Adobo Grill

Great food. Friendly service. The guacamole is perfect. The salmon was a little too tangy, but still a healthy sized portion.

I had a lovely time here with a friend, we sat outside on a beautiful almost summer’s night drinking margaritas and mojitos. I ordered a chicken adobo salad which was okayish. I don’t understand why «mexican-​ish» salads come with tortilla strips and my chicken was pretty dry. My friend got some kind of chicken enchiladas and seemed to enjoy them. The guacamole was delicious and amazing, our drinks were strong and went down smoothly and quickly. The service was attentive and crazyfast.
If I want to sit outside and drink a couple (expensive-​ish) margaritas, I’d come back… but not necessarily for the food… well, maybe some guac.

Yes, the food here is decent. However, the prices and service are not. The hostess abruptly interrupts while she seats and the waiters/​waitresses make you feel hurried. And honestly, the avoiding point here was the 9 dollar guac. Small bowl for mediocre guac. Go to El Barco or Tecalitlan which are very close by and SIGNIFICANTLY better food-​wise and service-​wise.

After the Adobo Grill in the ‘burbs closed, this is my second attempt to try the place (with my boyfriend, who’d been before). Overall, I felt like I expected more.
We arrived just at 5 (when it opens for dinner) but they weren’t ready to seat so we chilled in the bar for a few minutes (nice, since it was raining outside). We did get a table, and a helpful waiter, who managed the floor with ease and was patient with our multiple questioning of the undefined foreign words that were not familiar even to people who eat out at a lot at Mexican places («What is morita? What’s huitlacoche?»)
I got Pechuga Azteca, chicken stuffed with cheese and huitlacoche (which is an earthy, mushroom-​like thing — the waiter was trying to avoid saying «fungus»). They were able to put the tomatillo sauce on the side — but the menu failed to mention that it came strewn with pico de gallo (why are menus so specific about what’s in a dish but then leave out one item? I had to pick this off). The chicken was a bit dry and the fungus was tasty but turned everything (the chicken, the rice underneath) BLACK.
My boyfriend got chicken & beef enchiladas and liked them quite well.
We got churros for dessert, which were pretty good; he enjoyed the semi-​sweet Aztec chocolate dipping sauce, but i thought it had a funky bitter aftertaste.
Overall, this was a long way for us to go for what I thought was a mediocre dinner. Glad I’ve been, but there are many other Mexican restaurants between the ‘burbs and Chicago that I’ll hit before returning to Adobo.

I’ve walked past this place a hundred times, but never thought twice about going inside, and not sure why. One day a friend suggested it and I have to say Adobo was pretty good (for what we ordered). The guacamole was obviously made table side and was good, but might’ve been missing a little salt and a little more lime. We just shared some of the appetizers (the Cazuelas, the empanadas and the chicken Tlayuda Oaxaqueña). All were good, but I liked the smoked chicken Tlayuda Oaxaqueña the best (basically tasted like a smoked chicken thin crust pizza)…

We visited Adobo Grill last Sunday night for a late dinner with out of town friends. The place was pretty quiet (just a few tables in there) but the service and food were excellent!
As always, the tableside guacamole did not disappoint! It is hands down their best dish and is quite addicting.
We also ordered their salsa sampler — it offered a nice variety for our group with a little bit of something for everyone.
The margaritas were a bit pricey, but the serving was large and they were good (somewhat strong, not too sour)
The other dishes were all good. Price is a bit high, but we purchased half price dining certificates from one of the local radio stations. At half price, the meal was a steal!

Adobo Grill tries too hard. This restaurant takes really solid Mexican classics and attempts to make them «gourmet» by using all sorts of strange ingredients. The result is that the food is mediocre, at best, and overpriced.
I’ve been here two or three times, and I’ve never really enjoyed my meal. On one visit, a friend and I shared a salsa sampler. I found most of them tasted like barbeque sauce. On another visit, I had the empanadas. Meh. That’s about the best I can say for them.
The one bright spot is the made-​to-​order guacamole. This is the only thing that gets Adobo Grill 2 stars. It was not until this restaurant that I knew that I could like guacamole, and for that, I am grateful.

