Salpicón

Let’s be clear. When you read a review you want to know the reviewer knows something about what they are writing about? Right? Well I am a Mexican american, an amateur chef and I have traveled mexico enjoying our fine cuisine. This is one of the top 10 Mexican restaurants in the US.
We all know that Mexican cuisine is taking over the world. Most American’s have tasted about 10% of mexican food at best. They think Taco’s, Burrito’s and nachos. Few have had enchiladas or caldo’s etc. Salpicon has such a diversity of regional cuisines that fly our eagle flag proudly. There is a consistent racism that «Mexican food has to be cheap». Nonsense. It isnt «high» cuisine, nonsense. Salpicon will show you the incredible diversity, history and beauty that is mexican cuisine today. I had Salmon Tropical and my wife had Soft Shell Crabs in Mojo de Ajo. both were perfect. Gracias a Salpicon y los meseros y su hospitalidad ! Buena Suerte ! Su amigo en Calfornia.

Amazing food and service. James was simply a pleasure. The atmosphere was fun and welcoming while still retaining a sense of class. Will definitely revisit next visit to Chicago.

Generous fish tacos with chipotle mayonnaise at the Wells St Art Fest – scrumptious! And at ½ off I got a double order.

Extraordinary! How’s this for service: I asked where the nearest drug store was because I lost my reading glasses. They brought out a case of reading glasses and I had my pick of the different strengths. It got better. The food presentation was superb and the meals even better. Don’t forget to order the margaritas their magnificent.

Yuck! Everything from atmosphere to attitude was bad — it’s painted in bright and odd colors like a day care center; it smells; and the tables are so cramped together you can’t get in or out of your seat without bumping into someone at the next table, much less enjoy any privacy; they sat us in a corner, and then squeezed a family of 4 into a table nearly on top of us. We were seated so closely, I could see every picture of food the mom at the next table attempted to post on her facebook page, and each tweet her kids posted explaining how embarrassing their mom is. And the restaurant host/proprietor/“wine director” was plain rude. These people seem to think this place is something special; it’s not. The food is not even authentic — they spell ceviche as «seviche» — and it’s way over priced. I’d rather go to Pilsen, or Little Village, or any Chipotle.

This is more upscale than what you would typically see at a Mexican Restaurant. The Tinga Poblano was extremely spicy, but balanced well with Verde sauce. The Tres Leches was a delicious desert option as well.
Definitely get a margarita, the strawberry was the best one!

We were a party of six in for dinner that included a small child. For five adults we had a seven course tasting menu which was absolutely sublime. Portions were appropriate for a tasting menu. Favorite items were the ceviches, Cod, and the Lime-​tequila-​serrano chile sorbet (the show stopper in my opinion). Service was very good, as were the cocktails.
The winelist is amazing. The manager/​somm knew what she was doing. Answering questions satisfactorily and making excellent recommendations.
We will definitely be back on our next visit to Chicago!

Excellent gourmet Mexican with an attentive and friendly staff. I ordered the special soup (pumpkin) and it was delicious. The fish I ordered (COD) was outstanding.
Enjoyed another excellent dinner last night here. Atmosphere was lively and festive. Although we did not have a reservation, they kindly seated us at the bar where Jaime served us. He is was very friendly and attentive. The food was excellent. Thank you Jaime!

We ate here on a three course promotion and enjoyed every aspect of our evening! First, all of the servers were courteous, prompt, and very knowledgeable about the cuisine. In fact the team anticipated almost all of our needs and there was little that we had to specify. Next, the ambiance was both relaxing and festive and the upbeat music played at a reasonable level. The translucent base to the bar was really cool.
Finally, the food was every bit as good as we had hoped for in a gourmet Mexican establishment. Being a vegetarian my dishes were heavy with cheese, but it was fresh and stringy and lacked the oily puddle one frequently gets. It is definitely worth coming on a Monday or Tuesday for the chiles rellenos, as they were perhaps the best I’ve had. The shrimp from my queso fundido were perfectly grilled and served on the side so that they could be enjoyed by my non-​vegetarian guest. The chocolate dessert was fabulous and released an aroma equal to a chocolate factory when pierced with a spoon. The only slight disappointment was the tres leches cake, which was a bit bland but served with a zesty raspberry sauce that redeemed it. We definitely plan to return!

