09/11/09

My First time

by ejacobelli86

After months and months of saying I wanted to go to Park 52 I finally found time last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised by the the range of the menu. The selection was mouth watering! Our waitress was extremely knowledgeable, and helped create amazing food pairings for us! I tasted tyku sake with my lamb. The lamb melted in my mouth! I would suggest Park 52 to everyone. The meals are delicious, the staff is courteous, and the prices are affordable.

• Pros: mouth watering selection

03/24/09

Great Dinner Destination

by Krazyinthecity

My friends and I choose Park 52 as our most recent pick for our monthly GNO dinner. The atmosphere is really lively with an impressive bar area. The entrees on the menu we found to be unique and we all enjoyed our choices. The winners with us were the Braised Short Ribs and the Scallop Entree served over Orso... both were very tasty. The wine list was short but impressive, and we enjoyed a nice bottle of Malbec. When the check came, we were all pleasantly surprised at how affordable it was. I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

02/14/09

Disappointing

by e84

There aren't a lot of options for special occasion dining or date dining in Hyde Park, so my husband and I were excited when Park 52 opened just a block from our house. We were incredibly disappointed. The atmosphere is lovely, the decor is beautiful, and the service was astoundingly good (given that this is Hyde Park), but the food was mediocre. It had your typical fancy-steakhouse trappings and nothing more. Boring, boring, boring. But it is a new restaurant, and I certainly hope the menu improves because the atmosphere is so nice.

• Pros: decor, service
• Cons: mediocre steakhouse food

07/07/08

Filling the void

by anedra

I live in Hyde Park but dine all over the city. Kleiners other restaurants Room 21 and Carnivale are two of my favorites so I was more than excited when I learned about the opening of Park 52. The decor did not disspoint. The menu is brief and could use some additional entrees (when I visited last week I noticed a few new appetizers) but I have enjoyed everything I have had there including the shrimp and girts and the salmon and I have heard great reviews from friends on the white fish. I do not feel that the food lives up to the standards set at Carnival or Room 21 but I think they can get there. In the meantime I for one am extactic to have a beautiful, fun place to go for dinner or for cocktails and appetizers after work and be just minutes from home!

• Pros: decor, service, quality of food
• Cons: lack of menu choices

Jerry Kleiner, known for loud, colorful restaurants that ooze personality, makes a bold play for neighborhood diners in Hyde Park.

by Contributor

In Short
Vibrant colors, plush fabrics and over-the-top design are Kleiner's signatures, and those elements are no doubt present here. Who ever heard of a classic American bistro boasting velveteen polka dot chairs and palm trees? In this playful space--filled with as much drama as Carnivale and ROOM21--they're standard. Upstairs, a red-tinged lounge overlooks the energetic scene below. Executive Chef Chris Barron spins a locally sourced menu of salads, soups, steaks, fish, chicken and pork, with many ingredients plucked from Hyde Park's weekly Farmer's Market. A lack of fancy eats in this community fuels traffic from families, foodies and University of Chicago students.

Photo by Jasmin Shah