Tapis Rouge in Ravinia?

Anyone been? I haven't heard much and was looking to plan a local night out.

Any information would be appreciated.

Tapis Rouge
581 Roger Williams Ave.
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-681-1401

I have only been there for lunch. The food was decent french cafe/bistro fare. The nicoise salad was good. The wine list seemed very expensive. I would probably go to Cafe Central instead, unless you are going to ravinia after.

-Will

Anyone been?

I was there a few months ago for a Bar Mitzvah dinner. About 40 people attended, and I think our group (obviously reserved far, far in advance, etc) completely overwhelmed the restaurant. They fudged all of the food. The tilapia was cold. They said that they were having problems with their fryer that night. After a long delay, they served soggy frites. What was supposed to be chocolate lava cake seemed to be actually flourless chocolate cake (tasted good but no trace of lava). Mine is obviously not an experience on which you should come to any final judgments about this place but maybe give some extra thought to any possible group outings there.

I've been twice with mixed results.

Went on New Year's eve with neighbors who were regulars. We were there early and had a pleasant experience. Friendly greeting for our party as they were known. The neighbors had crab cake appetizers which they liked. Wife and I split the Tapis Rouge salad which was very good.

I think our friends had duck which they said was fine. My wife liked her tilapia. I had a decent salmon dish. They were very accommodating as I said I didn't want the fish cooked in butter. The chef came out and we discussed several options. They also asked about degree of doneness.

I can't remember the desserts, but overall we were pleased.

We returned on a Wednesday evening in March with other friends, who told us of hearing mixed comments about the place. (Tapis has a special on Wednesdays of appetizer/main course/dessert for $25.) The winter months were very slow for them and they were out of a number of menu items.

They seemed to be really cutting costs as the only staff were the waiter/ bartender, the chef and a kitchen assistant, a total of three people. They were barely outnumbered by customers. We were there for over two hours and only a handful of people came in. Total less than ten for the evening.

The server didn't seem to know what was available so there were several missteps in the ordering process. Also, while pleasant, he was just generally clumsy in handling of everything.

The crab cake appetizers were fine. I had the crudities plate which was a bore. The accompaniments didn't have much flavor. The hummus wasn't as good as Trader Joe's.

I had a steak which was perfectly fine. Not top steakhouse stuff, but OK. My wife thought her dish was OK too, but our friends were disappointed with their beef dishes.

Our friends were irked with dessert. They saw what looked like an apricot tart in the display case up front and asked about it. The waiter said it was apricot so they ordered it. Turned out to be apple. Nothing wrong with it, but when your taste buds are set for one thing and something else shows up, it's irritating.

I've not been back since, though have noticed in my neighborhood walks that business has picked up since the Ravinia concert season started.

I hope Tapis Rouge has straightened out their problems as the neighborhood could use a good restaurant. At the moment I'm inclined to wait a while before trying it again.

Was just there last Friday night, party of 4 of us. The Fiance and I went there last winter for dessert and enjoyed our fondue dessert and had wanted to go back for dinner.

Very small wine list by glass and bottle. I wanted to start with a martini and they only had one in stock. I found that quite odd but settled for an Absolut dirty martini.

We split many appetizers and for the most part was very underwhelmed. Two of the appetizers we ordered had different ingredients than what was listed on the menu. Not a big deal but an explanation would have been nice. My sister enjoyed the escargots, can't vouch for them. French and Belgium style onion soup was good, not too rich or salty which can ruin this fairly simple soup.

None of the appetizers nor entrees were served with any garnish which we found odd. The tuna and smoked salmon pate was served with toast points and without any other garnish, didn't look very appetizing. Tasted ok, not great.

Portion size good, prices a little high for the suburbs. Service was very good. It took a while for our entrees to come so they offered us dessert. Again, dessert was good but not garnished. We had chocolate crem brulee and a dense flourless chocolate cake. I know a lack of garnishes is pretty petty to complain about but a sprig of parsley here and there and maybe some powdered sugar/fruit on the desserts would have been a nice touch.

George R wrote:
I hope Tapis Rouge has straightened out their problems as the neighborhood could use a good restaurant. At the moment I'm inclined to wait a while before trying it again.

They haven't. And I don't think they intend to. Have you seen the patio area? What is that, a work in progress-for a month?

I had dinner there last week, the food was good. What food they actually had that is. It cannot be a good sign when everytime I've been there they're always out of this or that. It gets old. After dinner last week, I decided I'll never go back again. It's really just a shame that whomever owns or manages the place can't even figure out the basics. I had high hopes when this opened last year-hopes that are now certainly dashed.

I hate to say it, but I'll be stunned if this place is still open 6 months from now. Wish it would have worked out for them...will be anxious to see if someone else can step into that space and have success.

