Expat

Went here a few weeks ago, but just now looking at the reviews, and boy I’m glad I went without reading these! I think the key to enjoying Expat on Green is having appropriate expectations! Its a pop up restaurant, with alfresco dining only. The atmosphere is similar to having drinks at a friends place, so service is definitely not rushed. You can’t really plan too far in advance to come here since whether or not they’re open is so variable, but you should check it out if you happen to be in the area and the weather is nice.
Their boozy snow cones are fantastic, and definitely hit the spot on a summer afternoon or evening. Staff were friendly and gave good recommendations. The snacks we had were adequate, although a bit pricey for what we recieved.
I recommend coming with a smaller group of less than 4 to make getting a table easier. Maybe 5 max if you’re willing to squeeze around one table.

Expat you are the weakest link… goodbye. The man and I were strolling on Randolph this past Monday and decided to stop in for a drink. Despite it being a holiday, Randolph was pretty dead… and so was Expat. We thought we would get a drink in no time. WRONG! I had to poke my head in to get a waiter. Ok that’s no problem. He comes out, gives us a menu, then proceeded to clean all of the tables… including ours. As he sprayed the table with some sort of solvent, the wind picked up and literally blasted my man in the face. He was temporarily blind, but still was able to read the meek menu. So, waiter then went on to clean all the rest of the tables. I thought to myself oh they must be just opening for the day so I’ll cut some slack for being ill prepared. Not the case. They opened 4 hours prior to our arrival.
Anyhoo…Drink ordering… I went with a classic Margarita… and olé boy ordered a beer. We waited and waited and finally the waiter comes back with my marg, but no beer. He then tells us that he was looking for it and turns out, they are out of what he ordered. Ok fine, boo orders another beer… out of that one too. Finally we had to resort to the olé «well what DO you have»? I waited patiently to dive into my drink for the waiter to return with the beer…
After this shoddy service we knew we would not be ordering any food. We basically slammed the drinks and wanted to head out. One problem… we couldn’t find our waiter to get the bill… I had to get up once again, and have some random dude hunt him down. After squaring up I went to present the waiter with our bill and wanted to inform him to keep the change… but surprise, surprise couldn’t find him once again.
Expat, get it together. We were probably one of the few customers that day and we could barely get a drink without drama. With so many other great places on Randolph St., the game really needs to be stepped up here.

I bought a gilt. Its been impossible to go — every time i have tried to go it’s been closed. Finally went there today at 12 because it said online it was open, of course it wasn’t. Useless.
Must be owned by Nellcote owners as the only contact number listed is for Nellcote.
Not worth it and lost $ 45. The food looked underwhelming anyway

First of all, Expat is a part of the RM Champagne and Nellcote family. Neither of which we’ve tried. «yet».
“Expat” is a weather permitting/​alfresco kind of pop up /​so on and so forth :) It’s «sits» along the sidewalk in front of and behind those 2 restaurants… Note: You will likely have to wait if the weather is actually good for an hour or more because there are maybe 10 tables at the most? for evening dining anyways) .Which is fine, I get it there aren’t many places in Chicago with outdoor seating that will allow a reservation. I give the owners of this restaurant group props for making the MOST out of their real estate with this extra outdoor seating.!!
Owners please NOTE this below. VERY useful information about using social media!!!
We purchased a Gilt a couple months’ back and the expiration date looming — on our first «try». it was going to be an hour and a half and we just didn’t feel up for that. so we opted for trying a few days later. On this day, It had rained early afternoon, then the sun was out for about 5 hours) so I didn’t think it would be a problem. That said, I tried in vain to contact them PRIOR to make sure… via all their social media channels (the ONLY way you could do so btw) and no one bothered to use ANY of their social media to alert folks of the closure. you’d think this would be a no brainer right? Or at least, if you do not give a contact number for people to reach you then USE your social media to reach your potential customers with MEANINGFUL information not just photos of chicks in sunglasses and those sno cones :)
The service, was s l o w he was friendly. but s l o w. no doubt about it. while I thought the food was better than I’d expected from reading the Unilocal reviews. I still felt like it was not a priority. I could tell there was potential. but like others have said underwhelming indeed. The drinks were actually good. We tried the Pimm’s and the Bacardi one. I didn’t bother with the snow cone because it was chilly outside.
Between making an extra trip to find out they were closed, AND NOT bothering to post open/​closures of this «ALFRESCO» style dining due to weather or whatever on ANY of their social media sites… plus the s l o w and not stellar food… I’m just glad I had a «deal» otherwise, I’d probably felt like it was not worth it.

