business lunch spots near Naperville, Lombard, Wheaton

Hi there,

I'm wondering if you could suggest a comfortable (not too casual) lunch spot that let's one:

* hold a conversation in a quiet atmosphere (no loud background music)
* take your clients out for a lunch without breaking the bank every time (max around $25 per person)
* have a comfortable inviting dining experience that is NOT a chain restaurant (no matter how nice one of those may be)
* enjoy delicious food (can be ethnic food)
* be seated and served in a prompt fashion
* has easy parking during lunch time
* drive there from Naperville, Lombard or Wheaton within 10 minutes

Many thanks in advance,

taiga

I reviewed Caponata's in Wheaton last summer, we haven't been back because it's a special trip and we're cutting down on those a little, but if in the area, we'd go back.

viewtopic.php?t=12759&highlight=

I recommend Hugo's Frog Bar or Catch 35 in Naperville. Catch 35 is a little more upscale, but both serve great seafood and have a great atmosphere for a business lunch.

If you're looking for quiet, great food, efficient service and space to have a business lunch I would say Raffi's in Naperville. The food is Mediterranean with a slight shading towards the Middle East. They have excellent lamb and chicken kebabs off the grill and the prices are very reasoanble.

http://www.raffison5th.com/menu.shtml

I don't think you can go wrong, I frequent many of the restaurants in the area at lunch and when I need a place for a serious meeting where converstaion is important... it is my go to spot. And the bonus is parking is plentiful at lunch unlike a lot of the other Naperville places.

Raffi's
Raffi's on 5th
200 E. Fifth Ave.
Naperville 60563-3100
630-961-8203

Hurdler4eva wrote:I recommend Hugo's Frog Bar or Catch 35 in Naperville. Catch 35 is a little more upscale, but both serve great seafood and have a great atmosphere for a business lunch.

Although I really do enjoy Hugo's... for a business lunch I find it loud and distracting. Ther service is also painfully slow... I cannot get out of there in less than an hour and a half no matter what. That said they do have great sandwiches and salads at lunch that are very reasonable... the highlight is the $1 soup (Bookbinders or New England Clam Chowder) and the $1 House Salad or Iceberg Wedge. Pair that with a couple of the sliders and you have a feast for $10 or so depending on beverage and tip. Also, the Crab Cake has been redesigned in the last year or so and is much much better.

Catch 35 is much quieter and probably more conducive to business meeting... but I can honestly say that as much as I've tried to like the food there, I just can't. Personally Chinn's 34th Street does a much better job with fresh fish if you can get past the 70's era interior.


Chinn's 34th St. Fishery
3011 Ogden Ave
Lisle, IL 60532
(630) 637-1777

I don't do weekday or business lunches in the suburbs very frequently, but I think that the recommendations so far are good ones. In the Naperville area, I really like Hugo's. The food is great, and, as suggested, it is a very good value at lunchtime. Some of the servers are better than others, but management understands the importance of good, efficient service. If you let your server know that you have time constraints or don't care to be kept waiting, I would imagine that he or she will move things along. I have not been to Raffi's at lunch, but it strikes me as a good suggestion. It's a nice space and is a bit off the beaten path. I was fairly unimpressed with Catch 35 on our last visit, but it certainly is one of the nicer restaurants in Naperville right now.

In the Lombard area, you might want to consider Ditka's. In my experience, the food there consistently has been very good to excellent. They cater to a business lunch crowd, and probably would move things along pretty quickly.

You may also want to consider Egg Harbor Cafe in Naperville or Wheaton, though it's a bit on the casual side. The food consistently is very good, and I believe that they have a semi-private room (in each of those locations) which they allow business groups to use for meetings, etc. They also have a location in Lombard (Yorktown) which, in my experience, is not as good as the others.

I've been impressed with Tango downtown N'ville - both lunch and dinner. Lunch is almost a bargain.

http://tangogrill.com/
5 W Jackson Avenue
Naperville IL 60540
630-848-1818

Hugo's is very good. I've never been in for lunch but it is noisy for dinner.

There are some great choices in the area depending on what you're after. I know good restaurants have been popping up all over Lombard - some decent chains. Sticking with the unchained.

Muldoons - downtown Wheaton.

www.muldoonswheaton.com
133 W. Front Street
Wheaton, IL 60187
phone 630-668-8866

I've heard good things about Sushi House in Wheaton - although I've never been. Lots of other recommendations on this site depending on your cuisine of choice.

Tango is very good but I would think it too noisy for a business lunch.

Ron A. wrote:I don't do weekday or business lunches in the suburbs very frequently, but I think that the recommendations so far are good ones. In the Naperville area, I really like Hugo's. The food is great, and, as suggested, it is a very good value at lunchtime. Some of the servers are better than others, but management understands the importance of good, efficient service. If you let your server know that you have time constraints or don't care to be kept waiting, I would imagine that he or she will move things along. I have not been to Raffi's at lunch, but it strikes me as a good suggestion. It's a nice space and is a bit off the beaten path.

We were looking for something different yesterday and went to Raffi's for our first time visit. Nice space as noted above and very nice service as should be when you are the only diners in the place. I had lamb kebobs off their very limited menu and I wasn't sure what to expect. I got a lovely heaping plate of nicely grilled and perfectly medium rare 3" hunks of lamb placed upon a large amount of fluffy rice mixed with onion and grilled veggies. The lamb was the best I have had in a restaurant. My vegetarian partner had a salad nicoise which was very large and ordered an app of grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts and currents. We expected an order of 2 grape leaves in total and wound up getting 2 each. The food was excellant as was the service but we were the only people in the place at noon.

I just had dinner at Brian's Charhouse in West Chicago. Its actually a little NW of Wheaton/Winfield, on North Ave. and County Farm Rd. only a stone's throw from the Dupage Co. Government Center.

The NY Strip steak I had was very good. My mother had prime rib and it was properly rare as she likes it. I would return. Its a white table cloth place and it was quiet in there, not one of those noisy trendy kind of places.

The do serve lunch and the prices seem within your reach.

http://www.brians-charhouse.com/