Bistro Monadnock Reviews

Chicago's Loop has a French restaurant and it's absolutely outstanding! Prepare yourselves for a rave, folks. My husband and I had high expectations heading into Bistro Monadnock, and the restaurant exceeded those expectations on every level. First off, the atmosphere and design are elegant and stylish, a beautiful compliment to the architectural treasure that is Chicago's historic Monadnock Building. The staff is gracious, knowledgeable, attentive, and warm. Excellent service all around. But it is the food that stands out the most. Johnny Besch is one of Chicago's true Master Chefs. This is culinary high art, creative and inspiring made with the finest and freshest ingredients. We started with the Chicken Liver Parfait and the Escargots. Both were exquisite. We then shared two entrees, the Halibut and the Cornish Hen, among the best we've ever had (and we're serious foodies). To top that off, our dessert (and I can't remember it's French name but it had a meringue base) was dreamy and delectable. Every course was delicious, handsomely presented, and prepared with obvious and abundant love. Oh, and our pre-dinner cocktails and Oregon Pinot Noir (splendidly paired with our choices) were superb. Let it be known that Bistro Monadnock is a Chicago gem. Highly, highly recommended.

Amazing apps, lobster bisque with puff pastry topping was rich and filled with lobster chunks while the steak tartare was so generous it should be considered an entree portion instead of an app.

Delicious food, great service . I recommend the French onion soup . The place is very nice and cozy. Not loud and music is great!

Bistro Monadnock is open Monday through Friday from 11 am to 11pm. The menu remains the same throughout, so you can have lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner or stop into the spacious bar for drinks. The dining room is separated by a wall from the bar. We had a leisurely lunch. The dining room on the southwest corner of this historic skyscraper (one of Chicago's first ones) is attractive with huge windows, dark wood wainscoting, brass accents and vintage French posters on the walls. There are tables and booths. The music track is French songs, smooth jazz and some bluesy music, a bit intrusive. You had to raise your voice to be heard over the music and the hum of conversation. We were a little surprised to find so many other people having lunch there. The menu is typical of French bistros, and also includes a few items that are not commonly found these days, like frog's legs appetizer and floating island dessert, both of which we ordered, along with a big frisée salad and a charcuterie board. All were well prepared and tasty; the large salad had a huge number of salty bacon lardons and was ringed by potato gaufrettes instead of having croutons, to make it a gluten-free dish. I had the optional 3 fried oysters added to it for a $10 supplement. My companion was well-pleased with the generous amount of meats and olives on his charcuterie board. Thin slices of toasted French bread accompanied it. Service was good and attentive. After our meal we walked into the kitchen area to inspect the massive vintage floor-mounted meat slicing machine that we had spied through an archway. As the kitchen wasn't busy, the chef came over to tell us about it. This beautiful piece of red enamel paint and shiny chrome machinery is a family heirloom he restored, it having belonged to his Lithuanian immigrant great grandfather who owned a bar on the South Side. He showed us a framed photo of his great-grandfather's family. That was nice. Lunch for two, with tax but before tip came to $110. This is a place to remember for a good meal in the Loop. It's only a few blocks from the Auditorium Theater, the Nederlander Theater and the Art Institute.

Just a no for us! Place is lovely. Waiter and pacing were great. Wine was outstanding. We ordered a lot of food - snails, oysters Rockefeller, cheese plate, bread service, fries, french onion soup, salad, skate wing, Cornish hen , beef bourgonion, gnocchi . Just about everything had an overpowering sweet , almost laced with way too much sugar flavor. Will not be be back.

Dined before a show at CIBC theater. Hidden away on Federal street. Decor is dark and cozy. Yet windows on wall give ample light. Got pretty busy after 6p on Saturday. Service and food were very good. Duck and kale salad unique and tasty. Mussels were very good particularly the French bread. Burger was tasty, a little under for medium but flavor made up for it. Very good wine selections. Tables are a little close but manageable. The bar area appeared to have more room and less noise. Dining area was busy. Enjoyable evening. Would visit again.

Nice place, nice people; dark wood bistro atmosphere. Excellent glass & bottle Champagne choices. Very good salads and skate wing. Loop neighborhood is deserted at night.

