Best Casual Restaurants in Northfield

Service was impressive. Constant supply of water, great timing between meals, waiter was excellent. New plates between meals. Food was awesome. Sweet potato latkes had the classic latke texture and flavor with an added creaminess and sweetness from the sweet potato. The falafel was very well seasoned and the sweet creaminess of the beet tzatziki was complemented perfectly by the savory, slightly grittiness of the tahini sauce. The harissa crusted halibut was perfectly cooked flakey fish with a beautifully salty dashi mushroom broth. The harissa crust itself had a cheese-forward flavor not unlike cheez-itz, but in a good way, brightened up by shavings of lemon zest. The frozen yogurt with olive oil and sea salt was a bit surprising in that it was more cheesy than I had expected it to be. The yogurt was great and the drops of olive oil carried a salty punch to them and had hardened ever so slightly from the coldness of the yogurt. The burnt honey cake was great. Tall light multi-layered cake with light burnt honey whipped cream and some other warm spices like cinnamon. The honey cake tasted eerily similar to cinnamon teddy grahams from when I was a kid. The meal was very good, with creative twists on classic dishes that were enhanced by bold flavors. The nostalgic elements of flavors from my childhood were special. The service was excellent. I would definitely recommend Ema, and if you’re ever in Chicago to try Aba as well. Both are great restaurants.

The oysters on the half shell were big and fresh - best I’ve had in years.

Four of us dined here last night. Starters included their specialty fried onion that we could not stop eating until every morsel was gone. Also had the hearty clam chowder soup. salmon special was tasty and prepared perfectly with a mild soy ginger glaze served with red skin potatoes that were a bit bland. The burgers were also prepared perfect and tasted great. We tried two desserts, carrot cake with walnut cream cheese frosting and a double chocolate mousse with whipped cream, both fantastic

We were one of a handful of diners since it was a Tuesday night and cold out. Asked to be seated in a booth which turned out to be below the speaker. We asked to lower the music since we heard it more than our ability to hear one another. Not sure they were allowed to change it but again no one was there so who would be upset. They offered to move us to a table near the window but that did not sound appealing based on the weather. Then the real kicker was that 3 of us wanted to order the tuna poke bowl because we all liked the ingredients but my two friends don’t eat tuna so wanted a swap. One wanted chicken and the other shrimp. You are not allowed to substitute so their $24.95 dinner became $7.95 (chicken) and $14.95 (shrimp) additional for dinner. Chicken definitely costs less than tuna and shrimp is probably a wash. Highway robbery and will make us think twice about dining there or what we choose to eat. And then we were asked to use the QR code to pay for dinner. Nice feature to split between the 6 of us but there was a charge for the use of it along with a surcharge already added to the bill. Are you sure you want to welcome people when our dinner cost each of us about $10-15 additional over what it should have been. Sorely disappointed.

I've been to 501 before and have never been disappointed. The food was terrific. The waitstaff is great. We were seated at a table that was off to the side so it was quiet and my friends and I could catch up with ease. Highly recommend 501!