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Green Zebra
Categories: Restaurants Vegetarian Restaurants Indian Restaurants Thai Vegetarian, Indian, Thai
1460 W Chicago AveChicago, IL 60642
Neighborhood: Noble Square
(312) 243-7100
- Nearest Transit:
-
Division (Blue Line)
Chicago-blue (Blue Line)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 10 pm
Sun 10:30 am - 2 pm
Sun 5 pm - 9 pm
- Parking:
- Street
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Balaji A. said: "Okay here is the updated review. We went again for a second time during a weekday and the food was consistent with what we had the first time there. Yes, so this place indeed deserves 5 stars." read more »
609 reviews for Green Zebra
Review Highlights
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"The NYE tasting menu was absolutely amazing." In 62 reviews -
"Thai Spiced Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup." In 9 reviews -
"I absolutely loved the slow roasted shittake mushrooms." In 10 reviews
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- A Yelpy Insight: Vegetarians go nuts for this spot. See more places they like.
609 reviews in English
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Review from Matthew A.
Evanston, IL
5/12/2012 2 Check-ins Here
If I could eat at Green Zebra everyday being a vegetarian would be easy!
Really great non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, diverse menu and tasty deserts. -
Review from Alison M.
Chicago, IL
4/23/2012
My experience with Green Zebra was okay. The food was decent - I don't think there was anything I disliked, but there was nothing I got too excited about either. I felt like there was a bit of a pretentious aura about the place and the prices seemed high for the small portion size.
My caveat - I'm not a vegetarian! So if you are, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. Maybe this is as good as life without meat gets. ;) -
Review from Karri G.
Scottsdale, AZ
3/30/2012
I was referred to this restaurant by a fellow patron at the bar in my hotel. I was amazed by how absolutely beautiful all the dishes were, and really impressed by the combination of ingredients. The food was very, very good but.....too small. I know, I know, meant to be served tapas style but, seriously, some plates were not even large enough for two to share with more than one bite!
The atmosphere is bustling, warm, and welcoming, and the service was very good.
In general, I was very happy with our choice! -
Review from Jane B.
Wilmette, IL
5/15/2012
Overall quality was good. My soup, butternut squash, was very salty. When the waiter asked me how my soup tasted I was honest and told him it was too salty, his response was to blow me off and tell me that sometimes they are a little heavy with the spices. So much for customer satisfaction. Mushroom Pate was excellent, last dish was forgettable. Very pricey for service and caring. Take a pass...
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Review from Meredith K.
Chicago, IL
4/23/2012
I love coming to this restaurant when its not a holiday. Sometimes it is hard to get in! I like that its a unique, calming atmosphere, comfort food and veggie! They have a great wine list too. I have an unusual dish every time I'm there. They offer exciting combinations. The staff is very friendly and helpful as well. I just wish they'd offer more mixed drinks than they do. You'd think that a place that offers such interesting plates would also have more cocktails! But the wine they serve with the tasting menu is superb. I can't wait to go back!
I just would not recommend something like NYE. We were a little slighted by the service due to the business and my dessert was missing an element! We didn't bother the waitress about it b/c they were so busy but for that amount of money I did feel jipped. My fault I guess! -
Review from Ross A.
Chicago, IL
5/13/2012
Brunch is absolutely amazing, and for the price, the most economical to experience Green Zebra ($9-12 for a main course; ~$5 for a side). Dinner is wonderful, and served as small plates, so you can try a few different items. I am not a vegetarian, and eating here, you don't even miss the meat.
The portions are small; expect to order 2-3 plates per person for dinner. That said, the quality and creativity is phenomenal. The menu changes frequently. Sometimes only a few ingredients are changed due to availability; dishes are dropped from the menu and new dishes added regularly. We have yet to be disappointed by anything we've ordered. -
Review from Andrew M.
Chicago, IL
5/9/2012
I have been to Green Zebra twice. Both times I have had the exact same problem -- bad service. The food has always been delicious, but the food doesn't necessarily make the restaurant. You need good service to compliment the good food.
Most recently, I took my girlfriend as a treat for her first visit to Chicago. She is a vegetarian, so Green Zebra was an obvious choice. We both decided to go with the prix fix menu with wine pairings. The wine was decently paired, though I have had better. Our server was very knowledgeable about the wines we were trying, but you can tell that it was memorized from a script. Not a big deal, though.
The food was very good. The potato soup especially stands out in my mind as one of the best I have ever had. I could have eaten that soup for all five courses.
