Wildfire

With close to 10 visits under my belt, I have come to like Wildfire as a place for good value, the consistently competent service of any LEYE staple, and good flavors. If you have your heart set on a truly upscale dinner, than i think this isnt the right place.
The setting is nice. Booths and tables comfortable. The hosts upfront are warm and courteous and always meet & greet. LEYE does a great job in training their staff.
I tend to stick to luncheon menu items even when going for dinner. Why? Because it is what I like and i think it where Wildfire provides the best value and taste.
Their BISON Burger is phenomenal. Infact, it is better and cheaper than any Bison Burger i have had @ Ted’s (Now shuttered in the Glen). The combo of the guyere cheese, arugula, and onion marmalade is money. I opt to get it on the Oat Bun or Multi Grain Toast than the Ciabatta. I like that i get their oven roasted veggies rather than their fries… which btw are very good. Excellent tuna salad sandwich and turkey clubs. Their Pulled Pork w/​jalapeño slaw is an amazing sandwich, but unfortunately is only an occasional special.
They make great side and full version salads here. They never overdress their salads which i respect. Their Chopped and Waldorf are superb and plentiful.
Their entrees are very good but not great. Brown Sugar Soy Salmon on Cedar Plank is solid but no bargain @ $ 25. Tenderloin Tips are tasty but salty.
Good kids menu and old time favorites for dessert. This is a good quality restaurant to have as a close option for suburbanites.

Wildfire is a perfectly serviceable lower-​priced (but not low-​quality) steak/​chop joint. It’s nothing like the vibe and buzz of its original «older sibling» that opened downtown 15+ (to the great celebration that none other than Oprah herself was a partner — insert «how is any food left for the guests to eat» joke here); time, experience, and a shift to the suburbs has honed the menu and experience.
It’s fine. Not awesome. Not terrible. A little uneven. And generally fine.
The crowd is amusing — I’m often awestruck at how it seems to be the go-​to spot for the older (60+) dating set in the northern burbs (it’s also full of the obligatory groups of families — but the bar is hilarious). Always a little slow to be seated (a high class problem for the establishment; a real annoyance when one has taken the trouble to make a reservation), but the service is generally professional and appropriately swift.
Food is solid. Reasonably (n.b., not cheaply, but not outrageously) priced steaks and chops and sides make for a good, old-​fashioned «meat and potatoes» kind of meal.
Drinks and wines are on the high end of reasonable.
My most recent experience (tonight’s — which is to say January 31^st’s) kind of sums up how everything is good enough/​pretty good … but somehow lacking a little something. Dinner of steaks and a fish entrée was lovely. The sides were ample. Food well-​presented. Temperature correct. Water glassless kept ruthlessly full. Server professional and efficient (if not particularly friendly).
Desserts were terrific… but I was seriously flabbergasted when, during a Sunday evening dinner, our server arrived with the desserts for the four of us announcing «one of you will have to live with a spoon.»
That’s right — Sunday night, full house… and not enough cutlery?! Seriously?!
Do make a reservation or expect to wait for a table (or sit at the bar). It’s fine. Really. Fine…

Excellent service, ambiance and food. So why three stars? — you won’t believe this. The reservation was for 7:30 but coming up to the greeter at 7:00, I flashed a big smile and provided my name. Now when you smile at the world, the world generally smiles back at you. So we were seated right then and there. So far so good right???
At our cozy booth, there was a rough and tough couple to my right, and they were arguing loud enough from their elevated booth that it really carried across the dining floor and straight into my right ear. They used the F word 50 times each not really caring that it was a full restaurant, full of families and small children. One thing I learned through experience and watching YouTube videos is that you don’t want to get involved with couples arguing in public — they will displace their anger onto you. And I was there to eat, not to step into the octagon.
I kindly told my server about our unacceptable experience by using my IPhone notes function (it’s wise to be discreet) and she kindly apologized and asked if we wanted to move but it was really crowded and we already had our main entrees before us. The manager eventually came over, he looked like he was 22 and 110 pounds and said somewhat loudly, «I understand there is a table behind us using bad language, would you like to move?» So smooth (not) and so much for trying not to attract attention. We said in a hushed tone that we were good, after all, we were about to get dessert.
They kept swearing and we kept eating. And trust me, I don’t have Victorian era sensitivities but we were not at a late night trucker bar (although they probably would have the emotional quotient to know not to use that language repeatedly in front of kids).
We finally stopped eating and they stopped swearing. There was the sound of silence from them after 1.25 hours. We finally had our last bite of chocolate pie and our server corrected our bill. I took my sword fish to go. I’ll have it tomorrow night while I watch something really peaceful like a documentary on butterflies. That should help me get in the right mood.
I’d like to come back and erase tonight’s experience from my short/​long term memory and perhaps I’ll bump up my rating to 4 stars.

