Roam Cafe

After recently being diagnosed with an auto-​immune disease, and can no longer eat gluten, eating out has become disappointing and stressful. Today’s brunch was one of the best I’ve had. I was very impressed with the gluten free options that were tasty and well prepared. They also has vegan options and paleo friendly options as well! I’m so happy to find a place that is evolving to meet the needs of the customers! Well done Roam!

Went back and the buffalo chicken thighs are delish and a house favorite — I would have this as my entrée so delicious!

I’m not sure I had ever gone inside Roam until last week since previous dining occasions here were in summer when we were seated out on Park Ave.
We popped in without a reservation this past Saturday night and were able to get a nice window table. It was not too busy given it was a holiday weekend.
The service was just ok, not exactly attentive considering it was not crowded. The food though was very good especially the salmon, perfectly cooked, and the sides of Brussels Sprouts (nicely caramelized) and asparagus were also tasty. The meatloaf sandwich was moist and the caramelized onions were a nice touch — I was worried this might be dry without gravy but none was needed. The tomato and artichoke soup was filled with artichokes and quite good.
Overall a good experience…

We just had a team holiday lunch here yesterday — 16 of us. i have to say — I was impressed by the wait staff — one waitress for all 16 of us. Drinks were always full — Food came out piping hot — all at the same time. I was impressed — especially after reading the reviews about the service. Funniest thing was most of us pre-​read the menu before we went and a lot of us wanted the Calimari Salad but the calimari was already sold out at 1:00 PM. That kind of stunk but we all flexed and found something else– no big deal. We ordered several appetizers — Antipasto plate, fried artichokes, and arancini. All were fantastic. Highly recommend. For lunch we all got a range of items — I personally ordered the grilled chicken, tortellini and peso sauce. Amazing and very filling! Never even thought about dinner last night after that plate.
I was pleasantly impressed after reading reviews below. I wouldn’t consider it a high end restaurant but it was a great meal and great prices. Try it out — I wouldn’t steer you wrong!

An Italian restaurant that caters to gluten-​free and paleo diets! Who knew? There is something for everyone, except maybe children. I ate alone and ordered a number of menu items to try different things. I was happy with all and took lots of leftovers home. All the sides look wonderful and the entrees are very intriguing. I will definitely return!

Service was absolutely horrible. Will not be returning and will be making sure friends and family stay away.

First off, we had about 8 people at brunch on a Sunday around 12. It is now 1:16 and we are still waiting for our food. Come on. It’s breakfast, not that hard to make. And not busy at all. Not to mention, the waitress didn’t id anyone. None of us that got drinks were under 21, but we are 21. Therefore we don’t look over the age of 40. Legally they should be checking ids. Our waitress is also extremely rude. They’ve hit my purse multiple times and then gave me dirty looks and gossiped about it when I moved it to the other side. I will not be back here, and I promise none of my friends or family will either.
Update: We just got our food. Some of the toast was so hard people couldn’t bite into it. And the eggs were bland and in a giant mass. Not even close to scrambled.

Drew-​I had the artichokes as an appetizer and salad with steak on it. I don’t see the salad on the menu anymore but it was delicious.

I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad experience at Roam. The food is always very good– I’ve enjoyed their perfect burgers (HOW can you pick only 2 toppings? HOW?), pizza, salmon, brussel sprouts, and mac and cheese on many occasions. What I enjoy even more is the atmosphere. Whether you’re sitting inside our outside, it feels homey, warm, and cozy. I love the string lights on the inside. Also a plus that it never seems to be overcrowded. It’s an especially great place to stop in at on a weeknight-you’ll have the whole place to yourselves!

The arancini was amazing! We started with «the pair» (one arancini and one meatball) the meatball was cooked to perfection and the arancini in the vodka sauce was to die for. Great staff and great food, this place is a gem on park ave.

