Sikia

This place is a hidden gem! I’m so glad that I found this place (well a friend found it but I tried it first! Don’t judge. Haha). 3 course meal (appetizer, entrée and desert for under $ 10! Where else can you get that at???
*****THIS PLACE IS RESERVATION ONLY DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS AND ONLY OPEN WEDNESDAY TO FRIDAY FROM 1PM TO 3PM)*****
This is a restaurant that is attached to a culinary institute. They allow the students to work the front and the back of a real live restaurant to gain the necessary experience to transition to a career in the food industry.
The restaurant itself looks amazing! The ambiance was very appealing and the hostess was very polite. My wife and I did not know that you needed reservations but the hostess accommodated us. As she was explaining to us, the reason for taking reservations during the summer is due to the low volume of students they have and the amount of product they order. This is smart but something that I wish they were able to expand because so many people are missing out.
The food was amazing. The menu changes every 2 – 3 weeks. We had the corn bisque, shrimp kale salad, grilled tuna tostada, pad Thai, strawberry bread with vanilla bean ice cream and a pistachio cake with vanilla mousse and a caramel drizzle. These students did an amazing job. Although the meal is $ 8, they charge tax and a scholarship fee which I think is a great idea especially given the meal is inexpensive. For a soda or lemonade type drink it’s about $ 2 and I believe you get free refills.
They also do catering and I can see that venue being used for some amazing things. I will explore that option soon.
Overall, great experience and I cannot wait to go back again!

Great Food and Service Always! I work nearby so I visit often, the food and service are always consistently very good, make sure that you tip! The students work really hard.

I really, really want to rate this rest. higher because of the mission. But, too often I eat here and am disappointed. I recently ate here and had a wonderful chicken breast sandwich. I went again two days later with coworkers boasting how good the place is. Unfortunately, the chef of the day replaced chickeb breast with chicken thighs… The sandwich was horrible and slimey. The problem seems to be that the manager Jorlie (sic) seems to walk around talking and sitiing with campus staff. She totally ignores other patrons and never seems to interact with the students. We tried to speak with her and she pretty much ignored us. The students seem t need better supervision.

One of two restaurants located on the south side, owned by the City of Chicago, this place is a much needed outlet for the area.
Love the simple, yet chic African décor. At first, I thought the dry attitude of the host/​server was going to dampen our mood, but he turned out to be one of the absolute best (and he is a recent graduate of King Kennedy College Culinary program — has better customer service skills than most seasoned wait staff). He made small talk with us, checked on us periodically and even offered us a private tour of the culinary schools’ state of the art facility. And he kept us laughing the entire night!
The food was great. Loved the goat and peanut stew! Full of flavor and oh so creamy.
They even have live jazz on the weekends which I will definitely be back for!
Don’t forget to BYOB, they do not and will not be getting a liquor license!

Last weekend, I was part of a parent’s group that hosted a private workshop for our children to teach them about social graces and it was held at Sikia.
All of the moms were delighted with what we found. The waitstaff was attentive, the prices were reasonable, the décor was attractive and the food was wonderful.
Keep in mind that we were dealing with children — the menu was butternut squash soup, fried chicken, mac & cheese and corn on the cob, and sweet potato pie with ice cream. Even the sweet tea was delicious — a kind of spiced tea. We were all impressed and vowed to come back and recommend Sikia to everyone we knew.

We went here for Valentine’s day dinner. They are part of the Washburne Culinary Institute so the cooking, serving, etc. is all done by young people studying the hospitality business. Sikia is a Swahili word for a synthesis of sensory input, a nice interesting name for a dining room. Sikia features a lot of African dishes but on this occasion their Valentine’s special menu sounded too good to pass up, a multi-​course not particularly ethnic affair which I assume gave them a chance to practice various kitchen disciplines. On the appetizer sampler plate, we especially enjoyed the grape encased in goat cheese and rolled in pistachio. The salad featured grilled quail, how cool is that! This was followed by two, yes, two entrees: salmon with morel sauce (I’m tellin’ ya!) on saffron risotto with asparagus; and lamb glazed with pomegranate molasses and fig, over mashed potatoes. OK, the execution was not entirely perfect, both could have been a little less cooked, but this was still a wonderful couple of courses and quite a deal. The lamb sauce was definitely one of the more interesting and delicious things we’d eaten in a long time. The triple whammy dessert was exciting too, a flourless chocolate cake, a peppery chocolate panna cotta, and a chocolate sorbet (attractively non-​creamy). It’s BYOB, though they did toss in a glass of some so-​called champagne. Their interior décor is a bit on the dry side and could use some livening up and personality. But anyhow, we were impressed; it was a more than satisfying meal, very enjoyable for the special occasion, a surprising find a few miles south of us down Halsted, and it was our pleasure to sponsor in some small way these future chefs and restauranteurs (our server, for example, hoped to start a catering business after serving some apprentice time at a restaurant or two).

Sikia is a restaurant attached to the Washburne Culinary Institute and manned by students and supervised by experienced faculty chefs. I had never heard of it before taking a job in the Englewood area and I have to say, if it were located in the Loop, it would be packed every day. The concept is designed to allow the students to gain valuable kitchen and front of the house experience but the gain is really for the diners. Three days a week, the restaurant offers a three course gourmet meal for well under $ 10. I’m not overstating the presentation, this is gourmet food prepared by tomorrow’s top chefs. If you’ve got the time, get out to 63^rd and Halsted and take advantage. Lots of free parking.