Ada Street — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Ada is a gem in the industrial district of Noble Square. The upside is that there is plenty of parking right outside. They just started serving up brunch and you do not want to miss it! They are currently accepting reservations for their brunch hours which are on Sundays 11am-2pm. I booked a table the night before without a hitch so that was a plus. The hostesses are all super friendly and nice. I arrived at 10:45am but since they do not open until 11am, I waited in the hallway. The hallway was a little dark for my liking. My eyes needed to adjust, it felt like it was night-time even thought it is 11am in the morning. Same thing for the bathroom. It is so dark, I can barely see myself in the mirror.

However, as soon as I was taken to the dining area, the environment was much more open and the lighting was much better. I was seated at the bar while I was waiting for my friend to arrive. Chatted up with the bartender who was really cool and down to earth. It was actually nice to catch a glimpse of how the restaurant is without any other customers. I was just soaking it all in. I really like that their restaurant kitchen is open and you can see them cooking/prepping the food. Each of the tables is decorated beautifully with a vase of flowers, simple yet very classy.

They offer bottomless coffees for $5 - great deal and it's also quite tasteful. Their dishes are meant to be shared so they are on the smaller side. I went with a friend and we ordered the chilaquiles and cured salmon and it was more than enough. But then again, we were not super hungry so you may need to order more if you're there with a big appetite. The salmon was definitely a favorite.

I can't wait to return to check out...

Let me start out this review by saying that we have been to Ada St multiple times, and usually LOVE everything about it. But, recently we hosted my husband's company Christmas party there, and they booked us out on the patio in December. They said that it was closed and heated, so we thought we'd be ok. The day of the event, we got a message to tell people to wear a light layer. When we arrived at the event, everyone had to keep their winter jackets on, we could all see our breath, and the heaters were not doing the job. We requested more heaters, but they had none. The patio was covered, but there were parts of the covering that were completely open to the air, so it felt like most of the heat escaped. On top of this, they apologized for understaffing our party at the beginning, admitting they didn't have enough staff on hand, which caused the service to be slow for the first hour and a half. While we appreciated their apology, it didn't change the fact that our efforts to treat people to a fancy holiday celebration for their hard work did not pan out. We made the best of it, but we were all very cold. When the food did come, it was very good as usual. For small groups or date nights, this place is a big win, but our advice is not to book the patio in the winter. I'm still confused as to why it's even an offering for them given how the night went. Anyway, there were multiple apologies made, but no efforts to comp any of the large bill or make it right in any other way. We think you can do a little better Ada Street, because you usually do! What happened? Very confused and...

Odd place. We made a reservation 2 months in advance. We sat at the bar for Valentine's Day. We were both really excited about the menu, until we got there and there was a "special menu" that only had about 8 options in total for $60/person (which we were told we had to choose from since it was a holiday). The first course salad was not good, it came with goat cheese, which we asked to substitute parmesan, so instead they delivered with no cheese and the server that delivered insisted that we said no cheese, even though she didn't take the order. Then an employee came up to us while we were eating the salad and asked us to leave because there was a "time limit" at the bar. I had to go back and forth to explain to him we had a reservation and had been there for less than 10 minutes. Finally after telling us to leave for 3-4 minutes, he turned around and started telling the bartender how awkward the conversation was. Ugh, hello, we're right here listening?

The second and third course were okay despite the salmon coming out nearly raw, but by that point we were annoyed by the whole thing and just wanted to get the dinner over with - the experience was uncomfortable.

Overall, I wouldn't return and I would not recommend the restaurant to anyone. The service was unpleasant, food was just okay, and wound up being a tiny menu that we didn't sign up for....