KICK

Love love love this place! Of course, you have to appreciate some heat to your food bc it’s spicy but everything we had was delicious! Fries, burgers, steak tartar, and peruvian lomo saltado… YUM! We will be back here again to try more. Plus, the staff and owner were all really nice and welcoming!

Had a great experience at KICK. im a little biased as i like spicy food ;) haha. But in all seriousness, went there on a date and had the steak chimichurri and my date had the island burger. Both were great and had nice spice, but not like spice for sake of heat. but to complement the flavors. service was great as were the drinks. fair prices and nice décor = a definite return visit.

I want to give 5 star rating but I couldn’t eat half my burger. It was too raw. I could taste the rawness. Boo. I ate the edges cuz it was a darn tasty burger. The fries were awesome too. The cheesecake was melted tho, which was disappointing. Perhaps the food in house is better executed when it comes to quality. Maybe I’ll try again.

Super delightful and delicious spicy food! Great beer selection, including hard to find gems on draft. I am a total spice junkie, and am SO happy I have a place I can come to that understands the art of spicy food! It was flavorful with a generous kick that wasn’t too overpowering. The staff was really friendly and accommodating, offering to charge my phone for me when I mentioned it was dead. It’s refreshing to have a new, boutique restaurant in Chicago that isn’t snooty and is subsequently delicious! I can’t wait to go back for more half-​off appetizers at Happy Hour! YUM!

Weather’s nice so we were looking for a local spot with a patio and came across KICK. My husband and I live in the neighborhood and had never been. This place is great! Everyone is very friendly and willing to engage in conversation to talk about the menu and fun facts about the drink list. I tried the Wild and Young drink which I thought was tasty enough to order two! We ordered the corn fritters, kick pickles, artichoke and tomato panzanella (great but heavy on the croutons) and el poblano. No complaints what-​so-​ever! I love the décor of this place and it would be great for a group or just a few people. Inside or outside!

Outstanding! What a gem! A little heat! I’m inclined to appreciate things that are like me: a little spicy and a little fiery.
The décor is dark and sleek but also casual and a bit sporty. It can go either way. We dined on a weeknight and we had the place to ourselves. Combine a chic dark dining room to ourselves with drinks and half price burgers and you pretty much have the perfect recipe for romance. lol.
But worry not, that’s not our only visit. Brunch is also great and the outdoor patio with awesome. Brunch menu has an array of entrees simple and more complex (think egg sandwich on a biscuit to eggs mixed with meats and potatoes and white wine sauce). Burgers were pretty spot on and the fries are spicy and full of heat. Menu is so clever and you can tone down the heat if you let the staff know. Really unique desserts and appetizers too.
Service has always been great. There is a little lounge area inside that is pretty sweet too. Well done.

We wanted to try something new and stopped here. Unfortunately the service was terrible and to be frank, the server was racist. Our group is made up of 9 black and Hispanic ladies. We were blatantly ignored and we waited over 15 minutes for mere water. Once the menus came, she was condescending when responding to our questions. We felt the need to walk out. I hope they do better in the future. Our money is also green.

So i’ll preface this by saying I’m not a big fan of spicy and obviously didn’t put it together that Kick referred to spicy. Almost everything on the menu has some type of spice to it and so I was worried. The bartender was great, and helped me to find a great glass of wine to go with my very limited spice palette. I got the new Van Helsing burger and it was great! My boyfriend loves spicy and pork so naturally he had no problem eating everything. He loved his Poblano pepper burger. We split the crab ballz, which were also fantastic. The drink list is extensive and impressive– we will be back!

I’m kind of obsessed with KICK. Every time I come here, which is often, I uncover yet another favorite. They just unveiled some new menu items and all I can say is DAMN. Most items definitely have a spicy KICK so if you aren’t into that, be sure to let your server know so they can recommend one of the less heated, but equally delectable items.
They just opened their patio so well so definitely stop by for a meal and beverage!

