Restaurant Sarajevo

Terrible owner, food is meh. If you’re looking for better Bosnian food would definitely recommend going to Kiko’s not too far from this location.

Great food, great desserts, awesome owners!

My husband had known The owner for years so to him it was like coming home. The soup and appetizer of Bosnian bread with olive oil was delicious! The bread went well with the soup! Also the mix combo plate was a variety of meats with creamed spinach was amazing. We loved the schnitzel so much that we ordered the chicken schnitzel with rice and we were then too stuffed to order dessert. We promised the owner that we will return for that and we so will!!! A definitely recommend!!!

Delicious, fresh, authentic, homemade food. Genuine service! Wish it was busier, they deserve the business.

They started out with a home made bread, cheese butter dip and a specially made oil. It’s different and delicious! The Calamari appetizer was good. It can be eaten as a salad with all the ingredients mixed together!

I came here with a group of friends on Saturday night not really knowing what to expect. Not only was the food excellent, but the overall experience was fantastic. Highly recommend the mixed plate, the smoked meats, the veal and the coffee.
We’ll be back for sure.

The food at this place is SO GOOD. I came here in search of cevapi and I was not disappointed. The owner greeted me at the door and was quite friendly. The waitress was polite and friendly. Service was quick and the food was fantastic. I was very excited to find a place that makes cevapi without pork! I wish I could have taken a picture, but unfortunately I destroyed the plate too fast, it was irresistible. Had the Chilled Apple Roll for dessert, which was also very satisfying, yet managed to be nice and lite. I will definitely be coming here again!

After having lived in Sarajevo for a good length of time, I missed it dearly after I moved back to Chicago. I got my long needed Bosnian food fix after visiting here. Great food and friendly service. I only wish they were playing some folk music, maybe some Dino Merlin :) That would have completed the atmosphere for me.

Checked this spot out with some coworkers… on a Tuesday. The bread they served was delicious since it was made there. They got the calamari which they enjoyed. I don’t eat that shit. I had the cevapcici plate. It was pretty bland, I’ve definitely had better. It is a nice, quiet place with friendly staff though. BYOB which is always a plus. My coworkers also said they didn’t care much for the food but check it out of you like.
Peace

On valentine’s day, we had such a blast here. We had Alfredo chicken, fish filet combo, and garden salad. Afrado pasta can be really shitty. … here i had one of the best Alfredo ever!!! It was really good, not too oily or strong but very delicious. The fish filet combo with calamari was also very yamy. The fish was a little bit salty but with the potato, it was good. Calamari was really awesome, i kind of wish i ordered calamari only. The garden salad was good too, i mean it is hard to make a bad salad with fresh vegies.
The restaurant is small so it gives very nice cozy atmosphere and it’s quite romantic. The waiter was really friendly we became a fan of him. It is not like other restaurants.
I will definitely come back here again to try othet menu too!

As a two star rating: Meh. I’ve experienced better: is right on par.
First and foremost, I really wanted to love this place. I had been pushing to go here for awhile, and finally had the opportunity so my wife and I went. The place was pretty empty when we arrived.
The place itself is adorable. Nice place settings adorned the tables and the whole room felt very warm and inviting. I loved it and so did my wife. The place is BYOB, which is great for bringing your own bottle of wine.
The main deterrent of this place was the food. We ordered the Bosnian soup, Feta salad and the Bosnian meat plate for the two of us. The soup and the feta salad were delicious, but the meat plate was pretty bad. It was overly greasy, tasted of old cooking grease, the chicken pieces were dried out and the whole plate left you with a fairly bad case of gut rot afterwards. I was quite surprised given the previous Unilocal reviews…
Anyways, I’m glad I ate here, but I can safely say I will not be returning.

