The Little Gem Cafe — Restaurant in Oak Park

I'm not complaining about the staff, nor the restaurant. I'm complaining about my groups dining experience and the limited quantity of food. In short myself and 3 other guests wanted to treat ourselves to the 4 course relaxed fine dining experience. Of course when we walked in we were instantly in love with the romantic atmosphere and sophistication. Myself and my boyfriend have family and friend that rave about this place. So obviously it's embarrassing to have to tell our friends and family it definitely wasn't what we expected. We waited over 10 minutes to get our drink order, understandable there was only 1 bartender from what we had seen. This gentlemen in a white cap (assuming manager/owner his presence seemed like someone that was in charge) came towards us and noticed we all weren't drinking and mad a comment about it and when he realized we were waiting on drinks he immediately went to the bar to take care of it. So we were like wooohoo he totally rescued us from being thirsty. After our appetizers we were informed that too many ppl ordered steaks so they didn't have anymore. Which sucked because 3/4 of us specifically wanted to do a steak dinner for valentine's day. We compromised and I went with the salmon. Which is was good, but definitely disappointed about it. I just feel like in the 10 minutes that we waited for drink and however long it took to eat the bread and then the appetizers that no one noticed that 3 entres for 1 table needed to be changed because they were out. I'm curious as to what point someone was prepping steaks for meals and then realized only a handful were left to start warning the serving staff. I'm not going to lie, I was extremely annoyed by this. Only because I've worked in the service industry for 5 years and I hosted, served, bartended and managed events so to me its a pet peeve that items were running low and the communication wasn't there. If I knew I wasn't going to be able to order a steak I honestly, would've gone somewhere else. Its not to offend anyone, but I really had my heart set on steak and the adjoining table raved about theirs. Our reservations were at 8:00pm but we were able to get seated at 7:30pm which was amazing. So between 7:30-8:30 we were unaware of our desired entrees no longer being available. But that not all. After the appetizers instead of getting our salads we received our entrees. In our servers defense he was not the one that brought them out, but as soon as he saw our entrees he immediately swooped in and cleared the table so that we could get our salads prior to entrees. Jaime, you're the best and I can't imagine how frustrating this was for you because you were on point, but there definitely was a lack of communication somewhere, because everything was just not going well. After that fiasco and finishing our dinner THEN we found out the dessert we wanted had run out as well. I mean seriously, seriously, seriously and seriously? You may say I'm being overdramatic, but come on. Our tab was almost 400 dollars and 2/4 things on the course list that we originally ordered couldn't be provided. This fine dining experience was not a good one. We were clearly upset, but just wanted to get out. You may call me selfish, but I mean you guys couldn't even buy us a round of drinks or come to the table and apologize. On your special evening menu it doesn't say while supplies last and finding out in the middle of courses that the next course is no longer available is outrageous. We placed our entire order before 8:00pm, it's not like we ordered each course as the meal progressed. Jaime, I'm sorry this negative review was not for you, you were great. I just feel like we got robbed, but what customer would be happy about everything you wanted on the menu running out just before you're supposed to be served it. I wish this local establishment a successful future only because I know so many people like it, but I won't be partaking...

