Probably more than any other Chicago neighborhood, River North has to be many things to many people. It must both satisfy the out-of-towners who frequent this area with its proximity to those must-see spots and those who call Chicago home. That includes Hubbard Street, which is often overburdened with tourists and lines pouring out of deep-dish pizza spots. But River North continues to up its dining game from flashy spots with the goods, i.e., food, to back them up, to more laidback spots where iconic eats (looking at you, Italian beef) reign supreme.
The Best Restaurants in River North
Whether you’re craving an Italian beef or grilled octopus and bone marrow mashed potatoes, Downtown Chicago’s busiest dining neighborhood has you covered
Lisa Shames has been a regular contributor to Eater Chicago since 2021. She’s written for Chicago Tribune, CS, Block Club Chicago, OpenTable, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Magazine, and So Good.
While too new to add to this list, we’ve got our eye on Thai restaurant-and-lounge twofer Tarra & Sura and Gingie, the restaurant from a chef who consulted on The Bear, which suffered a fire three days after its initial opening and only recently started welcoming in guests again.
For this September 2026 update, a few restaurants dropped off, including Kuramen, OUD Coffee & Café, and Torchio Pasta Bar. Six additions have jumped on board: Crying Tiger, Naia, the Alston, Hawksmoor, Petite Edith, and Ciccio Mio. Find more great restaurant recommendations by downloading the Eater app for iOS.
— Additional reporting by Ashok Selvam, Naomi Waxman, and Jeffy Mai
The Best Restaurants in River North
Whether you’re craving an Italian beef or grilled octopus and bone marrow mashed potatoes, Downtown Chicago’s busiest dining neighborhood has you covered
Lisa Shames has been a regular contributor to Eater Chicago since 2021. She’s written for Chicago Tribune, CS, Block Club Chicago, OpenTable, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Magazine, and So Good.
Probably more than any other Chicago neighborhood, River North has to be many things to many people. It must both satisfy the out-of-towners who frequent this area with its proximity to those must-see spots and those who call Chicago home. That includes Hubbard Street, which is often overburdened with tourists and lines pouring out of deep-dish pizza spots. But River North continues to up its dining game from flashy spots with the goods, i.e., food, to back them up, to more laidback spots where iconic eats (looking at you, Italian beef) reign supreme.
While too new to add to this list, we’ve got our eye on Thai restaurant-and-lounge twofer Tarra & Sura and Gingie, the restaurant from a chef who consulted on The Bear, which suffered a fire three days after its initial opening and only recently started welcoming in guests again.
For this September 2026 update, a few restaurants dropped off, including Kuramen, OUD Coffee & Café, and Torchio Pasta Bar. Six additions have jumped on board: Crying Tiger, Naia, the Alston, Hawksmoor, Petite Edith, and Ciccio Mio. Find more great restaurant recommendations by downloading the Eater app for iOS.
— Additional reporting by Ashok Selvam, Naomi Waxman, and Jeffy Mai
Naia
With some of the best river views in the city, this Greek-leaning restaurant could have easily coasted on its food, figuring the eye candy alone was enough to draw folks in. Instead, chef Athinagoras Kostakos, a Top Chef: Greece winner and a partner at other DineAmic restaurants, opted to go all in. Falafel comes topped with crab, crispy potato fritters can be gussied up with caviar, and whole grilled branzino gets some heat via harissa oil. Sure, there’s a roving hummus cart and flaming cheese, too, befitting the see-and-be-seen vibe of this place. But once you’ve taken in the beauty of the river, your attention should stay on the food in front of you. Well, at least until another yacht pulls up.
Keni Rosales
Ciccio Mio
Like sister spot Bavette’s, Ciccio Mio embraces an old-timey vibe without becoming a cliche. Rather than steakhouses of yore, this spot aims to recreate the Italian American supper club experience, complete with glitzy chandeliers, plush banquettes, and vintage artwork. Dubbing itself “a nice Italian restaurant,” Ciccio Mio takes familiar dishes — think Caesar salad, chicken Vesuvio, and tagliatelle carbonara — and dusts them off while maintaining the comforting qualities that made them favorites in the first place. Negronis come in four varieties, and there’s an amaro shaved ice if you’re feeling fancy.