The first two courses were perfectly timed. We didn't feel rushed to finish our meal and had time to finish our wine. The third course, however, is where the wheels came off the cart. Everything felt extremely rushed. At one point, there were FIVE glasses of wine on our table, because they weren't giving us enough time to finish. They were removing food and immediately replacing it. I felt VERY rushed and it absolutely killed what was turning out to be a romantic evening.
If I was paying $100 for this dinner, I could understand. But I'm sorry, when I am spending over $250 on two people, there is a level of service I expect. Green Zebra DID NOT deliver. I sent the restaurant an E-Mail a few weeks ago and still have not heard back. Because of this, I will absolutely never return. And I will turn away anyone who is considering going.
Bottom line: Good food, BAD service and BAD management (I'm assuming bad management since I haven't heard back from them about my experience) -
Review from Nirali S.
Chicago, IL
5/5/2012
Love love loved the food here! We went during Chef's week and had a great time! The ingredients they use are so fresh and the drinks are fun as well. I like the set up, it feel modern and romantic. It's a great date place! I would definitely go back!
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Review from Andrea R.
2/16/2012 2 Check-ins Here
No offense to my vegetarian friends, but making lunch/dinner plans with them can be a bit of a drag. While I'm not a big meat eater myself (pretty much a pescatarian) the fake meat stuff doesn't really do it for me. And tofu and I are not friends.
However, Green Zebra is a vegetarian friends I can get behind. Green Zebra is a restaurant I'm actually excited to eat at. In fact, I've even made reservations here with my non vegetarian friends.
On my most recent visit to Green Zebra my hubby and I were dining with another couple...both vegetarians. When I mentioned to the hubby that I made reservations at a vegetarian restaurant he made a yuck face. I promised he'd like this restaurant and as soon as we sat down he admitted the menu looked pretty good.
Our waitress suggested 3-4 dishes per person, which I thought was a bit excessive. I'm kind of a pig (probably the only time pig has been used in a Green Zebra review) and even I couldn't eat 3-4 dishes on my own. I think ordering 2 dishes per person is plenty.
You'll want to share here because everything is pretty tasty. I was quite satisfied with everything we ordered on our last visit, but favorites included the organic farm egg, sweet potato dumplings and crispy rice noodles. And the wine was pretty good as well.
Overall, I've been very pleased with my few experiences at Green Zebra and if there were more restaurants like Green Zebra I may even consider becoming a vegetarian myself.Listed in: Best Date Places
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Review from Brook E.
Chicago, IL
3/10/2012
I've been hearing about how great Green Zebra is since coming to Chicago 8 years ago. I finally made it to dinner, and it was good--but not great.
The tapas-style menu is fun in that it allows you to try a bunch of different things, but it also means that a meal can get a little expensive and we weren't fully satisfied when we left. The earlier courses were delicious, and fresh-tasting; but the main dishes had a bit too much oil and salt for my tastes. I really appreciated the pink peppercorn and thyme soda--kind of a savory sweet bubbly drink.
Overall, I'm glad I went, but for the price point and other restaurants in the area, I don't think I'll be back. -
Review from Valerie R.
Chicago, IL
4/19/2012
I have to admit that I was not a thrilled omnivore when I found out my family was going vegetarian for Easter brunch, but Green Zebra exceeded my expectations. The ambience has a fresh, clean feel. The brunch food was delicious and filling. The wait staff was attentive but not overbearing, allowing us to sit uninterrupted for 30 minutes after they closed on a holiday. Would like to go back and try the dinner menu.
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Review from E. W.
Evanston, IL
2/22/2012
Green Zebra's awesome staff helped transform what could have been a lousy night into a wonderful one.
On our way to the restaurant, our first time, the exhaust pipe on my car broke in half, the muffler started dragging on the ground. In short, we were not going to make our reservation. An hour and a half later, after the nice AAA guy had removed the tail pipe and wired the remaining bits back onto the car, we finally arrived at the restaurant.
Now, this is restaurant week, so they were pretty darn full. But, after a short wait they managed to seat us, even though our reservation was long gone.
We ordered one restaurant week menu straightaway, and then ordered a few more dishes off the main menu. Here are the results:
Fabulous:
- Crispy Sweet Potato Dumplings with salsify purée, blood orange, toasted black sesame (RW Menu)
- Crispy Rice Noodle, baby bok choy, miso glazed turnips, lotus root, cashews
- Shaved Apple & Tatsoi Salad, sweet chili-eggplant purée, cilantro, crispy parsnip
- Rice pudding with grapefruit sorbet
Good:
- Celery Root & Quinoa Croquettes, toasted black walnuts, sesame seeds, preserved lemon (RW Menu)
- Crispy Sweet Potato Dumplings, crabapple ketchup, walnut-sage pesto, honeycrisp apple
- Meyer Lemon Tart with toasted meringue, orange tuille (RW Menu)
- Apples Charlotte with cinnamon ice cream, carmel, and mint oil
Disappointing:
- Sage Spaetzle with roasted cauliflower, crispy kale, almonds, brown butter (RW Menu)
In other words, we were very glad we didn't both get the Restaurant Week Menu, because most of the best items weren't on it.
