Our main hobby is dining out. We've been to every Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago, many of…read morethem multiple times, and we regularly travel specifically to eat at great restaurants around the world. We're not casual diners, and we understand that even excellent restaurants can have an off night. Unfortunately, Atelier was a major miss for us. For more context, we dined at the original Atelier in March 2024 and absolutely loved it, so we came in genuinely excited. First, the positives. The service team was wonderful. Truly lovely people. Delightful, attentive, cheerful, professional, and clearly trying very hard to deliver a great experience. No complaints whatsoever there. The reserve wine pairing was also excellent. Some genuinely unique finds. One rosé in particular made us skeptical when first presented, but it ended up being fascinating and paired beautifully with the dish. In fact, each wine pairing was thoughtfully selected and worked extremely well. Now, the food... and unfortunately, this is where the experience fell apart. The opening four amuse-bouches were flat, boring, and uninspired. The oyster was completely overpowered by fried onion. The "jambalaya" was essentially a bowl of mildly spiced rice. Then a salty muffaletta bite and some pickled vegetables. None of these felt Michelin-worthy, nor did they generate any excitement. The next course, beets, was another miss. They were oddly hard, and again, there was nothing particularly special or memorable about the dish. The kanpachi was very good. But let's be honest, raw fish is hard to screw up. The sauce was nicely done and elevated the dish, but it still didn't feel like a standout moment. The tortellini was fine. Perfectly competent. A salty broth, decent execution... but again, no wow factor. Nothing that made you pause. The walleye itself was excellent. Beautifully cooked. But everything accompanying it felt like it was actively sabotaging the fish. The beans were bizarre. . . some soft, some hard, some crunchy, but none particularly enjoyable. We were told there was cornbread and fermented elements in the dish, but those flavors were completely lost. The smoked duck was very good. No notes. Then came a duck wonton-style preparation, which was also tasty, but structurally this made no sense in the progression of the meal. That should be an appetizer or an earlier supporting course, not the crescendo of the protein sequence. In this style of tasting menu, you expect the protein finale to be something bold and memorable. . . A5 wagyu, quail, lamb, something deeply savory that leaves an impression. Ending that arc with what amounts to a fried wonton felt like going out with a whimper instead of a roar. Desserts didn't recover things. The first was a dry cake. The second, a version of king cake, was slightly better but still entirely forgettable. Then the ambiance. We tend to gravitate toward food-first restaurants with real energy... places like EL Ideas, Schwa, and even the original Atelier. Open kitchens, a sense of movement, a little grit, authenticity, personality. Places where you feel like you're somewhere interesting. This space just felt . . .blah. Wood paneling that gave off a tired 1970s feel, overly understated to the point of feeling generic. Now, sometimes that works if the food absolutely delivers and becomes the focal point. But when the food is average, the room starts feeling average too, and the whole experience just falls flatter. The theme of this menu was: The Crescent City/New Orleans. Maybe other menus here are significantly stronger, and maybe we simply came at the wrong time during an off concept. But based on this experience, this was a big disappointment for us, especially given how much we loved the original Atelier.

Great service and great selection of wine. The ambiance is very intimate, in a close dinning area…read morewith open kitchen. Food was presented extremely well. Each dish is a work of art. While there was some wide variety of texture and display of food, I wish the flavor of each dish would be a little bit more powerful than what they are. The reason behind 3 stars is due to the LONGGG dinning experiences had. It took us 4 hours for a dinner and had to miss our after dinner plans.

Busy corner tavern with a good selection of beers and a beer of the month special. Located on the…read morenortheastern corner of the park this place gets a lot of attention from the neighborhood. Laid back dark wooden tavern style interior, televisions playing sports, and a party room in the back for bigger events. Happy hour and daily specials to keep you coming back. Menu doesn't get incredibly complicated. Old reliable items like salads and twists on burgers, but they also add items like arancini balls and Shepard's pie to make things a bit more exciting.

