Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar

Very nice staff and the food was amazing 🤩

The ve lai pop up food and service were fantastic. The tables and seating were uncomfortably close to each other. 5 stars for food and service, 2 stars for comfort of the seating.

The bar seats were at our eye level so that meant we got blasted with all the farts from the bar. I wasn't going to leave this review but I wanted to clarify the food and service were great. Just wasn't a comfortable seated experience.

The service was decent, but our server seemed more interested in other patrons.

The food, however, was a mixed bag. We opted for the Valentine’s tasting menu, and the first course was okay. The scallops were the standout dish. The last course was well-seasoned dish however it lacked salt, making it bland and underwhelming after a while. :/

Dessert was a complete disaster. I had high hopes for it, but it was a letdown. The flavors were too complex and varied, going from tart to bitter to sweet, and it was an unpleasant combination.

In my opinion, the overall experience wasn’t worth the price. Especially if you’re forced to sit by the door and it remains freezing the entire time. Hard to enjoy anything at all.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 4

Management/owner one star at best, food 3stars, servers 5 stars.

They charge a $50 cancellation fee if you don’t cancel 24 hours before. And you have to call, there’s no way to cancel online. Never in my life have I heard of a restaurant policy like this. Will be disputing with my bank. Given the restaurant week reviews I won’t even bother trying to go back. Ridiculous.

Service was awesome but I wouldn’t recommend this place. The food was very bland looks more like an appetiser than a course and even the deserts were disappointing. We talk to the owner and let them know so hopefully this will help them serving better food in the future. We went there to try the Chicago week menu and overall we left feeling disappointed.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 4

Went for restaurant week. The food was a bit experimental, but the staff was wonderful. I did really enjoy the ten million dollar rice bowl.

Vegetarian options: Tteokboki dumplings

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

I wish I could recommend this place as I was really looking forward to coming here. We live in the area so, on a snowing week night my husband and I walked here after securing a reservation online.

In short, this is a pass for us. It doesn't live up to the hype for us. When looking them up they are known as an upscale European dinning. However I didn't feel they were upscale at all. From the loud music, the awkward waitstaff / team members it seemed mediocre and disarray. I was additionally confused by the Korean/ Asian influenced dishes that made us pause to question what made it European.

The service - My husband had to open the door for an employee, almost slipped himself because of the recent snow fall, and uniced sidewalk. I was put off by her interest in walking out herself to greet her friend and dog than allowing patrons in first. That should have been my first clue to leave, but having walked five blocks in the snow we were interested in getting in and dry.

Throughout the dinner, I didn't feel like we were attended to at all. Perhaps its because we didn't order right (expensive caviar) or drinks?? We were the only table that did not get small talk or pleasantries. Odd.

The food- its ordinary. We did ask the waiter what he recommended having not been there before but he very nonchalantly said "We are upscale dinning and its all good".

So we were left to our own devices to order. Hence, we had bone marrow, baked fish (of some sort), mushroom & lamb dumplings and some non-alcoholic drinks. Total was around $180. The price wasn't the issue I had with this dinning experience. We happily pay for good food, and dining experience, as I was hoping this place would be- but its not. The dumplings were undercooked- soggy, despite having a charred topping and the apple ginger-like sauce was horrible and off-putting. It was un-edible. It was salty and thick and had no taste of sweet or savorly. I am not sure what the sauce was to be honest. The main entrees: Bone Marrow was mediocre. Nothing special. The fish... was seasonless, and on a bed of curry couscous most likely from a box bc it was bland and thick in consistency. It had some fruit garnish on the side - which I think was meant to offset the savory but it was sour, and caused me to wince thru the whole entrée. I would have mentioned something (as the response mentioned below, but it was hard to get anyone to notice us. We weren't asked how the food was, nor if we needed refills on our drinks)

We were left so dissatisfied with no desert and no after dinner coffee per our usual evening out. Thank goodness for left over pumpkin pie at home!

The only thing I really can say is positive is the coat check. But service here is slow, confusing and had cutlery that was bent, and flatware dirty. Even if they are frequently by others a lot, and used frequently it is still not excuse for bent forks and dirty/ chipped plates.

Note: I did update this review after the owner's response. I do stand by my review. I will not be recommending this place to visit because it was not worth the time, money and now seems like neither our feedback either. Like our dinning experience I am disappointed the owner didn't take accountability for the "blamed" us for not alerting them to our experience.

Its okay bc Chicago has 11,524 restaurants to visit :)

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 2

Came here for NYE. Unfortunately very disappointed in the multi course menu.