So here's why Green Zebra gets four instead of five stars. The spaetzle was embarrassingly bland. A dud of a dish for any restaurant, but especially for one that seems to pride itself on complex, colorful flavors and interesting textures. Moreover, we had only ordered it in the first place because it was the only one of the three entrees that was close to being vegan on the Restaurant Week Menu. Dear Green Zebra, if you advertise yourself as a vegan-friendly restaurant, you should at least try to put one vegan option in for each course on your RW Menu.
Finally, we had to order extra dishes because we were still hungry at the end of the meal. The RW Menu simply didn't include enough food. Not cool. We ended up spending a lot more than we had expected to. That being said, the extra items we ended up ordering were very yummy.
In sum, service and ambiance get 5 stars, food gets 4 stars, and Restaurant Week Menu gets 2.5 stars. -
Review from Sarah L.
Chicago, IL
2/13/2012
My boyfriend took me here for Valentine's Day dinner last weekend. I am a vegetarian, he is not, but he had been here before and really liked the food.
The decor and atmosphere of the restaurant is chic and modern. I really liked the layout and we got a great table against the far wall tucked under the stairs. We could see the whole restaurant but we weren't in the way of traffic or near the door (it was cold out that night!). The music was eclectic but great.
We both had cocktails, which were super tasty. We ordered everything right away, since our server warned that the hot dishes might take awhile. The mushroom pate was incredible, and our hot dishes, the Mustard & Caraway Spaetlze Stroganoff and Sauteed Mushrooms were fantastic. The cheese plate was brilliant and even my after-dinner coffee was excellent. The dishes were perfect for two people to share.
You are not going to get portions here like you would at a steakhouse; this is a restaurant where the chef has clearly chosen ingredients and dishes based on flavor, not size. If you are expecting huge portions to stuff your fat American face, this isn't the place to go. However, if you're looking for flavorful, delicious vegetarian fare, you will enjoy Green Zebra.
The host mentioned that they were very busy that evening with Valentine's Day reservations and the service reflected that, but our server was attentive and made good recommendations. We had the time to hang out and enjoy ourselves so the slow service wasn't a big deal.
I definitely hope to return again soon and try the Chef's Five Course Selection, which our server said was all off-menu, so it would be a surprise. Sounds like fun! -
Review from Rhoda G.
2/11/2012 Seated via OpenTable 1 Check-in Here
I made reservations back in November for a Saturday night in January and took a friend out to dinner here since she got me awesome Blackhawks hockey tickets. We both decided to get the chef's tasting menu and a glass of red wine that paired well with everything. Our meal was fantastic.
My vegetarian friend said this is one of the best meals that she ever had. I'm surprised that we don't have more restaurants like this back home in the SF Bay Area. But then again, I'm not searching for vegetarian restaurants too often. I love my meat too much.
Great experience and a nice change of pace for me. -
Review from Dan T.
Chicago, IL
2/18/2012
While the service and decor are definitely above average, the food isn't. And that's what restaurants are for.
So, what makes it below average? Guess it is the only so-so but uninspiring and bland flavors paired with an above average price.
Spent over 200 dollars for a dinner of two with the bottle of wine only being around 40 dollars.
Don't judge a book by it cover. Well don't, because the cover is shiny and beautiful while the contents are boring. -
Review from Laura N.
Chicago, IL
4/10/2012
I went here for brunch several months ago, and seeing as how it was a.) all vegetarian b.) extremely close to my apartment, it seemed like the perfect place. It was good, but not great. I want to come in for dinner sometime because that's when it seems most popular and fitting for the atmosphere. The food was a bit salty and overpriced for the quality and quantity that you receive. I will give it another try, but like I said, it will be for dinner.
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Review from Jen G.
1/15/2012 1 Check-in Here
We aren't vegetarians, but we do enjoy vegetarian food, and Green Zebra knows how to do it right. We've been here for both dinner and brunch, and both times the food was delicious and the service was impeccable.
