Deba Sushi Bar in Mount Prospect: A Nobu Alum’s New Spot, Three Weeks In

Mount Prospect, IL · Sushi · About $75 for two, before tip

There’s a new sushi bar in downtown Mount Prospect, and the chef behind it used to work at Nobu — exactly the kind of detail that makes me want to go before the neighborhood catches on. Deba Sushi Bar opened about three weeks ago in the old Patina Wine Bar space on Prospect Avenue, and we grabbed a patio table one warm evening. The short version: the fundamentals are here — fish and rice are dialed in — and a few finishing touches are still settling. For a three-week-old spot, that’s a good place to be.

Not sponsored. We paid for everything ourselves, and we didn’t tell the restaurant we were coming.

The room is modern and a little more grown-up than the average suburban sushi spot — a big chandelier, a mountain mural, and that front patio that was the right call on a warm night. The name comes from the deba, the knife used to break down whole fish. Chef Naro Butsaboon spent years at Nobu in Chicago and Nobu 57 in New York before he and his wife May opened here, so you walk in with expectations set higher than usual. Fair — they set them there themselves.

The starters: one hit, one miss

We started with the mushroom soup, and this is where we split. It’s a dashi-forward broth, deep and savory — I really liked it; Vika found the umami a little much, and we both agreed it ran salty. If you love a big savory broth you’ll be happy; if you watch salt, go in knowing. The sashimi cup was the letdown — on a menu built around premium fish, it landed flat when everything around it was sharper. That’s the one I’d want them to revisit.

The rolls are the reason to come

Three between us: the spicy scallop, the Seafoods Mountain, and the Dragon. The tell that the kitchen knows what it’s doing is the rice — seasoned, the vinegar coming through, holding together without being a heavy ball. The spicy scallop is strong: actual pieces of scallop rather than paste, so you taste it, sweet and clean, with sesame outside and fresh masago inside (no freezer note). The Seafoods Mountain was my favorite — a daikon-wrapped roll topped with creamy spicy octopus that reminded us of the spicy sashimi salad at Tsukasa, about the highest compliment we hand out. The Dragon is where the value wobbled: fine flavors, good crunch, but it ate small for the price. One more note — the spicy mayo wasn’t consistent dish to dish; when it was the rich, Tsukasa-style version it was really right.

What we ordered and what it cost

The mushroom soup, the sashimi cup, and three specialty rolls for two. Total with tax was $74.37 (no drinks this round — the wine and cocktails scan pricier, so factor that in). On the higher side, but not out of line for sushi this fresh.

The verdict

Deba has the bones of a really good sushi restaurant: fresh fish, rice handled right, a spicy scallop I’d order again, and an octopus that holds up against the best we’ve found in the suburbs. The misses — a flat sashimi cup, a Dragon that doesn’t match its price, a salty soup, an inconsistent spicy mayo — are finishing, not fundamentals, the kind a three-week-old kitchen tends to smooth out. Worth knowing: there’s no kids menu and they use real crab, not imitation, so think of Deba as a date night or a dinner with friends who are into sushi. If that’s you, go now and order the Seafoods Mountain and the spicy scallop.