It took until the end of summer, but I finally made my way to Expat. What a great use of sidewalk space! There were actually more tables than I expected. Showed up at around 7 on a Friday evening and was quoted a 30 minute wait. Luckily, they took our number so we could grab a drink elsewhere and texted about 30 minutes later that our table was ready.
After being inundated with instagram photos of their boozy snocones, I had to try one for myself. At the server’s suggestion, I went with the vanilla-​cello one. She told me it was not too sweet (I HATE sweet) and while it wasn’t saccharine, it was still sweeter than I would have preferred. Just a warning in case you’re like me! Because we had dinner plans elsewhere, we only ordered two appetizers. First, a half dozen oysters, which for Chicago I thought were good and decently priced. The second was the smoked fish dip, which was a surprising hit. You get a good amount and it was quite good.
Overall, it was a great experience and I would recommend for drink and apps before heading to dinner elsewhere in the area. Hopefully I’ll have another chance to make it back before the season ends!

Nope not a fan. The service was very very slow despite the fact that it was basically empty. We went to eat but since the waitress took so long we said forget it and only ended up having a drink. We ordered 2 of the slushies because they look so amazing but they aren’t. The rose slushy tasted like water with a shot of champagne and the vanilla chello slushy tasted like cheap lemonade with extra ice. Keep in mind it was 90 degrees so these should have been refreshing regardless but instead they were just blah.

boozy snow cones is such a great Idea. Lovely pop up with only patio seating, Definitely more for drinking than the food which is fine by me. Al fresco is the theme which is fine by me.
Rose snow cone is the way to go. Delicious.

I found this place to be a little pricey for food. We had the Hamachi Crudo and it was $ 11.00 for a very small portion. I like the idea of a pop up shop though so that added to my appeal of wanting to try this place… that and the Boozy snow cones. I had just come from a party so didn’t have room in my system for more alcohol but I will definitely be back before the summer is over to get one before their gone. Only outdoor seating so make sure you go on a warm day!

Came at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night and it was closed. Which is really annoying as all sources say 10pm. 0 stars.

In one word — underwhelming.
In more than one word —
The poor reviews on service are accurate. Slow, unenthusiastic.
The menus were covered in some sort of weird black dust. Perhaps it was a bit of the street itself on the menu, not sure.
The sno cones were bland. Basically just a cup of ice that you could neither eat nor drink. We just sat there chopping away at them until some essence of the drink came through. Either put in more booze or use less ice is my suggestion. But as they stand now, it tastes like the end of a really good cocktail. You know, the extremely watered down remnants at the bottom. Not a good place to start.
I so badly wanted to love this place. No frills, al fresco while al fresco is even possible, and booze in a sno cone. Sounds perfect on paper. But it wasn’t.

This is definitely the perfect place to get to right after work with a bunch of friends and just not move for hours and let the rosé and snacks flow. I’ve been here a couple times and both times were great experiences. The wait staff was attentive, fun, and were helpful with recommendations on food and drinks.
It’s worth mentioning that this place is first come first serve in regards to seating, so get there early. It’s also worth mentioning that this place is more about getting boozy than it’s food, which is definitely fine in my book! But their menu items are very snack-​like and decently priced. They do have a couple sandwich options that are simple and delicious, and come with a bag of Utz’s chips (apparently these chips are big on the east coast, and rightfully so, they were real tasty).
All in all, Expat is the perfect place to enjoy one of the very limited amount of summer nights we have in Chicago.