I ordered a turkey burger version of the Catalonian through ubereats. It was so awful that I ate a bite and threw it away. The turkey burger meat tasted very strange, and the thing patty kind of flaked apart in weird layers. Maybe it had been frozen a long time? Not sure but I wasn’t going any further. Also, the fries were very soft in a bad way. The delivery came super fast through ubereats, so I don’t think any of this was because of a lot of time en route.

Came here for my mom’s 45^th Birthday around 7:30pm on a Saturday night (not very busy this time).
The staff was friendly and very patient with our semi large group. The food was flavorful and full of spice. If you are not interested in spicy food, be cautious of the dish you order. Interesting drink options, delicious wine, pretty good/​average beer selection. Small complementary dessert for my mom with candle. Extremely happy with our time there.

I’m a pretty «go with the flow» type of person and I really wanted to like this place as others did… but it’s a big fat NOPE!
Yes, I miss Sola, I wasn’t expecting this to be anything like it, but was interested to see what they did with the space and the menu looked interesting when I looked it up online.
First: didn’t need reservations on a Saturday evening at 7:30. We walked right in. Figured because it was new, that would be why… but after eating there, that might not be the case.
My first take on the space was they transitioned it nicely into a new restaurant, but something about the lighting was harsh and kind of dark without any warmth. I don’t know, it kind of bothered me. The space was supposed to have volcano inspired décor, but I definitely didn’t feel that way upon entering. Had more of a dungeon feel.
We did have a nice experience with waitstaff and the hostess at the door.
Lets get to the food:
My friend and I ordered «shrimp mosca» for appetizer. Pretty good, and had a perfect amount of spice. Came with 5 medium/​small sized shrimp and 3 crispy oval bread slices for $ 12.
I ordered the Island Burger $ 15 (Avocado, grilled pineapple relish and chipotle BBQ glaze.) But I subbed the patty for a chicken breast. My friend had the fuego con carne sandwich $ 15 (Hanger steak, avocado, citrus-​pickled onions, black bean relish and baguette). We were both very disappointed with our meals. The ONLY saving grace were the french fries that were lightly spicy and were cooked perfectly. We pretty much ate fries for dinner and left our sandwiches. We both tasted each others’ entrée, hoping one might be better, but it just wasn’t the case. The Carne de fuego was a cold sandwich that seemed like it was left out at room temperature for awhile. The sandwich was so spicy, it tasted like nothing but eating a freaking pepper. I purposefully added the exact description above next to what we ordered to show that nothing implied how spicy it was. Even though the name might suggest it, nothing implied the amount of spice that was about to be served. It tasted gross and the weird cold/​warm temperature threw us off. Just for the record «carne de fuego» could also mean charbroiled hanger steak, which should have been served warm, to someone reading the menu. Not a pile of room temperature spicy meat that was more like a stew meat if anything.
My island burger with a chicken patty was similar in temperature. It was warmer than the steak sandwich but not hot and not cool. Again it was the temperature of something left out on the counter for a couple hours. It lacked serious creative flavor, and although was less spicy than my friends sandwich, it literally tasted like pineapple bites with some spicy chicken. The sandwich was flat, with hardly any toppings and extremely dissapointing. Our waiter had mentioned when we ordered, how much he liked our two sandwiches and thought it was some of the best items on the menu. If that’s the case, I have no desire to come back.
I was really expecting some top notch creative sandwiches for the price, but instead they were very disappointing. I could imagine that nothing was freshly cooked considering the temperature and everything is just varying levels of the same mysterious spice.
Worth mentioning, but not a deal breaker was the timing of our food was off. We had just started into our appetizers when our entrees were delivered to our tables. No more than a minute later. Although it was only a few minutes till we finished our appetizers and started on our food, it shouldn’t have been why our sandwiches were cold. The fries were the hottest and freshest item on our plates.
Ordered a decent mojito and a Belgium beer on tap. $ 10 each.
1.5 stars for their fries, and friendly workers, and decent digs… but 0.5 stars for their food. Only the appetizer was actually edible.
To the owners: Even with the name like «Kick», you might want to mention the spicy value of your entrees on the menu or have your servers warn patrons of the varying levels of spicyness they are about to order. I love spicy food, but was really thrown when the menu lacked proper description. Especially the steak sandwich. I don’t even know what pepper was used because there was no mention of it. At least I knew my island sandwich had a chipotle based bbq sauce… and even then, that wasn’t even the spice that stood out in flavor.
I won’t be back, even though I really wanted to like this place.

