Bernie’s Lunch & Supper

I really like this place, and I really hope they’re still working the kinks out because it would be a shame to not go back because of the issues we’ve had everything we’ve gone.
I’ve been to happy hour twice since it opened. The happy hour menu is fantastic: $ 5 for tons of drink options and food, and lasts til 7, AND on a gorgeous rooftop. What more could you want? BUT both times, getting up to the roof has been a nightmare! They claim to be at capacity and will only let one person in at a time, even when there are empty tables, and the rooftop is about 50% full.
Yesterday we had a friend arrive at 3:30, before happy hour started, to make sure she got us a table for 4. When I showed up at 4:15, it took a lot of explaining and convincing for the hostess to let me upstairs because of «capacity», regardless of my friend literally having 3 empty chairs for us at the table. The rooftop has at least 6 empty tables (I have a picture for proof) and the bar area was barely crowded. When the next of our party showed up, te hostess refused to let her up to our table, and my friend had to go downstairs to talk to them about letting her in. Our final friend showed up around 5, and same thing. When I went downstairs to get her, I got into an argument with the hostess becaus Mage absolutely refused to let her in. WE HAD A TABLE FOR 4! I tried to explain that wthe literally had her empty seat tray and she said something like if they let her up, the Fire Marshall would come. Again, I took a picture to show the empty tables and how not full it was. It took 15 minutes for the nasty, rude, hostess to roll her eyes and finally just let my friend in. I get not letting people in because of the fire code, but don’t be rude, especially when you’re nowhere near capacity and we’ve had a table for this exact purpose.
Don’t even get me started on how long it took to get drinks, and the fact that my friend ordered to well vodka drinks and they used top shelf and charged her for that.
Bernies, you’re adorable and have great happy hour… Don’t ruin it with this ridiculousness.

Happy hour here was great! Service was definitely on the slow side, but really fun place to go!

Had such a fabulous experience at Bernie’s! Came here on a whim with two girlfriends on one of the first nice, warm days in the city and was able to score a rooftop table– much due to the help of the lovely staff here– they were so accommodating and seated us as soon as a table was available. The downstairs dining room is lovely, but the roof is where it’s at. As far as food goes– it’s great! We ate a variety of things, but would definitely recommend the avocado toast and strozzapeti pasta! Both were so delicious. We washed it all down with a bottle (okay, two) of albarino and soaked in the sunshine and people watched! Overall, a great place to add to a list of terrific rooftops and food. Will definitely be returning!

Brunch + Rooftop sounds like a total win to me!
I had the pleasure to have brunch here recently with a group of 10 friends. We were lucky enough to get a group table on the rooftop for our early Sunday afternoon meal. Their brunch menu is pretty lite on option but the options look pretty good. I went with the Fried Egg Sandwich which was decent and a pretty nice portion. The sandwich included avocado, bacon, cheddar & hot sauce on farm bread. I washed everything down with some grapefruit mimosas… nice!
View is nice… not too high up but still nice and good for pics! Music playlist was nice as they had some hits rocking. Servers were more than awesome and took great care of us. I would like to come here at night and check out the scene here then.

I am so sad to be writing this review. I visited Bernie’s twice in one week– the first with family and the second with friends.
The first time, the service was sub par. I went with a group, made a reservation on the roof, and arrived on time. We were promptly escorted up (which was great!) but we were disappointed when our waitress knew absolutely nothing about the menu. They were out of the wine we chose and the beer one of us chose, and it took 45 minutes (we timed it) to get our final wine selection.
For some reason, I came back.
This time, we made a reservation with friends. It took ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES to be seated. We were naturally upset, but also understood — they were busy, right? Upon asking for the manager, and sharing our story in hopes of something (anything!), he shared no resolutions or sincere apologies. So much so, that one point, I said, «so pretty much were shit out of luck?» And he said «yes.»
I am so disappointed because I love the food and drinks, but this was ridiculous. I will not be back.

