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Gilbert's Restaurant - CLOSED
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
9 reviews for Gilbert's Restaurant
9 reviews in English
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Review from George B.
Chicago, IL
11/15/2009
**BUSINESS IS CLOSED**
**BUSINESS IS CLOSED**
While Gilbert's is no more, I enjoyed my meal there a few summers ago. A friend and I enjoyed the tasting menu. But, alas, the place is no more. It has ceased to be. One ex-restaurant. -
Review from Ellen M.
1/22/2008 3 photos
First, I want to thank Xtie for the heavy lifting...since I was at the same dinner, check her out for the deets.
I want to say that if you're in the market for an awesome steak and feel like shelling out a wad, head to the restaurant at the Grand Geneva Resort and spa. Not the same ambiance as this place, but the food is soooo much better. Even if I'd spent a lot less than $80 on this dinner, I'd give it three stars.
But I also want to mention that the bread and desserts were fantastic. All made in-house and made me very happy. They've got someone special in their pastry chef - rock on, chef!
I didn't want wine with my dinner...I wanted a good belgian ale. Best they had was Chimay. Well, ok, that's cool, but I'm not on the fussy side either.
Service - awesome. Place - beautiful.
Food...I already forgot. -
Review from Christmas D.
Chicago, IL
1/21/2008
Gilbert's is supposed to be the "haute cuisine" option of Lake Geneva: GORGEOUS venue in a prime location, pricey meals and a chef's tasting menu with wine-pairings...you know, like Trotters and Tru. The place where all the people in LG with serious money go (and there is some SERIOUS money in LG).
What a culinary disappointment!
And, as a result, what a waste of an incredible venue! The restaurant is in a HUGE, Victorian, Painted-Lady house that rests right across the street from the lake, has incredible views and is right in the middle of town. The interior is lavishly Victorian and the rooms well-retrofit for restaurant service. We went in the dead of winter so I was grateful that there was a large fireplace in every room and that the hostess offered us shawls in case we got chilly. The service was great!
Gilbert's offers 4 and 6-course chef's tasting menus and everyone at your table must participate if that's the route one chooses. I guess I can understand this for timing purposes but I sure hope they'd make exceptions to this once in a while...like when it's slow. Not caring to chance it, we all ordered the 4-course option.
When I go out to a "schmancy" dinner I expect the food served to be something I couldn't or wouldn't bother preparing at home. With the exception of the dessert course (which was still "feh"), I really could have made all the dishes at home...better actually. Frankly, everything was rather bland. If chef is trying to cater to a less-adventurous rural-American palate, then why bother offering a "chef's choice" tasting menu to begin with?
Bread basket: this was pretty good. Nice selection all freshly-baked in-house.
Amuse bouche: server SAID it was smoked duck-breast with some citrus fruit and some other savory ingredient but I still swear it was a sliver of ham.
1st course: poached egg served with a teaspoon of guacamole (not even very good guac.) and garnished with crispy plantain and cheap caviar (no, I'm not kidding, that was it).
2nd course: pan-seared whitefish, barely seasoned, served on a bed of garlic mash. I think there may have been some garnish, but clearly it was nothing memorable.
3rd course: small grilled sirloin filet atop a bland beef and mushroom stew served with the same garlic mash (they may have called one of them "parsnip mash" but they tasted the same to me). Um, WHY would you waste a tasty grilled sirloin filet by serving it WITH another beef component...and a bland one at that? Baffles the mind, really.
4th course - Dessert sample plate: a small sliver of some sort of multi-layered lemon cake (I hate lemon cake); a mini caramel flan (I hate flan...unless it DOESN'T have the consistency of phlegm - see my review of Fonda del Mar); some sort of caramel sauce smeared on the plate with mini wedges of grapefruit (this was delicious but more of a garnish), and a salted caramel ice cream in a sake-sized cup (THIS was really delicious...really nice sweet & salty combo). What's with all the caramel? I mean, I like caramel, but it's SUPPOSED to be a sample plate...how about some fucking chocolate?!?!
I guess for a measly prix fixe $60pp I shouldn't be too surprised but, besides the venue, I really expected a LOT more out of this place considering the hype. So sad...the whole thing...really. Whoever own this joint would do well to fire the chef and lure someone in from the city that's got some culinary balls.Listed in: Lake Geneva
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Review from Alexis A.
Chicago, IL
9/14/2009
My husband and I liked Gilbert's so much that we went twice during our honeymoon in Lake Geneva. We are from Chicago and are used to high quality restaurants. A friend recommended Gilbert's, so we went.
We were floored by the ambiance. The restored Victorian house is so beautiful and full of charm. We sat on the enclosed wrap-around porch, facing the gardens and the Lake, and watched the sunset both nights. Very romantic.
The food is delicious. Everything is fresh, and the menu changes regularly based on the ingredients that are available. While the dishes are not the most creative, they are executed extremely well, and many have an inspired touch. For example, the first night I had halibut on top of risotto made from farro (a grain) instead of rice. The farro risotto made the dish original and the flavors really went well with the halibut. I also really enjoyed my asparagus soup and the hamachi sashimi.