We had cerviche (best I’ve ever had), camerones & the manchamanteles pork. Both entrees were extremely flavorful and well done. The portions were filling. The service was attentative and friedly. This was a terrific dining experiece. Highly recommended.

Okay, When I think mexican, i think burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc. This place is NOT that. it is fancy Mexican food (lambchops, steaks, ribs) My only disappointment is there were no specialty margaritas. Only straight up original, with a ton of different Tequila choices. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, but I was really looking for a strawberry marg!
Get the Tres Leches. You will not regret it!

This restaurant was fine but nothing amazing. To start, my mom has an allergy to jalapeños and aversion to chiles– I called the restaurant and they said there was nothing they could do– (and pretty much every dish on the menu had some spicy thing). I said can’t you make the sauces without these things? And they said no. (so these aren’t freshly made?). They should really have notation next to the menu items or options to reduce spice as I doubt my moms the only one here.
Our waiter was great, service was great (I know some people complained in other reviews). Margaritas were ok, as was guacamole and salsa (someone said this was 8 $ Which is too much for the serving size). Disappointed w the appetizer-​queso fundido w shrimp– there was 1! Shrimp and not enough tortillas plus the cheese wasn’t that hot so already congealing. My main-​cod w a spicy sauce was good. My husbands quail wasn’t too flavorful and a lot of work to pick apart. I tried my husbands tres leches which was ok but not moist enough.
I don’t know why people in reviews are expecting tortillas and ground beef– take a look at the menu before you go– this is a «higher end» Mexican restaurant and it was a nice night but next time I would go to a Rick Bayless institution

Food was ok, very expensive in my opinion! But flavorful.

This review is regarding brunch service. It was my first time at the restaurant and I was excited to try this long time establishment. The food was okay, service was polite but slow, they were maybe understaffed, although the restaurant wasn’t so full. Our party of 5 had gratuity automatically added to the bill which I wasn’t so happy with.
No one in the party was that enthused about the meal and it was dark in there for brunch service, passable for dinner but the lights should be on during the day.
Lots of great Mexican options in Chicago, when in old town I’ll go for another option.

There were so many sipping tequila to enjoy. I had mine served in a champagne flute. The menu offers daily specials of the freshest tasting fish, langostines, and lamb. Everything was amazingly prepared, cooked and presented. The octapus was extremely fresh and grilled to perfection. This place didn’t have as many people as I would have expected. I’d suggest going here before it gets too popular. It will definitely be one!

This place is a gem. It’s nice to find high end Mexican food and done with taste. Starting with the ceviche and guacamole is a treat and then the high class margarita will get you going in a good way. Met the owners and they are wonderful and very dedicated to the quality of food they serve. Highly recommended.

We have gone there once a year for the last five years. We live an hour away and consider this to be special. We anticipated this meal for four months for my wife’s birthday. As usual the moles were exceptional. The appetizers of grilled shrimp and the duck confit tamales were very good.
Unfortunately, our’ entrees of grilled chicken breast and grilled quail were overcooked. How sad. My wife says that we can’t return. I can’t fight her desires. The server was disrespectful. We still don’t know what the fish of the day was. This restaurant needs to quit resting on it’s reputation and try. Our server twice questioned me about menu items (chicken… do you mean pollo blah blah blah ‚(should be pechuga), and pinot noir, do you mean California blah
blah, blah. They were the only chicken dish on the menu and only pinot noir wine by glass on the menu. I don’t need to be talked down to by your employees. My wife broke a tooth on the quail and the server said «I don’t know what to do «. How about getting the manager or owner? Such lack of supervision! We wanted to use the valet parking, but he was
not available (he came in 15 minutes late) nor was the hostess (she came out of the back 15 minutes late). Quit phoning it in! We will not return or recommend this establishment. Very disappointed. Your server pushed tequila when I told him my wife would rather have rum (of which you have at least 6 varieties). He then gave us dessert menus when my wife told hom that she couldn’t eat her entrée. Clueless! Embarrassing!

