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
38 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.
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 in America. 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.
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.
I finally made it to Alinea last year and it was an awesome experience, but not one I’d do again. And I mean that in a good way – they do a great job of making it feel like it’s a “once in a lifetime” type experience. It feels like going back and doing it again would cheapen it. Maybe in several years if they’ve changed up their presentation quite a bit.
I’m hitting 3 star Jan in Munich and 3 star Rutz in Berlin later this summer and I’ll be interested to see how they compare.
i went before the remodel and about a month ago, before was definitely better, it’s still really good but I wouldn’t call it the best meal in America. but everything is subjective and everyone has different tastes. i’ve been to places all over the world and the best i’ve been to recently were probably blue hill & ilis (definitely going to get a star). the service is still amazing at alinea don’t get me wrong, and i’d probably go back if i was with someone that really wanted to go
I went a couple months ago, it was amazing. I don’t understand the hate.
I went in 2017. Was completely blown away. But, at that time they were at their peak with Mike Bagale and Simon Davies joining Achatz as mega-creative and talented chefs. It was delicious, surprising, exciting – and unreal service attention to detail.
But, two of those three star chefs moved on shortly thereafter. And I think they’ve started to run out of tricks. And it has always been a two-tier experience with the far better experience in the small Gallery.
So, my take:
At the time of Chef’s Table episode etc they had a deserved reputation as one of the best and most exciting restaurants in the world if you ate in the Gallery. And now, they deservedly don’t have that aura anymore. So it goes with restaurants some times, hard to stay on top forever.
Thought it was good not great as well. Of the 3s, I think it’s still Benu for me.
I’m super stoked that you loved it. But holy hell what a disappointment. I’m still fairly new to the scene, with 2 ***, and three *, but I’d take any other place I’ve been over Alinea.
I’ve been DYING to go, always seen such amazing things from Grant
When I went it was more style over substance
Went in 2023 and thought it was pretty mediocre for a 3 star. For the record, I’ve been to singlethread and french laundry in the US and thought it was a step below both of them. Especially considering the cost
Alinea has lost its shine just as EMP, Per Se, French laundry etc. they were hip and cool years ago and as does happen with many top restaurants – they peak and then after the peak it’s “cool” to hate on them. I’ve never been to alinea but af a certain point it was on the top of my list to visit at Chicago. Years later I’m visiting the city soon and…
I have no desire to try it. I’m sure it’s a good meal but as others have said it’s just not trendy or “in” anymore. And I know I’ll get just as good a meal at like half the price elsewhere 🤷🏻♀️ all the gimmicks and so on have been reported and shared on social media, chefs table that I don’t even think I’d be woo’d if I visit alinea. When ppl review restaurants nowadays thanks to social media and so many food shows, they review it based off of hype/ expectation and alinea has been hyped up so long for so many years it’s no doubt many ppl will be disappointed.
I went to Alinea in 2011 when I was not a particularly experienced diner and I was blown away , it remained one my top 3 meals in my life for many years later . I returned in 2019 and was bitterly disappointed, it was a combination of the gimmicks not being fresh anymore and simply put the food just didn’t taste that great . Like OP said it could be that the menu just didn’t hit on that occasion but I think it’s just more likely that this type of creativity in cooking has a shelf life and simply put they have started to run out of ideas
Incredibly underwhelming in 2016 🤷🏼♂️
Alinea before tickets and Tock and the finance guy thinking he revolutionized fine dining was a stunning meal. Once he got his claws into ops rather than just being the money guy, the magic was lost.
I went in March this year. I was sooooo disappointed. A couple of highlights and a fun dessert but that’s about it. I wouldn’t go back.
We went in December 2012 and absolutely blown away. Unlike anything we have had to date from a fine dining experience. Those recipes that catapulted them to fame are still to this day some of the best bites we have had and that is setting aside all the childlike wonder of the presentation.
We went back in October 2016 and we appreciated them striving to not rest on their laurels and do wildly different things (only kept a few dishes from the original menu) but we felt that Oriole at that time was a better meal food-wise.
Glad to see them still going strong!!!!
When I went i thought it was over rated. Service was great, presentation was fun but flavors weren’t that amazing compared to what I would expect for the price.
not even the best restaurant in Chicago
It’s one of the greatest restaurants to come out of this country. The grandfather of avant-garde molecular gastronomy, or at the very least the culmination of some of the bolder ideas originally presented at The FL. But I also think it’s told it’s story. More of these concepts have become main stream now and with that the restaurant has lost some of its aura. On top of that imo it was never considered it the ‘best meal’, more so a really unique / special experience. So all of this probably contributes to the sentiment.
Btw it’s sister restaurant Next is a fun time as well!
I thought it was very good but honestly enjoyed Oriole more, which we went to the day after so the comparison was very fresh. While I don’t have a problem with gimmicks, it felt like they focused a bit too much on that at the expense of true innovation.
World’s best 50 restaurants put Don Julio in the top 10. There are at least 2 steakhouses in Philadelphia better than that place. I can’t imaging how many more in other U.S. cities. I don’t trust those ratings at all .
I’m glad to read this! It’s been high up on my bucket list for years, I have the cookbook from them and The Aviary and I’d love to see some of their creations in the flesh. One day!
Been three times and each time we liked it less and less. But that first time was a mind blowing experience for us. The theatrics and the food were so great. But maybe once that novelty is gone and we got to pay more attention to the food, it just wasn’t as good. Having said that, the balloon is always fun and the signature items like hot potato cold potato and the truffle explosion are **ridiculously** good.
This looks like trash. I watch the Bear.
Super excited that you made this post as I’m going to Chicago for my birthday just for Alinea, Oriole, and Kasama. Thanks for sharing your experience and if you have any other recs for the area please share!