This place is great year-round. But it really shines in the summer when you can sit outside on the…read morepatio. No matter when you come you will be greeted with warm, friendly service. During my most recent visit I tried one of the Lenten specials, arancini. It was delicious! I hope they add it to the menu full-time. I also enjoyed a Cosmo and the left coast chopped salad. I'll be back!

Let me set the scene: im a lifelong chicago native, born and raised. iv eaten hundreds maybe…read morethousands of burgers in this great city. i developed a gluten intolerance a few years ago and i was crushed. finding a good burger thats also gluten free is very difficult. Rockwell's knocked it out of the park! I got the wildcat and oh my lord was is delicious. truly magical. GF bun 10/10 meat 10/10 toppings 10/10 i ordered online and it was ready way faster than estimated; and when i walked in it was PACKED; totally impressed. highly reccomended for the gluten free crowd!

I live about a block away and have eaten at Rockwell's quite often over the years. I hadn't been…read morethere in a while but decided to go today. The food is generally solid, and usually the service is pretty good. But today??? Holy crap, the service was awful. It was not busy at all (I came in around 3:45 in the afternoon). Stood for about 5 minutes waiting to be seated, despite two employees being within 10 feet. I finally was seated, and I ordered a Diet Coke which came promptly, then waited at least 15-20 minutes for someone to take my order. My waitress (short, dark hair in a bun) just stood around chatting with other employees, wandering around, etc. I think I was the only customer in the dining room, but they just completely ignored me. I finally walked up to the bar and asked to pay for my diet Coke, as I had no intention of waiting around forever to order food. I probably could have just walked out without paying without them even noticing, given how inattentive the employees were, but I'm too honest to do that. I really hope this was just a one-off and that the service overall hasn't gone downhill consistently over the last 6 months or so. But I was super disappointed at how bad the service sucked today, given that there were about 7 times as many employees as there were customers when I went. I'm giving 2 stars in recognition of previous good experiences I've had here, but today's experience....ooof. Do better, Rockwell's.

What an amazing place! We were a party of six celebrating a few birthdays and everyone enjoyed…read moretheir meals. They were very sensitive to my gluten-free needs. Some people had brunch and some enjoyed lunch. I had the green coconut curry, and it was amazingly delicious. Just the right amount of heat. The fruit salad side dish had a very good variety of different fruits. Everyone loved the potatoes. When I asked if they were gluten-free, they informed they were not but they'd see what they could do. They came out later with a huge bowl of gluten-free potatoes. So delicious and they really went the extra mile. Other things I love about this restaurant is that they use local produce and I believe they have their own garden as well. They also had a meal that day that you could order and would benefit a local nonprofit. Highly recommend this place! Not only was the ambience great but they have several rooms, two of which you can reserve for a private party, and they also do weddings in a larger area on the property. Leslie, if you go to the back where they have one of their bathrooms, they have several small gift items available.

We were touring a venue nearby and smelled some yummy food and decided to swing by to try…read more Their vegetables are all sourced or grown in their green house. The arugula salad (esmee) is very good as well as the hummus with pita. I was disappointed with the burger since it had too many ingredients clashing with one another for attention. The service was really good and ambiance was very nice for a date night.

Nestled on a corner in Andersonville, Little Bad Wolf is a charming restaurant with a large bar…read moremenu and delicious, heavy bites. There is outdoor seating under a pergola lined with semi-private planters, while the inside features a bar, high tops, low tops, and large booths. The music was upbeat, giving the space an elevated lounge vibe that pairs really well with the upholstered booths and vintage industrial design. I ordered the Wolf Burger, which is a whopping three-patty burger. That first bite was juicy and pure bliss--a total explosion of great flavors. It was a little messy (like all burgers with an egg), but the extra liquid was perfect for balancing the density of such a meaty burger. The soft bun soaked in a lot of those juices with each bite, intensifying the flavor as I ate more. The fries were thin and on the greasier side--not my personal favorite, but they worked alright as a vehicle for the sauce. Speaking of which, the chili aioli served with the fries was fantastic. We also got the mac and cheese, which hit a great balance between rich and creamy without feeling excessively wet. The boat it came in was a bit small, making it a little messy to scoop out with the serving spoon, but it was soooo good. Overall, it is absolutely a fantastic neighborhood place for comfort food and drinks with friends in a great space!

