Union Sushi + Barbeque Bar

Not a huge sushi water or fan but this was actually delicious! Would def go back for a HH as it was very expensive!

I would not recommend having your food delivered. The tune appetizer was decent and I enjoyed the keylime dessert. The dessert was sloppy by the time it arrived. I had the yellow tail sushi (w/​black rice) for my main meal and it was bland.
Based on the pictures posted, it seems like a nice establishment. There were reporting of multiple shooting the night before. Since I was traveling alone and I wasn’t familiar with the area, I thought I would play it safe and order in.

The happy hour here was definitely worth a try. I loved the $ 1 oysters which were amazingly seasoned and very delicious! The half price shrimp tempera roll was pretty good too. Not to mention, the $ 5 Moscow mule was totally worth it and delicious. We also tried a the rainbow roll which was not on the happy hour menu. it was pretty good but it was definitely pricey, $ 8 for four pieces. Overall, the service was very quick and friendly. The décor is really cool and it was a very comfortable environment to hang out and enjoy food with friends and family. I would definitely come back for the happy hour.

Can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said, but this is a great urban sushi place. It’s trendy, hip, and casual without being too informal.
I recommend coming here during the happy hour, which runs until 6:30pm. Try the specials which include $ 1 oysters (dressed), beef skewers ($ 2.50 for a 3-​bite skewer of very tender/​marinated beef), and shrimp tempura rolls.
I also recommend trying all the rolls with black rice for a different experience. My favorites are the Hokkaido roll (grilled scallop) and the Chesapeake Bay (fried oyster/​collard green). Very unique flavors and very satisfying.

Great food choices and atmosphere. Came here with a group of girls before going out. Our waitress was a lot of fun and we ended up staying after dinner for drinks bc we were having so much fun! The hostess staff was really good at getting our large group seated quickly and comfortably too!

I’m a fan of their vegetarian selection of maki rolls — they have variety and everything tastes good!

I had such such a good time here. Best buddy from high school flew in from the East Coast and I wanted to show him a more cool neighborhood near — but not in — the loop where he was staying.
Wanted it to be my treat, but I was low on cash. So I googled «best happy hours in River North».
Our server was friendly, attentive but not intrusive, and well-​informed about the entire menu, though we only ordered from the Happy Hour Menu.
~The drinks were delicious — $ 5 mules of various combinations.
~I also ordered their house made nonalcoholic ginger beer — very strong and gingery so was able to make three drinks out of this potent elixir.
~The Wagyu tenderloin skewers made on the robata grill was some of the most flavorful beef ever.
–Shrimp maki rolls with tempura crisps and avocado — which was also a happy hour special — were delicious. Pieces were generous and attractively assembled.
~ Here’s the reason for the FOUR STAR review, instead of FIVE: $ 1 oysters were the size of my PINKY NAIL.
Overall, I would absolutely take others back here and highly recommend this place. Décor was industrial yet playful, hip-​hop background music was at a volume conducive to conversation, vittles definitely intended for foodies and attire was casual.

I came to Union Sushi with a friend during happy hour. Usually, the happy hour offerings at a restaurant are nothing amazing, but I thought that the deals at Union Sushi were actually quite tasty! We ordered the $ 4 shrimp tempura roll, the skewers, and a couple oysters ($ 1 each!). The tempura roll was crisp and the sweetish sauce complemented it well. If you really wanted a budget meal, you could probably get decently full from ordering multiple tempura rolls. The skewers were a little tough, so they weren’t my favorite. I don’t eat oysters, but people to the left and right of us easily ordered 20 oysters each and happily dined on them. It looks like many people come here and simply order oysters during happy hour as their meal.
In addition to the happy hour deals, we also ordered the uni alfredo soba and black rice sushi sampler. The uni in the soba was delicious and tasted very fresh. I particularly enjoyed the large roe that was in the dish. Overall, this dish was good but pretty rich. The black rice sushi looked pretty interesting. It consisted of four different rolls that you can also order separately if you wish. Surprisingly, the vegetarian Devon roll was delicious! The touch of sweet potato in the roll was fantastic. I was not a fan of some of the other rolls that came with the sampler order. If I were to come to Union again, I think I would order the rolls separately so I could choose the ones I liked. For dessert, we ordered the killer yuzu pie and pistachio cream brittle. Warning: the killer yuzu pie is EXTREMELY yuzu-​y. It had a very tart and tangy flavor that may have been a little overwhelming towards the end. The pistachio cream brittle was actually better than I expected and actually helped tone down the flavors of the yuzu pie.
The food at Union Sushi is pretty good. My favorite part would probably be the rolls and I definitely would come back to try the other ones on the menu. That being said, however, this experience came with a pretty hefty price tag. Union Sushi is definitely not cheap and probably isn’t a place where you should go on a whim since you might be welcomed with an unpleasant surprise (the bill). You should be prepared to spend at least $ 30 per person easily before coming here.

