We will be staying at the Chicago Hilton and Towers a week from Friday. We will need to find a place to eat Friday evening and Saturday morning. Can anyone recommend restaurants close to the hotel within a medium price range (not more than $25/person)? Is it safe to walk to and from a restaurant in that part of the city especially at night? Thanks for your help!

You can't go to Chicago without trying the ORIGINAL deep dish pizza at Uno's (or Ginos) on Rush Street. It is nothing like the stuff you are served anywhere else. Chicago is a neat city, I'm not sure where the Hilton and Towers is (Michigan Ave?) You can walk lots of places from there.

There's a lot of great restaurants in Chicago. My all time favorite is Trattoria No. 10 (excellent Italian food) on Dearborn, but it may be a little over the $25 pp limit. There's also Heaven on Seven near the Marriott for Cajun food. If you like Greek food, there's Papagas in the Embassy Suites and you can make a meal on different appetizers. Walking in Chicago is pretty safe during daylight hours, but I'd take a cab back to the hotel after dark. As far as breakfast places, there's a neat coffee shop in the Blackstone Hotel on Michigan Ave. just down the street from the Hilton. Enjoy yourself!

The Hilton is fairly far south on Michigan Avenue. You might want a leisurely stroll down the avenue TO dinner (if you do the pizza or Papagus or 10 Tratorria thing), but you might want to take a cab back. The Heaven on Seven (just off Michigan Avenue at either Ohio or Ontario) IS excellent, if you like cajun and are a N'awlins fan. And it would fit your prize range -- as would the Uno's Pizza (it really is a must). There's a supposedly authentic Irish pub inside the Hilton (flown over piece by piece, with Irish help) - food there is probably fairly (by hotel standards) reasonable. Chicago is a neat town; hopefully next time you'll get more than one nite to explore it. Enjoy!

I stayed at Hilton and Towers last summer and will have to agree with the last post. Unless there are some big time events going on in Grant Park, I would not be wondering back late at night. During the day, the area looks totally safe. As for restaurants, we found this awesome German restaurant called Berghoff located just 10-15 minutes away.