New to Reddit. If I don’t do this right, someone please let me know. My friend showed me some posts on the fine dining Reddit that were trashing Alinea. Honestly got me kind of upset because I went last spring and it’s the best meal I’ve ever had. Came here to defend it. It’s no secret that Alinea’s popularity has soared down in the past 5 or so years. The world’s 50 best restaurants list is completely done with Alinea. But that list is kind of laughable now, so whatever. Some people will almost beg you to remove it from your Chicago bucket list and assure you that Oriole, Smyth or Ever are the ways to go. I knew this going into my meal. I’ve heard all of the criticism. My expectations were as low as can be. Now, I’m not a fine dining newb who would be blown away by any tasting menu put in front of me. Also not the most experienced. I worked in the food industry in restaurants and markets for a decade and have gotten to work with some awesome produce and meat from local farmers. I’ve cooked on lines in a handful of low end kitchen. When I started to make a little more money I got to travel more and eat at places like Benu, The French Laundry, Noma, etc etc. My palate works.
I’m genuinely shocked and blown away when people don’t like Alinea. It was the best meal of my life by a wide margin. Totally get that menus change every season, and what someone ate at Alinea in winter could be a totally different experience. But my meal there was so good that I’m still searching for a restaurant or meal that is comparable. The closest I’ve gotten was Jordnær in CPH, Arca’s tasting menu in Tulum and Kiln in SF. But Alinea was quite a bit better than all 3 of those places.
Every sauce was perfect. Every protein cooked to perfection. The creativity in dishes was so exciting. They opened the meal with a gazpacho slurpee. Explosive tomato flavor. Another standout was cedar smoked sea bass with creamed mint. The combination of fish and mint in this way sounds strange, but it was so incredibly good. They did an Australian tiger prawn that cooked table side while hanging out in a bed of kombu. you pull it out then drag it through a sauce made with sake and white miso. It was served with a bun made from a stock with the prawn head that sat in a bisque made with the same stock with tomato and butter. Easily one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Another stand out was a squab breast that was served with wildflower honey glazed biscuits and two little jars, one filled with blueberry compote and one with foie gras butter. I was dragging my finger through the foie gras butter jar trying to get every last bit. The dessert, I convinced myself was going to be a gimmick that would not live up to the hype. Wrong, unbelievably good. I could keep going, but you get the idea. Pretty much every single bite I had at Alinea is seared into my memory for life. It was that good.
So what gives? I feel like 75% of people I run into who have been there either say Alinea is completely overrated or that the food is bad. A buddy of mine who travels the world eating and is probably gone 40 weekends a year says Alinea is the best meal he’s had in America. But he seems to be in the minority.
by EntertainmentUpset49
16 Comments
I haven’t been since 2017. I felt that it’s a fantastic restaurant that accomplished what they set out to in delivering a special and creative meal.
I didn’t consider it to be the best meal of my life at the time ( or the US) , and I have heard that it had declined a bit in the last few years. But it certainly is a place worth going to, because it is special and unique in its own ways.
Absolutely loved my meal in 2018. Haven’t been back since but would return in a heartbeat.
I think it had some very rough days in the last several years. They lost a couple executive chefs and had plenty of stumbles coming back from the pandemic. They changed their format quite a bit as well. From what I’ve been seeing, they’ve been back on the come up again, which is incredibly exciting.
When I went, in 2021, it was my first Michelin star meal, and appropriately blew me away, but there were plenty of individual dishes that weren’t quite there and missed expectations, those missed expectations were likely pandemic related but it still was notable. They also served an obscene amount of food, we were unpleasantly stuffed. Partially our fault, we did get a supplement, but it was a state no other restaurant left me.
The possiblity of being the absolute apex was still there, though, even with those issues. There was a certain magic in that meal that none of the dozen or so following Michelin meals have matched.The coherence of each dish (or presentation as they called them) worked even when the flavors or cooking level didn’t. It was also frequently surreal and funny without being ostentatious. It had several dishes that I’d keep amongst the best I’ve had.