After reading all the rave reviews posted by a few of my favorite bloggers, I suggested Bernie’s for brunch a few weeks ago. I made a noon reservation for Sunday brunch for two friends and I. I arrived late, but my friends were seated, and had already chatted with our waiter. When I arrived, he came back to the table and took our drink orders – we all ordered coffee. Our waiter was friendly and excited that it was our first time visiting the restaurant. He told us a lot about the sister restaurant, Gus’s Chicken, which I thought was funny since we weren’t dining there, but alas, back to Bernie’s.
I ordered the Croque Madame, and though I’d never had one (at least not one that was memorable), I figured I couldn’t go wrong, as I like all the ingredients. My friends had the egg sandwich and the wedge salad. When my dish arrived, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of gruyère that was melted on top of the sandwich. It was drowning in a cheese sauce and though it didn’t make the sourdough bread soggy, it was just too much.
My friend enjoyed her salad, but my friend who ordered the egg sandwich was also a bit overwhelmed in how to eat it, as it was so large. He ended up taking it apart and eating it with a fork, but he seemed to enjoy it.
What was perhaps the most concerning was the amount of time that we had to wait after we’d received our orders. Our water glasses were empty and our coffees were cold before our waiter ever returned to our table. I understand that we weren’t the only table he was taking care of, but it was a bit unnecessary to have to wait as long as we did.
Overall, I would go back to Bernie’s and get something entirely different at brunch, and I’d even try dinner there, as many items on the menu sounded good. I’d just suggest easy on the sauce for the Croque, cheaper coffee, and more attentive service.

Come for happy hour!!! It lasts until 7pm and the $ 5 drinks and apps are such an amazing deal. The hummus was so delicious we ordered another serving. The burger is pretty damn good as well. The dessert… Heavenly (brownie that we subbed sea salt gelato for the banana) Can’t wait to come back and sit outside.

This is not Girl and the Goat. Bernie’s Lunch and Supper does not play around with a dozen fancy ingredients to make some new and innovative combination of flavors. Instead, chef Zack Sklar’s relatively compact menu offers simple, delicious food — executed perfectly.
Example: the roasted chicken with patatas bravas was perfection. Chicken was ridiculous tender and juicy, the potatoes were crispy on the outside with a very tasty tomato sauce.
I don’t want to talk about the ambience (which is lively), nor the staff (which was friendly and helpful), nor the the cocktail list (which was excellent). I just want to implore you to come here to get perfectly executed, deliciously simple food.

You know what’d be better than happy hour at Bernie’s? An entire weekend at Bernie’s! This place, though. Insert heart emoji here.
We walked in @ 5:15 on a beautiful, sunny, 65 degree Thursday evening. It was empty inside and I mean EMPTY. I asked for a table for two in the patio and they said all the tables upstairs were reserved but they had space @ the upstairs bar. I decided to give it a go. The hostess took me up there. There were like 10 open tables and no seats at the bar. I then asked the server, «umm, ALL of these tables are for reservations?» She said yes. Dumbfounded, I was like, wtf? and agreed to go back downstairs to sit and eat in a completely empty restaurant. But the relentless Cuban b*tch in me wasn’t going to give up that easily!
I opened up my OpenTable app and saw that there was a 5:30 reso available. I booked that ish with the quickness and walked back up to the server. I told her that I now had a reservation and that I’m requesting to sit at one of the tables on the patio. She laughed at my slick move. Lol. I get what I want! This pissed me off because I know damn well they could have seated before I made the OpenTable reso. But the reviews are so good here that I was determined.
Okay, now to the important stuff:
DRINKS — white sangria: MUST. best I’ve ever had, hands down. And for $ 5 (during HH) I sipped on quite a few that night! Great deal.
FOOD — lamb hummus: DO IT. that bread alone is superb.
Pan con tomate: PASS. Not bad just nothing extraordinary.
Chicken: WOW. rarely and I mean RARELY do I order poultry @ a pricey restaurant. I feel like poultry is for pu**ies in these instances. But their chicken, man, oh man! WOW. just wow. MUST ORDER. So juicy and flavorful — the only way this girl eats her meat bruhaha (insert dirty joke here).
Service was slow as we had a server-​in training. Pain in the butt but I felt bad for her so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Crowd was awesome! I would say mostly everyone here (during HH at least) were in their 30s or 40s, looking to relieve work-​related stress, in business attire. I loved that it was a sophisticated, older crowd. No 21 year olds welcome. Ha.
In short, just go! Get that damn chicken thigh in your mouth STAT.

