Wilmette Chop House

Outstanding experience. Owner/​chef Lawrence made us feel like we were the only people in the place (we weren’t). Food was terrific and service was fast and professional. Highly recommended.

Wow, Finally a winner in Wilmette. Lawrence the chef/​owner has turned this location around.
4 dinners, 4 happy customers.
No blasting music, No loud boisterous bar scene, No TV, makes for an enjoyable relaxing night. From the salads thru dessert all perfection paced and served by Lawrence the owner. Ideal place to romance your mate.
Must have the double cut pork chop with plantain brandy sauce totally YUMMY!
Cant wait to return.

Now I feel bad we’d never come here before. .. we had a great dinner tonight! Soup of the day, salad of the day (an apple and arugula salad — so good), bbq shrimp appetizer (shrimp tiniest bit overcooked but sauce was delish), a couple of steaks and the halibut which I loved, NY-​style (i.e., proper) cheesecake and bananas foster. Yummy bread which came out piping hot.
Interior is lush and nice. The thing that stood out most was the service. The staff was really nice and worked hard to take great care of us. The owner, Lawrence, was delightful and sooo nice to my kids. Actually, everyone was. We will definitely come back here again.

Restaurant is under new ownership and has a new cook. They kept the same name. HUUUUUGE difference! We thoroughly enjoyed our steaks, salads and dessert. Service was a bit slow because they were short on staff. We didn’t notice; though, because the wine and conversation were so good (not to mention they kept checking in with us). We will be going back and are thrilled that we will now have another regular spot (aside from Depot Nuevo) that we frequent in downtown Wilmette.

I set out to have a delicious meal tonight with thoughtfully prepared fresh ingredients, and my wish was granted at the WCH.
I’ll jump right in and share that the Moroccan rack of lamb, the roasted beet salad with goat cheese and the bananas foster were fantastic.
The chef/​owner was delightful, and picked out some nice wine for us. We dined al fresco which was lovely. It was a perfect evening for outdoor dining.
Highly recommend.

Thank you to Lawrence and all who made last nights dinner fabulous
The cocktails, beet salad, all entrees plus dessert were awesome
We loved every bite and excited to come back!!!
Thank you we loved our dinner

We celebrated our anniversary here. The service was excellent, giving us just the right amount of attention and privacy. The chef recommended a great wine in our price range and the food was amazing. The shared the tuna appetizer which was out of this world followed by a steak and halibut which were both done to perfection. The chef was very accommodating with making slight changes to our preferences and we were surprised with decadent molten chocolate cake for dessert. We will definitely return.

On their busiest and coldest day of the year, they came through with amazing service, great food and a warm ambiance. Meatball was okay, but the scallop appetizer (the right combo of tart, sweet and bright flavors), awesome! Chef/​owner came out when he had a million other things to do and took he time to ask us about our meal. His son works there and the waiters, waitress and host all checked on us several times — it wasn’t too much, seriously. Loved it and can’t wait to go back. This is a don’t miss for the suburbs!

AMAZING. The duck was fantastic. The french onion soup was delicious. The pork chop to die for. The veal porterhouse was the best. Too good to leave room for desert. The service was very quick and courteous. Great list of great beers and a good list of good wines. Would recommend.