To start on a good note the caviar and oysters were amazing. In hindsight we wished we had just skipped the NYE special completely and just had the oysters/caviar that were on the regular menu.

The shooters were something that probably sounded good on paper but were pretty horrible to actually have. Meat/fish served in a shot glass isn’t that common for a reason I guess. Ended up being one shot of the sour juices and then having to fish everything out of the shot glass with a fork.

The food overall was decent but definitely not worth the prices.

The worst thing was that the wait times were brutal. Close to 30 minute wait between courses. We ended up being at the restaurant for around two and a half hours. Not ideal when it is NYE and you have somewhere to get to.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 1

Every dish was salty! The oysters were soaked in salt water. The Korean chicken nuggies were soaked in heavy and thick soy based house sauce. The crispy duck confit leg was on the slightly less salty side but still quite heavy. The butternut squash dish came was a side salad that was basically saltier than every other dish! The only normal dish was the lamb dumplings. As we ate, we wondered if the chefs lost their taste buds today?

The menu is interesting but unfortunately the execution didn’t follow.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 3

Ask for Ennis. The man knows his stuff

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Everything here is always exactly what I needed.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Loved the lamb "Italian beef" and all the appetizers at this Chicago gem with a fun eclectic menu!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food and impeccable vibe!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Egg Rolls

The short version: it was a blast to dine here, everything was classy and tasteful, and we'll absolutely be back!

Cucurocho (happy hour menu) was quite the opener. The three ingredients, each somewhat intense in their own flavors, worked surprisingly well in harmony and in a clear, established hierarchy. The protagonist meaty and nutty notes came from the Iberico ham, which was clearly of high quality. The caviar supplied some brininess, and a whole different profile of umami of the sea. In a fun way, this is a surf and turf with all the luxury and exquisiteness and then some, but none of the excessiveness quite often associated with the concept. The nori serves as the perfect wrapper, not only because its flavors complement that of the other two, but also for its ever so slight leatheriness, which ensures that it endures till the very end, until you've chewed through all the Iberico ham, and therefore provides that seaweed goodness till the end as well. Amazingly, somehow, the whole thing was not too salty. Also, they slice the ham on the bar counter. Always love watching that.

Caviar is again used in maybe a similar fashion in the No Regrets Slider, in that it provides some brininess and sea umami to the patty perfectly cooked to medium rare. Little salt is given to the patty, and the result is yet another dish which sounds like it could be too salty, but is not. The duck rillette gave some gaminess to the dish, and it's like a theme here, where they always try to include more than just one profile of umami for some one-plus-one-bigger-than-two action. The (presumably) quail egg was a fantastic touch, because yolks and beef.

I had two cocktails, and both times I opted to let the bartender improvise, and was delighted twice. First was a Greek side car; I was too excited about the food and forgot to ask what was Greek about it. It had a transparency that usually isn't associated with side cars. It had opened up flavors, and was, like Asians would say, "not too sweet". The second one was a margarita made with part mezcal and part tequila. Again, the flavors were opened up. The smokiness was slight and just right, and it felt like I could drink another 5 without getting tired of it. Classy and tasteful.

The smoked duck and crab egg roll was a whirlwind. I was at the peak of my being lightweight, and it went by too quickly. All I could recall was that it had kimchi which was not too spicy or too sour, it had again all the umami that came from different ingredients that worked in harmony, and it was a bloody steal. 5 dollars for god's sake!

The Korean fried chicken nuggets were some textbook cooking. You've heard about the perfect Korean fried chicken that has crispy batter that stays crispy even with the sauce, but how often do you actually have one like that? I had not, until today. The perfect combination of rice flour and corn starch apparently did the trick, as Tiff the client facing co-owner later very generously told us. It stayed crispy till the end of our meal, and we had to pause halfway through it to enjoy the entirety of the lamb and shiitake mandu. Damn!

The mandu was perfect. It had the canonical sure-fire combination of lamb and cumin, and somehow I think the lamb was pre-cooked before being stuffed into the dumpling skin. If I'm right, that's not the common practice in Asian dumplings, but it sure is the superior thing to do, especially when it involves things like lamb and mushrooms, which takes on completely different and more exciting flavors when cooked in oil, and/or with spices.

Overall, it was a blast. It's hard to categorize this restaurant's cooking, and "fusion" would be a lazy way of doing them disservice. The menu might at first glance seem messy and all over the place, but there are through themes, and I think the creators did not care so much about rules as they did about creating dishes that exc

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5