The Best Restaurants in Chicago, by the Record
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Rank 98. NoMI Kitchen
French
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Rank 98. Ocean Grill & Bar
Vietnamese
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Rank 103. Thattu
Coastal Indian
- The New York Times The Restaurant List
- Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
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Rank 104. Club Lucky
Traditional Italian
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Rank 106. Avec River North
Midwestern Mediterranean
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
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Rank 106. Creepies
French
The checkered tile floors and art-lined stone walls make it look like a Parisian bistro that wandered into the West Loop and decided to stay. Creepies is a neighborhood French restaurant from the team behind Elske next door, with a concise menu that leans classic and slides Midwestern where it can. The vesper martini landed on Esquire's list of the best in the country, which is not nothing for a place called Creepies.
- Esquire Vesper · The Best Martinis in America
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #9 · Chicago’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 108. Alla Vita
Italian
Crystal pendants, hand-painted tile floors, and an amber sculpture drifting overhead set the tone at this West Loop Italian from the Boka Restaurant Group. The menu moves through freshly made pasta, puffy-edged pizzas, and a confident roasted half chicken, with a long stone bar doing brisk sandwich work at lunch. It's the kind of room where you can linger over a bottle or be in and out in forty minutes, and the staff reads the difference without being asked.
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Rank 108. Andros Taverna
Greek
The wood-burning oven does most of the talking at this upscale Greek taverna just off Logan Square Park, kissing nearly everything on the menu with smoke. Warm pita arrives with a lineup of dips, lamb chops come in serious portions, and the baklava froyo with pistachio sauce is the kind of thing you didn't see coming. The wine list runs entirely Greek, from Macedonia to Santorini, which takes a certain confidence.
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Rank 108. Azul
Pan Mexican
Murals by street artist Senkoe climb the walls of this lively Pan-Mexican restaurant on a corner that the surrounding industrial stretch does nothing to prepare you for. Aqua-blue chairs, cement floors, and a DJ booth set the tone before the food arrives. The menu roams Mexico freely, and the kitchen has a flair for the dramatic. A whole grilled pineapple stuffed with octopus and Chihuahua cheese makes the point pretty quickly.
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Rank 108. Bayan Ko
Cuban
A tasting menu format in a cozy Ravenswood dining room where Cuban and Filipino cooking share the same plate, cooked by a husband-and-wife team working through both heritages on their own terms. Wagyu stands in for vaca frita, and arroz caldo gets lobster poached in calamansi butter. None of it reads as fusion tourism; it reads as two people cooking what they actually know. Their diner next door handles the casual lumpia crowd.
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Rank 108. Beity
Lebanese
Stone walls, an arched ceiling, and a lower level with its own fireplace make this Lebanese restaurant feel more like a Beirut cellar than a Fulton Market address. The chef draws on family recipes for his mezze and tasting menu, moving through charred pita and parsley hummus before landing on stylized takes on traditional stews and fish dishes. The bar pours cocktails built around arak and tahini for a shorter, looser visit.
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Rank 108. Chez Joël
French
The velvet-curtained windows and chandelier glow of this French bistro on Taylor Street have been drawing nostalgic expats and neighborhood regulars for what feels like forever. A cozy back bar invites lingering, but the real draw is the dining room, where frogs' legs Provençale and a properly Gruyère-blanketed French onion soup anchor a menu of classic French cooking with the odd global detour. The courtyard opens when Chicago allows it.
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Rank 108. Demera
Ethiopian
Colorful wicker seats ring a communal table at the center of this bright Uptown Ethiopian restaurant, where injera arrives in the traditional way and doubles as your only utensil. The menu runs vegetarian and omnivore-friendly, with a small glossary tucked in for first-timers, which is a thoughtful touch in a neighborhood that attracts plenty of them. Picture windows face the street for anyone more interested in Broadway than their dining companions.
