MenuPages

Perhaps the most disappointing dining experience I've ever had. Given the reputation and price (165$ menu) of the restaurant, I was expecting a 3-star dinner like in NYC or Paris. Neither the service nor the food were up to it. No real sommelier. We didn't get to taste the wine or see the bottle. Terrible bread, harder than concrete. Slow service overall, considering there's no choice of menu. Setting not impressive. Average food. Not particularly creative and cheap ingredients (codfish, sardine + 3 dishes were ice-cream). Nothing to justify the sky-high price. Worst of the night: the fish was substitued in the first dish and the maitre d'hotel tried to hide it by lying to us when we asked. Even if we we got 100$ back out of 600$, feels like a rip-off.

Wonderful start to finish. Walk through the door and you are taken away with the aroma of fresh apples in the atrium. I went on my birthday. My wife had purchased a cook book of his and it was autographed with with a personal message. The waiter presented the menu and asked if there were other items we would like not shown on the menu. The food was incredible. Each course was sized and balanced. Trotters is one of the few places where they have dedicated a wine pairing with the menu. Depending on the menu the wine paring will change. Most places will pair a menu for you but the wine comes from a by the glass selection. His pairings can come from bottles that range into the hundred's of dollars which allow you to sample some really great wines. After dinner our server invited us on a tour of the kitchen and the cellar. It is expensive, but the food and wine are top notch and the service is professional without being stuffy. Easily the best in Chicago and maybe the country. Watch out Chef Keller.

Ok first off, the one thing people don't know about charlie trotters is that the wine list is possibly not only the best in chicago, but rivals any restaurant in the country for top crown. Easily the largest wine menu (and greatest) in chicago. If your going to charlie's, you've already accepted the fact that youre gonna be spending lots of money. I've known charlie for a few years, and i've never had a dish that didn't blow me away. It can be a bit over crowded in some area's at some points, but rarely and the simple fact is that there's a reason whenever someone celibrates a big birthday, an aniversery, or a company (or government official) is trying their best to sway someone into a deal or partnership, they go to charlies. It's the best and most incredible food and wine in the midwest if you have the cash

I waited many years to dine at Charlie Trotters, and on last Friday night I finally got my chance. First we waited in an overcrowded bar room where we were not greeted or offered a drink. We were sat 15 minutes later, and waited another 15 minutes to order some wine. The menus bothe veg and regular were nice but somewhat unexciting. The same can be said about the food. All of it was cooked very well. But the ingredients were unexciting and this was supposed to be the bastion of New American cuisine. I have all the cookbooks, I watch Charlie on TV. Where was all of that greatness, it was not at my table of four. I was very disappointed my hopes for a meal of greatness was were crushed. There was nothing wrong with anything per se, but nothing was right on about anything either. Charlie what has happened to your restaurant, I saw you there that night, what is going on. Is the king dead?

Truly the best restaurant in Chicago, if not the country. A masterpeice of a restaurant. It is a tad stuffy, but the food and the wine selection are so good, it makes it worth not putting your elbows on the table.