Frontera Grill

Super yummy Saturday brunch but beware what the server thinks isn’t spicy sure is to the average Canadian tourist! Guac was to die for and entrees were great although a little spicy for our taste.

I really liked the ceviche trio and sopes rancheros. I wasn’t too fond of the oaxacan-​style carne asada and I felt it was over priced

Yum, yum, yum!!! This place is amazing! I’ve always enjoyed watching Rick bayless on pbs cook so when I found out that he has a restaurant in Chicago I had to go!
Luckily it’s restaurant week in Chicago so this is the best time to try a new restaurant for a good deal! My experience here was beyond expectations! This is definitely my new favorite Mexican restaurant.
My husband and I decided to get the winter salad, ceviche, oaxacan style carne asada, fish in peanut green mole sauce, tres leches cake, and sorbet. My husband and I were able to share everything and we both enjoyed everything given to us. But Our favorites we’re the ceviche and the oaxacan entrée. The steak was creek stone meat (which is halal!!!) was cooked and seasoned perfectly! The ceviche was the best ceviche I’ve ever had and I don’t even like ceviche! I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu! My husband especially liked the wide variety of sauces given especially the habanero sauce (which is good but way too hot for me personally).
In terms of service our waiter and the staff were excellent! Our server was attentive and very knowledgable. The rest of the staff took our jackets, filled our glasses, and made sure to clear empty plates.
In terms of pricing it’s definitely more on the higher end of the scale. But it’s definitely a great meal. It’s a date night or celebration type of place. I personally wouldn’t take my kids here because it seems more like an adults only place and I didn’t see any kids there for dinner (but it was 7:30 on a school night). But it’s a loud of enough place to take your kids if you’d like.
The only cons are Chicago street parking which always sucks but we were able to find close parking meter parking.

The ceviche just explodes with flavor. Get your margarita toppolo while you wait because you will have to wait. This place has been opened for 29 years and still going strong. It’s packed all the time. We were served our meal at 10 pm and there was still a long line of diners waiting for the Frontera Grill dining experience. I had the fixed price meal for $ 33 and the ceviche was just to die for, the duck in mole «cousin sauce» was so succulent. My sisters kept dipping their entrees into the duck mole sauce to give their food that extra flavor. The Saturday night rib special was also very good. The spice came at the back end which was a bit of surprise. The grits calmed down the spice in a nice way. The desert tres leches was a bit of a disappointment. The meringue although it
added a pretty look did nothing for the flavor. It made the tres leches overly sweet.

As soon as we walk in, we were greeted by a rude receptionist. She told us our wait would be 1 hour 45 minutes, but told the couple in front of us that the wait would be 45 minutes minutes and then changed it to 15 minutes after they slipped her some money. That was a huge turn off to me. I ordered the the carne asada. It was ok. I’ve had better at other places. The rest of the food and drinks were great, but I was really turned off by my experience. Not sure I will be returning.

I am a foodie, and love great Mexican food, and I have been waiting to come here but I really was not that impressed… I have eaten better street LA food… for sure… The guacamole was good so was the steak carnitas… but other then that all was quite flavorless…
It wasn’t bad but really was not great.
The receptionist was not very helpful, we had to check in 3 times for our table even though our reservation was at 9:30. Finally a nice gentleman listened the third time and long and behold after waiting for 30 mins our table was just there… Not cool.(not sure if that made the experience worse)
Churros next door is something I must try…

Okay wow Rick Bayless is a true Chef and magician.
Food 5
Décor 4.5
Service 4
Ohh will write more later too busy eating this fantastic food

Rick Bayless, culinary magician. Having spent a stretch of my life in San Diego, I was skeptical at the thought of having Mexican food in Chicago as my first dinner in town. After my visit, I am convinced the food at Frontera Grill is among the best Mexican food I have had.
Favorites at beginning of list:
Sopes Rancheros (corn masa boats w/​shredded beef) — Absolute must-​try
Winter Guac — fresh take on guac dip
Oxacan Style Carne Asada — packed with flavor, generous portion
Mole Trio
Cochinita Pibil (Wednesday Special)

My friends and I really enjoyed lunch here. We tried the basic guacamole, chips and salsa, steak tacos, ceviche trio and street food trio plus many margaritas!
The meats on each dish were delicious and tender. The steak for the tacos was cooked to order.

