Chicago Restaurant for Birthday Celebration
 

Hi, I am visiting Chicago and need a restaurant recommendation for a special birthday celebration. I am staying near the Magnificent Mile but have access to a car. Looking for a place that has a nice atmosphere or /or view . We enjoy Italian, American , or Mediterranean. The birthday celebrant loves seafood; not really interested in a steak house.We are looking for a place with good service and not too loud. We will also be visiting Lakeview and Lincoln Park . Our budget is about $75 a person. Ideas? Thanks.

Gibson's for steak.

Fulton's on the River

Wonderful Seafood/Steak House with great views of the river and Chicago downtown.

http://www.fultonsontheriver.com/

If you're looking for a magnificent view of the city try the Signature Room at the 95th located atop the John Hancock Center.

http://www.signatureroom.com/

Spiaggia, at the north end of Michigan Avenue, would be very special.

David Burke's Primehouse at the James Hotel.

How about Prosecco or North Pond?
http://prosecco.us.com/
http://www.northpondrestaurant.com/

North Pond is good too. Poster specified no steakhouses.
The Obamas have gone to Spiaggia for their anniversary dinners which
is just a FYI.

LOL -- yes, why is everyone recommending steak? The view in the Signature Room is gorgeous but you can just have a cocktail as the food is quite mediocre.

North Pond is pretty and romantic, but not very close to downtown. Take a look at the menus at the Purple Pig or The Gage -- no special views but very good food on Michigan Ave.

We just took my aunt to Viaggio's at the Park on Fullerton on corner adjacent to Lincoln Park. It's italian---food delicious--but what set it apart---they have a opera singer every fri. and sat. night--she sang two songs at 8 pm and two at 9 pm--she was very talented---then what made it really special is that she came over and sang happy birthday to my aunt in her beautiful opera voice---you might have to ask for that---they also gave us one of the best pieces of tiramasu i've ever had (complimentary) for her b-day. There are so many good restaurants in chicago--and i've been to many of them----service A, Food A and the unique nature of this restaurant made it very special. (not too loud, either) North pond is very nice too--Signature room is great for special occasion because of the view--not sure about the food. You could go to arestaurant for dinner, then signature room for a drink--sometimes there is a line, but the views are amazing.

Most of the above places are greater than $75 pp for dinner.

A few off the cuff that meet your price point:
1. Bar Toma (Tony Montuano owns Spiaggia) -- MI Ave & Pearson
2. Mia Francesca -- (East Lakeview) Clark and Aldine/School
3. Frog & Snail -- (East Lakeview) Broadway and W. Briar. Top Chef Alum Dale Levitski is the chef/owner
4. Beatrix -- (Loop) Clark and Grand

There are so many....Also Two, Mexique, BellyQ, Mercadito, Hub51, Nellcote.

Just returned from Chicago and had two AWESOME dinners. We Loved Piccolo Signo on N. Halstead which is not downtown . You can either drive there or take a cab. They have very reasonable valet parking ($6) It is an authentic Italian restaurant with great food. You can check them out on the internet and see their menu. The other one was upscale Vietenmese. It was called the Colonial on Rush. Food was extremely tasty. Enjoy!!!!

We ate at Piccolo Signo and loved it. We were seated on the patio which had heat lamps. The service was warm and friendly. We each had a different pasta dish and everyone enjoyed their meal. Thanks for all of the replies.

We also ate at Mercadito before we saw Once. The tacos and drinks were very good and we ate outside. The weather was unusually warm. The waitress informed us we could not stay at a table for over 1 1/2 hours, which I thought was odd but wasn't a problem for my group as we were catching a show. The restaurant looked like it could get noisy but we were there before 6pm so it was lively but not loud.The lobster tacos were a favorite.