Went to Roam with a group of friends for dinner. I order the rib eye steak rich sounded appetizing from
The menu description. We order the arancini which was delicious. I could have drank a whole cup of that sauce. Everyone else got pizza which looked good and seemed to please. The steak came out well done and was order as medium. Even though it was over cooked to my order I still ate it. Now as a red meat loving man I would usually just eat the steak and be happy about it. But this rib eye had zero marbeling and was cut very poorly. Had very little taste and just looked unappealing. Side of zucchini was cold and mashed potatoes were just ok. Only ate ¼ of everything and didn’t even bother to take it for left overs. I’ll stick with the arancini next time.

I went here for restaurant week, and the food was delicious. I started with the calamari, and then had the steak with Mac and cheese and truffle tots. I also had the Riesling house wine, and it was a great semi sweet. However, I got the food at a discount since it was restaurant week. I am not sure if I would pay as much for the same food any other time. My friend got the chicken and the arancini. The smothered chicken was great, but the arancini was a little doughy. I think this is a great restaurant that would do well to lower their prices by a couple of dollars. Overall the experience and service was great.

I really enjoyed my experience at Roam Café. We went on a lunch hour (and a half). We had a large group for lunch (10 people) and you could tell that the waitress was a little flustered when we first walked in. She handled everything with grace and didn’t let our large party keep her from doing her job well. We all ordered something different mostly their large variety of handmade pizzas is what drew us there in the first place. I had the vegetarian pizza it was very good. The burger looked good as well. Good place for lunch, but maybe not with a large group. We know for next time to order before we leave the office.

We went to Roam restaurant on Friday. Per my neighbor recommended! I was not impressed at all.
First we walked in the hostess was doing something with phone but never acknowledge us until the bartender greeted us then she said hello.
I ordered 28 days aged ribeye steak, it was sorta fatty and was not hot. My friend ordered baked fish he liked it. I was not impressed with my steak and there was no breads or salad when entrée costs over 24 bux?
Well I am always trying to support my park ave merchants and most of the time I am unhappy with the food and feeling I am getting ripped off by them. This is the reasons why these merchants don’t last long on park Ave. everything on park ave is OVER PRICE ! I will not come back here again.

Roam, one of the newest additions to Park Ave, is small and hip, fitting in well with its many neighbors in dining.
I was admittedly underwhelmed with my experience at Roam. I ordered the calamari and the stockeye sirloin. The calamari was good. My table also ordered the crispy artichoke hearts, which were even better. Kudos for the cajun dipping sauce. Fried fare was a-​ok. Steak was cooked past the medium rare that I ordered. Though not an absolute miss, it was disappointing. The maple-​bourbon steak was an adventurous choice. The first few bites kept me interested, but its novelty eventually wore out.
Service was definitely on the slower side, even with the restaurant not even half full on a Thursday evening. Interested to see how this place evolves in the next few months!

Roam Café, on Park Ave is a little restaurant closer the the Goodman intersection.
They have overflow parking on Goodman behind that little barbershop, next to One Hip Chic.
I wandered in here with Michael for dinner last weekend, because Park Ave Pub was full of graduation weekend parents. We didn’t want to lose our parking spots at home, so we decided to just walk down the street.
Roam has outdoor seating, and an awning if it starts to rain. When you first walk in, the bar is right there, and then you can be seated in their pretty good sized dining room. Some tables are longer, for larger parties, and they have small intimate tables with a tea light for dates. We sat outside next to a rowdy table of middle aged women complaining about paleo diets. It was great.
For dinner, we decided to order the «mixed grill special». The special included a steak, a piece of chicken, and two sides. It costed $ 45 dollars. We ordered the asparagus and the red mashed potatoes for our sides.
The food was pretty good, but the steak was very fatty. It looked like a lot more than it actually was before we trimmed all of it off. I enjoyed the chicken (Michael didn’t), but it was smothered in avocado and spices, which wasn’t mentioned before we got the plate. I didn’t mind, but we might have gone with a different option if we would have known about the avocado.
The potatoes were good, but could have been warmer, and the asparagus was fantastic. The spears were large, lightly sautéed in olive oil.
All of their glasses of wine are $ 6, and the pour is generous. I got the house cabernet.
We ordered the salted caramel cheesecake for dessert. I think it was regular cheesecake, and then they added the caramel sauce to it. The crust was graham cracker.
Our bill was about $ 75, and I wasn’t wowed, it was just alright.
The service was okay, it wasn’t that busy for a Friday night. Our waitress was pretty attentive, but not overly friendly (which is okay if you don’t like having a perky woman coming over in a high pitched voice every 10 minutes).
Solid 3 stars.