I took my parents to restaurant week because I knew they wanted to try this place but thought it was expensive. We went to the one in Glenview since they aren’t into traveling to the city.
We ordered off the lunch prix fixe menu, which was $ 22 per person. I ordered the Tuscan kale and spinach salad, cedar planked salmon with a side of mashed potatoes, and key lime pie. My favorite was the salad. It was a little sore and crunchy. The salmon was a little too cold for my taste. It was a lot of food for one person. I took home half of the meal for leftovers.
I think the service was good. He seemed genuinely interested in his job. He was polite and attentive. There were times I wished the food would come out already because I was starving. However, with restaurants like these, they take their time because they expect you to be conversing.

Came in last night, had an absolutely fantastic Filet with a bleu cheese crust, potatoes au gratin, and the pretzels to start. Our server was very kind and attentive, and the atmosphere was very warm and welcoming. I will certainly be coming back.

Been here many times and never had a bad experience. The food has always been fantastic and the employees have always been very friendly. The only complaint is a relatively minor one. As mentioned previously by others, you might not want to come here when they are busy. Elite restaurants can still provide excellent service when they are completely booked. Wildfire, though, does not have enough staff to handle it. You wait and wait and wait for your drink order and then wait and wait and wait for your food. Trying to find your (appropriately named) waitperson is like trying to find a polar bear in the desert. Just go during a slower time of day and you should be extremely pleased!

Love!!! there hamburgers it was so yummy we will back
Great atmosphere great staff

How do you say goodbye to another year, and welcome in a brand new one? You stuff your face with some succulent red meat of course! We went low key for NYE this year, and decided to just have a nice casual dinner to say hello 2016.
I usually like to get the filet mignon and pair that with a nice red wine. I figure its a new year, and I should try a different cut. I decide to go for it, and I get a nice medium porterhouse. I get a nice mashed ‘tato on the side, and washed it all down with a Stella Artois.
Our server was good, the guy who took us to our table… not so much. What do you call that person? The host was gracious, but the «please follow me» dude was not so good. He meandered us around to the back, and he just kind off put the menus down and walked away. Our table was still wet, and he didn’t even bother to ask someone to wipe it.
I figure if that is my only complaint for the night, then it isn’t so bad. I love Wildfire, and I will continue to dine at their restaurants. HELLO 2016, and to another year of Unilocaling.

I’ve been coming to this Wildfire for years and it’s pretty consistently good. The chopped salad and Waldorf salads here are the bomb! Bison meatballs, bacon wrapped scallops, tuna tartare are clear winners! Steaks and chops are hit or miss. I’ve had good steaks here and some not so good steaks so roll the dice yourself otherwise if your craving steaks I’d go to Ruth’s Chris or Mortons instead.
Burgers are really delicious here as are the roasted and grilled chicken dishes. I’ve never had the bbq so I couldn’t tell you bout them.
Service here is excellent by most of the servers and bartenders. The host staff however are, like the steaks, hit or miss. I’ve had some rude host/​hostesses that act like they can’t wait to quit and others that act like they were trained by Disney.
So there you have it. Try it for yourself!

