Mott St — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Where do I began. Had heard all the great things about this place from my friend, who is a well known Chicago and world wide non influencer. I say that because she doesn’t get paid to do it. Well the night started off very bad as we had a 9:45 reservation and got there at 9:55pm (due to Lollapalooza traffic). While in route I pulled up Open Table, as I know they give a a 15minute grace period for arrivals, to let them know we were running behind due to this and I got a message from that nights assistant manager convincing us to come in earlier. I replied back that we couldn’t as we had prior plans and that was our time and we would be in shortly. Arrived and was told to sit at the bar which was odd but we rolled with it as we were hungry. The female bartender lead, nastily let us know that we had 6minutes to order. I was shocked as we already were seated at the bar for our dinner reservation and now she is being rude, but ok we are hungry. We order everything with haste as she is obviously ready to go. There was a big puddle of water on the bar and the guy bartender just gazed at us without any greeting and continued talking to his coworker as he was finished for the night. A older gentlemen runner was kind and saw this and wiped it off. We ordered everything in 6min and everything was good, the fire chicken was exceptionally awesome, but the papaya salad tasted like someone cut the Papaya and didn’t put in the right marinate(dressing) it was bland and horrible. Becca was amazing and saved the day because the service we got from the female bartender lead was nasty and very Mean Girl style, if you know what I mean. Then after 40min of eating the over $200 worth of food we ordered in 6min, we were rushed by the Mean Girl to pay and she turnt the lights up on us and wished us a goodnight lol. My thing is this, don’t come to work if you don’t want to be there, also do not have a 9:45pm reservation if you don’t want to seat people at a table. This was one of the most bizarre experiences I have had at a restaurant here in Chicago. I called back the next week spoke to Marcel who agreed and was very upset about what I told him and he let me know it would be addressed . He also invited us back in for dinner on the restaurant, I was hesitant but agreed. This happened 8/3/2024. About 2 weeks after the incident I called to come back in and was told that Marcel had been fired for drinking expensive liquor, and getting drunk behind the bar while at work and giving away drinks at the bar. I was so confused and shocked. So they wouldn’t be honoring anything he said per management. So I ask to speak to one of the owners and called back for almost a week and half before I got a return call today from one of the owners, the guy, who was very nice and also agreed it was wrong and told me they had addressed it. He let me know although he could not take care of us entirely, he would give us 25% off because that’s how much the employees get and I declined as this restaurant is just too much for us to deal with again. Although he was very nice and listened to my story over which he let me know he was aware of. I don’t know what is going on here, but seems like a beautiful space and food could be great which I’m sure the Real head chef was not there that night, but just ran unprofessionally, obviously. Moral is Do Not Make a Late Reservation and don’t sit at the bar unless you want Mean Girl service, but honestly Becca is amazing sit there if she is...

From the start to finish, it was quite a pleasant dining experience. The atmosphere, food and overall service was spot on. The interior is pretty rustic, most notable thing inside were the lights. Surprisingly, from the outside, you'd imagine a bigger space, but it's pretty cramped inside. The tables don't have much space on them, due to plates, utensils, etc. I find that space could be saved if utensils were brought out later for each dish, instead of already on the table; however, that's just my personal opinion. First item was Kalbi & Eggs. The meat was very tender, very juicy and perfectly seasoned. The kimchi hash that accompanied it was, surprisingly, very flavorful. The side of cauliflower was very bland. I was expecting it to be tangy or have some sort of vinaigrette. It was literally just blanched cauliflower and some other vegetables mixed together, not seasoned whatsoever. Next item was the Boat Noodles. I was expecting wider/thicker noodles, but was pleasantly surprised by thin rice noodles, thinner than vermicelli. The meat served with it literally melted in my mouth, it was braised very well. Moving on to the next dish, the Pork Belly Benedict. This is a sheer matter of opinion and it's pretty skewed, due to the fact that I decided to partake in the Boat Noodles first. The English muffin ended up being very soggy because my friend and I had left it there. The Boat Noodles and Pork Belly Benedict arrived at the same time. I made the decision to eat the noodles first because I didn't want them to get bloated. Had I known that the noodles were so thin, I would've left it and would've eaten the pork belly prior. I couldn't really make out the taste of it, but it wasn't bad tasting, that's for certain. The egg was perfectly poached and still very runny, even after being left to sit for a while. After so many savory dishes, we had the Cherry Bourbon Toast. It tasted perfectly good without the sauce that's served on the side. It didn't add much to the overall flavor of the dish. I ordered a side of longanisa and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. In my honest opinion though, they could have mixed a bit more fat into it, to give it a deeper profile. Finally, to end the meal, we ordered the Kimichi Fried Rice. This is the only item on the menu that we ordered that we didn't like. It wasn't bad but wasn't good either. We both admitted that we could've probably done better at home. The rice never got crispy, even when left to sit in the bowl. It also didn't come with any gochujung (spicy paste), which was a big let down. Again, overall experience left a good enough impression on me that I'd go back to try...

Great draw with a beautiful venue and a cool hipster-vibe and a bare-bulb lit patio right along Ashland brought me in. A glance at the menu suggests a thrilling combination of ideas drawing on numerous asian and latin cuisines with a hint of American influence. We ordered steamed pork dumplings, imperial rolls, mentaiko kimchi udon, pork jowl, and gai lan. In order; the pork dumplings had good flavour but the wrappers were not as delicate as I would expect, it was like they didn't roll the edges thin enough so when they brought them together it became chewy and doughy. The imperial rolls were served with lettuce, bean sprouts, and mint; the bean sprouts weren't Frenched and the lettuce was rather unwieldily sized to the point where we tore off chunks to make it reasonable to wrap. The udon was quite creamy and thick with a mild spice flavor which, in my admission I didn't expect because I was not familiar with mentaiko style noodles so I can't fault them for this but I was hoping for a spicy, light seafood flavor and I got something closer to udon mac and cheese with bonito flakes. The pork jowl lacked the dark char I was hoping for and came off more like an al pastor taco filling on a plate served with a quarter of a cabbage than a well executed wrap. All those aside, the gai lan was perhaps the biggest offender of missed execution to me. When I read 'wok smoked gai lan with eggplant, cashew, and oyster sauce' I'm looking for a brightly green charred gai lan with a mix of small eggplant pieces, cashew bits, and an even coating of a rich seafood or mushroom seasoned sauce accompanied by a delicious ephemeral wok hei; what was served was nothing like the above. The gai lan was bright green but lacked any semblance of char, the eggplant was sizable and, while well cooked, totally out of place due to the size of the chunks, and instead of a light coating of a rich umami sauce the entire plate was drowned in a very sweet sauce that completely overpowered any notion of wok hei that may have existed. Maybe I had a one-off bad experience, but for me those great ideas and fusion flavours I saw on the menu just did not actualize in my meal and the execution I hope for in a moderately expensive meal just was not there. That said, the front of house was very well run and they were quite attentive to water levels on a hot day. I'll keep Mott St on my radar because I think it has potential but I'll give it some time as it left a...