Latest Reviews
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It's rare that you have to wait to get seated at an airport in my experience. That is always a good indicator that the food is worth the wait and Harr…
Prat Usha
Topolobampo
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I had the best dinner ever at this fine dining establishment. The staff is wonderful and the food is just magnificent. Just can't say enough good thin…
Greg M
Topolobampo
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We have gone to Topolobambo vatious times before when we have been in Chicago. We love the entire experience. The food is incredible. The combination …
Sahil Khanna
Topolobampo
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Topolobampo is open for Fine Dining. Topolobampo serves New Mexican dishes. Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!Details
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7 Reviews on “Topolobampo”
It’s rare that you have to wait to get seated at an airport in my experience. That is always a good indicator that the food is worth the wait and Harry Caray’s is no exception. After telling us he wait was 25 minutes, we were promptly seated in under 5 minutes. I guess the names ahead of us had to catch a flight. Lucky for us. Our party all ordered burgers and they were freshly prepared hand-crafted tall grass fed angus beef. Sides included fresh French fries, chips, or broccoli. Fries were good. Tea was also fresh-brewed and good for washing down a tasty meal. Service could have been better but overall experience was pleasant. I would go back.
I had the best dinner ever at this fine dining establishment. The staff is wonderful and the food is just magnificent. Just can’t say enough good things about it.
We have gone to Topolobambo vatious times before when we have been in Chicago. We love the entire experience. The food is incredible. The combination of flavors are a gift to the senses. The staff is wonderful. We had Thomas and Alejandra and they made the experience even better. silverspoonlog.wordpress.com
When I went here we made a reservation months in advance for a special occasion dinner.The service at this restaurant is much more engaged and attentive than the other Bayless restaurants. Not to say that they don’t have good service at the others, it’s just more of a dining experience. Enjoyed the food, but in my opinion I could have gone next door to either of the other Bayless places and been just as satisfied with a less expensive bill. This is not to say that I did not like it, because I had pork that melted like an m&m in my mouth it was so good.I would recommend this to those that are willing to shell out for the whole experience vs just good food by Rick Bayless. northandred.com
First class welcoming service and a foodie adventure. The restaurant was open for Monday night only because it is the restaurant show. We were welcome by Javier and his team and the dinner went spectacularly from that point. We saw Rick dash through the kitchen which was a treat to see the chef. Started with some of their custom margaritas which were delicious. We chose the three course selection and a desert of Maize Cake, Banana Leaf Ice Cream and Coconut Pudding. The chef sent an elegant and complex amuse buche and ended with a tasty treaty of blackberry and cactus gels and a salt mezcal truffle. The service was friendly, professional and well informed about the complex dishes. Highly recommend!
Destination dining at its finest; underwhelming food, overwhelming prices.. Topolobampo may be the classier sister of the cheaper Frontera, but shell still leave you reaching for your wallet first thing in the morning. That said, Topolo is a challenge to review. Just know youre paying for the experience. Call it destination dining premium prices for revised ancient Mexican recipes, all served in a modified prix fixe format with amazing wine pairings. You will experience the essence of eating, because you will be hungry when you leave. While the micro- portions are all beautifully presented, mostly flavorful and unique to Mexico and Bayless interpretation, the experience will cause you to question your sanity when you pull the credit card receipt from your wallet the next day.Did I mention it was expensive? And thats made even more so when you realize you have to play by Ricks rules Topolo doesnt offer individual entres, just three-, five- and seven courses sampling from their monthly Mexican menus. The three courses selection is $55 with a $35 wine paring. Five courses are $90 with a $60 wine pairing, and the collision course selection of seven items is $120 with an $80 wine pairing. We opted for the five courses offering, with wine pairings (five perfectly paired wines and a dessert wine) and a couple of cocktails before dinner the bill was $385, before the well-deserved 20%+ tip to our waitress.We arrived for our 7:45 dinner seating at the door shared by sister restaurant, Frontera. My wife and I both commented how glad we were not eating at Frontera; the folks were jammed in, asses-to-elbows, struggling to get an arm up to sample their plates of food. It was also amazingly loud as we stood there waiting to be called, hovering over the seated guests trying to enjoy their meals. After a very brief wait, we were escorted through a paper-like Chinese door into Topolo, an intimate 70-seater that was bathed in low light and dark tones with beautiful Mexican-themed artwork displayed on the walls shes the slinky sister to Frontera, so says their website.Like Chicago itself, Topolo is an experience and since scoring a table is a major coup in this North Clark Street landmark, most foodies prepare for The Meal by reading reviews, researching the food, and wringing their hands over the ever-changing menu, even before stepping in the door. True foodies follow Baylesss monthly menus like lunar tide charts, perusing his imaginative descriptions of favored Mexican fare as