Hemmingway's Bistro — Restaurant in Oak Park

First, I want to say that I have loved this quaint bistro for years. When I lived closer, I would dine at Hemingway's somewhat regularly. Since moving out of the city, I only get back here a few times at year.

Last night was my most recent visit, and may be my last. Ups and downs. We'll start with the ups.

We had a 5 p.m. reservation, arrived, and were seated promptly at 5 p.m. on a Sunday evening. The restaurant was not even half full. It was early...?

While we got water nearly immediately, nobody stopped by the table for approximately 10-15 minutes. When our server appeared, he was incredibly friendly and personable. We put in our cocktail order. The drinks arrived another 10-15 minutes later, after sitting within plain sight of us on the bar for about 5 minutes. They were delicious (a sazerac and a dirty martini).

We asked to place our order the next time our server (Axel) stopped by the table. He took our appetizer orders and then left quickly.

Appetizers were great: mushroom bisque and the warm goat cheese salad. My dining partner and I shared both, and were both very satisfied. The soup was particularly amazing, rich, creamy..yum!

The appetizer dishes were cleared... and we still hadn't put in our dinner order. We did get more of the incredible baguette slices and cool, creamy butter. But, I had to ask Axel to come take our dinner order.

We both wanted the steak frites dinner...until we saw two diners next to us send theirs back because it was not cooked sufficiently. They had ordered rare or medium rare, and stated that it came out black and blue and cold in the middle.

My partner opted out of the steak...and went for the cassoulet instead. Despite what we'd witnessed, I opted for the steak, specifying that I did not want to have to send the meat back, Please make it a real medium rare the first time!

We each ordered a glass of red (zinfandel for him, cotes du rhone for me). They were delicious.

Then dinner arrived. My steak was undercooked, the frites were limp and greasy, and not the traditional shoestring fries that should accompany a true steak-frites. I sent the meat back for a quick return to the grill, which is exactly what it got. Just enough to warm the outsides, without any significant change to the meat's doneness.

My partner proceeded to douse his cassoulet with salt and pepper. Not a good sign. He said that it lacked flavor and only ate a small portion of it. It looked like a white bean soup with carrot and celery bits, and chunks of meat. Not at all the look of a true cassoulet.

We did not have any more wine. We did not have dessert. We smiled, paid our bill ($175, before tip), and drove the hour plus back to our house.

We both LOVE the space. We found our server to be very nice (8 years in the restaurant, he rose from table busser to server, very energetic, very eager to please his customers...what a great story). But the quality of the main dishes really ruined the experience for us.

I will now do what I've been doing more and more frequently: imitate the restaurant dishes that I so love by preparing them in my own kitchen.

Hemingway's, it's been good knowing you. ...

Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't have a problem with the way the food is prepared, nor did I have any issues with food not being fresh. My problem was with the unbelievably pretentious, full of themselves, over priced atmosphere that this restaurant had.

For $25+ per plate (plus appetizers ranging around $15, plus sodas around $4, plus "Italian sodas" costing around $10, and so on), I certainly wasn't was expecting tables that had paper table clothes, or salt shakers with huge dents in them, or bent fork tines, or an unsteady / wobbly chair, or wait times in the 30 minute range for a desert we ordered before we even ordered our food, or for our table to be jammed less than 2 feet from another table on one side, and a second on the other.

The menu is written in French, with English words used fairly sparingly. The food is prepared just fine, but expect something very different than what you're used to.

I had braised short ribs with heirloom carrots, potato circles, and a strangely shaped soft boiled egg. The short ribs tasted like intense wine - it was really strong - with nearly no beef flavor. The carrots were purple and green and, well, also tasted like wine. The potato circles were fairly bland and while they weren't raw they were cooked in an unusual way, and the egg looked very strange so I didn't even touch it - kind of blue - it was weird.

Other people in my party were all vocally happy with their food, but I wasn't. I'm not a sophisticated man, and I don't want to pretend like I am for show. I was uncomfortable with the atmosphere and really unhappy with the food, and especially unhappy with the prices. Others in my party didn't agree with my assessment.

I'd be willing to try another dish on a return visit, but what I'm not willing to do again is sample the pretentious attitude spread over a thin veneer of fine dining covering up for utensils that are in worse shape than what you can get at Walmart, nor the waitstaff lying about when the food will be delivered.

Personally my recommendation is to take your business elsewhere and save yourself the $50 per person that you'll spend here, but you may have a different appreciation for French culture than myself.

I'd give it 2.5 stars, since I don't feel that this establishment quite deserves three, but I can't. So I'm marking 2 stars to express my displeasure and including a more detailed explanation for people who really...

I've lived in the general area of Oak Park for 20 years, and this place has been on my radar for a bit. Why didn't I go before? I understood that it was a bit fancy, and I'm not a fancy guy. However, I was curious, so when I looked up "Easter brunch " and found this place was offering, I decided to give it a shot It was $46 for a single entrée and a buffet, plus a complimentary drink. Sounded a tad pricey, but I assumed that the buffet would be impressive. How wrong I was... I arrived on time with my party of three. We were seated promptly and offered drinks. I opted for a mimosa and went to the buffet while I waited for my "main meal" When I got to the buffet, I looked for the rest of it. The buffet was absolutely pathetic. I've literally had more impressive FREE buffets offered at hotels I've stayed at. Three types of cheese (unsliced), an unimpressive selection of bagels, a single type of salad, and a selection store bought desserts When my meal arrived, (gruyere sandwich) it was good, but nothing special. When I got the bill, I was shocked. Almost $200 for three people, and a good part of that was for the additional drinks. I knew that only the first drink was complementary, but I thought that the additional ones would be $8-10 tops, but they were $16!!! For cheap champagne and juice! I could have gotten a proper cocktail for that price. Yes, it's mostly my fault for assuming, but still All in all, if I paid $25 at my local corner Cafe, I'd be satisfied. As it is, I was incredibly disappointed and even a little angry If you want a proper brunch, go to Fogo de Chao. The price for brunch is the same ($46) and you have a MUCH larger selection at the buffet, MUCH higher quality food, and a MUCH nicer atmosphere, and much...