Dinner Rec - near O'Hare Airport

I am meeting friends for a Saturday night dinner in the O'Hare/Rosemont area. I need suggestions for something upscale, relatively quiet, and great food.

There ara a bunch of places around there such as Carluccis, Gibsons, etc. that are imitations of the downtown branches of these restaurants mostly located on River Road, but I would recommend The Rosewood (good upscale American) or Cafe la Cave (better Frenchish food).

Rosewood Restaurant
9421 W. Higgins
Rosemant, IL
847-696-9494

Cafe la Cave
2777 Mannheim Rd
Rosemont, IL
847-827-7818

BigDar wrote:I am meeting friends for a Saturday night dinner in the O'Hare/Rosemont area. I need suggestions for something upscale, relatively quiet, and great food.

Agree with Rosewood Grill. Top end multi-layered service, very decent food. Not loud, rather 'adult' in ambience.

If Carlucci's is still open, I would recommend that. Haven't been there for a couple years but it was always a very nice meal.

RevrendAndy wrote:If Carlucci's is still open, I would recommend that. Haven't been there for a couple years but it was always a very nice meal.

Hey Rev,

I'd second the vote for Calucci's, which came to mind when I read this request, but which I hadn't been to in more than 5 years. I honestly don't recall much about this place, except that it does offer a "nice" meal (not groundbreaking, not terribly innovative, but nice), and it's in the O'Hare area (in which, one would have thought, there'd be more "upscale" options).

Hammond

My last two trips to Carlucci in Rosemont, in the past year, were pretty disappointing. A mushroom risotto was underccoked on one visit. A paork ravioli on another visit was so saltly, it was inedible.

Hi - I am picking up someone at the airport on Friday afternoon (5pm), and we wanted to eat out somewhere nearby to avoid the traffic. We are happy to travel for 30-40 mins to get there. I remember someone on this forum recommending a french place up north/north-west that is chef owned, but cannot for the life of me find it. Does anyone remember this or can recommend somewhere. Visitor is a VIP who likes good food and good wine.

Thank you in advance!

I'm guessing you're thinking of:

Le Titi de Paris
1015 W. Dundee Rd.
Arlington Heights
847-506-0222

It's excellent.

From O'Hare, head straight south on Mannheim about 15 minutes to Roosevelt Road. Just west of the intersection is Emilio's Tapas. This is his original and, in my opinion, best and most charming of all his establishments. In our several visits there, we have feasted on all manner of well-prepared tapas and enjoyed wonderful Spanish wines, sherries and ports.
This convivial restaurant actually may impress your VIP more than some stuffy French place.

Emilio's Tapas
4100 W. Roosevelt Rd. Hillside, IL 60162
708.547.7177

I have a friend coming into Chicago on Friday with a four hour layover. I'll be picking her up and taking her to dinner around 5:00. Any recommendation would be great. If there are links to other discsussion on LTH please let me know

Peace
David

I have several suggestions. But regardless of where you decide to go, I strongly recommend that you be as flexible as possible with your plans, allowing for contingencies. Friday evenings are the busiest time of the week, at the airport as well as on the highways. Airport delays are quite common these days, especially in summer thunderstorm season, and an arrival late Friday afternoon is especially chancy. In addition to flight delays, you'll need to allow for additional driving time, not only to and from the restaurant, but also around the airport; for example, if you wait in the Cell Phone Lot, it can easily take 10-15 minutes just to circulate around the airport terminals at this time on a Friday, and if you park in the garage at the airport, it may take that long to wait at the cashier booth. This may make my first recommendation especially worthwhile, even if only as a backup plan in the event of a late arrival, since it involves zero time driving around the airport, and zero time driving your friend away from the airport in rush-hour traffic (and then back again).

1. O'Hare Hilton

For the first suggestion, you don't even need to leave the airport area. Last year, I was meeting a relative who had a long connection at O'Hare, for a breakfast and a lunch. All the restaurants in the terminals are located inside security, so those are not an option for a non-passenger. The passenger you're meeting will need to leave the secured area to meet you.

