A10 – Hyde Park

I had high hopes for A-​10. Hyde park is lacking in the restaurant department. Unfortunately this place was a huge dissapointment. I started with the fries and lemon aoli and they were both very bland. I had the panella and it was very one dimensional basically pasta and seafood in a pool of lemon sauce. My girlfriend had the stuffed shells. The lamb stuffing was the consistency of baby food and flavorless. The general issue with A-​10 is that nothing is well seasoned and the prices are very high. We ended up paying about $ 30 per person for these terrible meals. I would recommend avoiding A-​10 at all costs

I thought A-​10 was going to be a nice food experience, but all it really was was an expensive disappointment.
I came here with a very large group. We were seated promptly at a table right by the windows. The light in this space is quite beautiful and it has a great atmosphere.
We started with the fries and the focaccia. Neither was anything special. I liked the lemon aioli that the fries came with but the fries themselves were quite boring. They were basically plain shoestring fries that you can get anywhere, and that could easily be made better or more interesting.
For our main course, my boyfriend and I split the bucatini and the baked shells. He took one bite of the stuffed shells and instantly made a face. They were SO lemony. Pretty much any other flavor in the dish was overwhelmed by the excessive citrus flavor. The shells themselves were very dry, from the pasta outside to the overcooked meat inside. For a $ 22 dish, it tasted awful. The buccatini was alright. Conversely, it was minimal on the flavor and very watery. I get that it’s a pasta you mix an egg into, but there shouldn’t be a liquid puddle of sauce at the bottom of a dish. That’s just gross. However, we still preferred it to the shells because it didn’t make us literally cringe.
My friend got the pea ricotta, which she called «the world’s greatest disappointment». That was also watery and bland. My other friend got the rotolo pasta, which was drier than the shells. It tasted like it’d been sitting in an oven for hours.
If not for the great service and beautiful atmosphere, this place would have 1 star from me. For the price I’m paying, I expect good food. Next time, I’m gonna save money and go to Harold’s…at least they can reliably turn out properly cooked and good food.

Inviting décor, and interesting interior. Bartender was nice, but could not really keep up with the tiny little bar crowd. Food was terrible. They are trying to celebrate «the garden» and tonight’s menu focused on carrots. The regular menu was not available, so it was the carrot tasting menu or choice of three entrees. Every single person at the bar was having French Fries, since that was about the most appealing thing on the limited menu. Roasted chicken was charred/​burned on the outside (a wing and a leg) and overcooked. Learned my lesson, and now I know not to bother coming here again. Also the manager/​owner was chit chatting with a couple of people in the corner oblivious to the terrible service happening all around her, then said good night to her friends at the bar and slipped out unaware of the place that seems to be falling apart.

Been here only once, so FWIW… Does have lots of seating, tried it during the late stages of the happy hour. Ordered the Gin & Tonic — as I was told the bar tender there is quite talented. It was very decent. The Steak Tartare was good. Sampled the herb Roasted Chicken, saved room for dessert which was the panna cotta. Overall not bad. They did change the menu, so might visit again.

I’ve come to this spot on multiple occasions and have pretty much reached the same conclusion each time – terrible. Mostly.
The one positive note: the atmosphere is nice – I like the exposed brick. Drinks are also decent.
The food: The serving sizes are miniscule. I went for brunch once and got the cinnamon roll, and if they’d served me a pastry that’d been baked several days ago and then smothered with frosting. I also got some mushroom pasta dish which was just pasta smothered with cheese.
However, I would highly recommend the Promontory – just a few doors down from this place and 1 million times better!
Update: Went back today for the special father’s day menu, and the onion rings were v good but the risotto was disgusting – way too soupy. Extremely disappointing because the flavors in it were really interesting – strawberry, ricotta, peas, etc. They could have done a lot with this dish but all I got was a runny, salty, mess.

