Modern Plate — Restaurant in Illinois

A friend and I went to Modern Plate tonight. What a wonderful surprise. The food was wonderful. We had the roasted cauliflower, the burrata toast and the pork bites. The cauliflower was done to perfection and it was served with two sauces. One was a ginger type sauce and the other was creamy and tasted like ranch only 10 times better. I would go back just for that. The pork bites sat on a bed of roasted squash and was sweet and flavorful. More Please! The burrata toast was good. Served with prosciutto and pesto and chopped tomatoes. The portions are sizeable, these 3 apps filled us up. The service was outstanding. Our waitress was spectacular. She was there but not bothersome. Just the right mix of attention. The drinks were well made and they did not skimp on the liquor. They had some very inventive drinks. The staff that cleared the table and filled the water were polite and attentive without being bothersome. Definitely well trained. We asked about something and the manager came over to talk and wanted to ensure everything was to our liking. It is a level above the expected service. Amplified. Interestingly, they have a music venue in the back of the building. Great set up. A VIP section and 4 tops covering the floor and some high tops. There is a built up stage for the entertainment that happens on Fri/ Sat. Nights. Definitely a place I want to return to just to try a few more items on the extensive and well thought through menu and come and see a local group playing. Tonight was definitely a good star night. Thank you Modern Plate for an...

We went to this new-to-us restaurant yesterday on the way home from the city. It has a bar area, large nicely decorated indoor dining room and outside dining along the sidewalk. We chose to sit outside since it was beautiful weather. Our server was Emily, who was so sweet, very attentive and provided great service. My husband and I didn’t have any cocktails - next time. We decided to share a couple items off the menu. We shared the Fig n’ Awesome Burger - fig jam, caramelized onion, arugula, havarti cheese - it was friggin’ amazing!! The restaurant was kind enough to split the burger and put it on two plates. We chose sweet potato fries as our side and they were the best I’ve ever had. They were thicker crinkle cut and had a real nice crisp on the outside but soft on the inside. We also shared Nonna’s Meatball. There was a slight glitch as they had a huge catering order and had to make new meatballs from scratch so we had to wait a bit to get this appetizer. It gave us time to digest the decadent burger we just ate. When the manager Jason apologized for the delay, I mentioned to him at that time that I had to order Nonna’s Meatball because I just became a Nonna and we were just coming back from meeting our granddaughter at Northwestern. Jason comp’d us this appetizer as a congratulations. What?! So very nice! Great customer service for the delay and the congrats. We’ll definitely be back to dine at Modern Plate again. We loved it and there’s so much more on the menu to explore. Thanks Jason, for giving this Nonna a free Nonna’s Meatball!...

Had 1st experience on Valentine's day...this place is an odd juxtaposition. Really nice, clean decor; looks fancy. But serves tavern fare. Food was good, not great. Had pork belly appetizer; needed to be crispy and bourbon sauce was bland also way too much sweet potato. I had "Hottie Burger" (one of the signature dishes), and it was a good burger, but just too much going on...the chorizo stuffed poppers served on the burger drown out the rest. Was a better burger when removed. Sweet potato fries were the star if the plate...very good! My wife had pan fried walleye; fish was good but bland. Rice was served just warm. The star if her plate were the carrots- cooked perfectly! We had liquid dessert...great drinks in coffee old fashioned and salted caramel martini. Really, really good.

Servers were EXCELLENT. Every body was working hard & efficiently. Our server, Amy, was very well versed on the menu, great personality, and very engaging. She definitely was the biggest star if the evening.

The real killer for us was the live band. Good concept having music for V-Day, but not a mediocre rock/pop cover band. Was WAY too loud! Gotta say a much better execution would have been acoustic guitar or some strings...set the mood for Valentine's. Instead my wife left with her ears ringing and a headache. Generally It looks like a nice restaurant, sounds like a dive bar...at least on this night. Generally, it can be so much...