Today was brunch, and I ordered the Eggs In a Basket with a side of Cheesy Grits and a drink I can't remember the name of, but was basically a Mimosa with a splash of elderflower liqueur and grapefruit instead of orange. I wasn't completely sure what to expect of the egg dish, but it was so filling and rivals any eggs I've had anywhere else. The eggs were perfectly cooked and accompanied by maple glazed brussels sprouts, sweet potato, and a chestnut cream. I hate gravy, so I was a little nervous about the chestnut cream. I almost asked for it on the side, but I'm so glad I didn't. This cream was better than any gravy I've ever tasted in my life! The cheesy grits were more cheese and cream than I was expecting, but also really delicious. I recommend giving them a good stir before taking a bite because the grits settle on the bottom of the bowl a bit.
When we eat here, I don't miss meat at all. As I don't eat pork, it was kind of nice to not have to worry if they were going to load my eggs with bacon. -
Review from K B.
Chicago, IL
4/3/2012 Seated via OpenTable
The food was excellent...every dish had wonderful flavor and I licked the plates clean! My one criticism is that you pay a lot of money for what you actually get. After the meal was over, my husband said he felt like he'd just had a bunch of appetizers and was ready for the main course. When we got home he heated up leftovers from the night before because he was still hungry! I was satisfied by the time I finished the spaetzel...it was probably the most filling dish. So expect to spend a good amount of cash to fill up.
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Review from Chelsea H.
Cook, IL
5/4/2012
I didn't know much about Green Zebra before going last night, except for the fact that the menu is vegetarian. My moderate expectations were far exceeded! The ambiance of the restaurant was super chic and it wasn't too loud, despite being a pretty small space. My boyfriend and I made a reservation a couple hours before our dinner on a Thursday night and got in right away. He tried the chef's tasting menu with five surprise courses and I ordered four plates to go along with his. Every course was incredible! The dark rye bread with rosemary butter and chutney was the perfect pairing, and just enough food for the starting course, with a few more to go. If you go with as many plates as the server suggests and even ask for a plate suggestion or two, you can't go wrong here! My favorite dishes were the eggplant and tofu dumplings and the garlic risotto. So delish!
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Review from Joannajade Y.
Hyde Park, Chicago, IL
3/29/2012 Seated via OpenTable
I went to green zebra to celebrate a b day and had a wonderful time. The food, drinks, and service were to my satisfaction. I will definitely go back again!!
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Review from Sireesha A.
Chicago, IL
3/28/2012
I don't typically require super-sized servings of food. I'm also a carnivore...I love my meat. I went out on a limb and tried Green Zebra during Chef's week. I wasn't disappointed by the fact that I was eating veggies all night...in fact I appreciated the way everything was prepared. It was tasty and fresh. But, what is with the portion sizes? I left at the end of the 4 course meal still hungry...I am not a big girl, and I don't require very big portions. But, c'mon, if I'm paying $$$ for food, at least make the portion sizes a little bit bigger, so I leave with my stomach satiated at the end of the night. So, if a girl like me left hungry at the end of a 4 course meal, I can't imagine how the males must feel. Innovative tasty vegetarian entrees that come in very small portions leaving you craving for more food sums up this restaurant experience.
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Review from Kaitlyn T.
Escondido, CA
11/9/2011
I'm sad to be giving Green Zebra a terrible review, because I've had some genuinely delicious food there and fine dining for vegetarians isn't exactly easy to come by in the encased-meat capital of the USA. However, I'll probably never step foot in here again.
Green Zebra is expensive. It's very pricey for vegetarian food, and it's a special-occasion kind of meal for us. The sort of thing we stretch our budget to afford when a special menu sounds particularly tempting, or when we really want a nice, relaxed evening out after a rotten day at work. Basically, a nice date night kind of meal.
On a recent trip on just such a rotten day, we sat down to our dinner reservation for their special potato-themed menu. The restaurant was very chilly inside, and I wasn't dressed appropriately. I had a large coat on for wearing outdoors, but the light sweater I was wearing under the coat wasn't sufficient, and it's not really comfortable to dine in your coat. We were seated in a booth, and I had my legs tucked in next to me to my side to keep warm, instead of dangling my short legs off the edge of the booth (not comfortable for any length of time, let alone for a long meal).
We placed our order, opted to share the wine pairing, and awaited our first course. 10 minutes later, it was brought out, and was pretty good. We awaited our second course. The wine pairing for the second course was brought out about five minutes after they cleared the first course. So far, so good. I tasted the wine, then set it aside to save for tasting with the food.
10 minutes later, still no second course. 15 minutes after they'd brought out the wine, our waitress came by to say she'd asked the kitchen about our second course, and that it should be out shortly.
