Treat Restaurant

It will be missed. Looking forward to their next project. I made this dumb video in tribute.

I was here a week ago after a crazy Friday night full of awesomeness and I must say that the brunch menu here had just as much awesomeness and can be described in three words: Death By Deliciousness.
It’s BYOB, but the girl who invited me here failed to inform me of this, so, no mimosas for us. Strike one. I’m a big fan of Indian food, so, obviously, I was excited about the Indian influenced brunch menu. My date… not so much, she ordered two scrambled eggs and bacon – BORING. Strike two. I had the Saag Paneer Scramble and it was delish. I liked it so much I had to spread the love and share some with my date. She said, «No thank you. I’m a VERY picky eater.» *Gasp!* Strike three, you’re OUT! NEXT!!!
I’m a fan and I’m a little bummed out because I just found out that they just closed their doors for good… literally, like right now as I write this review they are cleaning, breaking it down, and packing it up.
I liked the casual, relaxed, and intimate atmosphere of this place. I was really looking forward to coming here for dinner with my friends to start off another night of awesomeness or for a date with someone who isn’t a picky eater. Hey, don’t judge me. I refuse to hang out with picky eaters, and I most certainly will not date one.
Anyway, I really liked this place. Hopefully, the owner opens another version of this restaurant in a new location.
4 stars based on brunch alone. I would’ve given 5 stars, but I had to take away one star for closing their doors and robbing me of the opportunity of trying the samosas and scallops on their dinner menu.
Holla!!!™

I loved this place, my hubby not as much, so compromising with the 4 stars. Easy street parking, the expected hole-​in-​the-​wall exterior, but colorful, clean, bright interior with really neat artwork on the walls. The waiter was a bit tentative, stiff, and on the slow side, but not too bothersome.
Came for dinner, really good food. We were very curious as to what Indian fusion meant, and I’d read so many things about their curried gnocchi, I just had to try it. It worked — very good! Two different appetizers — scallops and samosas were very tasty. I was so tripped out to see spotted dick on the menu I had to order that — a little underwhelming — on the dry side. The one we had in London was wonderful and moister.
We came on a AYCE fish and chips night, and saw several tables getting very golden fresh fish. Looked good. So they serve completely non-​Indian-​influenced food too.
Definitely worth a return visit.

Only been here for brunch. I was skeptical when I heard Indian– American fusion brunch. But, I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Let me just tell you, the chai syrup will make you reassess your love for gourmet pancakes. It MADE the pancakes (the honey goat cheese stuff was completely unnecessary and the opposite of delicious, but the syrup made me forgive them for this error in judgment). I also had some of the Saag Paneer and eggs and was pretty blown away at how complementary the two were.
The not so good: service was a little slow at times and the restaurant was freezing, so cold that my dish was only hot for about 45 seconds, which is inexcusable when it’s less than 30 degrees outside. Fix this and I’ll be back.

I’ve been on a bit of an Indian food kick as of late. By kick, I mean I have eaten some Indian dish at least once a week for the past two months. When invited to Treat for dinner recently, I jumped on the chance.
The restaurant itself is small and cozy in an area I’m not very familiar with, so I passed it twice. Its BYOB and the food is really fantastic. We started with two orders of vegetable samosas. The were flaky and delicious. When it came to the entrees almost everyone ordered something different and it ALL tasted great. What can I say, we’re a sharing bunch. My chicken tikka masala didn’t taste like what I am used to but it was still superb and I would definitely order it again.
Great food, BYOB, and friendly service all made for a great dinner.
Oh yeah, be sure to ask about the Spotted Dick.

What a treat!
Came here for dinner on a Monday night and the place was pretty full inside. They have an intimate looking outdoor seating area, but it was a little too chilly to be dining outside. There was 1 waiter and 1 cook, but they have mad time management skills. Our appetizer and salad came out fairly quickly while we had to wait a little longer on the main dish. However, given the 2 to 16 ratio, it was impressive.
SAMOSA — Pipping hot and delicious! There were 2 pieces served with 2 different sauces and sprinkled with cilantro.
BEET SALAD — Very interesting dish that comes with beet, walnuts, some greens and a hunk of warm goat cheese. It was good to the last bite.
GARLIC PANEER LINGUINI — Perfectly cooked with great flavors. Who knew a vegetarian dish can be so delicious!
SPICED APPLE TART TOPPED WITH BLACK PEPPER ICE CREAM — I was anticipating the ice cream to have a stronger black pepper flavor but I hardly tasted it. It was a light dessert that topped off the meal nicely.
PARKING — We were able to find parking easily on Kedzie.

