Dinner by Design Kitchen

Don’t give this as a gift to a busy person. I received a gift card when I had my first child – and they were completely inflexible after the expiration date, even though, in my post-​partum exhaustion, I started crying on the phone about how I had lost the gift card. Thanks for nothing. What a waste.

I’ve had nothing but FANTASTIC experiences with Dinner by Design Kitchen in Glenview. They are delivery only and have always been on time and the food is always packed perfectly and still completely frozen. The directions are clear and the food is GREAT! This is so worth it to me as a new mom working full-​time and finishing grad school. Highly recommended!

I also was one of the people who bought Groupon for this place. I used the groupon for November and liked it so much i ordered on my own for December… what vast difference one month made!
When i used my groupon, the food quality was very good, i had pork tenderloin, chicken, pork chop and roast beef. Everything was easy to make and they tasted great. So much so that i ordered again for December.
What a disappointment this time, i ordered the roast pork loin and it was ridiculously salty and on top of that the rosemary flavor was so overwhelming. I emailed them to ask them to retest the recipe (i specifically said i was not asking for a refund or credit but simply wanted them to know), guess what? no emails back to acknowledge my suggestion
well, then i tried the jack daniels seared steak… oooh, too sweet this time
i can’t believe how much the quality deteriorated in such a short time
the delivery service is indeed good, the guy is super friendly but of course that doesn’t make up for poor tasting food and lack of customer service in the complaints department.
Meh, i won’t be ordering from there again.

I also got the Groupon and was very pleased. The delivery guy was so nice– I was running late and he actually met me at my car!
The food so far has been really good– I’ve had the balsamic pork tenderloin and chicken with black bean salsa. Both were really easy to make, healthy, and very tasty. It made me feel like I was cooking, without actually having to mess up more than two pans.
I also highly recommend choosing the cookies as your side dishes. I bought a dozen to a party– everyone assumed they were homemade, and I didn’t bother correcting anyone. They’re that good.
There’s a good mix of healthy and «indulgent» entrees to choose from, But, I agree with Janet, it would be nice to see even more organic and healthy options, for instance offering brown rice as an option for all entrees.
And while the food is perfect for a quick dinner, it does require some preparation ahead of time because everything needs to be defrosted. Nonetheless, I was very happy with it and will be ordering from them again.

It is 2 stars today but check back later and it may be one star like Abbie’s review. Like Abbie the company had delivery issues. But they did call me (home phone) two hrs before the scheduled time. However, I was at work. But rescheduled for 9:00 am that next Saturday. At 9:15 I called the company and left a message. At 10:15, the «owner» called back and said she could be there in a hour. No thank you. So we arranged a time for today (11:00 am). Since I was not going to be home to receive the food I put a cooler out. Also, I specifically said BACK porch. I arrive home at 2:30 and the cooler was empty. I had a 3:30 appt. so I was not able to call the company to check on the delivery. At 6:00 my neighbor rings the doorbell to let me know there is a package on the FRONT porch.
The fun does not stop there. I ordered nine items. I received three of the nine that I ordered. Did they substitute items because they ran out? Yet they did not contact me to get my okay. Or does the company not believe in quality control and just put anything in the bag.
The lady told me that she normally does not deliver to my neighborhood so obviously she is not trying to keep me as a customer.
I left a message to resolve this issue. If I do not get a

1^st of all let me point out that this review is based on service and quality — I never actually got to taste the food.
2^nd of all let me say THANK YOU GROUPON!!! For all your assistance with this mess! I know that this was in no way the fault of Groupon but you guys still offered any assistance you could and made sure that things turned out ok!
But on to Dinner by Design — it was delivered 5 days late. No food, no phone call, nothing for 24 hours after the delivery was set for. Called the night it was to be delivered. Tried again Saturday morning, straight to voicemail. By 2pm on Saturday I had sent a couple emails and left 3 voicemails. Needless to say I was pretty irritated. Then I finally got an email about 2:30 stating that they were ‘sorry for the mix up and could attempt to deliver my meals sometime after Tuesday’. I sent a response that this was not really acceptable and that even if they could deliver 1 or 2 of the meals over the weekend and the rest later in the week that would be ok. I’m not an unreasonable person, I understand that things happen. But they have yet to EVER make the effort of a single phone call and explain or apologize after several emails and voicemails. I decided to try this service for convenience and boy did THAT ever backfire… Thank goodness for Groupon because they have so far been the only ones to show enough business sense to care that this gets resolved!
After my request to Dinner By Design for a full refund (which was ignored) Monday afternoon I finally received another email stating that it would be at least Wednesday and they would let me know. I decided that I would give it another shot and they offered to throw in an additional entrée and side for the inconvenience. So we set up for delivery Wednesday night and once again I got a little excited because hey, who doesn’t like deliveries? Especially lots of yummy food? So to say that the bag full of Ziploc bags containing half thawed raw meat and fish that I finally received was a disappointment is an understatement. And I only got half orders of the entrees I requested. Supposed to be 6 burritos and 6 meatball sandwiches — I got 3 burritos, 2 sub rolls and 4 meatballs — I’m not the greatest at math but that doesn’t add up. Steak that is supposed to serve 4 people contained 2 pieces of meat. Chicken for 4? 2 small chicken breasts and 5 stalks of broccoli would barely feed 4 children let alone 4 adults.
I’ve offered to return all the food and requested a full refund but so far they have chosen to ignore the issue…
So for the 3^rd time I’m recognizing Groupon for the fact that they stepped up to the plate, even though this issue was not in any way their fault, and are refunding me the money themselves.

Groupon does it again! Dinner by Design had a great deal through Groupon. If they hadnt teamed up with Groupon, I would have missed out on the opportunity to know and try Dinner by Design.
I had ordered six entrees and three side dishes. The food was delivered to me in Chicago from Glenview. The Glenview branch only delivers (no pick up) so you can schedule different pick up times. Unfortunately, on the day of my delivery, the weather was terrible so my delivery was over an hour late. But the delivery guy was very nice about it and called me to let me know that he would be an hour late.
When my food arrived, the food was still frozen. The insulated bag they provided kept everything cool, which was great. The food is simple to cook and tastes really delicious. I am a terrible cook but so far everything has turned out great! If you follow the simple instructions they provide for your dish, you cant go wrong! The food portions last me a few days (I purchased the portion size that feeds 2 – 3 people) and I’ve gotten about 4 – 6 meals out of each dish. The food is relatively healthy as well.
At regular prices, the food can be pretty pricey, but I think its worth it since you dont have to waste any time shopping or preparing the food, and you dont have to buy all the ingredients and spices for the food. The monthly menu provides many options so you wont get bored of eating the same food.
My only suggestion would be to provide more veggie friendly entrees and offer organic foods as well. I will be ordering again from Dinner by Design!

This a great concept for making meals in a grouping. You make the meals with ingredients already set out for you. You come home freeze it. As needed defrost and cook.
As for the facility in Glenview. I rate it 2 stars. The work stations are way too small and on busy nights it gets way too crowded with people.
People were running into each other.
The women who were in charge of facilities were very annoying. They made the whole experience unpleasant. They constantly were in your face hovering, making commentary that was uneccessary, and intruding on customers that were making meals. So before you head out to Dinner by Design kitchens in your area, check out the facilities first and see who is working there. In the end you should have a fun and enjoyable experience and not a rushed/​annoying one.
Will not be going back to this one again.