10 minutes after that, still no sign of it. At this point, we'd been waiting about 25 minutes for the second of four courses. We'd been in the restaurant about 45 minutes. We were famished after a long day at work, and I was very chilly, and very tired, but we were looking forward to the rest of the meal and understood it wasn't our server's fault the kitchen was running slowly, so we waited patiently.
A woman approached me from behind and tapped me on the shoulder. Startled, I looked up to see the hostess (or someone...?) standing next to me, leaning in quite close to whisper in my ear. She requested that I take my legs off the bench, where they were still tucked in beside me. Just to clarify, the only part of my shoes touching the bench was the outer edge, along the side of my foot. No part of the soles of my shoes were touching the bench, no excess skin was being exposed under my skirt (I'm certain of this), and I couldn't sit comfortably with my feet dangling off the edge. She was insistent that I put my legs down and dangle them off the edge of the bench, and gave no explanation for her request. Shocked and horribly embarrassed, I agreed and she went on her way back to her post.
Just a moment later, our second course finally arrived. I was seething with frustration and embarrassment, and no longer comfortably seated. My husband hadn't heard what their staff person said to me, but he could tell I was unhappy because I didn't touch the food, despite having waited for it for over 35 minutes. We flagged our waitress down to apologize and left, stopping somewhere else for dinner on the way home.
So... okay. A bad experience, certainly, but I do like some of their food and there are few vegetarian options in the city. At our second dinner that night, I tweeted at Green Zebra mentioning that I'd had a bad customer service experience and that I had been looking forward to trying the special menu. No response, but the Twitter account continued to retweet any and all compliments others posted about the restaurant.
A couple of weeks later, still upset, I posted a comment on the Green Zebra Facebook account. It was deleted the next day. No response, message, or comment from Green Zebra. Clearly, they don't care about actually satisfying customers (I mentioned in my comment I would have been happy with just *an apology* of all things). Anything uncomplimentary is just wiped out, not acknowledged, and they made no effort to actually retain me as a customer.
For a $150 meal, I want a pleasant experience in every regard. I want a restaurant that will go above and beyond the bare minimum to provide excellent food, excellent service, in a welcoming environment. Green Zebra has not fulfilled that expectation; in fact they've gone out of their way to provide the exact opposite of a good experience. -
Review from Kate H.
Chicago, IL
3/9/2012
I was completely blown away by my meal here. I had come with high expectations, especially given the rave reviews I had heard, but the vegetarian-only menu may have re-calibrated them. I'm not necessarily a meat lover, but I hate the idea of not being allowed to eat something. A little more expensive than I had expected, but it was definitely worth the money for a nicer evening out. The four of us shared ten dishes, but we focused mainly on the heavier dishes on the bottom half of the menu.
When the food first came out, I was a little disappointed. The small plates were very small, and I wondered if we would actually need twenty dishes. But, the food service is deceptive, and over the course of the meal and a few nibbles of each dish, I became full without realizing it. My favorite dish was the Organic Farm Egg with smoked potato puree and country sourdough; although the potato puree was essentially a fancier preparation of mashed potatoes, the smoky flavor made this dish distinct, and I unabashedly swiped my fork across the bowl several times to get every last tasty bite. My dining companions were partial to the Chestnut and Truffle Agnolotti, my second favorite dish: Green Zebra was generous with the truffle oil and the combination with chestnut, an underappreciated ingredient, in a tube of what tasted like fresh pasta gave this tiny dish its robust, complex flavor. The sweet potato dumplings and crispy risotto cake were also memorable. I would not recommend the focaccia, which was slightly cold and difficult to chew. Desserts--the milk/dark chocolate pave with creme fraiche ice cream and the squash cheesecake were quite tasty.
The storefront isn't named, so the restaurant is a little hard to find. It is actually just at the corner of Chicago and Armour.
Price: ~$50-60 per person for dinner -
Review from Andrea R.
Chicago, IL
4/9/2012
I unfortunately, had an extremely horrible experience while dining at Green Zebra with a group of friends. And it would be safe to say the group I was dining with would agree. If you are reading this review, I highly advise you put down whatever you may be eating as you could potentially start to feel ill.
To start, the six of us sat down to what would appear to be a trendy, clean restaurant, and pleasant waiter in a not so appealing area of the city. Given the menu was priced very high for what you would be eating (no meat, no fish), we thought it must be great, and when I say great, I mean exceptionally great. We were able to get through our first course, no problem, at least that is what we think (who knows what we really ate). As we received our second course, 20 minutes later, I was utterly shocked, and instantly disgusted to see a creepy crawler moving on my dear friend's plate. We all instantly dropped our forks, we could hear the clanks all at the same time as our mouths remained open from the disbelief in witnessing the inch long worm, working his way in and out of the croquette. How is this possible? Well I'll start by explaining what the restaurant hostess/manager gave as her explanation.
