Nouveau Tavern

While I enjoyed the aura & décor of the place, the waitress and her service sucks balls. The drinks are too sweet. Not only did I feel like I was going into a diabetic coma, but the drinks also had that Sweet-​n-​low after taste. The food is ridiculously expensive and bland. I will say, of all the workers, the manager was the only person with a modicum of common sense. The music was… well I haven’t really made up my mind yet!!! I may have enjoyed myself had it not been for rude waitstaff.

My wife and I went here after enjoying a concert, on a Sunday evening. Loved the location and the design on the inside. There only a few people there but you could tell that the set up was for a lot people to enjoy food, drinks, and some dancing! They had 3 bar areas and plenty of screens with a variety of sizes to watch games. Our server came over to us and had this little country accent that just moved us. Had to ask where she was from down south? She said, I’m not from the South, I’m from Chicago… WHAT! Yes, she said Chicago! She went on to explain that she does attend school down south and that is where she picked up the Southern accent! She was such a delight. Had all the Southern charm and hospitality that usually come along with it. We ordered drinks… my wife loved hers but I didn’t care for mines. It seemed weak and watery! The server was so kind to offer me another drink and I was pleased with it! I ordered the Shrimp and Grits and the wife had the fried catfish! Grits were tasty but not filling, so… I had to order some pork chops as well. They were cooked just right! They were out of greens so I had the broccoli instead and they nice and buttery! Gumbo on the side was had a thicker rue then most but was still a delicious style of gumbo… enjoyed the different texture! Catfish was very hot and crispy on the outside while juices flowed ever so slightly from within! Mac and cheese was OK but had better. Corn bread was filled with small kernels and very sweet… with butter it just set it off! Unfortunately, when we just attempted to go here again… the place had closed down! Hope it reopens or relocates!

This restaurant is closed. Went there this evening with a groupon and the restaurant had closed… A heads up may be nice

Great southern creole food. Try the jambalaya, shrimp and sausage grits, bananas foster, pineapple mimosas, crab legs with creole seasoning YUM! The only reason I did not give 5 stars is because I believe they are under staffed. Had to wait for fresh food to come out.

This food was seriously terrible. Tried, tried to give them a 2^nd chance. Nope. The shrimp and grits literally came with a pile of water on top. It was basically soup and the rice for the étouffée was crunchy! Crunchy rice and soupy grits? I’m a foodie, this was a disappointment. The only thing that saved them was the waitress, her service was amazing !

Worest customer service in Chicago
I went there over a year ago. The keep sending me text messages. Every time I block the message the change the address and they keep harassing me,
I have called the restaurant and I and told them I do not have free texting. They were not helpful.
The meal was so so. The after taste of the experience has been difficult to shake.

I love this place! I don’t write reviews unless I really like or really dislike a place. I’ve went on three different types of occasions:
–dinner date night –100% unique, above average food and drinks –you’re not paying so the high prices aren’t an issue™
–after hours lounge-​dj is awesome-​kitchen open late, dance floor nicely centered for entertainment purposes, tvs if the games are on
–most recently-​Sunday brunch-​lets just say I can definitely appreciate going back for seconds/​thirds and getting something different each time. And Sunday brunches are my «thing» but they can get rather boring. Not here.
So if you like a classy ambiance-​I love ambiance and the lighting and décor here are amazing-​good food, music and drinks and understand that you get what you pay for… than this is the place for you!

My husband and I went here for a birthday party. A disappointment to say the least. The food was subpar. The gumbo was the consistency of bean paste. The bayou wings were decent. They had a flavor similar to mole’…which I like
The hush puppies were pretty good. I had the smothered catfish. It was a tad spicy, and nothing to write home about.
The food was totally overshadowed by the service. HORRIBLE! It took 45 minutes just to get our drinks. Almost 2 hours for everyone to receive their lukewarm food. Half of the orders were incorrect. Excuse after excuse were given to explain the wait, the food, the delay with our drinks. They started to pack up our tables while we were still eating to prep for the nightclub.
And we still were forced to pay for gratuity. We will not be eating here again. Be it for a birthday or not!

