O’Neil’s

I went here for dinner before a concert at Ravinia last weekend. This restaurant has been here in downtown Winnetka a long time, but it has been many years since I had dined here. From what I understand, the interior and menu have been recently updated. Their menu choices are great… the interior reminds me of a bad seventies disco bar.
We were seated promptly for our 6:30 reservation, but the service went downhill rather fast. Drinks were ordered that never arrived (we had to ask for them three times). My friend asked about the Black Cod special and the waiter responded «It’s Black Cod… I really do not know anything about it!» We were not sure if that answer reflected poorly on the waiter or the restaurant’s chef. After awhile, the waiter (who was nice, but not well-​informed) warned us that he was overwhelmed. The restaurant was crowded, but I did not sense that that the other servers were overwhelmed.
Our entrees arrived promptly, but one friend who had ordered the crispy duck noticed that she did not receive the orange sauce. She said that the omission was okay… she didn’t want it… but the waiter never came back to ask us how or entrees were or if we needed anything. I ordered the pecan-​crusted Tilapia, which was delicious. We all agreed that the food was very good.
We ordered coffee only to have it delivered without cream or sugar. The waiter disappeared again. With what seemed to be enough time to catch an 8:30pm Ravinia concert, disappeared with the slow service. We had to flag down the waiter to get the check… at which time he told us that they were out of cream for the coffee.
I am guessing that O’Neil’s was having an off night. Any restaurant that’s been around as long as they have, must be good. But, I also think that there are not many other choices in the area, so they survive by being one of the only restaurants in town.

This is the best restaurant in the entire north shore! I’ve never had better salmon in my life and it is consistently excellent! Highly recommended!

Awesome cioppino! Seriously very very good. Nice wait staff. Good for families or for a night out.

We had a terrific meal here last weekend. Apps were delicious (shrimp, scallops and BBQ chicken flatbread) along with our entrees (filet and duck). Would like a slightly bigger dessert menu selection but we’ll be back for sure. Reasonable prices, very attentive service. Great experience!

We’ve been going to O’Neil’s for 20 years and it’s always great! They recently updated the place for a more contemporary feel.
My favorite item is the duck. It’s always a delicious, crispy fall-​off-​the-​bone experience. The orange sauce they provide is a great accompaniment!
Last week I had the braised Lamb Shank. Phenomenal! Tender and delicious! The Salmon w/​lemon/​butter caper sauce is a classic. The salads are great and the Praline basket filled with ice cream and raspberry sauce is a must!
The service is always friendly and helpful.
The outdoor dining is perfect in the summer for drinks and great food.

The Food and service were great. I had the mission fig burger. Soo good. The place is a little loud and the tables are packed a little too close together. I’d definitely go back for the food.

Had the cioppino last weekend and they really have cut back on the ingredients, which were pretty meager. Also, salads are now aka carte. A real feeling of charging too much for what you receive.

Always a solid experience. Food always fresh, well-​prepared. The staff is attentive and friendly. Great place for dining alfresco in the warmer months of the year (both of them). There’s nothing daring about the menu, but consistently good is hard to find.

Food was just ok. Service was unbearably slow. We ate outside and were ignored !
We use to enjoy Oneils. Now it’s no longer on my «to go» list.

O’Neill’s has undergone a reno, and the space is much improved — modern, open, spacious, and clean. I was here several months ago for a group lunch and enjoyed my meal very much, so I’m bumping them up from two to three stars.

As a bike ride stop, O’Neil’s patio and casual atmosphere seemed to be a great place for an early evening alfresco dinner with filtered Western light. The Pecan encrusted tilapia portion was healthy and the Dijon interior added a great flavor to an otherwise tasteless fish (³⁄₅). Skip the accompanying bland buerre blanc sauce as it was congealed and lacked depth of flavor. The Caesar salad dressing was average and would benefit from anchovy to provide substance.
The Kobe beef burger was food-​photo ready and juicy but just fair in taste; it really lacked flavor (³⁄₅). The wine list showed the usual abundance of oak-​y Chardonnays; the only un-​oaked CA Chardonnay was excellent but overpriced (14/​glass). Please be more creative and gather customer for blind tastings from your distributor!
It’s concerning when the pinnacle taste is the bread and an order of perfectly crisp fries cooked with more than a hint of truffle oil. Overall, the entrees were average and overpriced for Irish gastro-​pub food. When I’m ready for a beer and perfectly cooked fries only, I will stop at O’Neil’s patio, otherwise it doesn’t make my list of white wine with the search for the best Caesar salad discoveries.

