Oak + Char

Came in on a reservation and they had a nice table ready for my wife and I by the kitchen. The staff was really helpful and friendly, especially when we ordered too much food. With a fair warning I ordered the 32oz ribeye. It was cooked to perfection with bone marrow. Yum! I heard it got bought over and I’m pretty bummed that this change probably means menu and staff change. (Sad face)

Stopped in last night. Beautiful patio and restaurant. Was seated quickly… and then no one ever came to take our order… we kept seeing great food come by… but no server. Even the chef happened to come by delivering a meat tasting… and we introduced ourselves and mentioned we had been waiting… he took our drink order… waited some more… no drinks or server… eventually…we…just…left…and walked to Union Sushi where we had an amazing meal. Hard to give a new place a try when you can’t get a drink or order anything!

I made a reservation for 4 and called to clarify we’ll be with 2 dogs. They made sure to sit us outside on the patio and we had no issues. The dogs were well behaved and our server was very accommodating and friendly. Really great dishes and drinks. I have no complaints. The wings were really great. And I didn’t try it, but the biscuit fried chicken sandwich looks AMAZING.

I am sorry to give a 1 star rating but my first experience here was not good! My friends and I ate here for a birthday celebration about a week ago with a party of 11. We asked for the most popular dish here and they recommend the MSG wings. I checked Unilocal and the MSG wings had a lot of positive reviews. So I ordered it along with my 3 other friends. The wings came out SOOOO SALTY!!! there were 6 wings and I ate THREE with water! one of my other friend ordered a scallop dish and her scallop was EVEN more SALTY what is wrong with this place??? the ratings are definitely deceiving. My two other friends ordered burgers and they were good however, the waitress did not ask them how well they want the burgers to be done and it was a bit rare for my friend’s liking. TIP: lessen the salt in your MSG wings seriously!!!

Very disappointed. I hosted a work dinner for a party of six and was very underwhelmed. All of the appetizers we ordered were good (msg wings, tartar, octopus, duck meat balls, etc) however we shared all of the main courses with the focus on the 32oz ribeye ($ 100). Our server said that the ribeye takes 30 – 45 mins to prepare and to order that first and she would come back to get our other selections when the time was right so everything came out together. Needless to say the next time we saw the wait staff was when they were bringing out the ribeye roughly 20 mins later. She quickly rushed to take our other orders and said hey should come out quickly. We ordered two burgers, chicken sandwich and a few sides to share which once they arrived were decent. The ribeye however came out barely medium rare which we ordered medium and was already sliced to share so there was no sending it back. Lastly, their house old fashioned was just okay and I changed my order to a regular old fashioned after the first drink and I was pleasantly surprised as the second drink came with a single large ice cube. Oak + char is a great place for a few guys to meet up for a burger and a beer but I would not recommend it if you are entertaining clients or having a special night out.

I live in the condos above this place. We’ve been here twice. This time I went to the bar name cause I was alone. Worst service ever. I sat at the bar, which had 5 ppl total sitting at it. I was given a drink menu and then never followed up with to order. I had to call one of the 4, yes 4, bartenders over to place my order. Same drill with my food and again to pay the bill. I just don’t understand. We will not be going back here anytime soon. There are several other options on the area with much better service

Still love this spot. They have re-​concepted their menu into a less shared plates & more course by course set up. Some new & delicious items on the menu…
Baccalo wontons, classic msg wings were just as good, shrimp & grits, skate & scallops, & the ravioli all had robust flavor profiles ! The cocktails are also yum! We will always be back! We love their brunch as well :) my husband liked the base of all the items but felt a little something was missing…

Finally got to checking this place out and it was very good! With the heat wave we’ve been having we wanted to be outside for dinner, and Oak & Char has that option. There’s was no wait for outdoors on a Monday night, so we sat right away. FYI, on Sundays and Mondays here is no corkage fee (BYOB– yay!) husband and I split the MSG chicken wings, the kale salad and the trout. All were very delicious. The cilantro yogurt for the wings was to die for. The kale salad was HUGE and has lots of cranberries and pecans. And the trout was cooked perfectly. We will def be back!

A great date night spot. Bar height and music adds a great element of fun. Dim lighting, coushy bar tops, strong drinks…
Although you can still sit back at the bar and watch sports! Something for everyone.
MSG wings are out of this world– secret is in the yogurt dipping sauce with chives. Short ribs were surprising — in a good way; a lot of fun veges there. As was the Trout Crudo — but because it was so small! But also because of surprising citrus flavors.
They take their cocktails very seriously. (Observed them being made at the bar) Would have really liked a more expansive menu to try out more cocktails!
Service is attentive and top notch. Good clearing of plates, and placing new silverware across dishes.
It’s a good spot for ordering lots of small plates. Just note that the food takes awhile, so be patient, and order a variety. There is diversity in the offerings — there was a 32 oz steak! Unfortunately desserts weren’t on the main menu, so I didn’t get a sneak peek, and we decided another plate of MSG wings rather than dessert :)