I recently took a date to the Nouveau Tavern on Valentine’s Day. I must say I was impressed the moment I walked in. Its a beautiful well maintained restaurant. A special was ran that day. I had crawfish fritters for an appetizer. They were delicious. Especially the sauce! For my entrée I had smothered catfish. Very good indeed. For dessert I banana foster made with Bacardi 151. Very strong but delicious. I was very satisfied with dinner. Can’t wait to return to try brunch.

Terrible Service and High Prices is a good summary!
Nouveau Tavern is a popular spot to hang out at. The positives are that it is free admission during most events that I have attended. It’s a very lively place with a big crowd of people after 10pm. So if you are a people watcher then this is the place for you! The music is R&B and some old school. Its loud and noisy so you wont be able to hold a conversation! This is a club type environment at night.
If you have dinner or lunch there then you will learn that the prices are sky high, ridiculous, and just plain olé insane. Drinks are expensive and weak! The portions of food are small and the food is definitely not worth the price! One dinner can cost you on average 25 bucks or more. The wait staff is terrible and inattentive. They try to charge you extra for everything. They are rude and pushy!
One time, I ordered an appetizer of Nachos, and when they bought it to the table I wanted to hit the waitress with the plate. There were literally 8 chips on the plate that were broken and scantly adorned with tiny sprinkles of cheese, peppers, etc. I couldn’t believe that they had the nerve to serve me that mess for 9 bucks. I grab the waitress and told her to get it made the right way or I didn’t want it. I don’t eat little scraps of chips.
If you eat here, then pay attention to your receipts!!! This restaurant likes to sneak the gratitude fee into the total… I don’t want the waitress to rape my debit card. Let me give the tip to you freely.

We came here on a Groupon on a Sunday night.
Plusses:
— The entrees tasted amazing. I got the blackened catfish, and my wife got the crawfish étouffée. We shared bites from our dishes with each other, and we’d gladly order either one of them again.
— Our server was friendly and helpful (as well as the rest of the staff) and he walked my wife through the cocktails when she was concerned they all seemed too sweet for her taste. He helped her find a drink she enjoyed.
— When our food began to take an excessive amount of time to come out of the kitchen, the server brought over a couple of free shots on the house.
Minuses:
— Our entrees took almost a half-​hour to come out from the kitchen, and it wasn’t all that busy.
— While their signature cocktails are good, they’re overpriced. We’ve had similar cocktails at comparable restaurants recently for $ 2 – 3 cheaper per drink. (And had they been less expensive, we both probably would have ordered second ones.)
— The men’s restroom seemed like it hadn’t been cleaned or restocked all day, including no paper towels (and no automatic dryers) to dry my hands.
Overall, if we find ourselves in the neighborhood, we might stop by again, but we probably won’t make a special trip again just to dine here.

Do NOT go to Nouveau Tavern for their brunch special on Sunday. I came in today to endure in their SUNDAY Brunch special (all you can eat buffet style) for $ 24.95. We’ve been here since 12:30. They ran out of a BUNCH of food, no more crab legs, waiter has YET to stop by our table to serve us our mimosas, or offer even a cube of ice!!! Can’t eat this waffle cuz I have no syrup or nothing… I REFUSE to pay $ 25 for a waffle I cannot eat, 3 chicken sausage links, 1 crawfish, and 2 scrambled eggs (wanted a full omelet but they only had ham and cheese left as options… Unfortunately for me, I don’t eat pork, soooooo)
Asked for the manager 20 minutes ago and she has YET to come over… PISSED is an understatement!!!

Came here with a groupon on a Sunday night. It was pretty dead when we first got here, with the Bulls game blaring on every huge TV in the place, but it livened up as the evening wore on. The groupon gave us two craft cocktails, an appetizer to share, and two entrees.
For my cocktail, I ordered the Magnolia Rose, which was very, very sweet and tasted like orange sherbert. I’m not into sweet cocktails so it wasn’t my favorite, and I ordered it for the promise of grapefruit juice, which I didn’t taste at all. My companion ordered the Sazerac, which he was very excited about, because according to him, it’s one of the oldest cocktails and he’s been looking for it in Chicago for a while. The menu described it as having an absinthe rinse, which it’s apparently supposed to have. What he received, however, was a glass of whiskey cocktail and a shot glass of absinthe. What happened to the «rinse?»
For our appetizer, we tried the gumbo, which was really flavorful. The huge bowl they gave us for our shrimp shells was pretty comical because there was only one shrimp in the gumbo. I still used it for that one shell though. It looked pretty sad in there all by itself. His entrée was the pork chop and he had no problem finishing off the pork, saying that it was well-​seasoned with cajun spices. I tried his mac n cheese, and it was delicious. I chose the chicken jambalaya and it was pretty good– nice and spicy and full of meat. I really liked the huge oval-​shaped plates they used for the food– very nice presentation.
I’m sure this place gets messy and weird on a Friday or Saturday night, like any other club type place in this area, but it’s definitely worth coming in for the food!

