Autre Monde Cafe Spirits - Berwyn

I had a superb risotto and my friend enjoyed the chicken thighs. Great starters and sides. Plenty of food. I think the wine may have been more sophisticated than my palate; I found it good but not great. Little noisy as it filled up. Otherwise, terrific place for an out-of-the-ordinary meal.

If you live anywhere near this restaurant, you need to stop by. If you don’t live near by, make the trip. The food is fresh and delicious. The staff is beyond kind, knowledgeable, and professional. Get yourself some great food and support the best people. You won’t regret it.

We had a reservation on a Saturday night for my birthday. We had eaten here 2 or 3 times before and it was pretty good. Unfortunately our evening was a series of unfortunate events that completely ruined the night. First of all we had reservations on a Saturday night so we expected it to be busy. However I did not expect it to be shoulder to shoulder and the tables to be so crammed together that I had to slide across the 1st chair to get to the next so our party could sit. Not too mention the people behind us kept bumping into us because there was literally no room. When the waiter came we told him we were planning to order the Wagyu steak and asked which wine he would pair with it. We talked about options, he made a recommendation, and we ordered both. About 5 minutes later he returns to the table and tells us they switched the steak option from Wagyu to a NY strip, but that the price was the same. As far as I'm concerned there is no comparison and I'm definitely not paying the same price for a strip as a Wagyu so I cancelled the steak and wine since we would not have any red meat to pair with it. The waiter became agitated, said that they already started pouring it and became rather upset when I reasserted that I would not need the red wine. As if it was our fault they weren't serving what we ordered and didn't tell us. At this point the evening was pretty much ruined. Shoulder to shoulder tables, super loud, and now the waiter is giving us grief for their issues. We should have left but since it was my birthday we were determined to enjoy the rest of the food we ordered and enjoy some yummy food. The first thing to come out was the bread service and the Croquetas. As the waiter placed the croquetas on the table he told us to be careful because it was super hot and it would burn the roof of our mouths, like hot pizza. We each took one and we could tell they weren't hot. When I took a bite mine was cold. Not hot, not warm, but cold. The rolls in the bread service were super basic, also cold, and I wasn't even sure they were homemade as advertised. They were most flavorless but I did get a mouth full of salt in the last bite, I figured they must be homemade and not mixed properly. The last dish to come to the table was the Lamb shoulder. It was barely warm when it got to the table and was mostly fat. At the end of the night we paid more than $100 for cold food and were starving when we left. Maybe they were just having a really bad night. However with so many issues and excellent options close by we won't be back.

One of the best restaurant in the near west suburbs. The food is a multi national Mediterranean vibe with tapas mezze appetizers, bread served in charming Spanish tuna tins and entrees that are tasty and beautifully prepared. The night I dined I had the steak frites and they were not shy about applying salt to those wonderful potatoes. The crispy pork belly is definitely not to be missed along with the desserts. The menus change often so show up often. There was a diverse mix of people that dined that night and is family friendly with a neighborhood feel and is a posh establishment without being pretentious. The staff is very friendly, knowledgeable about the restaurant, what it produces and they genuinely seem to enjoy being there.

Pros: good food (for the most part) and service Cons: kinda pricey, limited menu, small portion size, tables are too close together The falafel fried shrimp was good but at $18 a dish, it was really appetizer size (3 jumbo but not collassol size shrimp) and not a dish. Lamb shoulder was good but was again another small plate. Duck sausage flatbread was tasty and good in size. Messa platter was decent. Dessert hazelnut pudding was okay (it was like hazelnut Nutella). Tables were really close together, but service was pretty good.