I got the "bad" burger and fries and while the burger itself was pretty good, the burger bun became…read moresoaked in grease after a while and became inedible. The fries were the perfect consistency of crispy and the overall restaurant was really cute. 10/10 for whoever was on aux that day. The service was also pretty fast! Def recommend if you're in the area for a quick lunch

The Bad Apple has truly turned bad. This used to be my go-to burger spot and overnight their food…read morequality seemed to go down. The unfortunate thing is that when you have expensive food, like The Bad Apple does, the expectation of consistently good food is higher and they haven't been able to deliver. The last few times I've had a burger from here I've been left underwhelmed. My go-to burger is the Da Bears Burger which runs $18 when you order from GrubHub. The last two times I've had the burger (once at the restaurant and once at home) the smoked brisket has been dry. On my last occasion the bottom half of the bun was burnt. It was barely edible without drowning it in sauce. I've reached the point that the price outweighs the food quality. We have too many delicious burger spots that are priced similarly or less to keep feeling like I'm wasting money,

We were out bar hopping for my daughter's birthday and stopped at The Bad Apple for an early…read moredinner. We had a party of seven; we were seated right away in the back at a really big table, which was perfect. Food and drinks were ordered, everything was hot and really good. Service was WONDERFUL. The menu is fun with creative names for their dishes. We found ourselves at Bad Apple on accident and we are so glad we did!

So surprised this place wasn't more busy! All the staff were so kind and hospitable, I even met the…read moreowner and he's wonderful! The building and interior is gorgeous and the food is phenomenal! Definitely try the mussels, burrata, and schnitzel. Will be coming back!

The place has a good vibe, good music and the cocktails were good ..... frozen margaritas and…read moreMoscow mule. The food was so -so. The chicken fajitas were not seasoned well and the burgers were wells prepared but the fries were not very flavorful especially truffle fries The beignets were not light and pillowy but heavy and doughy. I would not return for the food.

Amazing hospitality and ambiance at this Andersonville gem! Each of the dishes are packed full of…read moreflavor and the menu is amazing for sharing with friends! Tuna tostada & watermelon salad are great starters to share and all of the mains are excellent. Pro Tip: patio does not take reservations but WORTH the wait!

It wasn't until Ash said it that I realized it had been 20 years since our days at Children's…read moreMemorial and Zig Zag Kitchen! So when I needed someplace fabulous to celebrate my daughter's birthday, I immediately thought of Ash. Over the years, we worked together on parties, luncheons, and fundraisers. It was such a fun time in my life, although I had some very demanding people I had to answer to! No matter what I threw his way, Ash made me look good every single time. Twenty years later, he did it again. I made sure to take pictures because hopefully I can post them! I had the Halibut Scottato, and it was outstanding. My daughter had the Aleppo Chicken. I rarely eat chicken, but hers looked so good I had to have a bite. Excellent. Then there was the focaccia bread with this special oil. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so good that my daughter was hoping her entrée would hurry up and come because she wanted that bread all to herself! She kept talking about how good it was in her Oprah voice: "I LOVE BREAD!" And we can't forget the lavender lemonade--so good! Even the cheesecake at the end of the meal was superb. The food was phenomenal, but somehow, the service was even better. One piece of advice: make reservations. It may not look crowded when you first arrive, but that changes very quickly. You can tell Tala House already has its loyal customers--and after this experience, we're adding ourselves to that list. Walk in? No. We're not doing that. When you find a place with beautiful ambiance, great décor, phenomenal food, and exceptional service, you don't just visit once. You become a regular. Thank you so much to Tala House for making my daughter's birthday so special. She loved everything about the experience, and that made this mom very happy. And Ash--20 years later, you're still making me look good.