Ciccio Mio
Bavette's Bar & Boeuf
While Au Cheval gets most of the national spotlight, Hogsalt’s River North steakhouse has built quite a following since opening in 2012. Bavette’s takes the menu from a traditional chophouse and blends it with the atmosphere of a French bistro. It’s an intimate affair — this is where to take a carnivore you want to impress (there is a vegetarian menu, but it’s composed of salads and sides). The roasted bone marrow, fried chicken, and short rib stroganoff are non-steak options worth trying.
Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf
Planta Queen
Vegan food sometimes gets a bad rap, but chain Planta wants to change that by taking an upscale approach to both the global-leaning food in a design-forward setting. Inspiration from Asian cuisines dominates the menu, including vegan sushi, which eschews fish in favor of vegetables — think eggplant, watermelon, carrots — that are manipulated to mimic the nigiri and rolls customers would find in a traditional sushi spot. Come on Monday for unlimited maki for $35 or during lunch for a two-course special.
Planta
Crying Tiger
For chef Thai Dang, Crying Tiger is a full-circle moment having gotten his start in Chicago as a cook at Lettuce Entertain You’s L2O and now has partnered with the Chicago-based hospitality group at this River North restaurant. (In between, he opened HaiSous in Pilsen, which is still going strong.) By focusing on the culinary traditions of Southeast Asia, Dang has given himself culinary license to explore dishes from his birthplace, Vietnam, as well as Thailand and China. That means there’s clay pot lobster pad Thai as well as prawn toast. Fitting its buzzy location and lavish interior design — selfies are a thing here in the ladies’ room — there’s an emphasis on artful plating. Located downstairs is the fancy cocktail lounge Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club, where you can find freezing cold martinis served from a trolley for a cool $90 (and more affordable versions, too) and raw bar delights.
Lindsay Eberly
Topolobampo
Since 1989, Rick Bayless’s flagship River North restaurant has helped redefine Mexican cuisine in America. Bayless is one of Chicago’s most famous chefs and has meticulously researched Mexican food over his career. He takes his role as a cultural ambassador seriously, even though his lineage isn’t Mexican. The Michelin-starred, reservation-only restaurant’s menu shifts regularly as it explores the richness of Mexican cuisine with thematic cohesion and regionality through a contemporary, fine-dining lens. Wine director Jill Gubesch has plenty of praise for her inventive, spot-on pairings. For a more low-key dining experience, head to Bayless’s neighboring spots Frontera Grill and Xoco.
Topolobampo
Gene & Georgetti
This family-owned institution is Chicago’s oldest steakhouse. Founded in 1941, Gene & Georgetti offers excellent steaks and chops, as well as pasta, seafood, and classic Italian entrees like veal, eggplant, and chicken Parm. Regulars know to start with the Garbage Salad, featuring greens topped with salami and jumbo shrimp. Its old-school charm is legendary, as is the two-story building it’s housed in. While newer steakhouses have gone glam, Gene & Georgetti leans into what it’s been doing since the beginning — an approach that’s attracted a lengthy roster of the city’s movers and shakers along the way.
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Gene & Georgetti
Hawksmoor
In a city lousy with steakhouses, this London import stands out from the rest of the meat markets. There’s the way it thoughtfully restored the historic three-story building it’s located in with beautiful barrel-vaulted ceilings, parquet flooring, and jewel-toned booths. Charcoal-grilled steaks from ethically raised cattle are front and center but non-meat eaters feel the love too with Gulf shrimp cocktail and house-smoked salmon. The Beef & Liberty Bar on the second floor has become an insider’s hangout, especially during happy hour (Reuben nuggets, anyone?). And while sub-zero martinis have been a trend, Hawksmoor led the charge.
Hawksmoor
The Omakase Room at Sushi-San
The popularity of omakase dining has grown sharply in recent years, with experiences now offered across a range of price points. One of the best is Lettuce Entertain You’s Omakase Room, which is hidden inside Sushi-san. The 10-seat counter plays host to a variety of decadent delicacies from chefs Kaze Chan and Shigeru Kitano, such as otoro tartare, king crab hand roll, and Hokkaido snow beef with grated wasabi. This isn’t a quiet, reserved dinner, either; guests are encouraged to converse with each other and the chefs throughout the 18-course meal ($260 per person). Pair the dishes with pours from one of Chicago’s largest sake selections. It won’t come cheap, but Omakase Room is well worth the splurge.
