Best Restaurants for People Watching in Albany Park

the noise level was obnoxious. the DJ had a practically empty restaurant and she played loud techno music with willful disregard for the impact on a mostly empty restaurant and a few tables of guests trying to enjoy DELICIOUS food. The space is beautiful. The food is delicious though I found the fish stew disappointedly oily and less enjoyable than I hoped. I will return and recommend it BUT a bit of "reading the room" is indicated. She is the only person who seemed to enjoy her loud music

Fun spot. All of our drinks were excellent. Food is delicious.

A wonderful evening with unique tastes and flavors, exciting choices. The menu is small but choices are plentiful. It was very hard choose from the selections. Everything had potential. We had four appetizers from the rolling cart brought to the table. The trout roe tart with creme freche was light, not too salty, and a great starter. The fried olives with lamb sausage made me, not an olive fan, very happy. The olive tastes came through nicely while the lamb stuffing balanced olive nicely. The marinated herring was perfect, very fresh and light. The eggplant rolls were also perfectly made and paired brilliantly with farmer cheese and dill. A selection of breads and crackers were a good addition, also from the cart. The second course was dumplings. Although our first choice-moksha, a layered pasta with farmers cheese and porcini mushrooms, was out, we were quite pleased with the halushki, filled with braised chicken and topped with a tasty chanterelle mushroom sauce. Next, the borsch- with plenty of duck and smoked pears, and potatoes. Great beet flavor and amazing duck! Then our meat course, the pork belly shashlik, not your traditional Ukrainian dish, but wonderfully flavored and perfectly roasted. As a side, we couldn’t say no to Banosh, grits with goat’s milk cheese and mushrooms. We couldn’t believe how light and airy the grits were how the cheese and mushrooms worked to add great flavor complementing the pork. We packed half of this dish to take home. We even shared a dessert— drunken sour cherry chocolate torte, which was delicate and delicious- reminding us a little of tiramisu with chocolate and cherries. We ordered more than necessary, but everything was exceptional and worth having. There was much more on the menu that we would want to try next time. Service was good. The background music was pleasant it seemed like a little techno Muzak, but it was not obtrusive at all. The portions were wellsized with everything shareable for two.

My girlfriend and I had a wonderful time here. Charming host who told us all about the Piemont region. The food was excellent and on Thursdays they have half off on a lovely selection of Piemontese wines. Will be coming back!

The igloos at Alma were so thoughtfully curated and seasonally fun! The smores lot that you got really made the experience! Our server Jackson was also so kind and helpful. We had a wonderful evening!