Juggling 3 choices for a "fun" dinner downtown

Hi all, and thanks in advance for your thoughts and any replies on this. I realize these 3 restaurants are dissimilar in cuisine and probably decor, etc., but I will be downtown in a couple of weeks and my wife has researched quite a bit and is really interested in choosing between 2 of these 3 locations for a couple of fun nights out, with good food of course.

The 3 locations are Frontera Grill, MK and Kevin. I would be interested in knowing what kind of experiences you have had at these restauraunts and if you recommend them or not. One night will be just the 2 of us, celebrating our anniversary. The other night we are going out with 2 other couples. We're all in our early 30's and looking for good food, fun and probaby hit the bar/club scene later.

If you recommend something different, specifically for the private meal for our anniversary, I'm all ears. Thanks again for any advice.

I've only had good experiences at Frontera, and it seems as of late I am in the minority. Yes it was busy, yes, the seating was cramped, but the food has made up for it on the times I've gone. I would not go to Frontera and expect an intimate meal, but maybe more of a fun, loud meal, and hope you get the chefs who I've had the times I've gone. I've read about utterly bland, lifeless, meals there, but when I've gone, there were flavors bursting in almost every dish. Conversely, I've been to Salpicon three times (A Frontera competitor) and found absolutely nothing that had any flavor worth noting. Dining companions all had similar complaints. Might just be the luck of the draw at Frontera, but I've had ceviche tostadas, duck, fish, moles - all stellar. I recommend it with one caveat: It will probably be busy, noisy, and seating will be cramped. Hopefully, your food will make up for it.

I also vote for Frontera. It's usually busy and somewhat loud, but there are far worse places (this coming from someone who generally avoids noisy restaurants; I almost had an anxiety attack the one and only time I've been to Cafe Ba ba Reeba). The atmosphere at Frontera is lively, and the food tastes GOOD. I've made reservations at MK two or three times and have canceled because I've found myself, a day or two before the meal, just not that excited about the menu or place. I've never tried Kevin.

The food at Kevin is great, but the atmosphere is definitely not "fun".

I would be wary of Frontera Grill. As others have mentioned, the food is great, but it's cramped and noisy. The bigger downside is that they don't accept reservations in advance, although they take them the same day you're eating if you call them when they first start taking calls at 8:30 a.m. That makes it a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to advance planning. If you're really interested in Rick Bayless's regional Mexican cuisine, you might want to consider Topolobampo next door, where they DO take reservations in advance. Other alternatives in the regional Mexican genre include Adobo Grill in Old Town and Wicker Park, and Salpicon in Old Town.

MK is another place that I would be wary of. Like Frontera Grill, it's crowded and noisy, and the last time I ate there, we felt incredibly rushed (we joked that the name stands for "mangia kwick").

I haven't been to Kevin.

For something fun downtown in a casual, hip, contemporary American vein (a la MK), my recommendations would be one sixtyblue, Blackbird, Aigre Doux, or Naha. To throw out a few more kinds of food, you might consider Red Light for Asian Fusion, Bistro 110 or Kiki's for French Bistro, Cafe Spiaggia or Coco Pazzo for Italian, or, if cabbing to the South Loop isn't too inconvenient, Cuatro for Latin Fusion. All of these offer excellent food in a fun, casual setting.

All of the restaurants mentioned here (other than Frontera and Kevin) accept reservations on opentable.com as well as by calling the restaurant. (Kevin accepts reservations by phone.)

I've been to Frontera a couple times and found it very good both times. I thought some of the more standard options (enchiladas, guacamole) were a little bland, but the pricier specials (the grass fed rib steak comes to mind) very good. It was full last time I went and I did not find it uncomfortably crowded. Sometimes it seems that the whole reservation policy is overblown too. It seems like most people get seated within an hour at the most, and you can now make reservations if you call early in the morning on the same day, although I really can't fathom why they have such a screwy reservation policy. Might have been an interesting little quirk when they opened, but now its just silly IMO.

Went to MK once about two years ago and was underwhelmed, but that's not much to go by. In fact I can't remember anymore what I ordered. Others seem to enjoy it, although from some recent pictures, Naha looks outstanding, and I've had one great meal at 160 Blue (only been there once). Both are in the same "contemporary American" genre as MK.

Never went to Kevin.

Thanks for your input, everyone. I ended up making reservations at 160B and Kevin, based on these comments and some I read elsewhere. We heavily considered Blackbird, but it looked a little "cramped" for our special night out, although the food reviews were off the charts. We definitely want to go there sometime soon!