The Peasantry

Unfortunately, customer satisfaction is not a priority at this establishment. Although there was only 1 table occupied when we arrived, they refused to sit us at a table due to later reservations. We sat at the bar and ordered both drinks and food. The cocktail I ordered was undrinkable; but, rather than trying to alter it or accommodate me in any way, they told me that is how it is supposed to be. The salmon, meatloaf and pork belly we tried were all good, but it was not a pleasant dinner having to eat without ever having our water glasses refilled. When we left the restaurant remained half empty and those «later reservations» never came. I have no plans of ever returning and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Pretty chill spot, and we sat at their center table with our party of 6.5
Since I was already pretty full from eating all day while exploring Chicago, I just had their mac n cheese (nothing special) and triple truffle fries (pretty standard). I also had their southside gin drink which was an ok mix…
Everything is pretty average here overall!

We dined here at the beginning of December for a friend’s birthday dinner. There were eight of us and we sat fairly comfortably at one of those picnic tables in the back near the cozy fireplace. The berry+rosemary gin drink was outstanding. I could have definitely had another but decided to switch to wine instead.
I believe I had the porkchop (can’t really recall) and my husband had the steak. He said it was good, the fries that came with it were $ 7.00 ala carte which is nuts.
Overall it was a good experience, the service was good as well.

Before checking out the nearby Lincoln Park Zoolights nearby, we dropped by here for dinner.
We had the mac and cheese, fries and some other comfort foods, namely alcohol. They had a nice selection of cocktails that were mixed nicely.
Service was good and the staff were nice and accomodating of us and our kids.

I ate kangaroo. Believe it.
Was in Chicago with a buddy of mine, and our last night, we stayed at an airbnb near here. The menu looked good so we stopped by. It was basically empty when we walked in on a Saturday night at 7, so that was scary, but it filled up within 30 minutes of our arrival. Beat the crowd!
We had a large sampling of wine, beer, and chow. My favorite was the kangaroo fajitas. The meat was perfectly cooked, the tortillas were on point, and there was some kind of jalapeño foam that I would’ve rubbed on my face if, ya know, it wasn’t made of a spicy pepper.
Check out the chalk board specials, grab a pint, enjoy.

Food was good, service was just okay, our food took an exceptional while. We shared buttermilk pancakes and they were delicious. We had the chilaquiles, the swine skillet, the pork belly benedict. Everyone was pleased with their selections but a bit salty (that’s to be expected to an extent). Very nice airy open décor.

A casual brunch place is exactly what this place is. They offer great cocktail options for brunch and lighter meals. The service was great we didn’t feel rushed and took our time. They had a great 3 mimosa deal for $ 21 and it was well worth it.

Had a great experience last time I went to The Peasantry and have been eager to head back ever since but my most recent visit was kind of disappointing. We got seated right away and put it in our food and drink orders quickly. We got our drinks no problem but our food took FOREVER (about 40 minutes) to come, I’m fairly certain that our waiter totally forgot to put our order in, and only remembered when we prodded him. We also had to wait quite a bit to order our second round of drinks which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
They tried to compensate for our food taking forever by giving us a free order of calamari but it really was a turn off. With so many other establishments nearby that have great food at the same price point I don’t know if I’ll be back at The Peasantry any time soon…

TRIPLE. TRUFFLE. FRIES. That’s all.
Alright, alright, it’s not all, but do not forget to order these if you go there, I’m telling you… ON. POINT!
So this was one our GNO spots for November 2014. At first I was a little leary about this place and it’s menu. I wasn’t really drawn to anything on it and the items seemed a little high in price.
When we got there we were greeted by our nice, friendly waiter who asked us if we’d like something to drink. After a few samples, I went with the Breckenridge Christmas Ale. Yum! Aimee M also ended up getting a bottle of wine to share with the table.
The waiter showed us all the menu items (pictures) on their fancy schmancy iPad so I decided on the Steak & Frites. The steak was cooked to perfection, then I bit into the triple truffle fries and that was it. No questions asked, best fries on earth. Don’t get me wrong, the steak was delicious but those triple truffle fries!!! Never had anything like them. I don’t think I can get sick of saying that. HA! Aimee M had also ordered a side of truffle fries for the table. So after I finished mine I dug into hers. Well, the whole table did, and since those weren’t enough we had to order one more side and then another for dessert. I mean, come on, who doesn’t LOVE triple truffle fries for DESSERT! LOL
Someone also ordered a side of shells and cheese for the table. Not sure who, but that’s why I love this group, they enjoy food and beer as much as I do and they know how to share. =] The shells consisted of shells (obvi) fava beans, manchego cheese, prosciutto & breadcrumbs. Talk about comfort food! Those were gone quickly too. I got to try a little bit of everyone’s meals which was nice.
Pricey? Yes, but if you go with a large group and share items, it’s not as bad.
After looking at their brunch menu, I would not mind going back for that, but I would definitely be back for dinner. Oh and for the triple truffle fries of course. DUH!

I was really looking forward to checking this place out when I saw that they described their menu as «elevated street food». In my head I was picturing it to be unique twists to dishes that were inspired by food carts from places ranging from NYC to Thailand. I’m still not sure how their actual menu items correspond to that motto. When I think of street food, I think of quick eats at a cheap price. Their menu items seemed a bit fancier and sophisticated, and definitely at a higher price point.
Ambiance: The restaurant had a small and cozy atmosphere, with only a couple seats at the bar and a few small tables on the side. It wasn’t too busy when we went for dinner and our group ended up sitting at a larger picnic style table in the back.
Food: I didn’t think the food was bad by any means. We enjoyed some of the dishes we ordered, but from a value standpoint I thought they were pretty expensive, and I wasn’t even really blown away by any of the dishes. For example, we ordered the truffle fries, which were nice and crispy and pretty tasty overall. But it was $ 7 for a tiny bowl that barely had a handful of fries. We ended up having to put in another order because it was so small. Other dishes were good, but not very memorable. My friends and I typically like to order a bunch of things and then just get a taste of everything. For as much as we spent per person, I didn’t feel as satisfied as some of the other restaurants I’ve visited with comparable prices.
Overall the food wasn’t bad, but given how much the total bill was, I would expect the menu to be a bit more impressive.

