The Stained Glass

We booked a table for graduation and they were prepared. The dining room was light and formal. The menu was great and all of our food was fantastic from baked artichoke to NY Strip to donuts for dessert. Love this place.

Was invited to a birthday dinner here with some local (Rogers Park) friends. This is a top notch place. Excellent food and service. Very upscale, swanky vibe. Great for a «luxury» night out or even a fancy date night. Very nice place and I was very impressed!

Shiw: ShiwDou reviews here, with a review of The Stained Glass here in Evanston!
Dou: We went there on a Friday night without a reservation. We sat at the bar and ordered two drinks. The service at this place was great. The bartender misheard my drink order, when he realized the mistake, he me a new drink without any costs.
Shiw: We got a table fairly fast. As soon as we sat down, the waiter came to take our order. to start with, we ordered the foi gras BLT with pomme fries. the truffle mayo on the plate was amazing, the foi gras and bacon was cooked perfectly, very flavorful yet also very rich.
Dou: We got the Amish Chicken and the Lamb. Both were very good — the lamb very rare and juicy. The chicken was also very tender and not dry at all. I thought the dumplings were pretty decent as well, but Shiw’s apparently not a fan
Shiw: How can a ball of dough be called a dumpling??! Where we come from dumplings are filled with things, and are delicious!
Dou: Haha… that’s America for you…
Shiw: So why not a higher rating? I guess our complaint with this place is that while all the food is solid, nothing really stands out or surprises you. The food is classic instead of creative, and lacks that real «pop» of flavor that comes when something really jumps out at you. The Stained Glass is certainly nice and classy, but not much «fun»
Dou: Totally agree. Worth going to once for the experience, but probably won’t be a regular at this place.
Shiw: Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

I had drinks and dessert at the bar. The atmosphere was amazing. I definitely plan to go back for dinner.

Service low grade, food midiocore. Service was better when we were at cracker barrel. $$ r u serious

All in all, a great meal.
The soup of the day was a lentil with whipped ricotta. Growing up in an Indian home gave me a lot of exposure to amazing lentil soup, and while this wasn’t quite up to par, it was still good.
The main dish was obviously the star of the show. I got the «Tuna, Tuna, Tuna», which has already been written about numerous times, but is quite frankly the best tuna plate I’ve ever been served. It’s a dish unique to this restaurant, and you shouldn’t pass it up.
We did the dessert sampler to close off the meal, which was a great choice for our larger table. I loved the strawberry margarita cheesecake, but was let down by some of the other offerings, particularly the donuts. I think we got an off batch, because it seems like everyone else completely loves them
A great place to go for a nice dinner. And get the tuna.

The Stained Glass is definitely one of the better places to eat in Evanston. I recently hosted a corporate dinner there. The staff was very flexible with our ever changing number of attendees, as well as making sure we stayed with in budget of our event. I really appreciated their flexibility. The steak I had was cooked perfectly. For dessert, I would recommend the donuts. I am not usually a donut fan, but we ordered for the table and these did not disappoint. Maple-​rum with bacon was definitely a favorite!

My wife and I opted for a more convenient drive to Evanston for our Anniversary dinner this year and selected Stained Glass based on the high praise posted on Unilocal.It did not disappoint. First, the ambiance is terrific– the loft layout was spacious and cozy at the same time and the place was abuzz with a diverse crowd. The service was friendly and well paced with on the spot refills and plate pick ups. Now on to the best part, the food– we started with the artichoke heart (very good), and enjoyed our Arctic Char & butterfish entrees. The delicious, memorable preparations were absolute winners, and left no room for dessert! A good wine/​drink list complemented the simple menu. We’ll be back.

