The Elm — Restaurant in Lyons Township

We stopped in on a Tuesday. Since we're post covid it seems that no matter what day of the week you go out, everyone wants to be out too. I'm not really an eating outdoor kind of guy but their upstairs balcony is very nice. My wife, my son and I sat at the bar. They seemed to have plenty of help but we had to wait about 20 minutes for our first encounter with the bartender/server. After that everything went fine. My son had a burger, my wife had an appetizer and I had the pork chop (ala carte). I wasn't expecting much and I have to say the food was excellent. Even though it was a Tuesday, we decided to have a couple of drinks. I had two martinis over the course of our meal... and that's where the issue comes in. I was comparing the pricing to Maestro's restaurant downtown. At that restaurant you pay $23 for a martini but they serve it in a cocktail shaker and you easily get two very large drinks out of it. Maestro's is the kind of restaurant that I consider to be expensive and The Elm is notably higher priced, especially for a restaurant in the suburbs.

If you're a martini drinker (in other words, one who basically drinks straight liquor) and have been doing it for many years, you have a particular way of expecting your drink to be made and presented. The problem with martinis is that it's not just as simple as shaking the liquor for a couple of seconds and pouring it into a glass.

Presentation is everything. The bartender was inexperienced and just didn't take her time. The drink was served barely cold and in a warm glass. That noted, I can forgive someone's lack of expertise and adapt myself with a glass of ice. In this case I was served a measured amount of alcohol and charged $20 for each drink! If you expect people to go to your restaurant in the suburbs you have to be considerably more reasonable.

We all know that we can buy a bottle of stoli for $20. So, am I getting a lot more value out of the place I'm sitting in for the price of the drink? The answer is no. I paid $40 - the equivalent of two bottles of stoli - to sit at a bar where the service was average and the bartender wasn't really great at her job.

In the long run, the upstairs is nice, the food is good, the atmosphere is plain - nothing extraordinary. The food is high priced for the suburbs but average in comparison to a pricey restaurant in the city, and the drinks are way too expensive for what you get.

My son (who is a chef downtown) had a scotch on the rocks. My wife had a glass of wine and I had the martinis. Our total bill was $230. Which for what we received, is too high a price to pay for eating in LaGrange. I often drop $130-150 for the three of us but $100 higher is just... stupid. I thought the place was fine but I won't be back because of the pricing vs presentation and...

This place was an accidental find. We were trying to find a nice place to celebrate my step mom's bday that was a midway point for all of us. It was the best accident we could have asked for. Val was our server and she was incredible and so knowledgeable. She gave us her true and honest opinion on all our choices and absolutely did not disappoint! We also appreciate that she made it an even more special evening for us. We didn't ask for it but Val heard us mentioning celebrating a bday and discreetly offered to light a candle on one of our desserts at the end of the night. She was also very sweet, patient and very accommodating. She altered my step mom's drink just right bc she's not much of a drinker and likes them to be less liquor, more on the sweet side. The Prickly Pear Margarita turned out perfect for her. For dinner, we had the Salmon Wonton (+2 bc there were 5 of us and it only comes with 3), Beet Salad and Pear and Brie Flatbread to share. They were delicious and I highly recommend them all, especially the Salmon Wonton. For Entrees, we had the Faroe Salmon, Parmesan Crusted Bass, Kalbi Style Boneless Short Ribs, Pork Chop with Salsa Verde and Australian Lamb Chops. All were top notch! My dad was skeptical about ordering the lamb but was pleasantly surprised. He was then a little dubious that it was actually lamb bc it was so tender and he'd never had it like that before. We all tried one another's dishes and were very impressed. There are actually more on this menu I'd like to try and realize I need to do it soon bc their menus change seasonally. I am also very excited about next season! The Elm was a nice, fancy place that didnt feel so uptight. The atmosphere was very chill and a little quiet but we liked that. We were able to talk with one another across the table without feeling like everyone in the room could hear us. Once we stepped out after dinner, we realized "the spot" was on the roof top. It seemed so lively up there that WHEN I come back with friends, we may opt to be up there instead. Overall, I will definitely make the 30 min drive to the Elm again...and again. First impressions are everything and my family and I had a great...

I hate to say this, because I had high expectations, but The Elm is just Ok. We had dinner there starting at 5:30 on a Saturday night. I was first surprised at how there wasn't anyone there. Maybe they were on the 2nd floor patio or avoiding eating out because of the pandemic, but most other restaurants have more people at this time.

That aside the place is really clean and cool looking on the inside. The staff was very friendly and responsive so no complaints there.

So now the food. We started with the Golden Fig Bruschetta, which is a fig marmalade on bread with burrata cheese. I expected the marmalade to be closer to most fig jams you can get a most stores, which is quite delicious. This marmalade had the consistency of apple butter, wasn't really sweet and lacked the bold flavor fig jam traditionally has. The color was also a not so appetizing lighter brown color. The cheese didn't have much flavor as well making for an overall bland appetizer. I can't really recommend this.

For entrees I had the pork chop with veggies and mash potatoes. No direct complaints with the taste of the dish, but for the price there was also nothing special about it. The demi glace wasn't any more flavorful then some off the shelf brown gravy. Once again I have a hard time recommend this as there was. Nothing about this dish where I was like "aw man this is so good I would definitely get this again".

My wife had the Faroe Island Salmon which was very highly recommend from our server. This was also the least favorite. I'll admit I don't care for olives and as a result I didn't care for the olive salad. The rice and salmon were both bland. If you like this dish here, you'd be better off just getting some frozen salmon and instant rice from a grocery store. I was not impressed for the price.

Lastly I had a couple cocktails and a glass of wine during our meal. Nothing too extraordinary to report here either despite being my favorite part of the meal.

In conclusion, cool place, overpriced mediocre food, average cocktails. I'll check back here again and update my review if...