Important Stuff First: BYOB!
I suggest a nice twist cap since we had major problems with the corkscrew (a bit of user error too perhaps).
i’m not crazy about the location of the place but at least it’s close to a bus line (or what I like to call the nut job express). But I digress…
The Food here was really good. I think they did a great job of taking the flavors of Indian cuisine and making it a little different than the traditional items. I had the seared salmon with Israeli cous cous. Salmon was cooked perfectly and the sauce was awesome!
Very relaxed atmosphere, I felt as though we were able to actually enjoy our drinks, appetizers and the company of friends without being rushed to order or hurry up and get out.
Overall a nice dinner, reasonable pricing, good food and in case you forgot it’s BYOB!

Treat has a nice spot if you can’t decide between classic Indian and contemporary American food. It won’t fully satiate your Indian cravings, but some of the flavors are certainly there, particularly in the vegetables that come on the side of the main dishes. Peas, potatoes, asparagus, and the like all shine through in spice-​laden splendor next to some classics like goan crab cakes and samosas which aren’t noteworthy on their own.
Overall the food is good, and worth a visit if you like Indian flavors, but don’t feel like eating curry chicken and naan again. Still, it was as innovative as I had expected after reading reviews and seeing it on Check, Please! Service is casual and friendly and it was nice and it was pretty peaceful inside. BYOB.

Here’s what the draft of this review says…“great. samosas. beet salad. chicken tikka. apple tart with black pepper ice cream. rainbow”
What one of these things is not like the other? Well, I guess there could be several arguments here… but I’m going to go with «rainbow.» Is Treat serving rainbows?! Of course not, but I happened to stumble across one as a torrential t-​storm ripped through Humboldt Park, vanished ubiquitously… and left only a large colorful arch in its wake. An appetizer, if you will. A good omen, if nothing else. Beauty in small things is valuable.
And so it reasons… Treat is a small, beautiful little gem nestled just north of North Ave on Kedzie. Unexpected. Colorful. Vibrant. And, indeed the rest (FOOD) were also the highlights of my cozy little dinner at Treat Restaurant a few weeks ago. The cuisine is a blend, but the main line is Indian… with some Italian, and a few other influences thrown in for good measure. The good news? It works.
Our poor server, not knowing of the rainbow omen… was a bit overwhelmed, and rightfully so. Managing an entire dining room (approximately 15 tables, perhaps more) on a somewhat balmy evening, and BYOB service? Well, yes. A bit harried, but she recovered with poise and the meal did not suffer. I would’ve preferred that the chatty man behind the coffee bar help her out a bit, but perhaps that is not the arrangement. She was server, busser and hostess… help a girl out!
The food was tasty, and somewhat safe from an ethnic food perspective. Read: you could bring your non-​adventurous friends to eat at Treat and no one is going to freak out. And, veggie-​friendly. And BYOB. It makes a lot of people happy on a lot of fronts… and then, there is the black pepper ice cream. Which sounds terrible in theory, but in execution is damn near bliss. I suggest you at least get a scoop to say you’ve tried it.
It’s not fancy, but its a winner. The food is quality, the experience is credible, the vibe/​location is still a bit undiscovered… and the black pepper ice cream tickles the tongue, begging one to return. Oh, and then there’s the rainbow too, obviously.
A few notes:
*Parking can be tough in the area, but not impossible. Watch for permit zones.
*BYOB, liquor store on North Avenue.
*Smallish dining room, def make reservations for large groups
*Cake charge for birthdays (but the apple tart is awesome, you don’t need a cake!)

House-​bound on a Saturday evening and craving something a little different than my usual carry out suspects. A vegetarian friend of mine introduced me to Indian food about 15 years ago and I’ve been a devout fan ever since – and that’s what I was craving. I thought about Treat, which I attempted to go to a couple of months ago, but it was closed for a private event. As I phoned in my order, I also thought about how much I really wanted my first experience there to be dine in, but I promised I would come back soon for that.
When I went to pick up my food at about 6pm, there was a nice crowd in place. The hostess was very friendly and helpful when I asked questions about the hours and corkage fee.
I raced back home so I could sink my teeth into the samosas and chicken tikka masala and I wasn’t disappointed. Absolutely delicious! The chicken was spicier than I prefer and after one bite my daughter refused to try more, but I still loved it. The samosas were the perfect blend of texture and flavor and were quickly devoured by both of us.
It’s very cool that this wonderful restaurant is located in this largely Puerto Rican neighborhood and that I don’t have to trek all the way up to Devon to satisfy my Indian food cravings. My brother said he would treat me to dinner at Treat (I couldn’t resist that one) as a belated Mother’s Day gift and I plan to cash in soon!

