Gather

I've heard nothing but good things about Gather for a while for now, but for whatever reason, I just hadn't considered going there until recently. I will admit, that when I first took a look at the menu, nothing really stood out to me. All of the dishes seemed pretty unassuming at first glance. But based off of the reviews online and the love it has amongst Chicago foodies, I figured it was about time to finally check it out. The actual restaurant itself is pretty nice and something I would expect to find in the Lincoln Park area. We were seated inside but moved to the outside patio because we were sat next to the most obnoxious diners in the world. They were so incredibly loud and drunk, I hated them so much. I had to basically yell in order to communicate with my fellow diner. I wish them nothing but misfortune and inconvenience for the foreseeable future. Anyways, we ordered the whipped ricotta, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, lamb meatballs, boneless pork chop, and the chicken. I knew this place was going to be pretty good, but it truly exceeded expectations. The whipped ricotta and brussel sprouts were great, but the cauliflower was fantastic and probably my favorite dish of the meal. The meatballs and pork chop were tasty but again, the cauliflower that it's served with was awesome. It had this smokey flavor to it and was delightfully surprising. The chicken was also solid and the potatoes were delicious. We ordered the apple donuts for dessert and they were SO GOOD. Wow! And for only 10 bucks, too! You know, there really is a severe lack of apple focused desserts in this city, so it's great to have stumbled upon a restaurant that serves up high quality one. Like I mentioned before, this dinner greatly exceeded expectations. The food came out relatively quickly and I believe it is incredibly affordable for the quality of food that's offered. I used to live in the area and I can't believe it took me this long to find this place. I am most definitely coming back. Probably in the next few weeks!

I was super happy here. Great food, good portions for tapas style. Lots of options for vegetarians. Really good sweet service and the vibes were good. The cocktails were delicious and we had a few beers too.For the best courses the crispy cauliflower was delicious and the fried mushrooms were great as well. I liked the short rib a lot too. for the dessert the cheesecake was light and whipped and airy and delicious.It was fairly expensive but not unreasonable at all. Overall a really good neighborhood restaurant

Great neighborhood spot, great wine selection. Service by Conor was superb. Thomas the server assistant, was so warm and friendly. Those are keepers. Have not tried the wines, but I am French and a sommelier, the wine selection looks great, will come back for that. Highly recommend.

Wonderful creative menu and nice wine list. The service is also very good. Enjoyed the many appetizers which were exceptional. The main course were OK, but not nearly as good as the appetizers.

Sister restaurant of The Warbler right next door. Upscale American with a twist (at moderately affordable prices - dinner for 2 with cocktails runs me around $100) is the best way to put it. Open kitchen, you can see all the chefs take pride in their work. And not a big staff but they crank out food! Reservations are highly recommended. And they have a supper club on Sundays, sort of a pre-fixed menu. You can get a choice of apps, choice of entrees, and choice of dessert for a discounted price compared to if you were ordering à la cart.

Great food, great service, great water! But the patio is SO LOUD you cannot communicate with your fellow diners without shouting and leave with a headache. I was measuring 90db during dinner. Suggest you put some noise baffles in or something. Too loud to enjoy the great meal.

This is one of my top 3 favorite restaurants in the city, and there are a lot of phenomenal restaurants in Chicago! The friendly service and cozy ambiance here are unmatched - especially with the back patio in the warmer weather! I've never had anything on this menu that I didn't love, and the cocktails here are all amazing!

We came to Gather on a Friday night, we had reservations and I think you need them to get in. It was crowded when we arrived. We were seated out on the patio. The restaurant is really modern and clean looking and the hostess was very nice. The patio was heated by overhead heat lamps. We requested them to turn the one over our heads off. It was too much since it was not that cold outside. I can't remember requesting to sit on the patio. The menu is relatively small with some items to share, starters, and entrees. I guess the share items were larger. We ordered a bottle of wine, a Burrata starter to share. I order the Seared Tofu, the only vegetarian entree, and my partner order the Pork chop entree. Our burrata arrived fairly quickly after we ordered. It was served with two pieces of toast. While it was not bad, we have had much better versions of this within the last month at other restaurants. The bread was tasty but not enough for such a large burrata. Our entrees arrived about 10 minutes later. They both looked good but we were confused at first since the pork chop entree didn't actually look like pork chop. The pork was cut into strips and sauced. My partner liked his pork dish. Seared Tofu...this could have been great but it was not. I have had similar dishes that were executed perfectly, this was not. I liked some of the components but this was a miss. Lacked flavor and just came off boring and bland. They need to work on this. Overall cute restaurant, great service but the food was lacking at this price level. It was a two star rating but I gave them three because of the service. I doubt we will return.

TL;DR: Grab a group, pick a few items, and SHARE This place has amazing food and I always leave happy. The burger and gnocchi is really good. You truly can't go wrong with any items on their menu and that rotate based on the season! I enjoy sitting outside on their patio in summer and winter. Try this out for yourself and you'll rave about it like me!

The ambiance, service and food were absolutely perfect! The cauliflower appetizer was probably the best meal I have ever had! Highly recommended