Carriage House

Yum. Yum. Gimme Some! Oh wait, they did.
Sunday Brunch was spectacular. Our group wanted everything on the menu so we all shared (duh that’s what friends are for) a few appetizers. We ordered beignets, skillet cornbread, and fried green tomatoes. I could have done without the tomatoes but it was my first time trying them. The beignets were light and fluffy and the skillet cornbread, well, talk about comfort food!
For our meals we ordered two Chicken & Biscuits and one Mushroom Truffle and Egg dish. The chicken & biscuits were the cooked perfectly, the gravy brought it all together. I tried some of the mushroom truffle and egg dish and immediately thought, «well, I’ll have to come back for THAT».
We all got a couple drinks too, I mean, what would brunch be without a few cocktails?! The Spring Gimlet stood out the most to me.
The waiter was extremely nice and very personable. This is a solid place to get your brunch on. Hopefully when they reopen, the menu will have stayed the same.

Went here for brunch based off someone’s recommendation and left disappointed and unsatisfied.
As someone who is from the South, the brunch items are way too complicated and lack any real flavor. There’s just too much going on. We ordered:
–Mushroom, Truffle, and Eggs (too many distinct flavors thrown together, we took one bite and couldn’t finish the rest, just didn’t taste good)
–Fried Green Tomatoes (entirely too complicated, too much sauce on top that was overly tangy, shrimp in the mix that didn’t blend well with the dish, and the fried green tomatoes were too greasy and tomatoes bland).
Wait staff was wonderful but even our coffee tasted bad. Just wasn’t a good experience.

Belated review of this lovely summertime meal we had, as we sit watching this first blizzard of winter 2015 outside our window.
We nervously brought one of our tried and true southern friends (born and raise in KY, now living in AL) here when she came to visit Chicago this past August, wondering how our southern food would stack up to her grandma’s. Happy to report: she’s still friends with us! In fact, she loved the place! Before we got our food, we determined the litmus test for true southern cooking to be collard greens and fried chicken, knowing that if they failed those, all would be hopeless. Boy, were we proven wrong. The fried chicken thigh was AMAZING. As was the collard greens. As was the shrimp and grits. As was the skillet cornbread. As was the buttermilk biscuit. As was the cheesy grits. You get my point.
Unilocal shows this place as temporarily closed, but when they open again, we recommend you go stake a place out on their patio with a piece of fried chicken thigh and a buttermilk biscuit.

Went for brunch. Had the mimosa of the day which was Strawberry purée… Very good so had 2. Tasted the screwdriver that had a bbq potato chip rim and much better than i thought it would be. For starters we had the Fried Green Tomatoes and corn Bread with Foie Gras butter… Not sure what that is. But after sampling their apple butter, it would have been a much better pairing.
The brunch menu featured lots of southern biscuits and gravy style high caloric comfort food fare. The eggs bacon and standard fare was listed as a side. i opted for the raspberry french toast with vanilla bean whip cream and fresh berries.
It was decent … After those mimosas it would have been hard not to please me.
Service was good and attentive. They plan to do a remodel and name change soon but they plan to keep many of the same items.

A girls’ dinner date went well in this elevated southern food joint. Service was great with recommendations. In order of preference, the 2 of us shared the following:
–the smaller order of the ribs — great to share and it made things less messy as the ribs were cut up individually.
–smaller order of the shrimp and grits — grits were creamy and complimented the shrimp and jus well
–oyster roast was okay. the onion and other items were over powering. I would pass on this next time.
— skillet cornbread — unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this very much… it was too dry or the flavor didn’t keep me coming back for more.

