Platiyo

How sad I was to discover that my favorite Mexican restaurant had closed. I moved to DC in August 2006 and from reading the reviews on Unilocal I see that is when Platiyo took a turn for the worst.
Like another reviewer, we always received such wonderful, personal service from the waiter/​host with the thick black glasses. The food was always great… especially the daily specials (mole) and brunch.
I was always surprised how many people eat at El Jardin down the street (such bland, second-​rate food). I find Caesar’s (at Belmont) food to be quite boring as well, but I understand the allure because of the monstrous margaritas.
I will always remember Platiyo in their heyday — around 2005!

Platiyo, I’m glad theyre closed: I was reading the other reviews and thought perhaps that I had the wrong place. I did not find the service great. They were very slow and forgetful. The pop had a funny taste and the food was bland. I will give them credit for having different Mexican fare on the menu as opposed to the usual tacos and enchiladas that every other one of the hundreds of Mexican restaurants in the Chicago area has. I enjoyed seeing different items with interesting ingredients. The ambiance and décor was wonderful — artsy and more upscale than the typical décor in the other Mexican eateries.

It should disappoint no one who has written recent reviews of Platiyo that the restaurant appears to be closed. I passed by there today and the windows were all papered over. The website is down and the phone number is «temporarily» disconnected. I don’t know if that means it will be back in a new incarnation or what. But for now, Platiyo is no mas.

I thought the waitstaff here was just odd. They paid way more attention to the tables full of girls — sitting down with them, taking shots with them, rather than paying attention to their other tables. That’s just unprofessional.

Man, I don’t even know where to start with this one.
When this place changed over from Bar San Miguel, it was a total rock star. The service was perfect. The Mole and ceviche was awesome. Our waiter (the guy with the black, square glasses) made us feel very, very special.
Then I didn’t go for a while, and when I returned in the fall of 2005 I was kinda let down: the place was empty and the vibe was gone. The staff was still very kind and attentive, but they overcooked both of our fish entrees along with my shrimp.
Then I made the mistake of coming back this winter. I can honestly say that this place should just close down and start over – it’s not even a shell of what it used to be. Whereas the old menu was a small book with thoughtful descriptions and a simple but pleasant layout, now it’s a single page in a cheap vinyl cover. A lot of their signature dishes are gone. If that wasn’t enough, our glasses and silverware were very dirty.
It’s basically now an overpriced burrito stand. And at that, it’s not even good.
Just in case anyone who works at Platiyo is happening to read this, you should know that a lot of people in this city speak Spanish. I am one of them. You might have deduced that from the fact that I ordered in Spanish. So if you want to call me «the guerro who thinks he’s Puerto Rican,» you should probably do it somewhere more private than right behind me.

Nice patio. Great guac. Weak margaritas with cheap tequila. Not so good fajitas (chicken dry and steak drippy). Even though I live around the corner, I will not be going back any time soon.

Well I am tempted to give this establishment more stars because (a) I was DRUNK off mucho tequila, (b) my party of 8 didn’t pay for anything and © it was actually damn amusing.
Well I made the reservation for 8 the week before for 9PM; we waited 45 minutes to be seated yet had margaritas in the process so it wasn’t that bad. I have had 5 birthdays here collectively between my sister, myself (2 birthdays) and a friend and the experience was never this BAD. Hugo, the Manager did present 2 bottles of tequila as he always does. But looking around I am noticing more tables w/​bottles of tequila decorating their dinner-​less tables; that’s their trick. Not that I am complaining — doing rounds of tequila shots helps get your mind off things but waiting 45 minutes for a glass of wine then the waitress forgot to put our order in so they kept giving us things we didn’t ordered but said to take them anyways since the table they were intended for had walked out due to the LONG WAIT.
We waited over two hours for appetizers which were awful and not done well but they did comp the entire bill and got me drunk on my birthday — and isn’t that the point of birthdays though.
As for a restaurant it’s awful, for a bar — not bad. I think I have celebrated my last birthday here and I would recommend having no prior engagements if you choose to frequent Platiyos and planning on cabbing it or having a designated driver isn’t a bad idea either.

The 2^nd star is because after the ridiculously long wait, the manager gave my friend and I each a $ 25 gift card. But sadly, I really wasn’t that excited to go back for my free dinner – and I’m ALWAYS excited for a free dinner!!!

I used to love this place. When it first opened, we were so excited to go here and did so pretty regularly. The food was always awesome with service to match, but in the last year it has just started to suck.
My last two experiences were unbearably miserable. And that’s coming from a overly-​patient former server type. The food and drink were fine, when we could get it. The service however was some of the worst I’ve ever witnessed. Likely won’t be back.

waited 20 minutes even though we had a reservation.
margaritas sucked. i told the bartender my frozen margarita was bland, could he put more tequila and/​or more mix in it? He says, no joke, it’s bland «because it’s frozen.» HOLY HELL what a load of crap. he gave me a regular one, which was better but not good at all.
food was marginal. a step up from regular Mexican, but not many choices.
The server asked if it was my birthday, since i was wearing this stupid crown thing. we said yes. they brought out desserts and sang «happy birthday» to another table while we were sitting there. they did nothing for me. thanks a lot, Platiyo.

I can’t say that this place is horrible, but it didn’t win me over either. Just status quo. To preface, I grew up in South Texas and as a Homesick Texan I am always looking for the best enchiladas, corn chips, salsa, and flour tortillas… not the thick rubber kind you get in the midwest! Don’t get me wrong I love Chicago, but they seriously lack in good TEX MEX which is different from regular Mexican Food. Can’t explain it-​it just is.
I went with one of my girlfriends to catch up on the day’s Hot Gossip of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. The margaritas were good. The chips were a tad stale, but still went well with my rita. The service was nice and prompt and we did not have to wait forever for our food. I got the vegetarian tostados which were just good. None of the food blew me out of the water, but I wouldn’t shy away from going again.

