Blog

Ciccio Mio delivers charm and just enough substance to keep its place in Chicago’s dining orbit. It’s a great date spot (maybe even a perfect one). Just don’t expect to be surprised. You’re here for the effect. And in that department, it delivers.

Gilt Bar gives you all the right signals but doesn’t deliver what matters most. The drinks are strong, the room is beautiful, but the food lacks finesse and the service stumbles. You won’t regret going. You just may not remember it either.

Le Jardinier offers a kind of luxury that’s becoming rare: elegant and restrained. From the bar to the back table, the experience is curated without being stiff. It’s the kind of restaurant that respects your time while also earning it. Go for the chocolate & return for the calm.

The food alone earns the Exceptional tier. Were the service warmer, this would edge into the territory of the unforgettable. Still, Le Bernardin remains one of the few places where the term “fine dining” feels not just appropriate, but absolutely necessary.

Le Coucou is not just a restaurant. It’s where you take someone you love, or someone who loves food the way you do. And if you order the quenelle, it might just change something in you like it did for me.

Quintín is all surface. The setting is lovely and the reputation is... loud. But it’s a disorganized and disappointing operation. One of the worst meals I’ve had in five years in Spain, not for what was served, but for how little they seemed to care.

Brindille is one of Chicago’s secret triumphs. It doesn’t need a spotlight to shine. It offers a deeply personal kind of elegance, but never stiff. It is what a restaurant should be: warm, precise, and human.

Orosoko is a vibe-forward restaurant with design credentials and conceptual flair. It's one you want to like, and for the most part, you probably will. It’s not flawless, but it doesn’t need to be. It just needs to sharpen up.