Let me start off with the good; the food was good I tried an arancini and also got the calamari salad, both were pretty good so the food here is fine.
My friends and I came here around 12:30 on a Saturday we were expecting to get brunch but turns out they only do that on Sunday, bummer but okay not their fault we should have known.
My friend got a dirty glass with lipstick stains all over it and the waitress didn’t act apologetic at all. The service was subpar the waitress took a really long time to bring anything you asked for (there was only three tables seated) and she even forgot to bring things we asked for.
Overall the food is good I’d even say above average but they have some stuff to work on.

I went here with my coworker for lunch on the first nice day of 2015. We first heard of Roam café at a special wine dinner held at Veritas where the chef from Roam Café came and cooked a bunch of small courses and we tried wines from all over California. The event was lovely and the chef came around at the end to see how everyone enjoyed the food. When we heard he was from Roam Café we knew we’d have to try it shortly.
We came to visit the café a week later around 1:15pm for lunch. We sat in a lovely corner table by the window and got plenty of sunshine. There were several other diners there, but it wasn’t crazy crowded; they already had opened some outdoor tables as well (YAY!).
For an appetizer we ordered the bruschetta trio. It was AWESOME. They cut each of the breads in half so we both got to try them all. We loved the house-​made ricotta with the tomato, in particular. The pesto and ricotta was also delicious and the blue cheese and honey was perfectly sweet & salty. We’d definitely get those again.
For lunch we wanted to split the chicken sandwich served with fries and both get a cup of soup.
First of all, the fries were great! Super crispy outside and fluffy inside. Exactly what I want in a fry.
The soup of the day was broccoli cheddar, which we were excited to try. The soup’s flavor was good, but the cheese was a bit gritty in texture and it was certainly heavy (which isn’t a bad thing w/​broccoli cheddar, just something to be prepared for). The cheese/​cream/​oil had also started to separate a bit, which probably contributed to the grittier texture. We loved the flavor, though, and found ourselves dipping bread crusts into it to finish it all up.
The chicken sandwich had great flavor. The restaurant was also kind enough to cut it in half and put it on two plates for us, which we really appreciated! (It would have been hard to split for ourselves.) We loved the tarragon aioli, field greens, bacon & swiss cheese. We felt like the chicken could have been marinated in something or more strongly seasoned to add more flavor to it (to be fair, it definitely had some seasoning on it — just not enough for us). I added salt & pepper and that helped. The chicken breast was also a bit tough on the outside (but juicier in the middle). Splitting the sandwich was the best idea so we didn’t feel overly full but got to try a bunch of things at the restaurant. I would have this sandwich again, but I’d also try other things on the menu.
Some of the salads looked delicious and they also had several paleo options (if you’re into that kind of thing).
The back of the menu had their entrees (which it seems you can order for lunch or dinner, which is cool) but I spent more time on the front with the appetizers and soups/​salads/​sandwiches.
Our waiter was also awesome. We were never without water and he was friendly, without being intrusive, and patient.
We’re planning to go back and bring our boss next time. =)
Also excited to try their brunch!

