Nettare — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

All around an incredible meal and experience. From the moment you walk in, everything is perfectly curated from the decor/lighting/plants throughout to the beautiful menus. We sat at the chef’s counter for a birthday and had a stunning meal with wonderful cocktails. The food is all sourced from farms in the region which comes through in every way — the freshness and quality of ingredients, the passion of the team, and seasonality of the dishes.

We ate and loved the eggplant, radish butter, latkes, duck special, cantaloupe special, panzanella, gooey butter cake, gooey butter cake ice cream, and grape ice cream. I can’t just mention one or two things because they were all so insanely delicious. We both noted that it was all perfectly seasoned and flavorful, and we left our first visit knowing exactly what we’d want to try when we return again soon (has to be soon since the menu changes depending on ingredients!). The entire team is great and John, Dave, and Eric were all kind enough to answer a plethora of questions from those of us at the chef’s counter.

I’ve told tons of people about Nettare already and some have already come in and raved about it to me afterward. It will be a staple for us — can’t wait to come back for Wednesday burger night!

From the street, Nettare is unassuming and may even look like a nice shop; You have no idea what a treat you’re in for before you enter, so...

the good: beef belly the bad: walleye, leg of lamb the unremarkable: burnt ends, green beans

Nettare is the kind of place you want to be great, w/ a seemingly ingredient-driven, focused menu that features both some bolder flavor combinations and pared down dishes that you’d hope suggest an appreciation for great technical execution as well

Unfortunately, the actual outcomes are pretty lacking - a profoundly overcooked leg of lamb was almost inedibly dry, while a well-cooked, crispy walleye was disappointed by blandness in its flavorless brodo sea. The burnt ends are good but unremarkable w/ a fairly flat sweetness, and the potential for more complex flavor in the green beans is drowned out by a too-heavy hand w/ salt (and the surprising decision to not trim the ends). The one highlight was the beef belly: perfectly cooked to a crispy exterior while maintaining interior tender succulence, paired against a vibrant green garlic sauce. The portion sizes don’t help matters when it comes to justifying the cost per plate, but are still reasonable if only the food was of higher quality

Service was fine - maybe a bit slow and a touch underattentive on water refills, but nothing that would’ve been notable if not for the 20% autograt that would make you hope for service that’s slightly better...

Came for the happy hour to find out it was a $3 savings on the drinks and the food was a few bucks off or half...not really a happy hour. On the first page they did disclose that there will be a 20% gratuity added to pay there staff a living wage, wish that was on the website, but happy to know on the 1st page and good for them. The service for me is what killed it for me. I went with my friend and we both ordered the trout salad and then we ordered the latke and roll. Shortly after placing the order and receiving our drinks we were told the rolled was discontinued...ordered another latke. Our salad was delivered and only till my friend notice there was no fish, the server who was also our bar tender said,"oh we don't have the fish." I asked why didn't you say something to us and let us find out there was no fish?" I asked for the manager and he was also the manager. He did find a sokution so that we had a protein and did not charge us. Service was subpar for me considering I was already paying 20% in gratuity. The food was good but it over shadow due to the service from the manager/bartender/server who seemed shocked at my frustration. Enjoy the atmosphere as it feels like you walked into another world that is...