Chicago - Who's Eaten at Alinea?

[chicago]

I know there are a few people here who have been. How was your experience and did it live up to your expectations?

We've been to Moto (eh...), Graham Elliott (eh...), NEXT for their Childhood menu (really good but not great), among others. I know it gets great ratings, but how good is it really?

Thanks!

[mdgirl]

It was really good. However I will say don't go when you're tired -- it's a long meal and I almost dozed off when they put the lavendar pillow thingy in front of me.

[wanderlustfoodie]

I've been. I thought it was very good but neither DH nor I was blown away by it and we think that there are many restaurants who do this style better - Blanca, WD-50, Atera, Per Se, etc. At Alinea it seemed like the focus was on molecular techniques in order to go, "See, look how cool this is?" without regard to what the dish ultimately tasted like.

But what really bothered me about this restaurant was that all of the waitstaff seemed extremely pretentious and condescending. Poor service is something I experience so rarely that it is really noticeable when I do. What I do think is great is the bar next to NEXT, the Aviary.

Bottom line: I'm glad I went and got to experience it but am not dying to return especially when there are so many better tasting menu experiences out there.

[chicago]

Oct 11, 2012 11:54:40 GMT -5 wanderlustfoodie said:

At Alinea it seemed like the focus was on molecular techniques in order to go, "See, look how cool this is?" without regard to what the dish ultimately tasted like.

What I do think is great is the bar next to NEXT, the Aviary.

Ok, so this is exactly why we disliked Moto!! Yeah, a Cuban sandwich cigar is cool...if it tastes like a delicious Cuban sandwich...but it doesn't, so...

Yes, we loved Aviary!

I think we're skipping Alinea for now. They have a new "ticket system" similar to NEXT's and they just released a bunch of dates yesterday- I was tempted to pull the trigger for our anniversary in December. I think we'll go somewhere else instead. Any other favorites in Chicago? Some places we like for different reasons are Carnivale, Girl + the Goat, Table 52, MK. I'm not great at keeping up to date with the new and best places.

Thanks, everyone!

[FrozenSunshine]

I have tickets to Alinea in November, I hope I'm not disappointed.