Bloom Plant Based Kitchen — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

-Edited review-

My partner and I were invited personally to try Bloom again in hopes that we would have a better experience this time, and we definitely did.

The server was very helpful and knowledgeable and had very useful suggestions about the menu. This time we had the turnip appetizer, the kebab, and the tomato omelette. Out of the 3, the turnip app was definitely the most impressive. It had a perfect blend of flavors and just the right amount of crunch. My omelette was pretty good as well, and honestly filling too but in just the right way. My only complaint was about the kebab. I feel like this establishment maybe just has a very particular idea of how they do their imitations but once again the “meat” was just kind of mushy and the texture was somewhat unsatisfying. To be completely fair, we were offered to switch to another dish so it was my partners personal choice not to but that definitely was not the best dish on the menu. Once again, everyone was very sweet and the manager talked to us personally after our meal and invited us to experience their dinner sometime as well. Overall, I’m very impressed with the commitment to making sure guests don’t leave with a poor experience at the place and it seems like the table next to us was just as happy with the place (to the point of calling it the best place in the city). Thank you Bloom, for helping us have a better experience.

-Original Review (3 stars) -

This review is coming after my second time at Bloom. My partner and I enjoyed our first time, but were disappointed with this visit. For context, we’re both vegan, so any sentiments about the food are in relation to vegan food we’ve tried elsewhere or have made ourselves.

The good: The stuffed French toast was delicious (although expensive for the relatively small portion size), the truffle fries were great, and they comped our drinks due to some mistakes— which leads us to…

The not good: The first thing was the service. Our server seemed maybe new, and there was a bit of a language barrier, both of which I entirely understand and am sympathetic of— until it significantly impedes one’s ability to perform their job, which in this case, it did.

For starters, we ordered lattes. We tried to ask about flavor syrups for the lattes, but our server didn’t seem to understand our question. They also didn’t ask about plant milk preference. To top it all off, they, for some reason, thought we asked for “latte americanos”, a drink that doesn’t exist. A latte and an americano are two different drinks. We ended up receiving americanos, and had to send them back and clarify, multiple times, that what we wanted were lattes and not americanos. The mistake itself wasn’t a huge deal, but the amount of clarifying we needed to do when our sever “thought we wanted americanos” was frustrating, when we never even used the word americano when we first ordered. I understand that in other countries they might have different names for coffees, but it took us pointing at the menu where it simply and boldly says “LATTE” for the server to finally grasp what we wanted.

Then there’s the food. As I said, the stuffed French toast was delicious, but again, it was a pretty small portion. My dining companion was still hungry after eating it, and when it’s listed as a main course, I feel that shouldn’t really be the case. I got the smash burger, and found it really underwhelming. The patty was more of a paste than an actual patty with form and texture. Overall it was a dry and bland experience, and I left it unfinished.

Lastly, our lattes— when we finally did get them, were just bad. I did not finish that either.

Overall, I’m always glad for the existence of a plant based restaurant, but Bloom seems to be more style than substance, and is too inconsistent for me...

Going into the restaurant, it was a cozy, decorated place. We were allowed to sit wherever, and picked an inviting seat at the bench. The menu could be found on a QR code, which I personally do not usually like, as I do not often have a phone on hand. But almost every other aspect of the restaurant made up for this. The staff offered to put our tables together, so as to sit next to each other and easily read the menu off of one phone screen. The staff was kind, and talkative. The menu was labeled with what was gluten free, which was almost everything. Our waitress quickly assured us that they had a dedicated gluten free fryer.

When I asked about their non-alcoholic drinks, I was intrigued by the sound of the ‘pineapple drink’. It was a perfect balance of bitter and sweet, and complimented the flavors of the meal wonderfully.

The first thing we ordered was the Endive Salad. It was plated beautifully, with thin slices of green apple on the top. The sweet candied pecans and golden raisins went perfectly with the fun, tangy dressing. I expected the endive to be bitter, however it was not whatsoever, and it added a perfect amount of crunch to the salad. I simply could not get enough of the pecan, and kept searching under my lettuce for more.

