Abrah Bakery and Daily Bistro — Restaurant in Chicago

Me & my wife frequently visit new places to support local owners: it is very difficult to survive nowadays in the industry due to competition around. After seeing Abrah Bakery on instagram, we were excited to give it a shot. Spoiler: expectations were not met & I truly hope that besides a generic reply from the owner real actions will be taken to fix the existing problems, otherwise, just like other reviews stated, Abrah Bakery won't simply survive for long.

Atmosphere: nice & calm ambience, friendly staff, cute bakery section located right next to the entrance. As soon as we got in - the atmosphere made a good impression, so we decided to stay and dine in. It was a little dark in the dining room but this is something that can be easily fixed and is not a big deal. 4 stars.

Service: Our waitress was nice, polite, quick to greet us, and attentive throughout the meal - 5 stars to her! :) She apologized multiple times for the food delays, which were not her fault. However, I cannot rate this experience higher than 2 stars for one main reason: the wait time was unacceptable. It completely ruins the entire experience.

We arrived at Abrah at 11:00 AM. The restaurant was half empty. We ordered Tuna Tataki, Vitello Tonnato, and a Pistachio Kyiv Cake. The cake arrived immediately, but we decided to wait until the rest of our order came before eating. We then waited 48 minutes for the two dishes.

What makes this worse is that, during this time, I saw staff members place their own food orders about 30 minutes after we sat down — and their meals came out almost immediately. Watching employees get served meals while paying customers sit and wait nearly an hour is not just poor service, it’s a sign of bad kitchen management. People need to be educated about things like that - those are the basics of a restaurant etiquette.

After 48 min, we finally got what we ordered. At least what we expected it to be...

Food: the menu is elegant, all items at first seem to be somewhat unique and must try - whoever developed the menu definitely knows how things should work. We ordered 3 items to try: Tuna Tataki, Vitello Tonnato, and Pistachio Kyiv Cake. The only highlight was the cake — delicious, authentic to the Kyiv recipe I’ve had before, and $11 a slice. Worth trying once, but very rich with butter.

Tuna Tataki ($17) & Vitello Tonnato ($16) - with these two its whole different story. We frequently dine out to support local businesses, but to be able to survive in the industry, businesses must care about their patrons/customers in return. What we experienced today was literally a marketing trap: what Abrah owners advertise on social media in terms of food is not what you will get while dining here. Please, see the attached photos below: a screenshot with Tuna Tataki & Vitello Tonnato is what they advertise on the Instagram page, claiming this is what customers get for paying $17 before tax. And on the right is the sad reality or a perfect example how deceptive marketing campaign can fire back in the long run: miserable portions, 5 pieces of tuna on our plate vs. what they show on Instagram for the same price, missing ingredients, drowned in a glue-like sauce - you name it. Overcooked, dry, completely dead 3 thin pieces of steak ($16) buried in capers and oily substance - and this is what we got after 48 minute wait.

Never in my life we returned food to the kitchen knowing how difficult it is to run a business, but today I got literally pissed off. Moreover, the manager brought us the plates, and when we specifically pointed that what we have on the plate now and what they advertise in social media - is just a completely different thing. The manager’s response? “We weigh grams and it is what it is.” Then she left. No acknowledgment of the obvious bait-and-switch, no apology from management — only from our waitress. We returned both dishes, paid only for the cake, and left hungry. We came in hoping for a pleasant dining experience and instead got a lesson in how to lose customers. First...

It’s new, it’s cute, and you want to check it out. Here’s why you shouldn’t.

I paid $18 for a Croque Madame that was an absolute joke — two thick slices of bread, barely toasted, with one sad slice of meat and two unmelted pieces of cheese. The egg on top? Practically raw. The whites were still runny and undercooked.

To make matters worse, I waited over 20 minutes for my to-go order while standing inside the restaurant, only to find out it had been sitting out, ready, for who knows how long. I had to flag down the host just to get someone to check.

The setup of this place is a mess. There’s nowhere to wait for takeout — just a cramped area between the kitchen and dining room where staff had to ask us to move because we were in the way and it’s dangerous for us to be there. Seriously, where are customers supposed to stand?

This place doesn’t know if it wants to be a café or a full-service restaurant, and it fails at being either. I won’t be back — and I’d strongly suggest you...

You will find the most delicious breakfast here.❤️I am in love with this place, this is what makes me think to move to Lincoln park. It’s located in the heart of this neighborhood, on Lincoln Ave, very convenient location, close to the lake and to subway station.

There are tables inside the restaurant and few outside, but there is always a huge line, because this place is really good.

You should definitely try cherry gombovtsi – traditional Ukrainian dumplings, Nordic breakfast – for those who loves salmon, cherry jam is just something else🤤, it tastes like homemade jam from my childhood🥹 I enjoyed wild berry matcha last time as well. You can also find different kinds of bakery there, I won’t share which one is the best, because I will never catch it😄 Will definitely recommend this place to...