Carla L.'s Profile

I like this place.  We came here at 8pm on a Friday night. It was packed with a 45 minute wait so we made our way to the bar which was also packed, but we were served right away.

Since this place is owned by the Cheesecake Factory, I expected it to be a similar experience and it was. The decor is darker and sleeker, but it's still the same high end casual vibe. Very comfortable, nothing felt pretentious.

We were seated and instructed about their made fresh to order desserts. We were told that we needed to order them at the same time we ordered our entrees because they take 30 minutes to make. I have three issues with this part.... 1) I can't order my dessert at the same time that I order my entree because I have no idea how full I'm going to be from that entree. 2) I could understand if the made to order desserts needed pre-ordering if they were all personally customized items, but they weren't... 3) I don't like feeling pressured into ordering desserts.

We were also told that the portions of the food that is served are all very large and most people end up taking some home. We didn't want to do that so we ended up ordering two appetizers and a pizza to split.

The Tuna Ceviche was good. Not great, I've definitely had better ceviche, but it was okay. The Duck Wontons were very enjoyable. I've never had duck wontons before and loved the idea. We were a little underwhelmed by the presentation as we thought they would look more like little bundles instead of little triangles, but they tasted very good. We only wished they served more than four.

The highlight of our meal, however, was their Prosciutto and Arugula Rustic Pizza. OMG so good! Better than any pizza I've ever had at the Cheesecake Factory or California Pizza Kitchen. We still talk about how good it was.

I would definitely come back to Grand Lux Cafe. I'll most likely even be introducing it to people who have never been there before.

I think it's a bad sign when you can't remember the name of the restaurant that you ate at the night before. However, if you have no idea how to pronounce the name of the restaurant, chances are good that you're not going to remember it. It would have helped if the hostess said "Hello, Welcome to Solaia" when she greeted us as kind of a verbal reinforcement of the brand. But that didn't happen.

First let's go with the positives...
Servers and hostess all very friendly, helpful, and attentive.
Nice comfortable decor and atmosphere.

Now let's go with the negatives which completely outweigh the positives...
The food was RIDICULOUSLY OVERPRICED.
The food was HORRIBLE.

It was one of the rare times when I've actually had to spit food out in a restaurant. The clams were more chewy than chewing gum. I wondered how old they were and if I was going to be getting sick from them. I should have known better than to order a special. After all, they're usually made with old or overstocked food. I think I had grilled striped bass (type of fish not sure about) in tomato sauce with anchovies, capers, and olives and clams alongside. Again, I couldn't help but wonder if the colorful and flavorful sauce was hiding bad fish. Alot of times that's what sauces are used for. It's never a good sign when you eat at a restaurant and worry about getting sick.

Backtracking to the appetizer...
The Caprese Salad was served as three thick slices of red but not ripe tomatoes with a round ball of mozzarella cheese on top of each one. A roasted red pepper and sprig of basil sat in the center of the plate. Definitely not one of the better Caprese Salads that I've had. However, the mozzarella was the most enjoyable part of the meal. And that's not saying much...

Also...
This restaurant is attached to a bar next door. They share the same bathrooms and it looks like they share the same kitchen. It appears that they rent it out for parties because at some time in the evening, maybe around 9pm, a DJ started playing and it filled up with a party of teenagers who must have been around 16 years old. It was kind of annoying. We couldn't wait to leave.  Will not be returning.

Overpriced.

Glasses of wine range from $10 to $18 each, most averaging $13 to $15.

Wine list not exciting, for a wine bar, I expect better.

On the menu they list prices for a 2 oz sample, glass, and bottle which deceives the eye into thinking the prices are more reasonable than they are because the first number you see is the very low number for a mere 2 oz.

I like to do flights because when done properly, you can usually learn alot about new wines or regions or types of wine.

There was a sign near the entrance that mentioned their flights.

I was eager to try one.

It was a wine bar, I expected to open their menu and see a page that listed all of their various themed flights.

I opened their menu and saw one line on the bottom of the first page that said you can choose any three wines to make a flight and they would average the prices.

Very disappointing. I don't want to do all of the work.

