Chicken Caesar in Evanston

What people say about the caesar

"Bummer first time experience. Sunday, 3/1/26 dinner service. Ordered a Little Gem salad and iced tea to start. Iced tea was quality, freshly brewed, flavorful. Appreciated the paper straw. After several minutes we were told the Little Gem was not available. A few minutes later my date picked a specialty cocktail off the menu. Server came back several minutes later to inform us they were out of that particular cocktail. She then ordered The Butterfly Effect as an alternate drink. It took too long to get this replacement cocktail. We both agreed there was something really off about The Butterfly Effect. Was it a missing ingredient? A ton of sour mix as a cover up? Definitely something. Tasted like someone threw it together at a busy sports bar that serves burgers. We mentioned this to the server but got no real response. Got a "Caesar" instead of the "Little Gem," which was perfect. For a main we shared the "Steak and Fries," and the "Brussel Sprouts." The steak we ordered (we weren't informed of the cut when we placed the order- I just wanted steak and didn't really care what cut came out- I was curious to see what arrived) was a sliced sirloin served lukewarm with steak fries and ketchup. The beef was almost cold to the touch, definitely had sat too long, while the fries were so hot they needed to cool a bit. Steak flavor was fine, however, we weren't told this was a sliced steak. The steak fries were crispy and flavorful. The side of Brussel Sprouts were tasty, but literally drowning in sauce and overpowering in sweetness- just too much. (We chose not finish them). Disappointed, no dessert, we paid the check. My date and I have both worked years in high-end hospitality, so I figured I'd let management know they were slipping with a phone call. Heard back from F&B manager Madison, who politely apologized and offered a free dessert on our next visit. I felt insulted but said thank you. Once off the phone, I did the "math" in my head: Our service and dining experience was amateurish and significantly flawed. A single dessert was offered in exchange for this bad overall experience with the following costs: Steak and Fries $38, Brussel Sprouts $12, Butterfly Effect cocktail $16, service experience-flawed (priceless?), dining experience-flawed (priceless?). Feel like this place owed me a solid if they wanted a return guest, more of an "Exceed the guest's expectations" deal vs. "Insult the guest with the bare minimum phone call and cheapskate offer." I don't particularly enjoy paying for a restaurant's mistakes, as there are too many other restaurants out there which don't drop the ball. So.. **Know your 86 list beforehand- for food and drinks, so you can properly inform guests BEFORE they order something you're out of! **Serve these items correctly or not at all. **Inform guests which cut of beef you're serving as part of your opening conversation, and whether or not it is sliced (instead of never bringing it up) **Pick up the pace on service all around (although the restaurant was quiet, we felt like we waited too long for several things, mainly drinks because of the 86 issues- but also food because of the 86'd salad issue). Slow service became much slower with the above thrown in the mix... **Finally, and probably most importantly, don't be a cheapskate company! Place had such a magical atmosphere, we were excited to be there, but instead I felt Iike I wasted $135 including tip. We could have had a better meal at a dozen other nearby places. Our choices for the evening were: The Barn, The Burl, or Homestead. We chose you folks and were really disappointed. Maybe a fully-staffed busy brunch is a different story here. As an industry pro I get slow, understaffed evenings on a Sunday night, when GM's and the chef are off, when inventory is typically at it's lowest, but still, there's a way to be on top of that in order to operate at the highest level possible. No excuses!"