Brunch after St Pattys is a must. I wanted to give this better than just three stars.
Our waitress definitely must have celebrated St Pattys the day before because you could tell she was off and super slow. So little bit of a deduction for the long wait time in service.
Another deduction for running out of pancake mix and Bloody Mary mix.
Settled for chicken & waffles. Good but the burger my friend had looked better.

We arrived at a standard dinner time on a mid-​week day as a party of 6. Relatively small group as we routinely dine with 12 or more on these trips. Long story short, more than two and a half hours after our arrival, we were finally presented with the bill. There was no reasonable explanation for such a long dinner. I’ve enjoyed long meals when celebrating but this was not that. It was painfully, inexplicably slow. A small dining space and really no rationale for what transpired.
We were pumped to try this place after recent reviews inflated following a relaunch. Excellent. We were excited to be a part of the magic. However after an excruciating drawn-​out experience, we were soured. Anyone who has had a decent meal at a decent restaurant, cannot possibly think our experience was ok.
We put in a few early orders. Out of those, some were immediately unavailable. Rabbit and octopus with an iPad-​prompted run to check on sweetbreads’ availability. Normally this would be fine but on an early Wednesday evening, the outages seemed unnecessary and excessive.
Great venue but clearly working hard to recoup the earlier reviews from before the relaunch. We were so pumped to try this place after the new chef in place. They struggled to meet the needs of our small party from the start. A loaf of bread was sent to the table after a 45 minute wait from arrival to appetizer. 45 minutes for a small loaf of bread, jam, and butter. Thank you, sir, for the refuge. 60 total minutes passed and the appetizers arrived. Well over an hour and 45 minutes passed and dinners had not yet arrived. Really, really not ok. Especially for a smaller place on a Wednesday night. Several orders of bread arrived and finally the food. So. Bizarre.
We’re a chatty table so it was surprisingly initially unnoticed except for the one team member who arrived feeling hungry. A second round of drinks had to be heavily flagged. When food finally arrived, just the pork chops and sides prevailed. Another several minutes divides the two patrons and the other guests. The food arrived cold. Finally after a 10 – 15 minute wait between the first arrived dinner and the bouillabaisse, another dish arrived. It came with a flourish and a show but delayed dinner another 3 – 5 minutes. If your table waited for almost two hours (you’ve apologized maybe once or twice), it’s time to drop the show and deliver a meal.
This is the strangest place. We were of three similarly sized tables with the others featuring several more guests. The bar was half-​full and beyond this: NO OTHER GUESTS. Maybe a random couple here and there but a home chef might have handled the dinner more swiftly. Server was scrambling and things weren’t going well in the kitchen.

The Peasantry is not a very economical dining option for a near-pauper’s pocketbook but, if you pinch your pennies, it’s not unattainable.
A member of our ladies dining group chose this place for the November 2014 dinner on a Thursday night. After browsing an older menu, a few of us were unsure if it was something to get excited about, and we considered changing venues when the person who picked it dropped out due to illness. However, we’re a pretty versatile bunch, so we followed through with our original plans and I’m very glad we did!
I arrived about 30 minutes early and found some confusion had occurred when reservations had been made. We’d accidentally reserved twice and canceled one, which somehow resulted in our reservation being lost completely. However, the restaurant was not very busy this particularly cold weeknight, so they were able to seat me immediately with enough room for our party of five.
Before I knew it, I had a delicious Bourbon Cocktail #9 (I’m not normally a whiskey drinker) in hand, and I didn’t mind waiting alone for the rest of the group because our server chatted with me. The drink decision wasn’t very labor intensive. I asked for a recommendation and was pleased with it.
My friends showed up shortly and we took a look at the somewhat small but well rounded beer list. I ended up ordering a glass of the Breckenridge Christmas Ale, as did a few of my drinking companions. They will let you sample the tap selection before making your final decision. Aimee M also had a glass of the Elm Tree Malbec, which I was a big fan of, and we eventually ordered a bottle to split. It went well with everything we ate.
I had trouble deciding between the Beef Wellington and the Duck. One of the nice things about service is that our waiter used a tablet to take our order and he was able to pull up the menu and show us photos of the food on the spot. There was not a photo of the Duck since it’s a newer item, but he showed me the Steak Frites and said it was arranged similarly. I went with the Duck, because Beef Wellington seems to be a standard item and this was seasonal, and believe it was the best dish of the night. I also had the chance to taste my friends’ Short Rib, which came in at a close second, the Pork Chop, and the Steak Frites. I also had a side of Shells & Cheese. I’d never have thought to add fava beans to macaroni and cheese, but it worked!
We pulled a Hobbit and ordered more Triple Truffle Fries for first dessert. Second dessert consisted of the Cheesecake, which is tempura battered banana cheesecake with fruit, nuts, and caramel sauce. It was very decadent and reminded me of fried ice cream.
At the of the evening, they were able to split our bill. Everyone’s cost was different depending on what all was ordered individually. For this dinner the range was $ 40 – 75 (before tip) for a full experience with all the bells and whistles. Considering that it’s a top contender for best meal of the year, I’d say it’s well worth it. You’ll eat like a king!

Great atmosphere, unique selection of beer and liquor. Food was amazing and lots of local fare. If I lived here I would make this place a regular hang out.