Graze

Never give your business to anyone who was involved with Graze. It closed after just six months, and no wonder. I had reservations for a bachelorette party on Sat. night and confirmed them with Graze on Thurs. But discovered that it had closed in those two days as my friends and I stood dumbfounded in front of the dark restaurant — Sat. night at 8 p.m. mind you. Graze operators hadn’t even bothered to contact guests.

Perhaps I’m a bit biased because I knew one of the chefs on staff during my visit, but I really enjoyed Graze. Their house wine was quite nice and reasonably priced.
We sampled the pumpkin ravioli, hummus, shrimp cocktail, and crabcakes. I loved the concept of the pumpkin ravioli, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations. The sauce and filling were delicious, but there were whole macadamia nuts on top. I thought they really took away from the overall dish, but I would be willing to try it again without the nuts. Crabcakes were yummy, as well as the shrimp cocktail.
I really like the American tapas concept. I’m a big fan of small plate restaurants so I can try lots of different flavors.
I can’t wait to go back to Graze!

Not overwhelmed with amazing service, food, etc., but some decent choices among our group. First issue was that they only had about 6 of the beers on the beer list, but the beer from Illinois is pretty good (similar to a Blue Moon)
Crab cake plate and Goat Cheese Tart were probably the favorites. Take me out to the ballgame plate is worth ordering just to look at (not as good to eat), but comes with a mini dog, nachos, a slider, and cracker jacks.
I think our group ate four baskets of bread, which makes you wonder when that was what people kept going back for more to.
Overall, good enough experience for me to give it another shot and try different things on the menu

Pretty dang good but not quite knock-​you-​to-​the-​floor amazing. Four stars nonetheless because the staff was friendly and I loved the classy «prairie-​esque» décor.
I went with a friend who made friends w/​the bartender while we were waiting. He slipped us two comp drinks throughout our meal which was great! One was this amazing cucumber/​ginger infused vodka drink and an awesome «frozen grape» dessert wine that tasted like honey. Sorry the actual names escape me but I’d highly recommend both.
I think the thing that excited me most about the meal was the bread basket! That’s not an insult, they just had a great variety of crackers w/​sea salt (although they reminded me of one of those «skin slices» that you’d see on display at body worlds) and focaccia w/​tapenade on it. mmm!
We stuck to a few small plates for dinner. The goat cheese tart w/​strawberry salad on the side. It was decent, but nothing to «wow» over. Then we had an artichoke dip w/​baked pita bread which I wasn’t too fond of at all. The best thing was probably the rabbit over spinach gnocchi that had a very mustard-​y flavor. I loved it! Then for kicks we got the «take me out to the ball game» which had a tiny hot dog, a slider (yes it was actually a white castle sized burger) some nachos and a small cup of cracker jacks in the middle. Kids would probably love this! I felt like a giant eating it!
For dessert we had the pineapple spring rolls which were light and delicious. It was some sort of banana cream rolled in thin slices of pineapple. I believe there’s a picture of it on here!
All in all it was a good time. If you’re in the area and are looking for some interesting dishes this would be a good place to go!
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I went here with some friends and I really enjoyed the menu and the service. The scallops were perfectly cooked and I enjoyed them thoroughly. The wine menu was also totally reasonably priced. We had a great server who really helped us figure out what went well together. He coordinated the order so that the correct courses came out together. I plan on going back, for small plates but not tapas so for some groups of people it’s great if you want to stay away from the Spanish foods. I was also impressed with the variety on the menu, they had simple salmons and at the same time they had rabbit, so it was a nice mix for groups where the food tastes range.

I was so excited to get out I was like a baby with a full diaper. The décor of the place is a bit of a mish mosh. I liked it until my wife pointed out the fuddy duddy sunflowers and overall hoaky décor. And the clientele is so old they made me feel young. Actually there were alot of thirty somethings to peoplewatch too.
I was chomping at the bit for something to eat. It’s a small plate place so you’d think the food would come out quick. We got a delicious basket of breadthings immediately, and 45 minutes later (!) we got our first round of foodstuffs. The waiter was gayly nice and attentive. Too bad the food took so long. We were beyond hungry and had moved to the pissed stage when the food arrived.
It was certainly a bell curve of enjoyment. We really liked the three thimbles of soups. The mashed potatoes were gratuitously in excess of the other plates (which were small). Are potatoes cheap these days? Several of the other dishes were not that good. Really underwhelmed. We decided not to order anything more than the 5 menu items and proceeded to desert. I got the Orange Vanilla thingie and it was incredibly mediocre as well. It had some chocolate thing around it that overwhelmed the Orange Vanilla ice cream like thing in the middle. Wish I’d tried the Time Out™ recommended Cheesecake ravioli.
I can say that the fanci booze drinks were friggen great. We only had one each and there’s alot of ‘infusion’ and ‘cucumbers’ going on. If I HAD to go back, it would be for the booze, not the food.
This would be the best restaurant in our native Oak Park. Too bad there are a dozen better options in downtown Chicago within two blocks.