Came to Carriage House for date night on a beautiful October night and was able to enjoy the outdoor seating. It was nice to have the option to sit outside in October, though the homeless guy asking everyone for a dollar was less than ideal.
Service wise I give Carriage House 4 stars. The hostess was also our waitress and she was very pleasant and helpful with offering up her recommendations.
Drink wise I give Carriage House 1 star. We tried 3 drinks (Blue Velvet, Radlersnake and Jasper). If someone asked me would I get any of these drinks again I’d have to bust out some classic En Vogue lyrics, «Never gonna get it, never gonna get it.»
Food wise there were things I loved and things I wish I hadn’t gotten. I’d give the food 3.5 stars overall.
* Fried Green Tomatoes — 2.5 stars because I’ve had better.
* Mushroom, Truffle & Egg — 5 stars because this was that damn good! Definitely recommend this dish.
* Catfish Fry — 1 star because it was too fishy, lacked flavor and the batter on the fish was a no from the first bite.
* Slow Smoked Pork Sandwich — 4 stars because this was delicious (the bite that I had).
* Macaroni and Cheese — 5 stars because it was so cheesy that it made my heart beat a little faster.
* Country Ham Hush Puppies — 4 stars because you get a good amount of hush puppies and they are good… plain and simple.
I give Carriage House 3.5 stars for dinner and I definitely need to go back to try their brunch.

Carriage House is known for their Southern food-​inspired menu. After traveling to Atlanta and having Southern brunch for years, my friends and I decided to have Southern brunch in Chicago.
Beignets: Dense. These are not the fluffy beignets found at Café du Monde in NOLA, Toulouse Petit in Seattle, or even the food truck at the Eastern Market in Detroit. The beignets reminded me of the doughnuts at Dahlia Lounge in Seattle. Accompanying espresso sauce was excellent, but I do not recommend the beignets at all. PASS.
Chicken and biscuit: Biscuit and gravy are on point. The boneless fried chicken reminded me of Chick Fil A’s chicken sandwich. I think Chick Fil A also does biscuits. I would pass on this as well. Unless it’s Sunday and you’re craving CFA.
Service and ambience: Excellent service, but this is a loud and lively environment. If you’re soft-​spoken, no one at your table of six will be able to hear you.
My impression was meh. Southern food is best done in the South, and Carriage House tries and puts in efforts, but fails in execution.

My friend and I stopped here to meet up with her cousin who lives right down the street. We actually had a plan of ordering a couple small things and share, but we couldn’t get enough and kept ordering more! Everything was AMAZING.
Here’s what we ordered:
–Fried oyster benedict
–Cornbread
–Chicken and biscuit
–Shrimp and grits
–Truffled grits
-…probably too many gimlets and mimosas
I highly, HIGHLY recommend this place. The establishment itself is adorable, clean, and a very chill vibe. Everyone working seemed like they were in a great mood, as we had numerous servers, a bartender and a manager come up and cheerfully asked us how everything was.
I can’t wait to go back!

Oh man… the chicken and biscuits here are SINFUL and DELICIOUS. I had the chicken and biscuits, some poached eggs, and the mac and cheese today. Honestly, whatever cajun country gravy concoction they serve is one of the most blissful mixes of spicy, savory, and just plain comforting sauces I’ve ever had on a biscuit or chicken for that matter. This takes country fried chicken to the extreme, with a buttermilk biscuit that melts in your mouth and coats the triple battered chicken in yet another layer of buttery goodness. The chicken was also perfectly tender and moist on the inside, beneath and wondrously crispy fried shell.
My only complaint, and my only reason for the star knock: the beverages aren’t fantastic. My beverage actually had a weird taste of old/​freezer burnt ice. Not sure if it was the drink or the ice… but it did not taste great.
They could also improve the AC on a 90+ degree day. It was probably a good toasty 78 degrees in there. I guess this is a southern comfort place, but when you’re charging a solid price for food and drink with a fancy interior, maybe keep the ambient temperature pleasant too?
Overall, delicious dishes. Mac and cheese was delectable. Country fried chicken and biscuits – best I’ve ever had. But perhaps some of the details could use some shaping up – because after all, the details are important here!

