Restaurants near Shedd Park

Favs: Caesar Salad - Scallops - Arancinis - Chicago Cut Dislikes: Towards the end of our meal, service started getting Very, Very slow. We waited 5-10 mins to get the bill and dessert. I think our server just got jammed up with too many guests. Everything else was great. Rich was our server, and he was extremely helpful with the menu and explained any specialty items available. George and Rich both checked on us during our meals to make sure we were having an enjoyable time. Over 10 pages of drinks available. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic. We ordered the Canal Street Punch and Melon Spritz for drinks. The Ceasar was made perfectly. Not too saucy, not too dry. Just enough croutons. We also ordered arancinis. The risotto arancinis we Sooo good. Not too heavily fried. Deliciously cheesy and seasoned. The beet salad was fresh and well blended for the palette. The scallops in the risotto were Delish. They were so flavorful. It was definitely well seasoned and went great with the sauce. The Chicago Cut & the Ribeye were cooked perfectly, and the flavor was great. We ordered medium well and medium rare. They were also done perfectly. The steaks were tender but firm.

Wonderful service, only one dish we didn't absolutely love (the octopus could have used some lemon or something). But the only real problem is the cold air - the vestibule, it does nothing to keep the wind out.

Excellent food with terrific, attentive staff. Place is beautiful and warm. Plates are small and meant for sharing. Some were quite expensive ($34 each for goat pork belly and basted bass) which were very small IMO for the price. Goat belly was very good, but would pass on the bass as we felt it was over spiced and couldn’t taste the fish. We also had the poke (24), oysters (18 for 2), beets (18), chickpea fritters (18) and a delicious, definite repeat in the toffee pumpkin spice cake (15). With tip and 3 drinks between us, came to $300 for 2 people. That said, this was our second visit and we will gladly be back again!!!

The restaurant was fantastic, and the food was phenomenal. We started with the wood-fired table bread, which was incredibly pillowy and delicious, along with the roasted octopus. The calamari was prepared in the standard way, and it was cooked perfectly. The sauce for the calamari reminded me of a chipotle aioli. For my entrée, I ordered the orecchiette. The minced lamb was flavorful and very filling, but I will mention that the dish was quite oily, which was the only downside. Throughout the meal, I enjoyed the Black Lotus drink, which was my favorite.

We had a great visit at Aba. We arrived with a reservation and were seated immediately. My date was not able to brush off the cold temperature on the terrace, so we opted to sit at the bar and wait for a table at the inside dinning room. The host staff were very polite and told us of the hour plus wait. We decided to stay at the bar and eat dinner there, though the host staff found us a table within 15 minutes of us sitting at the bar. We dined out often and the bar area is always an option for us, so we didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. Again, the host staff handled the situation tremendously well and we were very happy with the choices they gave us. Now on to the service and food. The bar staff was uber knowledgeable and coursed out our selections, as it was our first time there. We started out with Prosecco before we dug into the menu choices. We ordered Whipped feta, falafel, truffled salmon, and the green chili shrimp. The bar coursed out our choices perfectly. They suggested we get extra bread with our shrimp, and it was the perfect suggestion. All dishes were delicious and flavorful. Lots of depth in all dishes. We also had a cocktail and a glass of wine. Both were good choices. Bar staff was impeccable in their choices for us and we ended our night celebrating my date’s birthday with a carrot cake. Sans licking the plate, we liked it through the last bite. The staff even lit a candle for the cake! Overall, a knowledgeable and patient staff led us through our first, and certainly, not our last visit to Aba. See you soon Aba!