Get dessert! So many places serve a nice meal but dessert is a throw-away. Not here: the pastry chef serves her own amuse bouche and the desserts are both well executed and creative. The first night I got a chocolate crepe with strawberries. It was the best dessert crepe I've had. The accompanying sauces and sorbet were also delicious. The second night I had a chocolate gateau with passion fruit curd and lime-buttermilk sorbet. Truly one of the best desserts I've ever had, on par with some of the best restaurants in Chicago.
People on yelp have complained about the service being slow at Gilbert's. And it is, but I believe it is deliberately slow because the staff wants you to enjoy the entire dining experience instead of just the food.
So go to Gilbert's if you enjoy the dining experience in addition to quality food. You'll spend money, but you'd spend a lot more for this quality and quantity in Chicago. -
Review from Christina S.
Chicago, IL
2/5/2009
My boyfriend and I went here a few months ago for our anniversary. I'd driven past here so many times, but had never ventured in, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to check it out and do a fancy schmancy dinner.
I feel bad giving this place a negative review, because we really did have a wonderful evening... but that didn't have much to do with the restaurant. We decided on the tasting menu, which seemed like a good idea at the time. 3.5 hours later, when we were still starving, it wasn't so appealing. We were laughing the whole time about the comically tiny food... at least it was amusing.
The food seemed pretentious, without being all that great. The flavor profiles just weren't that great... most were cliche and boring. I think when in doubt, they just made things tiny so people would think they're fancy.
Bizarre, awkward service... my boyfriend was served a course twice (I wasn't?!), and when we mentioned it, our waitress told us it was ok, "Just don't tell anyone." Well, um... we're telling you because he wants the dish he was supposed to get! Wierd.
The restaurant itself is beautiful and we had a gorgeous view of the lake, it's just too bad that the food and service don't measure up. For a meal that cost almost $300 (granted, we had a couple of glasses of champagne and wine), I would expect a lot better.
Overall, I felt like this place was trying to put one over on everyone... Don't get me wrong, I love WI and Lake Geneva, but all I could keep thinking was that Wisconsin "fine dining" is really strange.
There a lot of other nice places to go in the area, so we probably won't be back. Sorry Gilberts, I wanted to like you. -
Review from Amaliya L.
Chicago, IL
7/7/2008
I had the opportunity to dine at Gilberts back in January with a couple of Yelpers. We had read great things about their tasting menu and were totally excited about giving theirs a try. We are huge fans of small plates, tasting bits of this and that to whet our appetites.
I'm not sure if it's Chicago snobbery, but I expected a little bit more. The tasting dinner really was meh. None of the food really blew my mind, and like my fellow Yelpers...I've got to agree that the artisan breads and the desserts were the best part of the entire meal. The portions were really taste sized. I don't think that any of the courses we tasted combined would have qualified as 1 serving. For the $80 after tax and tip that we each spent, I expected a lot more. I wanted a foodgasm.
In terms of service, impeccable. It is a beautiful restaurant and would be a beautiful setting for a romantic dinner. I'm just sad that the food isn't enough to lure me back.Listed in: Exploring Lake Geneva,…
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Review from Natasia O.
Chicago, IL
2/25/2008
Bad service- the hostess forgot about us in the main bar then no water after 15min at our table. After looking at the menu and not seeing anything mind blowing we decided to walk out- mind you an hour and 15min after our reservation and still not even water at our table! The same hostess needed to get our coats and it didn't even register we were leaving without dinner. We decided to go to another restuarant called Kirsh's where we have been before- great service and great dinner.
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Review from jackie s.
Lisle, IL
4/13/2008
We dined at Gilberts this past weekend and were very pleased. We were a table of 4 with some dietary restrictions. Gilberts managed our preferences and we were very happy with the wine pairings as well. The service was wonderful, the setting is beautiful and the food is inspired and thoughtful.
This is a place to go if you like a dining experience and a relaxing evening. It's also a great bargain for the price fix menu. -
Review from Jessica K.
Aurora, IL
3/1/2007
We go to Lake Geneva at least once a year, as it's not too far from Chicago. Every time we eat at Gilbert's. It's almost a Chicago caliber restaurant in the land of Popeye's and bars. True, Lake Geneva is a "family friendly" town so most of the restaurants are designed for everyone from age 0-90, but this is a nice reprieve. Major pluses for me are: they serve you FRESHLY baked bread, scones, or muffins-your choice. They use mostly organic and free-range meats and produce, and the chef just uses unusual ingredients, like goji berries with pork loin. You can also do tasting menus, either vegetarian or carnivorous, and if you desire, wine pairings. It tends to be pretty pricey, but the environment is great. A few smallish rooms, each with a fireplace, soft lighting, and it's in an old house. Just a side note, last time we were there, I overhead the chef talking to a patron saying he would love to come over that weekend and teach a cooking class for a bunch of 11-12 year old girls at a sleepover. Now that's service!