I’ve been aware of the Wilmette Chop House for a good long time but, to be honest, I avoided the place for three simple reasons: 1) exorbitant Chicago prices 2) lame décor and 3) more appealing and plentiful downtown Wilmette restaurants.
My bad!!! A good friend suggested a ‘redo of my opinions’ on the place was well advised! -/​His reasoning — «new owners, new menu, realistic prices». I make a Unilocal-​online reservation at 3pm for same-​day (Sat) 7pm dinner for two (me and da Mrs) and was made slightly uncomfortable by the ease of winning so easily such an assumed PrimeTime dinner slot.
The place has perhaps a dozen tables in a trapezoid-​shaped floor plan more akin to a generic chain of opticians than a place of fine dining but … some red paint, a few fancy-​hung curtains and subdued lighting et voila … a mediocre ambience … but … c’est la vie.
Cocktails ordered — Hendrick’s Gin of course! — and we were stoked by their full and plush bar … including blue-​cheese stuffed olives for ‘er dirty martini; straight-​up …
One other table was occupied in an otherwise deserted joint. I expected rolling tumble weed to pass the table between the very frequent /​super attentive visits of the (no other distracts for the poor lass!!) waitress (who possessed some spectacular ‘made-​for-​radio set of lungs!) …
Having eaten red meat throughout the Christmas season I felt somewhat cheeky ordering a roast chicken with mash and greens but my colon squeaked a barely audible but well-​appreciative thank you my direction! The wife unabashedly took delivery of an enormous veal chop drizzled in a rich sauce and she happily acclimatized to some mild guilt derived from a badly-​slaughtered baby calf.
Both dishes were delicious, well portioned and piping hot … flavorful … and sexily priced … (I’m no Rockefeller and wallet-​sensitive post the Kids’ Christmas extravaganza! :-))
A bottle of Napa Duckhorn Merlot (also $ sensibly priced!) was well drained and much enjoyed …
Here is my only slight complaint — which was actually balanced by a total understanding of both reason and execution re the complete lack of patrons on a Saturday night!) — the maitre’d (the owner) — was perhaps reminiscing on a prior life as an insurance salesman (?) or a North-​Shore heroin dealer … as he heavily pressed us with suggestions of appetizers, deserts, fine wines, cocktails, after-​dinner aperitifs, uppers /​downers /​and all-​rounders (ha! kidding on last ones!) …
Again — only as bothersome (as we did do a fair job of emptying his bar and pantry anyhow but) as it was obvious to understand a restaurant owner’s obligation to make a profit! so good for his diligence and very-​polite tenacity!
Wifey and I concluded we would certainly return to the Wilmette Chop House and we’d pour extravagant /​lavish word-​of-​mouth to those interested in a lovely restaurant, cost sensible, that competed easily against likeminded Evanston or Wilmette-​based food spots! Great service only helped further their cause! Excellent evening all round.

We’ve been here twice since the new owner has taken over. Definitely will go again. The menu is varied and creative. The atmosphere cozy with great music and still an easy place to have a quiet conversation. We met the owner who could not have been nicer. Would highly recommend now.

After several months under new ownership, we decided to give the Wilmette Chop House another try. We were so pleased. Excellent appropriately priced menu with a wonderful wine list. My chicken was delicious and the cauliflower gratin side dish was the perfect accompaniment. My wife had the fish and our guests had pasta and vegetables. Everyone was raving. Interestingly no one ordered steaks, but they looked perfect as they were being delivered to others.
One dessert for the table… bread pudding which was some of the best I have ever enjoyed, and that is saying something since I order this often.
We highly recommended this new found gem and will certainly be back in the near future.

I booked a reservation here for my husbands 65 th birthday. Wanted something really great We were both
Very unhappy. My NYStrip was
Tough. The knives are horrible. They saw and rip I cook a lot of steaks and I’ve never made one this bad. So after paying $ 125. For a poor meal you can be sure we won’t return The flourless choc cake was like a brick of fudge

So this place got a new owner in August 2014. I wish Unilocal would get rid of all the reviews before that — they would have 5 stars! The menu was upgraded and the prices are greatly reduced. This is by far the best place in Wilmette to go for dinner. Highly recommend the lollipop lamb chops as appetizer, the rib eye or the smoked pork chop as entrées. And everything else. Burgers are 12 dollars and the BEST in town. They actually can cook them medium. I am getting hungry thinking about the food there. Need to go there right now. You should too!