The phrase, «Well oiled machine» gets overused, but in terms of this Wildfire location, it’s the perfect description.
Our group of 10 (five adults, five kids ages 2 – 15) came to Wildfire for New Year’s Eve dinner, and the service and food were wonderful. Our server was extremely knowledgeable and always there when we needed him, and the food came astonishingly quickly. Our reserved table took a couple of minutes to be ready, but the wait wasn’t too bad.
Food quality was excellent. Some of us had steak and others had fish. All was perfectly prepared and high quality. The wild salmon special was a great addition, as it’s often hard to get wild fish this time of year. I tried some of my wife’s and was very impressed. She loved it. I ordered the skirt steak and couldn’t have been happier. The portion was huge and the flavor was tremendous. It was hard not to order my usual (lamb chops — which are always wonderful at WIldfire) but I’m glad I branched out. Even the fries that came with my steak were above and beyond. They were crispy, hot and still had some skin, just the way I like. I do wish they’d include a vegetable with the entrée.
I ordered my steak medium rare, and it was cooked perfectly, but a little less hot than I would have liked (I’m a stickler for really hot food — it probably would have been OK for anyone else). Anyway, my server immediately took it back to the kitchen and it was in front of me again two minutes later at just the right temperature. Another example of excellent service.
My two sons ordered a filet and a porterhouse, respectively, and both were very happy with the results. My 15-​year old’s 22-​ounce porterhouse was huge, but he quickly devoured it.
We didn’t order desserts, but have in the past and always found them satisfying.
I ordered the premium red wine flight, which is a great deal at $ 15, giving you four basically full glasses. I liked three of them a lot (the Merlot, Cabernet and Pinot), but didn’t really enjoy the fourth.
The one thing I didn’t think was great was the side salad. The portion was huge — enough for two, easily — but there wasn’t much green stuff in it. Rather too heavy on the chopped eggs. And the balsamic dressing was pretty flavorless. Still that’s a negligible issue compared with the overall success of our dinner.
The atmosphere at this restaurant is perfect. I love the open fire, and the hustle and bustle. But it’s still quiet enough to easily converse with table mates.
Overall, I’d give this a 4.5 if half-​star ratings were allowed, but because we were so happy in general, I’m giving it the full 5.
We’ll be back!

Always amazing food and most of the time great service. Tonight I ordered the Avalon seafood platter. The crab cakes were amazing, the scallops were delicious, the salmon and the shrimp were also very good. Wildfire is always worth it to me, great food. I would recommend!

I like going to Wildfire with my family, extended family and it’s also a great place for a date. The restaurant is on the upper end of restaurants but is still in the affordable range. I particularly like the service and staff at Wildfire because they are friendly attentive and pay attention to detail. They have a great carnivorous friendly menu. If you’ve gone vegan or are trying to impress one this is not the place for you. They have some great salads to start you off, we like the Waldorf because it has a fresh flavor. I also like to Wildfire because the portions are healthy sizes and the staff has always split meals for us in the kitchen. I like meat but don’t need to feel like I’m on «Man v Food». They also have some great desserts and I mean great one out of every three visits we breakdown. Everyone of them is great!
I would recommend Wildfire to everyone because it’s just a great place. I would also recommend it for dates and special occasions. The staff treats everyone great and will make you happy through your meal.
We also prefer the Glenview location over many others because the parking is easier. Just an FYI they have a kids menu as well!

With the forties being known as a classy and fashionable time in history (despite the war) you’d have thought that this forties-​style supper club would have lived up to this personification, and although the décor may have done so not all of the other facets of the experience lived up to this aforementioned class.
I was impressed by the décor of Wildfire as it stayed pretty true to the stylistic choices of the forties, however I was less enthused by the confined space due to the the fact that the tables were pushed so close together. There were three sections of the restaurant (one of which was the cocktail lounge while the other two were clearly for family dinners) and our party of six whom had made reservations got seated in the most cramped area at one of the smallest tables. I could have done with the cramped setting, but I wasn’t about to let it get in the way of a good meal.
Wildfire specializes in seafood, steaks and the like, as do many supper clubs, so I ordered the seafood pasta with a bowl of bisque while my fiancé ordered the salmon and beef soup. Now that I’m thinking about it almost everyone at our table got some type of seafood which is due in part to the fact being that there’s many other places in the area that have way better filets and meats. With that being said, the bisque was totally amazing — probably some of the best I’ve had — and the seafood pasta was also good. The pasta didn’t blow my mind by any means, but it was good for what it was. It was the same case for the salmon that my fiancé ordered.
Everyone at our table enjoyed their fod for the most part, with the exception of one guest who’d ordered her filet medium rare, but it was served well done. The manager was gracious enough to come over and fix the issue and he was insistent on fixing it right away. This was one bump in the road that made all the other hiccups in the experience more noticeable — three bring that one of the water glasses had a huge and sharp chip on it, the wrong menus were brought to us and the waiter didn’t bring us the right ones until after several minutes and the waiter was somewhat dismissive while taking our orders.
To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed with Wildfire despite the grandeur décor. The décor can be as glamorous or crazy as possible but if the food and the service don’t wow me then I can’t honestly say that a restaurant is worth my time. With that being said, u wouldn’t go back to Wildfire, but I’ll enjoy some wine and filets (or seafood) elsewhere.

