Reviews for Le Bouchon in Chicago, IL
My favorite restaurant in the entire world. I think about the duck liver mousse, and the mussels DAILY (save the mussels broth... for your friets for dipping if you order the steak. Simply the best. Unreal. I could drink it) I come regularly and try anyseasonal item that’s offered and nothing ever misses. The service is always personable, knowledgeable about any and everyaspect of the menu, also very hospitable. I feel like I’m at home every time I come to Le Bouchon due to the staff andintimate atmosphere. The wine program is absolutely bananas and I always find a new favorite when I order my table wine. Askyour server for their recent favorite to pair with your choices. This is my favorite for a reason. Perfect for small businessdinner, date nights, girls nights out, or taking the in-laws to a dinner they will never forget. A staple on my hit list. Read more
Absolutely delicious. Celebrated my anniversary here with my partner. Had a half-priced bottle of wine, three appetizer plates,... two main plates & two desserts. Ate every single one to the last spoonful. Amazing flavors and excellent service! Read more
One of the best French restaurants in Chicago, service was so on point, acknowledgeable of every single dish, ingredients and... wine pairing. We were here for a casual dinner during our visit and ended the best dinner of our trip, we visit Chicago everyyear for 2 weekends so we get to go around selecting new exciting restaurants, this is definitely a hidden gem! Read more
Super good French Bistro. We had the Terrine, Onion Soup, Ham Sandwich, and Quiche. All were prepared perfectly and were as... authentically French as you're going to find. The wine list was also full of uncommon choices from several regions in France.Definitely check this place out if you're looking for a legit taste of France! Read more
My wife and I went here for her birthday. The staff was very friendly and were fantastic throughout the experience. We ordered... oysters as an appetizer , and for our main entrees steak frites and lapin en croute. The steak was cooked to perfection andseasoned very well. The Lapin en Croute was OUTSTANDING. The duck fat really elevated the flavor. For desert we ordered cremebrulee, which was also very good. It reminded me very much of a traditional french restaurant in Paris. We live close by andwill be back! Read more
Their whole duck was amazing. After failing to find a good French duck in my city, I was delighted to stop here during my trip... to Chicago. Holy buckets, what a meal. I started with a French onion soup that sent my tastebuds flying with flavor, andsnacked on some freshly baked bread as I awaited my avian feast. The whole duck came carved and served on an actual silverplatter, with some delicious sides. We then ended the meal with some creme Brule and banana cream pudding. Amazing. The flavormade me want to study cooking in France for a while just to be able to have the means to recreate such a great dinner if I everlose access to this place. Worth the wait, drive, whatever it may be - if you're looking for French cuisine in Chicago, this isthe best spot. Read more
My overall grade for Le Bouchon is: C+ Some foundational stuff - I love French bistros, France, French food, both fancy and... rustic. Which is why we chose to visit Le Bouchon for the first time. The restaurant is VERY popular. We made reservationsvia OpenTable and the best "lunch" reservation I could get was 1:30 - a little later than we would've preferred, but so be it. At 12:30, we were done with our errands, so I called the restaurant to see if they could get us in earlier than our 1:30 rezo. No dice. No problem: we went to a local bar to wait out the hour. The restaurant hits the vibe of a French bistro very nicely. It's small, crowded, popular and many of the customers seemed to know each other. Very good news for the neighborhoodfolks. Both the menu and the wine list are very nice and we couldn't wait to order our lunch, also received recommendationsfrom the clients at the local bar. Server was very nice and prompt and provided good service. She did however, fail to mentionthe rabbit pot-pie and other specials. Hmm. Ok. We wanted the burger & the mussels for lunch and then, they're out of boththe mussels & the burger. Ok - they were packed and it was 1:30 after all - so, ok. Started with the duck pate & the onionsoup followed by the trout in pastry and a croq madame with frites. Yum. The soup was great, but the duck pate, was maybe abit too "rustic" versus our expectation - looking for a bit more smooth version - still no worries. The trout came out and wasbeautiful and very nicely executed. The croq madame came out and looked great - couldn't wait to dig into the fries. The troutproved to be disappointing due to the "heavy-handed" salt in the sauce - and my frites proved to be in the same situation. Notjust a little over-salted, but quite a bit. To the point that the taste in my mouth on the way home, was the same taste youhave after snorkeling in the ocean and you're on your way back to shore on the shuttle boat, only to ju Read more
I was looking forward for weeks to take my sister from out of town to Le Bouchon. The inside is very tight but cozy. Our... waitress will likely be the reason I’ll never return to Le Bouchon, which is a shame since the food was so good. As soon aswe indicated we don’t drink alcohol (the half off wine on Mondays) was when our waitress went cold on us. When we ordered ourfood, we wanted 2 french onion soups but were recommended against it because it’s “so much food”. Have you ever sharedsoup with someone? It’s not a shareable dish whatsoever. I appreciate her concern of how much food we can eat, but we’readults who can make our own decisions about what food and how much of it to get. The french onion soup was delicious but again,almost ruined since it’s absolutely not a shareable dish. We loved the escargot as another starter as well. Our main dishes:lapin en croute and the steak frites were both delicious. We felt our presence in Le Bouchon was a burden from the second wesat down. It was very evident our waitress was playing favorites the entire night for no apparent reason— we deserved theright to good service and food just like everyone else. There were several instance from boxing up the leftover food for thetable next to us versus just giving us our box, to being very friendly and talkative to another party, versus being cold andtransactional all night. It also was very hostile and uncomfortable when the same waitress berated another table due to amiscommunication over an allergy. Overall, the food was amazing and I’d love to try more dishes. But the service from ourwaitress was the worst I’ve experienced not only in Chicago, but anywhere I’ve ever ate. The hostess and chef bringing usour food were both delightful and pleasant. It’s a shame to feel so unwelcome, especially for an out of town guest forabsolutely no reason beyond our waitress seemingly playing favorites. I likely will not return unless a rational explanation isgiven for why we Read more