This place is definitely just okay. We went here because we had a groupon, but boyfriend accidentally bought the one ‘for 4′ and we were a party of 2. Unfortunately, (but I guess understandably) our server said she couldn’t honor it, but we could use the face value we paid as credit to the meal (just like any expired groupon). So starting out on that foot when we got there wasn’t the best, but not a dealbreaker.
The atmosphere was kind of strange, and I sort of felt watched by the servers since it’s so small. The décor felt a little bit unprofessional, like they should have hired someone to do it but did it themselves instead. The say ‘Piano Bar’ on the window, but there isn’t a piano to be seen — they just play piano music. Our specific server was very nice and I don’t have any real complaints, it just felt like she memorized everything she said to us, and didn’t feel natural at all.
We order the massive 32 oz steak to share, medium cooked, and most of it was medium-​well to well. Normally I wouldn’t care too much, but for a steak house (and a $ 50 plate) I expect exactly what I ordered. We let the server know and she offered to replace it, but that just felt wasteful and over the top, so we kept it and it was still really good. But again, not exactly what we ordered.
We both walked out saying yeah it was okay/​good but we wouldn’t come back.

If I could give a negative star I would
From the moment we walked in I should have left. I called to ask if they could take a walk in for 3 and if the groupon could be used on Sat night. Said great, all ok!
Walked in and despite empty table, initially said not sure about seating us until I said they had by phone 5 min earlier they would let us be seated
This was our second the there. The first time shortly after opening the food was at best fair and overpriced. Thought we would try our local restaurant another try and order 3 different items
I have had better steak at Ponderossa. The skirt steak went back as it was all fat and gristle and they said they were being kind not to charge for it, essentially since they charged for the most expensive steak that was given as an alternative. The breaded fish had little taste and the chicken Vesuvio was not very flavorful. Mainly peas and potatoes. The chef initially blamed the steak on a rare quirky price of meat. I though never saw a skirt steak sliced like long flat pancakes which was likely part of the problem. Her later said to us when he came out that you can expect this when you order a cheap cot of meat.
They charged for each glass if ice tea which was mainly Ice. Offered pepper on the salads to only two of us (out of three) and just walked away.
At time if payment, they said they were gracious about not charging for the returned steak. They refused initially to take any of the Groupon including the cash value (as they agreed to). They also had me pay by signing on an IPOD with a card swipe cube with the waiter looking over my shoulder while considering the tip. I have never done this for a sit down restaurant.
Very expensive (similar to a very high end steak house) even with $ 30 off for the groupon. Save your money. No need to pay someone so you can be talked down to by all if the staff. Also no paper towels in bathroom.

We only went here due to the Groupon we were given. First of all the décor needs some major work; the paint around the large mirror behind our table was not even finished, and the paintings on the walls were absolutely atrocious. I’m sure the owners wife is responsible for the shoddy artwork on the walls. The overall look of the place was dated and awkward.
The food was way overpriced for the quality and presentation. The «chef rob» salad was over dressed and very wilty while lacking flavor. Both of our rib-​eyes were ordered to be medium rare, but were close to well done-​at that price they should be spot on and again, have flavor. Dinner came with 6 green beans and a small spoon of mashed potatoes which were nothing special either.
Then an 8 yr old child decided to play «piano man» on the piano and sing in his high pitch voice, followed by a 3 year old banging on the piano while sitting on his father’s lap-​WTF?! Clearly other tables were irritated by this yet the owners watched and cheered them on. Major mistake.
Finally, my chocolate lava cake was like a cake from an Easy Bake oven with Hershey’s chocolate sauce poured over the top-​gross. Best thing about this meal was the free bottle of wine. I give this place 6 months unless they have Chef Ramsey come through and fix it.