We were a group of 18 dining at Salpicon for Restaurant Week (RW). In the several days leading up to dinner, the staff was very accommodating of party changes, and so I arrived at the restaurant with a positive impression.
This positive impression was immediately challenged, as our experience at Salpicon got off to a rocky start. The receptionist was unnecessarily pushy about the coat check and inconsistently applied his policy across the patrons. Additionally, Salpicon’s menu doesn’t indicate what items are spicy, which was a concern for several people in my party who are sensitive to spicy food. Despite these hurdles, the excellent service and great food turned the experience around for us. Typical of RW, one gets smaller portion sizes when ordering off the RW menu, but people were still full after their 3 courses, and everyone enjoyed their food.

I should start by saying that I was born and raised in Mexico, so may expectations of Mexican cuisine are pretty tough.
That being said, Salpicón offers pretty good higher-​end Mexican cuisine, not your everyday street tacos/​tortas/​tamales.
The place has a very impressive tequila offer: some I had never actually send before and some TOP TOP quality tequilas, the kind of tequilas one rarely encounters.
The food was pretty good! Mexican restaurants abroad never taste quite like home, but this place was pretty close!
The tinga tostadas and ceviche were awesome, great starters, the guacamole was just ok.
As a main I had the chiles rellenos: 2 stuffed poblano peppers, 1 with minced meat and 1 with cheese. I thought these were great! Altho a but spicy, fortunately that is easy to remedy, just push away the red salsa on too if the pepper.
For dessert, we ordered the Flan (caramel custard) which we didn’t really like because it had a lemon flavor that just didn’t go with flan; and we also ordered the Ate con Queso. This second dessert was amazing! Great taste of both the Ate and the cheese.

This is a Mexican restaurant that does not have Mexican street fare. There are no tacos or burritos. In fact, there is no horchata either. That’s an important point when visiting Salpicón and reviewing their menu and prices. Salpicón has labor-​intensive, traditional Mexican food. The dishes have many steps and many hours of love invested in them.
Perhaps because of my lack of understanding of Salpicón, I found the menu to be unapproachable. Besides the food, they also had an overwhelming variety of traditional lime margaritas made with a million kinds of tequila. It wasn’t flavored like other Mexican joints: no mango, strawberry, or horchata flavored drinks. The prices soared above that of any other Mexican restaurant I know and the dishes were largely unfamiliar.
The ambiance in Salpicón is cool and hip. In a word Salpicón would be luminescence. It feels modern and electric with bright colors but dim lighting. Our server was timely, helpful, and made suggestions without pressuring us to order stuff. I have this notion that Mexican restaurants should be warm, lively, and friendly; however, Salpicón is none of those things.
We liked our food: jalapeños rellenos de queso capeados, guacamole picado, camarones al mojo de ajo, and pescado tártaro. It was all delicious — especially the pescado tártaro which was tuna tartare. The jalapeños packed a solid spice punch and the guacamole was chunky as apposed to mashed or blended.
In the end we were listless about Salpicón mostly because it didn’t fit into our preconceived notion of a Mexican restaurant. It’s hard to envision an occasion when we would seek this sort of restaurant. It’s not exactly a casual place for chilling with friends. It’s not innovative enough for a culinary adventure and the prices make it seem as if it should be fancier than it is. Besides defining a particular niche, the food and service are both good.

The wine list is amazing and to be admired. Honestly felt like it was way over priced for the quality of food. The camarones is 7 pieces of shrimp and the chuleta puerco was overcooked on the outside.
My overall opinion would be that it was just «okay». Waiter was good but wouldn’t tell any of my friends to go out of their way to eat here.