Bernie’s is awesome! They have, what I consider the best Happy Hours (from 4 to 7) in River North. I uploaded a photo of the menu. The food is different and outstanding. Order the Lamb Hashwi. It’s like Hummus on steroids… or steroids (in the form of delicious lamb) on Hummus! Their rooftop patio is big and offers outstanding views of the city. The patio is partially covered so it can also be enjoyed even if the weather is less than great. Bernie’s location is in the heart of River North, so it is definitely a popular spot. The patio fills up fast, so get there early if you want a seat.

I came here on a gorgeous Sunday morning for Brunch with some girlfriends and we had a nice time.
To start– the roof deck is killllleeerrrrr! It is so gorgeous upstairs, we could have sat there all day. We were seated at a large 4 top, 3 people to start and then a couple more joined later.
We started with mimosas, and we did not receive menus. Our waitress came over and asked us very nicely if we wouldn’t mind moving to a smaller table, they had a larger party coming in that would fit better at our table, no problem, we were happy to move. She told us as she helped us move that she would send us a complimentary round of drinks for the trouble, awesome. And the new table was in a better spot, so that was great.
Once we moved, it was like we didn’t exist. Our drinks never came and our water was empty, we were chatting and didn’t notice at first until I looked at my phone and realized it had been 25 minutes since we moved tables and we still didn’t have drinks or menus.
I went up to the nearest waiter and asked for the manager, they immediately came over and apologized for the error, the waitress told our new server that we were his table, but the new sever forgot we were in his section. Even after this it still took a bit for menus and drinks to arrive. We were a table of girls, we would have already downed about 4 mimosas each at this point, so they delay was a bit costly to them.
Our new server was a bit off, not a bad attitude, but just socially awkward. He had a difficult time taking our orders, didn’t have any suggestions for us, and he wasn’t very fun. Not to be too picky, but come on, it was a sunny day and a table full of girls that want a boozy brunch, have fun with it.
Now for the food, it was good, I ordered the fried egg sandwich, the bread was way too greasy, and it was wayyyyyy too hard for an egg sandwich. I couldn’t actually take a bite of the sandwich, I had to cut it up because it was so greasy and too hard to bite with out egg splattering all over. Also it was super messy. But the flavors were nice.
Overall it was a nice time, we’ll def be back for the roof deck, but the experience wasn’t great. I think they may be relatively new, so maybe just a few more tries to get it right.

Found this place while looking for brunch options in River North and I can’t believe I haven’t «bumped» into this place before. The food was simply amazing, it’s a mix of mediterranean, spanish and french food, their warm pita with hummus and lamb was delicious, decent portion sizes and prices.
The restaurant inside is gorgeous, nice décor and ambience and service was superb considering it was a busy Sunday brunch. They had a full bar and the usual brunch coktails (mimosa and bloody mary’s). They also have a rooftop which was closed (it was cold outside), will definitely like to check it out some time.

Went here for Happy Hour on Friday. They take reservations so that was great! Unfortunately, their rooftop wasn’t open yet… even though it was 70 in Chicago all weekend. Seriously disappointing.
We were seated right away. We had to ask for the Happy Hour Menu, which seemed odd. The Draft Cocktail is a sangria. Super flavorful and delicious! I switched over to the Cocktail of the Day which was a Smirnoff Moscow Mule and it tasted like water. Disappointing. The beer choices are really cheap for Happy Hour.
We also tried the Lamb Hashwi, which tasted like hummus with ground meat. The pita/​bread that it came with was the highlight. Also really enjoyed the Pan Con Tomate. Fries were pretty average.
Overall, great Happy Hour specials. Great vibes! Decent service. Just wish they’d open up their rooftop already!