If you love Mexican food, don’t eat here!!! This is a completely Westernized Mexican restaurant where the flavors are lacking and/​or don’t pair well.
The only good part of our meal was the table side guacamole. It was nice to know that our foodie friend with new food allergies (sad!!!) could still enjoy an order of guac made to order (sans garlic… hopefully this allergy goes away!)
I ordered the Monte alban — at $ 18.99 at a Mexican restaurant, I expect not only quality, but quantity. Got neither. The 2 tiny pieces of skirt steak were not well seasoned (or not seasoned at all) and it was covered in tomatoes and guac and sitting on top of a pile of beans– did I order a $ 19 guacamole + beans entrée??? Maybe it’s b/​c I eat at a lot of steak houses that I expected more from a skirt steak dish, but regardless, stay away from this!!! In fact, go somewhere else!

If you are going to part with your hard earned dollars for amazing Mexican food this is not the place to do it. I was really disappointed with Adobo. The guacamole was the smallest amount of guacamole ever and it didn’t taste that great. Really, come over to my house and I can make guacamole tableside that tastes way better than this and I think that’s just wrong! I’m no chef! And why no complementary salsa and chips? If they can give them to me at an amazing place like Mixteco they should be able to give them to me here. And If most of the cheapest, hole in the wall Mexican restaurants in the city can shell out for chips to please hungry people like me I do have to wonder… why can’t Adobo? Are you worried I’ll be too full to eat the smallest amount of guacamole ever made? Well… don’t worry!
There were three of us and none of the dishes we had stood out except as beacons of dollars wasted. When you can’t even remember what you ordered a few hours after eating it that’s a pretty bad sign. The food was bland and nothing compared to sooooo many other awesome Mexican restaurants in the city that charge less.

Having been to the Old Town outpost several times, I thought I knew what I was in for here. Not so.
The disappointments:
— «tableside guac» not prepared tableside (WTF?! How am I supposed to supervise the process like the control freak I am?!)
— margarita too sweet
— WORST SERVICE EVER
As usual, the food was good, but the experience overall will keep me from coming back. I loathe bad service, especially when an establishment isn’t busy. My friend told me that our waiter, who ignored us all night, spent most of his time hanging out in a corner chatting. Unacceptable.
I’ll stick to Old Town thankyouverymuch.

I love the Wells location, so I thought I’d try out this one since it’s closer to me. I made a reservation and was there on time since it was a weekend evening and I didn’t want to wait, but was still told that it would be a few minutes for our table. A few other parties, one who walked in after us, were all seated before us. It was a good 15 – 20 minutes later before we actually had a table ready. The whole purpose of a reservation was defeated!
Once we were seated, our waiter paid more attention to the couple next to us who spoke Spanish and acted like it was ok to skip over asking us how our meals were or if we needed anything else.
The table side guacamole was amazing, and probably the only thing that helped Adobo to slightly redeem themselves that evening. I had the Monte Alban, which was pretty decent but nothing to rave about.
The slow service and unexpected wait time definitely discouraged me from ever coming here again. I’ve been to the Old Town location several times, even for work events and never had this type of experience. I’d suggest to stay away from the Wicker Park location!

Ok, it was Cinco de Mayo, and I wanted to try a Mexican place away from my hotel when visiting Chicago — so I took a $ 15 cab ride to Wicker Park (now affectionately known as Liquor Park by the cabbies!)
I wasn’t completely crazy — I did make a reservation, which only made the wait about 20 minutes on this most busy day of the year in a Mexican restaurant. The bar is a bit small to handle large waiting crowds, but the service was good, and everyone was pleasant and having a good time.
Tableside guacamole was great, and I chose the spicey version when asked. Nice move… the heat gave it a nice extra flavor, but the cold mass produced heavy corn chips were disappointing. Nothing is better for fresh guacamole than fresh warm salted tortilla chips! Oh well.
Fish tacos were perfect. Crunchy, warm, tasty, and not over loaded with other stuff. Prices were reasonable which is always welcome… entrees averaged $ 12-​$ 22. Even with a packed restaurant, waiter was friendly, great smile, with just enough attention. Great sidewalk seating also.

