12/06/08

What a gem! Incredible food, great service, amazing value for money

by chifoodie

This is now one of my fave restaurants in the city. The food was incredible, especially their fois gras appetizer, burger, escargot gnocchi and fries. Wines are all the same price and very reasonable. Staff were very friendly. Atmosphere warm, cosy and french. Sophisticated menu with unpretentious atmosphere and modest prices. And considering the kind of ingredients which featured in what we ate (fois gras, truffle oil, mussels, escargot, etc), we were very pleasantly surprised when the bill came. $50 per person based on two people sharing: 2 apps, 2 mains, 2 sides, 2 coffees, 1 bottle of wine, 1 dessert. Will definitely be coming back here, and often, and with friends. Great place for a date, or casual relaxed dinner with friends. Apparently Wed nights, their burger is only $10 and Monday nights it's BYOB without corkage. I've also heard their Sun brunch is incredible.

• Pros: food, value for money
• Cons: none!

09/26/08

Deserts & Wines Good - Food NOT

by Maureen826

I went there for an anniversary dinner and was somewhat dissappointed with our service (a very stressed out and rushing gay man) and the food. I ordered a fish dish and while the fish itself was cooked well, the sauces and various other embellishments to the dish rendered it almost unediable for me. I would not got to this restaurant for a main course however their desert is wonderful. The bread pudding is our favorite. Their winelist is also worth the trip.

02/18/08

Great service and great burgers

by sweetpea1970

We went to Sweets and Savories last Wednesday on the advice of a friend for their special $10 Kobe Beef burger night and we were very impressed! Although the restaurant seemed a bit busy for such a small place, we were greeted promptly with a smile and given our table right away. Although the rest of the menu was very tempting, we heard the burgers were monsters so we just ordered those and the duck fat fries. The burgers were awesome! The fries were addictive.

As for the service, our waitress seemed very sweet and took good care of us. I read some of the other reviews complaining about "pretentious" attitude, but we saw none of that at all, everyone was very nice. We had already decided to come back and try the regular menu on another night when the waitress told us about the special prix fixe menu available for $30 for Restaurant Week, so we will definitely be back for that!

So I say, thumbs up to Sweets and Savories and judge it for yourself.

• Pros: Food, Service
• Cons: Regular menu seems a bit expensive

02/14/08

Terrible Service!

by albertson

I went here recently for a friend's birthday with a group of 6. We had reservations and were promptly seated but then waited about ten minutes for water or a waiter. Flagging down one of the waiters we asked if we could just look at a wine list while waiting. Apparently this was a mis-step as it seemed to put our actual waitress in a huff from the beginning. The treatment was decidely pretentious and I became more and more agitated by the way our enthusiastic group was judged. If this is supposed to be a formal dinner place, then be formal. After we didnt order appetizers, our waitress reached across the table to start snatching up the salad forks as if we were commiting some kind of crime. When serving the entrees, she realized a possible mistake with the cooking of a hamburger, but still plopped it in front of a friend and said "whatever". I feel terrible writing only about the service here, the food really was phenomenal, but the service really ruined it. I am not the kind of person to criticize this aspect of dining normally, I even get mad if I see reviews that only focus on it! But seriously, this was the worst experience in rude service I have ever had.

• Pros: great food
• Cons: SERVICE

10/03/07

Foodie hideout

by carlson_b

Went to Sweets & Savories for the first time on Monday and it could definitely become a regular spot. It was fairly empty so no need to get a reservation 2 weeks ahead and with specials during the week (no corkage and $10 off the tasting menu on Monday) you can't go wrong. Every course was not only prepared perfectly but had some amazing texture and taste combinations - even the palate cleansing sorbet with strawberry and cardamom was a fantastic taste combination I wouldn't have done myself. If you're looking for the typical Midwest huge portions, this isn't the place. If you're looking for refined food with great taste in a nice atmosphere you'll love Sweets & Savories. I only wish the name hadn't made me overlook this gem for the past 3-4 years since they opened...

P.S. I didn't really look at the wine list but since they allow BYOB it is a perfect place to bring a nice single vineyard Pinot Noir which should work well with just about everything on the tasting menu.

• Pros: Phenomenal food, great service, allows BYOB
• Cons: A bit pricey, somewhat limited bar/alcohol selection

09/03/07

Excellent dinner

by zoxozo

Came here with my family and got the 5-course tasting menu.

