Can anyone tell me his opinion about this place for an upscale, good food lunch downtown chicago?

thank you.

Hello, I might get some shuns here because Blackbird is certainly known as one of the hip spots in our city. I just find it overrated. The decor and presentation are both appealing, but it didn't wow either my husband or myself. Neither of us are food critics or food snobs. We are just regular people who have lived in the city a long time and have tried many restaurants. At this price point, we really love MK. We find the ambiance equally appealing and the food is really good. The staff is very friendly and helpful with the menu. Blackbird is in the West Loop, MK is in the Near North area (800 Franklin). If you are looking for the downtown area, in terms of near the Michigan avenue hotels, you can try the Phil Stefani steakhouse right off of Michican Avenue. You can also try Coco Pazzo if you like Italian. I always find that area kind of tough. The areas a little bit outside of right downtown have better restaurants I think, such as the Randolph restaurant row, West Loop, South loop, etc. Good luck!

i have been wanting to try blackbird for a couple years. we go to chicago to visit family every year, and i would love to try someplace new and easy to get to from our typical downtown waltz.

i will give this mk place some consideration.. i trust your opinion .. kind of disappointed to hear a negative review.
thanks!

from mk's website, it doesn't look open for LUNCH.
Any luncheon suggestions?
thanks.

p.s. the place looks fabulous. glad to know about it.

I think Blackbird is yummy and the service good.

We did try this trendy restaurant for lunch on our chicago trip.
The food was unmistakenly tasty, well prepared and well presented.

The portions are nouvelle cuisine size..

i can only fault the service, which although attentive when they were around our table, we seemed to wait to ask for our bill. once made aware of anything they were very quick.

for first plate i had seared scallops...they had a sweet vinagrette on bed of match stick thin veggies. $13

DH had confit of roast suckling pig.
this was also excellent. $13

i had no second plate and he had bouillabaise. it was good, but he stills remembers as best one he had in marseille 30 years ago!! $14?

i had carrot cake with ginger carrot sorbet, organic blueberries and frozen yogurt blackberry "sandwich" garnish. $9

needless to say, the portion was about three times smaller than i would have LOVED!

wines begin at $8 glass.
espresso was thick, heavy.

they have opened a trendy wine bar next door "AVEC" that has gotten some good reviews.

the james beard foundation has given the chef at blackbird "best midwest chef award" for several years running.

Music a bit loud, and not necessarily my taste, but would go back for the food, and hope to try other recommendations on next trip.

I was not impressed with AVEC. it was so loud, that I had to scream at my dinnermate, the food was good, but nothing special, and the crowd was far to trendy (cell-phone yapping yuppies) for my tastes ... and yes, I'm that mid-thirties professional demographic they are trying to snag, and they succeeded in getting me in there once, but I don't intend to go back.

why is it that so many good food restaurants are putting their music so high? i thought i was just getting too old for this, but it is obvious it also bothers the younger crowd that would also like to converse during their night out.

we loved bone fish grill in cincinnati but the music was also piped up too high.