The Lovely Diana R** took me on a mystery dinner here, even though it was option 3 (Mondays aren’t fantastic for restaurants, imagine that?). Well for an option 3, it easily could have been an option 1A if I had to do the rankings all over again (not even sure if that makes sense).
Adobo matches up well with the other higher end Mexican places I’ve been to (Mixteco and Sol De Mexico – Rick Bayless hasn’t penetrated me just yet)
As others have said, get the guac. Seriously, get the guac. (If you’re wondering, ‘guac’ is short for ‘guacomole’.) As far as entrees go, I got the «Pechuga Azteca», a stuffed chicken with some random sauce. It was awesome. Diana got the «Monte Alban» which was awesome but slightly less awesome than my dish.
For a Four-​Location restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised.
** Diana R told me that I should name drop to increase my Unilocal-​cred. She knows that in real life I would never be so complimentary. Let’s see how that works.

The best way to approach Adobo Grill is to treat it as a tapas restaurant; order many appetizers and share them with your companions. This is the best value for your money, and it’s a great way to try many of their excellent dishes. The appetizer menu changes slightly with each visit, but I typically order skewers, tamales, and empanadas — all gratifying choices.
While many rave about the made-​to-​order guacamole, I am not a fan of guacamole in general. Instead I ALWAYS order Totopos y Salsas, an appetizer that consists of chips and four salsas (pico de gallo; chipotle; tres chiles, chef’s special) I love the salsa variety, and the rotating «chef’s special» salsa keeps this appetizer innovative.
For the last few months, a happy hour has been available weekdays from 4 – 6 pm. ½ price appetizers keep your bill low, and it’s a great way to unwind after work.
The location is large, making it fairly easy to quickly get a table as a walk-​in. And, I’ve easily been able to reserve tables for large weekend dinner parties (12 people) several times.

four stars: atmosphere, margeritas, guacamole
not five stars: food, service
Okay, I very very much enjoyed my meal. And I really want to continue coming here. I just think for what the food was, it was overpriced. However let’s talk about the margaritas. I’m not a margarita girl. I never order them. They give me headaches. However, these ones??? I could have five. They were so damn good. Not too sweet, not too cheapy tequila, super fresh, just damn good. If this was near me, I’d sit at the bar at least every weekend. And the guacamole. I don’t know why the tableside making is special. It just is, okay? It’s fun to watch, and funner to eat. And as much cilantro as I want? For someone who eats it by the stalk, that is a PLUS.
atmosphere – all right maybe it’s a bit chainy. But I really liked it. It was festive and fun. And somewhat artsy at the same time.

First impressions say a lot but after the first 30 minutes I was very happy– An hour after I left, my margarita buzz wore off and I realized that I just spent $ 100 for dinner for 2… and all I ate for dinner was a salad.
It took 15 – 20 minutes AFTER we were seated (at 5pm on Thursday) before the server noticed that we belonged to him. We had decided that we would wait 5 more minutes and then just leave because we saw the table who came in just before us get their drinks and appetizers.
Then… he only screwed up a few times and it was no big deal… except that the food costs sooooo much that, really, there shouldn’t be any screw ups…
The chips are not free and they are the thick «natural» ones that I am not a fan of. The guac was good, although not really $ 8 good. I think half the price is in the presentation. The margaritas tasted very fresh and were worth the $ 9 or whatever (as opposed to paying about the same somewhere else but drinking tequila flavored cool-​aid). My dinner companion ate the vegetarian enchiladas and they were Wonderful. I had the chicken salad and it was good. There were bits of mango in it and the chicken was good quality.
My favorite part was desert. The chocolate Tamal. YUM! It’s been almost a week and I am still drooling over the memory of it.
This place is great but I felt like I should have gotten free guac with entrees or something… $ 100 (including tip) is just too much for dinner for 2 at a mexican restaurant.

