Bar Tabu — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I visited on a Sunday around 6pm. Let's get right into it.

The CONS: 1). The lighting in this place is horrible and makes me suspicious (you'll find out in the second con). I had to strain my eyes to read the menu. At first, I thought it was due to me coming in from outside where it was sunny but I noticed the table next to us was using their phone flashlight to read the menu. It makes me feel like I'm eating at a club. I don't know if that's the plan later on but you can afford to put a bit more lighting in the restaurant, my guy.

2). My friends should be glad I didn't stop by the bathroom before eating because I would have left immediately. If you thought the lighting was dim in the dining area, the bathroom area is worse. I had to pause for a brief moment to figure out what I was looking at. It felt like I was at a smoking lounge because they have a bunch of couches to sit on. They have about 7ish private bathrooms. The lighting still sucked in the bathroom which I expect at a club but not in a restaurant. I checked 2 bathrooms and both of them had sticky floors. It wasn't the freshly mopped stickiness either. I was too scared to turn on my phone flashlight to thoroughly investigate.

The PROS: 1). The staff is polite and nice! I was greeted and walked to the table. The server came shortly after to take my drink order. The bussers were good at whisking away plates no longer needed.

2). The food was good. We ordered the Queso Fundido as an appetizer and it was good. Tortillas seemed legit too but I couldn't figure out if they were made in house or bought. I ordered the burger as my main and it was delicious. The fries are amazing. I think it's the best fries I've had from a restaurant so far. The drinks were good as well.

3). Service was good. There was a lull where they stopped coming by and I needed my glass refilled with water but there were more people in the restaurant so I'm giving them the excuse that they were short staffed. After I requested more water, they did come by more to refill water.

4). With the exception of the lighting, the art and decor is Instagram cute.

5). I liked that my friends and I were able to talk to each other without shouting at each other because the restaurant music is too loud. There was a calm and chill vibe I liked.

I think parking might be a con as well. There is free street parking but it was a busy street so you might have to wait a while to find a spot. I ended up paying for parking to save myself the stress.

Would I come back again? Not anytime soon but most likely yes. I heard the rooftop is nice and the pitcher of Sangria looks deliciously dangerous so I would come back to experience those. If you have reached the end of this review, thank you and I...

I waited a few days to leave this review because trust, our server was so sweet, but the service itself was absolutely terrible. I want to begin by saying, the food was fine - I felt neither here nor there about it - you won't be disappointed but you won't be itching to come back either.

Three of us went for brunch on a Sunday & each of us ordered the margarita flight, which took almost 30 minutes to get to the table. Now, I understand flights are smaller versions than the drinks themselves but these were pretty much half filled shot glasses of margarita flavors that all tasted the same - for $24. Just avoid the flight altogether.

The main reason I am leaving this is because of the lack of table touching & customer awareness. Within 5 minutes after our three large trays with the flights & our appetizers arrived, the food runner came out with our meals. No one even remotely tried to clear anything off of our small tabletop, food was just being shoved onto the table where WE could put it, like a Tetris game. Between two of us barely eating 1/4 of our food & the amount of margarita "shots" that weren't finished on our table, you'd think someone would've asked at some point if everything was ok. We were never once asked if anything was wrong and a manager never touched the table for us to speak up. I understand that we could've said something to the server, but the truth is there wasn't anything wrong with the meal - it just wasn't worth eating at all.

The final straw for me was when the server dropped the check when we had a table FULL of appetizer dishes, margarita "shots" and brunch plates. When she brought our receipts to sign, I had to call her back over to ask her to clear the table so that we didn't have to sign our checks while holding the clipboards in the air. I'm sure that this sounds dramatic, but as someone who worked in hospitality for many years, one of the main rules we were always taught is that finished dishes should always be removed before new food comes out, but especially before the check is dropped on the table. If your busser can't get to it, you do it as the server.

I truly hope there is some lesson to be learned with this because it's sad to see this city sinking to such a low standard of service. It was something that used to be really emphasized at establishments like this. The potential is there, but there was much to be...

UPDATED REVIEW:

I had to come back to edit my review after I was invited back to the restaurant to give them another shot. I was not disappointed. This time around was very different. Food, service & drinks were wonderful. We had a lovely time! I really loved the crispy rice tacos & gnocchi truffle tacos! Incredible. Shrimp Po boy taco was good but the other two really stood out. The tortillas are very well made. We had several drinks all of which were very solid, good cocktails. We are so glad we got to give Tabu another try! Special thanks to Alejandra, our server, Pepe & David. We will be back with amigos!

Original 1 star review: I do not get the good reviews! I came because of the great reviews but could not believe what I wound up with. It must be all tourists? I cannot recommend this place. Let me start by saying I don't think I've ever given a one star review, but Tabu spent all their money on decor. Food & service was not good at all. Nachos were all show & tasted terrible. Super dry & broken up with a maraca.. ? Weird sweet flavors throughout. Yuck. The Lobster Flautas had the most unappetizing, absolutely flavorless white, cream sauce & the flautas were terribly overcooked. The lobster was practically disintegrated. The sauce & flautas did not match one bit. The elote fritters were also burnt, fried dough with barely any corn. Mostly oil & dough with hard overcooked corn kernels trickled in. It was really bad. Can't even remember my drink. Service was terrible. The dude could not be bothered & wouldn't even look us in the eye much less in our direction! It was some of the worst service I've had. I eat all over the world & was in the food & bev industry for 18 years. I know how it works. This place is in need of finding itself still possibly I don't know. Unfortunately nothing stood out & nothing to remember. Was extremely disappointed & will not be back. This was my birthday...