Bambola

Absolutely love this place - especially the happy hour! Their decor and ambiance is very aesthetically pleasing and the space is really big so it's great for larger groups. The menu items are very unique and the happy hour specials are really good, and it includes Saturdays.The cherry blossom cocktail is super tasty and the Turkish coffee pot is good if you like coffee! It's a strong taste and presentation of the drink is really cute.The service was great and I would definitely come back to try more of their cocktails and dinner items! In the summer it looked like they have an outdoor space which would be really cute for a girls night, date, etc. when the weather is nice.

Mixed feelings...We came in for my husband's birthday last night and the restaurant itself was stunning. The manager who greeted us at the door was very nice. We ordered drinks and the snap pea margarita was great, but the cherry blossom (gimlet I think) was a miss for me. It tasted like soap but I don't think there was soap in the glass I just think an ingredient in the drink tasted that way for me. I ordered the olive oil and orange espresso martini instead and loved that! We had the baba ganoush, halloumi fries, and salmon crudo and they were fantastic! Would come back for those three alone!My husband ordered an old fashioned next and it was a show stopper! Beautiful presentation and I'm not a big old fashioned lover but I wished I had ordered one it was SO good!We ordered the lamb shank and it was beautiful but it tasted like someone had dumped salt on it and the accompanying couscous. I love salt-- my friends joke about how much salt I put on my food but this was inedible. Admittedly we tried and ate close to half, but sent it back.... We just couldn't do it. I know people say " I never send anything back" but honestly I don't and my husband was amazed at me sending two things back in one go... but birthday dinner so it is what it is..Manager asked if we wanted anything instead and we just moved onto dessert. Our server was hardly speaking to us at this point. I could feel the annoyance which annoyed me because we weren't being rude we just wanted a nice dinner... I'm sorry but we weren't wasting $50 on a lamb shank that tasted like licking a salt rock...We ordered two desserts... the crème brûlée and the limoncello tiramisu. Loved the brûlée but the tiramisu was a miss for me-- we ate it though! All in all we would definitely come back. We loved most of the food and drinks, but I definitely didn't appreciate how awkward things got because we sent something back. We were never mean or put the blame on anyone I just said we couldn't eat it. Anyway worth checking out but also not a surprise that it was pretty empty...

Lovvvvvvvve this place for Happy Hour! We truly enjoyed our cocktails! They were delicious and picture perfect! They had natural sweetness and you didn't have to question if there was liquor (like some cocktails). The ambiance is to die for! The natural sunlight and greenery is top tier! The bar and entire space gives luxury & chic. It is huge! The staff were nice and attentive; service was excellent which is always at the top of my list! Oh, I loved the hummus and garlic naan!

While the decor and restaurant itself is very aesthetically pleasing, I would not return for the food. This may just have to be a cute drinks spot. We tried a few dishes on the menu including the kale salad, feta pie, baba ganoush, fries (cheese?), octopus gnocchi, another pasta dish (forgot the name), and the desserts. Out of everything we had I have to say the best thing we had was the spinach and feta pie. Everything else was underwhelming or I could not finish it. Probably the worst thing I had was the octopus gnocchi which I was really disappointed about since I was really looking forward to it and it was the only reason we chose to come here. The gnocchi was extra chewy and completely lost its form and octopus was also chewy and just not great. I later found out that a few of my other friends had also visited Bambola earlier in the year/last year and had a very similar experience with the food.

Recommend- Gnocchi tikka masala, chicken kabobs, dates & eggplant biryani, babaganoush, Bok choy, spinach pie (heavy). Good amount of portion size that we took remainder home. Love a good place like that. old fashioned was top notch. Gimlet was not enough and tasted okay. Lemongrass highball was very watered down. Turkish coffee is the espresso martini in a fancy Turkish mug. Pistachio chai something was mehhh. Dessert -cannoli was good but a bit hard, apple dessert was very sweet, tiramisu was average. Service- front hostess does not pick up calls. We called them the whole day and they never picked up. They didn't have valet so we had to walk far in the snow to park. Ambiance: interiors are beautifully decorated.

One of my favorite spots for Happy Hour!Bambola is brought to us by the same group that brought us Beatnik so of course the quality is there. I come here quite often, especially during the warmer months when they open the window near the bar and you can catch the good breeze. Drinks here are always on point as I usually rotate between the sesame & banana old fashioned, cherry blossom gimlet and the coconut sour. All very good drinks! Snacks on the HH menu are always good as I tend to go with the hummus, roasted beets, tzatziki and lentil & beef kofta. I tried their burger once and it was very good as well. Everything on the HH menu is $10 so you get a great deal. Bartenders here are always good people and make great drinks. The ambience is very chill and gets a bit intimate as the nighttime falls down. I've brought many friends and dates here! Definitely recommend Bambola for any occasion.

I had a wonderful time at Bambola! I had recently been to Coquette and realized that Bambola was owned by the same group and knew I needed to check it out. You truly feel the unique atmosphere here. Think the Pirates of the Caribbean/Indiana Jones Disney ride- but for adults with food and alcohol. There was a lot of detail from the bar to the menu.The service was great-although it was for sure not busy as we went on a Tuesday. But they were attentive. The food was good. It was as they claim- a Silk Road fusion. I will say if you're thinking Mediterranean I am still partial to a few competitors but it was good. We had the lamb, cucumbers, Baba Gabounsh and tuna. That was enough for two girls. For sure worth checking out!

Visited this restaurant during the Chicago Restaurant Week. The restaurant offers Mediterranean, Italian and Asian cuisines and a great variety of cocktails and drinks - definitely something interesting! It has an amazing ambience with chic interior and decor. For the appetizers, we had Baba Ganoush with warm and soft Pita, decent Halloumi fries, and a pretty good Spinach and Feta Pie. For the second course, we did the Chicken Kebob entree which was juicy and flavorful, but the Pork Rigatoni was a bit dry. Dessert, a Pistachio Cannoli, had a tangy filling, not meeting expectations. We found that the overall service was pretty slow for our table. Our server acknowledged this and we were glad that the restaurant offered a ~20% off on the order total, which added a positive touch to the experience.

Slow service, meh food and lack of customer service. As others have mentioned the place is gorgeous and a lot of thought was put into the design of the place. However, it does not make up for mediocre qualify of the food. None of the drinks were memorable other than the cherry blossom gimlet. We also tried 2 wines by the glass and those fell short too. From the appetizers, we really enjoyed the roasted beets with goat cheese as well as the burrata with asparagus. The tuna crudo was definitely not fresh. The biggest disappointment of the night was the dry aged rib eye. It was cooked medium rare as we asked; however, it arrived at the table completely cold. This is after we waiting 40 minute for ribeye. The restaurant was 70% empty, so it was not an issue of it being a busy night. When we complained the manager took it back and said he would make a new one. 3 minutes later the waitress comes back with the same dish that was taken from the table and told us they just made a new steak for us. It was literally the same dish because I could tell where we had cut into the parts of the steak, they just warmed it up. The manager then had the audacity to ask how we liked the new steak. Never again!

Came here for dinner and drinks-- everything was delicious and the ambiance is amazing! The gnocchi and hummus were so good and we loved the drinks as well. Will definitely be returning!