Uncommon Ground

My first time hosting an event here. Helen and her stuff responded quickly, kindly, answered every question along the way. I had 30+ guests, everyone LOVED the palace. Service was wonderful, it is quiet to make conversation easy, enjoyable, yet vibrant. I had best calamari, and many told me they loved the organic beer. I eat mostly organic food only, this is one of the few restaurants that I feel safe and healthy choosing from their menu. Many of my guests told me they will definitely return. Thank you Uncommon Ground for making hosting an event so easy and enjoyable. I look forward to return soon!

Ive been there a number of times over the years. Every time, the service has been friendly, attentive, and without issue. A number of times, I’ve brought my special needs daughter with me, and she’s been easily accommodated. The food is interesting, well plated, and varied. Every dish has been lovely. And the house beers (both regular and roots) are excellent!

They got rid of all the best brunch options and every time I come here, I am seated at a table directly next to another full table in spite of the fact that there are 30 other open tables around. Is it too much to ask for a little personal space?

Overpriced and they will scam you. I used to like this place, but over the past few years I watched there prices inflate way above what should be normal.
Here are my strikes against it:
1. I went to see a friends band play. Not only do they charge the artists a percentage of the cover fee, they require the artists pay their sound guy $ 75. Restaurants should pay musicians for live music, not the other way around. My friend — a wonderful professional musician — barely escaped having to actually pay to play.
2. I asked for a scotch while the band was playing. The waiter brought me the most expensive one on the menu, at $ 17.00. Was he hoping I wouldn’t notice???
3. The Devon location bills itself as «The Greenest Restaurant» in the US. As a former resident of California and Portland, Oregon, I find this a completely ridiculous claim. They do a good job of being Green (though a friend who worked in the kitchen laughed at all the times they used non organic products from Devon Market for their organic items). But, I think its more important to them in terms of marketing rather than ethics.
4. The food is ok to good, but its not great, and you will pay much more than it is worth.

Bad service and the food was bland and served to us completely cold (amongst other issues). Also took about 15 minutes after asking for the check to actually get it. Shame that this place is in such a prime spot.

Met a friend here for lunch the other day and was delightfully pleased. While I agree with others that speedy service does not appear to be the norm, our server was friendly. I wouldn’t recommend it if you were doing a quick lunch break. (Don’t know if you can call ahead for a pickup maybe???)
I really enjoyed the Buzzy Bee coffee – got mine with almond milk instead of the soy it’s listed with – and the giant, very literal, bowl-o’-caffeine was velvety smooth and gently sweetened with honey. Odd not having a spoon or handle as it was, and I’m not sure how weird it would have felt to drink from a small bowl in front of someone I didn’t know well, but I got over it since it was a friend. We laughed about the size of our Bees.
For lunch I tried the chilaquiles. Mine came out much better looking than some of the pics here. For sure it was a massive amount of food; I could only eat about ¹⁄₃. Lots of tortilla strips, lots of egg (a bit overdone), topped with delicious salsa verde (my favorite part), lettuce and a dollop of sour cream. I did find myself adding some hot sauce and wished I’d have asked for additional salsa verde but overall, I’d order it again … and share it.
If I was this way again, and had time, I’d come enjoy a leisurely meal here.

My Aunt and I went on a lunch date here because it is one of the few places that caters to vegetarians and individuals who are gluten free in the area that isn’t Indian cuisine. We had reservations around 3:00 pm on a Monday afternoon there were only three other parties there which meant we could enjoy our conversation without straining to hear each other.
I will say that the food was alright nothing that impressed me but the reason that I did rate it five stars is because the manager was very accommodating and attentive when the waitress seemed to be busy with the guests at the bar.
In my book awesome customer service and alright food equals five stars! Especially since it is somewhat of a rarity now a days.

I recently went back to Uncommon Ground yesterday after not visiting for probably three years because of the negative experience I had the the last time I came. My mom and I were one of the only customers in the place and yet we were not being served. So after waiting 10 minutes as we observed a couple of servers chatting with each other and then one walk right by TWICE, we walked out. So… I decided to give UG another chance.
This time, service was definitely better even during their busy time. For dinner, I tried the Baja Fish Tacos, Cherry Bomb (non-​alcoholic) and the Ice Cream Trio (chocolate, cubby crunch and salted caramel pretzel).
Although the fish tacos were fine, I don’t think the fish tacos were worth the price and neither was the Cherry Bomb. The Cherry Bomb was just terrible. It tasted like cough syrup. It’s pretty sad when the best thing you ordered is the ice cream…
I spent a $ 37 (including tax and tip) but felt that the experience just didn’t add up. Thus, I will not be giving UG a third chance.

