The Vault — Restaurant in Kendall Township

I really wanted to like this place. Dined in here twice over the last 2 months. The owners did a great job preserving and presenting the history of the farmers bank and incorporating the early 1900s vault area found during reno into the overall concept. The space is pretty interesting as you enter through the back parking lot, walk through a short narrow hallway to be greeted by a well designed, well lit yawning dining and bar area with a high ceiling and great sight lines. The service here is good and the staff are on top of everything in the dining room. Smiling faces, accurate and well versed. They do a great job providing a lay of the drink and food offerings. The drinks here are stellar, the rotating and standard mixed concepts are very well balanced, interesting and very pleasing. Absolutely worth checking out for the space and the cocktails. Things stutter when you start ordering mixed cocktails that are not on the menu but that's ok, the offerings cover a wide variety of tastes from dark and savory to light and sweet. Being a bourbon and beer fan I was still very satisfied and surprised by everything we tried. The food here is where the whole experience loses me... The menu is diverse with an array of pastas and sandwiches being featured along with crafted pizzas, burgers, wings appetizers and a very good lineup of Bruschettas. Everything is cooked well and presented very well at the table. What gets us into the weeds is the obvious lack of balance and seasoning on almost every single dish we have ordered thus far. We talked about it the first time and were surprised that we both agreed but figured it was an off night and planned a second visit to confirm or deny. We were once again in agreement that there was a clear lack of seasoning and balance on every plate... Pasta sauce was flat and almost without any flavor at all, Pot Roast sandwich was a huge portion of very well prepared roast with almost no evidence of the caramelized onions or horse radish on the ciabatta, the house burger was cooked to a good medium, juicy with a good charred crust but oddly lacking seasoning... The Fungi bruschetta was straight up devoid of any sea salt as described on the menu and lacked any hit of acid from the balsamic. To be fair I am a non smoker who does not use a ton of salt when cooking and am not at all looking for a salt bomb of a dish, my dining partner is a smoker who does like salty savory foods and we both felt the same about the dishes that we have ordered. The best dish on the menu for me has been the side of Jalapeño mashed potatoes, they are excellent. If your looking for a cool spot to share some cocktails and some apps definitely give The Vault a try, I hope the food gets better as they burn in over time. Overall this place is unique and priced about where you would expect for the market or slightly...

Tried this place out for the first time on a Thursday, it was quite busy. The decor and ambiance is very cool. The lit bar surface is a nice touch.

The good: The wings are INCREDIBLE! They are naked wings, but wherever they fry them in, or whatever they season them in prior to frying is amazing. The barbeque sauce had a hint of sweetness and finished with a nice bit of heat. Perfect for adults, but maybe a tad hot for children. Order the wings with fries, you won't be disappointed.

The meh: We ordered the Bolognese and the Molto Bella. I thought the malfadine pasta choice for the Bolognese sauce was not the best choice for this type of dish. I'd like to see a rigatoni or even a penne that does a better job at every bite having meat on it. The Molto Bella pasta could use a bit more salt content, either from an aged parmigiano or even perhaps a pecorino Romano. It just needed a bit more inspiration and depth to the dish. Neither were bad dishes, but just needed a bit more love to be perfect.

The bruschetta had perfect flavoring, but the presentation was odd. Instead of a san marzano tomato or diced Roma tomato, it was cherry tomato halves. Still tasty, but cutting them in half made the dish messy, and the tomatoes would roll off the fresh mozzarella, and instead of dicing the onion, it was large onion slices. It was a good bite, just not the easiest to eat.

All in all, we'll be back to eat those wings, and to try the smash burgers, but will probably avoid the...

We have been to The Vault 4 times now, over the span of a month, each time, we both selected a dish we didn't have previously and we have been very impressed. The soups are amazing and every sandwich or entree we've had were excellent, always cooked properly, delivered to the table hot and beautifully presented. There's something on the menu that'll interest anyone, nice variety.. Prices are on point as well. The bar in beautiful but I'm not a drinker,, so I can't speak to the quality of the drinks but it looks to be very well stocked with tons of options. Its a very easy location to drive right by without noticing. Parking is in the rear of the building. I think this place will really gain in popularity with a bit of advertising. Service is very friendly and helpful but like most restaurants, when there's a large crowd, service slows a bit but not to the point of being annoying. The atmosphere is very nice and is decorated to give an incite into the building's history as a bank, even includes a glass floor panel with a view of "the vault". The bathrooms are clean and you have to check them out...I won't give it away...you have to see for yourself, LOL! It is owned by the folks that own and operate Mike and Denise's but with two totally different menus. The Vault has become our favorite restaurant in the Yorkville area and I think most people will...