Red Bridge Bistro — Restaurant in Cicero

We recently visited The Red Bridge Bistro, which just opened, and overall had a great experience with a few small areas for improvement.

The wait list was surprisingly short for a new place, which was a nice start. The building itself is beautiful, but the high ceilings make it a bit loud, with sound bouncing around the space. At the bar, the TV was tuned to a show instead of sports — not a big deal, but sports tend to be the norm in most bar settings and might better fit the atmosphere.

Service started off well. We got our drinks quickly, and for an appetizer, we ordered the fried deviled eggs. They looked fantastic but unfortunately lacked much flavor. For entrées, my husband ordered the tenderloin with a potato medley, and I got the West Coast Burger with chips. My burger was excellent — full of flavor and perfectly cooked. The chips were crispy, seasoned, and delicious. My husband enjoyed his potato medley but felt the tenderloin and bun were a bit bland.

Our server seemed to be new and was friendly, but the timing between check-ins could have been better, and we weren’t asked if we wanted dessert.

Overall, The Red Bridge Bistro has a lot of potential and some great menu items. Despite a few minor misses, we enjoyed our visit and definitely...

The food: Ordered the fried deviled eggs, kids flatbread, cobb salad & tenderloin. Sandwich had ample panko- style breading & was good portion. The flatbread lacked flavor. Salad was okay-ish, did not care for the miniature overly-salty diced ham pieces that tasted very store-bought. The deviled eggs were the best part of the meal.

Atmosphere- There was a table with 3 very small kids and one kept randomly screaming pretty much the whole time. The high ceilings carried each scream at full volume. Noise-dampening esthetics could help significantly, without detracting from the beauty of exposed brick.

Service- 8/10 We were seated quickly. Our server forgot to put in our potato medley order, then it was rushed & not cooked all the way through. We would have each had another cocktail, but the check was brought to us while we were still eating. The manager did a table touch & was very charismatic. I saw him interacting with several other tables, as well.

There are a few menu items we'd still like to try, but will probably order ahead...

Went for the 4-6 happy hour. Our waitress , Ashley was very nice and attentive. Wife and I had 3 special drinks. Started with the pretzel that had a honey mustard dip along with a cheese dip. Dips were delicious. Both had the Indian corn chowder that was very tasty. We shared a tenderloin sandwich that are homemade on site. Not your typical pounded out paper thin dry sandwich you get at most places. This was larger than the bun and 1/2 inch thick with a really nice pepper crunchy coating. Very moist inside served with grilled onions and tomato on the side. Homemade potato chips were fresh, crispy with a lite pepper taste. Will go back as they are putting in outside string lighting, have a real cool shipping container outside bar that looks awesome. We sat outside so not real crowded on a Thursday but it did pick up in patrons before we left. Walked around the inside to check it out and very well decorated. Has real promise if the locals turn out...