Better experience than I thought. The server was attentive and cunning and the atrium was relaxing to casually dine in. The food was very tasty as it was flavored well and rich with its composure, took me time to enjoy the satiatiating experience of every bite. Although I agree with our server that this place is not a steak house, the steak was good, the brussel sprouts were better and the lamb balls will fill you before the maim corse. Go there early because to create the flavor their kitchen takes more time than I expected and if we hadn't planned to be there one and a half to two hours before our concert started at the CSO we could have been late. However, I paid $12 for a serving of thick cake frosting with no cake, LoL. Gamache sounds nice when you want chocolate after dinner but icing feels cheap when you come to your senses, I've lived & learned. Enjoy
E Jones
I enjoyed the uniqueness of the space and was glad I chose this restaurant before attending the CSO. The service of our waiter was not great, we found out about the lack of available items after we ordered drinks. I think when there's a limited amount of a certain food, that should be mentioned so we can make our order sooner. Also, the specials weren't presented until my wife saw the menu as she cleared the other menus away. Not the best, but we still enjoyed sharing our stop there before the show
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Lamb Meatballs, AE Smokin' Old Fashioned
Tracy D.
Such a gorgeous space! I went for cocktails and the cocktails were also gorgeous, and delicious! This place is such a retreat that I felt like I had no idea what was happening outside and frankly didn't care. The setting and the cocktails were all I needed!
Maria M.
Our waitress, Bri was very sweet and friendly! She recommended great picks. We enjoyed the food and the drinks. It's such a beautiful and elegant place, with soft music!
Trav Smith
Meh. The atmosphere and service were great, but the food wasn’t the best. I would have expected better food options and for the food to come out tasting great, but that wasn’t my experience.Maybe I’ll have to check back another time of the year.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Jabari Turner
Great atmosphere but the menu was underwhelming. Fries were great.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
kendra Riley
I went here with my sister for her 21st birthday and we couldn’t have picked a better place to go! The music was perfect, atmosphere so nice, food was amazing, but our server was the best of all! Shout out to Balbina!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bethany Goralski
Really wanted to love this place but we just didn’t. We ate here to “tour” this place for our wedding. They sat us in the bar which was loud and crowded when there was plenty of space in the main dining area. Got the grilled cheese which was too heavy. The rolls were amazing. Just weren’t “wow-ed” enough to have our wedding here. There were also massive trees in the middle of the restaurant that didn’t look like they would be moved for the wedding.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Courtney Smith
The vegan yellow curry is amazing and such a solid staple that I know it will be yummy no matter if I come for lunch or dinner on different days ?This is my go-to restaurant before going to the symphony and it has since become a nice place to do some writing on my laptop as well. The space is very comfortable and beautifully designed. I appreciate the vibe is both neighborhood and special occasion dining.The cocktails are creative (Sunday Kind of Love is thee best and came with a nice gift bag from Sipsmith London!) and a nice selection of wines. I love the Karavitakis Kompsos recommended by one of the amazing waiters I had (everyone is amazing) ?I love the menu is so plant-based friendly; I’ve also sometimes gotten the hummus plate which is a delicious shareable appetizer. Actually the portion sizes are decent enough to share the entrees too!
The server was sweet but had no clue what she was doing and it was very clear we were not the restaurants priority (and as the only table in there you would think that wouldn't be the case). There were many mistakes but I think the biggest one, which would be the first impression of the restaurant and server, was the fact that it took 20-25 minutes to even me greeted once sat. The server finally approached us and asked what we wanted to drink, we then waited another 20 minutes for 2 canned beers, a glass of wine and one mixed drink. Completely unacceptable for their prices, no wonder the restaurant was empty on a Saturday night at 7:15. Not to mention, everything took so long that we didn't leave the restaurant until 9:45... awful experience and unfortunately seems like this may be a regular occurrence. Don't go here unless you want to be forgotten about and spend too much for poor service.
PDiddy
Our waiter was attentive and friendly, unfortunately after waiting nearly an hour, our dinner order had yet to arrive! We had to leave to attend a time certain Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance so we had to go without dinner that evening. It turned out that many other patrons dining at the Exchange that evening had to leave without being fed as well. Since we were not given a reason for the order delays, we can only guess the kitchen had a major meltdown!
MarkB
We ate in The Listening Room. Overall, it was a good experience but not an outstanding one. The things that got us interested were the location (a short walk from the Studebaker Theatre) and the idea that the sound system would be unusually good. We liked the music choices, and the sound was good, but not unusually so. The menu was quite limited although the food was good.
GaryinChicago
Lovely space with the restaurant taking the entire 1st floor lobby is a historic Chicago building well located between the Art Institute, orchestra hall, and the Auditorium Theater. Good wines by the glass. Food limited and rather average. The service was terrible. Wine did not show up with the meal. Very noisy space throughout. Without a quieter space for a dinner conversation and timely table service, I am unlikely to return.
ChicagoDiner
We like the Exchange a great deal and it's very handy for events at Orchestra Hall. We will keep dining there. Our one suggestion is to not blast diners with loud music - check out the size of that huge speaker and the volume level! If you polled those eating there, they'd probably favor not having to shout over the music and preserving their hearing over the false sense that if they are being blasted with loud music they must be having a good time. This restaurant is better than that. And so many of its patrons are going to the CSO and other events at Orchestra Hall - on balance, the restaurant's patrons are likely not the type to want painfully loud music basted at them. Thankfully, after our second request, the staff lowered the volume.
