The Silver Palm
Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Noble Square, River West768 N Milwaukee Ave
(between Carpenter St & Ogden Ave)
Chicago, IL 60622 (312) 666-9322
- Nearest Transit:
Chicago (Blue)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
20 reviews
Neighborhood: Lincoln Park
"Cafe Bernard never fails to be a place I enjoy. Some places have good nights and bad nights. Cafe Bernard has consistently decent food even…" read more »
23 Reviews for The Silver Palm
This is my favorite bar on the planet. Everytime I come home I make sure to go to the Silver Palm as much as possible. Dan is probably one of the funniest humans I have ever met and a flawless bartender.
The food is crazy awesome, I love the duck club, and their french fries are delicious, it's the duck fat that makes them so scrumptious.
And stay away from the Chocolate Lava cake and the Maple Cheesecake. I think there is crack in both of those tasty treats.
This an interesting little restaurant in a seemingly deserted area (at least when I went). I heard about the train cart, so I headed to the back almost immediately. It was cute, but I didn't think it was anything special.
I did think the biscuits, butter, and honey brought out before the meal was to die for. For the appetizer, we ordered the goat cheese, also very tasty.
I ordered the Garden Sandwich, consisting of eggplant, zucchini, goat cheese, and radishes. I can't say I cared for it as a sandwich, and I despised the sauce it came with. I ended up eating the vegetables by themselves. All I can recall of my friend's entree was that it was fish related and while he enjoyed it, it wasn't amazing.
I love this joint. Since birth, I've been a train lover. Growing up in Virginia, there was a restaurant in my old neighborhood that served guests on and old Pullman car and dining at The Silver Palm was like a trip down memory lane.
Dining in a rail car is like nothing else- although much more enjoyable and romantic when its moving-
The food was excellent, from what I remember i had a Roast beef sandwich and fries and it was delicious. Service was excellent. It's been a year or so since I've been there, but I just moved within earshot so I won't be a stranger. Great bar as well. Love it.
I have to admit that I've been here 6 times and have never strayed from four menu items:
Ribs
Fried Avocado Salad
French Onion Soup
Hamburger
The Silver Palm is really a hidden gem for Chicago ribs. The ribs are by far the best thing that you can order - they are deliciously smoky and the fall-off-the-bone meat is lean, tender and delicious. A full slab is also large enough to serve two; if you're really hungry, split a salad.
Everything else is average to below-average bar food.
They do have a great beer selection, which isn't a suprise, since they are adjacent to the Matchbox.
I had an early dinner here last night. The BF and I both had a steak sandwich med-rare and they were good. Very simple just meat, lettuce and pickled veggies on the side. The fries were nice and warm and the server was really friendly. Since its in walking distance for us not a bad meal. It is a cool place but wish they did something better w/ the menu. Needs to be updated.
As you are seated at this place, you get muffin-shaped biscuits with butter and honey. It's a nice touch, and a friendly welcome to The Silver Palm. The smells of food coming from the kitchen were amazing, and we saw a few plates go by us that looked delicious (that is, the food on the plates, I imagine ceramic would be hard to chew). We could only hope that the food tasted as good as it smelled and looked.
The decor in this place is interesting. It's an old-school train car outfitted with tables and chairs. The tables which reminded me of a 50s diner did seem rather close to each other. We wondered what it would have been like to try to get up and move to go to the bathroom or whatever with the place packed. The walls were adorned with 50s pin-up girls and train art. There were red Christmas lights that dotted the top of the walls.
The menu has a slightly more than small selection of items, mostly reasonably priced. They have a large beer selection including many micro and craft brews, at least a few of which I had never heard of (this is somewhat a feat as I consider myself a craft beer afficionado), and they have a boatload of wine listed at $14 - 80 a bottle. There aren't a ton of food selections, but you are likely to find something that sounds good in their list of train-line-named items.
I ordered the Union Pacific Steakburger with cheddar. I ordered it medium and it came well done. The fries on the side were barely warm, but tasted okay. It also came with a small ramekin of pickled vegetables. At first I thought that the pickled veg was to be some sort of topping, especially as the burger came with no tomato or lettuce or anything else it seemed you could top your burger with, but the vegetables in the little ramekin did not taste good on the sandwich. The burger was overall disappointing.
The girl got the Southern Railway Duck Club Sandwich. It looked tasty, but she mentioned to me that it was a bit too tall to easily bite into. She got the roasted vegetables as a side, and we played a fun game of Guess the Vegetable. We did especially like what we were told was parsnip. Her sandwich came with the pickled vegetables too.
