Cira — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

We loved every meal and drink at Cira but there were some weird vibes! Overall I'll definitely be back as I loved our stay at the Hoxton, but I'd love to provide some feedback.

There seemed to be some odd vibes for such an open space, a hostess was trying to intercept me from sitting at a small table that I had been sitting at for the last 3 days and spending thousands of dollars on my large party when I had a coffee from elsewhere in my hand and the dining room was completely empty. She said "How can I help you" and kind of stepped in my direction as I was beelining for a seat, I said "Oh, I'm a guest!" She said "Well how can I help you" and I said "Can I sit at this little table?" And she looked at me like I was crazy. It wasn't even IN the dining room, it was next to the lobby couch. Just very odd! Ultimately she let me sit there, but it felt like a weird hill to die on and didn't match the service we experienced elsewhere at the Hoxton. Not sure if there is some miscommunication between the hotel and the restaurant? Usually hotel lobbies have this quality about them that you can just sit and order and work while you travel, I didn't feel that at this lobby and that was a disappointment. I think more separation between the dining room and lobby area would be beneficial, or a more relaxed attitude on what each side of the space is.

On our first day our party's flights all got in at different times so we joined our group at their table and wanted to order some drinks and snacks to revive us. The waiter actively ignored my fiance a couple times to the point we were all laughing as it felt very intentional. The waiter took the order of everyone else and then skipped my fiance multiple times and turned away to help others. We had to call him back and say "excuse me you missed our friend here can we get xyz".

Coffee wasn't very good, foam was bubbly and it felt like someone newly trained on espresso vs. a barista. Compared to other Hoxton locations where coffee is a real highlight, the coffee was disappointing.

One bartender with dark hair whose name I didn't catch was AMAZING, he was so nice and even filled our water bottles for us for our museum day ahead in the heat. His service was fantastic, drinks were great, and he was so kind and helpful.

I'm not sure if y'all are currently understaffed, but this place has awesome potential and I hope you are able to work out the kinks. The ambiance, the food, and the drinks here...

The food was great, but service was awful. To preface, I like to think I am a patient person and give people the benefit of the doubt especially in the service industry. I am a nurse, and I empathize with being short staffed and running around for an entire shift, but my particular experience at Cira was unacceptable.

When my husband and I arrived, it took 5 minutes for a hostess to arrive at the hostess stand to seat us. Then, it took 20 minutes for a server to acknowledge us at our table. In this time, 2 more parties were seated next to us and they ordered drinks/food before we were even seen. I made eye contact with the server a couple times, but he did not seem to notice. I just told myself it was busy.

At the 15 minute mark, I asked the hostess if a server could see us because we haven't been seen yet. 5 minutes later, the server who was serving the tables next to us said he didn’t know who was supposed to serve us and that he would be our server for the day (even though it was clear he was serving the tables around us). We ordered our meal and got our first course when the server came back and asked, “Do you like to drink?” It was off-putting, but I figured it was his way of apologizing for our long wait. He never said sorry, but he stated we came to have a nice brunch, and he didn’t want that ruined. We got free drinks, and the server was prompt about bringing us the rest of our courses, but by the time we were ready to get the check, he was nowhere to be found.

It took us 15 minutes to flag him down for the check and then another 15 minutes to actually get him payment. My husband had to flag him down and hand it to him while he served other tables. It felt like our server thought he had done everything he needed to do by giving us free drinks, but in the end, he was just as inattentive as he was in the beginning, so it felt like he was not being genuine in his “apology.” I’ve never been to such a nice restaurant where I felt completely ignored, and I love going to places similar to this because the service is usually top notch. Again, the food was delicious, but the service overshadowed the...

The Cira Mezze Platter as an appetizer is a MUST-order item on the menu! This is especially for the hummus lovers out there because this was so freaking delicious with different dippings and veggie/bread. The platter is a large, shareable plate so I would suggest ordering this for 3+ people.

We also tried the Warm Stuffed Dates. These were good as well but a bit overwhelming with the amount of goat cheese. For our entrées, we ordered the Fire Roasted Chicken, Braised Leg of Lamb, and Pistachio Ravioli. The best tasting and value-worth entrée of the three we ordered was the Fire Roasted Chicken. The chicken was mainly bone-free, but still surprisingly very juicy, tender, and flavorful. It was seasoned very well with the balsamic garlic. The Pistachio Ravioli also lived up to its hype from other reviews in terms of taste. It was cooked to the right savory texture, but the ravioli pieces were rather small and would not have filled a single person up as an entrée on its own.

However, the Braised Leg of Lamb was very lackluster plate. Although the Lamb was tender, it was very bland that the gamey taste was overwhelming. For a main dish that was over $25, it was not worth the money. The flavor was not there. The various cocktails that we tried were not that great either. They sounded fancy but I'd say too pricey for how they tasted. The Warm Pistachuo Cookie dessert did save the night though! It was the perfect sweetness and warmth to be eaten with vanilla ice cream.

Ambiance: We came here on a early Friday night but the lobby music was very loud. The lighting was set to a good ambiance but the music was way too loud. We could barely hear each other talk without raising our voices.

If I was asked if I would come back / recommend this place, I would say this place is worth a try. Majority of the food tasted...