avec River North

"The atmosphere is nice, staff was lovely, but the food is just not good. Pretentious flavor combinations that don’t actually add anything to traditional dishes. We had the focaccia, a cheese plate, hummus with short rib, and the confit chicken thighs. The star of the show was actually the cheese plate. Very good quality cheese, lovely honey, and delicious fresh baked bread. The chicken thighs were fine, nothing special. The hummus with short rib tasted like someone accidentally tossed sweet bbq short ribs in hummus: absolutely no flavor compatibility. To top it off (no pun intended) both the hummus and the chicken were absolutely covered with a mint and red onion medley..Why? Finally, the focaccia. Just such a disappointment. This “focaccia bread” was basically a flat bread with the texture of a ritz cracker stuffed with cheese and drenched in truffle oil. If that’s your thing, you’ll love it. But it certainly wasn’t what I would expect from a Michelin-Guide establishment."

"Really great brunch during restaurant week. We had the French toast, shakshouka and a side of pork belly. It was all fantastic but the pork belly was magic."

"Absolutely phenomenal. The service was phenomenal, the drinks were phenomenal, and the food was absolutely phenomenal. Came here with some good friends and we got a little bit of everything. Everyone was very satisfied. Will definitely be coming back!"

"Okay let’s just start by saying WOW. Avec for the most part completely blew me out of the water. Service was a bit spotty but the sever seemed to be juggling like 10 tables so more on the restaraunt group than her. We started off with the bacon wrapped dates and deluxe focaccia, both of which were absolutely divine. The bacon wrapped dates just left me craving more - what a delightful flavor scheme. The focaccia was second to the table and somehow even better. The cheese and richness from truffle were in perfect balance. Finally we got the pizza which was a bit on the burnt side, nkt charred lol but we gobbled it up. This was all during brunch and we did the mimosa package which might I add is the best I’ve had in the city so far. The fresh orange juice gets missed given the variety of juices they have but it was beyond incredible- definitely order a Mimosa and go original. The mains were a bit of a letdown. Shakshuka was average, nothing worth raving about. The salmon board was actually pretty good but compared to the apps, couldn’t really hold its own. In the future, I’ll likely double down on a few more apps and skip the mains entirely. Definitely a top 5 brunch spot in Chicago!"

"My cousin, who is one of the chef’s there (Denzel) highly recommended his restaurant for his sister & I to celebrate her birthday. He provided appetizers he wanted us to taste & I provided videos/photos. I must say, the Mexican Prawns & Kale salad was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! We tried the squid appetizer which was very flavorful & loved the seasonings on that dish. I can’t wait to come back w/ my family to try their main dishes & of course, see my cousin again, at the chef’s table! Tori was an EXCELLENT waitress! Thank you again for providing a wonderful birthday experience for my cousin!"