Like other reviewers, I find this restaurant hard to assess. The room is lovely, warm and casual. The noise level was low and calm. The service was certainly not "fantastic," as some have said, but it was quite professional by post-pandemic standards. It is not, for example, anything like the old Tru (ah!) but is better than most places in Chicago. All service persons were well informed about the food and could explain my questions about even minor details of the multi-level food. Door staff was excellent. The food itself is complex and generally executed at a high level. Plates are very small, however, and at times are simply frustrating by their limited size. The lovely lobster, for example, consisted of about a postage stamp (literally) of thin lobster, accompanied by about two teaspoons of lobster mousse. The best comparison of the concept here in my experience is Per Se in New York, though Smyth does not offer the sophistication, course size, or panache that Per Se provides. That said, the experience is frustrating. For one, it is very expensive. We broke the $1000 barrier with the mandatory tasting menu for two people and one bottle of wine. Second, Smyth purports to celebrate the food of rural Virginia, but I seriously doubt that anyone unaware of this claim would draw any link between what was presented and Virginia. Third, as many have rightly complained, the bill includes a mandatory $160 "service fee" that is NOT the tip and does not go to the staff. If you add a 20% tip, as usual, you have really paid through the teeth for the privilege of eating here. For me, that is a reason not to return again. Most seriously, there is no menu. So if you are in any way interested in wine, you don't know what to order because you don't know what you're going to eat. The owners must assume that their guests have no serious interest in wine, as ordering a bottle without even knowing the menu is about as amateurish as it gets. Getting the over-priced pairing options is no better, because there's no menu for what that includes either. Combined with the $160 fee, I find this amazingly arrogant. We were told that we would receive an email with the menu later. Seriously? I just paid over $1000 plus tip and have to print out an email? I'll pass.
The food was delicious. Wish I could say the same about the service. They seemed to be understaffed and long periods of time would pass before we could get our waiter’s attention. It may be that the kitchen was slammed because there were significant delays between courses. Also, the restaurant was really, really loud. Not the experience that I was hoping for. Will probably try the sister restaurant, Smythe, next time.
Our tasting menu, 12 course meal at Smyth was the best meal of my life. I loved the open kitchen. It was fine dining, with 2 Michelin stars, but it was cozy, not stuffy, and not pretentious. Our server, Bree, was fantastic. We enjoyed seeing the care and passion that all the staff put into their efforts. We loved the team approach, interacting with several team members, but still being able to develop a rapport with each one. I loved the mystery of not knowing what was coming next. The Sommelier was very knowledgeable and still approachable. He made excellent choices for our tastes. The presentation was lovely, featuring natural elements like wooden utensils, etc. Because of delayed flights, we rushed directly to the restaurant and had no time to stop to first check in to our hotel. The restaurant staff magnanimously accommodated us, made us feel welcome, and stored our luggage while we ate! We enjoyed the kitchen staff's chants: "2 white asparagus on deck." A delightful experience and very memorable.
We enjoyed our dinner at Smyth. The place is beautiful and the staff is amiable.The tasting menu was 9 courses and foie gras was in 4 out of those. That was disappointing. I think there are a lot more great ingredients a chef could use to create a fine dining tasting menu.
Hip atmosphere with an open kitchen that added to the circuses. The creative and sublime food was further punctuated by the outstanding service by joyful primary server Brie and the encyclopedic brain of charming sommelier Thomas. The staff clearly loves what they do and that translates in everything they do for the customer.
Delicious food with impeccable service for a special occasion
The food was good, but a little too seafood heavy for my taste. The only savory meat we had was a 1-2 oz slice of squall. It was also quite distracting that the kitchen staff were “chanting” every time a new dish was being prepared and took away from the experience. We were most disappointed in the fact that when booking they tell you there is a 20% surcharge included on the bill. Logic tells you this it is the tip, which is very acceptable. As it turns out, that is not too at all and you are expected to tip on top of the surcharge applied. The wait staff made sure we knew that gratuity was not a part of that at all. I have been lucky enough to eat at several top restaurants in Chicago and elsewhere. If you want a top end experience, Oriole is the place to go. It was a far better experience and menu, for substantially less. I would not recommend this experience at all.
Best tasting menu! I like how they integrated fresh local ingredients with complicated dimensions of flavors. Dining at Smyth was an aesthetic experience - I just wished they were booked out slower!
Smyth is one of those rare restaurants that make you question what fine dining should be and to what bounds experimentation can be taken to. My favorite dish of the night was the foie gras. The liver’s distinctive fattiness was juxtaposed by the crunchiness of unagi and the briny acidity of a seaweed dressing. In those moments, each innovative take felt like a step towards enlightenment. Other bites roused me from that reverie, with plates that pursued novelty at the expense of taste. A puddle of walnut milk and almond butter was all that stood between my tongue and a salt bath of hot and cold caviar. The saffron honey pot arrived in an acrid, puckering vinaigrette. Its only redeeming quality was keeping the beeswax on top one analogy away from a candle. The milk chocolate ganache tasted like a clove of garlic dipped in chocolate which, I assure you, is just as appetizing as it sounds. At the end of the night, I was less sure than ever before about the limits of food and fine dining. But there was, at least, one question I had become more certain of. Was the near $400 price tag worth it, with so many misses? Probably not. Would I be willing to give them a try again if the opportunity arises? Potentially. Innovative bites might make it worth.
This is a hard review to write, because I honestly think this restaurant should be boycotted because of the way they treat their employees. Was the food outstanding? Yes. Was the service fantastic? Yes. Was the space elegant and comfortable? Yes. Was it worth the money? Absolutely not. All of the small dishes were fantastic and incredibly creative. They may not be to everyone’s liking (meat and dessert was a little challenging), but it requires culinary genius and imagination that deserves respect. The service was amazing (Brittany, Thomas, and Cassie made our night)! Now, to the hard part. Each meal was $265.00. OK. The wine pairing (the “low” level) was $145.00 per person. That’s more than a little pricey for maybe seven quarter pours of good, but not great, wines. But, here’s the KICKER . . . then they tack on a 20% charge that DOES NOT GO TO THE SERVERS!!!! So, unless you are a jerk, you have to tip on top of that. This waitstaff was fabulous, but they had to explain, apologetically, that the management gets that 20% and they get NOTHING unless you tip as well. I did, but I think it is OUTRAGEOUS. I would seriously consider telling folks to boycott this restaurant until they change that policy. When people see a 20% service charge, they assume it goes to waitstaff. As a result, these folks don’t get tips unless they beg. That’s crap. Overall, it is worth the experience. However, if you go, complain to management about there treatment of their employees.