Chalkboard reviews?
I'll be visiting Chicago this weekend and my friends are letting me pick some restaurants. My research has led me to find a bunch of restaurants that sound great -- in the lead right now is Chalkboard (4343 N. Lincoln Ave.). Any experiances to report? How about usual cost for an entree? They don't seem to have a website. Any information would be great!
dci
Mar 29, 2007 05:35PM
> Any experiances to report?
www.chowhound.com/topics/354459
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I ate there last week. It all seemed like good, quality stuff. I believe the highest price entree was $26 (some sort of duck dish) and the lowest about $16.
My only issue was that it was too wine-centric, with just 3 beer options (Stella on tap is what I had).
I had trout, date had grouper, (both good, but didn't blow me away) a couple beers a piece plus tip = $80 meal
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I just ate there last night. Most of the food was good. We had the mac and cheese appetizer and a shrimp and mussel appetizer. Amazing mac and cheese, and the shrimp was good, but the musselts tasted sort of extra fishy. One of our entrees came out lukewarm. I had the duck entree and it was really great, and my boyfriend had the salmon, decent flavors, but I would recommend something else. Then we shared two fo the desserts, the strawberry bread pudding and the rice pudding, and even shared them wtih the table next to us who we started talking to!
The best thing was the staff and service there. We felt so taken care of. The lukewarm to cold entree was upsetting and a pretty big mistake, but then they didnt' chare us for the dish, apologzied a ton, and gave us the desserts for free! And they appreciated feedback that we had, said they were working out kinks. It was a really good experience overall, and I can't wait to head back and see things just keep getting better. Did I mention how kick-ass the mac and cheese was?!
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I would definitely recommend Chalkboard for good food and solid service. I went there recently and had the mac and cheese and duck entree, both of which were really good. I think the mac and cheese would be worth a trip by themselves. In terms of atmosphere, it has sort of a French country feel to it, and on the night that I went, it felt relaxed and quiet, just in case you were looking for something with more of a trendy/hustle-bustle type of atmosphere.
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We dined at Chalkboard last night and were a little disappointed given all the buzz. The service was fine and the waiter was very good about describing the specials and the wines. I ordered a beet salad and found the beets to be too crunchy. I was hoping the entree of halibut with mussels and wild asparagus to be better, but I found it very bland and the asparagus looked like and tasted like a weed from the garden. When I asked for pepper, the waiter handed me a shaker instead of reaching for the pepper mill. My husband was not terribly impressed by his roasted duck entree. We decided to forego the dessert so as not to be disappointed again and walked up to Cafe Selmarie instead.
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I tried to make a reservation for the upcoming Saturday night about a month ago. The woman taking reservations actually scolded me for considering that there might be an availability with a "don't you know who we are" tone in her voice.
Took Chalkboard off my list. It may have good food, but so do a lot of other places in town. I certainly didn't need the attitude.
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My wife and I tried a number of the Chicago Magazine top new restaurants over the past 1 1/2 months and Chalkboard was one of those restaurants. We felt that while the food was good, it was not as good as Erba just up the street on Lincoln in Lincoln Square. A number of our friends have eaten at Chalkboard and felt that it just was not worth the money although again, the food was good. For $80 or more per couple the food should be better than good. Another wonderful restaurant in that same neighborhood is Tank, a fusion sushi restaurant. Really great food.
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