The service was overall good. It wasn't mind-blowing amazing, but the server did indeed do her job.
Overall, we liked the decor and ambiance. We liked the cool names of things on the menu. You have a lot to choose from as far as alcohol. The food was just okay.
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I LOVE trains, as you can tell by my Flickr, well, the gf surprised me and took me here for a date, and I was impressed. Good service (it was their first Sunday being open), She had a duck club sandwich and raved over the veggies, I had the shrimp and scallop po'boy and was impressed with the light breading of the shrimp. Nice decor and friendly staff. I would definitely go back and recommend it. Odd being on a dining car without it rocking back and forth though, lol.
Delightful! A great place for a date.
The place has a gimmick-- and every man I've dated has enjoyed a gimmick. The tables and lighting were intimate, and the place is small and quiet. The service is attentive and knowlegeable, but not intrustive. In fact, they were a little the opposite, which again, is great for a date. The bar downstairs rocks in a classic way. And the food was delicious! I had the roast duck and it was amazing.
My only gripe was that I was freezing! sitting next to the window.
I love this little place. It's the perfect date spot. The bartenders are way fun and when we there on a slow night, let us pick the iTunes. The bar space is perfect for small groups of friends to hang out and feel pretty. The dining car is quiet and intimate with candles and white tablecloths. There is no rush, no hurry. It's the perfect place to linger over a romantic meal. It's also within walking distance to a theatre and a few other nighttime hotspots.
My pick: the duck sandwich with fries.
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Went here on a recent Saturday night with a coupon - had a great experience with wonderful service and some great ribs. Dessert was great too, some warm apple crisp with coconut ice cream. The atmosphere seems like an authentic representation of what the Blue Line is going for. Found prices to be reasonable and portions to be big. I'm looking forward to returning soon.
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The best way to enjoy the Silver Palm is on a beautiful Summer Friday evening, sitting outside for a relaxing long meal with friends. That is the ideal situation, and I get about one or two chances to do that per year, and for that, the Silver Palm is one of my favorite places. I really relish those times. I have to give it a mixed review for one main reason--the food is often lackluster, only sometimes satisfying. I pretty much stick to things I know they can do: cheeseburgers, fried calamari (very good!), and the shrimp po boy is not bad. The grilled veggies are never cooked well, and some of the items on the menu are either unsatisfying, or are not consistent (steak sandwich: great the first time, lousy the second). My wife always has to be dragged there because her tolerance is lower than mine. I think we had the ribs there once and we liked them...not remembering mediocrity probably means they were ok.
However, I also have had the best desert in my life here. On the menu, its just 'chocolate cake,' but its really a molten-center chocolate cake (more like a light texture brownie), and they serve it with a scoop of coconut gelato. I experienced my first molten-center cake at the Silver Palm, and it was nothing less than shocking (especially because the menu witholds the full description). I might sound dramatic but it really is a memory to last a lifetime. It's just fucking insanely good! I have since ordered this desert at many other restaurants and not had it as good. The Silver Palm does it the best. And the coffee they brew is also just as satisfying, especially with the rock candy swizzle stick resting in your cup, instead of the typical sugar dispenser. Nice touch.
Another downside to this place is its pretty hard to get a table outside. Its always hit-or-miss, unless you get there at the stroke of 5pm. If you are getting a late start and its a nice day, you have about a 20% or less chance of finding a table to accommodate you and your people.
If you sit inside (which is always an option), you can opt for the front area which is basically a smallish bar with a few tables, or you can go into the train car. In the Winter, unfortunately another reviewer said it too--the train car is pretty drafty. But its still neat and as far as I'm aware it is the most authentic "train car" eatery in the city (if the only one?). You have to try it once.
Bottom line, get a cheeseburger, chocolate cake, and coffee (or drinks from the Matchbox), and relax with friends, preferably on a beautiful day outdoors, and you can't go wrong.
BBQ duck wings. where else in Chicago are you going to get this dish? coupled with the killer margarita righfully ripped from Matchbox (or the ginseng infused martini) and you got a kickass restaurant/diner. a place that comps freq flier miles for downing powdered-sugar rimmed margaritas is a place close to my heart.
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Silver Palm is a cozy little train car decorated with Vargas pinup girls and candlelight. Each table feels fairly private. The menu isn't very large, but apparently they have some of the best burgers in town. I'm not big on meat, so I found the menu lacking. I had a salad with fried avocado, which was very interesting. The dressing was a bit tart. I also tried some of their desserts, which were excellent--especially the creme brulee.