I made a reservation through OpenTable for my brother’s birthday. It was on a Tuesday, so the restaurant was not crowded at all. Overall, a really elegant and classy ambiance, great for dates or birthday/​anniversary gatherings.
We were a group of five so we ordered 2 – 3 appetizers, entrees for each one of us and 2 sides. This was A LOT of food, so we ended up taking some leftovers home.
Some highlights: The Crab Cakes are really refreshing, and not too greasy and heavy like some of the ones I’ve had before. I had the Foie Gras BLT as an entrée and it was really filling despite it being under Appetizers. This is literally a BLT sandwich with a patty of duck liver fat in the middle (really good — sorry if I made it sound less yummy). If you like seafood, also get the TUNA TUNA TUNA — the visual is simply amazing.
The only critiques I have is that one of the fillet was not cooked medium well done (it was quite red) and the desserts are not too fancy relative to the food offered.

I had the Foie Gras «BLT» and was very disappointed. The bacon simply overpowered the foie gras both in taste and in texture. When the bartender asked me how I liked my food, I mentioned this. He asked me whether I would like them to fix it. But when I asked how, he said they would take out the bacon. This is something that I could do myself, so I declined the offer. I’m very disappointed with both the food quality and the service in Stained Glass.

We can barely find the restaurant since the street is in construction, but I am surprised that it is still full of people around 6:00.
The setting is super elegant, best for special day’s celebration.
Appetizer: baked artichoke. It is not in the menu but certainly worth a trial. The cheese and bread crust in the artichoke make the appetizer amazing. It takes long time to wait though, which doesn’t hurt at all.
Entrée: Tuna Tuna Tuna and the lamb on market cut. We love it a lot.
Dessert: three kinds of crème brûlée. I love chai best but people’s taste vary a lot.
Though too expensive for students, the Stained Glass is definitely one of the best choice sfor important occasions.

Yum. Wine flights, perfectly done filet mignon and piece de resistance – dessert platter for four! Nothing like a warm, freshly cooked donut. Service was attentive. Only downside was the noise level in the room; it echoes off the walls. But I was more than satisfied with this meal and will definitely return.

I find the food at the Stained Glass to be fairly heavy, so we haven’t been to the restaurant for dinner in a long time. For me, the crown jewel of this restaurant is the bar. I love to sit and order a wine flight — full menu is available, but I usually will just stick with appetizers or dessert (frites and crème brûlée trio are excellent). There are hooks by the chairs so you can hang your purse on the bar! A great place to try several interesting wines and have nice conversation — highly recommended for a night out with a friend.

Very nice atmosphere for a quiet dinner. The food options are not vast but all we had was good. We shared a beet salad and a crab cake to start. I had the fish schnitzel and my wife had the chicken. Both very good.

Appetizer: truffle burrata cheese ⁵⁄₅
— tasty, fresh, light. I got this because I’m allergic to seafood and most items are
Seafood. Toasted Bread + cheese+ figs+ green salad.
Dranks: I got «Son of Sam» ⁵⁄₅ loved it because it wasn’t too crazy sweet. Forgot what my mom n dad got, but it was great and not watered down or drowned in syrup.
Main:
Amish chicken 5÷5− soooooo tasty! Came with mashed potatoes, fennel root and some kind of small pearle like pasta!
Lamb chops 4÷5− dad got this n he loved it! Came with green beans.
Hanger steak ⁴⁄₅ -(market steak offered that night) mom liked it. Came with croquettes and shrooms. Only only prob was she wanted it well done and it came out bloody and pink but no problem, they fixed it.
Dessert: triple crème brûlée sampler! ⁵⁄₅ yummmmmmmmmmuyyyyyyyyy!!! Sample of vanilla/​chai/​chocolate brûlée.

Came here to catch up with two old friends after 25 years… and this restaurant was a perfect setting to take our time. The décor of the dining room consists of high ceilings and loads of room between tables. A large «L» shaped dining room with a bar at the center point makes for easy flow of people. We were here on a Thursday and it was not crowded.
One of our group had the lobster bisque soup (luscious and creamy) and then the sea bass for his entrée (nice filet perfectly prepared)…the second in our group had the bisque and a pair of crab cakes (really from the appetizers but when you double it, it makes a perfect main course) for his entrée…the last in our group had the bacon sampler (more show than go, this was just ok for the value and taste) and a pair of crab cakes (the crab cakes were very nice… a good amount of lump crabmeat and very little filler… sitting there under a nice dopple of julienne veggies) for his entrée. The meals were very tasty… artfully prepared with excellent food quality and not overseasoned.
They also offer a pretty nice wine list, not as extensive as some places but just enough to make sure you’ll find something you like. The wines are mostly arranged in tastings of three half glasses. While you can select any single as a glass, it is much more fun to have a little tasting of a variety. The bar is also a full-​service one for those that have other intentions.
Service was spot on and after she realized we were there to catch up she gave us all the time we needed to schmooze. We were unhurried and relaxed. All in all this was a very nice stop. We’d go here again… and maybe even sooner than 25 years.