Adobo is soooo good and gourmet but so pricey :(
But I love the service it’s really good, they are helpful and know everything.
The Monte Alban is amazing and so is the fresh guac, and try the Sangrita /​Chelada drink thingy. It’ll blow your MIND with its strange deliciousness!

Okay, okay… so maybe I didn’t «pre-​eat» at this place to make sure it would suffice for my very picky-​Mexican friends, but that’s no reason to call me out on a Unilocal review! WTF!
I heard they had great guacamole and a huge tequila selection… true on both counts! Though the guacamole serving was insanely small for 5 people at $ 8.
Other than that… wow, they seriously sucked. First and foremost, I don’t care if makes me sound like a fat kid or a cheapskate, but give me free chips and salsa! You’re a Mexican restaurant… it’s a staple, right?!? I’ve never been to an Italian restaurant that charges me for the olive oil and vinegar to dip my bread! Totally gypped.
My Civiche was warm, my friends hot dishes were cold… something isn’t right here… Our service was so-so…all in all I was very disappointed… AND now! I have to listen to my midget «Latina» friend talk sh*t! Curse you Adobo Grill, curse you!

After a rough week at work, all I want to do on a Friday night is collapse into one of the chairs on Adobo’s patio and sip one of their speciality cocktails — La Pila is my favorite. My BFF can’t say enough about their margaritas. Both are exceptionally smooth — order with caution. You’ll have 3 down before dinner arrives. Our husbands always have fun doing a tequila tasting. Who knew that stuff could be soooo good without a lime or salt! Let the experts at Adobo take you on a tequila soaked adventure. Just be sure you assign a DD before you get started.
We always get an order of guacamole to enjoy while we sip our drinks. We frequently don’t have room for dinner, but when we do, we are always happy with our entrees. I LOVE the fish tacos.

Adobo Grill served it up, just like I needed it!
While the margaritas are pricey, they are delicious. (Stay away from the «smokey floater» — you’ll have to go to see what I’m talking about.) We had 2 each, which skyrocketed our bill by around $ 40. (!!)
I ordered the Poc Chuc, a pork dish from the Yucatan, that was marinated with delicious flavor (my memory isn’t telling me what the marinade was this time), served with black beans. It brought me back to that trip I took to Mexico a LONG time ago, to climb around the Mayan pyramids and take photos. So so great.
To finish the meal, we ordered cinnamon churros with a mexican chocolate dipping sauce which was the nail in the delicious delicious coffin.
If you just got PAID, and want a fun, festive mexican meal I’d definitely recommend Adobo Grill. Also, if you belong to United Airlines’ Mileage Plus program, sign yourself up for the MileagePlus Dining program. Just eating that meal got me 529 miles! So, I guess the moral of the story is: if you just got PAID, want a fun meal, delicious margaritas, and to get that much closer to your next free upgrade or R/​T ticket to (mexico?), eat at Adobo Grill!

We go to this place once every year… to celebrate our anniversary. Other than that, we avoid it. Now, you may ask… why do you celebrate your anniversary here if you don’t like it? This is where we ended up eating after meeting for the first time. It was late (10:00pm) on a snowy friday and Adobo was close by. That was our first meal together… ok, enough sappy stories!
On to the review at hand… Adobo grill is highly overrated. The food is good but not great. The only thing good here is the ‘table side’ guacamole. The prices are too high for the quality of food you get. You can get better Mexican food at other restaurants in the area. They promote themselves as upscale with the pricing.
My enchiladas were decent… so, was his steak. The chocolate dessert was filling… nothing memorable, nothing to write home about
The three stars are for the guacamole, ok food, nice atmosphere, and service. The wait staff are fast and attentive.
Not worth it unless you want to take someone «special» out on a date. Chicago has many great Latin restaurants… Adobo is just not one of them.

I finally tried the guacamole… YUMMY.
I think this is a great casual restaurant — perfect for dates and better with a great group of girlfriends. The food was awesome and the atmosphere was very lively. After a few martinis, I switched over to a mojito… it was way too sweet. Almost like eating candy.
My only complaint is that we waited about an hour at the bar to be seated. Not a fan when you’re super hungry!