Where we went is the Andiamo restaurant in the O'Hare Hilton. This is the hotel right in the middle of terminals 1, 2, and 3. The person you're meeting can walk across the roadway on the baggage level, or walk below it as though he's going to the parking garage. For you, as a visitor, follow signs for "Hourly Parking" and you can park on the first floor of the parking garage in the short-term hourly parking for $4 for up to three hours. (Rates are steep if you're there longer than that - $21 for 3-4 hours - but you shouldn't be there for more than three hours once you allow time for your friend to go back through security and get to the gate well ahead of the scheduled departure time.) From the first floor of the parking garage, you just walk across the driveway into the hotel, and the restaurant is on the first floor, so you can park really close. It's a shorter walk from your car to the restaurant than at most hotel restaurants in the suburbs. And, compared with any place outside the airport, the ability to wait for your friends by sitting inside the restaurant and meeting them there, rather than having to sit in the cell phone lot and hook up via cell phone and deal with traffic around the terminal to pick them up and drop them off, is a real convenience, for you as well as for them.

As a long-time resident here, I had remembered the hotel (and the underground tunnels leading to it) from years ago as being not so great, but they've remodeled and it's nice, about what you would expect from a Hilton. For lunch, they have a contemporary "fusion" menu, American with some foreign accents. The food was good and tasty - not fine dining, but perfectly adequate, and the convenience of the location was perfect. Prices were a few bucks higher than you would find in a nice suburban hotel - which means it's not inexpensive, but not what I would consider a rip-off, either. And it's a nice dining room, a quiet, relaxing place to get together for a few hours. The service was good and nobody minded that we were there for a couple of hours. Casual attire was totally acceptable. It was perfect for my needs.

Andiamo
Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport
OHare Intl Airport
Chicago, Illinois, United States 60666
Tel: 1-773-686-8000

2. Black Ram

Black Ram Steakhouse is a restaurant in Des Plaines. All of the food there is delicious - the steaks, the seafood, the desserts, everything. It doesn't get a lot of press, but it gets a lot of repeat business. The proprietor greets lots of arriving guests by name. If you're looking for a great steakhouse (and seafood) restaurant that nobody ever heard of, this is it.

There are other steakhouses in the O'Hare area, including Gibson's and Morton's, but I think this is the best.

Black Ram Steak House
1414 Oakton St.
Des Plaines, IL 60019
847.824.1227

3. Giordano's

If you think your friend would like real Chicago-style pizza, go to Giordano's and order the double-crust "stuffed" pizza. Keep in mind that it takes 30-45 minutes for the pizza to bake, so you may want to consider ordering ahead.

If you prefer single-crust "pan" pizza, Gino's East also has a location on Higgins near O'Hare.

Giordano's
9415 West Higgins Road
Rosemont
(847)292-2600

4. Flamingo's Seafood

This one is slightly further from O'Hare, typically 10-15 minutes driving (can be much more in the Friday evening rush hour), but still not far. We have a phenomenal new restaurant specializing in Mexican seafood. As the crow flies, it's only about a mile from the northwest corner of the airport property. It's called Flamingo's Seafood and you can read more about it in this topic.

From O'Hare you can either take the tollway (I-90 Northwest Tollway westbound and exit at Elmhurst Road, which means you're only on the tollway for a few miles) or local roads (Mannheim Road north to Algonquin Road). Then afterwards you can hop on eastbound I-90 at Arlington Heights Road and take it back to the airport.

Flamingo’s Seafood
1590 S Busse Road (corner Busse & Dempster, ½ block north of Algonquin)
Mt Prospect, IL 60056
847.364.9988

Here are some links to posts on the same general topic:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9691

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10467

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8002

Is there any specific type of food you're looking for?

1-23-08. Early evening
casual business dinner. Close to O'Hare.
1) Reasonable
2) Italian
3) Other suggestions.
Thanks,

I hear the Olive Garden in Arlington Heights is very good... just kidding.

I've mentioned the Black Ram here on previous occasions, and it's my go-to place for a casual business dinner (even though I live some distance away). It's a steakhouse which serves not just excellent steaks, but also excellent fresh seafood. Very laid back, with excellent personal service too (they will probably recognize you the second time you go there). Prices are reasonable; you can see the menu, with prices, on their website.

Black Ram Steak House
1414 Oakton St.
Des Plaines, IL 60019
847.824.1227

If it must be Italian, I've heard people recommend Carlucci's in Rosemont, but I haven't been there myself.