I came here for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon. My lunch companion and I got the last two seats at the bar and proceeded to order two of the best drinks we have ever had. I enjoyed the seasonal pear margarita and my sister had a cocktail that was a combo of champagne and a margarita. She enjoyed her drink and I absolutely loved mine. It wasn’t too sweet and had the perfect balance for a margarita. If it was later in the day I would’ve had a second and third! We had the empanadas as an appetizer and I would recommend those. For our main courses we shared the mushroom tacos and the shrimp/​fish tacos. Both were good but I would come back and order the mushroom tacos in a heartbeat. The corn tortillas are hot, fresh, and delicious! Great service at the bar with decent prices overall. I will be back.

I’ve wanted to come here for a long long time. I have not really had the chance to try it because I always end up somewhere else for whatever reason. This time I was adamant that I would try it.
I was in town on business so I was alone. Belly up to the bar time!
The Bartender was very nice and attentive and so I felt the service was awesome. (He did forget to put in my dessert, but wasn’t a huge deal)
The décor was really nice and gave off a fancy yet playful vibe which I enjoyed. The bar wall was filled with various tequilas in rows (very impressive).
Glancing over the menu, it was clear these were Chicago prices and it obviously did not help it is located in one of the more touristy areas. I ordered the Daily special which was basically shredded pork with tons of spices (think carnitas) with black beans. It was very simple, but had great flavor. Personally I got bored half way through the meal. It was just a bunch of the same thing. I want to make sure I clarify… It was delicious, but it seemed to just go on forever. Perhaps a better dish would incorporate this with other smaller items on the plate to give variety.
I was also a bit turned off by the fact they charge for chips and salsa. Come on, what place charges for chips and salsa?
The star dish of my night was actually the dessert. The Duo Flan came out beautiful with a traditional vanilla Flan and a very non-​traditional chocolate flan that tasted more like a mousse. They had marinated pears on top with hibiscus flower petals and chocolate sauce covering the plate. This was a VERY good dessert. I happily finished it all.
This is a place where I wanted to give 3.5, but in the end due to service and ambiance I rounded up instead of down.
Not sure I’d come back here again given all the superb options around but I’d definately not argue against joining someone here.

On my plate a duck
Tortilla, guacamole
Genius, Bayless oh.
–a Frontera haiku
As expected, everything excellent as I remember on my last visit 8 years ago. Huge fan, for the honesty of the plate.

I really wish I could remember everything we drank and ate but it was a post exam celebration, so I’m gonna have to go with feelings.
We did not have a reservation and were quoted 1.5 hour wait for 4 people. That didn’t stop us. Bar seating and bar area is first come first serve. We hovered and politely asked people who looked like they were getting their check if we could have their table.
Scored a table within 15 minutes.
Drinks. Phenomenal. Keep in mind I had already been drinking, so they must have been more than amazing if I can remember loving them.
Food. To die. We got two types of the guacamole dishes and some kind of a taco dish. Beyond delicious. Beyond.
I will have to go back next time I’m in Chicago and when I can remember to make a reservation weeks in advance… And when I’m sober.