I had the pleasure of dining here last week for my birthday celebration with my family. Could not have asked for a better experience! We weren’t seated outside, but on the enclosed patio at a high top. Nice spot to people watch but still benefit from the air conditioning.
We began with drinks, splitting a pitcher of the creative and playful tequila and rose wine drink (name escapes me…) which also featured watermelon juice and a pickled watermelon garnish (yes, you heard that correctly, and you can eat the entire thing!). Very tasty and great presentation with the original garnish! Also, well priced at $ 39. Better than an overpriced, generic margarita pitcher you wait half an hour for at an overrated place like, say, Big Star?! Enough in the pitcher for all four of us to have a full cocktail and then some!
As for food, no qualms here. The lowcountry boil is an inspired dish that I had never any variation of prior to coming here. Fresh shrimp, clams, sausage, and vegetable comprise the deliciousness. I particularly enjoyed the chaurice sausage, which is a South Carolinian play on pork chorizo, but with slightly different spices. I split that dish, along with the soft-​shell crab po’boy with my dad. It too, was excellent. Fresh beast that was bigger than the bun! Generally, the problem with soft shell po’boys is the bread/​roll sometimes being larger than the beast itself (ahem, Half Shell in Lakeview) — not the case at Carriage House! Since it was a Wednesday, they had the sandwich, along with any tall boy beer of my choosing, for only $ 12. Naturally, I avoided the hipsteresque PBR ($ 3), and got the Half Acre Akari Shogun ($ 7); great tasting, smooth wheat ale!
Top top off the meal, we were comped dessert since it was my birthday. And I gotta say, it was probably the best ice cream sundae I’ve had in my life! Start with a huge portion of bourbon ice cream, top with candied pecans, and add a plethora of salted carmel hot fudge!
Top it off with ace service = 5 stars! In the words of aging Ahnald, I’ll be back!

Came here for brunch on a Sunday afternoon. Reservations were easy to get for a party of 3 about 30 minutes ahead of our desired time. We sat on the patio since it was a gorgeous day. The patio area has a lot of tables, and even a nice long rocking bench if you’d like to sit on that and enjoy your meal (though I assume it would be pretty hard to). I had:
–Bloody mary: comes w/​a beer back (Miller High Life) for an extra $ 1. The bloody mary was good, though I’ve had better at other places. It’s not a bad tasting bloody by any means, but I just wish it was a bit spicier and had a bit more garnishments.
–Skillet cornbread: loved this. The cornbread was sweet, had a great texture, and the berries on top were great. OH AND THE FOIE GRAS BUTTER — that was crack. I only wish there was more of it! Definitely get this.
–Chicken and biscuit: a really great dish. I wasn’t a fan of the potatoes, but the dish isn’t called «Chicken and biscuit and potatoes.» The sausage gravy was great. Biscuit was flaky and soft and the chicken was moist. Would definitely get this again
Great spot for Southern food! Definitely want to come back to try the fried oyster benedict, beignets, shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes… I basically want to come back to try everything else on the menu

Visually, the Food appears to be Food Porn Quality. My server name was Amanda. Top Pick by Unilocalies: Chk & Bis, Shrimp Grits, and French Toast. Fun Fact: 3 STARS rating by most recently visits-​Yelp Elite Members, and it’s not an accident.
Good: Hostess and server are on point, fast service. My water glass got more than half empty. Breakfast menu are very simple and easy read, and organized. I took me less than 5 min to decide what I want to eat. The vanilla bean and whipped cream on the french toast is delicious.
Bad: The French Pressed Coffee tasted sour. Prices are a bit high, but not too unreasonable: The Oyster Egg Benedict should be no more than $ 15. Fried Chicken was over cooked on the outside, the portion for the breast is smaller than I anticipated, yet inside is still tender inside. The gravy is a bit salty.
Suggestions: I had to ask for another batch of cofee. I grew up in Vietnam and live in Seattle, *Bucks HQ, I expect my coffee to be bold and have a kick – as alike my vietnamese coffee. I asked the server for a white plate, but none are available for pictures. White plates will bring these food way more appealing to the eyes. The French Toast are so easy and inexpensive to make it should be less than $ 8, to push more sales as a side. Potatoes can use a little bit of rosemary to enhance the flavor and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and roasted garlic. I would recommend friends here, and I will try their Oyster Egg Benedict next time around.