I wanted so badly to love this place! I am constantly looking for the best sushi place in the city. I ordered on Door Dash and food was pretty good until we found a shoulder length hair in our sushi. I am sure it was by accident and doesn’t happen on a regular basis, but that was it for me. My fiancé of course kept eating the rolls even after finding the hair.
One more tip if you love salads, do not get the house salad from here. Very bland and the dressing was not delicious-​perhaps that’s because I am used to a ginger dressing and this was not.

Fun, loud, and energetic sushi joint. Pricey, but definitely high quality food. They have some creative rolls– really liked the old city market and pacific coast rolls.

Overpriced sushi, tiny portion and most important they have hidden charges! — Feeling robbed after diner.
Me and my hubby both like try new restaurants, so this was on our list for a while and we finally made it.
First of all, i do have to say i love there $ 1 happy hour raw oyster, taste was good but not sure if the quality was ok (i had no problem but my hubby had bad stomach).
We ordered sashimi Plates, our waitress proposed to have some Fresh Wasabi, so we were like «cool» we never had some fresh wasabi, i am never a wasabi fan but why not. The fresh wasabi was overwhelming, didn’t taste like wasabi nor fresh. BUT, something we didn’t know about this little pinch of fresh wasabi is, it’s 6 dollars on our bill!!! FUCKING 6 dollars+tips! the waitress never informed us. both of us thought its someting come with the sashimi plates.
Their sushi taste fine but so tiny, sushi roll as thin as your thumb, i would usually feel stuffed after 8 normal sized sushi roll (say whole food sushi size, and i am a 4′’11 petite girl), but i am pretty sure i can easily eat 24 of their sushi rolls just feel fine.
now about their BBQ, we had one of their special of the day BBQ stick, wagyu beef with leek, the beef stick came in a tiny sauce dish, like 1 finger stick, seriously as big as a lady finger! It’s basically two leek warped in a thin slice of beef, again 6 dollar! No wonder when i just ordered 1 stick the waitress give me a look like“are you sure? just one tiny stick?
Then we ordered some Prosciutto-​wrapped Scallops, scallop taste funny like it’s not fresh and feels like it’s from 3 days ago.
Sorry to complaint so much, i am not a cheap customer, i’ve been some expensive restaurant in Chicago like Everest, everything super expensive but everything worth every single dollar. Union sushi is such an expensive place with bad quality food and service, we had higher expectation, but spending $ 170 that night for 2 of us was way too much and just felt like robbed!

After deep dish pizza and Portillo’s, my family needed Asian cuisine and we found Union Sushi on Unilocal,our expectations were far exceeded!
Favorites were the black rice sushi sampler and alligator ribs (tender with the consistency of catfish/​bbq pork, really good), also liked were the mushroom salad, mussels, and truffled tuna. The Uni Alfredo Soba was too creamy and sweet, and the yuzu cheesecake also on the sweet end.
Overall had a fantastic experience with great service, I would definitely come back.

