Updated September 2026. Dinner for four at 1512 Market Street in Des Plaines, four days after they opened. The bill is at the bottom.
Vika found this place on social media the week it opened, and by Friday the four of us were sitting in it. There is a specific kind of curiosity about a new sushi restaurant fifteen minutes from your house, and it is not really about the sushi. It is whether this is the one that becomes your Tuesday night place.
We walked in around five thirty. One other table, three people running the whole room, and a chalkboard of chef specials next to the printed menu. The eel turned out to be excellent. The rice did not, and Josh was the one who said so first, before either of us had been served.
So the short version is this. Nobody at our table was displeased, and none of us would drive for it.
The three people running the room were one server, one sushi chef, and a man who looked like the owner. That is the entire operation, front and back.
Four days is not much of a head start, so read the service notes below with a little grace. What we are describing is a restaurant in its first week.
We knew the place that used to be here, and that is why we hedge
This address used to be a 5th Avenue Sushi, part of a small chain that has since closed. Vika and I ate at another of their locations for a long stretch, and we watched the whole arc happen from the inside. It was good when it opened. Very quickly it started being not as good. By about two years in it was bad.
I am not predicting anything about Furinkazan. I have no reason to and it would be unfair to a kitchen that has been open four days. What that history did was teach us not to carve a verdict in stone about a restaurant on week one, in either direction. What we can give you is what four days in tasted like, and an honest guess at which parts of it are fixable.
The room is better than the strip mall suggests
It is cute inside, and modern in a casual way. Vika’s line was that it is not a place you are going to wear dress pants. The ceiling is open and painted dark with exposed duct, the sushi counter is a long slab of light wood with stools pulled up to it, and there is a navy noren hung over the bar printed with the four characters the restaurant takes its name from.
There are not many tables. In a room this size that works in its favor.
Look at the chalkboard on the brick wall before you order, because it carries things the printed menu does not put in front of you. Ramen in chicken, tonkotsu and spicy miso. Tacos. And the chef special rolls, which the night we were there were the 1871, the King Kong and the Crouching Tiger. We ordered the Crouching Tiger straight off that board.
Two things about the room that have nothing to do with the food. It was cold, and not slightly. All four of us were chilly the entire meal, and Vika said bring a jacket twice on the drive home, so take that as the note. And the music was a touch loud for my taste, which is a small thing and an easy thing to turn down.
The kitchen sent out two salads and a dessert, and none of it is on our check
Before we ordered, the kitchen offered us a free appetizer and we picked two of their salads, the seaweed and the baby octopus. At the end of the meal they brought out a plate of mochi ice cream we had not asked for either. All three were on the house, none of them appears on the receipt at the bottom of this page, and everything else we paid for ourselves.
Both salads were decent. Nothing exciting, both good. The octopus is not something we would have ordered on our own, which is usually the best argument for letting a kitchen pick.
Josh found the problem with the rice before either of us did
The kids’ sushi came out ahead of ours, which is normal and which turned out to matter. Josh thought the rolls themselves were fine. What he said, unprompted and before anyone had asked him anything, was that the rice did not taste right.
He was right. It was dry. Where Vika and I split is on what else is wrong with it. She thought it carried a sweetness she did not want. I did not taste sweetness at all. I tasted almost nothing, which is its own kind of problem. We still have not resolved that one and I am leaving both readings in, because they are both honest.
Here is the distinction that keeps this fair. The rice was not bad. There is a real difference between sushi rice that has gone off, or rice that is clearly yesterday’s, and rice that is simply not good rice. This was the second one. Nobody sent anything back and nobody stopped eating. But sushi rice is roughly half of what you are putting in your mouth, so when it is flat, everything sitting on top of it has to work a lot harder.
Emily’s entire verdict, delivered in the car on the way home: rice needs some work.
The eel is the best thing on the table
They sear it. Most places just warm the eel through, microwaved or otherwise, and what you get is soft and sweet and forgettable. Here it comes with a crisp edge and a caramelized flavor that actually carries through the sauce.
Vika picked it out first and I agreed with her without an argument, which does not happen as often as she would like. It was on two of the three rolls we ordered, and it is the single thing I would come back for.
The fire dragon itself came out last, and I am fairly certain the kitchen forgot about it, because it arrived after some back and forth about a roll we had not ordered. Spicy tuna inside, eel and avocado on top, eel sauce drizzled over it, a little masago. It was worth waiting for.