The other thing we ordered for the first course was Turnip Causa. I had no idea what this would be like. It turned out to be a crispy potato, covered in pickled pink turnip, and wrapped in seaweed. It was also plated beautifully, it a sort of wooden tray. The turnip was quite spicy, but the crunchy potato was cooling, so all of the flavors balanced well together. The vegan caviar reminded me of some kind of savory boba.

Everything moved almost too fast, so just as we were eating our first dish, our next ones came out. Our second course started with the Barbecue Ranch Flatbread. My first thought when I saw it was about how bright and colorful it was. The red tomato, the purplish pickled onions, the green basil. There were so many flavors, and they blended very well together. My favorite part was the fluffy bread. My mom said that she would not be able to tell if it was gluten free or not. I think that the sourness of the onions was necessary to balance with the sweetness of the rest of it.

The final thing that we tried was the Sun-Dried tomato sashimi. The crispy rice ball in the middle added nice texture the the “fish” which was actually made of a tangy tomato paste, made to resemble fish. The creamy truffle avocado sauce was the perfect thing to tie it all together.

For dessert, we ordered the Ube Cheesecake. Upon going there I did not know what ube is, and was surprised to see the bright purple dessert being placed upon the table. It was not extremely similar to cheesecake, but was more like three delightful mini puddings. I loved the crispy popcorn on the top, which was coated in lightly burnt sugar, which gave it a taste like crème brûlée. The freeze-dried blueberries added some necessary texture to the creamy cake. I thought it could have used more of the fruity sauce, and that it could have had at least one element that was a bit tangy, for the cheesecake was quite sweet overall.

We were a bit rushed out, and we were definitely asked if we were finished with a half eaten plate of salad eat least three times. As gluten free (and vegan!) restaurants go, this one was probably one of the best I’ve been to.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Four out of four stars!) -...

The best meal of my life both in food and service. So phenomenal that of my four nights in town to enjoy food I ended up spending two of them here. The first night I went with my meat-loving partner and it was among the best meals he has ever had too. To quote him: “If this is our plant-based future, I’m in!” Everything is bursting with complex flavor!

We had the beet tart (I don’t even like beets and it was the dish I will continue to dream of, the smoky funky cheesiness is incredible), turnip causa (another just astounding dish starring an ingredient that rarely gets to be the star), sun-dried tomato sashimi, summer Alfredo, crispy oysters, crab cake (partner said it was the best crab cake he’s ever eaten and he loves crab cake and has never had one without actual crab in it before), and the fruit cobbler (baked for you, soft sweet peaches, green apple that keeps the essence of crispness, it sounds simple but it is glorious). When I went back the next night, I had the cheese board, the beet tart again (I couldn’t leave without tasting that again!), and the passion fruit cheesecake. Everything was excellent, but we felt like the entrees were short-changed a little, as if they had come first we would have raved, but instead they stood in the shadow of some truly life changing appetizers. (NOT a suggestion that they do anything different, just letting you know to savor the pure magic before you progress to the “merely” amazing.) Top 3 were the beet tart, turnip causa, and fruit cobbler, but I don’t think you can pick wrong here.

Service was great and I was impressed and grateful about how gracious the chef was about accommodating my additional sensitivity (onions, a hard one). Staff was happy to let me know about ingredients and communicated clearly about what could be made to work for me and what could not. They even adjusted a couple dishes so I could eat them! Given how much work has obviously gone into the design of the meal, this floored me - I never would have asked for more than leaving something off the top - and the modified dishes were excellent. It meant so much to me to be treated as a valued guest rather than an imposition.

Oh and our first meal (until we started adding things) was the Tuesday dinner deal - 2 starters, 2 entrees, 1 dessert for $75 - which is a steal for this level of restaurant! Would be a bargain at $75 each frankly.

Just blown away on every level about how great this restaurant is. We were in town from Minneapolis and are telling everyone we know that it’s worth taking a...