Oh my. I was craving ramen and I had a promo code for Über eats. Sounds like a good Monday night, right? WRONG. Now I won’t blame the restaurant for the fact that I watched my UberEats driver sit in one place for 15 minutes while she was en-​route, but that definitely didn’t help my already suffering meal.
I got the mushroom ramen, but I’d hardly call it that. The broth just tasted off. The noodles, oh lord the noodles. The texture will haunt me for life. Do you remember the texture of the chicken soup noodles you’d get in grade school? The ones that were mushy from sitting in the pot all day. They were just like that, only they were all stuck in big chunks that I had to cut with my plastic fork in order to eat, and no chewing was needed. I couldn’t stomach the whole bowl. At least the dumplings were edible.

I ordered the 9 piece black rice chef’s choice sampler for delivery. Was really disappointed that it wasn’t a sampler, it was 2 each of salmon, octopus, yellowtail, and white tuna, and tamago. The photos showed and I really assumed it would be 9 pieces of different types of fish. Out of these, I would only order the salmon if I were ordering at a sushi bar so definitely not happy about the variety to make up for the less favored fish. The fish were fine but black rice doesn’t really work.
Would order from Umai instead. Their omakase is 10 pieces of a variety of fish and slightly cheaper than Union Sushi.
On the other hand, delivery thru caviar (
) was really fast, only took 30 minutes from placing order to receiving food.

I heard. I went. I enjoyed at Union Sushi’s $ 1 happy hour oysters. These scrumptious flavorful bites were a joy to slurp down. I ended up finishing 3 dozen’s and every dozen that came after each the shrimp rolls were a blast.
Happy Hour lasted from 5pm to 6:30pm with plenty of parking nearby.

So I had only heard about Union until this past week, when suddenly I collided with their rolls, not once but twice. Typically I avoid doing takeout sushi as lets face it, its never as good after its transported. What should be hot isn’t hot, and whats supposed to be cold is no longer cold and essentially what you’re left with is a subpar experience with your craving somewhat being met. HOWEVER, that’s not what happened here. The sushi was delivered freakishly fast for a Saturday night, for a sec I thought I had ordered from Jimmy John’s, thats how freaky fast my order was.
Next up, I went to the restaurant 5 days later. It was super busy. Beyond. Service could have been a little better, but all things considered everyone was doing their best and in good spirits which made a huge difference. The food was good. Oysters were interesting. They were dressed with a lot of unique things, super flavorful.
The apple flavored moscow mule, bangin’.
Overall it’s a solid 4 stars, my company on the other hand…5…all day, all the way.
Enjoy.

A little disappointed with my ubereats order today. I ordered the spicy shrimp and the hamachi rolls but without rice. I figured they would still be decently sized by their description online and when they arrived they were the size of a penny. I guess this is how they make their rolls without rice or maybe since they weren’t larger rolls but I have been to other Chicago sushi places that have given me rolls without rice that were still a somewhat normal portion. The flavors though were good. I also ordered the seaweed salad and was confused when I opened it. I guess my usual seaweed salad I am used to is generic and maybe Union sushi is upscale? This looked like a squishy kale salad. With the dressing it was very good, but still weirded me out just a bit. Would consider ordering again.
I would definitely not order rolls without rice here again, but would try other rolls and give this place another try. I have heard awesome things about this place so paying $ 30 for this was kind of a bummer.

As good as it gets.
Every dish was amazing.
Yui was our server — can it get any better than her?

This is based on a rather older experience so hopefully things have changed.
The food is… ok? I’m probably a little bit more picky since I’m Asian. Their drinks and sushi were good, no complaints. Their vegetarian mushroom ramen was very disappointing to my friend who ordered it. Their meat BBQ options were also just ok.
So why 2 stars vs 3 stars? Their service was just a little bit too slow for my liking. I’m fairly convinced they forgot my friend’s ramen since it took about 45 minutes before it came out. What rubbed us the wrong way was that there was no apology whatsoever.
Prices are about on average or slightly higher than expected for a yuppy Asian fusion place.