This place was awful. I recently organized a group outing here and everyone in my party was looking forward to the visit. There were so many issues with our visit that I will break it all down into categories of disappointment.
RESERVATIONS
I tried to make a reservation for a group of 6 for 6:00 P.M. on a Saturday but Open Table told me that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate us until 8:30. I was a bit disappointed but took that to mean that the place was in high demand. When we arrived, however, the place was nearly empty. That was odd but we didn’t think too much about it.
DECOR
My expectations for the ambiance were based on Unilocal reviews and the episode of Check please, all which told that this place was very homey and warm. We walked into a white table cloth restaurant with wood panel walls. It was nice, but not warm or informal– I felt like I was in a hotel lounge or a north shore bistro. Nice but just not what we expected.
FOOD
Worst I’ve ever had. The food came out and looked awful. The highly touted bread was just OK. It was served with some mystery spread (was it butter? sour cream? who knows). Our entrees looked like a hodgepodge of leftovers that had been tossed on a plate and microwaved. There was NO attempt at an attractive presentation. Please see my photos. The food was cold, mushy and flavorless. The small amount of vegetables that were on my plate was so odd and unattractive– I didn’t even want to put them into my mouth. No one at the table was happy with their food. At one point, we were asking each other «what kind of meat do you think this is?» The desert was the exception, but it was a simple crêpe with Nutella and strawberries, no real preparation required. To top it all off the portions were small and quite expensive. I paid $ 19 for the very disappointing, cold, mushy and flavorless Bosnian sampler. What I could get for $ 19 at MANY other places…
I suppose we could have complained but instead we all agreed that we would never return. I am quite confused about the great Unilocal reviews here. Perhaps we went on an off day but given that the restaurant was so empty, this level of service should have never happened.

I love coming to this place!
I usually bring friends when I don’t know how to explain what «Bosnian food» really is.
The owner Enes is the extremely nice (with a very Balkan mentality which my friends always find interesting and entertaining). He’s willing to engage with his guests, which you can’t often see around here.
Even though they don’t officially carry gluten free items, him and his family are knowledgeable and very good at accommodating. There have been times where they will even make something special just because you said you felt like eating a certain thing (and can’t due to an allergy).
The interior is very clean, and inviting definitely proudly showing off what the name Restaurant Sarajevo stands for.
The food is always very god, just like it would be if you ate at a restaurant in the heart of Sarajevo. Considering Enes attended one of the best culinary schools in south-​east Europe he makes sense that everything is just as it should be.
If you’ve ever been curious about what kind of food is present in that part of the world, or are just wanting to try a new type of food this restaurant is the place to go.

Oooh. I don’t know why, but I felt really comfy in this place. Yes the host was nice, but I’ve been to establishments where hosts were nice. Yes, the ambiance was warm and inviting, but again, been there done that. And yes, it may have been the bottle of whiskey that we brought along for the BYOB… come to think of it…
Anyway, enough about me! Back to Restaurant Sarajevo — it was super easy to make reservations and I appreciated the girl on the phone reminding me that the restaurant is BYOB.
I love trying new food, especially when its great! And again, our waiter/​host was efficient, there when we were asking for something, but otherwise, left us to enjoy our meal — which may have been wise on account of the whiskey :-) But this stuck out as someplace I’d bring a friend visiting from out of town to eat, after a day of sight-​seeing. And even apart from that, I won’t hesitate to go back with family and friends.
Cheers!

What a delight! Every year I come back to Chicago and make a stop at this place! Food is great, nice and quiet and yet so alike the places back home!
Love the crew!
Don’t have to believe me, just come and try this place for yourself!!! You’ll like it!

I’ve had Bosnian food prior to trying Sarajevo, so I understand the culture of relaxed, time-​extensive, conversation friendly dining. With this in mind, I really enjoy Restaurant Sarajevo. The décor is friendly and warm with a cross between fine dining and a casual ambiance. The service akin to dining at a friend’s — smiles & humor.
All the food we’ve tried was plentiful and tasty. My favorites included the cevapcici, a few flirty, fun beef/​lamb sausage, bursting full of the right flavors. Topped with a curd-​like, sour-​creamy cheese, the kaymak was good too. The salads I’ve tried were generously plated with onions, red, yellow, and green bell peppers, tomatoes, feta, and cucumbers. (Ask for the dressing on the side if you ever have it delivered. Otherwise, the lettuce can get a little limp.) The bread is light and dense in the same bite. The grilled chicken, veggie rice, and potatoes were also flavored well. If you possibly have any room left in your gut, try the Nutella crêpe. It was sooo good.

Awsome – Hearty food – BYOB!!!
Meat Plate appetizer Great!
The Fish was out of this world! Loved everything we ate – truly great food – fun environment – nice staff! Loved it and will return often!