Oof. I came here to celebrate someone’s first experience at Alinea but your post led me to just say the truth.
I most recently ate at Alinea in January of this year, and visited Atelier Crenn, Smyth, and Per Se in the same 30 days so think I have some context.
The good: Alinea is good! It’s still a 3 star restaurant and will forever hold the candle of introducing a generation to inventive gastronomy. The service was impeccable — I was celebrating an anniversary and the staff were incredible about helping me with surprising my spouse with a gift.
The bad: what new thing has come from Alinea recently? Nothing. They operate at a high level, and they get 3 stars for it. What’s missing is the inventive playfulness they used to have. Is it because every other restaurant at that level has studied them and applied their playbook? Maybe. But to be “the best” I’d expect something unique or innovative, and at this point they don’t have it.
Alinea is wonderful, but pretending that they’re at the forefront of fine dining is deluded at best and trolly at worst.
I went back in 2017 and it was just ok, but I’m glad you loved it!
3 Michelin star restaurants I’ve dined at in the U.S. so far are Alinea, French Laundry, Per Se, and Addison. In terms of actual food, I would rank Alinea the lowest of the 3 stars I’ve tried so far. That’s not to say Alinea was bad by any means, still deserves 3 stars, the menu as a whole just wasn’t quite as good as the others.
I’ll say that the theatrics in presentation at Alinea make it a more memorable experience than the others. Out of all the 3 stars I’ve been to it’s the one I’d recommend to try at least once for anyone looking for something unique, but visiting again a second time isn’t necessary since the element of surprise in presentation won’t have the same impact the second time around. Whereas I’d happily dine again at French Laundry for an exquisite meal from start to finish in a more traditional dining experience lacking theatrics in presentation.
As a chicago native and one of the Alinea trashers, let me say that this particular menu looks really well done and a step up from my experience there.
When I ate there many years ago, one of the dishes that stands out in my memory (not in a good way) was basically what I can only describe as a floral, potpourri flavored soup. Horrendous.
So experiences definitely vary based on season and current menu. They are very avant garde and like to push the envelope. Sometimes it doesn’t work. I would expect that’s why you see so many mixed reviews.
To be honest this menu looks almost entirely different than what I had in March, aside from a few items. Maybe you just lucked out and they updated their menu.
FWIW I am glad I did it but I wouldn’t do again. For a *** in Chicago I like Smyth much more 🤷🏻♀️
I only went once years ago. But the menu is so different, people will have all kinds of diverging opinions. I wouldn’t go as my first (or second) fine dining place. But if you’ve been to some, this is a great place to get something different and creative. I enjoyed French Laundry more, but I appreciated what went into Alinea and don’t regret going.
The other challenge is that most people rarely go to these places more than once or twice. So the opinions you see are based on only one (or two) menus.
I don’t know about being the best but one of the best for sure
Just here to read the comments.
Not even close in my recent experience.
No. Went in summer 2019, it was good but ranks the lowest for all of the 3 stars I’ve dined at in the US and worldwide. It was very disappointing to not experience the signature painted dessert course.
How do you get full?
I always take any extreme criticism of a fine dining restaurant with a grain of salt bc majority of population can only dream of eating at a 3 star. A terrible meal to 1 person could likely be the best meal ever to another.
Yeah I don’t get the hate either. I’ve been to most of the starred restaurants in chicago and Alinea was probably my favorite. If I had to guess, the bulk of the criticism is just that expectations are set too high. Alinea at one point peaked at no. 6 on the world’s 50 best. And while Alinea is definitely one of the best in the country, it definitely does not live up to that standard. Then you have people unfamiliar with fine dining who only have ever been to Alinea, and thus don’t have the proper tools to evaluate it. Alinea is highly likely to attract a bunch of those type due to its reputation.
I would still almost always recommend Alinea as the restaurant to go to if you can only do one here. It is a culinary and cultural icon that changed the landscape of gastronomy just as much as FL and EB have (maybe slightly less but close). Even ungraciously, it is still a solid *** from a cooking and service standpoint.