Graze received a raving review from Time Out Chicago, so several of my girlfriends and I decided to try it. I love Tapas, and was excited for funky American fusion. The atmosphere was a bit odd… it had fake wood, butterflies, other random décor, which all would have been fine, but it was priced as an extremely trendy place.
Average ‘courses’ were anywhere from $ 10 — $ 20 a plate… so we were a bit surprised when our slightly awkward waitress told us 3 — 4 plates a person were typical meals and that they were about 3 oz plates.
Frankly, none of us bought this and thought she was trying to upsell things… if we wanted to drop $ 60 on food alone we would have gone somewhere else.
Food was good, and she wasnt’ kidding. Extremely small portions. I am a tiny eater but was shocked by the sizes. I would have had no problem if it was very experimental, ridiculously funky, fabulously tasting. But it was not. I felt they are trying to bill themselves as a Moto, but not coming close in taste.
I really wanted to like Graze but was incredibly unimpressed. Will not be open long.

Like the other reviewers, I thought Graze was good but not great. The foccacia (some with olive, some with caramelized onion) was tasty, however, and my drink, an Old Fashioned made with blood orange segments, got 5 stars and I would go back just for the bar to have that drink. The two dishes that get 4 stars were the caramelized onion & goat cheese tart, and the sea scallops. The other dishes (crab cake; panko crusted artichoke hearts) were ok but didn’t wow me. My compatriots didnt like the beef short ribs. They also had the mushroom ravioli, the octopus salad, the bacon wrapped meatloaf, and I think one or two other dishes, and thought they were good but again, nothing spectacular. For dessert we shared the cheesecake ravioli (I didn’t care for but to be fair, I am not a big cheesecake fan), the half baked chocolate cake (good, but I though there was a bit of a weird taste to it), and the peanut butter mousse bombe – which the mousse was awesome but the hazelnut crust was only ok. The server was good and attentive and food came out at a good pace.

Also went to Graze after the write-​up in Chicago magazine. I think the other reviewers more or less sum up the experience — good, but not spectacular. Food is well done, but more expensive than other places that offer similar food and overall, not super innovative. Atmosphere is also lacking; the words alienated and cold come to mind. Definitely not cozy. In my opinion, the small plates concept (which this restaurant relies on) requires a more casual, bistro-​type atmosphere, along the lines of, «if you’re going to ask me to share my food, I’d rather not worry about spilling it on your white table cloth»; so in this case, it’s weird dealing with the casualness of small plates in the fancier, more stylized environment of Graze.
That aside, if you do go, order slowly — the servings, while small plates, are bigger than they appear and you’ll fill up faster than you expect. And save room for dessert. It was excellent.

BO-​ring. There are far more enjoyable meals to be had for $ 50/​person. First off, fire the decorator; it all looks completely «DIY Channel» and sloppy. The sommelier also needs the boot, as the wine list is also not terribly exciting (they make a big deal of the flights, but given their list, I can’t see having much more than a glass.) The one dish that I’ve heard positive comments about so far is the tuna tartare, which was 90% tobiko on a very salty chip. Salt seems to be a big theme here, from the bread/​lavosh all the way through the entrees; the food seems to improve slightly once you get beyond the appetizers to the small entrees, but not by much. If you can make it to dessert, you may find it worth the wait, but I felt that there had to be some reward after slogging through this meal for not much satisfaction.

Curiosity got the best of me this weekend, so I finally went to Graze and I was… underwhelmed. What motivated me to go? It certainly wasn’t the lackluster Unilocal reviews this place has gotten… actually, I went because Graze made Chicago magazine’s hot list this month, so I thought I’d see what the hype was about.
Anyone that knows me (or has read my reviews) knows that ambiance is always something I notice at a restaurant. I don’t want to delve too far into this for those of you that don’t really care, but I just have to say that the décor at Graze is about as kitschy as it gets. And by kitschy, I mean heinous. It was definitely the silk sunflowers that put me over the edge; there’s nothing I hate more than fake flowers. Period.
More importantly, how about the food? The meal started off with some great signature cocktails and an exceptionally yummy bread basket. Our salads (beet/​goat cheese, and apple/​manchego) were dynamite. The other small plates we had (flatbread with pesto/​ricotta spread, and the panko-​crusted artichoke hearts) were fine, but lacked creativity. Unfortunately, the mushroom ravioli entrée was almost inedible: 4 flimsy raviolis in a watery broth served with undercooked peas on top? It just wasn’t working. Then dessert came in and saved the meal (‘saved the review’ is more like it): it was a peanut butter bomb covered in chocolate sauce, and it was delicious.
For a small plates restaurant, Graze is alright, but Avec is better!