I brought a group of coworkers here to try Bosnian food. Being born in Bosnia, I know what good Bosnian food is. Mind you, I never eat at Bosnian restaurants, my mom, grandma and myself are the only sources of Bosnian food that I normally eat. I made reservations for a group of 12 on a Thursday night. We ended up being 13 and had no problems being seated. The owner was extremely nice and had a typical Bosnian sense of humor which some non Eastern European people would probably not understand or find offensive. 4 of my coworkers were visiting Chicago from Kiev, Ukraine, and thought this place was wonderful, the food and atmosphere reminded them of being back home.
I called ahead and let the owner pick the appetizers and dishes, keeping in mind to accommodate one person who was a vegetarian. We got a bunch of mixed appetizers: salad, feta cheese, stuffed mushrooms, smoked meat plate. For dinner we also had a mix of stuff: mixed Bosnian plate, fish, chicken, spinach and cheese pie (which I don’t think is on the menu but his wife made and I was very delighted because this is one of my favorite dishes). We finished dinner with dessert (delicious crepes with nutella and whipped cream), and Bosnian coffee (similar to Turkish coffee). The owner engaged us all in conversation and constantly walked around to pour more wine or offer more beer that we brought which was being chilled. Everyone enjoyed the food and atmosphere.
If you don’t know much about what happened in Bosnia, it was extremely tragic and has permanently damaged and displaced many families. I am sure that the owner and his family are also refugees from the 90’s war. This is one of those places where the owners have worked from nothing to build, and cook each meal with pride and love. It is also one of those places that really only gets attention by word of mouth. If you want delicious Bosnian food in a cozy family style atmosphere, please visit Restaurant Sarajevo!

Overall, I enjoyed this Restaurant Sarajevo and hope to try their other dishes when I am in the area again.
I had never had Bosnian food before and in general, it is a little flavorless for my personal taste, but the food was really quite good. As an appetizer, we got the cold appetizer plate, which included smoked beef (so good), Bosnian sausage (also good) and Bosnian feta cheese (f-​ing delicious). I love feta. We were also given your standard bread/​butter w/​olive oil.
Our two friends got the Bosnian Cevapcici (Skinless Sausages Made from Mixed Minced Beef and Lamb, Stuffed into Fresh Pita Bread, Served w/​Chopped Onions and Kaymak) which came with a side — they both chose fries. They both said their meals were good and hope to try the Wiener Schnitzel during their next visit.
My boyfriend got the Bosnian Mix Plate (grilled veal & chicken kabob, beef sausage, cevapcici (skinless sausage) and pljeskavica) which he said was pretty dang good. His order came with potatoes and rice on the side.
I got the Large Pljeskavica (Bosnian beef patty made from a mixture of ground beef and lamb, filled with mozzarella cheese). I really enjoyed mine (the meat was very juicy!) but I must admit that if I had some sriracha in my purse, I would have put a bit on this dish. Note: they do not have hot sauce here, so actually stick some in your purse if you foresee yourself having a hot sauce emergency. I also received potatoes and rice which were also… relatively generic.
Now, the service… there seems to be a bit of hub-​bub about the service, and granted… it wasn’t great in terms of conversation and cordiality, I’m not just going to give this place one star because of that. I ain’t no jerk.
Also extremely IMPORTANT: realize that this is a place where you will not be in and out within an hour. You’re meant to sit down, have drinks, have your appetizer, have a conversation and more drinks, then your entrée, then let that settle with another glass of wine (BYOB, FYI), then dessert w/​coffee. It is not the fault of the owner, the host/​waiter, or the chef… this is the type of place Restaurant Sarajevo is.
That being said, I would definitely come back here with my boyfriend when we’ve got a couple hours and want to enjoy our time talking and drinking over a nice long meal. I will be back.

I’m late to the party… very late… Like it’s over. Saw this place on Check Please FOREVER ago and have always wanted to go.
Decided on V day… easy open table reservation… yay! But let me say, normally I avoid going out on V day like the plague.
Showed up and I was a little meh… I love a cutesy, family run, ethnic, BYOB. I felt like this place was old, dirty, uninviting, disheveled, blah. Light bulbs out, gross carpeting, musty, dusty… you get the idea.
It was the «son/​dad team» as many have referenced in their reviews. We didn’t get the happy, jolly, helpful… we got scattered, disarray, rushed, unfriendly service. It was V day though but you would think they have been doing this long enough to be able to handle it. Dad cooking and the son doing everything else… busing, greeting, serving, etc. meh. Both literally running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
The food left much to be desired.
Mixed green salad-​way too many roasted red peppers. Lettuce was wilted and sad.
Cold app plate-​more red peppers. Feta was kind of tasteless and we really only liked one of the salamis
Bosnian mix grill-​overall pretty good. The best thing was a single little sausage.
cevacippi (sp?)-it was more of the same stuff on the mixed grill.
We had the sautéed creamy spinach and they forgot our vegetables.
And I have to say… for Albany Park and BYOB it was pricey for what you got!
Overall, I won’t go back. It’s not worth it to drive up here for me… like at all. So disappointing.