Sagano Japanese Restaurant

Got take out from here on 3/7! For appetizers, I ordered the wasabi shumai, shrimp shumai, golden lobster and golden shrimp (most Japanese restaurants don't have any of those appetizers on their menu)! For entrees, I usually order almost every piece of nigiri (I especially love the uni, unagi, ikura, fatty hamachi, salmon toro) along with a salmon skin hand roll and spicy tuna hand roll.The service is quick, friendly and efficient! The restaurant is clean, cozy and colorful--like it has always been these past 2 or 3 decades (which is how long my family and I have been dining here)!

Always delicious. Very nice bright ambiance. Beautiful plants throughout. Fast service

I've passed this place hundreds of times over the years and had dinner there on a recent Friday night for the first time. We arrived around 6:20 pm.
We were greeted quickly by a very nice woman and were seated right away.

Upon entry, you can tell this place is locked in time. I assume this is exactly how it looked when it opened in the 2000s...pink and teal paint, geometric shapes, black ceramic tile, awkward partitions, etc. The restaurant was spotless though...not a speck of dust that I could see. Doorways were divided with decorative curtains that displayed various art scenes.
The restaurant has a main area and a bar area that is somewhat separate. It's fairly large inside with approximately 20 tables.

Upon seating, we were given worn out laminated menus with price changes taped to them. Looks like inflation hit Sagano as well.

The waitress/host/runner/etc. (she was the only one there doing everything front of house) was pleasant and informative but was rushed as she needed to take care of an increasingly busy restaurant.

Nothing stood out on the menu, so we opted to just do appetizers for this visit. They have appetizers from "the sushi bar" and "from kitchen". We opted for "from kitchen" because the sushi chef was very unsanitary (I'll share that later). We ordered 4 items:

1. Shrimp Shumai: Excellent! Tasted homemade and had a great flavor and consistency
2. Combination Tempura (shrimp and vegetables): Boring and flavorless
3. Ika Butter: Slightly spicy and a bit rubbery, but overall enjoyable
4. Yakitori: Very tender and flavorful

Service was slow, but I guess that's to be expected with only one person handling everything.

Ambiance was standard and relaxing. Some oldies played on the speakers while we ate. At one point, guitar and drum music started blasting through the wall from The School of Rock next door. Definitely not what you want to hear while eating and something they should talk to their landlord about...unless they like that. It was off-putting in that setting.

Price was around $50 before tip. Seemed high for what we ordered.

Sushi chef never washed hands and did not wear gloves while preparing food. He took several phone calls with his cell phone and scratched his head and nose while preparing food. Definitely not what you want to see from someone preparing raw ready to eat foods. Needless to say, we stayed away from the sushi bar. Everything that people ordered from the sushi bar looked nice though.

I would be fine skipping this place in the future as the food was just average and the hygiene is bad, but I am glad it has survived for so long. Not sure if they'll last much longer based on the extremely limited hours. There is no in-restaurant seating during most of the week and hours are 5-9 pm most days.

Ambiance very nice, a bit loud if you want to have a conversation but the customer service and doors make up for that small issue. Had probably the best tasting sushi in a long time!

I went here for the first time with my roommate yesterday. It was absolutely amazing! The decor I actually really enjoyed, I was impressed that all the plants were real and they were gorgeous. My roommate and I got two appetizers, three sushi rolls and two drinks each. The food especially the golden shrimp and the spicy white tuna roll was delicious! The best part was that it is affordable! The costumer service is great! It was just one lady doing it all by herself and she still took really good care of us! I recommend this place 100% please, please go!!

Awesome! Love this place and the owner is a great guy! Gonna order a bunch of stuff tonight!

My family and I have been dining here since the 1980s! Even when my dad moved from Barrington Hills to retire in Las Vegas, he always dined at Sagano whenever he flew into town and craved sushi! I'm so happy they weathered and survived the pandemic; in fact whenever I order take-out I tip well over 100% because I want them to live forever! Anyway, I recently ordered $170 of take out! I love their hand rolls (salmon skin and spicy tuna), plus their golden lobster appetizer and spicy wasabi shumai dumplings appetizer! I ordered a ton of nigiri too (my favorites are unagi/smoked eel, uni/sea urchin, fatty tuna, fatty salmon, ikura/salmon roe, tobiko/flying fish roe (both spicy & non-spicy, super white tuna, tamago/egg, saba/mackerel, and kani/real crab! I have had just about every maki roll on the menu and same goes for all the sashimi and tempura selections, but lately I've been craving their awesome nigiri!!! Every friend I've taken here for dinner says Sagano is the best sushi restaurant in the Northwest burbs, given the big variety and freshness of their sushi selections! I actually plan on placing another huge order tonight!!

Another DELICIOUS dinner at Sagano. My Dad and I met again for sushi. He had the tempura and sushi combo. I think he said "this is so good" about 20 times.
I was kind of jealous looking at the huge amount of sushi plus the tempura. But I certainly didn't go hungry. I got the rainbow roll and a yellow tail roll. The fish pieces were generous. And so fresh! The server remembered us from our last visit. She is so nice. It took a while for our mains to be ready so she brought us a complimentary appetizer of tempura fish. Delicious! Bottom line, I can't wait to return. Not sure what i will get but I'm sure it will be fantastic. Yummm!
I might have to get take out to keep me content until next visit!

Have been living in Barrington for 12 yrs and had never been to this gem of a restaurant!

We had amazing sushi (their quality of fish is very good), innovative and delicious apps and excellent service. We really enjoyed it and compared to shakou Down the street this was hands down better food and service at a much more reasonable price.

If a Japanese restaurant does not have cooking tables, it has all the potential to be authentic. As you step in into this cozy restaurant, you are welcomed by a very attentive server. She showed us the best seats as we had a very early dinner reservation. Let's start from the very beginning: drinks. The restaurant has a carefully selected list of sake (that's what you order at the Japanese restaurant , right?). A very common Miso soup tasted realy good here. My soft shell crab was very lightly breaded and had a marvelous sweet taste which means it was done just right . Beef tataki was perfectly seared, it was accompanied by a sauce with the shredded radish adding a nice note to the flavour. My husband's combination plate of lobster and steak was mouthwatering. His tempura vegetables were the best he ever had. For my main dish, I ordered a sashimi plate of the variety of fishes of my choice. The presentation was tasteful, the fish was fresh and delicious. The chef's creative touch at my plate was two tuna little rosettes. I can not believe I did not discover this restaurant earlier. I highly recommend this restaurant and cannot wait to be back!