As she kindly took the plate away from our table she apologized and offered us dessert on the house. We all looked at each other and said "hmmm, dessert on the house?" As my friend kindly thanked her for the offer, he graciously declined as he no longer had an appetite. And then I said to our friends, "dessert on the house?", that would entail needing to still get through our other two courses before dessert, and did she really think or expect us to want to eat another two courses, not including dessert, of food prepared in her kitchen? The more we processed what she said, we all suddenly felt like she was regarding this as a normal experience. As we kindly asked her to come back to the table, we reiterated the fact that we ALL lost our appetites as we explained we have all dined around the world - in fact, between the six of us, it is safe to say with combined trips to Australia, Thailand, China, India, ALL of Europe, most of southern Africa, and back to the US, NONE of us have ever seen a worm in our food. Not at home, and not at any restaurant. As we explained this to her, she said their food comes in fresh from a farm daily, reason why there is a worm. As she presented our $315 bill ( this was just for the first and second course) we were totally shocked and offended she would even present such and egregious amount to us after what we had experience. After a long week of work, and a planned dinner out for the one of the two nights we are free, to completely ruin our appetites and make us feel like we chose to eat at some dump, did she, the hostess/manager, really expect $315 for a ruined dining experience? The answer is yes. And wow, were we even more offended that a powerless hostess/manager was running a restaurant that was offering such high prices, but no customer service to back.
Once we realized she had no guts, and really had no business running a restaurant, we kindly asked for the chef. And in the midst of all this back and forth nonsense, another patron dining next to our table rudely chimed in our conversation and called my husband an inappropriate name. As our waiter came back to our table to defend this other patron, we about had enough. When the chef arrived and explained the worm was his fault, and apologized, I realized the chef is the only thing this restaurant has going on. Unfortunately though, a good restaurant requires more than a great chef - if the hostess/manager and waiter are making poor impressions on their guests/clients the chef will have no one to cook for. The point is, all it takes is one bad experience for a restaurant to show their true colors. -
Review from Jenny Z.
12/13/2011
Since going vegetarian one year ago, all my co-workers have been telling me to go to Green Zebra! I enjoyed my experience there on Friday night but...i dunno. We went at 5:30 pm on a Friday, beating the geriatric crowd that coupled in after 6 pm because we were heading to a concert.
The staff was nice but not warm and our waiter was very helpful and very informative about the menu. The food was pretty good. Outstanding dishes include the butternut squash soup (absolutely to die for), as well as the bread, brussel sprouts and poached egg. Everything else I tried (carrot salad, sweet potato dumplings, potatoes and desserts) were really not much to write home about.
I'm not entirely sure what to think-the atmosphere was nice, the pace and pairings of the food was good, our waiter was very nice....but it's just simply not worth, in my opinoin, the very steep prices. I also let it be known that it was my birthday cake and they did give me a birthday candle with my chocolate pave...but I thought there might be a little more wow factor involved:) -
Review from Emily W.
2/27/2012
Spectacular vegetarian dinner! Who knew quinoa was so versatile?!?
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Review from Ted H.
Arlington, VA
3/22/2012
I'm not vegetarian but joined a friend for dinner at Green Zebra. I tried the five course chef's menu which changes frequently so I won't review specific dishes, but everything our table ordered was fantastic. The service was great and the wine menu solid. If you're not a practicing vegetarian don't be afraid of this restaurant, I recommend it to anyone regardless of their dietary choices.
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Review from Amanda P.
Chicago, IL
3/16/2012
Ehhhh. I was not impressed. Very expensive for what you get. There were some dishes that were very tasty but some that were just blah. I don't know if I can justify coming back here...
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Review from Cynthia S.
Chicago, IL
3/10/2012
The mixing and melding of flavors were great. This will definitely be on my list of regular places to visit.
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Review from Carolyn L.
Chicago, IL
10/24/2011 1 Check-in Here
My friend and I went here at the end of September and were blown away by how you can make vegetarian/vegan food taste so amazing! We came for dinner after a day of working out so the food tasted extra good. As I was following the Dukan Diet at the time, I ordered the Salade Lyonnaise with a perfect farm egg, shiitake bacon, bitter greens, and dijon vinaigrette. The perfect egg really was perfect...4 hours of cooking made it both hard and soft at the same time! And the shiitake bacon was incredible. I've never had bacon made from mushrooms.
