Adelle's Modern Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Wheaton

Last night I had the New Year’s Eve dinner with some friends, and I really hate to say it, but it was a very disappointing experience.

My appetizer was crab-stuffed mushroom caps (they came out 50 minutes after we were seated, and the dining room was at half capacity), and that was probably the biggest mistake of my evening. At first I was thinking about the jumbo shrimp cocktail, and the four at my table who ordered them said they were excellent. The crab-stuffed mushroom caps, however, looked terrible and tasted very dry and fishy, neither hot nor cold, which is what happens when things like this get prepped early in the day only to sit out way too long. I personally would have been embarrassed as the owner of a restaurant to serve such a substandard appetizer at any price.

In defiance considering the money I was dropping on this dinner, I managed to choke down the first two, then gave up and left the last one. I would’ve complained, but our waitress (friendly enough) was obviously at the end of a long and difficult day. I thought maybe I just had bad luck, but after speaking with the other individual at my table who ordered the same appetizer, he agreed: the consensus between us was they were absolutely horrible.

For my main course I had the grilled airline chicken breast. It was very moist, delicious, and still hot from the kitchen. I enjoyed the grilled root vegetables, but for the money I was spending, I would’ve expected a lot more on my plate than 3/4 cup of some of the cheapest food items per pound you can buy. The gravy was just average.

My dessert was carrot cake, and it was flat, dense, and tasted like too much baking soda had been added. The glaze was a common powdered sugar frosting, with little (or no) cream cheese.

Some of us took a chance on one of the lower-end bottles of mixed red (Gen5 Ancestral), and found it to be very good, if not excellent.

I have been to Adelle’s previously for happy hour appetizers and drinks (pre-covid), and I found the service to be excellent, and the food way above average, especially for the price, and so I can only conclude, based on the more favorable reviews that I’ve read, that Adelle’s simply suffers from a consistency of quality issue.

After this experience, I don’t think I’ll be able to muster the courage to venture back. It could’ve been a wonderful holiday dinner for me, one that I would’ve raved about to my friends, but the food was just so far below the price point, that it will stick in my memory for a long time as a most unpleasant dinner.

To be 100% fair, a few at my table enjoyed their meals very much, and from what I gathered it was the 8 ounce steak (an extra $20) that was the hit of...

Our friends and family hosted our baby shower at Adelle's a few weeks ago, and I don't have anything but great things to say! Obviously, I cannot speak to what normal dinner service is like, but our experience was wonderful. Remarkably, there is no room fee to host an event. They do have a 25 guest minimum, but we had a few people cancel last minute (cold and flu season). Rather than not letting us use the space, they just charged us for the three fewer people, but we got to take their meals home so it wasn't like we were paying for nothing. I will also say that I was worried about possible train noise because the restaurant is right on the train tracks. I'm sure trains went by, but I didn't hear or notice anything at all! They also have their own parking lot on the side and there are metered spots in front, so there was more than ample parking for our guests' needs.

My best friend said that working with the staff at Adelle's was top notch from beginning to end. They made everything very easy for the shower. My mom dropped off decorations the night before and the staff put everything out for no extra charge. There was no fee for cutting the cake for us. The wait staff was attentive but never overbearing. The event room is beautiful and cozy - it was absolutely perfect for our shower!

They have a very generous menu of meal options to choose from, and you get to select a soup or salad and an entree (which also includes entree salads, quiche, or more traditional meat and pasta options). Everything comes with warm, delicious bread and butter.

For our first course, we chose the salad with field greens, strawberries, oranges, goat cheese crumbles, toasted almonds, and raspberry vinaigrette for the salad. It was so tasty! For the entree, we selected the parmesan crusted chicken breast with grilled asparagus, cheddar mashed potatoes, onion strings, and tomato butter sauce. The chicken was tender and juicy, the asparagus was cooked perfectly, and the mashed potatoes were anything but flavorless.

All and all, if you're looking to host a small get together in the western suburbs, I would highly recommend Adelle's. I'm excited to visit again sometime for dinner the next time I'm in town...

Extremely disappointed with our visit with Adelle's (not so) Fine American Fare.

After finding Adelle's online and reading about the owner and chef, as well as viewing the amazing looking photos of the food...we were excited and looking forward to treating ourselves to an above average dining experience to celebrate my 61st birthday.

We started with shareables of Portobello Mushroom Fries and the Duck Confit Gnocchi which were actually quite good...but the entrees were so far below expectations that I would rate them closer to zero stars. That is how I got all the way up to my 2 star rating.

I ordered the Pork Tenderloin Schnitzel. The presentation left much to be desired. It looked as though it had all been slopped onto a plate and tossed in a microwave. The plate itself was hot while the food on it was not. The tenderloin was honestly the least tender loin I believe I have ever had. Difficult to cut through with the knife and a chore to chew. The crispy pan fried egg-herb spätzle was completely void of any noticeable flavor. The braised red cabbage was bland and if that is where the granny smith apple had been placed, any sign of it either in site or taste had evaporated.

My girlfriend had Adelle's Meatloaf. Overly dry and there may have been an entire thimble full of the mushroom Bordelaise sauce hidden underneath. The rest of her plate looked as though it had been served from a high school lunch room.

And we made the silly decision to have desserts.

It was just a shame. Whoever plated the dinners and desserts in the photographs on the website was definitely nowhere near Adelle's last night.

I do not feel it is the least bit unreasonable to expect the food to resemble the way it was presented in the photos on the website.

It was a major major let down to what we were led to believe we would be served at Adelle's, in presentation, preparation, and taste.

The wise move, in hindsight, would have been to send both entrees back and have them removed from the bill.

The likelihood of us giving Adelle's another try is not at all, unless it were entirely complimentary.

Sometimes you don't get what...