NoMI

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MealSchpeal com

Joined 4 years ago

Best rebirth of a hotel restaurant.... History is a nightmare from which NoMI has awoken. When hotel restaurants are good, they are very, very good. And when bad, they stink like filet-O-gangrene. A withered limb of a hospitable organism, hanging there forever. Atrophy is, I guess, better than amputee. The rare wanderings-in of guests spike eerie staff motion like the salted twitches of severed frog legs. Few restaurants step back from this lonely, cold abyss. NoMI has – magma coom loud – or something like that.



NoMI opened in 2000 to tremendous fanfare. My own included. The views, the food, the service were all completely stellar. There was no shortage of pretty young things haunting the trendy halls and patios. I was, myself, a lot younger, not much prettier but a whole lot better dressed. Learning from the school of Tru, which opened in 1999, NoMI had a snob factor of zero while engaging with the diners as much or as little as they wanted. The prices, although high, were on par with those of other hotel restaurants. Life was, for a while, sweet. Until the inevitable: artist meets accountant. 2000 predated (slightly) the epoch of the Cheflebrity. And, right or wrong, hotel restaurants were always relatively immune to raving prima donnas. The revenue contribution of the kitchen is typically a rounding error on a giant hotel’s books and since the accountants were always left in charge, the mission of turning a dollar into $1.02 trumped any attempts at the high-end staffing and selective waste whose absence quickly knock a 3-star dinner down to zero. With NoMI it began with sushi.



What did they know of sushi? How to charge for it. $15 micro-rolls back in 2000? The economists saw the kick-off of the sushi craze and ordered the kitchen to comply. Except they didn’t actually commit to BEING a sushi restaurant. Or even a Sushi bar like Blue Door at the Delano. After the second disappointment no one ever orders sushi again. Sushi is too expensive for a dice-roll, get it? Hahaha! If there ever were a sushi chef, he died of boredom. The “apprentices,” whose claim to sushi chefdom was bussing in the kitchen, were all that would remain to drench rice with spicy mayonnaise. Yet, there, on the menu, it’d remain – for a decade – as testament to stubbornness and inability to admit mistakes. NoMI still serves sushi but now, the price is commensurate with quantity and quality.



The waiter was engaging in a perfect balance. There when we need him, gone when we don’t. He didn’t get my joke (or chose not to) about my preferred temperature for pork being medium-rare because: “I’ve never known anyone who came down with a case of trigonometry.” “It’s trichinosis” he corrected. “Thank you” I said. “Had problems remembering since going on a roundworm diet.” But, if you were the waiter, you would probably not want to engage with this level of humor either.



The food? The food was of the highest caliber. The only thing not quite worth the price-tag was the ocean platter which contained a half-dozen oysters, several medium stone crab claws, a lobster tail, a lobster claw and assorted Mollusca, including some of the best jumbo shrimp since Hugo’s. All good, none great, except the shrimp. So, if this $75 “appetizer” is going to be the mid-range scrapple, price it at $40 and see people beam with joy. Look to Barton G in South Beach who charges the same for much more. But excepting this one thing, the meal was astonishingly cheap for food we never imagined possible from a kitchen with its burners set so low for so long. NO LONGER! Not a single fish over $30! A true medium-rare pork chop! (Porterhouse they say – more like Pork-ter-house.) A filet cheaper than any you will find on Rush Street and possibly equally as good. Although this verdict will have to wait until the next time. And, at these prices, a next time there shall be. You should look for us. We’re easy to spot. We’re the white, middle-aged couple rockin' the new moist Acuvue contact lenses. Can't miss us.

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GeorgeEvelyn1978

Joined 2 years ago

Great hotel BUT... It's a great hotel but if any of you are looking to save some $$ then book it at goo.gl/FPxYD They have some of the best hotel deals on the web!

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Kimberly Peiffer

Joined 3 years ago

Citysearch Editorial Review. This sleek, intimate restaurant--nestled on the seventh floor of the posh Park Hyatt Hotel--is a dining dreamland, one where expertly dressed diners slink into sexy couches in the main bar for a glass of Champagne before dinner. The real view, though, is from the classic dining room, with a magnificent Michigan Avenue vista. The menu shows a French influence, but also includes a sizeable sushi menu, so global trends are apparent. Executive chef Christophe David has created appetizers such as the melt-in-your-mouth diver scallops and entrees such as the Brittany turbot, which is draped in morel mushrooms and asparagus and drizzled with creamy Bearnaise. For dessert, the Caribbean--a decadent creation of coconut rice pudding and passion cream--is by far the best dessert on the menu.

