gather - Chicago

I ate here for my birthday and it was one of the best meals in Chicago I've had all year. We had the brussel sprouts, steak tartare (both pictured below), and uovo en raviolo, and it'd be hard for me not to order them all again when I go back. The entire staff was really welcoming and our waitress was so kind and knowledgable. I appreciated that she gave us a realistic estimate of how much food we'd need and didn't try to oversell. Also great modern ambiance.

Our party of 5 shared 6 apps and 3 entrees and it was the perfect amount of food. Everything there was amazing but our top favorites were the ricotta, pork belly, cauliflower, raviolo and half chicken. We sat on the patio and it’s the perfect vibes!!Parking: Easy and cheap parking lot next door!

The selections of taste in this scratch kitchen will surprise you. Our server Joey made the experience enjoyable.Wheelchair accessibility: None

I continue to love Gather after all these years. It’s a rare gem: lovely and detailed service, a beautiful space, delicious food items, and all at a fairly reasonable price all things considered. It truly hits above its weight. Great for any occasion, whether special or a typical night out. That’s part of what makes it special and so lovely.Both the whipped ricotta dish and the crispy cauliflower are must-order items! The whipped ricotta is creamy and lightly sweet with the honey and balsamic mixed in. Spread over the toasted baguette you get creamy and crunchy. Heaven.The crispy cauliflower is another signature dish. I don’t think I can even describe what makes it so amazing. The flavors are just splendid and varied. A little sweetness, tartness, savory, asian-flavors.You can’t go wrong with any menu items. I can also vouch for the crispy brussels sprouts, uovo raviolo, and spaghetti.

My partner and I shared the whipped ricotta, uovo en raviolo, pan roasted halibut, and grilled pork chop. We ended up only eating a bite of the raviolo but still both left full. Whipped Ricotta: absolutely delicious start for our dinner. Creamy homemade ricotta, clover honey with a hint of orange, and balsamic were layered in a cute mason jar. The spread came with thin freshly toasted bread slices that had just the right amount of crisp. Uovo En Raviolo: very rich dish. Unfortunately, the pasta was overcooked, resulting in an extremely unpleasant texture. Pan Roasted Halibut: the halibut itself was dry. The flavor combination of this dish was great though. A little bit of everything makes a perfect bite here. The fish paired beautifully with the creamy leek and miso soubise, refreshingly tart pearl onion agrodolce, and crispy sunchoke chips. Grilled Pork Chop: similarly, the only downside to this dish was the toughness/dryness of the majority of the meat pieces. Apart from that, the flavors were very well balanced: the bright flavors of the citrusy, herby salmoriglio; the crunch of the pistachio; and the smokiness of the cauliflower and harrisa.Service was great and paced our courses pretty well. Be warned that you will be charged for the extra bread. We were asked if we wanted more bread to finish up the ricotta and thought it was complimentary. We definitely could have asked for clarifications but free complimentary bread is a pretty common standard for these establishments and the staff should have been upfront about the extra charge. Even though it was an insignificant charge, it still felt dishonest to us and made the visit less enjoyable.