Soul: User Reviews

City Girl in Love
By Uly Eats Out from bucktown, August 20, 2008

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Let me just say that I am a city girl. I have never owned a car. I don't suck at driving, but I rarely get the chance to do it, so when my boyfriend's roommate left us the car recently he surprised me with driving and dinner. I have never been to Clarendon Hills, but I was really blown away by the food and the service. I wanted the Beckmen cab, but it was only by the bottle and we were driving back, so we stuck to a couple glasses. :( (Next time I am letting someone else drive so I can get that bottle and the Carr Valley cheese.)

This week at work I keep looking at other restaurants that are closer with my favorites from dinner. I keep thinking about the crust on my pot pie, but Mitch's scallops were almost rivaled by our oxtail appetizer. I think maybe I am afraid that I will have to buy a car instead.

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It was hard to remember that we were in Clarendon Hills!
By Monty Ludd from Lakeview, August 20, 2008

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What a wonderful restaurant! It was hard to remember that we were in Clarendon Hills! The room is wonderful and spacious, and the food is creative and delicious!

A note of gratitude to Mr. Davis, Mr. Kim and Chef Nicolas, and to our server, Jeff, for their generous hospitality and for making us feel most welcome. SOUL will definitely be at the top of our list for best dining option in a suburban location.
(-Arlene McDermed)

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Didn't Hit The Mark
By charlieboy from Elmhurst, August 5, 2008

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My fiancé and I visited Soul on Friday night and found that it was fairly deserted, which was disappointing because we were hoping for a lively atmosphere and some good people watching. So, we turned our sights to our meals. We did choose an appetizer but did not think the selections offered were very appetizing. The food seemed to be of good quality and the presentation was very nice but found our main entrées to be pretty bland and the portions were quite small. Once the bill came, we were unhappy with the high total because the portions were so small and the overall meal did not seem worth it. When you pay these kind of prices, you want to be completely satisfied and perhaps have a bit of your meal leftover to enjoy the next day. We found neither to be the case. Needless to say, we may go back, but not very soon.

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Start to Finish greatness
By tastybuns from Bucktown, July 30, 2008

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I don't know how somebody can write a review and rate a restaurant if they didn't even eat there... putting that aside.

I went to Soul with my friend Friday night, we took the Metra there from the city and took it home, it was quite nice. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the very friendly hostess we were seated in a little private table by the stair well. The vibe of the restaurant was great with the open kitchen, the decor and the music, there was a lot of energy. Our server David, was very knowledgable about the food and the wine. We started with the cesar salad and the smelts. Cesar salad had hot torn pieces of parmesan corn bread a perfect match with the light hearts or romian, The smelts were served over a mixed bean salad and were crunchy and light. For our entrees we had the chicken and sea bass. Chicken was a typical chicken dish potato, chicken and greens but everything was seasoned perfectly and was cooked to perfection. The bass was light with a slight bit of spice. We ended our meal with amazing desserts, the funnel cake which brought me back to my childhood and the chocolate pudding cake which was rich and creamy and went perfect with the cool spearmint ice cream.
The 30 minute Metra ride was worth every minute, food and service is what really made our experience a great one. Can't wait to see what the future holds for Soul I will for sure be making a trip back the burbs for this special treat.

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Downtown in the Burbs
By FoodLover from goldcoast, July 30, 2008

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My friend and I went to Clarendon Hills to try Soul after seeing it on Metromix. Well, they were right, Clarendon Hills does have Soul. We took the train out from the city and it stops a block from the restaurant. Super convenient. I was surprised to be greeted by the valet with a smile, usually valets pay no attention to you unless you are using their service. When we stepped inside the restaurant it looked very cool and hip. Definatley not another cookie-cutter chain that seem to saturate the suburban area. The bar was full, surprisingly on a Summer Tuesday, as was the front room of the restaurant. We were taken into a room in front of the open kitchen, where you could see everyone making the food. I had a Sweet Carolyn Martini, kind of a take on a Lemondrop, but much smoother. My friend tried a micro-brew from Colorado that I'd never heard of before. We ordered cod hush puppies and a chicken liver mousse. The mousse was similar to pate and both appetizers were delicious. Next we ordered a ceasar salad and another salad with proscuitto wrapped watermelon and ricotta drizzle. That watermelon salad was amazing, whoever thought of putting those very different tastes and textures together nailed it. I felt like I had stepped into the Food Network. We had blackened shrimp with a rice mix and the duck. I had a hard time giving up a shrimp so I could try my friend's duck. It was worth it though, the duck was perfectly prepared, juicy and moist witha sweet sauce. The side dishes were also good, biscuits, obviously homemade, white mac and cheese and slightly spicy green beans. We weren't going to have dessert, but our server raved about the pastry chef. We split a chocolate cake with a black cherry topping. It was Heaven, our server knew what he was talking about. I'm glad to see that they updated the menu from the one on line, but that may confuse some people. They do that stuff downtown all the time. This is a little piece of downtown in the Burbs with food for "Foodies" at a much better price. Can't wait to go back and see what else they come up with!