When I was informed that we were meeting at Bernie’s for dinner, I hoped to God that we weren’t meeting at the sports bar across from Wrigley. Thankfully, we were not.
I used to ride the bus by here all the time, last I recall it had been a recording studio for awhile before it was vacant. They’re really transformed the space putting in windows and brightening it up. This place is billed as Mediterranean, but it’s not what one typically thinks of as Mediterranean food.
We started out with a round of drinks. I enjoyed a tequila cocktail, the Fernweh and later a sangria with my dinner. I didn’t like the sangria as much as my cocktail, but it was decent. I will say the cocktail menu is priced on the high side with at least one $ 18 drink. For our meal, we decided to do a variety of small plates; with one pescatarian and one vegetarian in the group, we made some modifications so that we could all try as much as possible.
We ordered the hummus with the lamb on the side, falafel, avocado toast, beets and burrata salad, crudo, cauliflower, and veal meatballs. The best dishes we ate were the hummus, falafel, meatballs (so I’m told), and cauliflower. The «bread» served with hummus and falafel was delicious; I think we all would’ve devoured a basket full of the stuff. The crudo was average with the salad and avocado toast being C dishes at best. The avocado toast was bland; a dish I make myself when I’ve got some avocado I need to use up, I think I do a better job. The common refrains heard while we ate the salad were «where are the beets?» «did we get any burrata?!» For a salad called beets and burrata, both ingredients were noticeably scant. If you’re considering this dish, I recommend you pass on it.
To finish up our meal, we got two desserts — the bananas foster sundae and the warm cookies with sea salt caramel gelato. Neither dish was perfect, but the cookies/​gelato was the stronger of the two. We were warned the sundae was small, but for $ 8 it was a joke of a portion. I had a small taste and it was good, but again the price was mismatched to the portion. The cookies were an assortment of chocolate chip and peanut butter; we got 6 cookies and our table devoured them with gusto. The peanut butter ones went so fast, I didn’t get to taste them. The gelato wasn’t great. One of my favorite flavors of gelato and ice cream is a sea salt based one; this lacked the pop of saltiness I’ve come to expect.
Overall, Bernie’s is a solid dining experience. It’s not a place I’d rave about and say is a must go, but the service was great and they’re putting out some solid food and drinks. 3.5 stars

Came on a weekday with a group of gals and definitely enjoyed the food and environment at Bernie’s. They have great happy hour food & drink specials with everything under $ 5. The lamb hashwi, which was essentially hummus and lamb schwarma with toasted pita, was a really great app to start with.
Other highlights of the menu were:
— The sweet potato gnocchi: gahhhhhhh, I am not usually a gnocchi person (low on my list of favorite pastas) but this gnocchi was like eating clouds (and combined with the mushrooms and truffle sauce, DAMN). Favorite dish of the night.
— Veal meatballs: I am always on the quest for the perfect meatball and this one was pretty fantastic. The meat was tender and flavorful and paired with a great red sauce.
Our server was pretty cool too and contributed to the overall laid-​back vibe of the restaurant. The space is versatile and would be great for friends/​parents/​bringing your boo out.
Would definitely come back to try more of the menu at Bernie’s! Oh and they are based out of Detroit too.

PERFECT for a group brunch date. Still heard dinner is better. But brunch was awesome. We had a group of 10 on a Sunday morning with reservations– which I do recommend making ahead of time! We saw groups with kids, groups celebrating a baby shower, so many families and friends gathered! Nestled in River North– I was happy to enter the ambiance of natural lights, beautiful brass displays, and teal furniture. With a hipster 50’s feel with vintage décor, the restaurant was so inviting. Our waiter began talking about the chef, the restaurant group, Detroit and it’s Mediterranean influences brought to Chicago, and his history of working as a server and you can see his delight for serving us and repeating the menu on both sides of the table in the loud and chatty restaurant.
Don’t let the ‘small plates’ and ‘large plates’ fool you on size– all the plates are graciously perfect in size the large is like extra large and the small is like a good medium size entrée. We got lamb hashwi which seems to be popular in other Unilocal reviews for the table. The small minced pieces of lamb were paired perfectly with rich and velvety hummus and soft and thick pita bread. The potatoes bravas added a homey comfort as we also shared that at the table. I got the ciabatta toast with guacamole and it was nice, heavy in a good way, and a healthy way to start my morning. Service was excellent! I thought it would be slow reading the other Unilocal reviews but as they are a new restaurant and working on their perks– they may be getting better! A great visit.

