Latest reviews from Arlington Heights

“You're never to far from a Binny's if your in the Chicagoland area. This location is in the urban sprawl of Arlington Heights not far from the race track. Huge liquor store that looks more like a wal mart. It looks just like Lukas Liquor from my area. Lots of beer in the cooler or the shelf. Staff asked if I needed help. The only thing that would make things better is a better mix a six shelf. Out of the hundreds of beers there only about 50 were available to make your own six. I found a six pack worth of new to me beers so it worked out but coming here as a repeat customer, I'm sure they have just the same beers available. Still if your from out of town and you want Chicago beers you can't get in your area this is the place, or any Binny's is the place for you.“

thegreenrooster 1767 days ago

“Mitsuwa is a Japanese marketplace, complete with a grocery store, food court, book store, video store, and salon. For our review, we will focus on the liquor store right by the entrance. Its about 20’x20’, holding sake, shochu, and beer. The beer is mostly Japanese sprinkled with some of your standard western offerings found in any grocery store worth its salt. Since most everything is Japanese in here, you might want some help choosing the right thing to buy. But you had better figure it out yourself, because nobody is stationed in the liquor store. And no employee is wandering by either. At least nobody has in any of my visits. This place is a little tough to rate. I’ll say it right now that the selection is mediocre and the value sucks. With that being said, most of the limited craft beer is direct from Japan, and you won’t find them anywhere around this area. I haven’t seen the beer sold here in at least 5 years, but here they are! It gets extremely pricey though. But if you have cornered the market on imported Japanese craft beer, I suppose you can charge whatever you like. You will probably have tried everything here after just a few visits. Given how expensive it is, you probably won’t be coming back to buy the same things. However, the fact is that this place has some really cool and unique stuff that will be very difficult to get outside of Japan. So come to Mitsuwa and expand your beer horizons.“

Scipio 2555 days ago

“So I haven’t I have not rated a place in along time, but felt the need to add one when I saw no rating for this store. I stopped in after seeing that they had a beer I was looking for on beermenus.com. I must say I was kind of shocked at the amount beer they had from local breweries. I mean they had a ton. At least 30 plus offerings from Pipeworks alone. The store is small, but they waste shelf space with filler from national brands. If you are looking to find the best Chicago breweries have to offer this is the place. I used to travel a ton and I wish every city had a place like this.“

msante79 3388 days ago

“Great local somewhat-hidden gem. Doubles (as its name says) as a wine bar, but its beer selection is just as deep. There is a range of good crafts, internationals and seasonals, including many of the better regional breweries like Three Floyd’s, Two Brothers and Great Lakes. Depending on the week/season, you can find a great range of Belgians (chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, etc), which is specifically what brings me back. Easily best selection of brews in town and tops in the area. Beers are conveniently listed by style Other featured breweries include Founders, Chi-town, Dogfish Head, Deschutes, Stone, Oskar Blues, etc. Great place to go with a wine lover as well, so you can both enjoy a great drink and some very good food.“

ReverendMoon 3996 days ago

“This is a very large liquor store. And with the size of this place, it is very neat and orderly making it easy to browse for something I would like. Or just to find something interesting. The service was great, with people offering help as soon as I walked in. And when I decided to ask an employee for a recommendation, he was more than happy to offer knowledgeable opinions and talk about beer. And the selection was first rate. I saw a lot of different beers that I had never seen before. The foreign selection is excellent. It is larger than the entire beer section in many stores. There is a large cooler if you can’t wait for something to get cold. The value is about average. However, the guy told me what he is putting on sale next week, which happened to be a pretty good swath of expensive beers. Overall, this is place has the largest and best selection of beer that I have found in the area. It would be next to impossible to be disappointed when you go shopping here.“

Scipio 4310 days ago

“It’s a Trader Joes, not a liquor store, so don’t expect much. Limited selection of beers, mostly TJ’s labeled beer, but they do have a small assortment of the more mass produced craft beers (think GI 312 or Kennebunkport) with a few Belgians, Germans, and Japanese in the mix. No singles.“