My roommate ordered the Fresh Zingerman's Burrata, almond carrot-top pesto, pickled Hakurei turnip, red quinoa which was also a rich cheesy amazeballs appetizer.
We both ordered a soup for the second course; me the French onion soup and her the cucumber soup. Mine was a delicious broth and the cucumber melon soup tasted weirdly sweet. It was delicious, though!
For our third and final course, I chose the Roasted Eggplant with braised artichokes, olives, Romesco sauce, toasted almonds, and ricotta. It was full of flavor and very wholesome. Kim ordered the Anson Mills Farro Risotto with roasted eggplant, patty pan squash, and cherry tomatoes. It was so buttery, I couldn't resist stealing a bunch of bites! We were definitely full after the meal but not too full. And all of the flavors went together so well. I will definitely be back and I highly recommend Green Zebra to everyone, vegetarians or carnivores! -
Review from Nikkie H.
Chicago, IL
12/2/2011
Let me start off by saying that I am a meat eater. A meal without meat is not usually a meal worth eating; however Green Zebra proved me wrong. Very wrong.
Went last night for din din and I was blown away, and my stomach was blown up by all the delicious food I ingested. The service was stellar - great recommendation on a bottle of wine and dishes to try, very attentive with clearing plates and refilling water, etc.
Here are the dishes that I recall (I think I'm missing one):
1. Homemade bread - amazing. So simple, but tasty. The bread was warm and soft, perfect for the butter and jelly that came with it. Great start.
2. Baby beets salad - I don't think I've ever had beets before. I swear. After this I want them all the time.
3. Butternut squash soup - this was my favorite thing. I could've bathed in it. The chunks of apple in the smooth soup totally made it for me.
4. Sweet potato dumplings - like mini pumpkin pies in dough. Could've been dessert.
5. Mushroom spaetzle stroganoff - admittedly this was my least favorite dish. I think by this point I was getting so full that my taste buds were revolting.
6. Poached egg - clearly there is a reason this is on the menu time after time, because it's amazing. Perfectly cooked, the bread was toasty and great to sop up all the tastiness on the plate.
If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. I'm slowly starting a list of places I want to try, and this may get added back on as a return visit in the future. -
Review from Isabella H.
Chicago, IL
3/4/2012
I've been here twice for brunch and I don't know why this isn't a more popular brunch spot! Is it because people think its expensive? Its not (for brunch)! Is it because non-vegetarians think a meat-free brunch won't be satisfying? It is! Recently, I ordered the grilled brie sandwich and smoked apple soup. Super delicious! My husband had the eggs-in-a-basket, which were also excellent. While the portions didn't look big (certainly compared to gargantuan omelets and mountains of hash served for brunch elsewhere), we left feeling very satisfied. This is not "light" vegetarian brunch; its not health food. It is really high quality, and you won't miss the bacon!
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Review from Brittany V.
Chicago, IL
12/24/2011
Wow. Green Zebra has certainly made a fan in me!!
The boy took me here last night as a date night out before he heads out of town for the holidays. I am a vegetarian and he is not. I had never even heard of this place before, but he did his research and found this gem.
The ambiance in Green Zebra is awesome. The restaurant does an amazing job of utilizing the smaller space that they have. We sat at a two top booth, and did not feel cramped in, nor could we even overhear the tables that were sitting a foot away from us.
Our server was awesome. Gave great suggestions about wine and dinner.
I am a huge fan of small plate sharing, so the fact that they have the tapas style dinner is perfect for me!! We did not order a dish that was not absolutely out of this world. The winner of the night definitely had to be the poached egg with potatoes and sourdough bread. The egg was poached so soft and perfectly, and the potatoes had this amazing smokiness to it that I would swear was a bacon flavor if I didn't know this place was vegetarian! I would eat that every day if I could, its that good.
We also got the sharing plate for dessert which had a dragonfruit sorbet, vegan chocolate cupcake, and these amazing whiskey pastry cream puffs. Yum!!!
Green Zebra is on the more expensive side, especially for vegetarian food, but I think for the quality and taste you get, its absolutely worth it.
Great for a date night out!!! -
Review from Evelina L.
Chicago, IL
11/9/2011
We came here with a few vegan friends, and it was better then I remembered a few years back. Just like a few of the reviews said - I love the fact that they don't load up their menu with fake meat substitutes and just let the veggies speak for them!
Mushroom pate? YUM Somen noodles? ANYTIME Raviolo? DEVINE Egg on top of smoked potatoes? FANTASTIC Cauliflower puree? THE BEST EVER
We had other things, but the list at the top stood out and I would definitely re-order again in a heartbeat.