Kinda nice little quaint place to happen-in-to, the food looks well prepared. I know I will try them for dinner on another occasion, however, today I was there mainly for the bar during the wonderful " Spring-Thaw Jazz " event in Oak Park on Saturday March 4th. So I did seat myself at the bar and- low & behold - got a snooty unprofessional amateur bar-maid; yeah the crabby chubby blonde one. She was unresponsive and inattentive, slow to greet guest and she appeared to be overwhelmed without reason. I think she was displaying some sort of tantrum, the bar has only a maximum of about 8 to 10 seats; three were empty when I arrived. lol! I ordered the house salad and a glass of cab. The wine arrived alone- no water, no bread, and no place- settings. After a while, I requested bread- hoping for some nice bread and butter to pair with the the wine as I waited; a long ten minutes had already passed since I ordered the salad. But Ms. Snooty drew visually perplexed by my request. She ostensibly released an very un-lady like snarl, as if bread and wine together was akin to ordering ketchup on a hot dog in Chicago. But it is not. That is something I am used to, without a special request at fine dining. The poorly trained bar-maid reluctantly mumbled okay, but still nothing ever arrived. I waited patiently another five minutes, by then the wiser of me grew kind of nervous about eating a 20 minute late house salad served by a snarling "Rosie" type- don't ya think? Therefore, I cancelled the food order. I continued conversations and sipped the nice wine; was treated to a nice song belted-out by the beautiful voice of one of my new friends; chatted with the others of the very nice group. We really had a great time; is difficult for snooty people to bring down Oak Park citizens when we are in a good mode; we were truly enjoying our neighborhood and the first festival of 2017. Finally, and quite unbelievably, while paying my check, Ms, Snooty returned to me, along with some bills, about two dollars in nickels. Yes! All nickels! Now, mature adults know what was going on there right? I hope she has a piggy bank for all those nickles to go with that snarl. She even tried to camouflage the passive insult with some pitiful explanation befitting her fast-food mentality. Alas! Well, we, all the people whom all just happened to be there at the same time fettered, and we all decided not spend any more coins with her, although one couple had already ordered an app so we waited until they devoured it; they raved about it too, Mussels in a white wine tomatoes sauce, just the scent told me what it was; I can tell it was great. But the attitude from this so-called bar maid overshadowed the moment. Her rudeness was noticeable and incongruous for the atmosphere. We stood pat with what we already had, finally leaving together and on to other venues participating in the festival; had plenty more drinks, food and great times. I am certain that reasonable people will join me in feeling sad knowing that bad employees can ruin what might be an important revenue night for their bosses. Restaurants come and go as it is in Oak Park and I think The Little Gem is potentially a great place. Also, knowing a little bit about the food service business, it is certain that a snooty bar maid won't last very long at a pricey fine restaurant; that would match-up to the 'ketchup on a hot dog' analogy. Truthfully this barmaid seemed far out of her league as far as quality and service goes anyway; but the owners might never know of such a bad employee if we all kept silent.

One thing to note, the others of the staff were truly very nice.

How about some bread and water with that Cabernet while your food is being...

Not a diamond in the rough...just rough. Save your money and go elsewhere! This had to be the worst dining experience I have ever had in Chicago or Oak Park.

I had read reviews about this place and was very excited to try it with our friends since my husband and I had moved to Oak Park from Chicago earlier this year. When we first arrived (1-2 MINUTES early for our reservation I might add not extremely early as the passive aggressive comments from the owner below implied), we requested an outdoor table and the host ignored my question and began walking me to a table indoors. We again inquired and were told there were none available and that they were "completely full tonight." There were at least 4-5 empty outdoor tables and OpenTable does not allow you to request in advance so this seemed very odd indeed.

We then proceeded to wait 30 minutes for water and to have the waiter take our order. It didn't seem like this restaurant had waitstaff and the men walking around taking orders seemed like they typically bused tables (having previously worked in the food service industry once upon a time this whole restaurant was strange). After waiting for 50 minutes we finally received a small bowl of bread (literally a ramekin dish with tiny slices of bread not a bread basket) and our drinks and my husband and I ordered a starter. There was also an anniversary party in the corner and while all of the tables around us waited for their dinner and drinks (no one was being served it seemed) they thought it appropriate to let this couple dance in the middle of the restaurant. Very strange, just rent out the venue...it was uncomfortable and frustrating since we did not get to eat or enjoy a meal out with our friends and felt like we were invisible in the middle of someone else's party.

Finally after 1.5 hours of waiting, we received our meal and the food was not worth the wait. My roast chicken was supposed to come with carrots and there were no veggies. I also paid an upcharge for truffle fries which arrived burnt and with no truffle on them. My husband and one of our friends ordered the shrimp scampi which was so salty and her husband ordered the risotto which tasted awful like watered down rice. Our waiter felt so terrible he offered us dessert on the house (thank you it's not your fault and we gave the one star just to the waiter) but this experience was so terrible and the food so icky we did not even stay for complimentary dessert. Save your $$$ and go elsewhere there are a lot of hidden gems and yummy places in Oak Park that have great service and are not overpriced. This place was awful and the owners seem rude and defensive when replying to customer complaints. As someone who previously worked in the industry and currently in business development and marketing that's not a way to do business! Please see below comments from the owner that’s not a way to address a dissatisfied customer especially the comment about people’s ethnicity just an awful, tone deaf and ignorant thing to imply or say to someone especially since my husband and friends we dined with are all minorities. And about me being bitter I am myself a newlywed as are our friends at the table with us and we all felt it was inappropriate. Please don’t spend your money here they are obviously not...