Service starts at the beginning and let me say Carriage House earns its rep from the start. I had to change/​update brunch reservations a few times. I thought for sure we’d be left out to dry because of my many changes, but service didn’t suffer at all. It was probably one of the best brunches I have had. Ever.
The menu hits on all kinds of tastes. I’m glad my group likes to share because that’s really the way to go if you can. The three of us each wanted to try a different appetizer and we went with it. Fried Green Tomatoes, Beignets and Skillet Cornbread. These truly are appetizer sized so we each got a nice serving and were able to get a true taste. The FGT had a nice cornmeal crust, with a hot sauce vinaigrette and buttermilk aioli. The beignets were cooked perfectly, light, puffy and just sweet enough without going overboard. The Skillet cornbread was as we decided «definitely not Jiffy». This is made from scratch – light, buttery but just dense enough to hold on to a schmear of the foie gras butter. Loved them all!
We each got 2 drinks and a main dish. Because thats the beauty of brunch – day drinking! Our cocktails were refreshing and smooth and any way you cut it, accompanied our meals perfectly. I got to taste each of our groups drinks (did I mention how great my friends are?) and everything was good. My drinks – the French 75 and the Spring Gimlet were just perfection.
My main dish was the Mushroom Truffle and Egg dish. On a bed of creamy grits we have a soft egg, truffle vinaigrette, chicory, mushrooms shaved Tomme. One word. DECADENT. Who knew you could upgrade grits to such a decadent level.
The space is lovely. Big windows letting in the sunshine, Dark Wood tables contrast the white walls. I loved the updated farmhouse feel of the place. Like I said, service was amazing from start to finish. Sunday brunch perfection.

You’ve got to be crazy to decline an invitation to brunch at Carriage House. I looked at the menu online and immediately wanted one of everything, especially the Fried Green Tomatoes, Beignets, and Skillet Cornbread. I wanted all of this before I even looked at the entrees. I resigned myself to only getting ONE of these, but it turns out I didn’t have to!
I am lucky to have such amazing friends. As we sat down, Aimee M proclaimed that she wanted to try the Fried Green Tomatoes. Osiris V was all about the beignets. So, it was decided that we were going to share all 3! Great minds think alike. My favorite was the skillet cornbread with foie gras butter. I’ve never had foie before, but maybe I would try it now that I’ve at least sort of experienced it as butter. The tomatoes were fried flawlessly and maintained crunchiness. I insist that you at least try one of these, in addition to an entrée, in order to do brunch right at the Carriage House.
Brunch isn’t complete without a good cocktail. Carriage House has a simple cocktail menu, and once again, we all ordered something different. The best cocktails are the French 75 (a gin cocktail with bubbly), and the Spring Gimlet (friends don’t let friends say no to elderflower). I had one of each and lemme tell ya, I was feeling GOOD.
Somehow I managed to shovel in the Chicken Biscuit too. Carriage House is all about simple comfort food — but better. This dish was smothered in a sausage gravy, and the biscuit didn’t get super soggy. The chicken was crispy crunchy on the outside, and tender on the inside.
We could have been shoved into a dark room and fed this food, and I still would have loved Carriage House. Instead, this restaurant is located at the corner of busy intersection in Wicker Park. There’s a nice patio outside, but it was a little too chilly for us, and the inside is open and airy with a modern farmhouse feel. It’s brunch, Wicker Park style.

When we walked in around 2 for brunch the place was pretty empty, their was just one other couple in the entire place.
The waitress was sweet and made sure our drinks were never empty. The bus boy we had on the other hand literally dropped my daughter’s plates in front of her and unapologetically proceeded to push the water container out of the way with them.
The food was just ok, not quite what I expected for the price. My steak was cooked right but eggs where super runny and the fried grits cake was just a little bland. Best thing we had were the deviled eggs and beignets, but almost $ 100 later not enough to make us want to come back again.
Side note.
Menu wasn’t very kid friendly and
I’ve seen cleaner bathrooms at some fast food establishments which was disappointing given the fact the place was empty and employees were just standing around.

Arrived a bit after noon on a Sunday. I really like the atmosphere at Carriage House. Similar to its name, it feels very comfortable, rustic, and a dream farm-​kitchen. The noise is bearable, but the play music that you would expect at most American-​style restaurants.
Upon skimming through the menu, I was surprised to see that there are beignets, which I quickly ordered. They are delicious, crispy, with soft, milky dough in the center. It really reminded me of deep-​fried, Chinese montou bread with sweetened condensed milk. If you ever consider making these types of doughnuts, I recall a certain video posted by Chef Gordon Ramsay.
Anyways, onto the main course: wild mushrooms and grits with a truffle vinaigrette. This dish has fresh flavors and earthy (of course, its mushrooms). The grits were smooth and buttery; keeping it simple. There was no cajun spiciness or kick to my dish. The flavors were just to be expected. My biggest disappointment was that the mushroom felt a bit soggy and didn’t really blend well with the rest of the dish. Mushrooms are typically very moisture upon hitting the pan, but I guess my critique is more of wishful thinking.
My experience here was enjoyable, but given that I love hearty meals for brunches. I was kind of disappointed; Sunday mornings are a pretty rough awakening for a mid-​20s person who also happens to be in the middle of Wicker Park. I would recommend the beignets, which were very pleasant compliment to a brunch. In addition, a few tips for those planning a visit: street parking is free on Sundays, did not notice a valet, SERIOUSLY get a reservation (I still had to wait even though I made a reservation), and order the BEIGNETS. Lastly, I have to give kudos to the staff who were accommodating and patient with my party; I might give this place another try.

