Reviews for Alcove - Evanston in Evanston, IL
Look, this place isn't a bargain. But you're getting an Executive Chef who is also the owner who also works the pass every... night, making sure every dish is thoughtfully designed and well executed. Atmosphere is fine dining but not stuffy, and waitstaff are highly competent and fun. Favorite place north of the City, hands down. Read more
I cannot recommend this restaurant. The service was not great - staff is unfriendly and some were borderline rude. I definitely... did not feel welcomed. Also, the quality of the food (given the price) was just ok. Read more
Best dinner in Evanston on a Sunday night. I had tuna tartare, cheese tart, and briased short ribs. 2004 Dom Perignon to... celebrate our 40th NU reunion with classmates. 2017 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon! And Grand Marnier souffle for dessert! Read more
The atmosphere is very nice, cozy and upgraded and the food was excellent overall...but the service was awful! My husband... ordered a non-alcoholic beer and was brought a full strength beer. The waitress poured it into a glass and took the bottle, sowe didn't know until after he drank it; then when he ordered another one, the waitress realized what she had done. Afterprofusely apologizing, she went and got another beer and glass, half poured it, left the bottle on the table and walked away. Welooked at the bottle to make sure, and SHE DID IT AGAIN!!!! Absolutely unacceptable and negligent! The service was painfullyslow...3 full hours on a weeknight without us ever telling her, we need a few more minutes, or we are content to sit and hangout. This place needs to get their act together!! VERY DISSATISFIED! Read more
The Alcove Evanston was a wonderful experience for us. The service was slow, as every other review suggested, but let's be... compassionate; they may be short-staffed. Staff were courteous, professional and hardworking. The food was excellent. We willdefinitely return. Read more
Went to the Alcove for an 8pm dinner reservation with my partner and his parents for his ma’s birthday. The food was very good... but the service was embarrassing and careless: Our server was disengaged. Twice, he walked off right as we began asking him forsomething. The food runner had no idea what was going on. I can’t imagine this place not having position numbers. We asked himfor share plates for our salads and he forgot. Half the entrees came out and we waited about 10 minutes for the rest. Our waterglasses sat empty again and again. After both first and second courses we sat with empty plates piled up as staff walked righton past. My guess is because we made an 8pm reservation, the staff were mentally checked out by that point. Not what I wouldexpect from a restaurant like this. We’ve dined here once before as a family and raved about it. Not this time. A huge letdown. Memorably bad. Read more
Very warm and inviting atmosphere. Have a cocktail at the bar and then move on to have a delicious dinner. It's the kind of... place that's incredibly delicious, so you'll need to order an appetizer, main and dessert. Because they're not trying to be theOlive Garden, the portions are reasonable, not overwhelming. Incredibly high quality food. A number of us had salads and wereimpressed. The seafood was FRESH, which is hard to do in Chicago. Cocktail menu was very impressive. Place is perfect for abusiness dinner, small birthday/anniversary or date night dinner. A lovely place to have an adult meal in an adult atmosphere.The staff were pleasant and only seen when you needed them, always attentive. They were very flexible as we had a large group,and they were very patient as we figured our orders out. Only knock? With a large group they kept messing up who ordered whatand placed plates all over the place. Small organizational nit that did not detract. Read more
We were seated at our 6:30, reservation time. After 15 minutes we asked the hostess for water and whether we had a server. Our... seats were along the aisle on the left of the door near the bar.We were hungry and after a while asked for bread. Our appetizertook another 20 minutes as we watched other tables arrive and be served by another server. (One party that came in 1/2 hourafter we did left 1/2 hour before we did). The hostess noticed we just sitting there and took our drink order. More wait for 2glasses of wine.The server and hostess discussed which one would get this pour. Our entres of salmon and (tough little) lambchops took so long that I ordered more bread and (delicious) soup. It had been over an hour with no dinner. The only other timewe dined here the simple entrees took so long to come out we were comped (not having complained) the dessert souflees by theapologetic server!! Our seats by the bar were noisy with crashing around in the under-bar refrigerator to the point my calmhusband asked if construction was happening behind his back. There is NO busing help so servers clear and reset tables ANDSERVE; AND make drinks even if they don't really know how! There is no bar tender! Last time my husband ordered a Rye Manhattanand the server made something rather strange with Jim Beam. Not even a bourbon he would want to drink. We're done here. Sorry.We wanted to find a quiet dining room with excellent food. AND, I noticed in the on-line menu that The Chef offered Henry Farmbeets and spinach. Henry is a friend I've worked with for 20 years. When I mentioned this he assured me that Elio had not beento the market all season nor had he placed any restaurant orders. Dear Team, Your defensive response to my thoughtful reviewgoes neatly to the HEART of the problem. Ignoring the many Alcove factors that contributed to my writing a review at all, youattempt to discredit my observations by referring to a general “misrepresentation”. 1) My husband’s Rye Ma Read more