iNG Restaurant

The miracle berry 6 course meal with included pairings is a great deal at $ 75. The food is from the same mind but does not have the same execution and finish of
Moto where we dined earlier in the week. But for a third the cost I can take it. Details like slow service, unclear explanations and failure to clear dishes and glassware are
details I can bear. The food is still fun and once again I’ll reiterate that it’s a great deal.

Came here with the bf to try the Valentine’s special 9 course meal. I thought all the dishes were creatively composed and tasted spectacular. Some way better than others, but overall experience was outstanding. The décor mixed with the server’s head to toe black attire made me feel like i was in a modern art museum. This place is all about the experience — which is a huge part of what molecular gastronomy offers. It’s visually and sensory pleasing. The miracle berry was something else! It’s from Africa and they dried it to prolong its shelf life. Eating it turns anything you eat that’s acidic to sweet tasting — I was blown away! It’s always the little things that captivate you. Loved every part of my experience from start to finish. The meal was also more affordable than other high-​end, experiential restaurants.
Warning: small place, definitely make a reservation way in advance.

One of the most interestING dining experiences I’ve had.
I tried the Salvadore Dali 4-​course menu during restaurant week. All the dishes were based on Salvadore Dali’s paintings. Beautiful presentations, small portioned meals. Flavors were very earthy and interesting. The miracle berry was a trip!
Service, although, was pretty slow. Staff was friendly and were knowledgeable about every single course.

We came for the Salvador Dali special for Restaurant Week. And have been trying to blot it out of our collective memories since, while simultaneously regretting the hasty decision to mortgage our children to pay for it.
The only good thing I can say about the overall experience is that the waiter brought a second plate of lemons to extend the miracle berry pill experience beyond the two slivers of citrus provided by default. (Hey, folks, do you realize that the taco place two blocks down will give you these for free? Yes, heroically, even as we suffer through the Great Lime Famine of 2014. As for the miracle berry tablets, they can be bought off of Amazon for ~$ 1.40 each.)
The slimy «melting clock» appliqué on the second course was roughly the texture of snot, and tasted about the same: bland while simultaneously obstructing and sliding down your esophagus… a little like diphtherae (don’t scrape, you’ll just make it worse). The tables are about two feet apart and the wait staff cultivate a smug self-​important veneer. Something like, «I work at a fancy restaurant, but I could not care less about customer service because it interferes with my sherry-​sipping art student» attitude.
The main course, a chorizo stew, was an inferior version of homemade, i.e. impossibly salty. In spite of this, water refills were infuriatingly slow. As we slowly died of internal desiccation, dessert finally arrived: a mangled piece of stainless steel supporting what could generously be described as two dots of Trader Joe’s cherry and apricot jams and one dot of Trader Joe’s cookie butter. This, friends, is what passes for luxury and innovation.
I, lolcat, am not amused and would rather scavenge my owner’s still-​hanging duck prosciutto from the patio hooks than pay another $ 60/​person to come again (and that’s not including tax or tip). As I sit, still gulping down my Pedialyte, forever rehydrating (FOREVER rehydrating), I beg you to reconsider your kidneys.
By the way, I still have one child remaining. And he looks like a fairly promising violinist. Any more bright dining ideas?

iNG really shoots for the moon. Unfortunately, it misses the mark.
A friend and I came here for the Salvador Dali inspired menu. The dishes were artfully presented and the descriptions sounded creative. But taste was just not there.
The first course was a beet salad which came with a miracle berry pill for «flavor tripping.» The server instructed us to tasted the profile of dish before the pill, then to take it and re-​taste the dish. All of a sudden, everything tasted sweet, and the dish took on a different personality. Flavor tripping was definitely the highlight of the meal. While it is a unique idea, the bottom line is that it is gimmicky, and cannot truly enhance an otherwise normal dish. The second course was a tomato and sausage soup that was pretty unmemorable. The dessert course was an amalgam of unidentifiably-​flavored schmears of sauces and a long slice of nougat. It looked lovely but tasted average.
iNG wants to be creative, but sacrifices taste for presentation. This is a shame since it has to compete with lots of nearby restaurants that strike a great balance between taste, creativity, and artistry. So I am not going to be running back here for their pretty plates.

