Nobu Chicago | Influencer Restaurant Review by Keith Lee

Full Transcript: Keith Lee’s Nobu Chicago Restaurant Review Video

Me and my family are currently in Chicago, Illinois. And as you can see, I ain’t got no bags in my hands. But we’re at a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. Even though I ain’t got it in my hands, I got it. Let’s try it and rate it 1 to 10.

There was a narrative on Twitter going around that I only eat fried food, which in reality, I don’t. Not even close. It’s raining in the background, so it’s real loud. But I understand where the narrative came from because the main thing that we have been blessed enough to do is be a marketing platform for absolutely free to restaurants that have great food, great customer service, but could use the marketing.

And most restaurants that can use the marketing are in underprivileged neighborhoods, and we go 90% based off of recommendations. Ninety percent of the recommendations that we get are from restaurants that serve a lot of the same foods. But in my day-to-day life, I very rarely eat fried food. And when I say rarely, if it’s seven days out of the week, I might eat fried food once, if that. Normally, I eat a lot of sushi, and if I’m not eating sushi, I eat very healthy.

When we’re not eating super healthy, and we go to different cities, like here in Chicago for only a couple days, we just try new restaurants. I’ve never had Nobu before, even though I know Nobu is a very popular spot, and some may say it’s overrated, but I’ve never had it before. So I want to see for the first time. So we’re gonna go in and try it, and I’m gonna show you our experience. Let’s do it.

And just as a reminder, the reason we don’t go inside is because we want the same experience that everybody else gets. I don’t want a different experience at restaurants strictly based on the fact that we have 16 million followers. I would say 99% of the time, that affects the restaurant experience we have, and I don’t want to tell you my experience based on that. Because if my mama goes in, she’s not gonna get the same experience I get. But again, we’re doing something different today. Let’s do it.

So we’re at the Nobu on Randolph Street. That was crazy! We just ran into Kehlani out of the blue, too. Last time we saw her was at the Aces game.

Sour. I’m not a huge fan of that. It’s more like lemon juice with water. Personally, I give it a 4 out of 10.

I’m starting with the Yellowtail jalapeño sashimi in a yuzu sauce. That’s fresh. I wish there was a little spice to balance the sauce. The sauce is very acidic, and the jalapeños are unseeded, so they aren’t spicy at all. I give it a 6 out of 10.

The cucumber salad activated—that’s good. I like it. It has a really good nutty quality to it. It’s a little spicy, too. It’s well-seasoned, a little nutty. I like the sesame seeds. I give it a 7.5 out of 10. The amount of vinegar definitely gives me pickle vibes.

Next up is the Toro Chicago-style with caviar. This is a tuna with a big lump of caviar on it. It’s seasoned really well and very fatty. The caviar doesn’t really add anything or take anything away for me. The sauce is very acidic. I think everything so far has been very sour and acidic. It’s very fatty, though. That tuna is extremely fatty. I can definitely see that being very low for some people, like a 3 or 4, but also very high for people who really like fat. In my opinion, it’s right in the middle, 5 out of 10.

This is the black cod butter lettuce. The meat is very soft—literally, I barely bit into it. It was very hot, though, and seasoned well. I give it a 7 out of 10. The meat itself is literally falling apart.

Next are the wagyu dumplings. In my opinion, it’s a good dumpling, but the thickness of the dumpling wrapper kind of washes out the wagyu for me. So I taste more dumpling wrapper than I taste anything else. The spice on the chili oil is a very good addition, in my opinion. Personally, I’d give it a 6 out of 10.

I just dropped my sister’s Brussels sprouts. They’re crispy, seasoned, and a little spicy. I like the balance of flavors, and I feel like they’re perfectly balanced. That’s my highest rating so far, 8 out of 10.

Now I’ve got the nigiri. This is a bunch of assortments of it. I love nigiri, so I’m about to smash. Ninety percent of the time, this is what I eat when I’m at home. I personally like to dip the meat and not the rice because if you dip the rice, it becomes like a big ball of soy sauce. I dip it directly on the meat side.

I’m not a huge fan of this. I don’t even think this is top 20 best nigiri I’ve had. To me, the fish itself is fresh, but it’s not extremely fresh, and it’s not really snappy. The flavor doesn’t carry much for me. I give the whole plate a 5 out of 10. It’s right in the middle for me, especially for the price. I’m not a huge fan overall.

I personally give the entire experience a 6.5 out of 10 when it comes to the food. The staff was extremely nice, and I’ll be honest, it was extremely nice as well. I do think there’s a lot that Chicago has to offer as far as sit-down restaurants and fancier places. But I don’t think Nobu would be on my list if I was coming to Chicago. In my opinion, Chicago is one of the top three food cities I’ve ever been to, but Nobu wouldn’t be in the top 30 for me out of the restaurants I’ve been to so far.

I appreciate y’all. God bless you. Have an amazing day. Y’all be safe.