Came over for breakfast this past Saturday and it was ok
The place is relatively small, but nice. They had these cool pics of honey bears on the wall which we thought was cool… Very cool looking chairs as well.
It was a little chilly inside which was a problem.
I ordered the Buttermilk Pancakes which came with Honey Chevre Mousse and homeade Chai syrup. The pancakes were nice and fluffy, but the chai syrup did not do it for me so I stuck with regular maple syrup. I aslo ordered the spicy potatoes which were ok.
Not very expensive and it is byob, but I forgot to bring any liquor

We went here for V-tine’s because we heard how awesome it was and it was OKAY. It certainly wan’t bad, but it wasn’t nearly as good as so many other places in the city. We got a salad and the parsnip soup to start. The salad was incredibly tasteless and rather difficult to eat and the parsnip soup was really watered down. We also started with a mushroom purse and samosas which were pretty tasty, so that was good. We then ordered the curried gnocchi and the lamb shank. Adam said that the lamb shank was pretty clutch and I am IN LOVE with the curried gnocchi concept. It was incredible.
We finished up with the apple tart and pepper ice cream and it was awesome as well as the flan. Those were both great.
Why 3 stars? The space is SUPER crowded and the starters were pretty subpar. The location isn’t super awesome either, but it’s not BAD.
The service was fabulous, the entrees and desserts were great. I’d recommend checking it out but it’s not the best in the city, that’s for sure.

Thanks to some of my Unilocal bffs for helping me find this place.
Went there for an early birthday dinner with the fam two Saturday nights ago, and they were quite accommodating. They seated us early arrivers (actually, the ones that showed up on time) despite having the policy of seating when the entire party is there. The interior is welcoming and the décor was kind of funky, but a good funky, like Herbie Hancock funky.
Having a large group allowed me to sample almost the entire menu. I was slightly disappointed that there weren’t more indo/​pakistani dishes, but it is just mainly «influenced» by, and the menu is predominantly contemporary american.
We got the calamari, crabcakes, and samosas for apps. The crabcakes with pea masala were my favorite. The others were decent as well. Torn between the chicken tikka masala and the scallops with curried yogurt, I went with the scallops because I was feeling the scallops just a little more. Also, my cousin ordered the tikka masala so I knew I could just mooch off of her. The scallops were good, but the tikka masala was better. Spicier, perfect amount of sauce, and more flavorful. I also tried the lamb shank and that damn meat just fell off the bone, just the way it should be.
For dessert I ordered their «spotted dick». Though not what I imagined, it was quite tasty (and kinda warm). Tasted like a just-​baked shortbread with raisins. Very good. I tried the apple tart and the passion fruit crème brûlée as well. Both were aight, but paled in comparison to the spotted dick. Envy, perhaps?
My only issue was the portion size. I may just be an uncontrollable eater and surround myself with the like, but the portions were kinda small. I could eat the menu in 2 trips. Otherwise, I like the BYOB and mellow atmosphere, along with the friendly and courteous staff.
Friendly staff, tasty food, and copious amounts of wine and negra modelo = excellent pre-​birthday dinner.

Affordable menu AND BYOB? Well, well, Treat, I’m very happy to meet you!
Located in Humboldt Park, Treat is situated on Kedzie & North. For the uninitiated, it is the yellow storefront restaurant that looks closed. Weird, right? Maybe they’re trying to keep people out so it doesn’t get too crowded for me to get a table. Dare to dream, right?
The interior of Treat is cute, cozy and a little offbeat. I would imagine it’d be a great place to go on a first date because it’s unpretentious, BYOB so you can do some impressing with your amateur sommelier skills and the menu, while not huge, has great variety and truly can cater to any palette. Don’t believe me? You can bring your veggie friends because they have vegetarian options (they can even make a vegan dish for ya), sandwiches, salads, seafood, chicken, lamb, beef… I mean, really. Treat packs a lot of variety into a small menu.
First up were the wonderfully delicious samosas (Potatoes & Peas with Indian spices wrapped in Flaky Pastry and served with cilantro mint & tamarind chutneys). Talk about a delicious appetizer! I really, really liked the cilantro mint chutney. It was nice and savory, so it was perfect with the samosa.
The soup of the day was a veggie lentil soup. YES. My absolute favorite. For the low cost of $ 4.95 I was served a massive, piping hot bowl of luxourious, yummy soup. Tons of veggies and not overly salty so I could really taste everything in the soup. Just wonderful.
My main course was the tandoori chicken sandwich (less than 8 bucks!), stuffed with red onion, greens, cilantro, mint, herb aioli and served on panini bread. Being the picky dieter I am, I tore the sandwich apart to ditch the bread and ate the filling. The chicken was plentiful (yay!) and perfectly spiced and the greens, onions and herbs were fantastic. The real winners though? The sides that come with your sandwich. I tried both the wilted spinach and the coleslaw. While I loved the nutty and healthy wilted spinach, I swooned over the coleslaw. Yes, fully swooned. It has apple in it! And tarragon! Seriously. Go here just for the coleslaw. It’s fantastic.
What gal can say no to dessert? Impress your dining partners and order the black pepper ice cream. Say it together: Black.Pepper.Ice Cream. It sounds so very wrong, but it’s SO right. The black pepper tastes almost nutmeg-​y and is a great savory/​sweet way to end a delicious meal. We also saw «Spotted Dick» on the dessert menu. If you’re feeling adventurous, it might be worth a shot.