For years, one of our favourite restaurants. Has slowly slid down in quality until this time we (group) declared it was our last visit. Real shame.
Food was bland and lacked any real taste. One of our group had the pumpkin ravioli and described it as watery and said it used to be her favourite meal in all of Chicago.
Pork belly was completely boring.
Even the cocktails appear to have gone downhill. The beer is perhaps it’s only saving grace

Cool rustic ambiance but the food was sub par. The server touted the Portobello mushroom Sandwich with sautéed greens but unfortunately the greens weren’t washed well enough and I was eating sand. And not just from one bite, in fact, I gave the sandwich a second chance hoping the sand was limited to the one area but to my dismay it wasn’t. I sent it back and after that I pretty much lost my appetite. In addition, my husband ordered the turkey burger, which he found to be dry and sadly had to ask for BBQ sauce to give it a little moisture since it was obviously over cooked.
Unimpressed. We live in Chicago, this is a foodie town and this restaurant misses the mark.

I’ve been coming to Uncommon Ground for years. Recently, the place has let their standard of quality slide. Last night was the final nail in the coffin — I will frequent one of the many other bar/​grill establishments in the area and won’t go to Uncommon Ground anymore.
First, one thing that should be mentioned, that had always been an issue, is the speed of service. Hardly anyone was in the restaurant. Yet, it took 20 minutes before the waiter sauntered over to our table to take coffee orders. Service has Always been painfully slow there but last night seemed to be worse than any other time. When it came time to pay the bill, the waiter was nowhere to be found. Our cards were sitting with the bill on the table for a half hour and we had to deliver them to a server. Then, of course, it took 20 more minutes in an empty restaurant to run the cards and deliver them back to us.
Now let’s move on to the actual product. They delivered cold coffee to our table. It was as if the coffee had been sitting in a pot for a few hours. Clearly it wasn’t fresh. This isn’t a big deal but it also wasn’t the first time this happened.
One of my friends is very allergic to peanuts. He made this clear to the waiter when ordering his dessert. Guess what came with his dessert? Yep, you guessed it — nuts! He had to send it back. Honestly, the restaurant was empty — how did this get so easily and nonchalantly missed?
The server, in a rare moment when he actually was by our table, over filled my water glass and water overflowed from my glass onto the table, my lap, and my phone. Didn’t get an apology. Didn’t get a towel. Apparently attending to an empty restaurant was a more pressing matter.
Finally, our waiter was completely incomprehensible. He mumbled every word he spoke to us in the rare moments he was at our table. We all smiled and nodded our heads when he was mumbling. Come on Uncommon Ground — you should know that’s going to cause a poor customer experience.
I’ve never had an issue with their food or desserts, so i guess they have that going for them. There have been enough little issues with this place where the overall experience was simply unpleasant and I’ll be going elsewhere.

This spot is GREAT. I loved everything about it.
I showed up early for a date — my boyfriend was running late. They sat me immediately, and the waitress came quickly after I sat down. She was super friendly — I wish I remembered her name. I told her how I had the night off, and we chatted briefly about server life. I ordered a diet coke to start and said I would get a cocktail enemy boyfriend arrived. They don’t have coke products — they have a local pop called Lucky, if I remember correctly. She warned me and said some customers don’t care for it, but I’m all about local! It was tasty!
When my boyfriend arrived, he ordered a beer, and I got a summer old fashion. YUM!
We ordered the «Happy Ending Fries» with the sauce on the side as an appetizer. Basically, it’s a basket of fries (really good fries) with candied bacon underneath. I’m not sure what the sauce was. Something related to poutine, which I’m not a fan of.
We then split two things — a chicken sandwich with a side salad and gnocchi with vegetables. The sandwich was delicious– it had various vegetables on it. The side salad didn’t have too much dressing on it. Always a plus. The gnocchi was nice and soft, and those vegetables were outstanding– perfectly sautéed. I must say that it was a little too salty for my liking, but my boyfriend disagreed.
We lost track of time and had to get settled up quickly, and our waitress made sure to get us out fast.
I really liked this place. And you bet I’ll be back!

Brought my vegetarian sis to UC for Mother’s Day brunch because I’m awesome. She’s extremely easy to please because she loved the food while I thought it could’ve used work.
She had the uncommon huevos and I had the chilaquiles. I had to drown my food in salsa and added so much salt/​pepper. This thing was so bland. Idk if my Hispanic cooking has just altered my taste buds that I can’t handle bland white people food, but I wasn’t wowed with their brunch.
Service was ok, slightly pushy. I know it was Mother’s Day and all but I had a reso. Let me be.
With the countless brunch options, UC’s is towards the bottom of my list.

