Reviews for BienMeSabe Venezuelan Arepa Bar in Chicago, IL

Amazing food! The staff are so friendly and the food is the best I have had. A true hidden gem.

Hot, fresh, delicious. Highly recommend the after party and the fried yuca with guasacaca. My wife had the pabellon and was very... happy with her food. Read more

Arepas were amazing! Location is small but the workers are amiable. They have various options for less calories and more protien... focus (bowls). Food is worth the trip and the empanadas are a must, traveled from Wisconsin to try. I was not here during therush hour, when I arrived, we were 1 or 2 customers. Read more

Service was quick and food was delicious. Small venue with stool seating and Small community table. Food was flavorful, hot and... tasty Read more

Friendly staff, and authentic Venezuelan food - Just like you would find in Caracas. I had the Pabellon Arepa, and the meat... (carne mechada) was cooked to perfection. Read more

Drove here from Milwaukee to try. Pretty decent food! I believe it is slightly expensive for what you get, but considering this... is Chicago, it is excused. I hate eating in the city, $7/hr to park four blocks away, again the mismanaged city's fault. We gotarepas ($11-13) and a side of plantains w/cheese ($5?), and chicken soup ($5.95 large) and two bowls, #11 Pabellón ($13.95) and#12 (Reina Pepiada, $13.95) The appearance was surprising to me, avocado chicken salad bowl being green, like a sauce. it wasntbad! Everything tasted fresh. I had never tasted papelón (Lemonade, $4) before, wow it was strong and VERY pleasant, I canimagine this being so much more refreshing on a hot day (was 50F and rainy today). Went here 5:30PM Saturday, was only 2 peoplehere. Started to get busy at 6PM, many carryout orders but our wait was reasonable. One worker stopped and cleaned up after somemessy people, I assume she cleaned before also because nearly everything was spotless when we arrived. I appreciate this, somany places downtown are filthy, and this is nice and clean. We will be back! Just not as often because of high taxes and highstreet parking fees. I will not subtract stars for this, it is the city's fault. Read more

In summary, don't go here if you have less than 1 hour to eat lunch and this BienMeSabe location is nothing like the one on... Montrose in Ravenswood. -- This location of BienMeSabe is set up like a Chipotle style (fast casual dining) but my experiencewas anything but. Instead of ordering the food and preparing it on the spot before payment I had to pay first and was told I wasbehind 10 orders. Okay 10 orders is fine assuming you can do an order within 1 min but 25min of waiting later we still had notreceived our food. From my observations 10 orders meant 10 large catering orders. Our orders were incorrect and we gotten tofuinstead of beef in the arepas. The associate attempted to give the food we checked with our hands to the customer who actuallyordered tofu. They only stopped when I stated we touched it already. So unsafe and unprofessional. I requested for a refund onthe incorrect item and only got a dessert as compensation. I appreciate that they tried to resolve the issue and hence why thisis 2 stars. The food once we had gotten it corrected was not prepared to the same quality as the location in Ravenswood. I amdeeply disappointed because I rave about BienMeSabe all the time. At the end of the day, this location had food quality worsethan a Chipotle but pricing and wait times much higher than a Chipotle. Read more

Good stuff! Got the pabellõn arepa and a side of yucca fries. Shredded beef, Caribbean cheese, black beans, grilled plantain;... it was wonderful. Absolutely packed with flavor, and I loved the textures. Read more