LOVE THE NEW LOOK & MENU!
We had the BEST Ceasar salad, Sea Scallops on a creamy risotto, Kobe burger that was perfect and a chocolate cake that I think may be the best I ever had… Not kidding!
It was awhile since I been there because BEFORE the remodel the quality of food went down.
This time I thought New look & New menu — let’s give them a 2^nd chance. So glad we did! Love it & will be back very soon!
If you have not been there yet –you should go!

The food is average and far too expensive for what it is. The décor of the restaurant is absolutely atrocious. And we’ve had issues getting our carry out orders correct for years. (The last time, the person even repeated the order back to us correctly and it was still wrong). If you’re wondering why we still eat there, it’s because it’s conveniently close. But that’s the only reason.
If you want average food and don’t care what the place looks like, by all means go. The wait staff and service are just fine. But there are far better options, even on the Northshore.

A solid evening. It was packed as be arrived on time for our reservation. The staff was apologetic and we had to wait about 10 minutes for our table.
The server was cordial and knowledgeable yet service was a tad slow because every seat in the house was full.
The food can out hot and cooked to a tee. We had the almond crusted tilapia and the salmon. Vegetables were awesome, fresh and not cooked to much.
Will return! Five stars for faster service.

Having dined at O’Neil’s for the last 10 years, I’ve come to accept that it is just «ok.» The food is not consistent, often too salty, and for their prices… I would expect more. I was a little excited to see that they had redecorated, however I think it has made atmosphere worse… a bit tacky (white chairs, blue lighting). Hopefully they will change up the menu/​food a bit.

We came here for a business lunch. I had the chicken calabrese (which was good), another person had the crab cakes (terrible) and the third had the sausage crumble flatbread (also terrible).
The service was good, and the décor appears to have been updated, but comes across as being a little bit tacky.
I think the worst part of the meal was that there seemed to be some kind of construction work being done in the kitchen, which is exposed and open to the diningroom. There was constant hammering (sounded like a hammer hitting a metal table) which interrupted our conversations multiple times.
Overall, our trip to O’Neil’s was very disappointing. I doubt I will return anytime soon.

Not sure why this was filtered out. Went again last night. The calamari was out of this world again. Fish and chips were okay, and the flat bread superb.

The food was good. The service was mediocre. The emergency response and overall customer service was lacking.
I had Osso Bucco. It was good. My wife had the fruitti de mare (or similar). She said it was good.
The service was sort of slow. AND — a big AND — she spilled my wife’s piping hot seafood dish down our friends exposed back. After a lot of apologizing (and, thankfully, no lasting burns — or so it appeared), we returned to dining, which was fine.
When our check came (sizeable as this isn’t a budget restaurant and we ordered two $ 60 bottles of wine), they didn’t even comp anything to compensate for burning our dining companion. When she pointed this out, the waitress returned to the back and then re-​presented the bill, removing three orders of ice cream, totaling $ 12.
I was floored!
As a compulsive 20% tipper, I couldn’t even bring myself to notch that tip down — something I’m regretting now. Its easy to see how this happened — a waitress who doesn’t want to lose her job simply fails to tell her manager that she potentially turned a customer into a burn victim. And, having no authority to «comp» $ 60 bottles of wine, we get a token gesture.
The whole thing just left a bad impression. Of course, YMMV, and it was a service not food issue. Still. ..

My friend and i had dinner last night at Oneils, I have been there quite a few times before the remodeling, but since i moved in the city, its not that easy for me to go up there. This was the first time i went since they changed the place, and wow, that was my first impression… Let me start with the way the place looks, they made a 180 degree change, it use to look really dated, cozy, quiet, now it looks really modern and chic, all white, nice dark wooden tables and chairs, you believe you are some place New York, or South Beach. It’s a very energetic place, and, comparing with my previous visits there, I saw a younger crowd, lots of people hanging by the bar. The service was just as friendly as I knew it, the hostess sat us at a small table in the middle of the dining area, luckily we didn‘t have to wait, even though we had no reservation. The food… even better, we started with the mushroom ravioli they had on specials, which was recommended to us, i can‘t describe how good it was, our waiter was helpful and knowledgeable about the food and drinks, he got us to try a cilantro mango margarita, my friend tried the basil peach martini, we really liked them. I had the Soft shell crabs while my girlfriend had the pecan tilapia, absolutely delicious. We finally agreed on sharing a banana bread pudding served with banana ice cream and caramel sauce at the end, that was a a blast.
I will definitely go back and check their new patio just waiting for the right weather.

Great: our awesome waitress who was very perceptive and let us know, unprompted, that they’re down one chef and hence the wait. Wonderful outdoor seating; very children friendly environment, warm crusty bread.
Not so great: a bit mushy crab and prawns in my cioppino; these nets/​flies that won’t stop bothering us until they took my cioppino away; the blackhole hostess who forgets everything you ask for; freshly grated soft Parmesan cheese (why is it soft?) they serve with the caesar salad.