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but the interior is beautiful and this place has a roof deck
Food:
Oysters — delicious and best dish on the menu
Shrimp and grits — very good
Omelette with cheese and potatoes on the side — good
Pan tomate — ok
Torrija — delicious

Had a girls’ brunch at Bernie’s this past weekend, and it was probably the most disappointing meal I’ve had in quite some time.
BL&S has been on our lists for a long time. So, we all decided to give it a go this past Sunday. We met for brunch, had reservations, and were excited about the prospects.
The excitement quickly turned to frustration, as the meal was truly just a comedy of errors.
I’ll start with some good: the restaurant has a great atmosphere. I loved the open kitchen in the back, the hip industrial-​ish interior, the bar. That’s where the good ends, unfortunately.
Our waiter was kind, albeit a little slow. The four of us ordered a smattering of everything on the menu, which I thought was kind of limited, and the folly began.
Drinks came out fast, but they were not – for the duration of the two hours we sat there – replenished. 90 minutes in, we had to stop someone and ask for more coffee/​refills on our cocktails.
My wife ordered a latte, but she was told that only decaf lattes were available that day.
We ordered fries, which were plentiful and came out relatively quickly.
Then, we waited nearly an hour for the rest of our food, growing hungry and impatient. There were lots of staff in the wings, but there didn’t seem to be much attention being paid to the tables.
We saw tables seated after us get their food. And we waited.
Finally, food started coming. First, we got my friend’s omelet, which she ordered without cheese. It had cheese. She sent it back and it wouldn’t reappear for 25 minutes, despite our asking about it numerous times.
I should mention that the omelet had sat under the plate warmer for a good 10+ minutes, which the runner admitted, flippantly.
We got the bacon. It was limp, room temperature, and super fatty. Sent it back.
We got the fruit and whipped ricotta, based on the waiter’s recommendation, and the fruit was far from prime. Unripe pineapple. Citrus.
We got the burger, which my friend asked to be served on a salad. The waiter even repeated and confirmed her request. It wasn’t served on – or with – a salad. They corrected that pretty quickly.
We got the tomato bread with cheese and ham. It came out without ham. «Doesn’t this have serrano ham on it?» I asked the manager who’d begun trying to troubleshoot our order. «Oh yeah, let me get you some!» She replied. Minutes later, she brought ham on a plate.
We got the French toast, which they forgot to bring and which arrived 10 minutes after all of the other food. It was room temperature, too.
The general manager finally arrived at the end of our meal, and he was very apologetic. At that point, though, so many things had gone wrong – and without much graciousness or acknowledgement from the other staff – that our brunch was spoiled, and we were all convinced we wouldn’t be back.
I have to say, the most disappointing factor was that, even once all of the food arrived – and was corrected – it was underwhelming. At the end of the folly and waiting, I wish we would have at least been rewarded with a delicious meal.
In all fairness, they did end up comping a good portion of our meal, but we still paid around $ 60 for what was essentially a wasted 2 hours, and we left hungry.
I hate to write such a bad review of a new-​ish place, but our experience was truly packed-​full of just about every single thing that could have possibly gone wrong.