After visiting Graze on Friday night, I realized why I always place so much stock in Unilocal reviews, and was kicking myself for ignoring the so-​so reviews (wish I had gone to Avec instead). I came here with some coworkers who wanted to have a small plates dinner instead of the normal steakhouse fare that I always seem to end up eating while traveling for work, so I picked Graze since it was in our general area. Although the décor is decent, the lighting was all off, and the place felt a little bit like a chain that McDonald’s would run. Although the food was decent, nothing jumped out as being spectacular, and our waiter was kind of a turd who kept trying to sell us on ordering more items off the menu. When it became apparent that we weren’t going to do that, his level of service dropped to the bare minimum. All in all, it was an ok experience, but I wouldn’t go back.

Overall a pleasant dining experience. The lighting could have been dimmed a bit to create more ambiance — but then again, some might just call me picky… The food wasn’t spectacular and didn’t leave me craving more — but it was tasty. The waiter was very good — very helpful and attentive (based on some of my experiences, this is VERY much appreciated).
One gripe I must say is that when a restaurant sees you are a table of 5 (especially in a tapas restaurant) they should automatically slice your small plates into 5, NOT the typical 4 … I have yet to find an establishment that goes this extra mile, and unfortunately Graze follows this less than desirable path…
The company was fabulous — the food and restaurant were good. :)

Really good! This newer place is more small plates than it is Tapas (they are not really Spanish foods), but it is delicious. The scallops are tasty, the bartender is fantastic, and the atmosphere is good for groups, a couple, or a girl’s night out (which is why I went). We each got 2 tapas and split them and it was perfect enough not to stuff us but keep us satisfied.
Oh! sidenote: If you are into underage clubs where old men hit on 18 year old girls from the ‘burbs, Excalibur is right across the street from this place :) hehe

I really like the new small plates restaurants that are opening up all over the city but I’m not so sure I’ll be back to Graze. I thought it was good, but it didn’t blow me away by any means. I must say that the bread they give you when you sit down was the best– the foccacia was delicious and that was the best part of the meal. We tried the red pepper hummis and pita chips which were very good. The crabcakes were dry and bland, and the beet salad was OK. The pumpking ravioli was good but I’ve had better. The plates are perfect for sharing so you get to sample a few different items, but nothing really impressed me. It was good, but it wasn’t great.

I tried this new restaurant last night and was pretty dissapointed. Its tapas style, but the plates are VERY small. My friends and I kept ordering food because it just wasn’t enough. I thought it was pretty expensive for what it was, and I just wasn’t satisfied after the meal. The atmosphere is cute, but the service and food are just average. I wouldn’t reccommend this place.

I enjoy trying new restaurants in my general neighborhood so I walked over tonight and met up with my brother and cousin for dinner. I really liked the décor and it could be because I am partial to green and orange, they are the colors in my condo! Anyway, the color scheme is cute and fresh and I did like it alot. The menu is nice, and has some interesting options. We had the flat bread with roasted red pepper hummus. There were literally 6 pita chip type things and an itty bitty «bowl» of hummus, it was good but looked so sparse, even for a «small plates» restaurant. We also tried one of their flat bread pizzas, it was OK and didn’t arrive hot. That was basically the theme for the rest of the evening. I had the salmon as my entrée and I really did enjoy the way it was prepared b/​c it was roasted yet tasted like it was seared. I have to say the standout item are their mashed potatoes! They didn’t arrive hot either, for that matter… they weren’t really super warm either. Our waiter, Ryan Patrick, who was very entertaining (Think Jack from Will & Grace) and he said they were his favorite. They were really good and would have been amazing if they were hot! My advice, if you live in the River North/​Gold Coast area, check it out with friends. If you can get him for a waiter, he was funny and offered his opinions without being asked but in an entertaining way!
I don’t know how long it will be around though…

I often make the mistake of trying a new restaurant when it is still too new and I am hoping that is what happened here.
The concept is American small plates on which to «graze». We took my boyfriend’s college aged son and his girlfriend for dinner and were all unimpressed. My boyfriend and I can be pretty snobbish when it comes to rating restaurants, but even our 20 year old guests were not thrilled. The food was average at best.
The décor is cute in a kitschy way and the place seemed to be buzzing on Friday night, but, alas, we found it boring.