OK. I got taken on a Travelzoo on a ten course iNG tasting menu with «cocktails». Now when I bought this Travelzoo for iNG they were proudly advertising the weird and interesting Dali menu with a COCKTAIL pairing. NOW, it’s beer can chicken and craft beer, WTF?
Travelzoo got their money and they are NO help for what is obviously a severely downgraded menu and drinks. Bait & Switch is the only way I can describe it, however unintentional these hipsters may have intended it. I bought Dali and cocktails, I got beercan chicken and beer.
Now I could have gotten into the Dali Menu in that cold weird urban space with the previously advertised COCKTAILS, but the lame beer can menu with craft beers was more surreal than Dali and I just felt I had been ripped off $ 195. And I was.
Do NOT go to iNG until they get their act back together– no big suprise they are CLOSING ⁵⁄₂₄ for a 2 – 3 month renovation.
And certainly do NO busyness with TRAVELZOO. They are no help.
AVOID TRAVELZOO. Groupon is solid, sh*t happens and they fix it.

We picked a place we could get a reservation at rather last minute before going to the theatre last night. Getting any reservation last minute on Saturday night can be a challenge – so glad we were able to get in at ing!
What a blast! Admittedly, I was a little concerned that the tasting menu was very meat based, but they did an outstanding job subbing for my vegetarian/​pescatarian menu. We had their craft beer 6 course tasting menu. Food was incredible and so much fun to pair with local brews.
The miracle berry is wild! It dissolves on your tongue and changes your taste buds. Getting to enjoy the same dish two very different ways was pure, delicious fun.
As their menu changes frequently, I look forward to staying in touch via email so we can go back for another culinary adventure!

Food and drinks were excellent. My friend and I both had the 6 course menu over the 10 course menu. It sounded like a lot of food, so I thought I would go easy. The courses were paired with Chicago made Beers from some excellent breweries. I’m not sure I would say any one dish was better then the next. It was just hit after hit.
My issues with the restaurant were that the portions were teeny tiny, and I left needing to go to another restaurant for more food. The price for the food and beer pairing was $ 120 (20% gratuity was automatically added in for a party of two which I found very strange). You should never leave a restaurant hungry after having spent $ 120 a person. That’s just pure ridiculousness.
I also saw the other items we missed from not having the 10 course menu, and they were equally small.
So essentially the flavor was great, but the value was missing. I think if I had been satisfied when I left I would have given them 4 stars, perhaps 4.5, but u less you have money to burn, you will be pretty unsatisfied when you leave.
As a footnote, I went next door to the Aviary for a drink and bite afterward. Bad idea. The food portions were equally minuscule.
Ugh!

I went for Restaurant Week and was treated to their four-​course tasting menu, all of which was Salvador Dali themed. For me, I’d never been to a molecular gastronomy place before and was quite concerned by what I was getting myself into. I had seen the menu ahead of time and wasn’t quite I was going to like what was coming.
Fortunately, I was wrong. Upon getting there, I was up for switching to the six or seven course menu, but because my friend was sticking with the four, we couldn’t eat without matching courses. So four it was! And they were all good. The menu changes, and I don’t remember most of the details after a month, but I’ll share what I remember:
1) The miracle berry, which turned sour into sweet, was incredible. The first course was a beet dish of some sort and I hate beets — and yet this tasted great. Certainly enhanced by the berry. Sucking on a lemon wedge after consuming the berry made the lemon taste like lemonade. Crazy.
2) Everything was beautiful. Highlight for me was the dish that looked like the melting clocks painting of Dali’s. It was some form of goat cheese panna cotta with some roasted potatoes and mushrooms underneath. There was also a chickpea curry dish.
Dessert was on the weak side, from my POV, but still was beautiful and interesting. Not sure I necessarily need to go again — although with a seasonally changing menu, they probably are worth a «summery» look — but I was glad I at least experienced it once. Considering the cost, the portions were too small for a dinner for me. I get that that’s part of it, but if I’m going to spend the money on a non-​Restaurant Week «full» meal, I would want more food.

Very scientific food experience. We tried the tasting menu paired with drinks. It was an interesting experience. I liked the food, drinks more… its more like experimenting with food rather than just having a regular dinner.

