CheSa’s Bistro & Bar

Review summary

1. M

   Malondra

   Chicago

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined on 14 December 2024

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 3

   Brunch - The food was great. A few items could use a little less salt, but flavor wise, my party enjoyed their entrees. Service was not great in terms of the wait time. For a large party booked in advance, there was not enough staff to manage the dining area, which also resulted in a few entrees served not quite to temperature. The bartender and server were both really sweet, but seemed overwhelmed due to it being just them managing the floor. Overall, I would visit again, but hope to see more help on the floor to provide an exceptional service. The dinner menu looks delicious.
   

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2. R

   Rebekah

   VIP

   Chicago

   37 reviews

   5.0

   37 reviews

   Dined on 8 December 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   I was looking for a Gluten Free Brunch to accommodate my daughter, and found CheSa's - AMAZING!!! The menu is 100% GF, which can often mean people who don't have a Gluten sensitivity will feel like they are missing something. NOT at CheSa's, the food was so good, and so original. We had a difficult time narrowing down what we wanted to eat, everything was so tempting. We ended up ordering the Lobster Benedict (to DIE for), and the Peach Bourbon Waffles. You would NEVER know the beignet waffles were GF. There were still so many other things we want to try that we will definitely be back for Brunch AND for Dinner :)
   

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3. R

   Rebecca

   Chicago

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined on 8 December 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 5

   Delicious food that was so good we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was all gluten free! Overall good experience. 4 stars because service was a bit slow.
   

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4. I

   Ivory

   VIP

   Chicago

   24 reviews

   1.0

   24 reviews

   Dined on 1 December 2024

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   We came for brunch a while ago and enjoyed it so decided to try for dinner and that was a mistake. They ran out of half of the stuff we ordered. No crab so half of the dishes weren’t available. The servers were slow and disinterested, but did apologize for the inconvenience. Everything took long to come. 1 cocktail was $36. Two of us ordered the etouffe. Only one came and it was cold and half of a serving. We asked about the other and was told that it was coming…it wasn’t. The chef misread the 2 as a 1 so now the “kitchen is closed” but she’s making the other etouffe. It finally comes and it’s double the portion of the first one. Both etouffe dishes were bland and flavorless. Honestly, it tasted like the roux was watered down because it was the end of the night because it had absolutely no flavor. The Mac and cheese came out cold. The green tomatoes, shrimp tacos and chicken Alfredo were good.
   

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5. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   Chicago

   2 reviews

   1.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on 30 November 2024

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   Service was terrible! Bar tender was very rude and took over 35 minutes before our drink order was taken. Then waited an additional hour after being sat to receive appetizers. Then one of our parties entrees was forgotten after almost 1.5hrs of waiting for our food. The heat was broken and it was freezing in the restaurant. I usually give places the benefit of the doubt if it’s busy but we were one of 3 tables in the entire restaurant. Food was good but with all service blunders I’d say this restaurant needs some serious help.
   

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6. N

   Nicolle

   Las Vegas

   1 review

   2.0

   1 review

   Dined on 23 November 2024

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   This restaurant is understaffed which negatively affected our dining experience. It took 30 minutes for our drink orders to be taken then it was at least another 30 minutes before we received them. They also ran out of ingredients for one of the drinks, however the drinks were tasty. We ordered 4 appetizers for the table and only received 2. We were informed that they were out of 1 appetizer, not sure what happened with the other. The cajun wings were the worst thing we ate during the experience. They did not have much flavor and something seemed off about the meat. We asked for ranch and blue cheese with the wings and they took so long to bring them that we were done with the wings already by the time we received the sauces. The oysters were admittedly delicious, those were 10/10. However, the pricing for the oysters on the happy hour menu was deceptive and needs to be amended to accurately reflect the cost which is 3 times what is shown on the menu. The lemon pepper salmon and lobster mac and cheese were good. The catfish and jambalaya dish was just okay. The jambalaya was missing the andouille sausage, when we asked about it, we were told that they used chicken andouille sausage which is not what the menu says. If they actually put chicken sausage in there, then it looked and tasted identical to the regular chicken in there. The restaurant is decorated nicely, however they did not have basic items such as salt and pepper shakers and we had to ask twice for the toilet paper in the bathrooms to be replenished. Overall, we had a subpar experience that was repeatedly blamed on the new waitress by other staff. However, we had no issues with the waitress as she was pleasant and could not be expected to bring us drinks or food that had not yet been prepared by the appropriate staff. We spent 3 hours here and about 2.5 hours were spent waiting to receive our orders, it wasnt worth it. In the end, they were apologetic for the delays and removed the charge for oysters.
   

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   CheSa’s Bistro & BarResponded on 1 December 2024

   We apologize for your experience and apologies for the miscommunication - as we were training a new server - which did cause a delay in your orders being sent back. We hope you considered visit us again as we are transitioning new staff to the restaurant.
   

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7. B

   Brittney

   Chicago

   7 reviews

   5.0

   7 reviews

   Dined on 15 November 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Briana helped us, she was our server and bartender. She was pleasant and made good drinks. CheSa prepared the food and she came out to greet us afterwards—such a personable touch!
   

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8. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   New York City

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined on 10 November 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Food and drinks both amazing. We went for brunch it wasn’t packed at all which was shocking to me because the food was so good. Drinks were also strong and flavorful. Chesa knows what she’s doing!
   

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9. D

   David

   Chicago

   1 review

   2.0

   1 review

   Dined on 2 November 2024

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   Seasoning and flavor of the food was very underwhelming. The service was not great, with the exception of the Bar Tender, "Lauren".
   

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10. S

    Shahran

    VIP

    Chicago

    17 reviews

    1.0

    17 reviews

    Dined on 2 November 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 5

    As the customer next to me asked, “ Do you have one chef or many chefs back there?” The food was HIGHLY INCONSISTENT!!!! I watched as several diners ordered the same thing portion sizes varied greatly even at our own table. The hush puppies and catfish jambalaya was too salty. The lamb chops with seafood was grossly under seasoned. The bartender during our reservation was attentive and checked on many tables except ours. The only highlight to the evening was Esther. She was funny, engaging and hospitable.
    

    CheSa’s Bistro & BarResponded on 10 November 2024

    Thank you for sending this over. We’re are a team oriented bistro- so if one server couldn’t get to your table, another would step in to her out during our busy times. The other table next to your order the crab snd shrimp, which is different from the hush puppies. This is was the note that was send to the owner from someone in your dinner party: “Overall the customer service was great, every body was friendly and responsive to our concerns.”
    

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