Pop-​up restaurant that is poorly executed, no hostess for 15min and service was slow.

Rosé sno cone, need I say more. What a cute little pop up restaurant, but could be easily missed. Amazing drinks and yes that includes the sno cones. I will be coming back before summer is over. I would recommend for anyone looking for a quick unique drinking experience.

Its a cute idea but the execution needs work. I don’t look for this pop-​up to be back next year unless they redo the concept.
The seating is first come, first served. I asked a guy who was standing outside of RPM who didn’t seem to have a clue about Expat. I saw an empty table that was missing chairs. Luckily my friend showed up at the same time and scored two chairs for us. Then we sat there for a really long time wondering if we were supposed to check in or what. We noticed the tables around us weren’t getting service either. The guy was very busy at the tables on the other side of the patio. Finally he came over with menus and waters. We had a Gilt City deal which got us 2 drinks and 4 plates. The menu is very limited in options and descriptions. We went with 2 fish crudos, a salad and the burrata. The tuna crudo was the star. They mix it with watermelon which made for a nice and summery dish. The other crudo had slices of chili on it that I thought would be too spicy for me. Without it it was just a seasonless piece of fish. The burrata was nice. He did bring us more bread w/​o us having to ask. The salad was really sad. It was supposed to be tomato and bread but came out a sloppy, mushy mess. It didn’t look appetizing and the flavor was bland.
Our dessert was the sno-​cone. One of the flavors was out so we both got the rose. They are refreshing, as ice is, but weren’t boozy enough.

This is my first time here at expat and the place is great! Awesome ambience and great service. I would recommend CARLOS he is very personable and the best. Great summer spot

My friends and I were super excited to check this out as we’re patio-​enthusiasts, however were a bit disappointed. The snow cones themselves are delicious– didn’t taste much of the alcohol but very refreshing. The
Wait time was about an hour on Thursday evening, but makes sense as it is very small, maybe ten tables or so. The issue we had was with service– seemed very unorganized. I met up with my friends after they had already started their first round, and three different servers came over to take my order. When I thought three attentive servers are better than zero, that turned out to be what happened when it came to paying. We sat with the check and credit card for about 20 minutes before being able to flag anyone down as we were sitting at the end of the patio. As the server came back with the final receipt, she almost gave it to the wrong table.
The concept is fun and cute, but as mentioned we were underwhelmed.

What a cute lil place to sit alfresco! The staff was amazing… fun and super attentive! Great people watching on this bustling lil street! I def recommend the grown folk snowcones on warm Chicago days… super refreshing and super fun!

We decided to come here on a warm evening after work for cocktails and appetizers, and we were seated immediately.
Two stars for each cocktail (a glass of rosé and la tête des liones snow cone) but that’s about it. Underwhelming appetizers and super underwhelming service. Definitely not a staffing issue because three people were out in the patio to make sure we ordered something but definitely a talent issue because they didn’t coordinate with each other as we were asked the same thing multiple times.

My wife Found out about this little pop up spot in the west loop and said we absolutely needed to go to get the boozy snow cones. It sounded pretty unique so we have it a try.
Just a word to the wise, you can completely miss this place if you’re not looking for it. There is a tiny neon sign on the building across from the Soho house. They have a few tables and chairs set up outside and that’s it. It’s pretty non descript. We just got drinks but there are some small appetizers on the menu as well. It’s definitely not a dinner spot. The snow cones were pretty cool though. They had a rose flavor and a vanilla cello that was pretty good as well. I don’t think there was a ton of booze in it but that could be a good or a bad thing depending on what you want. Either way they are only $ 6 so can’t complain.
I’d check it out as long as it’s still there. I’m guessing it’s just a summer thing and as long as the weather cooperates hanging out on a busy green street is a fun atmosphere.

Super cute outdoor patio with yummy wine list. Service was awesome (JAY IS AWESOME) and we will be back!