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Rank 108. Elina's
American Italian
Sinatra murmurs overhead, leather banquettes fill the room, and the bread basket arrives before you've even settled in. Elina's is a neighborhood Italian-American restaurant done with real affection for the canon: clams casino, rigatoni alla vodka, chicken parm under a blanket of marinara and mozz. The kitchen doesn't reinvent anything, which is rather the point. Cozy, intimate, and thoroughly absorbed in its own nostalgia.
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Rank 108. Gaijin
Japanese
The okonomiyaki griddle in the center of the room is the whole point, and it makes conversation difficult in the best way. This is Paul Virant's Japanese comfort food spot on Lake Street, small and izakaya-ish, with brass fittings and exposed brick keeping things warm. Guests build their own path through Osaka and Hiroshima styles, with a custom Moody Tongue brew on hand to accompany whatever direction that takes.
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Rank 108. GG’s Chicken Shop
American
A rotisserie chicken counter named for the chef's mom, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe. Order at the counter, pick your portion size, add the smashed potatoes cooked in chicken drippings, and try not to feel smug about your choices. The dirt cup with gummy worms is there for adults who prefer their nostalgia unironic. The staff are warmer and more composed than the format requires.
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Rank 108. Itoko
Japanese
A Lakeview izakaya and sushi bar where the menu ranges wide enough that ordering feels like a small project. The room is airy and modern, all hardwood floors and natural light, with the kind of calm that makes you want to linger. The kitchen mixes Japanese technique with roaming influences: robata skewers, handrolls, and a donut with a dipping well of matcha semifreddo that earns its place at the end of the meal.
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Rank 108. Lou Mitchell's
American
Servers roam the floor with hot coffee and donut holes before you've even ordered, which tells you everything about what kind of diner Lou Mitchell's is. Booths, counter stools, eggs cooked every way imaginable, and an open-faced Reuben on homemade rye that has anchored many a morning near Union Station. An old-school Chicago institution that has never once tried to be anything else.
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Rank 108. mfk.
Iberian Spanish
Named for M.F.K. Fisher, the great American food writer, this Iberian restaurant sits in a whitewashed, tile-lined basement on Diversey that somehow feels like a terrace in the sun. The menu runs small to large, with the kind of clean, confident cooking that makes an anchovy crostini feel like a complete argument. Lakeview locals fill it early and often, which means booking ahead is less optional than it sounds.
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Rank 108. Osteria Langhe
Piedmontese
The glass garage façade on Armitage opens into a warm room of bare wood tables and glowing Edison bulbs, the kind of osteria that takes Piedmont seriously without taking itself too seriously. The menu stays tight and regional, meaning tajarin with ragù, hand-pinched cheese ravioli, and vitello tonnato done properly. The staff moves like they actually want you there, which in Chicago is not always a given.
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Rank 108. Provaré
Italian
Weathered wood, a playlist with opinions, and a menu that splits its loyalties between Sicily and the bayou. This small, intimate Italian-Creole restaurant on Chicago Avenue is the project of a chef paying tribute to his Sicilian grandfather, and the kitchen's personality comes through in calamari stuffed with jalapeños and banana peppers, and trenette with cognac-splashed shrimp scampi. The portions are built for sharing, so bring a table's worth of people.
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Rank 108. ROOP Chicago
Indian
Deep blue velvet seats across two floors mark this upscale Indian restaurant at the edge of West Randolph's dining strip. The cocktail list comes with its own flavor matrix, which is either endearing or a lot, depending on your mood. The kitchen runs classic Indian technique through a contemporary lens, turning out dishes that feel familiar and surprising at once, the kind of place where you dress up a little and nobody feels overdressed.
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Rank 108. The Gundis
Kurdish Middle Eastern
Kurdish cooking on the north side, where breakfast alone draws a crowd: sesame-studded bread, house preserves, and eggs scrambled with roasted peppers arrive alongside bottomless Kurdish tea. The menu spans spreads, hearty meats, and flavors that pull from Turkey, the Middle East, and India in equal measure. The room is low-key, with exposed brick and leather banquettes, the kind of place that looks casual and then quietly surprises you.