Lindsay Eberly/Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Most locals likely already have a favorite spot for tavern-style pizza, so it’s mighty impressive that Zarella has managed to quickly become one of the city’s top choices (even with legendary Chicago chefs Chris Pandel and Lee Wolen handling the culinary side of things). The Chicago-style pies impress, with varieties like spicy vodka and carbonara, and there’s also an “artisan-style” crust. Don’t skip the mozzarella sticks as a starter and consider the chicken Parm if you need a hearty entree to complement the pizzas. Try to secure a seat in the downstairs speakeasy lounge for a more intimate experience.
Tanta Chicago
A medley of Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish ingredients and techniques make up Tanta’s Peruvian plates, which celebrate the diverse cultural influences of the South American country’s cuisine. Expect dishes like the chaufa aeropuerto, an ode to the Canton immigrants of the 1800s that features garlicky pork fried rice with a fluffy shrimp omelet. For a bite that’ll prove most memorable, make it the criollo nigiri, a piece of sushi rice that’s topped with wagyu skirt steak, avocado mousse, and a quail egg. Happy hour, with its $10 drink specials and equally wallet-friendly food, draws plenty of regulars.
Tanta
Brindille
Since 2012, chef Carrie Nahabedian’s refined Parisian fare has earned a legion of fans. While some might be confused about the pronunciation of its name — its bran-dee — Brindille’s menu of classic seasonal French dishes is straightforward, albeit with plenty of luxury ingredients here and beautiful plating. Duck, whole-roasted squab, foie gras, and Berkshire pork belly all made appearances on a recent menu. Desserts lean French, too, although the stellar cheese selection is hard to pass up. Co-owner Michael Nahabedian, Carrie’s cousin, heads up the wine program as he had previously at well-known Chicago spots Green Dolphin Street and Naha. Brindille’s quietly elegant interior design serves as the perfect backdrop.
Brindille
Schneider Deli
Midcentury landmark Ohio House Motel entered a bright new era in 2023 with the debut of Schneider Deli, chef and owner Jake Schneider’s (Daisies, Perennial Virant) ode to Jewish deli food and culture. For breakfast, the team is serving up hits like corned beef hash, French toast, bagels with lox, and sweet cinnamon kiddish cake; at lunch, it’s all about sandwiches, including pastrami, brisket, and roast turkey, all cut to order behind the counter. Thankfully, the gussied-up interior has retained some of the old-fashioned charm of the diner that preceded it.
Page & Plate
Avec River North
One Off Hospitality successfully transformed the former Pacific Standard Time space into the second location of one of Chicago’s most popular restaurants. Avec helped define Chicago’s restaurant scene from its then-revolutionary communal tables to its small plates meant to be shared. Menu items like the legendary bacon-wrapped stuffed medjool dates are served in much roomier quarters. That extra space includes the kitchen, too, and with it the addition of new dishes, including handmade pastas, pizzas, and larger plates from its wood-burning oven. Afterwards, head upstairs to the eighth-floor rooftop for a drink at Bar Avec, which is open seasonally.
Avec
Asador Bastian
Housed in the historic, multistoried Flair Building, Basque restaurant Asador Bastian upends expectations of a Chicago steakhouse with delectable cuts of beef from various farms around the world, along with seafood imported from Spain. The txuleton steaks — thick, bone-in rib steaks sourced from older cows prized for their intense, rich flavor — are served by the pound and best accompanied by a side of the bone marrow potato puree. Spain’s influence beyond the meat and fish can be found all over the menu in dishes like osetra caviar churros, octopus fideua negra, and crispy Segovian pig. The equally sophisticated lower-level lounge offers an abbreviated menu of pintxos and a special txuleton burger.
Eat Well Hospitality
Sifr
Sifr is a Middle Eastern restaurant by way of India, with chef Sahil Sethi and the crew from Michelin-starred Indienne delivering a menu of fire-grilled meats, delicious sides, and top-notch pitas. The space, which has housed many different restaurants in previous lives, has received an upgrade in the form of an all-seasons rooftop deck, which offers some of the most gorgeous views in the city. But Sifr isn’t about style. We can’t get a recent duck rice special out of our heads. The aroma of saffron with braised meat weaves together Persian and South Asian influences for a sensational dish. A $60 four-course tasting menu offers options for all but the first course.
