CheSa’s Bistro & Bar

Review summary

1. W

   Whitney

   Chicago

   3 reviews

   3.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   The customer service and location was really nice. Food was presented well it just needed a little more seasoning.
   

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2. N

   Nathalie

   Chicago

   13 reviews

   3.0

   13 reviews

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   We were greeted right away. We were asked if we had ever been there before and we said no but very excited to be there. The waitress preceded to tell us they are a bistro so that means they are more upscale. Really? That wasn't necessary. The ambiance looks great at 1st glance but the silverware was very cheap as well at the plates and there were plastic number signs on the table. Upscale? Ordered fried green tomatoes to start, delicious (ask for no parmesan) so much better without it. Entrees catfish & smothered potatoes, catfish was fresh and perfectly seasoned and breaded, the potatoes had too much water which made it soupy & the catfish start to get soggy; fried chicken & beignet waffle, is boneless, seasoned & fried to perfection, so juicy! But they laid it on the whip cream and the bottom started to get soggy. Waffle was over battered and over fried. The brioche french toast is amazing! I could just have the catfish and chicken on separate platters with French toast on the side. The coffee was not fresh, luke warm and acidic. I appreciate being checked on throughout our dining experience however it was so much by a couple different individuals that I asked if we had a time limit on our table lol.
   

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3. B

   Billy

   VIP

   Chicago

   81 reviews

   5.0

   81 reviews

   Dined on December 21, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Great service. For those looking for gluten free options the entire menu is gluten free and tasty.
   

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4. M

   Malondra

   Chicago

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 14, 2024

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 3

   Brunch - The food was great. A few items could use a little less salt, but flavor wise, my party enjoyed their entrees. Service was not great in terms of the wait time. For a large party booked in advance, there was not enough staff to manage the dining area, which also resulted in a few entrees served not quite to temperature. The bartender and server were both really sweet, but seemed overwhelmed due to it being just them managing the floor. Overall, I would visit again, but hope to see more help on the floor to provide an exceptional service. The dinner menu looks delicious.
   

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5. R

   Rebekah

   VIP

   Chicago

   37 reviews

   5.0

   37 reviews

   Dined on December 8, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   I was looking for a Gluten Free Brunch to accommodate my daughter, and found CheSa's - AMAZING!!! The menu is 100% GF, which can often mean people who don't have a Gluten sensitivity will feel like they are missing something. NOT at CheSa's, the food was so good, and so original. We had a difficult time narrowing down what we wanted to eat, everything was so tempting. We ended up ordering the Lobster Benedict (to DIE for), and the Peach Bourbon Waffles. You would NEVER know the beignet waffles were GF. There were still so many other things we want to try that we will definitely be back for Brunch AND for Dinner :)
   

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6. R

   Rebecca

   Chicago

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 8, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 5

   Delicious food that was so good we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was all gluten free! Overall good experience. 4 stars because service was a bit slow.
   

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7. I

   Ivory

   VIP

   Chicago

   24 reviews

   1.0

   24 reviews

   Dined on December 1, 2024

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   We came for brunch a while ago and enjoyed it so decided to try for dinner and that was a mistake. They ran out of half of the stuff we ordered. No crab so half of the dishes weren’t available. The servers were slow and disinterested, but did apologize for the inconvenience. Everything took long to come. 1 cocktail was $36. Two of us ordered the etouffe. Only one came and it was cold and half of a serving. We asked about the other and was told that it was coming…it wasn’t. The chef misread the 2 as a 1 so now the “kitchen is closed” but she’s making the other etouffe. It finally comes and it’s double the portion of the first one. Both etouffe dishes were bland and flavorless. Honestly, it tasted like the roux was watered down because it was the end of the night because it had absolutely no flavor. The Mac and cheese came out cold. The green tomatoes, shrimp tacos and chicken Alfredo were good.
   

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8. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   Chicago

   2 reviews

   1.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on November 30, 2024

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   Service was terrible! Bar tender was very rude and took over 35 minutes before our drink order was taken. Then waited an additional hour after being sat to receive appetizers. Then one of our parties entrees was forgotten after almost 1.5hrs of waiting for our food. The heat was broken and it was freezing in the restaurant. I usually give places the benefit of the doubt if it’s busy but we were one of 3 tables in the entire restaurant. Food was good but with all service blunders I’d say this restaurant needs some serious help.
   

   CheSa’s Bistro & BarResponded 3 days ago

   We do apologize for this experience. We are training new staff and apologize for the inconvenience. We hope you consider joining us in the future.
   

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9. N

   Nicolle

   Las Vegas

   1 review

   2.0

   1 review

   Dined on November 23, 2024

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   This restaurant is understaffed which negatively affected our dining experience. It took 30 minutes for our drink orders to be taken then it was at least another 30 minutes before we received them. They also ran out of ingredients for one of the drinks, however the drinks were tasty. We ordered 4 appetizers for the table and only received 2. We were informed that they were out of 1 appetizer, not sure what happened with the other. The cajun wings were the worst thing we ate during the experience. They did not have much flavor and something seemed off about the meat. We asked for ranch and blue cheese with the wings and they took so long to bring them that we were done with the wings already by the time we received the sauces. The oysters were admittedly delicious, those were 10/10. However, the pricing for the oysters on the happy hour menu was deceptive and needs to be amended to accurately reflect the cost which is 3 times what is shown on the menu. The lemon pepper salmon and lobster mac and cheese were good. The catfish and jambalaya dish was just okay. The jambalaya was missing the andouille sausage, when we asked about it, we were told that they used chicken andouille sausage which is not what the menu says. If they actually put chicken sausage in there, then it looked and tasted identical to the regular chicken in there. The restaurant is decorated nicely, however they did not have basic items such as salt and pepper shakers and we had to ask twice for the toilet paper in the bathrooms to be replenished. Overall, we had a subpar experience that was repeatedly blamed on the new waitress by other staff. However, we had no issues with the waitress as she was pleasant and could not be expected to bring us drinks or food that had not yet been prepared by the appropriate staff. We spent 3 hours here and about 2.5 hours were spent waiting to receive our orders, it wasnt worth it. In the end, they were apologetic for the delays and removed the charge for oysters.
   

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   CheSa’s Bistro & BarResponded on December 1, 2024

   We apologize for your experience and apologies for the miscommunication - as we were training a new server - which did cause a delay in your orders being sent back. We hope you considered visit us again as we are transitioning new staff to the restaurant.
   

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10. B

    Brittney

    Chicago

    7 reviews

    5.0

    7 reviews

    Dined on November 15, 2024

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5

    Briana helped us, she was our server and bartender. She was pleasant and made good drinks. CheSa prepared the food and she came out to greet us afterwards—such a personable touch!
    

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