Went for restaurant week and was pleasantly surprised. I was actually a little apprehensive before going. Although I consider myself daring in terms of food, had never had molecular gastronomy before and thought it just might not taste good. Boy was I wrong.
I had the four course restaurant week menu based on their Salvadore Dali menu. I am not going to go into details about the dishes as the menu changes and I wouldn’t do them justice, regardless. I will comment on the miracle berry, which came with the first course. It effectively turns sour foods into sweet (and I believe vice versa), as shown by the lemon they serve it with that turns into lemonade post miracle berry. I found it very interesting, which is something that really excited me about the whole meal.
All four courses were presented beautifully, all selfie– worthy. All of it was interesting, like nothing I have ever eaten before. Most importantly, it was all great. I wanted to get every last bit of every dish. The flavors were complex and excellent. Also, the service was perfect; very professional yet friendly, not condescending and they did a great job of explaining each course.
Some may consider the portions small. As someone who often goes to steak houses, I was actually happy to leave not feeling like i had a weight in my stomach (and not hungry). Not the place to go if you are aiming for quantity, the place to go if you want a very flavorful, unique and enjoyable dining experience.

Exquisite flavors and presentation and creativity — the highlight was the Dali-​inspired milk sheet clocks :) And they were wonderfully accommodating of my vegetarian and food allergy needs. My one quibble is the portion size — ok I know it’s haute cuisine but one should not leave still a bit hungry after paying that much money.

I got the 10 course tasting of the global street food menu with beverage pairings. Overall, the experience was fun. The use of the miracle berry heightened my palate and made me more aware of acidity vs sweetness. I thought the menu was creative and quite artistic, but in terms of flavor, I was not very satisfied. I felt like flavor was sacrificed for inventiveness. To be honest, I prefer to have the street food items in their original form! The korean barbeque dish was way too salty. Otherwise, everything was well seasoned.
I didn’t enjoy the décor very much. It felt tacky and not modern to me. The place was also way too quiet and pretty empty.
The service was amazing.
Overall, a restaurant I would recommend trying once, but I would probably not return as I am not from the Chicago area.

I’ve been here twice in the past six months and both times, just came for some small bites and flavor tripping cocktails at the bar.
The flavor tripping is so unique, it is definitely something that everyone should try once. The bar menu is definitely very much small bites so it’s not enough to make a meal of, but if you are like me, it’s a good place for a snack.
All in all, a cool place for a date or to do something different with a friend!

What a great experience!
I took my boyfriend here to start his 25^th birthday, and what a good start that was!
We were treated very well. Everything was so artsy, and modern.
We were in for the kid’s meal dinner, and it was delicious! They even customized 2 of the courses because we are both lactose intolerant
Oh I loved the berry that changes your taste buds. So weird, but so cool!
The atmosphere of the restaurant is so upscale, yet so casual. mmm
This place is very good for impressing a date, celebrations, or just an amazing meal :)

Over the past couple of years now iNG has been one of my favorite restaurants. Some of the friendliest staff in Chicago as well as incredibly creative, interesting (and generally delicious) cuisine. Every couple of months not just the menu changes completely, but the entire theme (i.e. Wonder Years, Nightmare Before Christmas, Scorsese, April Showers etc.). This whimsical aspect of the dinner leads me to really become excited about my visits.
Last year iNG came into their own and had some highly memorable meals, but earlier this year they lost a lot of talent and took just a small step backwards; I still enjoyed the first couple of menus of 2013, but not as much as last years’. Last week they rolled out their Street Food themed menu and this is definitely among iNG’s best. They have reloaded with new talent and once again are firing on all cylinders. Newly named executive chef (Tim Havidic) is young, passionate and extremely talented; he has a real winner with his debut menu. Not to be outdone, iNG also landed a top notch pastry chef in Natalie Zarzour (former proprietress of highly acclaimed Pasticceria Natalina). This menu featured the best desserts I have ever consumed at iNG. Much like Moto brought on board Claire Crenshaw from Tru to elevate their desserts, now iNG’s sweets are at the same level as the savories.
The current menu is a success on every level. Ten courses of deconstructed street food; seven savories and three sweets (think Falafel, tacos, snow cones). Each course retains just enough key elements of the dish it is representing to be familiar, but is modern, whimsical and complex. Despite the myriad of ingredients the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts and I found all ten dishes to be hits; the first course sets the bar quite high but there is no drop off. The $ 105 price tag includes pairings; a mixture of craft beers, wines and unique cocktails that aside from an overly bitter horchata cocktail were all enjoyable and enhanced the meal. A less expensive six course menu is available upon request. iNG also does a wonderful job with non alcoholic pairings as well as accommodating allergies and even aversions. The current menu also features flavor tripping vis-​a-​vis the Miracle Berry with a couple of courses whereby the berry tricks your tongue into interpreting acidity as sweetness (resulting in a sweet element to these dishes without added sugars).
While iNG also lost some front of the house and bar staff that I had grown close to over my frequent visits, they have retained some key people that have been involved since the opening led by Trevor Rose-​Hamblin (one of the best general managers in Chicago) as well as Jojet and Nathan. iNG has a solid track record of adding people who excel at being personable yet professional resulting in polished service yet an extremely warm ambiance and comfortable dining experience; the new hires appear to have these characteristics. We loved the Street Food menu so much we already made reservations to return next month and cannot wait to see what Chefs Havidic, Zarzour and company come up with for the fall.
Follow me on twitter: @Goof₂

