Bambola — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

In short, the atmosphere is stunning, the food is great, but there were some quirks with our service and the menu organization that need to be figured out to take this restaurant to the next level.

Atmosphere: The Turkish influence is very apparent in the ambiance of the restaurant: there's ornate tiling, tropical plants, glass chandeliers, and dim lighting. A stunningly beautiful space in a great location; you don't feel like you're in Chicago when you enter.

Drinks: I got the Coconut Sour which was pretty good. The smoky Mezcal takes over in the flavoring, making it hard for me to pick up on the other flavors listed (coconut, yuzu, lemon). My partner got the Turkish Coffee Pot which came in a traditional serving vessel. It looked amazing, but very hard to drink and lacked any flavors other than cinnamon and watered down coffee. I would recommend for Bambola to make this drink served table side, where the waitperson pours the liquor from the coffee pot into a glass with ice, and then top it with the spices.

Food: My partner and I split three mezzes (Kefte, Tzatziki, and Calamari). The Kefte and Tzatziki were amazing- I would change nothing about it. The Calamari was good as well, but there was a good amount of crumbled feta on top which fell off as you picked up each piece of Calamari. The feta seemed more interested in just tying the dish to Turkish or Mediterranean cuisine rather than serving a functional purpose. Pictured as well was the Gnocchi with octopus, Tikka Masala, and lobster butter. It was a good portion for the price and had great flavor. I wouldn't change anything about this dish. Not pictured was the Crispy Saffron Biryani (will explain why later), which was a fair portion of rice with a small amount of eggplant and other vegetable. The saffron flavor wasn't present, as was most of the other ingredients the menu promised us. It ended up being a chewy, crunchy plate of basmati rice.

Service: Unfortunately, we had a less-than perfect service experience. We began by ordering drinks and the three mezzes. Once we wanted more food, we decided to go with the Gnocchi and Biryani. Our point of confusion came from the placement of the Biryani on the menu, as well as the description. On the menu, the Biryani is placed next to items such as steak kabobs and pasta dishes, making it seem like it would be a substantial enough amount of food for an entree. The dish also stated that there would be eggplants, dates, and chickpea masala. We asked our waitress for these two items, and then she stated that the Biryani is a "big plate of rice." I assumed she meant that it would be substantial enough for us to split, so we ordered it. However we were confused as to what she was saying about the dish, so we had her come back and explain that the dish was "just a plate of rice-" with only a tiny bit of eggplant and chickpeas in it. We asked to cancel the rice, but she said that she "had already put the order in and that the kitchen works fast" and had "warned me that it was going to just be a plate of rice." This couldn't have been more than 10 seconds after she put the order in, but she insisted that we don't cancel the rice and that I was in the wrong about the confusion. We brought up the issue with the manager, who kindly took the item off of our bill once we explained the discrepancy. This was an odd point of confusion that was handles well by the manager but not the server.

Pricing: After eating, we received the bill but noticed that we were overcharged $6 for the three mezzes. On the menu, the mezzes are organized by "hot" and "cold," and at the top it states you can either pay $12 for 1 or $30 for 3. We assumed this was across both kinds of mezzes, but since we ordered 1 cold and 2 hot, we were charged the full amount of $12/each. They need to make it clear that you can only order three of the same kind of mezze to be charged the discounted price. You are also charged a 3.5% "credit card fee," which just seems very out of place for a restaurant in this price range; I would expect that from a...

TLDR: Mediocre food (Do NOT get the gnocchi. It's bad), slow service, lacking identity, and iffy cocktails.

I'm really bummed. I live in the area and saw the concept as really interesting. We came for restaurant week, which immediately meant our server would take no interest in us as (and this is from industry experience) the assumption is the bill won't inflate. Our server took that mantra to heart. The other staff seemed absolutely phenomenal (hostess and busser). I will say...our server did have 8 tables in his section all at once, during the second turn, on a Friday night. This reflects poorly, perhaps, on the management.