This is Rick Bayless’ restaurant. Google him. He’s impressive! So I expected Frontera to be equally impressive. Alas, I was left somewhat disappointed.
The wait for a table for 4 on a Saturday night was about an hour. Not bad. We got a nice table in the bar.
The drinks were good. Small, expensive, but tasty. Plan for about $ 12 per drink. They have a nice beer selection, including various Chicago and mid-​west beers for a much more reasonable price.
We ordered the guacamole, as well as the chips and salsa. The chips were great. The red salsa was slightly smokey, but otherwise pretty bland. The salsa verde was better, but still not great. The guacamole was incredibly bland. Where is the heat? I mean, seriously.
Alright, this place is supposed to be all about the carne asada and the mole. So, I got the mole trio and my friend got the carne. The carne was good — tender and cooked well. Quite nice. The mole trio was… interesting. The traditional mole was nice, but the other two were underwhelming. Again, almost no heat.
The chocolate pecan pie was great, however. Probably the highlight of the meal, with a possible exception of the carne asada.
My main gripe was the service. Terrible! 20 minutes to get drinks. More than an hour for the server to come back and ask if we wanted another round of drinks. Want some additional chips for the guac or salsa? Probably easier to run down to the 7 – 11 and get yourself a bag of Doritos. It was a solid 15 minutes or more between visits from the server, and as much as 45 in some cases. I’m all for not being constantly bugged, but that was ridiculous.
In summary, the food is amazingly bland for Mexican, over priced and the service is some of the worst I have ever had. With so many other options in the city, you would do well to skip Frontera.

The Skinny: went in for lunch and ordered the street food trio, tacos al carbon trio and the mole trio — all were okay but nothing special (3) service/​ambience: it’s okay — nothing special, the front desk needs to be better at communicating wait times (3) value: pricey for what it is.
I just want to get it out there before I review Frontera Grill.
I’ll be honest. I’ve never been terribly impressed with high end Mexican restaurants. Coming from the Southwest where there are exceptional Mexican local (aka «hole in the wall») eateries for very reasonable prices, I am even more leery. But given that it was Rick Bayless with his renowned mole, I was willing to give it a shot. Ehhh… after this meal, definitely had better.
We started off with the street food trio, shared the big wood grilled Tacos al carbon trio, and the mole trio.
The street food trio was disappointing. The only good thing on the three was the sopes rancheros with the well seasoned meat and interesting fried texture of the masa boats. The rest were not memorable or flavorful at all. Kinda of disappointing for $ 17.
The big wood grilled tacos al carbon trio comes with grilled steak, chicken and duck. Served with on a platter with a ton of green onions (I mean a ton!) and grilled shishito peppers, the large platter of meat was only served with a few small sized corn tortillas. Huh? WTF? I am not sure if we could ask for more but our server did not offer more at any time. The meat itself was okay — the chicken was a bit dry. The stand out was the steak with the slightly charred flavor. However was it the most flavorful meat ever? Not really. Added to the fact that the guacamole was really bland (mushed up avocado with some tomato without enough acidity makes this no es bueno) and it was served without salsa or even some cilantro/​onion combo, this dish was rather disappointing and bland. For $ 34, there was plenty of food but it just wasn’t that good.
The Mole trio ($ 19) was also kind of a let down. The moles were kind of bland — I expected more a complex flavor profile but no… they were kind of boring. There was minimal heat, lack of aromatics and seasoning. The only one I liked out of the three was the green mole with Oaxacan green mole. The rest I could have done without.
Service wise, it was okay. Our server was pretty good about getting the orders right but kind of seemed overwhelmed with the number of tables. She didn’t really check up on us regarding the food which was kind of disappointing considering the caliber of restaurant this place is supposed to be.
The host station in the front is kind of weird. We didn’t have reservations but we checked in and was told that the wait times were 1 hour. They said that they would text us when the table was ready. We checked in about 45 minutes later before they could text us and we were immediately seated. Very odd.
The biggest disappointment is that I’ve had really good Mexican before with great, bright, bold flavors. Tacos al pastor sliced fresh off a spit. Carne asada and lengua off a grill with warmed fresh tortillas. Complex salsas with different flavor profiles. This place just doesn’t deliver at all. I would hate to think that people who come here after watching Rick Bayless’ shows will think this is what real Mexican food is about. Because it isn’t. And for that, this joint gets a 2 starred review.

