Moody Tongue — Restaurant in Chicago

This was my wife and I's first fine dining dinner in a few months, and we were ecstatic to have the chance to do so, especially at Moody's dining room. We had an idea of what to expect based on other tasting menus we've had at other restaurants, but the unique part of this dinner that intrigued me was the beer pairings. We have had a wine pairing with different plates and loved it, thus, I could not wait to see how they could integrate beer into the mix instead of wine. My curiosity paid off, as the meal we had was, for the most part, beautifully orchestrated and delicious.

I could easily write a few sentences about each plate, as there is quite a bit to unpack, but I'll just talk about a select few and leave the rest up to experience it yourself. The opening plate was not your typical oyster, as it blended a juxtaposition of flavors very well, and served as an attention-grabber. The All Good Things from the Sea came a couple of bites down, and this was one of the top, if not, the top, plate of the night for me. Each bite was a complex dance of textures and flavors with an overall saltiness that was not overpowering. However, amazingly enough, the Toasted Rice Lager made a perfect companion to the dish, cleansing the palette perfectly for the next bite. The beer on its own could be drank and was crisp and refreshing in its own right. The Foie Gras dish was plated beautifully, and had a pronounced rich, fatty flavor to it the meshed well with fruity and acidity of some of the other elements in the dish. Kriek, the beer pairing for this dish, complimented the richness of the fat, making this another excellent one-two punch to the flavor buds.

The Squab did not agree with my flavor tendencies, as it was a bit too game-y for my liking, but, the Blueberry beer accompanying this dish helped greatly. After some more bites, we got to the Wagyu Brisket, which sounded fantastic when reading it on the menu; I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of this one. The aroma right away puts you in a Sunday afternoon American BBQ, and the elements within the dish are elevated versions of some of the typical sides you might expect at a traditional Southern BBQ. Everything was masterfully cooked to its best version, including the brisket that melted under the slight pressure of a knife. The only knock I have here is the beer pairing, which was okay, though, I did prefer others (yet, my wife enjoyed this one!). Among the ending courses, the Red Haven Peach was particularly yummy!

In summary, everything from the fantastic service, to the food, to the beer met our expectations, and exceeded at some points! The goody bag at the end was a welcomed touch, as was the palette cleansing beer that was topped off throughout dinner. This is easily one of the best meals to be had in the city, and highly recommend it to anyone with the cash to spare looking for a...

I would highly suggest NOT hosting your event with them. Their event manager, Alexis, was EXTREMELY hostile. She was good enough to take our initial deposit without a contract a month out, but became hostile closer to the dinner texting, calling and demanding payments over 50xs. We told her that we needed a contract first. Then asked to correct the number of guests so my boss could sign the contract, which she refused to do until we signed the contract. Again, we aren't going to sign a guaranteed contract with the wrong guest number. Finally gave us the correct contract when we submitted with dietary restrictions/allergies.

Then it became refusing to work with allergies. So we had to call our guests who said they would just not eat certain dishes. She finally said they were going to change the entire menu and everyone had to have the same menu. For the price point, you would think they would work with you on allergies.

Even after explaining that my boss was out of the country and would get back with her as soon as he could. She threatened to cancel our dinner first by 4 PM. then another email threatened by 12 noon if she did not receive payment and open the restaurant to regular guests. When he did come back to town we submitted the deposit which was never even run up until AFTER he showed up an hour before the event to make sure everything was set. We had a $5,000 difference in F&B Minimum which they refused to let us make up the difference in cocktails, beer from the brewery which was part of the restaurant, open any additional wines (because of what was available stock) or take any with us. But the restaurant and brewery can "sell" you their beer products.

The ONLY saving grace for this private dinner event was the wait staff and the kitchen who were wonderful. We did not like the dictatorial event manager standing there watching over us with her hostile attitude. I've never had a restaurant not try to work with us on making our F&B Minimum. We will NEVER go here again or refer friends to this place.

The food was interesting, some were super tasteful, others were not anything I would order again. Presentation of the courses were on par with why they received their Michelin 2 star.

Overall, the chef and wait staff did a good job. You just seriously need someone in event management that understands hospitality and not hostility.

Guests were also told upon exiting an Uber to go inside to the dinner to make sure we call an Uber, wait inside until the last minute before getting in our Uber for safety reasons. It is not in a good neighborhood for guests who were in cocktail...

Overall, we were underwhelmed. Service was great in terms of refilling waters and clearing dishes, but it was off putting that our server told us “you have to order everything at once” and then when we did like instructed he said “are you kinda hungry bc that’s a lot.” We were rather insulted by that because we like to try a variety of food as we do reviews for Tiktok and have no problem taking food home. However, we moved forward and were excited for the array of dishes we ordered. Our excitement died there, because the majority of the dishes we had left something to be desired nearly every time. The oysters were small and average quality. We have no problem with smaller oysters if they pack flavor and these did not. The beet dish was too acidic for me, and I would have preferred more fondue cheese to offset that, but my husband loved it. I think my ‘we wish you were here’ cocktail that I had which was very acidic probably influenced my thoughts on that dish. Next we had the foie gras and olive oil cake. The foie gras was excellent but the dish overall didn’t sing well together. The rabbit cavatelli was my favorite dish, and I’d highly recommend. The pork belly risotto was such a bummer because the pork belly was over cooked and under salted, leaving it dry and tasteless, but the risotto was very well done. The uni French toast was super creative but not well executed as it was cloyingly sweet. The waygu, mushrooms, and cream sauce lacked the umami and salt flavor to offset the sweetness of the French toast. We finished with the New York strip entree which was under seasoned. However, the twice baked potato with trout roe and the creamed spinach that came with it was excellent. My husband had several beers which he said were very clean but lacked complexity and flavor. But the black truffle Pilsner was very creative and excellent. Overall, the quality of the food and the flippant service does not reflect the prices and the renown/prestige of the restaurant. We tried the bar restaurant to get a flavor for what we could expect from the dining room, and this told us everything we needed to know. Moody Tongue has mountains of potential, but unfortunately we left feeling...