Latest Reviews
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If your visiting Chicago like I did make sure you go here for a authentic Italian Beef Sandwich. Also, tried a Tuna Steak Sandwich. Great choice as we…
Prayanshu Gill
Chilam Balam
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I was there a week ago and It's a very authentic Mexican restaurant I enjoyed a lot. It's BYOB which is another good part. Food is really good. Servic…
Sandeep Kumar
Chilam Balam
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I had a really exceptional meal at Chilam Balam; the small plate fare was all excellently seasoned, spiced and balanced. The dishes arrived quickly, a…
Sam Grayck
Chilam Balam
About
Chilam Balam is open for Casual Dining. Chilam Balam serves Mexican and Tapas dishes. Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!Details
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9 Reviews on “Chilam Balam”
I had a really exceptional meal at Chilam Balam; the small plate fare was all excellently seasoned, spiced and balanced. The dishes arrived quickly, and in the order that I had specified. The food was fresh and exciting–the combinations of flavors was interesting and intriguing, and provided me with a unique experience. Service was attentive, friendly and patient, despite how crowded the restaurant was. In addition, the prices are surprisingly reasonable. The atmosphere is refreshingly simple; I will go back many time.
Excellent dining experience. My wife, brother and his fiance all went to Chilam Balam this past weekend and really enjoyed the food and friendly service. We brought our own wine and the staff provided the glasses. Our waitress recommended letting her bring out dish after dish until we had our fill. I recommend doing this for sure. We let her know that one of us is a vegetarian and she did a wonderful job keeping us all happy.
Love it!!. The menu is very fun! Not your typicle burrito and fajita kind of place. Everything I ordered was fantastic! I absolutely loved the cauliflower tapas.All the service we recieved was very friendly. We asked for a drink menu and our waitor informed us that they don’t serve alcohol, but it is a BYOB establishment. He told of a place down the street where they sell spirits, so we ordered our food then walked to buy a bottle of wine for our dinner.It was such a good experience. Don’t miss it.
Waited over an hour on Saturday, that’s expected. Food was good, service was good until they decided an hour was enough time to eat dinner and proceeded to do everything they could to make us leave. Told us not to pour any more wine cause they needed our table. Informed them we were still waiting for dessert and poured anyways. Took our napkins as we were still eating dessert. Tried to take the dessert while we were still eating it. Tried to take my drink without asking when I wasn’t done. Got told twice they needed our table and to hurry up. This was the worst service I have ever experienced. Keep in mind as soon as they brought our bill, when the dessert arrived, we paid and left a 20% tip so it’s not like they were paying us back for a crappy tip. I would never ever return.
First of all this isn’t typical (Mexican Food) not even close to say the least. Certainly different and a new fusion of mixing ingredients to just come with dishes. I respect the Owners and Staff very nice people. However being from Los Angeles California I grew up with Mexican Food all my life, we eat and cook it everyday. Coming here was different and not the traditional Mexican Food that’s custom to what you would normally eat. If any of you Chicago Dine Patrons are in Los Angeles. This is real Mexican Food done right, made right and prepared right exactly like in Mexico. When Mexican Food is prepared it should be done without fusions twist and change with food group that don’t belong to it. This restaurant can’t prepare the Mexican how one should really eat it. I’ve seen Floutas realistically a 2 Step process done in a 12 Step process. The use more ingredients and switches that are un heard of just prepare a Small Plate. Why? Its like going into Portillos and talking a Hot Dog doing the same thing sort of like saying you’ll use the way to make Spaghetti to make Hot Dogs doesn’t make sense. So why mess up something that’s already done right, most Mexican Restaurants are served on Big Hearty Plates not little tiny plates with food that doesn’t even look like it came from this country to say the least.
Best mexican ever. Chilam Balam isn’t the typical taco, burrito, fajita, whatever place. We had a smoked rabbit stew that replaced the previous best rabbit dish. The rabbit was perfectly cooked and well-seasoned. It came in a thick smoky sauce with potatoes and who-knows-what else. It was served with handmade corn tortillas to be eaten taco style. It along with a hibiscus flan topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and cherries and a side of lime sorbet were the highlights of the meal. Homemade tostadas and empanadas were very good as well. The evenings one miss came in the form of a flank steak with an ancho chile sauce that seemed out of place compared with everything else we had. The steak needed salt and was improperly cut which translated into being tough. But otherwise it was a great meal. Anytime I can say this is my new favorite __(fill in the blank)__ dish I am a happy customer. The atmosphere was lively and no one minded that Madi had no desire whatsoever to go to sleep so we spent 3/4 of the evening playing pass the baby before she passed out. Overall easily an 8/10!27 Apr, 2011Upscale Mexican dishes with friendly service. This is a BYOB place but skip the sangria and just bring a bottle to drink. This isn’t a Tex-Mex place but instead has complex flavors and a creative menu. My favorite dish was the rabbit which is one of the best rabbit dishes that I have ever eaten. I can’t wait to go back.
Exquisite Small Dishes. My neighbors and I came here on a Monday evening and, yes, it was filled to capacity by the time we left. Fortunately we arrived early, just before 7 pm and we were seated immediately without reservations. We shared five small plates (they recommended two each but we were satisfied after the five). My favorites were both mushroom dishes, the gorditas and the empanadas. One of my neighbors is a vegetarian and the menu provides plenty of vegetarian choices. We also shared the blue marlin ceviche, crispy flautas and chunky gaucamole (spicy). All of the dishes were exquisite with delightful, usually on the spicy side, flavor. Strangely, they were out of iced tea and I am not a sangria fan so water was the drink for the evening.The ambience is a bit rustic and the space is small and noisy but the food more than makes up for these minor annoyances.