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Rank 108. The Perch
American
Large steel fermentation vats line the back wall of this cozy Wicker Park brewpub, making the beer program hard to ignore. The kitchen holds its own with filet sliders layered with blue cheese and caramelized onions, a grilled fish sandwich with house-made remoulade, and a warm carrot cake with candied pecans that earns its spot on the menu. Tastings help you navigate the draft list before committing, which is a small mercy.
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Rank 108. Tied House
New American
A New American restaurant attached to Schubas Tavern, which tells you something about the room: relaxed enough for a show night, sharper than it needs to be. The menu is wide on purpose, covering enough ground that the whole group lands somewhere happy, but the kitchen keeps surprising you, with butternut squash schnitzel over spaetzle or Spanish mackerel on coconut-braised chickpeas. Good food that doesn't require an occasion.
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Rank 108. Tzuco
Mexican
Ceramics shipped directly from Mexico line the walls of this lively Mexican restaurant from Carlos Gaytán, and the earth-toned room hums at a volume that suggests nobody has ever eaten alone here. The chef's counter is the seat to angle for, where the kitchen turns out dishes that sit comfortably between traditional and inventive. Tacos, aguachile, tinga de pollo, and a horchata tres leches that tends to follow you home.
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Rank 108. Warlord
Live-Fire American
Diners queue on the sidewalk before the doors open, which tells you something about how this no-reservations live-fire restaurant on Milwaukee Ave operates. Everything passes over, under, or through the flames, from the foie gras ganache on grilled hearth bread to the butter cake that comes out of the fire with a crackling crust. The chefs' counter, where you can watch the whole production up close, is the seat everyone actually wants.
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Rank 108. Yao Yao
Sichuan
The glass-enclosed kitchen at the front is the first thing you notice, and if you can grab a table facing it, you'll watch the whole operation. This Sichuan spot in Chinatown is named for its signature dish, a fiery pickled fish with sour greens that comes in sizes running up to a platter for six. The wontons in chili oil are a foregone conclusion. A long list of cold sides fills out the table without much effort.
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Rank 131. Bar Esmé
French
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Rank 131. Bocadillo Market
Contemporary Spanish
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · James Martin
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Rank 139. etc.
Southern
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Rank 139. Xocome Antojeria
Handmade Mexican
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Rank 143. Al Bawadi Grill
Middle Eastern
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Rank 143. Gavroche
Modern French
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Rank 143. La Chaparrita
Mexican
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Rank 143. The Momo World
Nepali Noodles
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Rank 143. Tortas Frontera
Mexican
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Rank 154. Atelier
New American
The kind of Lincoln Square storefront you'd walk past without a second glance, which is exactly the point. Inside, Atelier is an intimate fine dining room built around a tasting menu that pulls from nearby farms and wanders across cuisines without ever losing focus. A Michelin star landed here, and the kitchen earns it quietly, sending out dishes that feel both deeply familiar and genuinely strange in the best possible way.
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Rank 154. Bar Sótano
Modern Mexican
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Rank 154. Beard & Belly
American
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Rank 154. Birrieria Ocotlan
Mexican
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Rank 154. Birrieria Zaragoza
Mexican
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Rank 154. Cafe Central
Puerto Rican
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Rank 154. Carnitas Uruapan Restaurant
Michoacan-Style Mexican
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Rank 154. Harold's Chicken Shack
American
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- Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- The Infatuation Chicago’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 154. Redhot Ranch
Chicago-Style American
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Rank 187. Big Jones
Creative Southern
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Paul Fehribach
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Paul Fehribach
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Rank 190. Luella’s Southern Kitchen
Southern
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Rank 198. Bayan Ko Diner
Filipino
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Rank 198. Casa Madai
Japanese
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Rank 200. Evette’s
Middle Eastern