Carlucci's
6111 North River Road
Rosemont Illinois 60018
847-518-0990

Only slightly further from O'Hare, I've been to Vita Mia in Mount Prospect, and it's pretty good, and reasonably priced:

Vita Mia
1724 W Golf Rd
Mt Prospect, IL 60056
(847) 228-5100

I just couldn't resist this. I can't for the life of me believe that nsxtasy didn't somehow, sideways, work in a rec for Flamingo's here. "Close to O'hare" and everything!

Just kidding!!!!

seebee wrote:I just couldn't resist this. I can't for the life of me believe that nsxtasy didn't somehow, sideways, work in a rec for Flamingo's here. "Close to O'hare" and everything!

Just kidding!!!!

hilarious....
or Giordano's

I don't think the atmosphere at either Flamingo's or Giordano's is appropriate to a business dinner. Just a bit too noisy and a bit too cramped. Both the Black Ram and Vita Mia are quite the opposite - spacious, comfortable, and quiet enough to conduct business.

Different places can be appropriate, or not, for different purposes.

See if there's anything useful in this thread.

Carlucci's has decent enough food and is casual. It's a 5 minute ride from the terminals so it's real close and they have free valet parking. Service is always very good. Basilico is only a few minutes further away (exit Cumberland south), but it's a little darker, maybe less conducive for business. And there's Harry Caray's at Manheim and Higgins, also just a few minutes from O'Hare.

After that, you have the usual steakhouses. Black Ram is very good but it's more like 10-15 minutes from O'Hare. A little closer (about one minute farther than Carlucci's) is The Ram (restaurant/brewery). The food is surprisingly good, although I typically stick to sandwiches because I'm there for lunch. I appreciate the fact that they consistently cook their burgers to the requested medium rare, and they have good homemade chips.

I'm not a fan of Carlucci's at all. Over priced and bland IMO.

Basilico is a nice red sauce place, a bit off the beaten trail operated by the same family for over 20 years. They must be doing something right.

There's also MJ2 in the Morningfield's Strip Center at Devon and Cumberland, only a few minutes off the expressway. They still serve Italian fare dating back to their previous incarnation as "Sonny"s" (all solid red sauce options) along with some creative fusion entrees and pasta.

I've taken a particular liking to the incredible blackened salmon dish at Gianotti's on River Road (just south of the Rosemont Theater). It is an Italian style steakhouse that's a bit pricier than Basilico or MJ2. But, good none the less.

BR wrote:Black Ram is very good but it's more like 10-15 minutes from O'Hare.

Actually, it's only about 5 minutes from Mannheim and I-190, straight up Mannheim, if you hit one of the lights at Higgins or Touhy green. And less if you take the shortcut instead of the bend on Mannheim right before Oakton.

nsxtasy wrote:

BR wrote:Black Ram is very good but it's more like 10-15 minutes from O'Hare.

Actually, it's only about 5 minutes from Mannheim and I-190, straight up Mannheim, if you hit one of the lights at Higgins or Touhy green. And less if you take the shortcut instead of the bend on Mannheim right before Oakton.

Or you could take the airport shuttle bus to the Marriott Suites which is adjacent to Carlucci's.

I'd recommend Zia's Trattoria in Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood.

Zia's

13 minutes according to Google Maps, FWIW:

A business client happens to have a one nite stay over and wants to meet for dinner. He's staying in Rosemont @ the Intercontinental on River Rd. Ideally, something he can't get in Miami. If he had a car I'd tell him to meet me in the city, end of problem. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Jazzfood wrote:A business client happens to have a one nite stay over and wants to meet for dinner. He's staying in Rosemont @ the Intercontinental on River Rd. Ideally, something he can't get in Miami. If he had a car I'd tell him to meet me in the city, end of problem. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Gianotti's. Hands down. It's got that old school Chicago Italian restaurant vibe with pretty decent food. I hear the 8 finger cavatelli is made with real fingers. At the other end of the spectrum is Gene & Jude's.

Giannotti Italian Steakhouse
4926 River Rd.
Schiller Park, IL 60176
(847) 678-2800

Gene & Jude's
2720 N River Rd
River Grove, IL 60171
(708) 452-7634

Just a word of warning on Gianotti's. It was a regular lunch place for me (and an occasional after work dinner place) during the 7 years that I worked in Rosemont. Recently, a former co-worker advised of a serious downhill alert. Bad enough to the point that he said that the office folks don't even bother anymore. Take it as second hand hearsay. But, it is from someone whose opinion I generally trust.

Its a shame. I was a huge fan of the Melrose Peppers there.

My mouth waters when i think of them.