My husband and I went here because I was given a $100 gift card! We went for lunch. Many tables were full, but it was reasonably quiet at 1:30 p.m. on a Tuesday during New Year's week. We shared the Beets & Blue Salad - if you love beets as i do, this is for you. We each had a Bistro Burger and shared an order of fries. The burgers, we agreed, were the most delicious we'd had in years: juicy, flavorful, medium rare and crisp around the edges. Our card covered the cost and left me with enough to stop by some day soon for a salad "to go." Afterward we took a walk in the Monadnock Building's long lobby and checked out its old fashioned atmosphere. Definitely a fine afternoon!

A hidden little gem in the Loop! We went early on a Saturday, prior to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert. Great interior, classic bistro decor with an open kitchen. Bar space is separate but connected to kitchen space and both were chic and cool. Classic French bistro menu--mussels, escargots, onion soup, Bibb salad, etc. Nice mix of substantial and small plates. And really delicious bread! Our food was great; the mussels were fresh and their broth was flavorful. The salad was also excellent. Service was attentive, though could have been a little more refined. Small matter. Great option for a nice meal in the Loop. And, if you can, explore the Monadock Building...it's gorgeous and has some cool shops in it.

While some of the foods we chose were well presented and quite flavorful (the bread and fat was excellent), others were just mediocre. The Skate wings was heavily over-salted. Wine list had many wines sold out. Service friendly. Atmosphere nice, though lights too low and noise level too high.

My daughter, 8 year old grandson & I went here for our first time for dinner before a show. The ambiance was pleasant. The service was friendly and efficient and the prices were reasonable, but it was the food that was the star. We had a warm bread & fat & then shared a delightful Artisan cheese/charcuterie board that was plentiful and superb. My daughter had a wonderful Onion Soup as well as shared the Bistro Burger & fries with her son. I had a perfect glass of French Sauvignon Blanc and then we looked at the dessert menu. Alas we were so full that we could only look and called it a night, paid and were off to the concert. My wife asked if the restaurant was worth a repeat and it is of course and I will be taking her there soon. I recommend you also try it & who knows, we might see each other there. Check it out.

Great dining experience! Bistro M is a hidden gem serving top notch food, excellent service and cozy ambience tucked away in the beautiful Monadnock building. If you haven’t tried Bistro M ..definitely worth the visit!

Nice place, nice people, good food. The bibb salad, covered with fluffy cheese shavings, is excellent, the skate wing delicious. Smoked steelhead trout appetizer is much too dry, the clafoutis dessert a little gluey.

Nice authentic old French bistro atmosphere. Staff very friendly. Snails were excellent. Onion soup was a bit sweet. No pepper grinder available? Asked for medium steak got medium rare, slightly tough steak. No proper sauces available.. No mushroom or simple pepper sauce, which was weird. We were given aiolie and ketchup... Haha. Creme brulee was good. No espresso available and the brewed coffee was not good. No Wi-Fi to order an Uber. Enjoyable lunch but do not expect too much

Authentic French Bistro vibe with AMAZING food that does not disappoint! We had the escargot, rhe best Caesar Salad ever, mussels, & mouth watering gnocchi. We popped in for a quick lunch & were able to make it to our tour in time at Depaul University. Will DEFINITELY be back! Even told our besties who live in Chicago about it!

Three of us for lunch, taking advantage of the mutually convenient - for those returning to work in Chicago's Loop, this could be a place to hang at mid-day. Not really a French bistro - rather, an American sports bar without the television sets, with a limited choice of bistro classics (croque Madame, moules, quite an excellent onion soup) along with a better than average burger and various salads. And, the day we were there, fully occupied, to the point of stress on the responsiveness of the servers, in a hardwood interior that made it blazingly noisy. Reasonably priced, against the upward trend in the post-Covid era. In short - a worthy effort, and a most notch or two above acceptable.

We were enjoying a couple of days in Chicago and I started perusing the wine lists of restaurants near our hotel (Hotel Blake). The one at Bistro Monadnock caught my eye as one that was not too extensive but intriguingly varied. We decided to give it a try and couldn’t have been more pleased. The charcuterie board was excellent and the halibut was exquisite. (It was good enough for us to go back the next evening for dessert and a nightcap following up on a mediocre meal elsewhere!). Kudos to the wait staff and the chef as well! I don’t know if it’s too new to have many reviews, but it sure should, and I suspect most of them would be five stars! A bit hard to find but WELL worth a visit!

The Bistro is a classic French bistro with inspired takes on French and American Cuisine. The Bar is a true classic and transports you back to old Chicago. The Service is second to none. My wife and I visited once for a drink during Happy Hour and again for a Lunch a few weeks later. Both were memorable and wonderful experiences.