Cyrano’s Cafe On The River

This is s great spot to ride your bike to and have a refreshing drink along the river. It’s just lovely. Can’t say much about the food because I normally don’t eat here… but the ambience and sights are fantastic.

2 stars only for location. While their food was decent n all, I would never go to this place because of the hygiene issue.
Toilet is in such a bad condition that you’ll throw up as you enter. There is no water so way to wash hands.
One filthy anecdote — A guy takes key from the cook (who is barehanded by the way), uses washroom, doesn’t wash hands (as there was no water), hands back the key to the cook, cook takes the key back and goes back to cooking! Eat at your own risk! :)

Cyrano’s is on the river near the CAF (and other tour group) boat docks. If you have time before your boat tour, it’s a perfect location for sipping a drink on the banks of the river watching the river traffic. Food is bar food quality but fine for a quick snack, drink or ice cream. Although it is French themed, it’s not exactly haute cuisine. Service is a little slow, so account for that if you have a boat to catch.

Great setting as others have mentioned. The service was pleasant, if a bit slow. My wife had the rabbit rillette and I had the cheese plate. The cheese was mediocre and the rabbit tasteless. But the worst part was the bread! No self respecting Frenchman would serve such awful bread. I kept trying to remember the French for «millions of Frenchmen are spinning in their graves». With one glass of wine and the above food, the $ 35.00 bill added insult to injury.

The scenery/​atmosphere is excellent. Great place to grab a cocktail and people watch. The sandwiches are the biggest rip off. I ordered the roast beef with blue cheese spread. What I got was 1piece of thinly sliced beef on a large baguette with lots of lettuce for filler. The chips they served with the sandwich were disgusting. I expect more for $ 10+.

Nice place to have a drink and enjoy the summer weather. I haven’t eaten here — just a couple drinks. They are dog friendly, which I always appreciate. I can stop by for a drink while I am taking my pug for a stroll on the Riverwalk.

Nice place to sit and enjoy the Chicago River on a summer day! I had a cheese plate, served with four pieces of bread, which was mediocre at best and a glass of wine, maybe 5 ounces served in a plastic cup ($ 10). The wine was very good but very over priced.

FINALLY got to exploring the new river walk. Husband and I did a run along it and we stopped for some drinks and a quick bite to eat with our three friends at this place. There are a few tables located outside with a wonderful view of the river. Service was pleasant but sloooow. Perhaps it was like that because I only saw one guy waiting on tables. We got a couple bottles of red wine which were good. Food… not so much. I had a salad that sounded better than what it actually was. It was just mixed greens with a couple of grilled peaches, grapes, little chicken, a few nuts and green beans, and almost zero of the honey mustard vinaigrette. Def not worth what I paid for. All in all, it’s a good place for a drink or two, not recommended for dinner.

We ordered the escargot and the goose rillette with foie gras and Chardonnay. The escargot had a lot of unnecessary nonsense. It is lacking a salty garlic taste and the bread is mushy. The rillette was good only after we requested a baguette. The, again, mushy onion bread was not the right thing to be served with the rillette. The worst? Was a four ounce plastic glass of wine for $ 10. Tasted good but 4oz. Ridiculous! If you have lunch here, my recommendation… burger and fries, maybe a hot dog. Skip the way overpriced wine

Sat for 20 minutes before being acknowledged. Several customers recognized before us that arrived well after we did. Spent an hour there just to order a glass of wine. The Malbec was rancid. And we were overcharged for the beer that was ordered.

We arrived, sat by the water, all good. Our waiter took our drink order, then immediately tried to take our menus. I guess he didn’t want us to order food. We finished our drinks, after 20 minutes he still never returned to our table. We had to hunt the server down to pay our bill.

This is a wonderful spot along the Chicago River. Enjoy watching the boats go by with the Chicago cityscape in the background. Order a bottle of wine and appetizers and you will have a relaxing afternoon. It is one of my favorite places in Chicago in the summertime.