After a long time between visits, things haven’t improved. I would describe our dinner as singularly uninteresting.
A group of us had dinner on a Saturday evening. Our table was waiting when we arrived and we were seated immediately. A good sign. With a small space and a lot of bar activity, Roam can be quite loud if the bar is packed, and it was but it’s not an intimate spot so nothing counted against the restaurant there.
The service was okay. Our waitress and servers were attentive at first but disappeared later in the meal. One of the special requests for dinner, the first to come out, was wrong and that person didn’t receive the correct dish to much later and after a few requests to check on it.
But it was the food that warrants two stars (or less). The crispy duck wings (actually duck legs) were very good — very crisp and mildly spicy — but only three and for $ 10, were pricey. The warm pretzels were more like bread than pretzels. Okay, but nothing that I would ever recommend to someone who actually was looking forward to a pretzel. And the zucchini cakes, well, a disaster. Completely flavorless and not at all pleasant to look at either. These should go off the menu.
Saturday evening means prime rib and two people at the table ordered prime rib. Large portion, but quite fatty and not served to order, very much overdone. The smothered chicken was like the zucchini, a complete disaster. Rather small in size, the chicken breasts were tough, and the smothering was entirely without flavor or seasoning. The «artisan» pizza, another mistake. Featuring hand made dough from Nacca Bakery, it tasted like an inexpensive store bought pizza. No quarrel with lots of toppings but there is so much more tasty pizza to be had in this neighborhood that I would definitely not recommend this. You can definitely taste the difference between this and pizza crafted by hand and cooked in a truly hot pizza oven.
I passed on dessert but despite my protestations that the «cobbler pie» could not be that good for either it’s pie or it’s cobbler and both are presented very differently, someone still ordered it. Standard piece of pie with oatmeal on top. Predictably dry and neither cobbler like nor a very good piece of pie.
The ambience is nothing special. Open space without significant decoration. I think there’s a lot of improvement needed here.
Most around us were eating sandwiches which looked much better. I’d say if you choose to eat at Roam, eat simply and try a sandwich.

An intriguing photo of burnt pizza stared back at me from Roam Café’s storefront photo on Unilocal.I couldn’t resist checking out the café that served up a charcoal from the Great Chicago Fire.
Our party of 6 was seated promptly on a Saturday afternoon and our drink orders were taken right away. So far so good… but I’m really looking forward to that charbroiled specimen.
We had a few questions about Roam’s menu. Salmon source? Atlantic. Free range eggs? As in, chickens that… well, roam? Nope. Any chicken stock used to make the vegetarian chili? Definitely not, and I learned that the chili is made in-​house and the chef a long-​time vegetarian. Nice.
The vegetarian chili was well seasoned and included kidney & black beans, and corn. I would probably order this again.
The Winter Salad with mixed greens, beets, almonds and feta was delicious. Fresh and full of flavor.
Both the spinach and green beans with slivered almonds were perfectly cooked and seasoned.
The ribeye steak was closer to well done (no pink) than the medium rare requested. The result was a slightly drier steak, though still well seasoned and tasty.
The highlight of the meal was my anticipation of seeing the charcoalesque pizza crust from the Unilocal storefront photo. However, the Roam pizza delivered to our table wasn’t burnt to a crisp as expected, but instead was perfectly cooked and very tasty. My hubby reheated a slice (shared by the original family member who ordered it) in the oven later that night for dinner and said it was delicious. Unfortunately, the Roam pizza never burst into flames for us at any time and as a result, my pizza photos aren’t worthy of Archaeology Today, let alone a Unilocal storefront.
Roam has plenty of variety for a small restaurant and I love the idea of their Paleo-​friendly menu options. I enjoy seeing restaurants include some offerings for people with special diets.
The tables are large which makes it feel wonderfully spacious and the white cloth napkins add a nice touch. The lighting is soft and romantic with a casual, relaxed feel.
Overall, the service was excellent. The owner, Drew, answered all of our questions and gave us the history of the restaurant including its former days as a Vespa store on one side and a gelato shop on the other. He seems very conscientious and it appears that he wants to make things right if they go wrong and sometimes things go very wrong when dining out. On this visit, I was unable to obtain any photographic evidence of a restaurant gone awry, and we all enjoyed our meals at Roam.