I bought a Groupon, called them up for reservations the next day, and had a wonderful experience!
AMBIANCE:
You walk in, and immediately you’re transported to a swanky piano bar from a bygone era. Like most restaurants in downtown Wilmette, it’s a converted house, so it’s very intimate, with a white baby grand piano, dim lighting, and candles on the tables. There aren’t many tables, so it feels almost as if you are one if the few who had the password to get into this joint.
The live singing with piano accompaniment was unexpected and impressive. I loved it. As someone who missed out on Frank Sinatra days, this was as close as I’m gonna get! The décor is cheesy, but compared to the piano (and red walls), you barely notice them.
They literally had reserved our table with a little sign, which I thought was nice touch – made me feel very VIP. The hostess also offered to take our jackets, which really made us feel like celebrities!
FOOD:
GET THE PORKCHOPS. It’s their specialty, and it’s a little mindblowing. They’re smoked, and glazed, so they taste more like ham, and they are so tender and delicious. It’s HUGE, a double cut, and it comes with the fresh veggies of the day (in this case beans), caramelized plantains, and the starch of the day (puff pastry wrapped mashed potatoes).
We also got the special of the day, braised shortribs. a HUGE portion that was fall off the bone tender, that was seasoned simply with salt and pepper so you could really taste it. It was served with fresh asparagus and the starch of the day. It was delicious. In comparison to the porkchops, it didn’t have a lot of pizzazz, but the flavors were humble, simple, and solid, and it was cooked perfectly.
The veggies are super fresh, and the starch was delicious!
SERVICE:
The only reason I took a star away. Service was very slow, and we essentially were waving down waiters all night long for every step of the process. We weren’t in a rush, we were leisurely enjoying a good meal, but our waiter never really came to check in on us. Or should I say, we had a about 4 waiters that switched off between taking our orders, seating us, filling our waters, bringing our bread, giving us our check, etc. And therefore there wasn’t really one waiter who catered to our table (the one who took our orders went into the back and disappeared for half the meal). So I was pretty much waving down whoever I could. They were very nice, very professional and polite, just unavailable.
I would definitely come back here though, with a groupon for sure ($ 60 groupon paid for two courses and a side of spinach), and without a groupon for a special occasion!

Easy street parking in downtown Wilmette. The place has classy décor with a baby grand piano with a wrap around table for drinks and romance. We both had rib eye steaks, carrots with mashed potatoes. The steaks were fine, however, a little bland for our taste palate. Perhaps we’re addicted to salt? The service was great and the chef also came out to visit. They were also nice enough to let me claim my Unilocal dessert offer ahead of schedule.

The only reason I opted to give this restaurant a 2^nd star is for the service — the staff is very pleasant. Other than that, this restaurant really has not grasped the concept of fine food, which is what they are trying to go for. Moreover, the value you receive for what they charge is quite poor. Here are the details of our visit:
We were pleasantly greeted and seated at our table. The house bread they brought out — a farmers loaf or some variation of sourdough — was incredible dry… to a degree of inedible. We waited at least 10 minutes before our server first came by our table. Through the night, we did realize that they may be a tad bit understaffed.
My wife and I both ordered the crusted filet mignon entrée for $ 32 each, which was served with mashed potatoes and green beans. The presentation was what one would expect out of a hospital cafeteria: a white plate with 2 filet medallions to one side and a rather small dollop of mash potatoes. The potatoes and beans were average to taste, so I will stay away from critiquing them.
The steaks however, were coated with an awfully salty rub, which truly made it impossible to taste the meat (which is a shame because the quality of the meat was rather decent). Moreover, the blue cheese crust was not a crust at all, but in fact a melted dollop of blue cheese on the meat.
My wife was 8 months pregnant, and we specifically requested a well done steak for her (repeating the request twice and citing her pregnancy). Sure enough, her medallions came out medium rare, like mine. We had to send them back to the kitchen, also requesting that her parmesan crust be taken off, and rub be scraped off (otherwise it would be too salty to eat). Alas, even after they scraped off some of the rub, removed her Parmesan crust, and cooked it more, her steaks still came back cooked medium and too salty.
She ended up leaving the center of the steaks uneaten, due to the unsafe doneness for her condition. The restaurant did not offer to take her entrée off the check, but instead offered a free dessert of their own choosing.
We requested that we be allowed to order a different dessert (of our choosing) off the menu, and they agreed. The flourless chocolate cake we ordered was in fact excellent — really enjoyable. Unfortunately, they had drizzled a waxy, artificial fruit tasting raspberry sauce over it which took away some of the cake’s success.
Overall, our 2 steaks cost is $ 85 with tax and tip, which to me is a rather poor value, since we did not have drinks, appetizers, or salads. Also, this did not include the cost of dessert, which was not charged for.
As for the décor of the place, it was a failed attempt at being tacky in a chic way. The silverware is certainly not fitting of a high end restaurant, and the tapestry is out of an old English grandmother’s «drawing room». However, they did have a small piano bar with love music, that was enjoyable.