Bandera Restaurant

Very very nice spot. Came here for midday snack and drinks. Our server was Michele, very attentive, patient and knowledgable. The burger was enormous size (almost like 2 burgers in 1). I tried wild rice vinaigrette and red cabbage from sides all was delicious. Drinks were good too !

If you’re looking for an upscale place to eat on Michigan Ave, this is a good one. It’s located on the 2^nd floor, across the escalator from a Men’s Wearhouse so I had some trouble finding it at first. Upon entering, I was taken aback at first by the candlelit, dark wooden décor, but it was not as pretentious as it seemed.
Service was on the slower side, but still attentive and helpful. We started with the Skillet Cornbread, which was amazing — the buttery flaky crust that bubbles over is the perfect contrast to the moist and delicious center. I was also happy with the White Cheddar and Butternut Enchiladas. Portions were pretty large for all of our entrees, so we didn’t have enough room for the Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches — I’ll definitely try them next time!

Nice service and great food. i been there few times. I recommend it. I will return again and again

I recommend you get a reservation here as this place fills up fast. Wait time at 6pm Saturday night was 1 hr. Restaurant is very well setup, great atmosphere and live jazz music.
The menu was simple and listed on one page, no fluff and to the point — sign of a good focused kitchen.
The food came out quick and tasted fantastic. I had the Very Fresh Fish of the Day (Cod) with Shrimp, Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli. Megan had the Tuna Salad. We were both very happy in what we ordered. Our one complaint is wishing the food portions were a little bigger.

I would give 0 star if I don’t have to give them at least one on Unilocal.Me and my gf waited for over 40 mins. I had a reservation at 7:30pm. We didn’t get seated until 8pm. No apology whatsoever.
Worst come to worst, service was a disaster too. After we finished our iced water, no severs even came to fill it up. Food was only OK.
All these negatives accumulate, earning this place a solid 0 star (I don’t wanna even give them one star). Too bad that this place has such a high rating. More ppl are gonna fall into the trap. Thank you but no thank you bandera! Won’t ever come again.

After reading reviews of local restaurants this one popped up on my radar. I was looking for great ambience and I must say this place exceeded all my expectations. Walked in to friendly staff, an excellent (not too loud) live jazz band, and a warm welcoming ambience. During the 45 minute wait for our table I observed the servers and hostesses who all were very professional and focused, like a well oiled machine. Very well run restaurant! After being seated I looked around again, and thought to myself YES! Finally I’ve found what I was looking for!
My wife and I split the macho salad, which was the best salad I’ve ever had. Our waitress was excellent! She was very attentive and even recommended a Pinot Noir which was fantastic and one of our new favorites. The oreo desert was to die for!
Anyway, I cant say enough about how much we enjoyed this place and it takes a lot to impress me. Thank you Bandera!

I’ve been here at least 7 or 8 times for lunch or dinner. The staff is very well trained and managed. Food and drinks are always excellent. Great Jazz. Comfortable dining room. Favorite dishes are the Macho Salad, the Burger (it’s huge!!) and the cornbread. Bottom Line: Excellent food, excellent service. Every. Single. Time.
Enjoy!

Beautiful atmosphere, live jazz, and great service. Be sure to make reservations though, or you will have a ridiculously long wait for a table like we did on our last visit. Not sure the food is worth that kind of wait (2 hours – seriously), particularly is a great food town like Chicago with plenty of other options. I had the BBQ ribs on this visit – tasty, fall off the bone tender. The sides were decent. Our waitress was outstanding.

LOVE IT. My boyfriend had been planning a date for weeks during our vacation/​business trip in Chicago. He raved on and on about the excellent menu choices, a signature dessert, and the thing that swoons me away the most, live jazz.
Main Entrees: Bandera met all those expectations and more. I ordered the daily Fresh Fish with Lemon Butter (the one that comes with crispy rock shrimp, broccoli, and mashed potatoes) and it hit the spot! My favorite part of restaurants and dishes is where there is a variety of tastes and palettes, which this dish definitely had. My boyfriend ordered the tri-​tip & butternut white cheddar enchilada (we always taste each other’s dishes). Very tasty and the meat was perfectly cooked and the enchilada wasn’t too cheesy or filling. Delicious and zesty sauce. I would order this next time!
Dessert: Then the dessert came and of course we made room for the House-​Made Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches. Never had anything like it and this dessert immediately jumped onto my top 5 of desserts tasted over the years. You could practically hear my boyfriend and I raving over this dessert and how great it tasted. Definitely something to come back for!
Ambiance/​Service/​Music: The service was excellent. The waiter was friendly to when I realized they forgot to accommodate to an allergy (scallions in the mashed potatoes), and brought out a new side dish right away, scallion-​free. The waiters cracked jokes to us and made it a good time. Music came out halfway into our dinner and even though we were sitting right next to the band, I was still able to carry on normal level conversation over a glowing view of North Michigan Ave’s bustling streets.
Tip for ambiance, no athletic wear or shirtless sleeves. Since this surprise date included trekking 5 hours prior in Chicago, we dressed for the exercising and were slightly under-​dressed. Was still seated but will keep this in mind for next time!
Overall: An excellent experience and date and I seriously applaud my boyfriend for finding this place. Not only was the food delicious, but it was complimented by great service, classy music, and a true ambiance of the city. Will need to return once in Chicago again!

