. To be a rare Japanese izakaya you can find in Chicago, this one is really worth to go.