The spicy scallop roll is a miss, and we have a benchmark for it
Too much rice, not enough scallop. Vika’s read was blunt, there was definitely not enough scallop in it. Mine is a little kinder. It was not bad, but I would not order it here again, and I think if the rice to scallop ratio were different it would have tasted better. Because we already did not love the rice, that ratio worked against it rather than sitting neutral.
We have been ordering the spicy scallop roll more or less everywhere lately, so we have something to measure this against. Vika’s comparison was direct: underwhelming next to Black Pearl in Glenview, where the spicy scallop roll was incredible and where we had it recently enough to remember it properly. For what it is worth, the version at Shakou in Arlington Heights is not for us either, for a completely different reason. Theirs is cooked, and to us it reads closer to octopus than to scallop. That is taste rather than a flaw, and plenty of people will prefer it that way.
The Crouching Tiger is where I have to be straight with you. It is one of the three chef specials on the board, it came topped with salmon, tuna and avocado under eel sauce, and I can show you exactly what it looked like. I cannot tell you a single useful thing about how it tasted, because nobody at the table said a word about it and I am not going to invent one.
Two of our three rolls had eel sauce on top and Vika thought that was a tad much. I disagreed with her, which is funny, because she is normally the one talking me down off a sauce. I will concede it was maybe a little more than I would choose, and only because I like to taste the fish underneath.
And the fish. It was fresh, and it was underwhelming, and both of those are true at the same time. Fresh is the floor, not the achievement. What was missing is the sashimi flavor we have had at Black Pearl and at a handful of other places, where the fish itself is the reason you slow down and chew.
What the kids ate, and why they ate half the bill
Josh had three rolls, a California, a rainbow maki and a spicy salmon hand roll. Emily had two, a California and a cucumber roll. We asked them to leave the masago off both California rolls and they did it without any fuss, which is a small thing that matters a lot if you have a kid who does not want fish eggs on their food.
The hand roll was the best thing to arrive on the kids’ side of the table. Josh really enjoyed it, and it came standing in a little wooden box, which Vika thought added to the whole look of the thing. He is right that it was good and she is right that the box does something.
Emily ate both of her rolls, which she does not always do. Her one complaint was the cucumber, which was a little hard for something that is supposed to be crunchy. That may just have been the cucumber she got.
Worth flagging if you are reading this as a family. Our kids ate more of this bill than we did. Josh and Emily’s five rolls came to fifty five dollars of the check, and the four things the two of us ordered came to fifty seven. That is a normal shape for a sushi dinner with a thirteen year old at the table, and it is most of the reason the total lands where it lands.
The spicy mayo, and an appetizer that should be bigger
We order spicy mayo on the side almost everywhere we go, because Vika, Josh and I all like heat. Theirs is spicy without being punishing, with a good flavor profile and enough of it that you can actually taste the spice rather than guess at it.
The part I care about is that it is mayo based. Plenty of places hand you what is effectively a thousand island dressing with sriracha stirred through it, and this is not that. I could taste the sriracha and some seasoning underneath it that I could not place.
Vika’s summary is the honest one. She was happy with it, and it was not earth shattering. For calibration, the spicy mayo we still measure everything against is the one at Sushi Para in Palatine, and this is not that. It is comfortably better than a few others we could name.
We started the meal with the Dynamite, which is baked spicy imitation crab, almost a ball of it, with crispy edges and a ring of sliced cucumber around the outside. Nine dollars. We both liked it and we both thought it was too small for the money. A lot of places serve a version of this cold, and I actually preferred it baked, though I would happily eat either.
No gluten free soy sauce, and a homemade one instead
This surprised both of us and it is the kind of thing almost nobody bothers to publish, so here it is. They do not have gluten free soy sauce. If someone in your party needs it, bring your own or eat somewhere else.
What they do have is a homemade house soy sauce, which is a nice touch for a place this new and not something we expected. I will be straight about it though. Neither Vika nor I could taste a difference from a standard one.
So would we go back?
I said it at the top and it holds up all the way down. Nobody at our table was displeased, and none of us would drive for it. That is the whole verdict and it is not a hedge.
If we are in the neighborhood and we want sushi, all four of us would be fine eating here again. Making a point of driving out to it is a different question and the answer to that is no. Josh landed in exactly the same place without hearing either of us say it first. It was tasty, he would go again from the area, and thirty minutes is a little bit excessive. A thirteen year old and two parents arriving at the same verdict independently is about as clean a read as we ever get.
It is also not a date night place, and we went on a Friday night, which is precisely the slot it does not fill. A random weekday evening, yes. Lunch, yes. A night you are making something of, no.