I had high hopes for Treat, with its recent features on Check, Please, and its promise of unique Indian treatments to Western foods. But, really, the restaurant seemed better suited to a small college-​town trying to be worldly, than a contribution to the ethnic food scene in a world-​class city.
Two of us visited Treat last night. We had samosas and the soup of the day for our appetizers. The samosas were delicious, but the soup (cream of pumpkin) was thin and runny — the consistency made it unsatisfying and sloppy to eat. I didn’t even bother finishing mine.
We had the dal and the gnocchi as our main courses. I found the gnocchi interesting, but not something I would go out of my way to have again. The dal was good, but I’ve also had better.
Where Treat really stepped up its game was on the desserts. The apple tart was delicious, and its puff pastry shell was expertly prepared. Coupled with the black pepper ice cream (!), it was a great hit. However, the passion fruit crème brûlée was extraordinary — unlike many four-​star restaurants that fail to prepare crème brûlée properly, this was a great consistency, with a lovely «shell» on top to break. Very tasty.
The service was fine, but certainly not über-​professional. This was service that you definitely noticed, and had to stop your conversation in order to incorporate into your meal. But, that’s OK — added to the overall impression that this was really more of a college-​town restaurant misplaced in a big city. (And, I’m not being a big city snob. I’ve only lived here a few weeks, and came from a town of just a few hundred people.)

Today is my pal’s birthday, but we celebrated last night at Treat!
They did well to accommodate a group of 11, an hour before they closed. We did, of course, make a reservation. It’s a small place and there was one other party that was bigger than ours.
Another plus of dining with 10 others… you get to sample other dishes! I had the Tandoori Chicken Sandwich with a side of the wilted spinach. I think I almost liked the spinach more than the sandwich. And I really really liked the sandwich. The spinach was salty and garlic-​y. Two of my favorite things!
The sandwich was awesome. I loved the combo of mint, cilantro, and aioli.
The lamb burger was awesome (however i’d have to order it sans peppers… too spicy for my weak ‘buds). The fries were awesome.
I’d totally recommend getting the chocolate curry ganache cake. I hate black pepper so I didn’t like the ice cream that came with the apple tart, but the tart itself was good. The passion fruit crème brûlée was very flavorful.
Honestly, it’s a bit pricey for the entrees, but I think the sandwiches are a great deal and I’d go back just for that reason.
Also…not a fan of $ 1 per byob participant. Or the $ 1/​person outside dessert charge. Feels a little nickel-​and-​dimey when places do that.
Oh well. Still delicious!

It was decided upon first bite that this place would be a brunch favorite. We had the Savory and Pakora pancakes, a side of spiced potatoes and a side of eggs.
The pancakes were fluffy with lightly crisped edges and spiced with bright flavors. Mint, parsley, coriander. They were also enormous. One order would have been enough for the both of us. I liked the Savory pancakes best as they had a slightly sweet taste underneath all the flavors (leeks, roasted corn, hollandaise, plenty of spice).
The spiced potatoes were not your standard breakfast potatoes. They came in the form of an un-​fried potato cake full of Indian spice and were absolutely delicious.
Very attentive service, great covered outdoor area and no wait at peak brunch hour. I almost felt like I was dining at the home of a friend in the casual and friendly atmosphere. Made for a very relaxing start to my weekend.