And no, I am not overusing capital letters, just wanted to stress the goodness of the place and ingredients.
Vegetarian, vegan or a wannabe (like me) you have a place where you belong! Great service, wine list and atmosphere help, especially if you get seated at a booth :) -
Review from Zack F.
Updated - 11/2/2011 4 photos
Pink peppercorn soda, vegetarian chilaquiles, house made donuts, potato wedges = delicious! Service is outstanding. Decor is excellent: modern, relaxing, hip. Diagonal table arrangement. Very light and lots of greenery. Cool plates and silverware.
I have had an exceptional experience every time I've been here.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/20/2009
LOVED it. Totally awesome. The decor, the waitstaff, the food, presentation, etc. were all… Read more »
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Review from hannah k.
9/11/2011
Let me preface by saying we are NOT vegetarians. Probably the furthest thing from it. That being said, Green Zebra fed us some of the best food I've had in Chicago this year, and I didn't even feel like I was missing the joy of eating animals.
Highlights: corn succotash, duck egg, black bean dumplings
Lowlights: compressed watermelon with halloumi cheese (extremely disappointing after tasting this at the Green City BBQ), the rose
All dishes are served as small plates. We ordered 7, largely due to indecisiveness. Probably could have gotten away with 5 for the two of us. Each plate is around $12.
Clean, modern atmosphere, friendly attentive waitstaff with a clear passion for the restaurant's mission. I'm excited to go back in the winter and see what Shawn McClain does with root veggies. -
Review from Caity G.
10/28/2011
I am definitely not a vegetarian, but I love exploring the creative dishes that emerge from a place like Green Zebra. Before going in for dinner, I checked out the menu and it looked really tasty, with interesting dishes and flavor combinations.
One or two of the plates were really, really good - but the majority was just ok. And it's not a cheap place. We spent a lot of money on a meal that wasn't necessarily disappointing, but was average. I have whipped up tastier, and more satisfying, veg dishes for a fraction of the price. -
Review from Suana W.
Colton, CA
2/14/2012 1 Check-in Here
for some reason, sitting through a vegetarian meal only makes me crave meat even more. i was salivating for an innout burger at one point. that probably doesn't bode too well for the meal at hand - although there were some high points, there were also definitely some misses.
the restaurant itself is very hip, well-designed space. i can appreciate that the food is very high-concept, but for some reason i was expecting healthy. it is definitely NOT healthy, as one of the soups we got was basically cream and milk with a hint of pear. needless to say, it didn't get much love at our table.
my coworkers and i reached a consensus on the dishes that we liked:
- MUSHROOM PATE is divine. i don't want to know how much truffle, butter and cream was poured in to get that delightfully meaty, hearty taste.
- MUSHROOM SALAD was slightly over-salted, but really wonderful. i see a mushroom theme here!
- BREAD came with olive tapenade that was gobbled up in a matter of seconds
- AGNOLOTTI was a popular dish
others that didn't work as well:
- FINGERLING POTATOES side was extremely undercooked and un-flavorful
- PEAR SOUP was just subtly pear-flavored milky cream in a bowl
there were also some others, but they don't come to mind right now which means we didn't find them very impressive. overall, a worthwhile experiment but i don't know if i would come back. when i eat vegetarian, i expect healthy vegetarian - else, what is the point of not eating meat?! might as well go stuff my face with AYCE KBBQ then! -
Review from Jeff N.
Chicago, IL
11/26/2011
I am a carnivore who loves a great vegetarian or vegan restaurant. So, is my lovely bride. We experienced what was our best V/V restaurant experience ever!. My squash soup was so good that our friends decided to order their own after tasting ours. Thank goodness, because I didn't want them eating all of mine!
The small plate dishes were all fabulous. It gets a bit expensive since the plates are about 11-12 bucks each and you need about 3. Add in soup or salad and dessert (plus a modest bottle of wine) and you are looking at about $140 before tip.
BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT! -
Review from Puja G.
Bloomington, IN
12/11/2011
I'm a strict vegetarian and I am always in search of a place that has a variety of different things for me to try. This place certainly has lots of new stuff to try!
The service here was amazing; excellent suggestions were made for various pairings and the ambiance was delightful. The food was okay; I'd probably never think to make most things on the menu, so it was nice to have a bit of variety; but to be honest, I was unimpressed by the taste.
I recommend this place if you have a bit of extra cash to spend (this place isn't cheap), want to impress a vegetarian date, aren't incredibly hungry, or simply care to try something new. Otherwise, I'm sure there are other places that carry good veg food for much cheaper.
