Des Plaines, IL · Sushi · Date Night · Under $110 for Two
Vika and I went out for date night this past Saturday, and the place we picked was Ari Sushi in Des Plaines. On the drive in, I glanced at the GPS as we got close, and I realized we had actually been to this exact address before. What I didn’t know is that the restaurant inside is now a completely different place. The old tenant was Oba Contemporary Japanese. About four years ago, a new family took over the space, rebranded it, and rebuilt the menu. Same building, totally new restaurant. And after this dinner, I can tell you it’s worth knowing about.
This article is not sponsored. We paid for everything ourselves, and no one at Ari Sushi knew we were coming.
It’s a small strip mall spot on Elmhurst Road, the kind of place you’ve driven past a hundred times without noticing. The lot out front is small, and there’s more parking around the side of the building if the front row is full. The inside is the surprise. Modern dining room, red walls and red leather booths, a checkered floor, big woven pendant lights overhead, and a wall of food photos running the length of the room. The sushi bar sits on one side, the booths on the other. The owner’s son walked us through the menu, asked what kinds of things we usually go for, and made suggestions based on that. That kind of service is what turns a strip mall sushi spot into a neighborhood place.
One thing that told us pretty quickly we were in the right place. When we walked in, the dining room was empty. For the first ten minutes or so it stayed that way, and then it just started filling up. A few people on their own grabbing seats at the sushi bar, a couple of families with little kids in the booths, more couples behind us. By the time we were halfway through the meal the room was busy. That’s the local-neighborhood-spot tell. The people who know about it actually show up.
The Beer: Baeren Classic
I went with the Japanese craft beer they had on the menu, a bottle called Baeren Classic, brewed in Iwate. It was honestly OK, not my favorite. A little too malt-forward for what I like, and I probably won’t order it again. Next time I’ll try something different, probably a Sapporo. That said, this was one of the first truly hot days of the season, the bottle came out properly cold, and that first crisp pour hit exactly the way you want it to after walking in from the heat. So OK for the moment, even if it isn’t a re-order for me.
The App That Converted Vika on Uni
For the appetizer, the owner’s son recommended the Unitoro Tartar. It comes in a small wooden bowl, with tuna and yellowtail tartar, a bright yellow quail egg yolk in the middle, scallions, a generous pile of red tobiko on top, and a wooden box of toasted nori sheets on the side. You mix it all together, scoop it onto a sheet of nori, and eat it like a hand roll.
Here’s the part I didn’t expect. Vika is not normally a fan of uni. It’s one of those textures she’s never quite come around on. So when this came out and I saw her grab a sheet of nori, I figured she’d take one bite to be polite and then leave the rest to me. She loved it. We’re talking the kind of “wait, this is actually really good” reaction, and then she went back for another. The uni was creamy, the tartar was clean and well seasoned, the quail egg yolk pulled it all together, and the toasted nori gave it the snap you want at the end of every bite. This was the dish of the night, and we both agreed on it. If you go and don’t order this, you’re missing the reason to be there.
The Rolls
Once we settled on rolls, we ordered the Spicy Tataki, the Fire Bird, and a smaller Spicy Salmon to round things out. The owner’s son talked us through the lineup so we wouldn’t end up with three of the same thing on the table.
The thing Vika and I both noticed right away is how fresh the fish tasted across every roll. Clean, balanced, no roll that needed sauce to carry it. The rice-to-fish ratio leaned fish-forward, which is what you want when the fish is this good.
The Spicy Tataki and the Spicy Salmon were both solid. Good flavors, well built, nothing we’d send back, but also not the rolls that ended up stuck in our heads after. They earned their spot on the table and that’s the right way to think about them.
The Fire Bird is the one with thinly sliced fluke draped across the top, finished with a stripe of red tobiko. We ordered it with no citrus mayo, which is a Vika thing, she doesn’t love it on her sushi. The flavors were great. The only note Vika and I both landed on is that the fluke was sliced very thin, almost translucent, and the roll would have been even better with a slightly thicker cut so the fish carried more across the top. Not a complaint exactly, more a “if you go, here’s what to expect.” Everything else on it worked.
The Two Rolls We Ordered After We Were Already Full
Here’s the moment that tells you the most about this place. We finished the appetizer and the three rolls, sat there for a minute, and instead of asking for the check we looked at each other and ordered two more. Vika wanted the Half Alaskan. I wanted the Half Ocean Drive. Halves on the menu are a great touch, by the way, because it lets you keep tasting without committing to a full roll you don’t need.
The Half Alaskan was Vika’s pick (she went Alaskan partly because she’s not a cilantro person and Alaskan keeps things clean). The fish in it was minced really well, the spicy mayo was actually tasty rather than just heat, and she loved it. I tried two pieces of hers and she tried two of mine, and we both agreed her roll was outstanding. The Half Ocean Drive is the one I loved. Extremely fresh-tasting, fish-forward, very clean. It reminded me of a roll I used to order years ago at a place in Chicago called House of Sushi and Noodles, which has since closed. Same energy. Lots of fish, light on filler, nothing trying too hard.
The honest summary of all five rolls: every single one was something we’d order again. Nothing on the table that we wouldn’t, and the only reason to skip any of them next time would be to try something new from the rest of the menu.
The Price
I’m going to keep including this in every food article I write, because I think it actually matters and most places don’t tell you. Here’s exactly what we paid.
For the quality of fish on the table, that’s a really fair price for two people. Not cheap. Good sushi never is. But very reasonable, especially when you stack it against what a comparable date-night sushi dinner runs in the city.
What we paid: Our total before tip, with tax, was $108.78. That covered one Unitoro Tartar appetizer, a Spicy Tataki, a Fire Bird, a Spicy Salmon, a Half Alaskan, a Half Ocean Drive, and one Japanese craft beer.
Would It Work for the Family?
This was a date night for Vika and me, so Josh and Emily weren’t with us. But I always run the family math on a new place, because that’s how we usually travel and eat. We could see it working already, because by the time we were eating there were a couple of families with little kids in the booths around us and nobody looked out of place. The booths are easy for four, the service was warm and patient with two adults asking a lot of questions, and the menu has the kind of range (full rolls, half rolls, an appetizer like the Unitoro Tartar that’s its own moment) that gives you a way to bring kids in without overordering. We’ll report back once we’ve taken Josh and Emily.
The Verdict
Fresh fish across the board, a Unitoro Tartar app that turned a non-uni person into a uni person for the night, a roll lineup with zero misses, friendly service from a family that clearly cares, easy parking, and a fair price at the end ($108.78 for two with tax). Honestly, I can’t really say anything negative about this experience. Ari Sushi is now the spot we’ll be recommending when friends ask where to get good sushi in the northwest suburbs. It joins Tekka Sushi in Elk Grove Village and Sensei in Palatine in our local sushi rotation.
Want to see the Unitoro Tartar and the rolls in motion? We posted a few short videos from this visit on Instagram. Head over to @travelandfoodguy and check them out.
Have you been to Ari Sushi, or do you have a favorite sushi spot in the northwest suburbs we should check out next? Drop it in the comments. Vika and I are always looking for the next one.
