10/08/07

not very impressed...

by lynder78

I don't know if it's because it's been rated so highly by critics and other reviews, or if it's from living in nyc with terrific restaurants all over the city... but after waiting for 2 hours and then being offered to sit at the bar to eat with our meal comped because of the long wait and seating location, we were still unimpressed by the food. the ceviche was rubbery and not very good tasting and both of our dishes were just okay... which is not what i would expect from a restaurant with this much hype over it. Actually, nothing on the menu really looked or sounded appealing to me. I love mexican food and tex mex (after living in austin for a few years), but nothing I tried here really tasted THAT great. I felt the food was more on the bland side and the dishes were boring. The service was great and sitting at the bar, we got a glimpse of Rick Bayless, but I just wish the food matched the hype.

• Pros: service
• Cons: long wait, disappointing food

09/24/09

Go somewhere else, enjoy more, spend less

by pyroz

Let me start by saying my wife and I are big fans of Top Chef. We were excited to see a hometown chef win Top Chef Masters so we excitedly decided to try his Topo Restaurant. Sadly, we were less than impressed with his food and restaurant. We were provided a guacamole appetizer that was only ok, Ive made better homemade guac myself. The Margaritas were all Tequila and no flair. We ordered 2 different flavors, but they both tasted the same. My wife ordered a Halibut meal that was awful, (she had to order something different and that was just OK) She is a huge fan of fish, and to her her dish was inedible, tasted like the fish had gone bad. My chicken dish came out without its sauce, and I had to wait for that. That was after everyone was served and eating before my food arrived. We are by no means food critics, however, we did expect WAY better than we received. Again, we were big fans of Rick, so we would like to believe this was just an off night, but we will not risk spending the amount of money we paid just to go and find out we were mistaken. Think twice about eating here, the hype of this restaurant is blown way out of proportion. ....sorry Rick :(

• Pros: None
• Cons: Too Hyped

07/24/09

Loved it for years

by MFA11

Love it always.

• Pros: Really fresh and authentic
• Cons: crowded!

07/18/09

great food, terrible service at frontera

by elysaw

The food was great, but the service was terrible. The hostesses lied to us about our wait time, over and over -- it took over four hours before we got seated. Two hours in, we were having a great time at the bar down the street and they rushed us back saying that "our table" is finishing up. "Our table" proceeded to finish up for another 2 hours. Once we got seated the waiter was a jert, who would only recommend the most expensive dishes. Also, he tried to charge us for > $40 of apps that we did not have. Frontera ruined what should have been a great night with friends.

• Pros: food
• Cons: everything else

11/05/08

Maso o Maenos (OK food more or less)

by golito

The food just seemed OK. The ceviche was mushy and pretty nasty (our fault for ordering ceviche in Chicago). The rest of the food was just OK if overpriced. I would eat there again, if the prices were cheaper. The place is popular because of the celebrity owner, who was there, and was nice enough. Bottom line, save a trip downtown, unless you need to impress someone with a trendy place. We found 2 other Mexican places in town we will be sure to return to.

08/15/08

Disappointing Topolo

by StreeterJean

The worst service we've had in a long time, and we dine out a lot. We made reservations for us and our out-of-town guests weeks in advance, at their request. We arrived on time, had to wait 10-15 minutes in the very noisy entry area, and were given the worst table, right by the door and all the noise ("only available"). After no attention for 20 minutes, asked someone to find our server to take a drink order. When she eventually arrived (another 5 minutes or so), she wanted to immediately take our food order. Ah, no, we'll order our drinks now. The rest of the service was desultory, at best. The whole experience took 2 hours for drinks, entrees and dessert. Too bad it's not a place where management comes by from time to time to ask if everything is satisfactory. Food was interesting and good, but very small portions. We would never go back, nor recommend it. Our meal at a neighborhood place the previous evening provided much better service and the food ultimately was more satisfying--for half the price.

06/16/08

Who honestly thinks this is 5 stars?

by Southernfoody

I'm rather stunned that this restaurant gets all the hype it's getting. I agree with many reviews of the food being over-spiced--be it too much lime or simply too salty. And after you wait for this reservation and the experience--like you'll really send it back? I couldn't imagine eating at the Frontera side (even though my husband said the food looked better on that side), it was so loud you may as well eat under a plane for the same sound effect. Who really enjoys this?

Expensive mexican food in my book.

Pro: the decor of the place and the mango dessert

con: That we spent over 300 dollars and didn't enjoy it. Won't be back

• Pros: We received our food quickly
• Cons: it wasn't that good (too salty), the noise level, nothing wow'd us

05/22/08

Save your money

by kdanica

First, we tried to change our reservation from 2 people to 4. I called an hour ahead of time and the maitre d told me that this was not possible. Wrong answer. Fine-dining restaurants should do everything possible to accomadate their customers and, by looking around when we got there, they could have accomadated us--there were several empty tables! We were seated 15 minutes late from our reservation time, but once we sat down, the ambiance was great, so we thought we were in for a wonderful experience. Wrong. We both ordered from the five course tasting menu--70-85 dollars each--save your money! Everything we ate was overseasoned, heavy, and downright disgusting. Even when my entree came out--pork tendorloin--it was over-cooked and brittle. The waiter told us that the "dining experience" would take 2 hours, which was fine, but in hour 3 after we'd had horrible food, we asked the busboy to tell our waiter that we'd like the final course (dessert) to go. The waiter then came out hurridly and apologized saying "I know it took too long between the first and second course" thus admitting mistakes when we hadn't even complained. You would think he'd have comped part of the bill--no way. I was so unfullfilled with dinner that I went back to the hotel and scarfed down a bag of M&Ms.

05/20/08

Service was extemely poor and so was the food.

by linda1011

I have been to almost all of the fine dining restaurants in this city and I cannot believe that this deserves a four star rating. I went there last Tuesday for a friends birthday and we waited at least 10-15 minutes before a server came to our table to order a drink. Our server then made recommendations for our appetizer and entree. The appetizer was fair. Our entree was so spicy we could not even eat it. He brought us a sauce to calm it down, but it did nothing. He did not even offer to replace it. To pay $36.00 for a steak you can't even eat is ridiculous. It was the worse dining experience I have had in a long time and a ruined evening. An expensive tab, where we left still hungry. I would never go back.

02/01/08

Love the Hot Sauce!

by sasachic

My husband and I have been dying to go here since we watched his show on T.V. Lunch hours where almost over so we were only able to eat in the bar area. There wasn't too much on the lunch menu, but I did like the idea how they change the menu often so it makes you want to come back for more. We love there hot sauce, that we actually bought one for our home. My husband grew up in Mexico all his life and he loved it, he said the sauce was just like his Grandma's homemade sauce.The food was delicious and the appearance of it was tasteful. We can't wait to go back and try out the new items on the menu.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: none

01/02/08

Fantastic!

by sarah6306

We were a little nervous about Mexican food in Chicago since we were coming from Texas, but made a reservation at Topolobampo at the recommendation of a friend. We were amazed! The food was incredible and the members of the waitstaff were very attentive. Highly recommended.

• Pros: Great food, friendly staff, ambience
• Cons: Hard to get a reservation