La Brochette

Wow did I take one for the team tonight. Full disclosure, the restaurant has only been open for three days. Because of this, I had zero expectations of service, but , I thought if the food is good, I'll overlook it.
There were only nine people in the restaurant, one chef and two waitresses. This is supposed to be a moroccan and mediterranean place. I'm not sure they have either. It was just so awful from the moment we sat down.
First of all the waitresses were polish and timid, because I could barely hear the girl, and finally figured out it's because she didn't know the hand printed menu at all. She didn't even know the plates of food by looking at them, so much so, the chef yelled at her (nice). Please turn on the music!!
They haven't decided on a menu, so they just have a hand printed one. One price $13.95, a soup or salad, cream of chicken,or shrimp salad, and about 10 entrees. coffee or tea. BYOB, and thank god we took a bottle of wine.
The shrimp salad was baby shrimp in ketchup and mayo, on a bed of greens with a massive amount of mayo and some tomatoes. Then they brought out some very tasty olives (the best part of the meal) and hummus that was really bad. Did it have peanut butter in it, lime instead of lemon juice, I couldn't figure it out, but it landed on the palate with an instant drying effect. it was just plain weird. A basket of pita straight out of the package, I know, because I saw them take it out of the package, throw on the grill and stick in the basket. Now the strange thing is that when my brochette came, it was wrapped in a homemade bread that was good, so why not use that!!!
I had the fillet brochette chef special, and hubby had the chicken and beef schwarma, which was a tragedy. It was covered with a garlic puree and so much nutmeg it was not edible. He didn't eat it. Mine was ok, except for the tomato paste on the bread. The side was four slices of potato and onion. A grilled half tomato and spinach/zucchini piece. No desert offered, we skipped coffee and asked for the check.
This was just an all around strange place. I was drawn by the roasting meats in the window, and wanted this place to be great since I live a block away. It was so disappointing. Where were the lentils, the homemade pita, nice cheeses, tangines, lamb?
When the owner came by and asked how everything was and we told him about the beef schwarma, he shrugged and said, thats up to the chef. HUH??
From what we could pry from the waitress, they are going to have a regular menu, but they haven't decided on the food yet? Really, how do you open up a restaurant and not have a menu before you open, it's incredulous to me!
The space itself has so much potential, but I know the people that went in there tonight, won't be back. I don't care what the price is, if we had to pay anymore than we did I would have been furious.
I won't be back anytime soon or later. Geez I wanted this place to be good!!!!

La Brochette
1401 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-276-5650

I'm really sorry to hear that La Brochette is so terrible because I live literally around the corner, and the immediate neighborhood is lacking quality dining (unless you venture a few blocks west on Division - The Smoke Daddy, Crust, et al).

The place took forever to open up...it sat there for weeks with the tables set but a sign out front reading "opening soon". I thought that something was wrong - the length of time it took to open the place, the "narco gang" tags etched into the windows with acid (a general neighborhood problem), etc.

Seems like Brochette is just another in the string of "restaurants" that have opened in this space.

Thanks for the review. I'm wondering why anyone would go to La Brochette when there's such great, cheap Morrocan food just 1/2 block up the street.

Marrakech Cuisine
1413 N. Ashland Ave.

linutink wrote:The place took forever to open up...it sat there for weeks with the tables set but a sign out front reading "opening soon".

At the risk of being overly snarky, I believe the sign actually read "Openining Soon".

That being said, as someone else who lives across the street, I'm going to remain optimistic that they will improve after being open for a little bit longer.

danimalarkey- Good for you. I hope you report back. I won't waste another penny in there. It would take a complete overhaul for them to have anything close to good food in there. The owner was not willing to listen to suggestions.
Also, I thought Marrakech Cuisine was horrible.
I am all for optimisim, they spent a ton of money on the interior, but you have to have good food to sustain the place. They don't have a liquor license, so if the food is horrible, and no booze, what do you have left? I mean really, is it so hard to make kebobs, and good bread, some curries, tagines That's all I was really expecting.

My daughter spotted this place a month or so ago and we plan to go, but what I've read here leads me to believe I should give it a few more weeks.

Their site is up: http://labrochetterestaurant.com/

I just clicked on the link to their website that David so kindly provided. It's bizarre -- it seems to be just generic pictures that have nothing to do with their own offerings. Stuffed chicken breast? Outdoor tables with a green lawn in the background? Weird.

Amata wrote:I just clicked on the link to their website that David so kindly provided. It's bizarre -- it seems to be just generic pictures that have nothing to do with their own offerings. Stuffed chicken breast? Outdoor tables with a green lawn in the background? Weird.

I've noticed this with other restaurants's sites as well, including the site for the beloved Depot diner, which featured stock photos of food that didn't look nearly as good as the stuff they serve. The Depot's site is down right now, and I'm hoping it's being upgraded to include more accurate pix.

David Hammond wrote:

Amata wrote:I just clicked on the link to their website that David so kindly provided. It's bizarre -- it seems to be just generic pictures that have nothing to do with their own offerings. Stuffed chicken breast? Outdoor tables with a green lawn in the background? Weird.

I've noticed this with other restaurants's sites as well, including the site for the beloved Depot diner, which featured stock photos of food that didn't look nearly as good as the stuff they serve. The Depot's site is down right now, and I'm hoping it's being upgraded to include more accurate pix.

I'm guessing it's some sort of website-in-a-box type of product/service that is probably intended to provide basic information (location, hours, contact info) and act largely as a placeholder until a customized website is created. That said, I'm sure many restaurants never move off of the generic, somewhat misleading, off-the-shelf website.

Matt wrote:I'm guessing it's some sort of website-in-a-box type of product/service that is probably intended to provide basic information (location, hours, contact info) and act largely as a placeholder until a customized website is created. That said, I'm sure many restaurants never move off of the generic, somewhat misleading, off-the-shelf website.

I'm certain you're right that many restaurants get their site "off the shelf" (their "pix in a box," if you will), but what a mistake! I'm sure Depot could have harvested pix from LTH and gotten shooters' approval to use (with or without attribution); perhaps that's what they're doing right now.

nicinchic wrote:Also, I thought Marrakech Cuisine was horrible (closed BTW).

I like Marrakech Cuisine. I just spoke to the owner, and he was surprised to hear that his place was closed. (Well, I guess technically it's closed right now, because they serve dinner only. But he assured me that he'll be open at 5 pm, as usual.)

Are you sure you're not confusing it with Marrakech Expresso, which I believe closed recently? (See this post).

nr you are correct, editing my post. I'm glad you like the food there, but I have had less than ideal food there the two times I tried it. Very unseasoned, and bland. Both times we were there, we were the only diners for dinner. have you tried La Brochette for lunch? I'd be interested in your review if you like Marrakech Cuisine.

I ate at Marrakech Cuisine once. Food was OK and I was the only customer (at 6:30 p.m.) The place smelled weird...like a morgue!

The GF and I drive by this spot regularly wondering about it (like the slow opening process, etc). Maybe we'll try it eventually, but still recommend this spot in Lincoln Park that I posted here. http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=15897

No big loss, but this place is now officially closed.