To celebrate the end of Winter Quarter, my friends and I came to ING, a restaurant with concentration on molecular gastronomy, for Chef’s Week. I had been looking forward to this for a long time and I was so happy to finally be there! The theme of the menu was the miracle berry, which is basically a powder that you can eat which will turn all sour and bitter foods into sweet and delicious flavors! We got the 3 course menu with the alcohol tasting with each course.
On the menu:
Wings: The meal was started off really well with homemade noodles, served with a jalapeño and siracha mayo. It was then topped with shredded duck and parmesan. On the bottom of the plate, there was even some apricot purée. This was really good and I just wish I had more of it! This was paired with a Hop Zombie beer.
Korean Beef: The short rib was cooked to perfection so that it fell apart when you cut into it. It was cooked with soy sauce and they served homemade kimchi with it. This was served with Pic Saint Loup wine and I ate this really slowly just to savor every bite.
Lemon Tart: This is where the miracle berry played in! The dessert had a lemon tart with a graham cracker, and there was a pomegranate sauce on the bottom, and it was served with a coconut foam. Everything was really sour or bitter when we had it, even the drink. They paired this with a lemon drop that had a gel on the bottom that was supposed to taste like lime. You can see the powder in the spoons in the back of the third picture and when I had it and tasted the dessert again, all of my dessert was super sweet! It was such a cool experience and I am so happy to have gone here!
The restaurant is really well decorated and they even have this graffiti mural right in the middle of the restaurant. Really great service and the girl at the bar is great!

Loved, loved, loved this restaurant! We went with a livingsocial certificate and were blown away. We went during the «Nightmare Before Christmas» menu.
The food was great — we did the 10 course menu with drink pairings. We loved the octopus and mushroom, the frog’s legs, the pork belly and the different holiday plate. The miracle berry portion was definitely different and interesting, but it wasn’t anything I would want seconds on. The service was fantastic and our waiter was really friendly and nice. Everything wowed us — the presentation was so inventive and fun. It was definitely a different dining experience.
The only thing I would say is that at first, it seemed like the pours for the pairings were stingy, but toward the end we were so full, we didn’t care. We will definitely return.
⁸⁄₃₆₅

Came here starving after a big work presentation to celebrate. Of course we splurged for the 10 course meal, the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. These were some of the coolest dishes i’ve ever tried. I loved the pork belly on the skeleton hand, just wished i could have eaten that as well! The thought put into the drink parings was excellent and probably the rose of the meal.
I think this is a great place to go and have some fun but I don’t think this will go into any sort of regular rotation.

Amaz — iNG
Astonish-​iNG
Mindblow-​iNG
Electrify-​iNG
iNG — crediable
Shall I go on? I think not.
As you probably can already tell I am, thanks to my recent visit to iNG, now and huge fan. The food was fun, the atmosphere was cool and above all the staff was amazing. They made our group experience completely awesome!
What brought us to iNG was a desire to go out for a fancy dinner, what kept us there was the amazing 10-​course, 6 drink Martin Scorsese dinner. Literally by the time we had to leave most of us felt like we could role out because of the amount of good food booze we had just consumed.
There were too many great dishes to talk about at this restaurant, so I will keep it short and stick with my favorite few. My favorites included the the 9 mm, The Color of Money, Catherine’s Pasta and Intermission (see my pictures). The 9 mm was unique and completely outside of the box as was The Color of Money. Catherine’s Pasta with mushrooms was rich and decedent and Intermission was fun. I could go on, but what I know of this restaurant is that the menu changes every couple of months so get in before this menu goes (sometime around Thanksgiving)!