Nice soft jazz. That is all I can say nice about this place!
Our last night in Chicago and we wanted a burger. After waiting an hour for a table. They were out of burgers!!! I had the prime rib at a much higher price, to save the night but VERY disappointed! Well this is embarrassing. The prime rib sandwich was very good and the table was served wonderful cornbread. The hostess came to our table as we were waiting for the bill and informed us that the meal was on the house due to there over site so refreshing to find a restaurant with credibility! Please go here you will not regret it

Bandera is an amazing restaurant– perfect for both lunch and dinner.
First of all, I absolutely love the atmosphere. It’s cozy and quaint. And although it does get busy, there are usually enough tables during lunch time to be seating quickly.
And for the food– it’s delicious. I’ve had both the Macho salad and Ahi Tuna salad and they were incredible. The dressings had great flavor and everything was so flavorful. Can’t wait to try more things! (Like their famous cornbread)

By far the best restaurant in downtown Chicago. Prime location right on the Mag Mile. One of the main reasons we spend weekends in the city is because of Bandera. The Beef Ribs are top notch. Literally fall off the bone. And the oreo dessert is to die for. Great service. Friendly staff. Great location. Awesome food. I have nothing bad to say about this place.

I was introduced to Bandera from a person that frequented one of the Bandera restaurants in California. Bandera is everything that you would expect from a restaurant on Michigan Ave. Bandera is trendy, busy, pricey, and you are guaranteed to wait an extended period of time no matter the day of the week.
From the moment I walked into Bandera I was in love with the overall vibe and décor of the place. The hostess was very knowledgeable and gave us a little history on all of the artwork in restaurant while we waited for a table. The wait time on the Sunday evening we went was roughly 45 minutes but with the bar packed we just had to awkwardly stand around. I would love to see a place like Bandera have a larger bar area.
Once we got a table everything that followed was fantastic. The pianist had just returned once we got to our table and played beautifully. Our waitress was friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be at work. The food is indeed pricey but so delicious. Everyone at my table had great things to say about everything they ordered.
If you decide to visit Bandera you have to try one of the desserts. I had the chance to try the House-​Made Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich. It was strongly recommended by one of the people I was with so I have to pass on the recommendation!

This is truly one of the only restaurants that I miss and begin to crave after several months of not eating there!
There rotisserie chicken is by far the best I’ve ever had. I’m not sure what they do to it but it is always juicy and delicious.
However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how good their roast beef sandwich is as well.
I typically eat here for lunch and try to find someone to share the chicken and beef with so I get my ‘fix’ of both favorites.
In regards to the chicken, I think it’s a toss up as to whether to have the sandwich or the Macho Salad (w/​chicken)?! One of the most difficult decision of my life.
The atmosphere is comfortable. Get there early if you are trying to grab a lunch during the busy holiday season. Hey, wait, go when it’s busy and have a drink or two while you wait.

The hubs and I have agreed — we had the best salads we have ever had here. Don’t po-​poo a salad! Do you know how hard it is to make a salad worthy of its own review space? My salad had goat cheese and beets and nuts, chicken and all sorts of other delicious goodness perfectly dressed. I’ve had other versions of this salad — no comparison! The hubs had a chopped salad whose ingredients were so proportioned to the point where every bite was perfect. Girls got burgers with the highest quality ingredients but I. Ant wait to go back and try the corn bread and other goodies that drifted by our table.
We got there at the perfect time but there was a consistent line after that… all worth it! We would definitely go back!

A terrific, trendy spot on Michigan, Bandera (while a little hard to find), boasts some delicious farm to table food.
The iron skillet cornbread was sumptuous, filled with jalapenos and cheddar and an easy rival for other cornbreads in Texas. The ribs/​chicken combo meal with the coleslaw and fries made for an incredible entrée. I believe the ribs exceeded the chicken in tenderness and flavor, while the coleslaw was delicious without being overwhelming. To finish off the meal, the home made oreo ice cream sandwich was suitably epic, with delightful chocolate ganache compounded with crispy disks of oreo and cookies-​n-​cream ice cream.
Needless to say the walk back to the hotel was much slower than the walk to Bandera, but it was easily my favorite meal in Chicago (on this particular trip).