Decor is modern and trendy.
Atmosphere is comfortable and dark.
Servers are all extremely friendly and polite.
Their prices and their menu ruin everything...

Friday night 8pm, the place was packed.
Only valet parking, so I parked across the street.
Walked in to meet a friend who was waiting near the bar.
Felt like I was walking into a private party and we were uninvited guests.
Tables full and people three rows deep at the bar.
Does everyone know each other here?
Seems like everyone's a regular.
If you're not a regular, no one talks to you - bartenders ignore you and a hostess was nowhere to be found.
We left before we gave them a cent.
Not returning.

For an after-hours bar, it's okay. After hours meaning: after the local restaurants have closed. That tends to be about 11pm.

11pm on a Saturday night and the bar was full but not overly crazy. There were still some seats to be had at the bar and also a few empty tables.

We settled into a table at the bar and was immediately greeted by a server and brought salsa and chips.

It's basically your typical Mexican restaurant / sports bar. Plenty of TV screens with the various games on, super relaxed and casual vibe. It can get noisy at times, but people are there to party and have a good time so that should be expected.

I'd pop in here again if I happened to be in the area and we wanted to grab a drink somewhere, but I don't think I would come here as a destination.

Came here at 8pm on a Saturday night and the place was packed, not an empty seat in the house. The first thing they asked us when we walked in was if we had a reservation. Since we hadn't originally planned on coming here, we didn't.

NOTE: If you plan on coming here, make a reservation.

We happened to be really lucky and a table was getting ready to pay and leave so we only had to wait about 5 minutes. It's a BYOB restaurant and the staff is very attentive. They will take your bottle(s) right away and keep them chilled and bring them to the table, etc.

The decor and ambiance is really nice. Classy and modern, yet relaxed. It's small and the tables are a bit crowded, but no more so than any typical restaurant in Manhattan. As such, it gives off the NYC vibe.

The food was good. We had tabbouleh and falafel for starters and then kabobs for entrees. I had the minced lamb kabobs which were really spicy. They let me substitute rice for the accompanying bulgur. The kabobs were served sans sticks with a roasted green pepper, a roasted tomato, some sliced red onion, and the rice. I wish I could say that the food was better than it was. It was very good, but I really would have liked to have been wowed by it. It was actually pretty basic, but done well. The portions were substantial and we were all too full for dessert. I even came here with a huge appetite and I was full.

The prices were okay. Not overly expensive, but not a really great deal also. The lamb kabobs were $18.95 if I remember correctly. The starters that we had were about $7 or $8 each.

The service was outstanding. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and they checked on our meals on numerous occasions.

I would definitely come here again. It makes for a really nice night out.

This place should be called Saltburger. I've never had a burger so salty in my life. It was also a total grease bomb. I've never unwrapped a burger before to have pools of grease leak out of the wrapper. Not good when you're eating in your car because the restaurant is a noisy mess full of families with screaming and misbehaved kids on a Friday evening. As I ate the burger, it was literally dripping with grease. I wondered if they either used super fatty meat or else they fried the patties in butter. It was gross.

The fries weren't any better. Oversalted shoestring fries, most not more than an inch long. However, the portion was big and definitely enough to share among two or three people.

Between the salt and the grease, I felt so uncomfortable after eating here, like I had a brick in my stomach kind of feeling.

Definitely will not be returning. Would much rather grab a burger and fries at The Fireplace just down the road. So much better food-wise and atmosphere-wise. Actually, any local diner cooks a better burger and fries than Smashburger.

Yuck.

Oh yeah, additional note:
Their website clearly says that they paint "the grill with real butter, adding a dash of our secret spice blend".

That explains the grease and the saltiness. I don't trust any "secret spice blend". Usually that means that it's full of MSG. Double yuck.

I was in SF for a business conference, but was staying in the recommended hotel in Fisherman's Wharf. Why they recommended a hotel so far away from the conference, I have no idea... Obviously, Fisherman's Wharf is probably the most touristy area in SF. However, as a foodie and seafood lover, since I was in SF, my goal was to have some good, authentic Cioppino.

