Lunch near Aon Center?

I'm in Chicago on Monday for a meeting. But it doesn't start until 1, so I'll be meeting my colleagues for lunch at 11. I was planning to take them to Aigre Doux because I wanted that sticky toffee pudding, but I kept putting off making the reservation, and now there's no 11:00 am slot available.

Any suggestions? We'll be planning for our session over lunch, so not anyplace too noisy. Walking distance to the meeting at the Aon Center (200 E. Randolph Street) would be great, but a short cab ride is fine too. Price and kind of food are flexible.

Thanks!

Search BomBon Cafe

JeffB wrote:Search BomBon Cafe

I had seen the thread about BomBon and it looked great, but from the description it didn't sound like it would be a great environment for the "working" part of lunch.

I suggest Park Grill Chicago. It's only a block west of the Standard Oil Building (that's probably how most of us still refer to the Aon Center). This is the restaurant at the Michigan Avenue entrance to Millennium Park, right next to the skating rink. Nice place, not overly noisy, very good service and food (surprisingly good, considering the prime location). And they show openings on opentable.com for this Monday at 11:00, when they open.

I suspect a lot of Chicagoans haven't been there, just because it's in the park and they don't realize it's as good as it is, thinking it's "just a tourist place" due to its location. Either that, or they don't go because it's somewhat on the expensive side (which it is, but not unusually so for its level of quality and location, and probably not a big consideration for a business meeting anyway). But the food and service were both excellent the time I had lunch there.

www.parkgrillchicago.com

Another option might be the various restaurants in all the hotels within a couple of blocks of the Standard Oil Building (Fairmont, Swissotel, Hyatt Regency Chicago), but I'm not familiar with any of those.

BTW, Bonbon Cafe is two miles west, on the opposite side of the Loop (downtown Chicago) from the Standard Oil Building. While you can hop a cab and be there in 10-15 minutes, that's really far to have to travel for a business lunch, when people usually prefer not to have to spend much time in transit.

At 11, you should be fine.

... topolobampo can be quite quiet during lunch....

and at 11am Bin 36 would be quite quiet as well... and they have big round booths that allow you to spread out and get papers layed out and what not.

both would be cab rides away probably unless you're wanting a 15 min walk after lunch.

Aria's in the Fairmont next to the Aon Center -- it was often where business lunches took place when I worked in the Prudential Building a year or two ago.

The Palm is up in the Swissotel -- just recently there for dinner -- not sure how quiet it would be but certainly the site of many a previous working lunch.

My personal choice would be to go down to Madison and Wabash and get a big table (call for a reservation) and have the wonderful pizza at Pizano's. Definitely busy at lunch but it would make a convivial conversation.

Big ol' thumbs up for Aria. You can get there without even leaving the Aon property, too, via the downstairs mini-pedway that connects Aon to Prudential I and II. Lovely surroundings, excellent and creative food. The only downside is that Chef Noah Bekofsky can't make his ethereal foie gras mousse anymore. OMG, that stuff was amazing, particularly spread on the hot naan that they bake in the dining room oven....


BTW, Park Grill = big ol' "meh." They could do a lot better, but they don't have to, so they don't. Just average.

Any idea why Aria's website says to use Open Table for reservations, but they're not listed there?

sundevilpeg wrote:BTW, Park Grill = big ol' "meh." They could do a lot better, but they don't have to, so they don't. Just average.

That's exactly what I was expecting, based on their location, until I actually went there. I thought it was very good indeed - tasty food, efficient friendly service, nice decor. <shrug> Have you actually been there?

nsxtasy wrote:Any idea why Aria's website says to use Open Table for reservations, but they're not listed there?

hmmm.......

SSDD

headcase wrote:

nsxtasy wrote:Any idea why Aria's website says to use Open Table for reservations, but they're not listed there?

hmmm.......

When looking at their page on Open Table, it has a message, "This Restaurant Is Offline Temporarily. Please Check Back." So it shows up if you look at the listing of all the restaurants in the area, but not if you try looking for a reservation at any particular time. Oh well. Thanks!

I hate to state the obvious and perhaps appear too olde school, but you could always call the Fairmont and make a reservation using the telephone.

Have you actually been there?

I am not in the habit of stating opinions about restaurants I haven't visited. I stand by my review, having suffered through not one, but three utterly undistinguished lunches there. In short, it's just not worth the time or money - it's no better than Bennigan's, and more expensive, as well. To me, the most striking feature of Park Grill is the huge potential that was squandered, due primarily to political log-rolling, but that's an entirely different issue.

stevez wrote:I hate to state the obvious and perhaps appear too olde school, but you could always call the Fairmont and make a reservation using the telephone.

Until I saw that error message, I was just wondering whether perhaps there was some other explanation (like if they had changed the name of the restaurant and it was listed under the other name).

No big deal.