A pre-coursed meal, that should have taken about 1.5hrs, took nearly 2.5hrs.

We began with drinks (the highball was good, wine was good, my martini had a gross amount of olive oil in it). Our waiter asked what we wanted for restaurant week, took our menus, and that's arguably the last we saw of him (save for 3 more times?). The majority of our party of 4 had 2 drinks during a 2+ hour meal. Only one of us had 3.

First course comes out, and it's awesome! I mean, it's not five star quality, but it's yummy! We got the babaganoush, hummus, and the two salads. It came out quickly, and we honestly felt quite full.

....thirty to forty(?) minutes later, our entrees arrive? During the wait, we were asked one time if we wanted a drink. Our waiter had no intention of attempting to add extra purchases to our bill. Had he, he may have realized most of us are pretty lavish eaters that would have gone off menu and love drinking. Chicken kabobs seemed good for those in our party who got them. The gnocchi was absolutely terrible. No flavor. Dense. My friend and I couldn't even eat our orders (I'm going to try again at home).

And... Another... Thirty to forty minutes later, dessert. I actually asked for the bill beforehand, and he said "oh wait, your dessert is on the way" not realizing that I knew that, said I knew that, and still wanted the bill just to be done right away. We were falling asleep at the table. No water, no cocktails, and no service other than the world's kindest busser boxing things up. I will say the portion sizes were excellent for the price... Dessert was yummy! I just couldn't finish because I was barely awake. I wanted to try another place nearby, but after this nonsense, we were all just drained.

Then comes the bill, and as somebody who lives in the city, I expect high prices. So just a heads up, there's an 18% service charge added to your bill automatically. Again, as somebody from the industry, I absolutely believe staffers at restaurants should receive fair compensation, though this is a much longer conversation haha. It claims it's for fair wages and benefits... They still provide a line to tip. I would say just ask your server where it all goes. ( Some restaurants give it directly to waiters, some to the entire staff in something "tip pool adjacent"... Who even knows).

This place just isn't worth it. To me, even if the service was bad, the food could have saved it. Or, the drinks could have salvaged something. I sincerely hope something better takes its place. Or, I guess, I hope they turn it around? Please, get rid of the gnocchi and find a different vegetarian...

I tend to like this restaurant group. They do a beautiful job as far as design. The food was good for the most part with the exception of a couple things weren't. The ribeye was fantastic. The service is just a HOT MESS. I arrived before my party and had a drink at the bar. My party arrived and I told the hostess and she said they ran out of menus so we waited. It was originally 6 but ended up only being 4 which I thought my friend had changed prior. So they seated us at a large round table. We were fine but said if the smaller one next to us a four top is cleaned we'd like it. Moments later a guy moved us and made new place settings. Then moments later a woman who I believe was a manager but looked like she was running errands with hair pulled up in a knot and jeans on with her cell in her back pocket rudely comes up and says did you guys just decide to move yourself. I was like no a gentleman moved us do you think we went and got our own place settings and water. Then the server comes up and says the manager told me you said I moved you. I was like no I told her a guy did and I said it doesn't matter and maybe this is why your yelp rating is low because this is a mess. Then throughout the entire dinner drinks came one at a time and took 20 minutes or more at a time and when we said anything she just said we're doing the best we can. Then food items we ordered never came and when we said something she would be like oh I dunno maybe it's up there let me check.. They were also just not knowledgeable. I asked for a Montenegro amaro and she had no idea what I was talking about. Like I stated earlier I generally like this group and I do frequent a couple of the other places. They do nickel and dime you though. The fee for the cc is annoying and some of the other policies. A different manager did walk us over the Kashmir the club adjacent to the restaurant and it was a very pretty bar with good music and drinks. At over a 500 dollar tab for four people and 17 dollar drinks with not much booze and the fees I likely won't be back to Bambola. The space is beautiful so I wish them and Cocettes luck because they are going to need it since it was a Saturday night they weren't that busy and the staff was as I said...