Ēma Glenview — Restaurant in Northfield Township

I came here for a birthday celebration, and it was delightful from start to finish. As soon as I checked in at the hostess stand, everyone wished me a happy birthday, which was such a sweet touch.

Service: Our waiter was wonderful—friendly, chatty, and full of great recommendations. He checked in often, making sure we had everything we needed.

Drinks:

Do Not Disturb – Served in a fancy, top-heavy glass (apparently famous for breaking!), this drink had a nice little kick.

Watermelon Cooler – So refreshing, like drinking pure watermelon juice!

Food We Ordered:

Chicken Ragu Hummus – A perfect blend of tender meat, pine nuts, and apricots. The flavors came together beautifully, and it was heavenly with their hot, soft pita.

Tuna & Watermelon – Light, refreshing, and exactly like the waiter described: it tasted like summer. Each bite was different thanks to little pops of passion fruit, dragon fruit, and cucumber.

Brussels Sprouts – Sweet, crispy, and classic. Who doesn’t love perfectly roasted sprouts?

Sweet Potato Latkes – Sweet meets spicy! The jalapeño crema packed a real punch, so be ready for the heat.

Sharwarma-Spiced Skirt Steak Frites – Tender steak with a hint of sweetness, paired with soft, crispy fries and a delicious za’atar seasoning.

Bonus Dish: They accidentally brought us Crispy Potatoes instead of the latkes at first, but our waiter immediately noticed and corrected it—and let us keep the potatoes for free. They were hearty, crispy on the outside, soft inside, and paired nicely with a creamy dipping sauce.

Atmosphere: The interior is beautiful, and in the middle of our meal, they opened the skylight. The natural light transformed the whole room—it felt magical.

We were too full for dessert, but since it was my birthday and we passed on the treat, they kindly comped the hummus. A small gesture, but it made the night feel even more special.

Recommend ordering Watermelon Cooler, Chicken Ragu Hummus, Tuna & Watermelon and of course,...

TLDR: you can expect the same great services, the same great atmosphere and best of all, the same great quality of food. I also would argue the Glenview location menue is even better than the downtown location menue, but it's not a competition ha.

Here is the breakdown, the restaurant design and decoration is on-point with the same mediterranean vibe/atmosphere that you can expect as the downtown location. Arrived a bit early today (2nd day opening) and the restaurant was already packed. Busy but everything is moving / flowing nicely which is a great indication of the amount of planning/training/preparing that's already put into this new location.

Once we are seated, pleasently surprised to learn that Glenview location's menue was revamped and about 50% different from downtown location, which is what made Glenview location slightly better in my personal opinion. You still have your classic dish of charred eggplant, and toasted almond & garlic etc, but you also get the option of new menue items like Octopus Cappaccio, Spicy Tuna Panisse, and Spicy Brisket Kefta if you are feeling a bit more adventurous.

Here is a quick breakdown of what we ordered: Passion Fruit G&T: light, fruity and a perfect mix of passion fruit and lime Old Fashioned: BOLD, good balance of the spice & aromatic Charred Eggplant: classic and could never go wrong with it Octopus Carpaccio: refreshing, tangy and also a very interesting balance of softness (Octopus) and crunchness (potato chip + fried caper leaf) Slow-Cooked Leg of Lamb: the lamb just melts in your mouth and perfectly paired with the sauce that is a mixture of fig + sumac + red wine Honey Cake: 12/10 and show stealer . It's 10 layers (yes we counted it) of wonderfulness. Not overly sweet, which is hard to do when honey is involved and very creamy. Once you took the first bite, you will end up finishing the whole cake by yourself, so be prepared to order...

Ema is a cute place that totally targets women. Nothing wrong with that at all. When we were there it was a bunch of ladies' night out groups, a few families and several couples. It is a trendy and upscale (see expensive) small plates Mediterranean restaurant.

The music is a bit loud and is hard to hear for conversation at the table. Our server was pleasant enough, but seemed like she was interested in larger parties ordering more drinks than us (me a diet soda and my wife had water). She seemed to not visit our table all that often and we had to flag down other servers for help or refills.

The way the menu is set up, you should get your plates staggered between dishes. And I think our server didn't see a big tip from us (don't worry, she didn't and I always tip well) so she put in all our dishes and they came out all at the same time even though we were told that they wouldn't come out that way. It looked like we were at a Golden Coral with a million plates on our table. A little embarrassing and there was no room for all the plates so we had to condense the food onto larger plates to make room for everything.

My wife and I know we're not the best when ordering small sharable plates as our palates don't match the best. She's more fish and vegetarian, and I'm more red meat (which she doesn't even eat), so sharing was a bit harder for us. Additionally, there isn't a ton of items for me to choose from due to my palate. She was in heaven and wants to go back with her girlfriends (see above).

I love Mediterranean food, but Ema was clearly not the place for me. The food was tasty, but pricey for the portions and location (suburbs, not downtown Chicago), so the juice really didn't match the squeeze for me. I understand being trendy and upscale, but let your food be the bar, not the price.

I won't be back, but maybe my wife will....