I wish we would have found this place earlier. We were staying at the Swissotel and Cyrano’s is right across the street. We went in the summer and it was incredibly humid, so it was nice to find a shady spot to relax next to the river. Aside from the super cute scenery, it is just okay. The wine options are EXTREMELY limited. It is a «seat yourself» kind of place, so after we asked a server if a table was open (because it was dirty) it took about 15 – 20 minutes before someone came to check on us. Unfortunately the gentleman who came to take our order spoke very poor english (sounded like he might be french), so it was difficult to have any questions we had about the menu answered. We decided to go for a few chilled glasses of white wine and a cheese platter but they were out of the cheese platter we wanted. Once our wine came out I was a little surprised to find that it was in a plastic cup, but okay… I could understand with being next to the river and having no safety. It was just a little strange. We did enjoy relaxing by the river and watching all the boats cruise by, but i would not order any serious food from here.

The only thing that’s good there is the view. We waited about 15 min for our server to come and another ten to order. He was nice, but slow. I ordered the cheese plate big mistake!!! It comes in a jar and it didn’t look like cheese it looked like Shi% in a jar. Pretty sure it was not olives, cheese, oil… I posted a picture. Not to mention bottled water is 5 bucks!!! They also seen to have no problem with letting people smoke while there, that just made the food that much better, Haaaaaaaaaaa. If you go just drink wine!!!

Hahahaha do coffee drinks on their menu means coffee or iced coffee. Apparently they once had actual coffee drinks but the machine broke. The selection isn’t great. In short, the location is about all it has going for it. Service is nice enough. It’s right by urban kayaks and good for while you wait for a kayak river tour.

Great location, terrible food and over priced. Do yourself a favor, if you are getting on the architectural boat tour eat before you get there. They have a monopoly down on the river in that area. That’s why it’s busy, not because the food is good. Brats are the cheap white crap you find grocery store, the step down from Johnsonville. Order a drink if you do go that’s all there good for but you will pay for it. They sell drinks on the boat FYI

The only reason we stopped here is because we had to use the bathroom. (Paid customers only) So we said, «F it» and decided to get a drink. The food and drinks were really overpriced and the service was extremely slow. I’m giving it a 3 stars because the location is nice and the whole sitting under a tree canopy is relaxing. Plus, you get to watch all the river action and have random people from every boat wave at you. I wouldn’t eat here though. Just enjoy a nice overpriced drink and sit under a tree to cool off.

The location was very nice on the river in the shade. The service was slow, too slow, much slower than it should have been. It was the same slow for all though. The waitress didn’t check to refill our mimosas, lost $ 24 there. Wife had the brat and loved it you can’t get a veal brat in NC, so her craving was satisfied. Alas the waitress didn’t bring her silverware and when asked didn’t return with any so we shared. My salads niciose was described as authentic on the menu, so I had higher hopes than I should. The tuna was said to be flaked but was mushy as it was mixed with the vinaigrette. There were 2 16ths of a hard tomato, 2 moons of cuke, 3 sections of a green bean, 4 olives, 2 egg halves and 2 pieces of red onion, all atop a bed of green leaf lettuce. I am not sure where the chef was from to claim that as authentic but not where I come from.

As a cool spot in the shade in which to enjoy a beer on a hot summer day, Cyrano’s delivered for me.
My companion and I were walking the lakefront one balmy Saturday in July when we rounded the corner onto the river and stumbled upon the shaded setup of this little café. Moments later, we were comfortably seated beneath the trees on the river, enjoying a pair of beers while watching tour boats and kayakers go past.
Judging from the other reviews, apparently we lucked out by not ordering the food, but I walked away happy.

Came here for a drink on a summer evening. While it is nice to sit on the river, the views are nothing spectacular… I’d opt for something like Quay or McCormick and Schmick’s. The service was slow, and boats frequently sounded their horns which became distracting.
Fine for a quick drink, but don’t go out of your way.