Thursday night, 8:30pm, I found myself done with my events and looking for dinner in FW. I peeked into the Blue Mermaid, it was empty. I walked past Capurros and it was fairly empty too. Then I walked to Cioppino's. The old school Italian music that they were playing outside the restaurant was very inviting. Through the windows I could see that the place was packed. I took a look at the menu that they have posted outside and noticed that they have two sizes of Cioppino on the menu. The regular size which was about $28 and a small size which was only $19.95. For Cioppino, that's a deal. I had no idea that Cioppino would be such an expensive dish, but most of the restaurant menus that I researched all wanted $30+ for a bowl. I decided to go inside and give it a try.

I grabbed a spot at the bar and the bartender was very friendly and attentive. I asked him about the sizes of the Cioppino and he wasn't very helpful with that, but another customer at the bar told me that he had ordered the regular size just the other day and it was too much for him. (he was a big guy). He said I was better off getting the small, so I did.

Before I knew it, I was presented with a steaming hot bowl of stewed seafood with two slices of crispy garlic bread. I was in heaven. For a small, it was a very good sized bowl, and considering I hadn't had a real meal since breakfast, was just the right size. It was so good, in fact, that I ended up coming back the next night also.

Friday night, 7pm, Fisherman's Wharf, and it was a repeat of the night before. All of the other restaurants were empty except for Cioppino's which was full. (I didn't walk all the way down to Pier 39 because it was cold out so maybe they had people there. Maybe not.)

This time, I had eaten lunch around noon. Then at the restaurant, I had two slices of sourdough bread, a small house salad, and then my small order of Cioppino. That was a mistake. This time I couldn't even finish it. I was too stuffed. And I love seafood. For me not to finish a bowl of almost every kind of seafood imaginable usually doesn't happen.

Not only is the food good at this restaurant, but the staff is very friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere really is what makes it all the more enjoyable. They have a large square bar which reminded me of Cheers. Classic old school Italian tunes in the background, red, white and green color scheme. When staying in Fisherman's Wharf it's like your friendly neighborhood bar/restaurant where everybody knows your name. In fact, it's such a comfortable atmosphere that you might even be inclined to stay longer than they're open. By 10:30 pm Thursday night they were closing.

I could eat their Cioppino every night...

If you have a morning flight out of SFO, get there an hour earlier than usual and have breakfast at Yankee Pier. It's all about the Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict. OMG. So good. But then again, I'm a seafood slut.

It's a typical eggs benedict with piles of dungeness crab between the english muffin and poached egg. They serve it alongside home fried potatoes that are cooked with peppers and onions. My only complaint is that the onions were a little less cooked than I would have liked and therefore a little too strong. It was hard to shake the onion breath for awhile, I was popping altoids like crazy.

The service was fast and if anything, overly attentive. I was seated right away and was probably served within 10 minutes of placing my order. The waitress must have checked on me every 5 minutes after that.

Another downside is that it was very pricey. I think they know it's the star player on their menu so they price it as such - $18.95. But considering it was almost enough food for two people, it kept me full for the majority of the day. I left stuffed.

I would definitely return.

This was the highlight of my hour and a half stopover in Chicago while I was traveling from CA to NYC. I was excited to be able to try some of Rick Bayless's food since I've seen him on so many foodie TV shows.

There was no line when I arrived. I ordered the Pepito and was asked if a 10 minute wait was okay. I had plenty of time so I agreed. I was served my sandwich in less than 10 minutes. I walked over to my gate, sat down to enjoy my sandwich and took a big bite. The heat from the pickled jalapenos was so strong it made my eyes water and it was all that I could taste. I opened the sandwich to pick some out and it looked like the entire sandwich was beef, arugula, and a heap of jalapenos. I took half of them out and it was bearable. There was supposed to be cheese on the sandwich, but if there was any, it was practically imperceptible. I certainly didn't notice it when I fished the jalapenos out. The salsa verde, served in a little cup alongside was some of the best I've ever had and it helped to cool down the heat.

Now, for airport food, this place rocks. The food was all real, fresh, and freshly made. The bread was crisp and the beef was flavorful. I would definitely eat here again if I ever find myself in O'Hare. I just wish the proportions of the ingredients were a little more balanced. I felt like I was breathing fire for awhile and I tend to like spicy foods.