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Truly disappointed
By Chuck from Brookfield, July 21, 2008

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My wife & I eagerly support new restaurants in our area and were excited to try Soul. We expected some problems since it is so new, but the food is the issue and will not improve without a remake.
All of the course dishes, although scored well on presentation, were undersized. My wife tried the Broccoli soup which may have yielded about a half cup of liquid. I tried the oxtail "appetizer" which was really soup as well. Both dishes scored well on presentation and originality, but need to be more flavorful. Perhaps the addition of herbs and/or spices would help.
The bread basket consisted of 3 small pieces and plain butter which was wisked away when we emptied it. (It would have been nice if the waiter had offered a refill.)
My wife tried the Prawns and once again found the dish to be undersized and under flavored. (5 Decent sized prawns, but very little rice or side.) I had the Hanger steak and braised beef rib and found the flavor & quantity to be acceptable. While not a fan of grits, I ate these but found what I believe was either a mushroom or some kind of green to be rubbery and I could not easily cut it with my steak knife.
We shared the chocolate pudding cake for dessert and liked it but thought that the peppermint ice cream was an odd match.
The summary: under flavored, over priced with portions so small that we stopped on the way home to share a sandwich. We'd only return if we hear that these issues have been addressed.

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Give Soul some Time...
By Scott from LaGrange, July 20, 2008

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This restaurant is not ready yet...but has potential. I hope it has the strength to get better.

Service personal needs training. We would have felt better about our experience if someone was supervising and correcting all their mistakes.

The kitchen has skill, but they too are not ready which explains why the menu is rather limited and some dishes are not available. When the food arrived our server offered a "sigh" of relief.

We ate on a "folding table" covered with a tablecloth? I think the place is still being worked on.

This will be a better restaurant in a couple of months, so I will wait to return. But, if you like to see a restaurant "learning to walk" then you might enjoy yourself.

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Wanted to Love It But Couldn't
By Sweet-n-Savory from West Suburbs, July 14, 2008

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We were excited to see a new place in the burbs with so much promise. We found the ambiance loud and vivacious. The decor is nice as well. Our servers were fun, polite, interesting and very professional. The food, however, was a HUGE dissapointment. I made the huge error of ordering a watermelon margarita that no one at the table could drink. It tasted horrible. When I 'returned' it, the waiter said I wasn't the first. I had the roast chicken whose skin was chewy and tough instead of crispy. The mac and cheese was runny and inconsistent. The cod hush puppies were DELICIOUS as were the biscuits. The portion sizes are smaller and nice but they could have put some bread on the table for people to munch on a little since it took a long time to get our entrees. Our wine was fantastic. They removed the braised rib tip pot pie from the menu so we couldn't try it. Instead, my husband choose the turkey pot pie. The crust was decent but the filling was really, very unpleasant to eat. I can't even describe it. Out of six people at dinner 3 were unsatisfied with their meals and said they would not return. 2 thought it was decent enough to come back since they live close by. The other liked her meal but won't come back. Their daily specials are available to customers. It just seems like their kitchen isn't ready yet.

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Downtown Dining comes to the suburbs!
By FoodLover from Hinsdale, July 14, 2008

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From the time we entered the bright and spacious bar area of SOUL until we left the dining room, we felt like we were old friends being welcomed back for another visit. The bar staff was friendly and attentive and made great suggestions for libations before dinner. We were offered one of the "chef tables" near the open kitchen for dinner which we accepted as we thought it would be fun to observe the action by the kitchen staff.

We chose 2 appetizers to share and ordered salads and entrees. A complimetary appetizer was brought to us ; a watermelon and radish combination salad which was refreshingly appealing. A visit from the chef and an attentive waiter was most appreciated.
The appetizers and salads ordered were wonderful, especially good was the beet salad. Three of the 4 entrees were terrific, especially the flat pasta bolonese and the prociutto-wrapped whitefish.

We missed the baked apple bread pudding from a previous bar visit on the menu, but loved the devilsfood cake with cherris...just let guest pour the chocolate sauce next time!

SOUL is a wonderful dining destination for anyone looking for an upscale, high-end downtown dining experience right in the wstern suburbs...

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