The food overall was OK and would have warranted a return visit, standing on its own. What was singularly horrid was the service.
It started at the very beginning, with the hostess. We stepped up and asked for a table for two. She said, «Okaaaaay, do you have an idea where you want to sit?» Us: «Wherever is fine.» Her: «Insiiiiiide, outsiiiiiide?» Us: «Inside.» Her: «Ummm, do you know wheeeeerrrrre?» We just ended up choosing our own table. She watched us seat ourselves, then came to the table with menus. She did not seem to have even the faintest idea of what a hostess does.
So many different people came to the table we had no clear idea who our server was for quite some time. We ordered our drinks with one gentleman, then another came and asked for our drink order while the first was on his way back. (If you elect to drink just water, it will be served lukewarm, no ice added, from old wine bottles.)
We ordered foccaccia, then asparagus salad and steak tartare, followed by bucatini carbonara, chicken papardelle, and grilled octopus. The foccaccia came out quickly and was absolutely perfect in every way. Then we waited for the appetizers. And waited. And waited. We asked one of our many servers when the next course was coming and he said, «Oh, you have more food coming?» Yet another server brought them out. The asparagus salad was wonderful, with expertly balanced and layered flavors. I did not taste the tartare however, because the meat was pale pink instead of bright red like raw meat should be. We never did find out why. We did ask the server who delivered the plates what cut of meat it was. He said he wasn’t sure, then said that it was chuck. (Chuck is used mostly for roasting and grinding for burgers; it is too tough and fatty to use for tartare.) I suspected the the server didn’t know the answer and just blurted out something, hoping we wouldn’t know better.
After another long wait, our entrees arrived. Cold. This tells me the servers are causing the delay rather than the kitchen. The flavors of the food were very nice, but the plates obviously sat somewhere cooling off waiting to be picked up. In the meantime, even more servers came in and reported for work, gathering in the bar and talking among themselves, and occasionally pouring us more bathwater. Finally our actual server (I guess? He did take the order and checked on us, albeit after we were done with all food), picked up the plates and asked us how it was. We talked about the cold food and the weird-​colored tartare. Got no apology, no visit from a manager, no explanation for the of color, but he did take the tartare off the bill.
I always manage my expectations with Hyde Park restaurants as their service universally seems lax compared to other Chicago restaurants. But this was laughable even by those standards. I would have come back for the asparagus salad and bucatini, but not with that piss-​poor service at that price point. We won’t be back.

My favorite spot in Hyde Park. I have been coming here regularly since they first opened, and I have no real complaints.
The bar is excellent, unless you are expecting an expansive beer selection. Paul is a fantastic bartender, and he makes one of the best manhattans in Chicago. He can also whip out some impressive custom drinks, and won’t be a pretentious ass if you aren’t some super knowledgable cocktail connoisseur. One of my pet peeves is seeing bartenders roll their eyes at people who don’t drink cocktails regularly and who don’t know the difference between Montenegro and Cynar. Paul is extremely accommodating, so if you want to try something more adventurous than your standard vodka soda with lime, he’s your man. This is all not to say that the rest of the bar staff is not great as well. They are. But Paul deserves a special mention here.
The menu changes frequently (seasonally maybe?) and so items that you love might disappear after a while. I generally expect that everything will come out perfectly, since it usually does. I’ll mention that the last two times we had frites here, they were overcooked, and the current iteration of aioli is not my favorite. I’m not familiar enough with the current menu to recommend anything other than the bacon pizza (the best value on the whole menu), and-​usually-​the frites.
A note: I hate the current graphic design of the menu, which makes this place look like a chain family restaurant or something. Previous versions were much simpler and better reflected the vibe of the place.
A10 is perfect for dates, but I also come here with friends just to hang out. I’ve worn everything from a hoodie to a three piece suit in here. Even though it’s a mostly casual, friendly, neighborhood spot, I’ll say that I feel most comfortable here in cocktail attire.
Oh, last thing: somehow A10 has a $$$ rating while Promontory has a $$ rating. For the record: where items are comparable, these two places have identical pricing. I would give them both $$ ratings (I don’t know how to do that, if it’s an option).

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! I live in Hyde Park and cannot believe people eat here. The food is absolutely terrible, service is even worse. The menu has a few options and little veggies choices.
FOOD: we ordered the following dishes…
1. Steak Tartare: small portion, not enough bread and no seasoning
2. Charred Carrot Salad: terrible taste, raw carrots and no seasoning to the quinoa
3. Potato Chowder: 4 pieces of potato and that’s it
4. Mushroom Rotolo: DISGUSTING… ate one bite and that was it. Pasta was rubber, there was grit in the mushrooms and no taste
5. Bucatini Carbonara: ok but had to add salt
SERVICE:
— The server was arrogant, rude and provided terrible service.
— we had to ask for utensils
— they didn’t clear the dirty dishes when new ones arrived… instead put the new food among the dirty dishes and then left
— had to continuously ask for water
— SLOW SLOW SLOW service overall
Would never go back and will never recommend to anyone.

Thought this place was pretty great! We went tonight just for drinks. I got wine and then my husband and our friend got bourbon based drinks.
The prices were reasonable and the ambiance is nice on the bar side. The service was excellent too.
Parking was a little tough. Had to drive a round a couple times to find a spot.

Overpriced and, to be honest, just plain bad.
We ordered the Carbonara and the Puttanesca. After a long wait, our two smallish dishes were both disappointing. Both were bland, and the pasta in both was mushy. In absolutely no way did either dish justify its price tag.