Fun spot for lunch for my first Bayless experience.
Food: 3.5, Service: 4, Atmosphere: 4
Cost to worth it 3: ~$ 15 lunch simple entrees $~30 for others
Return worthiness: maybe
Highlights:
— Margaritas: not just your average versions. The topolo came in a martini glass and xoco was a refreshing cucumber one in a tall glass.
— Street trio: masa was awesome in flavor and texture, ranchero shredded beef was the best of the 3, and enchilada chile spiked masa stuffed with cheese was interesting and delicious. There was 2 of everything so you could easily share instead of have it all for one person’s entrée.
— Art: super colorful renditions on the wall
Midlights:
— Duck quesadilla: 2 big halves stuffed with duck carnitas which was a different twist. The hub didn’t care for it but I thought it was fine.
Lowlights:
— $ 3 chips and salsa: not so great. Preferred lots of other free versions in Cali better.
— Cold short rib in the trio waiter said it was supposed to be but I would’ve preferred it warm
Cool place and I’d be up for trying xoco when there isn’t a huge line.

We’ve been big fans of Rick Bayless for years and Frontera Grill was on our Top 5 «Must See» places for our trip to Chicago.
To start off, the place has no parking (which is common for Downtown), but it has an extremely convenient Valet for only $ 14 plus tip. Also, unless you want to eat outside, you’ll want to set up reservations at least four days in advance or you’ll end up waiting 1 – 2 hours.
The hostesses were professional, but not overly friendly. Our waiter was ok, but we’ve had better. The busboy (who was extremely friendly and efficient) actually did most of the work and we would have preferred just having him take our orders too.
The bathroom was so small that there was only enough room for two stalls. Every time someone entered the bathroom, the door would hit the back of the person using the urinal or completely take out someone washing their hands.
The food was tasty, but the portions are extremely small for the price. We wanted to like the place and give it a higher rating, but we’ve had much better food in the bordering states and in Mexico for a fraction of the cost (everything was about ten times what we normally pay for similar dishes). Plus, $ 35 for a margarita is just plain silly (even if they shake it at the table). We think that this place really caters to patrons that have never experienced authentic Mexican food and just want to try some «safe» versions.
We are torn about the rating for this place. We go back and forth between 2 and 3 stars. We’ve had better food at better prices, so it goes into the 2 category. However, we feel that it deserves an extra star for taking a new approach to Mexican food (even if its just making smaller portions and putting micro greens on top). It was a fun novelty, but we would never return and have no interest in trying his other establishments. We’ll just stick to watching him on TV.

Frontera is good, but overpriced. You have to make a reservation or the wait is absurdly long. The atmosphere is nice, the food is good. But it’s not worth the premium that you’re paying. I enjoyed a lot of the flavors but felt like I could get the same food for a lot cheaper.
That being said, it is good for lunch and during Chicago Restaurant Week specials. It’s a good environment and the food is yummy.

The best Tamales… always a gastronomic delight Rick Bayless! Enjoyed all the dishes except the dessert, it was a flakey biscuit with stawberries and cream not upto the mark. I enjoy coming back atleast once year.
Please be warned about the habenero salsa its so good will make u see the STARS!!!

Oh, so this is what Mexican food is supposed to taste like. @Frontera_Grill @Rick_Bayless #chicagorestaurants
Husband asked why I chose a Mexican restaurant when we’re from LA. I chose it because of Rick Bayless /​Top Chef. I hadn’t expected to have a transformative experience, but this meal truly changed my perception of Mexican food.
I typically request no cream or cheese and opt for vegetarian, because Mexican food in LA is overloaded with grease and super heavy. Chef Richard explained that’s not how they make food at Frontera. All of the ingredients are fresh and locally sourced. They make their own corn masa, tortillas, salsas. The food is delightfully fresh and surprisingly light.
Menu changes monthly to reflect seasonal ingredients. The cocktails are fantastic. I loved my grapefruit mezcal cocktail and my husband’s homemade gin & tonic was fantastic. They also have local craft beers.
Trio of street tacos was a great way to try a few different food items. Also really enjoyed our mushroom enchiladas.
Go and say hello to Chef Richard James. He’s so nice and very knowledgable.
Highly recommend!