Cool décor, great waitress for brunch today.
Really good mayo with the shrimp po boy.

Overall: Great place for some interesting spicy twists on a variety of foods, along with some great bar options.
The good: The food tasted great. Chicken was very tender and juicy and fresh. If you like spicy, come here. Lots of menu options, both food and drink. The service is very friendly and the décor is pretty neat.
The bad: Music was too loud (they featured a DJ, even though it was only 8). A lot of our party complained it was too spicy, and that the menu should mark items as such. A little expensive.
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁸⁄₁₀
Food: ⁸⁄₁₀

Fantastic service, amazing food! I will absolutely be back!!! My friends and I shared the civichè, steak tartar and the island burger. The starters were unbelievable! Delicious on the palate with a KICK (ha ha). The burger had pineapple, avocado, and an amazing sauce!
Our service was incredible! If you don’t eat here, you are missing out.

If you are a spice lover and looking for good quality dishes, then Kick would be a good start.
We ordered in and despite cold fries and missing tortilla chips w/​our entrée stew, I still could look past and highly recommend.
No complaints about anything we ordered.
The steak tartare was our favorite! Delicious and pop of flavor in each bite. Second favorite would be the green chile pork stew. Amazing flavors with right amount of kick. Would have loved the tortilla and lime which was suppose to come with it but didn’t disappoint.
We also tried the po’ boy and pit fire burger.
Very appetizing.
My rating just based on food but hopefully a dine-​in experience is in the works soon.

Interesting style of spicy latin food. I give them credit for creativity but its lacking total execution and substance.
I started with the corn fritters. It was an fun texture as the whole corn was almost chewy, and the sweet potatoes were shredded. It had a small spice but didn’t bite. The sauce wasn’t additive. I think a sweet chili sauce would have made this dish. Its a starter worth trying.
For my entrée I had the confit chicken sandwich. This was really boring, and if it for the fries, it would have been a disaster. The fries were my favorite item of the whole meal. They were perfectly fried and crunchy with a nice spicy coating. The confit chicken was juicy but lacked flavor except for the overwhelming bitterness of a mostly dark meat sandwich. The onions were basically out of the can, and few and far between. Had there been huge homemade straws it would have added texture and a balancing sweetness. The bbq sauce was there but not detectable in taste. Overall, it needs some major tweaks.
Not a terrible experience, but despite the originality, I don’t need to come back.

Kick is another great «find» that I wish more people would go to. It’s located in the recently closed Sola location — a quick walk from the brown line. We stopped by this past weekend and at 7 pm on a Saturday, they certainly were not crowded. That is so unfortunate given the really good meal we had there.
I was very intrigued by the name of the restaurant b/​c my husband and I love anything with a little spice or «kick.» Our waitress (Katy — who was really good) started by saying that not everything is spicy and off the charts, but it’s more about the flavor of spices there. She said they could add more spiciness to any meal we ordered.
What was also great about Katy was that when we asked her for some items to recommend, she actually provided input. So many times, waitresses will just say «oh — everything is good.» Katy told us in each of the sections what she liked.
We started with ‘Kick’n and Scream’n’ and «bubbly blue» drink. «Kick’n» was more like a margarita but with a nice added touch of ginger beer, while «blue» was a bubbly concoction of deliciousness.
For food — we got the Shrimp Mosca appetizer — which was shrimp in a garlic wine sauce with a baguette for dipping. We could have kept eating the rest of the garlic sauce — it was that good. For entrees, we got the chimchurri steak and peruvian lomo saltado. We asked for a little more spice on both dishes, and while both dishes were really good and tasty, I would have liked just a little more spice or additional jalapenos.
By this point in the meal, we were both full and had no room for desserts — which was fine b/​c none of them really «spoke» to me. To me — this place is more about the appetizers and entrees than the desserts.
I really hope more people discover this place b/​c it’s really a find that I hope to return to.