First course was a tomato water with olive oil and diced bell peppers. Doesn't sound like much, but tasted really great. It was a perfect summer dish, cool and refreshing.

Next came a cod dish, the details of which I can't remember to well. It was served over a tomato stew, with a couple of sauces. Very tasty, and made my cousin realize that she likes cod.

Third course was an asparagus risotto. I love risotto. Not too keen on asparagus. The risotto definitely won out though. It was delicious.

Fourth was the meat course, lamb with a port reduction together with some spicy lentils. I know this was the favorite dish of many at the table. The lamb was beautifully cooked, and the reduction perfectly complimented the flavor. I really enjoyed the lentils--a food I've never really eaten before, that I'm aware of.

Last was the dessert course. Here it became clear why "Sweets" comes first in the restaurant name. We had a party of 6, and they brought out 6 full size desserts for the table to share. I won't go into detail on all of them, save to say that they were all very good. The rich chocolate cake and the cardamom cake were my favorites. The bread pudding forced my dad to reconsider his opinion that he didn't really like bread pudding. I have a monster sweet tooth, so perhaps I'm not the most objective, but everyone there agreed the desserts were excellent.

The restaurant is not in a terribly prepossessing neighborhood, and when we first drove by, I actually didn't see it without a second glance. Perhaps this has contributed to why the dining room was fairly empty while we were there (at 8pm on a Saturday night). I found that to really be a shame, because the food was so excellent. The waiters were also incredibly friendly. I would definitely recommend trying this place out if you get the chance.

04/11/07

Worst service from the bald guy

by duhu

There is nothing sweet about this place especially when the bald waiter is serving. There was no customer service whatsoever. As a frequent diner, not once have I encountered such pretentious behavior from a waiter. Avoid at all cost!

02/13/07

Fantastic

by m_chi

I am very happy to support this restaurant. I have experience both excellent food and service. well done

10/30/06

Overrated

by jlh67

We recently had dinner at Sweets and Savories for the first time and while it is a nice, small, and intimate setting we felt it was overrated. The food is good but we have had much better and at more reasonable prices. My husband had the beef short ribs which were good but not incredible and I had the seabass which also was good but I've had much better at other local restaurants and not paid $34.00 for it. The wine list was a disappoint. There are a couple of reasonably priced bottles, most that you wouldn't want and then it jumps to $60, $70-$100 per bottle. There is nothing inbetween @ the $40-$50 range that you would want to try. One last note, the rave about the chocolate pecan pie, so on their recommendation we tried a piece for dessert....it just tasted like regular old pecan pie to me - I didn't taste any chocolate. With all the great restaurants here in Chicago I doubt we will return to Sweets and Savories.

• Pros: Cute, Quaint Setting, Good Service
• Cons: Too Pricey, Challenged Wine List

09/05/06

Excellent Tasting

by jenh18018

With a name of a pastry shop, an ambience of a nouveau French bistro, a reputation of the best bargain dining in Chicago, S&S shocked me when I had the first bite of the foie gras with chocolate sauce on glazed pineapple. It was Mobile 5 star quality. The chefs precision in searing the foie gras alone showed his caliber in French cooking. It got better. The escargot was stunning. I have never had such fresh ones in the U.S. The sauce was truly savory, none of the over powering garlic business. The chef was very creative in a sense that he refreshed the classic French cooking much more agreeable to the modern palate, great to the taste buds and easy on the waistline. All the elements were so well balanced that each course was a Mozart.

Every ingredient was superb. The tomatoes were much better than the $5/lb stuff I got from Wholefood, and I could swear the Halibut was swimming hours before the dinner. When truffles are in season, people can have a generous offering for a small supplement. The chocolate truffles came with the check were close to the ones I got from La Maison Du Chocolat for $70/lb.

There was no tasting menu. We got whatever the chef felt like to serve. The last time I gave a chef such liberty was dining at Nobu. Both experiences turned out to be great. I was glad S & S chef chose the chocolate cake for us. I normally would not order that. I would have missed out a piece of heaven.

The GM, Paul, took very good care of us. He was a spunky character and particularly kind to the elder patrons sitting next to us. It will be better to request him to take the order because the young waiters were not as experienced. The place was spotless. Wines were very well priced.

$10 cab ride to Rust St. Perfect combo for a Saturday night. Too bad we don't live in Chicago. Otherwise we could go there once a week. S&S rules.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: I don't live in Chicago