I live within a half mile of this place and i so want it to be good. Just like i want the hunan pearl across the street to be good. sadly both always dissapoint me.

Luckily, the Ravinia BBQ across the street is, IMHO, a great neighborhood place. I love the natural salad. (greens topped with cole slaw--genuis) and everthing else is just consistently good. I am sure that many places have better bbq but the variety and consistentcy plus thursday night karaoke make it my go to local (very) kitchen

iblock9 wrote:I live within a half mile of this place

iblock, did you go to the U of I? And were there really 8 other people before you who'd registered on the LTH forum with the name "iblock"?

I grew up walking distance from the Ravinia train station. Still miss it sometimes. What do you think is good food in Ravinia these days? I don't suppose Il Forno's is open any more...? ... sigh ...

I did go to U of I but the nickname has nothing to do with Block I. I choose Iblock9 because i previously registered Iblock and forgot the pword. 9 is my favorite #.

My two favorite places to eat in ravinia are the aforementioned Ravinia BBQ and of course Pieros Pizza.

iblock9 wrote:I did go to U of I but the nickname has nothing to do with Block I. I choose Iblock9 because i previously registered Iblock and forgot the pword. 9 is my favorite #.

It appears you never posted anything as Iblock. Tip for the future: contact a moderator who can reset your password.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:It appears you never posted anything as Iblock. Tip for the future: contact a moderator who can reset your password.

Yes, please do, only one user name per person on LTHForum.

I deleted the user name Iblock

SORRY

iblock9 wrote:SORRY

Not a big deal, happy to have you posting.

My neighbors went for dinner tonight. They told me that the place was pretty much out of everything. No Halibut, no salmon, no tilapia and so on. Also, one of the owners was attempting to wait tables. He gave my friends the wrong food! Once again, another set of customers that will not be back. The only thing my friends could think of is that the owners are intentionally sinking this already doomed ship.

My wife ordered from Tapis Rouge last week when I insisted on Chicken Lorraine (very tasty no skin/no salt preparation if you have dietary issues like i do) from Ravinia BBQ across the street for like the 25th time this summer. She ordered crab cakes and baked goat cheese. For research purposes I tasted both of these dishes.

The crab cakes were awful. Two crab cakes the size of half dollars for $10. Way too much filler and not lump crab meat. Basically long john silver quality. Horrible

The baked goat cheese looked like an oily philo crusted piece of frozen saganaki, had the consistentcy of a fully cooked egg yolk. hate to continue to slag this place but it is very dissapointing considering how nice ravinia bistro once was. We are finished with this place

HI,

There may not be too much gas left in Tapis Rouge. It is my understanding they are for sale.

Regards,

not sure if it is for sale but i heard from my neighbor that the chef has pretty much left and will not return. Not sure why but the assumption is mistreatment and horrible management by the owners. looks like they are digging themselves deeper.

Closed.

A sign on the door says they are closed for vacation and will re-open Tuesday, September 4th.

George R wrote:A sign on the door says they are closed for vacation and will re-open Tuesday, September 4th.

Closed. For good. This what happens when hairdressers think they can operate a place. Done.

A sign in the window now says they will re-open October 22 with a new menu and new concept.

Rumor is that efforts to sell the restaurant fell thru.

Thanks for the update George. The saga continues eh...if the new "concept" is reasonably priced I will give it a shot and report back...

George R wrote:A sign in the window now says they will re-open October 22 with a new menu and new concept.

Rumor is that efforts to sell the restaurant fell thru.

I wonder if the concept will include actually having food available for purchase/consumption. I won't hold my breath.

Hi,

My Mom went with the local seniors group to Tapis Rouge. They ran out of salad, then advised people it would be an hour before more would be available. If these seniors had shown up spontaneously, then the restaurant might have an excuse. Instead it was a meal planned over a month in advance with a fixed count known in advance. I felt a little guilty it had not occured to me to warn the staff coordinator for the event.

Any time you serve less than promised to a crowd of seniors, then host is treated to a visibly hostile and vocal crowd.

Regards,

Reopen Oct 22nd? Drove by the other day-still closed. Does anyone know if this place was/has sold?

I parked in the Tapis Rouge lot this evening when i picked up from my now favorite local sushi spot, Happi Sushi. Absolutely no signs of life. This is truly sad for the neighborhood as the Ravinia Bistro was a really nice little place before Tapis Rouge.

iblock9 wrote:I parked in the Tapis Rouge lot this evening when i picked up from my now favorite local sushi spot, Happi Sushi. Absolutely no signs of life. This is truly sad for the neighborhood as the Ravinia Bistro was a really nice little place before Tapis Rouge.

Nice to see this place has found it's niche.

Restaurant For Sale sign up in the window when I drove by a few hours ago.