Better experience than I thought. The server was attentive and cunning and the atrium was relaxing to casually dine in. The food was very tasty as it was flavored well and rich with its composure, took me time to enjoy the satiatiating experience of every bite. Although I agree with our server that this place is not a steak house, the steak was good, the brussel sprouts were better and the lamb balls will fill you before the maim corse. Go there early because to create the flavor their kitchen takes more time than I expected and if we hadn't planned to be there one and a half to two hours before our concert started at the CSO we could have been late. However, I paid $12 for a serving of thick cake frosting with no cake, LoL. Gamache sounds nice when you want chocolate after dinner but icing feels cheap when you come to your senses, I've lived & learned. Enjoy
I enjoyed the uniqueness of the space and was glad I chose this restaurant before attending the CSO. The service of our waiter was not great, we found out about the lack of available items after we ordered drinks. I think when there's a limited amount of a certain food, that should be mentioned so we can make our order sooner. Also, the specials weren't presented until my wife saw the menu as she cleared the other menus away. Not the best, but we still enjoyed sharing our stop there before the show
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Lamb Meatballs, AE Smokin' Old Fashioned
Such a gorgeous space! I went for cocktails and the cocktails were also gorgeous, and delicious! This place is such a retreat that I felt like I had no idea what was happening outside and frankly didn't care. The setting and the cocktails were all I needed!
Our waitress, Bri was very sweet and friendly! She recommended great picks. We enjoyed the food and the drinks. It's such a beautiful and elegant place, with soft music!
Meh. The atmosphere and service were great, but the food wasn’t the best. I would have expected better food options and for the food to come out tasting great, but that wasn’t my experience.Maybe I’ll have to check back another time of the year.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Great atmosphere but the menu was underwhelming. Fries were great.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
I went here with my sister for her 21st birthday and we couldn’t have picked a better place to go! The music was perfect, atmosphere so nice, food was amazing, but our server was the best of all! Shout out to Balbina!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Really wanted to love this place but we just didn’t. We ate here to “tour” this place for our wedding. They sat us in the bar which was loud and crowded when there was plenty of space in the main dining area. Got the grilled cheese which was too heavy. The rolls were amazing. Just weren’t “wow-ed” enough to have our wedding here. There were also massive trees in the middle of the restaurant that didn’t look like they would be moved for the wedding.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
The vegan yellow curry is amazing and such a solid staple that I know it will be yummy no matter if I come for lunch or dinner on different days ?This is my go-to restaurant before going to the symphony and it has since become a nice place to do some writing on my laptop as well. The space is very comfortable and beautifully designed. I appreciate the vibe is both neighborhood and special occasion dining.The cocktails are creative (Sunday Kind of Love is thee best and came with a nice gift bag from Sipsmith London!) and a nice selection of wines. I love the Karavitakis Kompsos recommended by one of the amazing waiters I had (everyone is amazing) ?I love the menu is so plant-based friendly; I’ve also sometimes gotten the hummus plate which is a delicious shareable appetizer. Actually the portion sizes are decent enough to share the entrees too!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Music so loud it ruined the meal.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Restaurantji Recommends
The server was sweet but had no clue what she was doing and it was very clear we were not the restaurants priority (and as the only table in there you would think that wouldn't be the case). There were many mistakes but I think the biggest one, which would be the first impression of the restaurant and server, was the fact that it took 20-25 minutes to even me greeted once sat. The server finally approached us and asked what we wanted to drink, we then waited another 20 minutes for 2 canned beers, a glass of wine and one mixed drink. Completely unacceptable for their prices, no wonder the restaurant was empty on a Saturday night at 7:15. Not to mention, everything took so long that we didn't leave the restaurant until 9:45... awful experience and unfortunately seems like this may be a regular occurrence. Don't go here unless you want to be forgotten about and spend too much for poor service.
Our waiter was attentive and friendly, unfortunately after waiting nearly an hour, our dinner order had yet to arrive! We had to leave to attend a time certain Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance so we had to go without dinner that evening. It turned out that many other patrons dining at the Exchange that evening had to leave without being fed as well. Since we were not given a reason for the order delays, we can only guess the kitchen had a major meltdown!
We ate in The Listening Room. Overall, it was a good experience but not an outstanding one. The things that got us interested were the location (a short walk from the Studebaker Theatre) and the idea that the sound system would be unusually good. We liked the music choices, and the sound was good, but not unusually so. The menu was quite limited although the food was good.
Lovely space with the restaurant taking the entire 1st floor lobby is a historic Chicago building well located between the Art Institute, orchestra hall, and the Auditorium Theater. Good wines by the glass. Food limited and rather average. The service was terrible. Wine did not show up with the meal. Very noisy space throughout. Without a quieter space for a dinner conversation and timely table service, I am unlikely to return.
We like the Exchange a great deal and it's very handy for events at Orchestra Hall. We will keep dining there. Our one suggestion is to not blast diners with loud music - check out the size of that huge speaker and the volume level! If you polled those eating there, they'd probably favor not having to shout over the music and preserving their hearing over the false sense that if they are being blasted with loud music they must be having a good time. This restaurant is better than that. And so many of its patrons are going to the CSO and other events at Orchestra Hall - on balance, the restaurant's patrons are likely not the type to want painfully loud music basted at them. Thankfully, after our second request, the staff lowered the volume.