I just saw a recommendation for Osteria via Stato (in the thread comparing hotel locations). Any other recommendations for lunch/dinner in the same price range (and ambiance - not requiring dressing for dinner, because we don't). Not interested in places like Alinea, just want good food in a comfortable/charming/fun setting.

Chicago has tons so great places to eat. how much do you want to spend? Location (i.e. Neighborhood)? Types of food you like?

Go to www.chicagoreader.com or www.chicagomag.com and you can search restaurants by cuisine, neighborhood or price.

Volare on St. Clair and Illinois. Don't let the outside of the building fool you. Kind of old school Italian atmosphere with really good food.

My new favorite is Blue Door Kitchen; Gold Coast area, perfect for breakfast/brunch, lunch or dinner!

So many places to eat. May be easier if you narrow down by cuisine and neighborhoods.

But for lunch/early dinner on a weekday, when you're in the loop, you can try Revival Food Hall. There's Detroit-style pizza at Union Squared, which is fantastic, but also lots of other wonderful options.

https://www.revivalfoodhall.com

I really like The Dearborn, too.
http://www.thedearborntavern.com

Have fun in Chicago! Hard to have a bad meal here.

Well, the trip was last week, and you're right, it's hard to find bad food! We ate at Au Cheval (great burger and very good fries, and memorably great bacon), Avec (small plates - we loved it, the food ranged from good to excellent, our favorites were the grilled asparagus and the salmon), Ditka's (we were walking by and a steak sounded good - the bloody Mary's and the ribeye were both great). Breakfast at Kanela's in River North was good (we liked the peppered bacon), and the Polish dog at the Brick House (new bar just outside Wrigley Field) was very good.

One thing I did want to mention. I've often seen it recommended here that we go to the Signature Lounge in the John Hancock Center for a drink and the view, rather than pay to go up to the Observation Deck. We did this, but we found the room really off-putting -- it looks and has the feel of a cafeteria -- so we looked at the view and left. At $17.50 for a cocktail, they could afford some nicer furniture. (The restaurant is very pretty - I don't know about the food, although we generally subscribe to the theory that the food gets worse the higher you go.).

Hi, sf7307. Sorry I was too late to provide any recommendations, but you did very well on your own. Interesting about the Signature Lounge, It's been about a decade since I've been up there, though I did do the 360-floor last year, which was all right.

I've always heard Au Cheval was fantastic, and hard to get in to. I rarely eat meat, so not on the top of my list, but glad to hear it was good.

You're right Au Cheval would not be the place to go for a non-meat eater (beef topped with bacon, hmmmm). For others, there are no reservations. We got there about 1 pm on a Thursday, but were able to get a seat at the bar so we took that rather than waiting the hour they told us it would be.

I was a big fan of Riva when I went for lunch a few weeks ago. The fish and chips were really good, and the prices were relatively reasonable. Great view as well.

Found it on this list, which seems to have quite a few good suggestions.

http://www.elitetraveler.com/finest-...s-in-chicago#/