ancient, fresh, soulful and enchanting offerings.Celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary, we dined on Chef Bayless most recent tasting menu, simply titled Mexico City 1641. And while the mid-1600s were bleak, rough and tumble times in Mexico, the food was, according to our waitress, flavorful and hearty. It obviously wasnt abundant…Our waitress, Brie, knew the two page menu front and back, and offered some true insights into the listings, actually describing how the proteins and vegetables were going to be prepared, since the menu left us guessing on most of the courses. The wife and I opted for the most popular five-courses approach, priced at $90 each, with the $60 wine pairing. Before dinner, we started with a champagne and tequila margarita featuring Herradura tequila, orange liquor, fresh lime juice and Brut champagne, $14, and the house Topolo Margarita ($11), featuring the exact same ingredients, sans the Brut. The alcohol pours were a bit miserly on the six and eight-ounce drinks, and dont expect a full bar at Topolo house vodka and bourbon only, but every brand of tequila under the sun.After selecting our four entrees and dessert, Chef Padilla sent out a tasting plate of something that resembled a curled squash stalk with some diced prosciutto. I openly admit I missed the waitress description as owner/chef Rick Bayless walked right by our table to speak with his daughter, Lanie, and wife Deanne, seated just behind us yes, it was the Topolobampo Trifecta of television celebrities! Bayless, decked out in chef whites, didnt stop at any other tables, but simply popped out the fire exit nearest our table, never to be seen again.Our first course out of the kitchen was the Yellowtail Cerviche and Portuguese Rock Hen, featuring an intense puree of green peas, a sprinkling of whole fresh peas and warm tomato salsa over three, quarter-sized disks of rolled white and dark meat hen. The fresh-tasting ceviche floated in a heavy puddle of lime juice, tiny slivers of red onion and chopped cilantro, all served in a simple, unadorned bowl most restaurants reserve for coleslaw or condiments. And while super flavorful and tender, spearing the fish bits directly from the shallow bowl was a bit cumbersome – maybe some small corn chips to top with the fish? Next up was the Street Food 1671 with pork chicharron braised in a deep, dark sauce of chilies, mescal and garlic, served with candy-like grilled carrot spears and black bean puree. Offered up with freshly made tortillas, the plates combination bundled nicely into a savory and smoky handheld pouch with an amazing range of textures. The wifes course was titled Winter Walleye and the matchbox-sized portion arrived atop a small mound of white beans braised in guajillo chile the entire dish was far too salty, especially the fish itself. The highlight of the offering was a tiny sampling of white corn fritter hidden in the bottom of the trough-like bowl light, semi-crunchy, with a super-intense flavor mimicking corn on the cob.Our three and one half hour meal moved at a perfect pace, with courses arriving promptly after our waitress and/or the sommelier delivered each courses wine pairings. And the wines truly stole the show all evening – wine director Jill Gubesch, who visited our table several times during the outing, has matched Baylesss eclectic menu with a perfectly-paralleled selection of whites and reds that morph and change, bite for bite, during the meal. She even offered a couple of alternative tastings when she noted our courses had split certain flavor profiles. Attentive, receptive, charming and extremely knowledgeable Jill was a treat.Winding down, the next course showcased a thin, six-inch long, stuffed pasilla chile with hedgehog mushrooms and a sauce blended of apples, plantains, prunes, black garlic and black olive. My plate featured a Post Note-sized piece of artic char, a fish that resembles catfish in flavor, but has the density of salmon. The flaky meat was topped with a paper-thin sliver of ultra-crispy skin and floated over a dark, deeply flavored ancho-porcini broth and a spoonful of potatoes and an overcooked clam. Again, more tortillas.Finally, my Carne Asada in Mole Negro was the dinners highlight, consisting of two (sigh!) half dollar-sized slices of 28-day dry-aged prime ribeye, served over a rich Oaxcan black mole sauce with smoked green beans. The meat was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth tender, leaving you longing for more. The additional bottle cap-sized portion of foie gras wasnt worth the $10 upcharge. But, thats OK. There were more tortillas arriving tableside as I finished my plate. Our dessert course consisted of a marble-sized ricotta-filled fritter with creamy carrot ice, beet cream and cocoa-dusted walnuts. The wifes bread pudding Queso & Fruitas- was a brick-dense brioche bread slice, infused with queso anejo cheese and topped with perfectly-poached apricots, a dollop of persimmon puree and hazelnut crumbles. Add to that a tepid cup of coffee and a Pernod-like liquorice and anise-flavored digestif, and we called it an evening.All told, on the cab ride home, I actually wanted to suggest we stop and pick up a pizza. But after dropping more than $400 for that special night out, who wants to openingly admit their still-lingering hunger?
UNPROFESSIONAL STAFF. 2 couples recently dined and spent over $600. Food was average. Wine/alcohol was pushed on us throughout our entire dining experience. We were asked 3 times if we wanted more alcohol after finishing our last bottle of wine. The whole dinner took approximately 4 hours to complete a 5 course meal. After asking for the meal to be sped up, manager came and argued with our table about how long we had been there. I had to step out of the restaurant to talk to the unaccommodating manager and I finally just walked away from him. They appear to have some real issues with getting food out of the kitchen and with customer service.