Butter   

We came into town to have dinner with friends and were really looking forward to trying Butter especially after the write up in Travel & Leisure magazine. I was concerned after reading about the inattentive service on other sites but we pleasantly surprised. The wait staff was excellent. The food was delicious and the presentation was stylish. Don't miss the risotto! It was everything I expected and more. Unfortunately a group of four women were seated directly next to us although the restaurant was far from full. Part way through our meal the sous chef brought his small child out and joined the ladies' party. I don't feel the prices or the ambience warrented that it was acceptable that I should be seated next to an three year old. He wasn't still or quiet for long before being passed from parent-to-parent and sitting on his father's lap. The sosphisticated atmosphere certainly wouldn't lend itself to being a family restaurant. We would have stayed to have dessert or after dinner drinks but we passed and went to Nine instead.

It goes without saying that the food is excellent, innovative and creative at Butter.The things that make it unique are the special attentive service, the focus on the ladies, the Chef's amuse, the tiny snacks while ordering, the server's Business card...and the nice little touch of free coffee. We also liked the tiny $4.50 unique desserts and our server encouraged us to order 3 of them for 2 couples and she was right because they are small. We actually could have ordered 4 and the choices were all so interesting and delish. We were with another couple that are real "foodies" and they loved it also. We hope to get back there very soon. Be sure to try the Chicken and Waffles if you can.

This has the potential to be a far better restaurant than my 1* rating might otherwise indicate. However, I couldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone on the basis of what is sure to be my one and only visit. Bottom line - the food is great (although the portions are surprisingly small), but the service is a disaster. The kind of disaster that keeps you from ever wanting to return. In fact, I can safely say that the service is as bad as any I have encountered at a fine dining restaurant in Chicago. In increasing order of significance, my party experienced all of the following: 1) a waitress with an attitude who caused each of the three female guests to feel uncomfortable about ordering lightly; 2) poor wine service that culminated with the waitress pouring the sediment at the bottom of an 11 year old bottle of cabernet into the glasses; 3) dessert plates removed before the diners were finished with dessert and without any attempt to offer the supposedly complimentary coffee; 4) gratuity was added to the check without any notification to a table of three couples (so that when each of the three couples threw in a credit card, none knew that they would be adding a 20% tip on top of an included tip) and 5) the maitre d' came to the table and requested coat checks and valet tickets before the diners had completed their meals in an obnoxious effort to chase us out of the restaurant. There are far too many great restaurants in this city to patronize one that can exhibit such a cavalier attitude toward its guests. Its worth noting that before I posted this review I sent the restaurant a detailed letter, outlining my concerns. Not surprisingly, I got no reply.

Yesterday I took several clients to Butter and we had one of the most memorable dining experiences I've ever had! The decor, the smell and the amenities are wonderful, innovative and unique. The menu is unusual to say the least but, try something different and you will not be disappointed. Even more impressive than the unique menu and decor is the OUTSTANDING service. We were attended to by the hostess, the bus staff and Eric, our waiter, who presented us with his card at the beginning of the meal so that we would not forget his name. Of course, we didn't really need it because he hovered over us, making sure everything was to our liking and when one of my guests found out that there was pork in the sauce of her vegatables, he replaced it faster you can get a latte at Starbucks. Butter isn't 1000 times better than other places, but it is 10 percent better in a thousand different ways. I can't wait to go back and I have been telling everybody about it. It was 5 star all the way!