Best Restaurants for People Watching in Wilmette

Even with the stress of Christmas dinner service, the team at Hugo's delivered a great meal and in a timely manner. The wait staff was great and the food was great. Everyone was is a good holiday mood. Forget that this Hugo's is located inside Rivers Casino, once you're seated you'll not hear the jingling of slot machines. Highly recommended!

A wonderful evening with unique tastes and flavors, exciting choices. The menu is small but choices are plentiful. It was very hard choose from the selections. Everything had potential. We had four appetizers from the rolling cart brought to the table. The trout roe tart with creme freche was light, not too salty, and a great starter. The fried olives with lamb sausage made me, not an olive fan, very happy. The olive tastes came through nicely while the lamb stuffing balanced olive nicely. The marinated herring was perfect, very fresh and light. The eggplant rolls were also perfectly made and paired brilliantly with farmer cheese and dill. A selection of breads and crackers were a good addition, also from the cart. The second course was dumplings. Although our first choice-moksha, a layered pasta with farmers cheese and porcini mushrooms, was out, we were quite pleased with the halushki, filled with braised chicken and topped with a tasty chanterelle mushroom sauce. Next, the borsch- with plenty of duck and smoked pears, and potatoes. Great beet flavor and amazing duck! Then our meat course, the pork belly shashlik, not your traditional Ukrainian dish, but wonderfully flavored and perfectly roasted. As a side, we couldn’t say no to Banosh, grits with goat’s milk cheese and mushrooms. We couldn’t believe how light and airy the grits were how the cheese and mushrooms worked to add great flavor complementing the pork. We packed half of this dish to take home. We even shared a dessert— drunken sour cherry chocolate torte, which was delicate and delicious- reminding us a little of tiramisu with chocolate and cherries. We ordered more than necessary, but everything was exceptional and worth having. There was much more on the menu that we would want to try next time. Service was good. The background music was pleasant it seemed like a little techno Muzak, but it was not obtrusive at all. The portions were wellsized with everything shareable for two.

We were here for a birthday dinner and had a lovely time. The service was excellent with a server who had humor and was attentive. The menu is very interesting offering a wode variety of choices and take on trditional dishes like the Garrsoulet I had, a take off of Cassoulet of course. The Lardo and Tomato toast appetizer was delicous and everyones meal was excellent. The prices are on the high side but we were satisfied. I also reccomment the steak tartare and the burger. The atmosphere is elegant but casual and lovely.

The igloos at Alma were so thoughtfully curated and seasonally fun! The smores lot that you got really made the experience! Our server Jackson was also so kind and helpful. We had a wonderful evening!