I was in the area for a meeting and decided to stop in here for an early dinner with the hubs. Unilocal gave it 5 starts out of 13 reviews and I was feeling spontaneous. It was a Hot & New restaurant and we love spicy/​Peruvian food.
Upon walking in, the restaurant looked nice and cozy. It was warm so I liked this. No one was in the restaurant eating besides the hubby and I.
For the appetizer, we ordered the steak lettuce wraps — the bibb lettuce didn’t seem clean as there were what seemed like black dirt on it and I even found some remnants or metallic shavings on them. Spent some time taking those off before eating it — should have just asked for them to wash their lettuce before giving it to us but didn’t want to start complaining before our meal even started. The dish itself wasn’t bad, a little on the salty side. If it came with a side of rice or something carby, it would’ve balanced well but since it was just lettuce, they should take back the salt. I have a salty tongue too so…
Entrees, we got what the waitress recommended — the lomo saltado and the chimichurri steak. The lomo saltado was meh. The rice seemed like it was microwaved and not fresh. Made sense because they don’t have much of a crowd yet since they opened just three weeks ago — but still, I’m Asian, I want fresh rice, dammit, especially when you’re paying $ 20+ for a dish. We ordered our chimichurri steak medium rare, it came out rare. Again, we didn’t complain, we just ate it — we were starving. This was probably the best dish and it wasn’t because of the steak or the chimichurri sauce, it was the side dish that was amaze-​balls (cheesy potatoes/​corn).
When asked if we wanted dessert, we opted out considering how everything else went. Three dishes and waters with tip — a little over $ 70. Would I come back? No thanks.
They did look like they have a great alcohol selection though.

Kick is the new spice-​oriented restaurant located in the old Sola space. The space touts itself as, a «restaurant and bar that features bold cuisine with global spice from Asia, Latin America, and beyond.»
We visited on opening night and were seated next to the window in the massive, open space, which I’m still not sure I’m feeling. Kick has a 4,000-square-foot dining room that feels like 4,000 square feet. It is a 180 from the soft, warm glow that Sola put out. In fact, despite 180 chairs dotting the space, it felt pretty barren even with the faux fires (computer generated flames) and a dark-​red motif that I’m guessing is supposed to play into the restaurant’s SPICY character. It’s not intimate, but it’s definitely moody. And kind of boring.
The menu features a variety of burgers, sandwiches and entrees all playing with varying levels of spice — from actual chilis and peppers to worldly dashes of tarragon and garlic. There’s also a decent (but semi-​pricey) wine list and a variety of beers and cocktails to choose from.
Highlights and lowlights:
The ceviche was weird. Dubbed as «lump crab, shrimp, whitefish, ‘milk of the tiger’ marinade, sweet potato corn fritters, tortilla chips,» the entire dish was shredded. There were no lumps of anything, just strands of fishes in a decent sauce. Still not sure I liked it.
The chicken noodle bowl was bland. There was little to no flavor except for overpowering chili sauce. I think there might have been two strands of chicken in the bowl. I finished the broth wanting more, but did enjoy the presentation — the noodles and bits come in the bowl and a teapot of broth is brought to its side allowing you to douse your noods in as much or little broth as warranted.
According to our fellow diner, the pit fire burger was delicious and the best thing on the table that evening. It had big flavors and the fries were tasty. Everyone that had a bite of it wanted more.
My wife said her Peruvian lomo saltado was delicious, so maybe this is a more meat-​centric joint where you put the chicken to the side and dig into the beef.
We had two bottles of pinot noir and a beer and manhattan following dinner. Nothing to complain about here.
Staff was friendly and our waitress was amazing. She took her time to tell us her favorite dishes and was accommodating when we asked if the heat vent directly above our table could be turned off (it was like a hot tornado when it was on!)
I’m not sure I’ll visit Kick again, being that I don’t eat beef and it seems that’s where the flavors are, but for spice-​seekers, maybe this is a place for you.