wow… I havent had a dining experience this bad in a long time… it was awful. I felt like I was being punked!
Walked in and stood at the front and watched at least 5 servers walk by me without acknowledgement. Finally got the attention of the host and got seated.
Its LOUD in here, which is fine. The other thing is… its FREEZING in here because they dont have a revolving door and they dont have one of those little tents to block the door… so every time anyone walked in or out, a cold gust of wind rushed in. We were all the way in the back of the restaurant and I could still feel the wind every time.
I know, I am being picky, but this place was so bad, I just have to say everything.
The service… although our server was really nice, he was not good. Extremely slow.
We went for brunch. This is a Mediterranean cuisine right??? Nothing on the brunch menu remotely resembled any medi place I have ever been too. They had american, spanish, just about everything else… nothing said Mediterranean. Complete disconnect.
They only had decaf lattes… this is brunch correct?
We ordered a ton of food.
Fries to start. Massive plate. Nothing wrong here. Just took 20 mins to get the app plate.
No one came and offered more coffee, more drinks, nothing.
After an hour… we finally received our food…
Burger that we had requested a side salad. No salad. 10 more mins to get the salad.
Omelette no cheese. There was cheese on it and it had literally been under the warming lamps for at least 15 mins because I saw it sitting up there as I was getting hangry. The crispy potatoes were the same as the fries. There was no lettuces like the menu described. Sent it back to remake and it literally took them 22 mins to get scrambled eggs back to me. I got to eat alone because everyone had finished their food by the time my sad plate came out.
Pan con tomate. Good but it was missing the jamon… after about 10mins, they brought a few slices to place on top.
Seasonal fruit with ricotta and honey. The seasonal fruit. was not seasonal. The ricotta tasted very sour. Grapefruit was juicy. Very ok.
Bacon. Sad, shishy, soggy pieces that looked like they should have been cooked at least 5 mins longer. Sent back immediately and didnt want a replacement.
French Toast. Just forgotten. When we mentioned it… they said it would be right up. 15 mins later we got it and it was very mediocre.
This place is a complete disaster. The crazy thing was that it wasnt even that busy in there! I saw at least 2 – 3 open tables the entire time we were there.
The GM did come over and profusely apologize.
They did end up comping a bunch… but still so awful. After they dropped the check, we then had to flag someone down to actually take our credit cards to pay.
2hours and 15 mins had passed.
When I got home, I ordered delivery because brunch was so bad and I was still starving!

It’s funny. I drive down Orleans all the time and never really noticed this building. What did it used to be? Was it even there? It would have to have been…it’s old. Oh yeah. I know. At one time it was a strip club and most recently it was a photography studio painted all black like it wanted to just disappear.
Well those days are gone cuz Bernie’s Lunch and Supper is there now, painted white and shouting «Look at me…look at me»!! And with the cute interior and fabulous roof top, you should do more than look, you need to stop in and enjoy some friendly service, very good food and people from the neighborhood who are clearly thrilled that Bernies is in town.
I brought a gang of 10 for brunch so we had the opportunity to try most of the brunch menu as well as some of their fabulous crafted cocktails. I sat at the bar to wait for the group and had a spicy Bloody Mary which was rich in horseradish and packed a wallop.
The brunch menu has a good mixture of breakfast and lunch options. If you order nothing else, order the maple sticky bun. I am still drooling for that thing which we cut up into tiny pieces to share with my inner voice screaming the whole time, «It’s mine…It’s mine»!
The winners at our table seemed to be the fried egg sandwich with avocado and parmesan, the croque madame (although there was a little too much sauce on mine), the burger, the eggs benedict and the torrija (a take on fresh toast but better!). Each is served with a salad and each is a very good sized portion.
The specialty cocktails all come with cute names (so cute I can’t remember any of them or was it because I had too many of them? Hmmmm), and we sat at the bar after brunch to catch up while the guys watched the game on the TV that was there.
The ambiance is light with huge factory style windows letting in plenty of natural light. And the open kitchen in the back as well as all the little touches (like the belt buckles on the bar shelving) let me know that there was a ton of thought that went into building Bernie’s.
Parking on this side of Orleans is always easy so if you drive you should be able to find street parking. And I’m hopeful that they have a vestibule on order as we were seated by the door on a perfect Indian Summer day, but I would hate to be in that same seat in January! And the prices are reasonable, brunch with drinks ran about $ 30 a person.
Now if I could only get my car to stop trying to turn into Bernies to get another one of those maple sticky buns. .. .…hmmm. .. .I see a parking spot. Perhaps I’ll just stop in just this once.