Met a couple counterparts here for dinner. Our experience was real good and recommend if you are in the part of town. We started out with Octopus hush puppies, grilled Octopus, and MSG free chicken wings. The wings were delicious and a must when ordering an app. Both octopus dishes were good. Then ordered Pear Salad. Good size salads so recommend unless it is your main dish split the salad with someone.
Main entrée we all ordered the Skate and Bay Scallops. We all loved it. Seasoned great and was definitely the right choice for dinner. A good selection of wines and beers.
The prices were real good. Service was great too.
Definitely will return on my next trip to Chicago.
Cheers

Great happy hour deals!
No wait for my friend and I to get seated around 6 pm on a Thursday. Oak + Char has an open, modern feel to it, with these cloud-​like, curtain things draped all over the lights. Started with a $ 2 high life and a $ 4 craft beer, both happy hour deals. Also ordered the MSG wings as an appetizer ($ 6 instead of $ 8). The wings were outstanding! They had a really interesting combination of flavors, especially served over a cilantro yogurt. I wish we had just ordered a bucket of them!
Both of us opted for the OC Burger, which was $ 8 instead of $ 14. That’s my kind of deal! Burger was really good. I think there were a few too many sauteed onions though, as that kind of dominated the burger and left that taste in my mouth for a couple hours…
Service was great, food was very good and the happy hour deals were killer. I don’t think I would pay the full $ 14 for the burger (there are better burgers out there that justify that price point) but would definitely come back for the MSG wings!

Hi. It’s me again. I just wanted to drop a line about how much I STILL LOVE THIS PLACE.
So check it… their new spring menu is out right now and it’s going to blow your mind. I had the pleasure of trying the grilled beef short rib as well as the ricotta gnudi. SO YUM. My friend and I also got two orders of the MSG Chicken Wings and the Double Cheeseburger because both are just so damn good. You really can’t go wrong with anything on their menu.
As usual, the service is freakin’ TOP NOTCH. Shout out to Angelo and Felix for being SO WONDERFUL and SO HOSPITABLE… just the best ever.
GO FOR HAPPY HOUR. Actually, go for any hour. Go EVERY hour they’re open if you’re feeling ambitious.
Sorry — I feel like I am yelling a lot in this review, but this place gets me so excited (and I just can’t hide it).

I had this place on my to do list for brunch and finally came around to it. We got a little lost trying to find this place but I think thats because River North can be confusing with its mixture of stores, restaurants, and offices. We were greeted as we walked in enthusiastically and sat down pretty quickly for brunch… but it was a bad weather day. The place is beautiful except the light fixtures on the ceiling are horrible… and dirty! (See picture).
I was able to look past that to check out the menu. There wasn’t alot that jumped out at me and I read about the MSG wings… people don’t lie… amazing! We also got the potato cakes, which were nice but lacked any flavor and did not come with any sauces. The breakfast burger was good, but again not anything to rave about… only the MSG wings!!! I think I had my fill of this place and probably won’t return due to its drab location and limited options. They also need to clean those fixtures.

This review is only for the happy hour:
We had never been here before and decided to come here for happy hour on Friday. We got here around 5 and were easily able to get a seat at the bar. The cocktails are normally 12 but on special for 8 dollars during happy hour. My husband had the Jar Jar for president but found it too sweet for his taste. I had the Fanatic Cuckoo which was nice, but nothing special. We wanted to try the «It’s not like CSI» drink but the machine was broken. Our friend got the Evil Twin and didn’t enjoy it. We got two orders of the MSG wings to share. The wings were fine. They didn’t make me curious to try more of the menu. The drinks were not tasty enough to make us want to come back for future happy hours.

Love the vibe of the place. It’s dark and cozy.
Service was excellent. I believe the place is BYOB, but I’m not sure if that’s always the case. They waive the corkage fees on Sundays and Mondays, so that’s sweet. They do have booze available if you haven’t brought your own.
I gotta knock a star off because of the prices. The food was good, but the prices are about 25−50% higher than they should be.
* MSG Chicken Wings (maple+sherry+gochujang), cilantro yogurt — $ 8
Decent, pretty meaty wings. You only get about 6 for your $ 8 investment. The sauce is quite sweet. Kinda tastes like a knockoff of what you’d get at Crisp. Mmmm, Crisp.
* Whipped Burrata, hummus + chickpea salad, house-​made roti — $ 8
You get a super-​tiny jar with a couple of leaves and chickpeas and like 3 ounces of burrata at the bottom. It comes with a few slices of roti bread. I enjoyed this, but it’s not much food.
* Fire Roasted Chicken, heirloom peruvian potatoes, chimichurri, chicken jus — $ 26
This was probably my favorite dish. It’s a half-​chicken and the meat was wonderfully tender. It just fell right off the leg bone, which is great. The peruvian potatoes weren’t very good and I needed to douse them with salt and sauce to bring them up to par. Although the chicken was good, $ 26 is pretty steep for what it is.
* Korean Braised Beef Short Rib, charred carrots + turnips, broccoli rabe, shitake mushroom — $ 23
Man, you get a minuscule amount of short rib. Yes, it was very tender, but it’s an incredibly small portion. Pretty good, but not nearly as good as the chicken.
Would I go back? Maybe. Most of the dishes do have a blackened char to the outside of them (hence the name). The BYOB aspect, especially minus the corkage on Sunday and Monday saves this from being a total money-​suck, but the prices are quite out of whack compared to the portions.