Doesn't Recommend

tomku

Joined 6 years ago

stay away from NoMI. NoMI restaurant is very disappointing. The presentation of the food is good but flavors are very uninteresting. Where are truffles in Truffle Risotto ? you can not even smell them. Just remember you pay (a lot) for the "view" not the food. It is bad for Chicago to have restaurant like this in so prominent location.

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24kgoldcoaster

Joined 4 years ago

like an old buddy. oh NoMI ... you can be so much more, but for now, we can depend on you for a cocktail or two.

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jen1971

Joined 5 years ago

Great environment and. I went to this bar for the first time last week. It was a Friday after work. This bar is on the 7th floor and has a very nice outdoor space. The drink menu has a good selection. I would definitely recommend the Razz Mojito. I would love to go back and visit this bar again. There was a professional crowd and it a great place to go for happy hour.

Doesn't Recommend

nycgal1978

Joined 6 years ago

Not worthy of the Park Hyatt. The Park Hyatt is a fabulous brand. It really is. Nomi is lucky to be at the Park Hyatt Chicago. Its on the 7th floor of the building so you have somewhat of a view (tops of buildings) but not an amazing top-of-building panoramic view. I celebrated a milestone birthday there this past weekend. My friend and I ordered omelettes for brunch. Mine came 20 minutes before hers. Totally inexcusable at a restaurant of this price. (Eggs are like $20.) When the waiter noticed that her food hadn't arrived, he said, "Just 40 seconds more!" but it was about 10 minutes more. Do they have one skillet? We were drinking $5 iced teas (the waiter looked truly disappointed we were not ordering alcohol) and before my friend had even finished hers, the waiter came over and said, "Do you want more? If not let me take this away or the staff will keep asking you if you want more." It was a very awkward moment. My friend had not finished her tea - it was still half full! But he took it away. I had noted in the reservation that I was celebrating my birhday. We ordered dessert and they didn't write anything on the dessert nor did they bring us any freebies. They gave us what they gave everyone at the restaurant for dessert - a tin of petit fours. However, when I opened the lid, it read HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. We told the waiter when he came over to ask how everything was, and he laughed it off. We dropped nearly $100 on brunch and he couldn't get the occasion right? Or give us a freebie or take something off the bill in regret? This place is not classy.

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katherinedonald

Joined 6 years ago

wow. they had Chimay! and the food was pretty classy too. It is expensive but few places have had such a nice Sunday 'brunch' and I was amazed and pleased at my dinner visits of the rarities they have on their wine and beer (and tea) lists. Chimay is the best foreign beer I have ever had and they had it when I was there, but you might need to be carried home as it is strong. Food excellently prepared and waitstaff a bit formal but still nice. Take the 'recommended' dishes by your Server--they are the most unusual. Gals go early if you want to avoid "suits" hitting on you, unless you want that sort of thing. The food is pretty great.

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mannysteiner

Joined 11 years ago

From 2004 - Good place, not serious dining, a little too much Hyatt snobbery. I note my date of visit since the place seems to have gone down since based on other reviews.

Well we know Hyatt is certainly proud of it since the hotel and restaurant are plastered as the placeholder for any representative photographs of the Park Hyatt brand. My displeasure with this last aside, this is a good restaurant with good food and a decent ambiance.

My wife had breakfast there while staying in the hotel and also had a light dinner on the patio. The food was excellent, that magnificent wine display (I am remiss to call it a cellar) has some creative selections in it (even in Champagnes) which was to my liking, to boot at a reasonable price. This did not translate into the food department though where breakfast of some bread and jams for two ran me $60. It was certainly well presented and tasty, but at least let me get my day started and get me drunk before breaking the $40 mark.

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gks

Joined 6 years ago

Amazing service and delicious food!. I admit, I was a bit nervous going here, as it was for our first anniversary dinner and I just hoped I'd picked the right place. I told them about the occasion ahead of time, and to increase our chance of getting a window table we'd made reservations for early in the evening ...But I must say, in no way was I prepared for how wonderfully they treated us. We got (in my opinion) the best table (the view is incredible), and were handed menus with Happy 1st Anniversary! printed right on them - which they told us we could take home if we wanted - and our dessert also had Congratulations! written in icing. The waiter was very attentive, and the bottle of wine they recommended was fabulous and always poured the second one of us ran low. The sushi we ordered practically melted in our mouths and was DELICIOUS, and the steak I ordered was great (though I could do without the liver in the topping - which they DID warn me about and ask if I'd prefer it without - I should've remembered I really just don't like liver). It was pricey, yes, but we were prepared for that. All in all, the service was amazing, and the food was delicioius. I would definitely go back here.