Sifr/Neil John Burger
Mr. Beef on Orleans
This is it: The Italian beef stand where the first season of The Bear took place. Well, the TV show didn’t really take place here; they just filmed the exteriors because the real-life Mr. Beef is much smaller than the fictional Original Beef of Chicagoland. Chicagoans have varied opinions on Italian beef, but it’s best to pick an independent place that actually cooks the beef on-site versus one that just heats meat from a bag. Use the time while waiting in the inevitable line to peruse the many photos of celebrities and Mr. Beef fans on the wall.
Ashok Selvam/Eater Chicago
Indienne
Blending French and Indian food isn’t a new concept — it’s one championed by the late great Floyd Cardoz. Indienne takes some of those principles and modernizes it for the Chicago audience. Chef Sujan Sarkar, who got his culinary training in fine dining restaurants in London, has created an affordable tasting menu where nods to classic Indian dishes can be found throughout the multicourse meal. Elegant plating is an integral part of Indienne. In 2024, Indienne became the only Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in Chicago. Unlike other tasting menu restaurants, diners have the choice of four options: vegetarian or vegan (each is $135 per person), and non-vegetarian or pescatarian (priced at $155 per person). A bar bites menu offers an intriguing introduction.
Chris Peters/Eater Chicago
Obelix
Your first clue that River North’s Obélix isn’t your father’s French bistro starts with its name, which references the beloved French cartoon character known for his superhuman strength and love for food. That playful vibe is found on all the menus — lunch, brunch, and dinner — with dishes like the taco-inspired Foie-Co and an equally indulgent caviar sandwich. There’s an entire menu section dedicated to duck. But while Obélix isn’t afraid to have fun, it is very serious about the ingredients and techniques behind its versions of classic French dishes even when the culinary team opts to color outside the lines. That adherence to tradition comes as no surprise, as the restaurant is the brainchild of chef-and-somm brothers Oliver and Nicolas Poilevey, whose parents created Wicker Park’s Le Bouchon.
Chris Peters/Eater Chicago
Avli River North
In a reversal of the status quo where restaurants start in the city and then duplicate in the suburbs, this Greek mini chain got its start in Winnetka before opening multiple locations in Chicago. Avli goes beyond the typical Greek fare of gyros and flaming saganaki (but do try both as they’re delicious) with dishes like filo-wrapped shrimp, smoked salmon tarama spread, and lamb shank with Aegean-spiced parsley sauce. Its River North location has an easy-breezy interior design full of plants and light wood touches reminiscent of those relaxing Greek Island restaurants.
Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago
Tzuco
Chef Carlos Gaytán is a household name in both Chicago and Mexico. When his West Town restaurant Mexique earned a Michelin star, he became the first Mexican-born chef to receive the honor. He’s also become a mentor to many, and with Tzuco, diners will find a beautiful dining room that breaks the mold of been-there-done-that restaurant design. Gaytán’s food still blends French techniques with Mexican ingredients. Be sure to check out his “back to my roots” monthly changing menu that spotlights a state, market, or chef’s memory from Mexico that influenced his cooking career. Brunch offers an equally thoughtful menu with dishes like mushroom cazuela and a chorizo- and egg-filled crepe with creamy chipotle.
Neil John Burger/Tzuco
The Alston
In Chicago’s very crowded steakhouse sector, the Alston stands out from the bunch with its French focus and glam touches throughout its expansive third-floor space. Chef Jenner Tomaska of Michelin-starred Esme and Petite Edith gilds the lily in all the right ways, including for the dramatic whole duck a la presse prepared tableside. Steaks take a more straightforward approach and are wood grilled with classic French sauces available as add-ons. Elegant yet comforting, classic yet modern, the interior design reflects the Alston’s menu with an art deco-inspired main dining room and giant digital screens overhead projecting colorful art-centric visuals.
Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago
Petite Edith
Located on the ground floor of a luxury apartment building, Petite Edith is the kind of neighborhood spot we all wish we could call our own. The large U-shaped bar is a perfect gathering spot for solo diners, while the main dining room features plenty of cozy banquettes for a laidback weeknight dinner for two. For the menu, chef Jenner Tomaska of Esme and the Alston applies a Midwestern sensibility to French classic dishes. Roasted chicken comes with garlic sausage, mussels are presented as a brochette, and there are two kinds of bread. Brunch takes a similar approach with dishes like foie French toast and duck fat hash browns.
Petit Edith
