Momotaro has been a staple for Japanese food and Sushi in the busy West Loop neighborhood of Chicago since it opened in 2014. I have been here about five times, and this time, we came to celebrate one of our wedding anniversaries! It was a very busy Saturday evening, and, unfortunately, the service was really lacking this time, and I feel like this place is starting to decline a bit in quality and service.

This restaurant’s design is minimal and cool, but comfortable, and their main sushi-making station is smack dab in the middle of the place. There are high ceilings and cool lighting. The kitchen is in the back of the space, and is definitely fun to watch!

Typically, I have experienced excellent service at Momotaro. The servers are attentive and nice, and you never have to wait for them to come around. They are usually pretty good at making suggestions for the food and their extensive drinks menu. Unfortunately, our server this time was more sporadic than attentive, didn’t explain some of the dishes and specials, and rarely asked if we needed more drinks. The place was very busy and there was a festival going on a few streets over, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that an alcoholic cocktail was served to our 11 year old! It was a mistake and they corrected it, but a pretty egregious misstep.

For food, we ordered a range of items from meat to fish. We started with a few “Yaki” or skewers including mushroom (my favorite) and beef tsukune “sliders,” which were ground wagyu beef in a bao bun. We were offered forks if we needed them, but I was surprised that the chopsticks set at the table were the totally cheap-o disposable ones that come in a paper wrapping. With the prices of the food here, especially the sushi, I would expect that they would have way nicer chopsticks than that. In fact, the ones we received at Blockhead Beerworks the other night were nicer than the ones here, and our meal was like 25% of the cost! Check out my prior review on the awesome Blockhead here.

We also ordered the Mapo Tofu which was super delicious. This flavorful dish had a lot of nice, firm tofu as well as big chunks of pork belly. It was filling, but we ate every last bite of it.

The kids ordered a bunch of sushi and rolls, but most impressive was the chef’s selection of Nigiri that Brian ordered. The fish was beautiful and fresh, and each piece was garnished with all sorts of different things, including caviar. It was honestly one of the most beautiful plates of sushi I’ve ever seen.

Since I don’t eat raw fish, I ordered the Chahan stone rice bowl with beef. Usually these rice bowls are a lot of food, but essentially made for one person, however the one here at Momotaro was massive, and could easily have been a main course for two people. I love stone rice bowls with the meat and rice getting all crispy and burnt along the edges, and the flavors are always nice. I’ve ordered this bowl before here, and I would definitely recommend it to split as an appetizer, or a main, with enough to take home.

We ordered desserts as well including the “Haru Shiso” which was a zucchini cake with a blueberry compote on top – an amazing flavor combo, as well as the Miso Banoffee, which was also flavorful and delicious. Momotaro is one of the only Japanese restaurants I’ve been to that really cares about its desserts, so I wouldn’t skip them here.

Overall, Momotaro still provides excellent food, but our last experience was pretty awful service-wise. The cheap chopsticks really detract from the upscale atmosphere and prices. Hopefully they can make a few adjustments, and make this a really great destination for Japanese food in the west loop again.