What I would actually do is order it for takeout, and I want to be precise about that, because takeout is only good advice if you are close. If these are the flavors, they travel fine, and you are not paying a tip on top of the food. That is the version of this restaurant I can see us using, if we lived in the area. Driving an hour round trip to pick up sushi is a no, and it is a no whether the sushi is good or not.
One more piece of calibration, because it came up in the car without either of us prompting it. Tensuke is a longer drive from here, and Tensuke beats this any day of the week. Vika’s answer to that was not even a question.
The mochi at the end deserves its own line, comped or not. It came out beautifully plated on a hammered tray with chocolate drizzled across it and whipped cream on each piece, mango and chocolate, and it tasted very good. It is the sort of thing a new restaurant does to make an impression, and on us it worked.
What dinner for four actually cost
Right around one hundred twenty five dollars for the four of us, including tax. Here is the check exactly as it came.
Nine items, four people, no drinks. The two salads and the mochi are not on it because they were on the house. There was no service charge and no automatic gratuity on a four top. The check offers tip suggestions and nothing else.
Nine items, four people, no drinks. Two California rolls at ten dollars each and a cucumber roll at seven for the kids, plus a rainbow maki at seventeen and a spicy salmon hand roll at eleven. On our side, the Dynamite at nine, the spicy scallop roll at thirteen, the crouching tiger at seventeen and the fire dragon at eighteen. That is one hundred twelve dollars before tax, twelve dollars and thirty two cents on top of it, and a total right around one hundred twenty five dollars.
My honest read on the value, with the free food taken back out of it, is this. If we had only eaten what we actually ordered and paid for, we would have still been hungry. Vika agrees with that part. I would put it at about twenty dollars too much for what arrived on the table.
Vika’s read is softer. A little on the high end, but roll by roll, not unreasonable. Both of those are in here because both of them are true depending on how you count, and because a meal that arrives with three free courses is exactly the meal where the value question needs the comps stripped out.
Furinkazan Des Plaines, address and hours
Address. 1512 Market Street, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016.
Phone. (224) 361-3166.
Hours. Open seven days a week, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
Format. A la carte. No all you can eat.
The hours are worth a second look, because they are printed on their own front door and the photo here is that decal. Their website was still saying coming soon when we went, and the listings we could find disagreed with the door on both the evening close and whether they take a day off. The door says seven days. Go with the door, or call.
What are Furinkazan’s hours in Des Plaines?
Seven days a week, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and then 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm, with the kitchen closed in between. That comes off the decal on their own front door on the night we ate there, which is the only source we trust for this. Several listings online say otherwise and at least one of them claims a weekday closure. Call (224) 361-3166 if you are making a special trip.
How much is dinner for four at Furinkazan?
Ours was one hundred twenty four dollars and thirty two cents for four people including tax, and that was nine items, no drinks and no dessert we paid for. Rolls on our check ran from seven dollars for a cucumber roll to eighteen for the fire dragon. You could eat here for meaningfully less by skipping the chef special rolls, which are the top of the price list.
Is Furinkazan good for kids?
Yes, with one caveat. The room is casual, it is not loud in a way that punishes a fidgety kid, and the kitchen took masago off two rolls without blinking. Both of ours ate everything in front of them. The caveat is the same one we have about the whole place, which is that a kid who cares about rice will notice the rice, and ours did.
Does Furinkazan have gluten free soy sauce?
No. We asked and they do not carry it, which surprised us. They do make their own house soy sauce, which is not the same thing and does not help if gluten is the issue. Bring your own if you need it.
What used to be at 1512 Market Street?
A 5th Avenue Sushi, part of a small chain that has closed. We never ate at this particular branch. We did eat at another of their locations for a long stretch, which is why we are careful in this review about calling any opening week verdict permanent.
Is Furinkazan worth driving to?
If you are already nearby, yes, and takeout is a good option at that distance. If it is a thirty minute drive each way, no. We would not make it for dinner and we would not make it for pickup either, and neither would our thirteen year old. That is the whole answer and everything above it is the reasoning.
More sushi around the northwest suburbs: Ari Sushi is the other Des Plaines option we have written up, and there is Black Pearl in Glenview, Deba Sushi Bar in Mount Prospect, e Sushi in Mount Prospect, Tekka Sushi in Elk Grove Village, Shakou in Arlington Heights and Sushi Plus Thai by Sensei in Palatine. Elsewhere in Des Plaines, we have also written up Foxtail on the Lake and Ostras Lounge.
We paid for our own dinner at Furinkazan. Two salads and a plate of mochi ice cream were sent out by the kitchen and are noted above. Prices come from our own itemized receipt on the night and are not taken from a delivery app or an aggregator.