The main reason to come here is for the drinks, stiff and tasty. Two of these will have you quite tipsy and three just might make you fall off of your bike on the way home.
Street parking is easy, or take Blue line to Chicago stop.
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Of course you'd think that it'd be cool to sit and eat in a train car. You'd have just about a good of a meal sitting on the CTA than going to this place. The food is awful!
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It's got the whole retro-train thing going on pretty strongly. I've never eaten on a train car in the 1940s, but I'm pretty sure this would be a reasonable faximile. Although: vegetarians--you guys essentially didn't exist in the 40s, so be prepared to make a ton of requests on the salads.....
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I used to practically live here. Good food, really awesome staff and great beer selection.
I'm going to have to vote Silver Palm the "best place to go in Chicago during a major snowstorm".
Rude? Unfriendly? Pardon the pun but these folks are way off track. Seriously--are we even talking about the same place? I've been going here for about 3 years thru many staff changes--but everyone has been nice and welcoming.
Only had an issue 1 time with food (onion soup kinda greasy) but they fixed it with no grumbling.
Copious wine by the glass selection, beer choices galore and they mix a mean sidecar. Great pre or post movie stop before heading home to relieve the babysitter. Definitely try the Chicken Saltimbocca. You can even nod to health and skip the fries-roasted veggies are very tasty.
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Well, I am excited that I finally had dinner at the Silver Palm and I will certainly go back there again. Thanks Restaurant.com. The ambiance was nice, but it's just a TINY bit too dark for my liking. A lot of patrons chose to sit outside in the hot, hot, heat, but we and two other pairs hung out in the car. Why wouldn't you want to? I loved our waiter and bus boy. Super great with re-fills and questions we had.
I second The Other Tony C. with the BBQ duck wings. Sure, they're not as meaty as chickens that are pumped with all kinds of horrible hormones, but they are super delicious alongside the dipping sauce they come with. They are ultra messy though, and I believe our waiter brought Z and I 12 wet naps to make sure our hands were clean before tackling the main course. I, of course, had to get the duck club (without prosciutto) since I do enjoy my duck dishes and I have to say, I was weirded out because as I was chewing my first bite, my gag reflex turned on because I felt like I was eating pork and then I asked Z to try it and he confirmed that it did taste like pork. I looked at it closely in the darkened train car. I sniffed it. Pork! I asked our waiter if he was certain that this was the duck club and he said yes and that the only pork they had was the item my boyfriend was chomping on which looked very different since it was thinly sliced. In any case, I guess I have never had grilled duck before and I don't know if I'll ever order it again. I only ate one bite and Z is snacking on the leftovers today. Oh well, I'll still go back. They had one veggie sandwich that sounded amazing.
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The silver palm is a small bar / restaurant built in an old school train car. The dining area is cozy to say the least. I can whole-heartedly recommend the onion rings and the chocolate cake (which has a warm, liquid filling).
It's not really like a train car now - they have chairs at the tables, you don't sit in an actual train seat. For obvious acoustic reasons, you don't really hear music coming out of the bar at one end, just loud noise. A door (like in an actual train!) that shuttered the two would be good for that, but of course it would be a gigantic pain for the servers. I actually liked the duck wings, but: 1) Significantly less meat than chicken wings 2) As Leigh K. points out, ultra messy 3) Very hard to pull apart, not only at the main joint, but then there's this little duck tendon or something on the one half all the time, that is not only very hard to eat around (since there is meat in between the tendon), but almost impossible to break in a civilized manner. I splattered my gf's arm across the table with some sauce while trying to, luckily it was naked. PO Boy was better than average, was different. Gf did not like her food. Prices aren't bad. Drop the Vargas girl posters, that's a wrong-headed idea. Whole thing is kinda weird looking as it looks like it's coming out of the Matchbox.
This is a really neat restraunt that's in an old train from the 1940s. The experience is really enjoyable here, with great service and a very cool and unique setting. And if you go here, don't leave without having their onion rings and gulf shrimp -- the experience just isn't complete without those.
one of the best bar's in chicago. a solid beer list, if a bit pricey on the imports, delicious food (bbq duck wings, fish tacos, the chicken saltimbocca sandwich, and the po' boy all get my vote), and a great staff. the train car is cozy and though the place can get a little noisy, its chiller than most bars. great place to watch a blizzard while staying comfortable.
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how cool to be sitting in an old train car eating! dont' worry, its cleaner than the actual CTA in here! the menu is very good and the drinks are strong!
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