I visited here Friday 9-​5-​2014. I ordered a Groupon for 2 people for $ 59. I thought I was saving a bunch of money. WRONG! Firstly, when I walk in the door and mention my Groupon the hostess said we don’t use them for Friday Nights. The Fine Print on the Groupon says, they cant be used on Saturday Night. I told her she was wrong, she went to the back for confirmation and let us sit down (That should have been my first indication that this place was unprofessional and obviously didn’t communicate well).
So we sit down at a table for Four. My guy and I are sharing a coupon, the other couple didn’t purchase one (they were smart). My guy and I ordered a drink, 2 appetizers, and 2 entrees. The other couple didn’t drink but they ordered 1 appetizer and 2 entrees (The groupon included 2 drinks, 2 entrees, 1 appetizer).
SN: THE FOOD IS AWESOME. IF MY REVIEW WAS ON FOOD ALONE, THEY WOULD HAVE 5 STARS.
When we get our separate checks, I was expecting ours to be about $ 20 bucks (1 appetizer, and tax). Oh but no. It was about $ 70 dollars.
WTF? Right?
Well they charged a tax and gratuity on every thing we had, even though we had already spent $ 59 on the Groupon.
I seen a manager and after a little back and forth, I got her to remove most of the gratuity charges. I still ended up spending $ 40 something dollars. While the couple with us bill was only $ 40 something dollars.
AGAIN I REPEAT, THE FOOD IS GREAT. So yes I will visit again, I will not purchase a Groupon though.
Also the staff isn’t the best. They need to be more professional, more acquainted with their products, and more willing to help.

2.5 stars
I honestly don’t know what to say about this place. I’ve been here several times and each experience has been different. I’ve been for dinner, events, and for the club/​lounge experience at night.
I enjoyed when I came here one Thursday night for dinner and they had really good live entertainment. Even had a special that if you order an entrée it came with a glass of wine for a penny. Nice. (Had the burger and fries… just okay)
This review is more so for the night time experience cause thats generally when I would go. This is one of the few places that is comfortable with charging women ridiculous prices to get in. They tried charging one of my girlfriends $ 25. Then told her she would receive a $ 25 gift card. However they then said she had to wait till next time to use it and she would have to pay $ 25 again to enter the club (but then she would get another $ 25 gift card to use at a later date.) Ummmm… WTF? I’ll add one more positive though they do play some ratchet music and that’s a thumbs up for me. Many things they need to work on though.

I stepped the star up a notch.
Visited this past Friday with a friend for an event advertised as «Then Tequila Tales» which is a Q&A type deal. Not exactly as I thought it would be — here is why
* I got tickets off the eventbrite site and upon entry was told they were not valid and only used for «headcount» purposes. Okay so why is eventbrite charging money for it if I have to stand here and wait.
*Although presumed to be a moderator lead event… it wasn’t AT ALL… It was like «look we got a question on the screen and we need you to blow social media up using this hashtag while listening to our wack playlist»
*Where is the dance floor? When you play line dance music (i.e., the wobble or gangster stroll) you should probably think of the layout.
Now the star for this update honestly comes from our waitress friendly customer service, our much stronger cocktail (don’t order the NOLA its kool aid and syrupy) and the shrimp and grits. Now I will say although the evening was cool overall they could definitely use some improvements. The prices for their appetizers/​entrees is overpriced. The food is great but seriously… I am sitting in the dark eating while listening to wack music.

I used to live in New Orleans so I’m a tough critic on restaurants with nola food. I think the food and drinks missed the mark in that respect. It’s nothing like nola. For example the mule was too fruity and didn’t come in a copper cup.
However the atmosphere is nice and it’s a great kicking it spot with a cool clientele. Plus it’s a black owned business.