The food here is edible but I wouldn’t say that it was the best tasting mexican food. My burrito was drowned in this thick red sauce that if you ask me really had no flavor besides tomato paste. The service was really slow which was annoying since there was only us and one other couple in the whole place. Also, make sure you dress warm. The place was FREEZING. I mean I seriously felt like I was dining in an igloo. We were even sitting in front of the fire and were still cold. Good thing their Margaritas are strong otherwise I don’t know if we could have handled the slow service.

My first BAD review that I’m posting –
Avoid this place now from this point forward — they lost their chef, sometimes have their manager subbing for the current cooks who often do not show up (!??), and you will have waits that make Hell’s Kitchen on FOX look good.
Last time we were there, we waited over an hour after getting our margaritas (which were good — there’s the one star), before being told by our waiter for the 457^th time that our appetizers (a soup and a salad!!!) were coming ‘soon.‘
We got up and left. Forget it. With babysitters and time being precious, who needs to wait over an hour for a soup and a salad? And how long before entrees???
We went next door and pleaded with the nice folks at Mia Francesca (my wife Jacky’s favorite restaurant in Chicago) for a table, and they mercifully obliged. That’s where we found out the gory details from their staff (who shall remain nameless — don’t want to shoot the messengers)…the truth? nobody is running the Platiyo ship anymore.
With a variety of Mexican and Latin restaurants in Chicago that would make ANY city in America jealous: Texas and California cities included, why should we all try to ‘force’ this restaurant to survive just because it once was good, and we want to ‘will’ it to be the same?
Skip it – go to the countless other restaurants worth the salt on their tortilla chips…

It took us about an hour to get our food and when it came out several of our dishes were cold and incomplete. Sent it back. Cold again. Sent it back. Partly hot. Back again. Finally hot. The food ended up being pretty decent but tiring to deal with. Margaritas were great and they brought shots with really cool chasers and tried to make it up to us. I may be back but only on non-​peak times and they better bring it hot and quickly. Don’t bring a large group– they can’t handle it.

I actually didn’t have a great experience at Platiyo. We went here for a Girls’ Night Out, thinking, «Ooo! Tequila! Margaritas! A nice round table & some fun conversation!»
Well, we had made a reservation over a week in advance, even calling the day before to make sure it was still being held. Yep, they assured us.
When we got there, we waited for well over an hour for a table to open. They were giving open tables to people sans reservations. Riddle me this: What’s the point of having a reservation if it’s not RESERVED?
Finally we were seated in an extremely high traffic area. Fine, whatever, at least now we were sitting down. We got our drink order taken. THIRTY MINUTES LATER, after flagging down our server twice, we finally got our first round of drinks & had to remind him to bring some chips & salsa. We ordered our meals.
:for those of you out there keeping score, it’s now 1.5 hours AFTER our reservation time:
Twenty minutes later, we got our chips, but without salsa.
Five minutes later, salsa.
By this time, we were finished with our first round of drinks.
:2 hours after reservation time:
One of the women in the party had to leave. She had allotted two hours for dinner, thinking she’d leave time to order, eat, & have enough time to talk to the gals. She had to run up the street to get fast food before she took off.
Another woman in the party is a local sous chef. She went up to the hostess & asked for a manager when, after another half hour, we still hadn’t received our food & the server seemed to be ignoring our table.
:2.5 hours:
We finally received our food another half hour later after we threatened to leave (miraculously it appeared!) & really, was it worth the wait? No. Was it exceptionally tasty? No. Was it any better than any other Mexican restaurant that we could have gone to in that neighborhood? No. I mean, it was okay … if I had a different experience & didn’t have to wait so freaking long —
:3 hours:
— to get our food, I *may* come back, but with all the options available to us, I’d say that Girls’ Night Out was a bust.

I should give this place 5 stars because they brought a tray of tequila shots over for our table for free, but I’ll save the fifth star for my next visit.
Love everything about this place. The ambiance was great with a roaring open fire. The margaritas and mojitos were great (especially dug the mescal Margarita — mmm!). The food was your normal Mexican fare, but done just right. Service was great and they seated our party of six without a hassle…
I think the verdict all around was «We’ll be back!»

I haven’t been here in such a long time, but it’s the perfect start to a fun night out. I love the décor of the restaurant, which was designed by Nancy Warren (Arin D’s aunt). I had the tacos the last time I was here and they were really good. You must try the margaritas as well!

My friends and I went here a few weeks ago and fortunately we didn’t have anything else going on later that night because our dinner turned into a very long night. The service was horrible– it took about an hour for our chips and guac to come out. I should be fair though and say they were extremely crowded and most of my experiences at Platiyo have been pleasant. I always enjoy their food and our Waiter attempted to make it up to us at the end of our meal with free drinks.

I had a birthday celebration here and I found the staff incredibly accomodating for my party. The fish here was very tasty but I wasn’t overly impressed with their mole sauce.

Oh no, not another Mexican restaurant! Oh yes, but this place is special! They actually serve good food. It’s not cheap, but the chef here really has some mojo. Enchiladas with mole sauce is sublime (if you don’t know what mole sauce is, just try it), and the brunch menu is excellent. The Eggs Benedicto is very special, with crunchy corn masa sopes, chipotle sauce, mushrooms, chorizo and black beans. Yummmy. Oh, and they make the best mojitos I’ve had in a long time, enjoy one in their outdoor seating before summer ends.