Let me start by saying– The shrimp tempura roll is on another level good– it’s ridiculous. A must!
They have such a great variety of drinks (Moscow mules and sake in particular) and menu items. All of their appetizers that I’ve tried are delish. Their sushi rolls are so different than anywhere else. Another favorite is the old city market roll, which is wrapped in collard greens. Tonight I tried the dragon, and mushroom rolls. All were great! They offer black rice as well as white rice for sushi which is nice to switch it up sometimes.
I enjoy going more during the week as I feel it’s less crowded and the wait staff are extra attentive as opposed to weekends when it’s very busy, which is understandable. I can’t say enough good things about this place. One of my top 5 Chicago sushi spots!

I saw this place from the train earlier in our trip and knew it was going to be a winner. It just oozed fun!
After wandering around a bit looking for something, we decided to make the trek over to Union and we are so glad that we did! What a fun environment!!! They were blasting old school jams, sushi plates came out within minutes of the order, fresh grated horseradish, yummy cocktails, and Japanese whiskey!
They had interesting twists on sushi rolls… Wrapped in radish strips, kale, or cucumber! We had to try many as they all sounded great!
We had tuna sashimi, Tsukiji Market, Chesapeake bay, Old Town Market, and Spicy Shrimp. Our waiter offered me a sea urchin shooter and I thought… Why not!!! It was all delicious!
You can order 4pc or 8pc to an order so you are not committed to a few rolls.
We sat at the sushi bar.
The wait staff was polite, fun, and energetic.
It was exactly what our evening called for! I will definitely be back the next time we are in Chicago!!!

Looking for a place with sushi place but tired of the ordinary? This is a great fun place to grab dinner with a bunch of friends. Technically, we came here with a bunch of girls during a bachelorette trip. They take your ordinary sushi and gives your tastebud a run for its money.
I love that they have a fun atmosphere, great drinks and an area where they barbecue in house! The manager was extremely nice and even gave us a couple of complimentary appetizers to apologize for having us wait beyond our reserved time slots. Super nice and super cute! *wink* lol
I don’t remember exactly the names of each item we ordered, but the group of friends and I ordered a little of everything to share and sample! A few stood out:
The trio slider was unique!
The truffled tuna – omg! Sooo good! I have an obsession with everything truffle oil these days. Lol
Sashimi cup – it was light and refreshing
Black Rice sushi sampler — the rice texture was different. I wasn’t a big fan of the black rice.

On a chilly December night, we were in the mood for Ramen, but our friends that were coming in town preferred a Japanese steakhouse. The compromise turned out to be Union.
This stylish, urban Izakaya-​styled spot sits on a quiet corner in River North. We stopped by on a Sunday evening and it was busy, but not slammed. The tall ceilings, exposed concrete and plumbing and colorful grafitti on the walls give it a super cool atmosphere.
We started with one of their many Moscow Mules (tasty, but pricey at $ 13 a pop) and then jumped into some appetizers. By far the star was the Buffalo Duck Wing, which was actually a massive drumstick slathered in amazing Asian-​flavored buffalo sauce. Honestly, you could put that sauce on anything and it would be a hit.
For dinner we went for the famed Ramen. My fiancée had the beef short rib (meat was super tender, but the broth left a little flavor missing) and I had the spicy pig tail. Mine was a massive hit, the broth was a smokey, salty, spicy concoction of deliciousness. Honestly, everybody else took half their food home, but I HAD to finish that delicious Ramen.
Portions are very decent. You won’t be overwhelmed, but I felt the quality and portion size were about right for the price (appetizers around $ 10, Ramens $ 15 or so).
In the end, I would recommend Union for a relaxed, but classy night out. You get your money’s worth between the quality of the food, the atmosphere and the decent portions. But still a bit too pricey to be a regular spot for me. But when the wind is whipping up in the city, there are far worse places to wander into to warm yourself up with some classic Izakaya grub than Union.

The host was very accommodating even though we were 10 min late for our reservation but she remembered me and saved our table.
Our main purpose was to try the happy hour specials and the drinks. Service, food, drinks passed with flying colors.