For the past few months I have been hearing that this place is a pretty cool joint to check out. I like the fact that its a true African-​American establishment in River North in which there are not a lot of.
Me and my buddy decided to have dinner here on a Saturday night before we went out to a networking event. I got there before him so I took a seat @ the bar. The guy behind the bar was pretty cool and kept up good conversation with me. We both decided it would be a good idea to go with the Magnolia Rose which includes Ciroc Red Berry Vodka along with St. Germain, Remy VS, grapefruit juice and orange juice. Was pretty good… it was also nice that the ladies that worked there were also willing to allow me to join their conversation @ the bar while I waited for my buddy. Wasn’t too busy yet so they had a little time to spare (nothing wrong with that).
My friend showed up and we decided to grab a high 2 seater. Our waiter was really cool and was very knowledgeable about the menu and was able to break every thing down to the smallest detail. He recommended a drink called Mama’s Sweet Tea… it was really good and of course sweet. Drinks here run between $ 13-​$ 15 so bring the wallet. I didn’t want to eat too much so I went with the Nouveau Salad. The sweet bell peppers and the mango added a delightful flavor as well as the shrimp addition. The salad also included baby field greens, spiced nuts, red onion & raspberry vinegarette… absolutely delicious!
The guy @ the bar was telling me later in the night the place transforms into a nightspot/​mixer. We left and comeback around 11PM and he was right. I saw some peeps I haven’t seen in quite awhile and it made for a good time… even ran into my younger cousin. The décor is really cool with dim purplish lighting and really slick furniture… a place that has a chill vibe which is missing in the area. Of course there are TVs behind the bar as well as other places. Definitely a place I see myself returning to on a frequent basis

Had a friend take me here one day after work to catch a Bears game. This place is super swanky. I wish I would’ve gotten a chance to go home and clean up first because I felt really out of place (my office is a casual office).
We got there and they asked us about a reservation and we got weird looks because we didn’t have one. We eventually got seated but there were no tables left so we were seated at some weird, trendy booth with a ottoman looking thing as a seat. Super uncomfortable but whatever. We got the menus and the food is pricey. It’s a cajun food menu. In my mind I was thinking this could be awesome or awesomely bad. They also had a bunch of fu fu cocktails but no beer taps (we all know what a beer snob I am). Which I especially saw as blasphemous since I was watching the Bears game. But whatever. They had Matilda by the bottle so I got one of those and we ordered.
I had the catfish poo boy and my friend had hush puppies and we split another appetizer. Let me just say eating here was damn near a religious experience. The food is beyond fantastic. I’m not a fan of hush puppies so they were just ok. But everything else almost brought tears to my eyes. The sweet potatoes fries were just outstanding. They’re roasted wedges that are caramelized. Oh lord!
The head chef came out and greeted us. He chatted us up a bit and gave us some of his background. He was super nice and talked to us for awhile. We felt really special.
The actual watching the game part sucked though. There was a dj playing club music during the commercials and occasionally that overlapped into the actual game itself. And it was clear ppl were there to hook up and chat and not watch the game. Same thing happened to me at old fifth. I basically need to stop letting my friends pick the bars I watch Bears games at. Lol!
I’ve noticed this place is a hot spot for the promoters now. I hope they don’t ruin this spot like so many others. The food is good. I would suggest they add more practical seating and stay away from the club crowd because I really feel this place has some of the best food in the city.

Let me preface this review by saying my expectation for this place was that it’ll be just okay. One of my friends suggested this restaurant and given they only had a 3.5 overall rating (when IMO, a lot of newly open restaurants have inflated ratings because of their friends highly rating them), I wasn’t expecting much. Also, it wasn’t a good sign when we got there because the service was super slow and we waited a significant amount of time to just order our food.
However, the food was worth the wait! Since there were 5 of us, we got to try a wide variety of items and we enjoyed every single dish. The highlights were the shrimp and grits, cornbread and sweet potato fries. I was amazed at how delicious the shrimp and grits was, especially given I don’t care for grits. My favorite place for cornbread was Bandera and Nouveau blows Bandera out of the water with their cornbread. We actually had to order another one because one was just not enough. And their sweet potato fries have a caramelized exterior that is a great contrast to the softness of the sweet potato flesh.
It’s been awhile since I’ve been this impressed with the food. I really can’t wait to go back! And FYI, it’s a great place to watch a game with the flat screens that they have.