We went here for lunch because we just finished up the architecture tour on the river. Unfortunately, we did a couple of laps around the building looking for the place, because the door is not very conspicuous. (Look for the door to men’s wearhouse.)
Once you get inside and go up the stairs, the restaurant is very nice. We started off trying their skillet cornbread. The only downside to it is that you could eat the entire pan yourself. It hot and delicious with a bunch of good things in it.
After demolishing the cornbread, we figured we would go light and get some salads. It turns out the salads are enormous. The kale salad stood 2 ft tall in front of me… at least that is how I remember it. Lucky for me, it was 2 ft of goodness. The kale was chopped up very nice and the chicken inside was incredible. It was some type of want rotisserie chicken and there was a ton of it mixed into the salad. Typically salads are unremarkable, but this was one of the best ones I have ever had.
I would definitely recommend going here just to enjoy some cornbread and salad.

I loved the Macho Salad, seared ahi tuna salad, iron skillet cornbread, prime rib and banana cream pie. We split all of these items and everyone at the table was very pleased and didn’t leave hungry!
The prime rib was huge and came with a great juice and creamy horseradish sauce to enhance it along with mashed potatoes.
The cornbread had jalapeño in it which gave it a nice kick and was a very generous size.
The salads had great dressings and unique flavors.
This place has great service, ambiance and Jazz music on Saturday night. We ordered wine from the nice bar area while waiting for our table.
Our table had a nice view of Michigan Ave.
This place isn’t that obvious from the street level since its on the 2^nd floor but if you use your iPhone it isn’t too difficult to find.
If you want a tasty steak, great salads and wine then this is the perfect place!

I love the atmosphere of this place, which is intimate and fairly dark, with spotlights aimed at the tables rather than the diners. The live jazz is just the right volume, giving the place a supper club feel.
The menu is similar to Hillstone’s and Houston’s, which isn’t surprising since it’s affiliated. A couple of our favorite starters from there appear here. The spinach artichoke dip is creamy, and served with sturdy tortilla chips perfect for dipping. Also included are sour cream and a salsa with just a hint of heat. House smoked salmon is very smokey, delicate and flaky, served with crisp toast and a mayo and dill based spread.
Bandera’s Caesar salad isn’t for purists, as it uses kale, and the croutons are made from a fairly sweet corn bread. Ours were heavily over-​dressed, but when the waitress noticed we weren’t enjoying them she immediately had them remade with about one fifth the dressing, and they were much better.
A house specialty is the enchilada, which is available with steak or a la carte. It’s a bit unusual in that it’s stuffed with squash, but is quite creamy, cheesy and satisfying.
Much of the menu is given over to burgers and other sandwiches, so the price for dinner and a show can be quite reasonable.
Service was super attentive without being intrusive.
Waits can be long, so reserve ahead, despite the fact that their reservation system doesn’t work as well as opentable.
This is definitely a great place for live jazz in a supper club atmosphere.

One of my friends suggested that we have lunch at Bandera’s while I was in town. It’s a Hillstone restaurant so if you’ve been to Houston’s then you already know Bandera. At least it’s from the same American/​steakhouse bloodline.
We sat in a booth near the front of the restaurant overlooking the Mag Mile. There were lots of large windows letting in a lot of light. A large mirror behind our booth made it even brighter. There were no empty tables in our section. Despite the fact that it was busy, our server didn’t rush us through our meal which was great.
I wasn’t ready for their Iron Skillet Cornbread to be so good! They brought it out to the table in a mini cast iron skillet. It was a Tex-​Mex style cornbread with corn and jalapenos incorporated into the batter. I usually don’t like anything but plain cornbread but their version was delicious.
I ordered the Rotisserie Lamb Sandwich, thinly carved slices of lamb with roasted peppers and arugula stacked on crusty bread. I had them take it back to the kitchen and cook it longer. I am not Team Pink Meat. I like my meat cooked very well even if it is «overcooked» by restaurant standards.
When it came back out it was still very tender so I didn’t need the cup of au jus at all. The arugula on the sandwich was coated in a light vinaigrette or lemon juice that added a bright flavor. The side dish Corn on the Cob was buttery with a nice kick from seasoned salt.
The convenient-​to-​downtown location, sunny interior, flavorful food, attentive but unfussy service made Bandera’s a great pick for our meetup.