Came here with a girlfriend. The décor is modern but I think the setup makes it look emptier than it is. We were early on a week night and the place filled up as we sat there for a couple hours.
We sat down in no rush and ended up ordering some drinks first. FYI, no blue cheese olives — something places with cocktails should have.
Our server was patient with us as we ordered slow and took our time.
Since it’s tapas they make you order everything together. The MSG wings are excellent. Everything else was good, but I wasn’t blown away.

I went for my birthday brunch in the summer and was overall disappointed. The décor was good, the service was good, the location is central in River North, but the food was meh.
It didn’t help that the weather was unseasonably cold and even at 11am on a Saturday the restaurant was d-​e-​a-​d. But that’s ok, one can make their own fun and party, but even our group of festive 6 could uplift the stillness of the restaurant. Crowdedness is contingent on time of day, so I understand that can vary. But there’s no excuse for mediocre food.
Nothing clicked on the menu. I had the benedict and it included a fried oyster, which just seemed like a distraction and was so out of left-​field that I could see how a lot of patrons wouldn’t get it or enjoy it. To top it off, the eggs were under poached. You can’t under poach eggs benedict, that’s culinary school stuff 101.
I could tell me other tablemates were equally underwhelmed with their dishes, which was disappointing for me as birthday boy as I heard great things about this place and it ended up being a dud.
I can’t recommend this place, especially not for brunch, but I ‘might’ meander there again for dinner.

Thanks to the ah-​maxing invention of UberEats I got to enjoy some ridiculously delicious MSG wings for lunch today. The smoked cilantro yogurt sauce was freaking rad! It was light and tangy… and I love cilantro so it basically made my life. The wings were a good sized portion and I felt they were worth the price. They were sweet with a bit of spice but not blow your mouth out hot.
This spot has been on my list of Chicago places to try but after this preview it is definitely bumped up to the top of the list!!!

Who: me and my 3 gal pals
What: GNO!
When: last Wednesday
Where: Oak + Char
Why: half price double cheeseburgers and discounted cocktails and wings during happy hours of 4:30 — 6:30! Why not?!
It was a pleasant hump night, so we dined on the outdoor patio. If you eat inside, you’ll notice the unique interior, with the billowy white cloths overhead and chairs that look like those massages ones where you face downwards.
The $ 8 ($ 4 off) cocktails are worth it! So is the $ 6 ($ 2 off) order of MSG wings… no, not that MSG, as we all thought. It’s maple, sherry, and gochujang (chili). I definitely got the sweet flavor of the maple and loved the crispy texture of the wings, but they weren’t as hot as expected. While the basil gnocchi was bright and flavorful, it was literally 5 pieces of gnocchi for $ 16, even though it does come with a little rabbit and goat cheese.
Double cheeseburger here is claimed to be #4 in the city, our waitress shared with us (not sure who the critics were). I think we all agreed we’ve had better burgers, and more than just 3 better burgers at that. I liked the juiciness of the patties, but there was an overly sweet element to the sauce that when coupled with the pickles inside the burger, made me feel like I was eating caramel apple wedges. Burger is also advertised as coming with beef fat onion rings, and it took a little while to figure out that the onion ring (singular) was inside the burger (it was really overshadowed by the c+d* sauce).
Friendly, attentive service. Glad to have tried this place out.
*Fun story on the c+d sauce (I happened to ask what it is). Oak + char makes a housemade A1 sauce for the burger and used to have it printed like that on the menu… until one day, someone from Kraft saw it and sent a cease and desist letter. Sooo, the kitchen continues to make the sauce, but it appears as c+d sauce for cease and desist.

Unfortunantely, I have to agree with a lot of other reviews. I really wanted to love this place but the food is really inconsistent.
Very cute restaurant. Love the patio. Good service. + valet. Frozen sangria! No waiting on a saturday night. However the food really missed the mark.
The good was really good… mainly the wings. I’m not a wings person, but I highly recommend. So flavorful, spicy, sweet and some thing more.
Everything else was mediocre. Pasta, squash blossoms, doughnut dessert.
And for the bad. The tandoori octopus was inedible. So tough we barely touched it.
I hope you have a better experience. Or maybe come here just for wings!