The Wellsley — Local services in Chicago

It pains me to even write this email, but I felt compelled to share my dining experience with you all from Le Select. Just this past evening on 7/10/2023, my husband and I dined at Le Select. Upon entering the hosts were very welcoming and kind, and they let us know that the bar was first come, first served. I entered first, and my husband entered a few minutes behind me. I sat at the very end of the bar, near the service well, and was presented with menus from the bartender. There were 2 bartenders working, and this particular bartender was middle aged, and had a short fade haircut. I ordered a drink for myself from the happy hour menu, and an old fashioned for my husband. Immediately the bartender tells me that the happy hour isn't on the happy hour menu. I obviously know that, and I still want the beverage. This was the first of many strange interactions between the bartender and us. 15 minutes later he asked us if we wanted any food. I asked him what he recommends from the entree portion of the menu, and he proceeded to tell us "Well there is one of each thing on the menu, so it depends what you like. There's one fowl, one chicken, one pasta, etc." Very unhelpful. That being said, we order a dozen oysters off of the happy hour menu, the shrimp cocktail, the cailette sliders, the tarte flambee, the burger w/a glass of red wine, and the halibut. As we are ordering he stops us and says "wait a minute, hold on," and grabs a piece of receipt paper to write our order down. Fair enough, he wants to make sure he has everything. But then he repeats the order back to us, and he forgets the shrimp cocktail, and I say "oh and the cocktail." He then says to me "oh I don't know if you mean a cocktail or the shrimp cocktail," and then condescendingly points at the cocktail section on the menu. We are ordering food and clearly have full drinks, so of course I meant the shrimp cocktail. He says "hmmm, well this is alot of food. Are you all hungry?" We tell him yes, and he literally ignores us. The food is wonderful, and we thoroughly enjoyed every course. Over 3 courses of food, the bartender never once asked us if we wanted another beverage, or even refilled our waters, which were within direct eyesight of his view. Not once. My husband had to stop his conversation with another staff member to ask for another old fashioned. When my water was empty, my husband offered me his water and I drank it. The bartender removed my empty cocktail glass and my water glass off of the bartop, leaving both of us with 1 empty water glass and 1 empty cocktail glass. Then before our entree course, he asked us if we still wanted our entree?! Of course we do, we ordered it. He said he could cancel it for us, if we were done! The audacity of him to assume he knew what was best for us for our dinner. We receive the halibut, and place our card on the bartop. He takes the card, never presents us with a check, runs it, and drops it back off. Not one thank you, you're welcome, have a good evening or anything. This was the worst experience we have ever had, dining anywhere. My husband is a general manager at a well known restaurant in the city, and was appalled at the horrendous service provided to us this evening. We are an African American couple, and it made us feel as though we were being treated this way because of the color of our skin. There was no other reason for this person to treat us so poorly. It was disheartening, and beyond upsetting. Being a service professional, my husband still left a 20% tip in cash, because we have never not done so, but were immensely disappointed in the experience. As a restaurant that is rebranding, and trying to shake the negative reviews, we wholeheartedly believe in giving people a second chance, but this is one of the experiences that make me believe in the poor experiences. It was the worst dining experience we have ever had, and it left us feeling as if we did something wrong to this gentleman, when we simply came to dine and...

In short, a great restaurant with generally well-executed food and good service. A few small issues I'd chalk up to having-recently-opened and still working out a few kinks.

We had a group of 5 and arrived 45 min early for our 8pm reservation, but were easily accommodated since it was a Tuesday night.

Started with cocktails. Those that had the martini agreed it was literally the best martini that they had ever had. It was incredibly smooth, almost creamy.

Asked for appetizer recommendations that were easily shareable and our server gave good descriptions and recommendations. We went with: Escargot -- delicious, heavy butter + herb + crouton flavors; diners wanting to really taste the escargot itself may be disappointed Tourte Alsacienne -- pastry was good, but it's the pairing with the mustard vinaigrette that takes it to the next level. Tarte Flambée -- the most sharable dish of the bunch, and good, but its simplicity doesn't leave a lasting impression

I asked the sommelier, Taylor, for a nice medium-bodied red wine for less than $120. He brought a 2018 Margaux from Confidences de Prieure Lichine that was $88 and which we all loved.

For entrees, our group had the Duck a l'orange, Poulet Roti, Choucroute Strasbourgeoise (x2) and Steak Frites. All the dishes were amazing, although one of our group wish they'd gone with the Steak or Duck instead of the Choucroute Strasbourgeoise. The proteins were all of excellent quality (which I'd expect from a Daniel Rose restaurant) and cooked perfectly.

For dessert, we got the Eclair XL and the Coupe Foret Noire. The eclair was the only real disappointing dish we had that evening. It was easily shareable, but was simple and pedestrian compared to everything else we ate that evening. It lacked any flavor beyond sugar. The Coupe Foret Noire was a big hit though and is highly recommended.

All in all, it was a memorable evening and I would 100% come back here if I wanted to impress someone with a nice meal and excellent service. Doing it all over, I'd switch from the Ca Va cocktail and order a martini instead, get the same wine, probably try some different appetizers and a salad, reorder the chicken roti, and finish it off with the Coupe...

Please note that in an ideal world, I would have given Le Select a 3.5 star review, which is not something that google reviews allow for.

Raised in the French culture, I was excited to give Le Select a try because a French brasserie was something that Chicago definitely lacked. I left rather disappointed. Certainly, a lot of money and effort was poured into the décor, and visually, Le Select, all in all, fits the part. In terms of the menu’s offerings, several items are expected brasserie fare. However, to make one pay for bread and butter service in a French restaurant of this type, verges on unacceptable. While the food is well prepared and well cooked, it is very very basic in its plating, and leaves one confused as to whether it is designed to be shared (our waiter at no time made mention of it). As an example, the poulet rôti, arrives as a giant plate of four pieces of properly (if not perfectly) cooked chicken resting on a few lettuce leaves- not much of a sauce, two measly bacon-wrapped prunes thrown in there as an after-thought but so disproportionate that their interplay with the chicken can in no way be surmised. No sides. Visually, as basic as it gets. Taste-wise- very one note also. For $47, entirely regrettable. The profiteroles leave a similar impression- nothing particularly wrong with this iteration, but the chocolate used is not unctuous and of high enough quality to overcome the average choux being used. The price point matters here because one would expect something elevated about the experience- some twists/modernizations/re-inventions, something to justify the cost. But, nothing does. Just very bland average food leaving you feeling like you’re paying for the décor more than anything else. Very amateurish service- many missteps throughout but, hopefully, that is just a matter of the restaurant having opened relatively recently.

All in all, nothing bad, but also nothing to capture the attention or make one anticipate a return. As a comparison, La Boucherie in NYC executes much better the brasserie concept. At this juncture, Le Select is a brasserie with an...