We came here for our first anniversary, and we could not have had a better experience. We arrived quite early for our reservation, and decided to kill the wait at the bar. My husband had a wine flight, which was great for him as he is just discovering wine and had a lot of fun getting to try a bunch. The bartender made me an incredible non-​alcoholic cocktail– usually i find these to be essentially just juice, but this was a light and refreshing grapefruit/​cucumber drink that was not very sweet at all.
We enjoyed the bar so much we decided to give up our table and just enjoy the whole meal at the bar. We started with apps– lobster bisque and the foie gras BLT. the bisque was LOBSTERy and wonderful on a snowy night (it was early march) but the BLT stole the show. It could definitely be an entrée for a small appetite, but we managed to kill the whole thing. Crispy fries on the side, it was a great start to our meal.
For our mains, we had the salmon with panisse and the rack of lamb. I wanted the sea bass, but they were sold out– though I was totally pleased with the salmon. it was impeccably prepared, and thoguh I did not know what panisse was (it’s a chickpea cake!) I am now a little obsessed with it. The lamb was obviously delicious.
By the end of the meal, we were too stuffed for dessert! We loved our entire meal– the bar was so great (don’t underestimate it when dining with a party of two!); the bartender, who was also our waiter, was super friendly and helpful; and the food was special enough for a celebration without being stuffy. We are looking forward to more celebrations here for years to come!

Awesome meal for a special birthday occasion. Just be aware that it’s pricey!
We came here for my boyfriend’s birthday and sat at the bar. Waiter was an awesome Australian dude who took good care of us and made great recommendations. Ambiance is a little fancy (white table cloths) and we preferred sitting at the bar.
— Our most memorable food item was the «Tuna, Tuna, Tuna»: tuna sashimi with pickled vegetable salad, pastrami spice-​crusted tuna, red cabbage slaw, tuna tartare. I forget which one blew us away but I think it was the tuna sashimi.
— Crab cake was good
— Bacon flight — bacon was a little thick for me but boyfriend loved it
Only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the crème brûlée trio. Wasn’t bad, just wouldn’t order it again.

Such awesome staff who work here — more specifically the bartender and wine expert it seems. I came in with 3 friends looking for some drinks and dessert. We were delighted to find they had so many options of wines and even different sizes including half glasses and samplers (3 half glasses). The bartender was really great a describing the ones we ordered and it really enhanced our experience.
Also, the desserts are delicious! The grilled cheese was by no means a traditional dessert dish but they made it work — really really well!

This was one of the best dining experiences we have had in awhile.
Our party of 4 had 7:30 reservations and two members of our party arrived early and were seated accordingly– no having to wait until the entire party arrives mumbo jumbo– nice touch. The restaurant is warm and inviting, with a touch of Napa Valley, as it’s name suggests. Exposed brick and beams with reds and grays make the space lively and yet romantic at the same time.
We began with wine flights and cocktails; the wine flights were outstanding with a great selection. We had lobster bisque, deviled eggs, foie gras BLT and escargot to begin our meal. All were outstanding but the foie gras BLT was the star. The lobster bisque was outstanding as well, I would have licked the bowl clean. For dinner we had the pork chop, tuna three ways, salmon, and flank steak. All of the entrees were outstanding! For dessert we had the coconut something or other and crème brûlée sampler: flavors of chai, plain/​classic, and chocolate. These were delicious!
The service was great and there was nothing we needed at all. We couldn’t have been happier. A 5 star experience from start to finish! Can’t wait to return!