Florida9 4481 days ago

“Mitsuwa is a Japanese-centric marketplace. There is a grocery store, a food court, sushi, a book store, a video shop and a liquor store. To certain degree each of the stores is run independently. The liquor store itself is rather small. Beers tend to be BMC-type beers or the Japanese equivalent, such as Sapporo or Asahi. They used to have a very wide selection of Hitachino Nest beers, but since the city passed their restrictive bottle-size law a year or so ago, that selection has dwindled considerably. Sake selection is impressive and there are also some Japanese whiskeys available. Food Court has great reasonably priced food, but alcohol cannot be consumed on premises.“

Florida9 4481 days ago

“Brand new Binny’s and welcome addition to area. Nice to see that they are rolling out the mixed six option, but would like to see some more seasonal brews mixed in. Was able to grab a bottle of FW 15 for $20. Nice selection of brews overall. Easily the best selection in the immediate area. Looking forward to seeing how this place develop over the next few months.“

msante79 4562 days ago

“Place is the size of small Jewel with a very large food court. The beer selection is very small and is mostly BMC and Asian brands that you can find at most Binny’s. What sets this place apart is the Sake selection. As far as a grocery store it is awesome and they have sushi grade seafood available and food court is inexpensive and quality. Worth a stop if in area and want to pick up some sake or get lunch.“

msante79 4805 days ago

“Think Dominicks or Jewel except for Japanese groceries. The liquor department has an OK selection of beer, but does carry bottles of Hitochino Nest, and on my last visit had a half dozen varieties.“

WolfKeeper 5185 days ago

“Decent beer selection, but nothing special. Lot of their own brews, and a weird make your own six pack section that seems to just include old beer. they dont have any of the trade joes vintages, either.“

HonkeyBra 5606 days ago

“I have only been to a place that didn’t really sell anything with an english label a few times...this is one...fantastic fish section (Otoro even!!!!!) Sake selection was not extensive...a solid and vast selection for sure, but not the best I have ever seen...I did ask them to try and get one for me that I know is not distributed here, so we shall see....“

Walt 5858 days ago

“Beer-wise it has Asian beers with the usual BMC stuff. The sake selection is extensive. The food court is nice because each stand is from a different country; Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, etc. The food is standard fare but the fruit smoothies with the black tapioca are very good. The sushi is where this place really shines. Inexpensive, high quality, and a very nice variety. While the whole store may be the size of Woodman’s remember it is a marketplace so there is a bookstore, travel agency, video store, the food court, and a display for small appliances. The actual grocery part of the store, while all Asian, may be the size of old Jewel. I think there maybe 15 aisles most about 20 feet long, some longer. Still an impressive display. I saw the same show Substance noted and the quote that got my interest, aside from the sushi, was that people come from out of state to shop here. I figured they must get some unusual ingredients, and they do.“

redlem 6101 days ago

“Place Rating #93. So we saw this place on Check Please, the Chicago area public access food show and they reviewed it because of the large food court and grocery. Let me tell you, if you are interested in pretty much any asian food this place will have it. Imagine a Woodmans or a larger Dominick’s but with the lables being mostly in Japanese. The food court is large with at least 10 different options. What is interesting is that anything that you purchase you can eat in the food court including the freshly made Sushi. Sushi is inexpensive and includes DATE and TIME that it was made. They roll it in the open and it looks like they were taking requests. Prices, for example, an 8 pack of Philidalphia Sushi was 3.25 Others ranged between 3-10 dollars.

Their liquor section is in the middle of the place and is freestanding. Bordered by a cooler on one side, 2 racks and a wall made of beer and wine boxes. They do have American macros and no American Micros. But oh my Sake everywhere. Stuff that I have never seen before. There must have been over 100 different Sakes to choose from. Prices ranged from $3-100. Most of the labels were in Japanese with a tag under for English translation.

This place is definately worth a stop by if in the area. If you are into Sake it looks like this is the premier place in Chicago area to go.“

SubstanceT 6250 days ago