Le Colonial Chicago

Reviews 4

ZO

Zorin Dobson

Initially, upon dining at Le Colonial, I thought that it was a French Vietnamese fusion restaurant. This prompted me to do a little research since I had seen this them at another restaurant. Soon I learned that Vietnam was a colony of France from 1887 to 1954. That length of time in control of the country would explain the french influence on the Vietnamese dishes. Walking into Le Colonial, you would initially feel like you are transported into a French Bistro in the early 1900s. The romantic atmosphere is heightened by dim lighting and mellow jazz. It is a quaint white tablecloth sort of place that is well decorated from the ornate red ceiling with very elaborate dark brown molding bordering it. The vintage theme is further achieved via black and white photos dotted throughout the establishment. The place does gain a bit of stuffiness by virtue of the fact that the servers are all wearing jackets. I have an affinity for lychees. They are one of my favorite fruits. Naturally when I saw a Lychee Sangria offered on the menu I had to order it. The drink was very tasty. It was made with a moscato but some how didnt come off as too sweet. and the cinnamon was a nice touch. The downside of the drink is it had waaaaay too much ice. I felt like I was in a drive through or something honestly. I wasnt offered another drink which saved me some money in then in probably because it looked as though my drink was still near full because of the overwhelming amount of ice. The spring rolls were perfectly fried. Frying can be difficult to pull off but these spring rolls were crispy on the outside and not greasy. They were very light and refreshing as well. It was served with lettuce, to wrap the spring rolls in with your choice of accompaniments. The light slightly pickled cucumber and mint cilantro in the wraps, mean you could have total control over the intensity of those vegetal and herbaceous tastes. The best part of my visit here was listening to the guy two tables over describe his encounter with the ghost that is haunting his apartment. Apparently its some lady that was killed in the early 1900s. I dont believe in ghosts, but this guy sounded really convinced. Eating alone you rarely get the entertainment of an interesting conversation going on two tables over. The pho was quite divine. I ordered it in addition because Im a huge fan of pho. What I wasnt expecting was the huge portions of beef that was included with it. It has to be the best value on the menu there. The beef was very tender but a little cumbersome to eat with the large chunks it was left in. Still overall as a dish it is pretty satisfying. I went with the seafood stir fry for my main it it was a dish that delivers nearly everything from the ocean. Fresh tender sweet scallops, calamari and shrimp. It was combined with broccoli, onions, mushrooms snow peas and green beans.What made this dish unique that it was served over pan fried egg noodles. This made for an interesting difference in texture as the noodles around the edge of the plate which were not under the rest of the stir fry kept a really crisp texture while the noodles under the stir fry had absorbed some of the very garlic and oyster sauce to get this nice chewy texture.

ME

Megan Town

Le Colonial is a great place to go for any occassion, whether its a romantic date, a birthday celebration, or a work dinner, it fits the bill in terms of atmosphere, service, and food. The atmosphere here is great, as the lights are always dimmed to low, creating a very classy and romantic vibe. The restaurant always fills up after 7pm, whether its a weekend or a weeknight, so Id recommend getting a reservation and erring on the side of caution. Even though the restaurant always seems to fill up, the noise level never gets out of control, which is fantastic. Their waitstaff is also very attentive, and theyre very helpful with recommendations for those not familiar with French of Vietnamese food. One of my favorite appetizers that Ive had in the past are the lettuce wraps with deep-fried pork and shrimp with a spicy chili sauce. This was the most memorable due to the flavor profiles of the pork with the spicy kick of the sauce. My go to entree here is the Bitet Tom Nuong which is grilled filet mignon and sautéed shrimp served with tomato rice pilaf and mesclun greens. The dish consists of thin filet mignon that is cut in two, and it was cooked to a medium-well (they dont ask you what temperature youd like). It had a delicious glaze on it that was chili-sweet and went well with the sides and the accompanying shrip. As for the shrimp, they were slightly spiced and incredibly succulent, and a bite of the shrimp alongside the beef is incredible, and just writing about it has my mouth watering! Ive sadly never had enough room to venture to the dessert menu, but they have a delicious looking offering that Im sure wouldnt disappoint. Le Colonial is definitely a unique restaurant with its Asian-French fusion, and I always recommend it to those who are in the Gold Coast area.

MA

Madeline Pagel

Le Colonial is a beautifully decorated, intimate, and upscale restaurant located near Chicagos Michigan Avenue shops. We stopped in here for lunch to take a break from shopping and I have mixed (though mostly positive) feelings on our meal. First, this restaurant does not serve French food, or at least not for lunch. We selected this place expecting French food and were surprised to discover every dish on the menu was Vietnamese. We were seated at a small table next to the kitchen doors, but it wasnt particularly disruptive and we WERE offered the option of waiting for a table near the window at the front. Just too hungry to wait! Our food was between either excellent or just good--the wrapped and fried shrimp appetizer and pho soup we had were fantastic, but I felt as though our main entrees (seafood and chicken based, respectively) were a bit lacking in flavor and had an overwhelming amount of "thick stems" of vegetables like broccoli, which werent particularly enjoyable to eat. Our waiter seemed somewhat robotic, and would briskly stop by to communicate with us minimally before moving on to other tables....that being said, our food came in a timely manner, and he was certainly efficient. I just have mixed feelings about this place overall, and while I wouldnt mind eating here again, I may try another restaurant in the same price range and area before returning.

CR

Crystal Carrasco

I went here thinking itd be French-Vietnamese fusion since Viet food is already very french inspired. But I was disappointed to pay $30-40 for a VERY boring and typical Vietnamese Dish. Everything on that menu you can get at a regular local Vietnamese restaurant for a quarter of the price. They did nothing different or innovative. If youre a Gold Coast restaurant, try to be a little creative. The proportions were dismal. The staff was nice I will say that but they also took way too long to check me out because they didnt know how to use an app that they agreed to partner with. Theyre honestly just tricking well to do people who do not know anything about the culture into paying way too much. TL;DR Absolutely no bang for your buck... like at all. Dont waste your time.