This is a great introduction to Hyde Park for people use to life in west loop, Lincoln park etc.
very upscale nice atmosphere great comfortable bar area… really enjoyed entertaining out of town visitors. Who were impressed especially with the Elija Craig Bourbon Whiskey and the food did not disappoint. You owe it to yourself to come here you won’t be disappointed start with the bar area and move to the restaurant very nice !! Staff is friendly especially the hostess who introduces herself after seating you… so nice to see this addition to Hyde Park it was needed!

A very good Italian /​French cuisine place. Exquisite choice of pastas and wines to go with. A bit pricy but must try for a random dinner. I wouldn’t suggest as a event host place but surely a Sat night din.
Very friendly service. You might have bit of a fight finding a parking spot as anywhere around Hyde park but all worth it with the first bite of Focaccia bread!

We have been to A10 several times, but this review is for the last time and sad to say, I would have rated this place 4 stars prior to the most recent experience.
We ordered take out (we have dined-​in twice before and done take out before too) and from a quality/​value perspective, you’re getting much less than what you pay for.
A10 prices are not cheap. expect to pay about $ 20 per person. Before the menu changes, I would say this amount was fair, because you were getting dishes with a lot of depth, flavor and ingredients.
But in our most recent order, each dish felt lacking, and the portions felt smaller. Double fried fries no longer come with the beef. The buttini carbonara was decidedly smaller, and what used to maybe feed two, barely fed one. There were a few other dishes, but the general feeling was the same — we were getting less food for the same prices.
One of our favorite dishes from A10 was the saffron gemelli, which is no longer on the menu. I think we ordered the «replacement» equivalent, but it did not leave the same impression on us that the saffron gemelli dish did.
We really liked A10 the first three times we dined (in and out). We ordered many of the same dishes those three times. On this fourth occasion, we tried the equivalent dishes, only to be disappointed in quality and quantity.

A10 has done away with Sunday Brunch and is now serving Sunday Lunch. I was pretty disappointed when we sat down and realized that we would not be having breakfast. The menu was short and mainly sandwiches… My heart was breaking at this point.
We decided to get the A10 Burger with a fried egg and the «Which Came First» Sandwich. We attempted to halve the sandwiches and spilt them. What a mess… An oozy, creamy, rich, and tasty mess. I attempted to eat the sandwiches in the normal fashion but the runny egg yolks and Gruyère Béchamel from the «WCF» was running down my arms and covering my face. At this point, you don’t even care how ridiculous you look covered in that creamy white sauce because IT TASTES SO GOOD. After cleaning myself off, I decided to tackle these guys with a fork and knife, which allowed me to get every component in every bite.
The «WCF» Chicken Sandwich had moist, tender chicken, on a soft and salty focaccia, with that sinfully rich and creamy Gruyère Béchamel that goes so well with a perfectly fried egg, and all of that is wonderfully balanced with the tangy Dijon mustard and mustard greens.
The A10 Burger was everything a good burger should be. The bun was soft and sweet, the beef was juicy and well seasoned, the bacon was crisp and salty, ending with pickles and mustard to brightened it all up.
Sunday Brunch is so last week… Luckily, we have A10 keepin it real with Sunday Lunch.

This place is lovely inside and out. Our waitress was great, very attentive. The lighting was not too dark or bright, and the music was fun and not too loud. Really everything about this place was great… except for the food itself, which is kind of the most important factor, and why I’m only giving it 2 stars.
We got off to a good start with drinks… My friend and I both got the Heat Seeker cocktail and it was delicious! The focaccia bread was good, but typically I think of focaccia as having a lot of herbs, spices, oil, maybe a little cheese baked in… this bread did not have any of that. Also, I think it would have more of an upscale, Italian vibe if it came with oil and pepper than the butter.
We ordered the salad from the specials menu, and my understanding was that it was supposed to come with pear. However, there was no pear on the salad… my boyfriend said he thought it was in the dressing, but either way, I could not taste it at all. It was also quite overdressed.
For our entrees, my friend got the duck, which tasted like duck but looked nothing like it, which was very strange. The pieces of meat on her plate were enormous and looked more like pork. I got the baked mushroom rotolo. I guess I was expecting something like a baked mac n’ cheese, where the noodles, ricotta, and mushrooms would all be baked in the pan together… not so. It came in a pan but the noodles had been wrapped to look a bit like sushi? There was some type of meat in it but I’m not sure what, and there did not appear to be any arugula. The ricotta didn’t taste fresh, and the overall dish was severely under-​seasoned. My boyfriend ordered a seafood dish that he also reported as under-​seasoned.
The other problem with the entrees is, they were quite expensive given the portion sizes. If the entrees were flavorful and high quality I would be able to forgive the steep prices, but unfortunately, they just weren’t.
I’d go back to this place for a cocktail and would maybe even give their pizza a shot, but I will definitely not be ordering any other entrees again.

