Boka

Came as a group of 4 for the 8 course experience and the server was very sweet. Please see menu picture to get real names of meal

1 - Lettuce - 9.5/10
2 - Bread thing - 9/10 with the nonalcoholic pairing
3 - Tomato - 8/10
4 - Tuna Tartare - 9.5/10
5 - Trout - 9/10
6 - Ravioli - 8/10 with the mom alcoholic pairing
7 - Lamb - 4/10. Not the way I would have wanted to end the courses.
8 - Blackberry Sorbet - 6/10 - it taste like perfume but gets better with more bites no, it's the thought. It was like red hot chili it the bread first painful.
9 - Raspberry - very interesting. 7/10

Ambiance: Business casual

Disclaimer: We opted for the a la cart menu instead of the tasting menu.
The duck was delicious, but it was a little cold (even though we were told it's torched before serving). the vegetables were over-salted. Everything else was great -- not pictured here, but the cucumbers were delicious.
Service was good, not over the top. I would come back to try the tasting menu.
The dim lighting (light fixtures are gorgeous) and dark decor makes for a romantic evening.

Wow wow wow! What an incredible dining experience. My husband and I dined at Boka to celebrate our 1 year anniversary on a Friday night. We sat in the greenroom area which was very pretty and well lit in the day time.

We opted for the tasting menu. It was quite an experience. Every dish was paced very well and packed with flavor. My favorites were the fois gras bite, pasta dish, and tuna dish. I left the restaurant pretty full and they gave us a small blueberry bread to take home! We didn't do a wine pairing, but the whole meal pair very well with a bottle of Alexana Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley. Finally, service was top notch. Our waiter was very attentive and kept things moving.

Highly recommend for a special dinner out!

Boka was such a wonderful fine dining experience! Touted with 1 Michelin star, we were very excited to try their tasting menu with wine pairing. My hubby and I came here to celebrate the good things that were happening in our life and to explore all that the Chicago food scene had to offer.

I will say that our first course came out about an hour after we were seated because there was a party of 20 that was there before us who were also having the tasting menu. So, we just enjoyed a pre-dinner appertif and some bread. But aside from that, we enjoyed every course along with their wine pairings and our waiter did a wonderful job taking care of us. Everything was delicious and they even personalized our tasting menu as a gift for us, along with little blueberry loaf cakes which were so tasty the next day. Beautiful sultry and moody atmosphere with modern decor.

We will definitely be back the next time we are in Chicago. Hats off to the chef and his team.

THE BIG: 1 michelin star restaurant in the Old Town area of Chicago. Indoor/outdoor seating. Parking is relegated to the street. Best to take a taxi.

THE BLACK AND WHITE: The wife and I came here for our anniversary after our reservation at Smyth was botched from the concierge. Regardless the service and food here at Boka did not disappoint. If you head downstairs to the bathroom, you can see all of their Michelin stars for the past decade.

As for the food, we did the tasting menu which was $175 for 7 courses. The first course were a few bites followed by the other courses. Our menu included:
- Gem Lettuce, Beausoleil Oyster, Foie Gras
- Blue Fin Tuna
- Black Truffle Strascinati
- Slow Cooked Ocean Trout
- Roasted Colorado Lamb
- Hibiscus Sorbet
- Raspberry buckwheat coconut

All were great however my favorite was the black truffle strascinati. Something about truffles always wins over my heart.

THE FINAL BAMBOO: Overall the damage done for 2 tastings and a bottle of wine was around $570 including tax and tip. Everything was great and I highly recommend

This place was amazing and recommended by others who were traveling with us and went on different days. Everyone who went loved it. Everything from their bread to strawberry kampachi was soooo good. The mushroom dumplings were sooo delicious and the beef tartare, which is one of those dishes I think I like more than I actually do, was actually really good and probably one of my favorites of any restaurant 's. I got the scallops and the veggies in the dish were so darn good even though I'm a veggie hater. Rhubarb dessert was super good Definitely top 2 restaurants in Chicago that I had this trip

I first visited Boka back in January for Restaurant Week. That was the 1st time I decided to try beef tartare. The beef tartare is exactly the reason why I visited Boka again in April. The beef tartare was SO incredibly silky, and the flavor was unlike anything I'd ever tasted before. If I lived in that area, I'd visit Boka every day just for that dish alone. In addition to the beef tartare, I also enjoy their caviar (the presentation alone is great because it's served in an eggshell). My friend tried the duck, and I could tell by the empty plate at the end of the dinner that she really enjoyed it.

The ambiance and service Boka provides makes them such a pleasant and refined dining experience. I can't wait to visit again!
#ImNotAFoodie
#ImJustAGirlWhoLovesFood
#YelpEliteSquad

Oh my god. This was so good. We got to sit in the coolest garden area in the back and the service was great. All the food was amazing but I'll be going back for the kampachi, scallops, truffle chicken and oysters!

We also got a bottle of wine and cocktails to start. People seemed to dress up more to go here which gives it an upscale ambiance.

To start, our server is amazing. He has such a positive vibe to him and i find that it would be very hard to have an inch of a bad experience if you interact with him. I had to take a picture of the menus because the breakout would have been way too much to write lol. The starter that was sweet corn, mixed with various ingredients was delicious and the pairing of Dr. Lo was excellent. The summer tomatoes had an interesting flavor and the odd bird pairing was amazing. Honestly all of the pairings were spot on. Because I am not a fan of fish, they were willing to work with me and customize my tasting menu, which took their customer to a whole other level. My least favorite item was the lamb and I must say, I am not a big fan of lamb so you would need to take the critique with a grain of salt. Overall everything on the tasting menu was great and a true journey through multiple flavor profiles.

My wife and I had the tasting menu on a Sunday night. The restaurant wasn't very busy so we had a nice quiet conversation and were able to really enjoy the experience. The servers were friendly but unobtrusive. Our main server briefly explained the tasting menu. Service was incredibly well paced. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours and we never felt rushed or left waiting. I won't go into each dish but overall, everything was fantastic. The initial three bites were our favorite. The hiramasa and trout were also standouts. We ordered coffee at the end of the meal and our server brought out a few tiny dessert snacks. It's little things like that that just make the experience special. Two tasting menus, no drinks, coffee, tax, tip came in just under $500. Well worth it.