Indian fusion restaurant? And fairly affordable? Sure! My fiancée and I decided to give it a whirl and see what came of it.
From the outside, it looks like a run down shack. From the inside, it’s fairly clean and trendy looking, with the strange exception that the tables we sat were sticky. I know that this phenomenon happens with wooden tables due to sauces, heat/​cold, etc. But it would behoove the owners to treat the wood as the sticky finish is pretty uncomfortable. In any case, onto the food:
Started out with two orders of samosas (4 pieces total, $ 10) — Good samosas, but definitely over priced. They can likely get away with it as there really isn’t a local Indian shop to get the samosas for $ 1.50 each. but they were far from out of this world.
Beer Battered Cod Sandwich: Fried fish with a tasty sauce served in sandwich form? It’s hard to not to enjoy this. The fish was still soft and flaky, and the flavors melded well together. This will be what you want to save for your last bite here. Would consider getting this dish again.
Rice Flake Crusted Salmon: Salmon was slightly overdone by my standards, however the dish had good flavors. This dish was not enough to sate me as the portion was fairly small. The rice flakes were good, the crisped skin on the bottom of the salmon was phenomenal. Whatever root vegetable (cashew korma? salsify?) they served with it was tasty and interesting, but I had never heard of it. I’m not sure I would get this dish again.
Chicken Tikka Masala: From the few bites I had, one piece of chicken was perfectly cooked while the other one was dried out. The flavor seemed decent, but unlikely to reorder.
Passion Fruit Infused Crème Brulee: The four of us eagerly awaited to try this dessert! We spotted it from the moment we opened the menu, picked up our spoons as it arrived, and cracked into a gorgeous burnt sugar top… to find that the crème brûlée was still fairly raw and had not set appropriately. Passion fruit flavor was there, but with a liquid eggy texture, the crème brûlée instantly lost it’s appeal.
Verdict: The quality of the food overall is good. Sticky tables and a non-​appropriately made dessert really took it down a notch in my book, as did the fact they stated they didn’t have enough menus (asking my associates to share) when their house was not even close to full. I’d probably go back with some friends, but not more than one more time.

For some reason, dining in Chicago has become somehow polarised. I know, I know, that’s a strange term to use in relation to food.
But think about it. These days, you either go to a (semi)budget place serving safe, solid standbys or pay through an open vein for more of a scene. Sure, there are still places inhabiting the gap in between, but they are a disappearing middle class. Gone are gems like Earth, Twilight and Leo’s Lunchroom, where tasty, artful food could be had in tasty, artful settings. And not for a lot of money.
Treat is one of those rare Chicago eateries that pushes the envelope on casual dining. First, you have the sandwiches. The beer-​battered cod sandwich is actually a nice fish dinner with pickled onions, mixed greens and herb aioli. It only becomes a sandwich when served between slices of sea salt ciabatta. The turkey panino would be more of the same old bird, except it goes out on a limb with a complex apple tarragon coleslaw. The burger shifts one foot to the Indian subcontinent, with spicy lamb and a cool yoghurt sauce. The accompanying fries are elevated with spicy harissa aioli.
The entrees change from time to time. Once, I had a beautiful pan-​roasted flank steak with red wine reduction, beet crisps, bacon-​potato hash and red pepper phyllo ‘cigars’. Restaurant food in a café setting. With strains of the Pixies’ Surfa Rosa playing in the background. This place has imagination. Tamiz Haiderali has imagination.
The apple tarte tatin with white pepper ice cream is gone from the menu, but the equally delicious passionfruit crème brûlée is holding fast.
The service is friendly and unforced. I never sense any hovering, and yet things are always taken care of. Go ahead, leave a nice tip.
Count your change at the end of the evening. You’ll still have enough for a sackful of sliders from White Castle. But will you need or even want it? I would imagine not.

If you can handle the blinding brightness of the yellow walls and the lack of ventilation/​air-​conditioning on a hot day, you will be really happy when you bite into the Roasted Turkey Panini (with apple tarragon cole slaw, swiss cheese on caraway rye bread) or the Ham and Cheese Panini (with smoked ham, swiss cheese, tomato chutney on caraway rye). The Beer-​Battered Cod is also tasty (with capers, herb aioli, pickled onions, mixed greens on a toasted bun). Wash it down with unlimited refills on Hibiscus iced tea or the mouth-​watering (literally) Ginger Limeade and you’re good to go.
My BF and I always always always get the Turkey Panini and then another sandwich so that each of us gets to try something different without having to sacrifice actually NOT getting to eat the turkey panini. That would be cruel, it’s that delicious.
We also like to have one person order fries and the other curried vegetables, so we can split that too. For some reason, this is the only restaurant where we do that.
Service can either be fantastic, or fantastically slow. This past weekend, it was muy slow, but I think there was a new employee trying to figure things out. And, this weekend, being very hot and us being a wee bit hungover, the lack of air-​conditioning was sort of painful. We opted to sit in the «outdoor section», which amounted to a section opened up to the parking lot next door, tarped over… quite loud, still hot, and with the sound of the semi’s engine idling. But, at least there was more moving air outside than in.