Thanks to a rez, we waltzed in here on a weekend during prime Wicker Park brunching time and were seated immediately. It took quite some time for a waitress to get to us, which is something that still sticks out about my experience even though I dined there over two weeks ago. Time to catch up on those reviews! What better time to do so than now when I just got my Elite ’15 badge!
We shared a cornbread appetizer. It was a little small, but probably the best cornbread appetizer I have ever tried! The foie gras butter was very rich and a total treat. I would absolutely order that again. My vegetarian girlfriend agreed (oops, she had foie gras butter).
Having read an article recommending the chicken biscuit, I went for that. I was not disappointed. It was crunchy, crispy, rich, and probably loaded with fat and calories that I don’t care to know. I highly recommend you order this. It was a great serving size, too – not too big, not too small. I finished it and felt very content. So, yeah. The only hiccup we had here really was service that wasn’t the most attentive. I so expect better for a «$$$» restaurant (even if it’s more of a «$$» for the brunch crowd). I do understand that they were busy, though.
I would definitely come back here to try more items on the menu. For example, I noticed that the couple at the table next to us ordered the beignets covered in powdered sugar and they were very happy with that ordering choice. The fried green tomato also sounds like something interesting, as I haven’t tried that yet.

My best friend was in town to visit and I wanted to take her to a nice brunch spot. It’s sure tough to pick just one brunch restaurant out of so many choices!
The restaurant is beautiful and cozy. We were greeted by a warm pleasant hostess. Our server, however, was not friendly or attentive. Our coffee cups were empty and we had to ask the server twice for refills and twice to bring water. We also had to ask twice for silverware after our entrees arrived…
We started with the beignets and they were just okay, a bit bland. I didn’t care for the expresso butterscotch sauce. We ordered the shrimp and grits, and chicken and biscuit. Both were flavorful but I found the shrimp and grits to have more flavor out of the two dishes. The ham combined with the creamy grits and gravy was spectacular. Great dish! The chicken was pretty good too — hearty and juicy but dull in comparison to the flavors of the shrimp and grits!
Overall, the food was good, absolutely, but not extraordinary; the décor/​environment is clean and cute and the service was a disappointment. We’re glad we tried it but will consider other restaurants when I have visitors in town.

I had a great meal at Carriage House — I saw a write-​up of this place in «The Week» last year and I’ve been meaning to come since then. Restaurant week was a perfect opportunity to visit.
I started the meal with a «Charleston» Dixie (ginger beer, vodka, citrus, and crushed ice). The drink looked amazing but I think it looked a little better than it tasted: it wasn’t bad at all, I think I just was expecting more from the flavors.
The skillet cornbread was just soft enough, just salty enough, all in all very good. The pork shank came out piping hot and smelled awesome. It also tasted good though I think the seasoning was just a little uneven (more salt, etc. on one side than the other). Finally, the beignets were delicious on their own (I didn’t care for the espresso caramel) and just the right size at the end of a big meal.

I went to Carriage House for one of their Sunday Supper fried chicken dinners. I love fried chicken and was so excited that I could have as much as I wanted (or as much as my stomach could handle). When you’re churning out that much fried chicken, I expected the quality to suffer. NOT AT ALL! The fried chicken was excellent, and is the only reason this review made it to 4 stars — the fried chicken is good enough to return to.
Everything else… meh. The biscuit was flavorless, the four sides included were all pretty bland and the peach cobbler dessert was not worth eating. Normally, this would make me knock a place down to 3 stars… but again, fried chicken. Don’t even waste calories or time on sides if you go. Just eat chicken.