While the food was just OK, it’s really the whole experience that gets two stars.
We arrived for 6pm dinner during Restaurant Week and it was nearly empty. After ordering the Restaurant Week special of venison (which we figured would come out quickly since it was the special) and the bucatini (which takes, what, 15 minutes to cook?), we were really surprised when it took a full hour for our entrees to arrive. During this time, the waitress didn’t check in to let us know that the food was coming or apologize for the lengthy wait.
After we ate our entrees, my friend was getting a dessert as part of the restaurant week menu and I ordered the soft serve. Again we waited – about 20 minutes. My friend actually had to leave because she had a meeting to get to (and we were now an hour and 45 minutes into our meal) so I held down the fort. Her dessert arrived about five minutes after she left. Mine (a dish of ice cream that I assume was made in advance) arrived five to ten minutes after that. So yes, I wait like half an hour for ice cream.
What takes so long here?!
The waitress did seem to feel bad that my friend had to leave before our meal was over, so she comped my soft serve. While I appreciated this, I missed out on finishing a meal with a good friend (not to mention she paid for something she couldn’t eat) and we spent most of our meal annoyed that it was taking so long. In total, it took two hours for us to eat. Again, it wasn’t super crowded – probably two-​thirds full when I left.
The food was fine but nothing I would come here for again. My pasta was flavorful but had clearly been sitting for quite a while because the noodles were all congealed together into a gloppy mess. Not worth the price.

We came here for their Sunday brunch and more than half of the restaurant was empty at noon and still the service was so slow. We all ordered coffees and we would have to flag our server down to get refills which was very annoying.
The food was good though, my husband had chicken n waffle. his cousin had an omelette and I had their special burger which they only have on Sundays.
You are welcome to try the place if you are willing to put up with the slow service.

The 4 of us came here for brunch on a Sunday (quite the field trip from Old Town) and it was such a let down.
The place wasn’t even half full so not sure why the service was so slow. Besides my friend’s coffee cups being filled, we had to flag them down a few times to get waters filled. The food came out slow as well and it was fairly pricey for the portions.
My friend’s small omelet came with nothing else ($ 12) as did the brioche French toast. If you are in the mood for fried chicken and waffles, you may not go wrong here. The chicken was decent and as were the waffles but nothing great. For $ 18 it better be awesome. The side of fingerling potatoes were tasty… cuz it was fried and dressed well. The burger and fries I shared were a big disappointment ($ 16). we asked for medium but it came out burnt/​rubbery/​well done in some parts and just raw in the middle. the fries were so oily too. I was disgusted that I stopped eating both and I usually eat anything in front of me. Each of us left something behind on our plates.
Given the slow service and lack luster food, I’m likely not going to return.

A touch of fine dining in comfort food. I was very happy and satisfied with my meal. To trek or not to trek is up to you… how bad do you want the A10 Chicken and Waffles?
PRICING — Price is reflective of the new downtown Hyde Park. $ 15 is the brunch threshold per dish.
A10 CHICKEN AND WAFFLES ($ 18) — 50% gluten free due to the rice flour Belgian Waffle that was hearty and a good compliment to the garlic with other spices breading in tender and moist fried chicken. The spotty Burton’s Maple Syrup was perfectly placed. A harmonious dish.
BRIOCHE FRENCH TOAST — I love that it’s available in 2 sizes. Important to those who are watching carbs but indulging a bit.
COFFEE — bottomless BOW TRUSS.
SERVICE — Impeccable. You will be seated and served 15 mins before 2 pm brunch closing time. We overstayed but they didn’t mind.
SEATING — very comfortable. Be mindful of the 4 person booth near the restrooms with a hallway view as you get a burst of cold air sometimes.
HAPPY HOUR (Mon-​Fri 4 – 7 pm) — excellent pricing on booze. Is food served?

I only ate and drank at the bar but they do have a full dining area.
They had fried pig ears on the bar menu! OMG, the first time I’ve ever seen this. Of course, had to order it. When it came out, it was not what I expected. I thought it was going to actually look like a pig’s ear and more like jerky texture (I had a yellow lab that loved smoked pig ears). So, I was presented with a bowl of puffy, deep fried sections of ears. It looked just like pork rinds, and pretty much tasted like them too. They are pretty addictive especially with the fontina sauce they had on the side. But here’s note of caution. Don’t eat more than one order. They taste so light and cripsy but I felt I drank a gallon of oil afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, I’d so do it again. It was VERY tasty. The beers on tap are local and really good, changing them to meet the seasonal food offerings. Well though out. Check it out!