SIFR — Restaurant in Chicago

Edit: SIFR asked me to email them in response to this review, to which I did but never received a reply. Hence, the request to connect seems performative and the silence comes off as dismissive. This falls in line with the service I got at the restaurant.

With a mix of hits and misses on the food and indifferent service, it feels like Sifr's prime location and upscale ambience are its main appeal.

First off, it was strange and frankly annoying that the only menu handed to us upon being seated was the chef’s tasting menu. If you want the à la carte menu, you have to specifically request for it. Pair that with a painfully slow greeting from our waiter, the meal was already off to a rocky start. Sifr's service was stretched quite thin. At times, we found ourselves trying to flag someone down only to realize there wasn’t a single waiter in the dining room for several minutes. No one ever checked in to ask if we wanted drinks either. It was quite a hurdle just to get our order in. After this, service was at least passable at a restaurant this caliber.

We got chicken shawarma hummus, eggplant, a side of muhammara, chicken kebab, and chicken fesenjan. Thank God we got the chicken shawarma hummus and not the classic one because the only thing great was the chicken: well-seasoned and tender. The hummus itself, while having a luxuriously smooth texture, was so bland as if there was nothing other than blended chickpeas and tahini. On the other hand, both the eggplant and muhammara were quite enjoyable dips. The sourdough pitas arrived freshly baked and puffed up, soft and fluffy with a delightful nuttiness from the generous coating of sesame and nigella. That said, only one small pita per dip felt very skimpy. The highlight of our meal was hands down the chicken kebab: juicy, tender, and incredibly flavorful. Combined with the creamy toum and bright zhoug, this was excellent. The chicken fesenjan had a nicely crisped skin with a glossy pomegranate glaze. While the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender, it was disappointingly bland past the skin, void of even basic seasoning like salt.

In the end, Sifr looks the part but the experience didn't quite deliver on the promise. I wouldn't rush back when there are so many other options in the city offering both style...

It’s called “sifr” because “sifr” means “zero” in Arabic. And that’s how many stars I would give it if I was just basing this review on food. I’m giving it two stars only because of how hospitable the staff was and because of the general environment.

As someone who has tried a lot of different kinds of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine (in different countries around the world), this one is well below the bar. They have the right idea of trying to make it high class, bougie, and a fine dining experience, but they struggle to make anything good. The best things they had to offer were some of the appetizers. The falafel was alright by itself, but was great with the sauce on the plate. The halloumi had a nice twist to it, but was not melting in your mouth or squeaking the way it should.

DO NOT GET THE CHICKEN LIVER PATE. If you’ve had liver before, you probably had it cooked or prepared a certain way, mainly sautéed or served alongside other foods. A pate ruins the texture and flavor. It literally feels like they put liver in blender and mixed it with cat food. The tiny garnishes and “passionfruit” drops they put on it do absolutely nothing to balance it. The zaatar/thyme “bread” they give you (picture 3) was rock hard and did not have anywhere near enough of a balance of the olive oil and roasted thyme.

The chicken was not juicy, nor was it extremely dry. Just didn’t have much flavor or Mediterranean feel to it, but the sauce that it came with made it a little better. The kabob was nothing to be thrilled about, but a better taste than the pate for sure.

I’d honestly wish that they had more of an actual Middle Eastern or Mediterranean influence and chefs working in the restaurant because this is downright unacceptable. These recipes do not do any justice to what the region’s...

Update: My fiancé was emailed by SIFR and they apologized for how this situation was handled. I appreciate that they were able to make amends!

I came here for Valentine’s Day with my fiancé and honestly, the food was good! Other than that… Everything else was very disappointing. We had a reservation for rooftop seating and yet they sat us right next to the kitchen… i’m not quite sure why that happened, but they could’ve sat us at any other available table yet they chose the one that was right next to the kitchen. Since when do restaurants place people at the worst table instead of the better option that’s available? No thank you. The whole time, I felt like I was being rushed out the door because they were bringing the next course before we were finished with the course that we were on. Weird. I FIND A SHORT BLACK HAIR in my dessert after I was already halfway into it… I started laughing because this is something that I’ve never thought that would actually happen to me. There was absolutely no way that that hair was mine or my fiancé‘s. I told our waitress and that it was no big deal and they apologized. They ended up bringing me the same dessert but new, which was nice but I was just thinking about the hair the whole time while finishing my food. I would’ve been totally OK with everything if they didn’t do what I’m about to say… they charged us a 20% tip and didn’t discount anything on the bill. I find A HAIR in my food and they don’t even discount the bill at least a tiny bit. We spend over $200 and what… did they think we were going to leave a good review, recommend this place to our friends, and come back? lol. Do I recommend this place? Absolutely not. There are way better...