Two years ago this was a ⁴⁄₅ star place.
Neighborhood vibe, nice music & live music events, and most importantly a lovely menu that featured lots of light, healthy, seasonal, dare I say «Californian» style dishes that featured fresh, delicious & flavorful veg & protein options.
What happened?
Pathetic meals here, twice in a row, we’re done with this scam that has destroyed the amazing roots this establishment was built on.
Everything was underwhelming, but let’s focus on the biggest joke on the menu– the turkey burger. $ 16 buys you a small, dry, unseasoned patty slapped on a bun with a couple pieces of lettuce, onion & a pickle. No sauce of any sort. Would you like to add an exotic accoutrement such as tomato, cheese or bacon? $ 2 EACH. We sprung for the tomato, expecting for $ 2 we’d be getting a one inch slice of a gorgeous heirloom tomato or something. Nope, two slices of anemic subway-​quality tomato, one of which was the end piece and mostly skin. We begged for some hot sauce and drenched the sad thing til it was barely edible. For $ 18!!!
Also: the sunshine salad used to be a lovely mix of at least 8 different seasonal fresh raw veg tossed in a nice light vinaigrette with sunflower seeds. Now it’s 80% romaine lettuce with a handful of bell pepper, mushrooms, & tomato tossed in. I think that was $ 12. Pathetic.
We really loved this place but something has gone horribly wrong there and it’s time to let it go. Too bad, what it used to be was a great dining option in the neighborhood.

Gorgeous patio and friendly service. I cannot comment on the food since I arrived late to brunch and missed the eating part. Hate when that happens. Ambiance is rustic and wooden. It fits the farm to table pattern of the tests.
There is a ton of out door seating in which to sit and chill, great Irish coffee and home made iced tea. Will definitely be back, but unsure when.

This place has some of the best calamari I have ever had in my life!
Its officially called korean fried calamari which of course that means its sweet and quite spicy with a nice kick to it. I also tried the gluten free roasted cauliflower which was ok, but sadly it followed the calamari which was a hard act to follow. I had it with a nice, dark zinfandel which was really good. I like this place!

Very average food that is overpriced and lacks overall talent in preparation. I must have had too much wine when I composed my last review back in Feb 2014. Was here over the weekend and the consensus was: FAIL.
See pics of the breakfast dishes from this weekend, pretty sad.
I’ve been here three times in the last year and can say 100% without a doubt that this place is just overall lacking. Everything sounds so great on the menu but when the food comes it’s just a disappointment.
Dishes:
–Helen’s Chicken Sandwich– bland and on too thick of bread.
–Fish tacos– with brown/​slightly turning guacamole. Hardly any fish. Needs a ton of hot sauce to be enjoyable as this is the only flavor you’ll get. Hey UG folks, ever eaten a fish taco before? Maybe you should try one.
–Biscuits and Gravy– OMG I don’t even know how this was allowed to be called biscuits and gravy. See photos of this one. Utterly disappointing runny mess, and where was the sausage country gravy exactly? Again, I implore mgmt/​cooks here to go try some biscuits and gravy to model their dish after what most people expect.
–Chilaquiles– aka a big plate of tortilla chips. Again, overdone on the chips missing the smoked chicken and scrambled eggs, this dish was $ 14, see pics posted.
The bloody mary’s are good, I’ll give them that.
Much to be improved here in terms of quality, flavor, portions, prices, etc.

I really enjoy Uncommon Ground — the few times I have been here for brunch the service has been exceptional and the food delicious as well. The first time I went here we had a group of about 8 people which they accommodated very nicely. We ended up staying for HOURS — I think we tried every drink on the menu twice and many of the entrees. Luckily we were in the back room and they did not rush us out at all.
My most recent time, just 2 of us sat at the bar by the fireplace — it was a cozy nice brunch (much shorter than the first experience) but equally an enjoyable.

A short while ago saw Matt Nakoa perform here – a perfect venue for a soon to be discovered very, very talented performer. (Catch him when he gets back to Chicago in the Summer).
We ordered our meal in the backroom where the performances are. The waitstaff is efficient, making sure not to interfere with the performance as they bring meals and take orders.
I had the vegetarian chili (good, but needed some heat as in not served cold) and the fish tacos (wanted and asked for flour tortillas, got corn tortillas). The hitch in my order was apparently the only glitch. Rave reviews on the meatloaf.
Drinks are good, local fare is emphasized and welcomed.

I had such high hopes for this place as the menu looked really terrific. I took my mom here because we both enjoy healthier food. I ordered the black bean burger and my mom ordered the fish tacos.
Ummm but wait, my black bean burger HAD NO BLACK BEANS. They made it with black eyed peas instead and didn’t tell me they ran out. Not to mention the beans weren’t even cooked all the way so it basically felt like I was chomping on nuts. Also this fake black bean burger was flavorless. Yuck.
My mom’s fish tacos needed some serious seasoning too. So boring. We didn’t even finish out meals.
I will say I like the atmosphere and I didn’t end up having to pay for my burger because I told them there wasn’t any black beans in it. Probably won’t be returning.