Wildfire is consistently a good place to eat at. I always enjoy the Greek salad. My king Salmon was a little overlooked and on the dry side. My wife’s filet had a nice char and was spot on medium rare. The pumpernickel bread is delicious and a nice alternative to white bread. Wine list is extensive. Service is good. Monday half price wine night is a plus! They also have a great loyalty program. Will return

Treated myself to Wildfire in Glenview after shooting a career low 74 in Oak Brook this afternoon (2 birdies, 4 bogeys).
I sat in the Martini Lounge to enjoy a Prime Angus Burger with fresh cut fries. My burger was medium rare and cooked to perfection. My fries were definitely fresh cut and not frozen. I also asked to have my fries seasoned in Old Bay with a side of lemon garlic aioli. Awesome! …sometimes I even impress myself with my culinary imagination.
I’ll definitely be back as the service and atmosphere matched the great food.

I come here mainly for office or business type dinners in groups of 10 or more. They are very consistent in their service and quality of food.
I like their Caesar salad, but love their chopped salads the best with plenty of avocados crispy chips and blue cheese.
Of their appetizers, I like the shrimp the best; the chicken skewers are often overcooked and dry and their calamari is to die for.
They make a decent filet and cooked to order but not what you would expect from a steakhouse but fair game. There salmon is done well and not overcooked. I haven’t tried their chicken or vegetarian options.
They offer great dessert selections and the chocolate cake with fresh whipped cream or their apple skillet pie is the best choices. Their ice cream sandwich cookie is okay and their key lime pie is good, too.
All in all a good steady restaurant with reliability.

My co-​workers and I came to Wildfire for a work lunch. Part of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, Wildfire offers a lunch and dinner menu, HH, gluten-​free options, as well as a ‘Club’ menu for larger parties. I had their Thick Prime Angus Burger, which came with shredded lettuce and tomato, on a multigrain bun; this was served with french fries, a cup of cole slaw, and a pickle. I wasn’t really a fan of the burger itself, as the bun was more on the dry end; the Angus patty was grilled, but it wasn’t seasoned and overcooked, making it tough and charred. The fries were forgettable, and the cole slaw was a little bit more on the wet side. I loved the private room we were in, however, as our group was able to be apart from the main dining area. Service was friendly and efficient, and I liked the dark wood and the red décor.
+overcooked burgers T_​_​_​T
+friendly staff
+request for private room
+located at the Glen

The Crispy Ahi Tuna appetizer was uninspried and bland. Not enough flavor on the dressed greens and the tuna itself was a bit tough. Wasabi cream was the only bright spot on the plate.
Grilled red fish and shrimp with mango sauce, sauteed shredded vegetables and coconut rice was very tasty.
Blood orange cosmopolitan was very flavorful but a tad too sweet.
The Patriot Room all the way across the restaurant towards Lake Street was very quiet and a nice change of pace from the extremely loud main dining room. If you want quiet ask for that room if it is open.

I had my 10 year wedding anniversary here this month and I can’t say enough good things about the quality of food and service and the great attention to detail that this restaurant put in making my special day even more special.
Nicole, the parties and special events coordinator helped me plan the menu and the drink list as well as helped me decorating and setting the table. I am extremely thankful to her and the staff. This was a very beautiful day that I will remember for a very long time and I thank everyone one involved.
The food is superb; you just cannot go wrong with the cheddar double stuffed potato, swordfish or the filet mignon. The key lime pie was a big hit. For red wine I highly recommend the St. Francis Sonoma red splash and Kendall-​Jackson Riesling.

I’ve been to Wildfire a handful of times and I’ve never been disappointed. I’m not a big meat lover, but I really enjoy their roumanian skirt steak! It’s so DELICIOUS! The last two-​three times I’ve been there, I’ve automatically ordered it. It’s marinated perfectly, making it so juicy and flavorful. It comes with a side, and I would highly recommend their mashed potatoes. They’re really good!
The last time I went to Wildfire it was for a birthday. We brought a cake from home and we gave it to our waiter to bring out at the end of the night. It wasn’t a problem.