LaMirage

The idea of coming here seemed promising. After all, everyone raves about this place and says how great the food was. Perhaps the food is good for large events, but the when we visited LaMirage for Easter Brunch, it was horrible.
Let’s start with the food: awful. The «seafood» salad, was mostly mayo and fake crab meat. The lox was not fresh and was not smoked, it had the taste of deli ‘smoked meat’ where smoke flavor and color is brushed on. I thought that maybe the warm food would be better but I was wrong. Most of the food was cold by the time I brought it from the buffet to the table. Eggs Benedict had a hard burnt «english muffin» and the poached egg was cold.
After that horrible experience, I decided I shouldn’t have any more food, not even dessert.
I would understand the quality of food would be acceptable at many places, but for $ 40 a head is preposterous and, flat out, dishonest.
Save your money and go somewhere nicer in Chicago. We have a beautiful ‘foodie’ culture in the city with many famous chefs opening restaurants all over town. For significantly less, you can dine in restaurants owned and operated by top chefs who competed in Master Chef, and not a shithole with tacky 90s décor like LaMirage.
Never again. Huge disappointment.

Very bad service. We attended their New Year’s party for 2016 and not only did we receive horrible services throughout the night but we were also taken advantage of. The restaurant requires you to pay per song. We were one of many who paid Roma, the singer, to play a song but never did. He took money freely but rarely played the song requested. Once confronted about this he openly lied and tried to convince angry patrons he never took money from them. Once the owner, Ruslan, was involved things only got worse. He was very rude and began threatening patrons. Overall, LaMirage is a recipe for a horrible night. Average, over priced food. Horrible and rude service. Will never return.

These guys did a really tasteful corporate party for us. There were about 300 people attending, so it wasn’t a small bash, but they pulled it off. The food was great, the DJ played lots of great music and the open-​bar bartender really had a great sense of humor. My only complaint is that they could have turned the music down just a bit, as ear loss is no joke. Other than that, LaMirage did a great job hosting our event.

THANKSGIVING BUFFET
Short & simple. Beautiful interiors. Great food & great service. They thought of everything. I plan to return soon.
The only thing I might suggest would be eliminating the shrimp & crablegs on ice. Also, put out some serving utensils that are a little more effective. (very difficult to hold my plate –and-​get a decent chunk of trout/​salmon). Outside of that, THANK YOU for a memorable time!

Great restaurant! Good European cuisine. But the best are the atmosphere and servers attitude. Recommend it for everyone who wants to make their party unforgettable.

LaMirage deserves 10 stars. I married a nice Jewish Russian boy who grew up having his families parties here. At first I was nervous I dont speak Russian I was new to the whole thing and I really didnt know what to expect but he insisted LaMirage is the best so we decided to have our reception here. We are major foodies, my now husband is a chef so for him the food had to be perfect and over the to oh boy that is exactly what LaMirage delivered. It has been a year since our wedding and our families and friends are still talking about how great it was! The food was out of this world good and the servers and staff were friendly and took care of things we didnt even think of. To make things even more incredible any food or bottles we had left over were packaged up for us and we picked up the morning after the wedding! How cool it was to invite everyone over the day after to indulge in amazing leftovers! Anything left behind was also boxed up for us by the staff very very impressed! All future parties will be done through Lamirage!

Worst experience ever !!! 0 customer service, waiting staff were rude and rolling eyes when you asked them to bring the water. The food was bad and cold (If you wanna try real Russian food, go to Petergof

Do not go here. The place is very nice on the inside and the buffet for for Easter brunch was very good.
That said, we promptly received out bill and then proceeded to wait 40 minutes to be able to check out. The attitude of the staff was absolutely out of line. A Russian/​Polish entitled, «the customer is always wrong» and «we are going to punish you for asking to be checked out for a fourth time» mentality. My check was taken and thrown I the back only to resurface 40 minutes later. I was one of three people waiting to pay.
Part of running a good restaurant is not only having the food be good (which it was), but also having the serving staff be professional. You need to cash people out in a respectful time and apologize if you don’t.
I demanded the auto gratuity be removed and no longer would consider this a place to do business. It’s simply not worth it. They were unapologetic, and rude.

I am forced, at least once a year to escort babes to this Russian restaurant banquet hall dinning experience, and there is always anxiety prior.
There is the stacked, layers of funky food, fish, pickled herring, mayonnaise laden salads, potatoes, brown sauced meat, dry shashlik, blah blah blah, and a huge bill afterwards. (I think there is mayonnaise in the dessert too)
If that is not enough, you have to endure the over-​dramatic, loud, cheesy, self promoting, gaudy, semi live, semi canned, karaōke style, entertainment.
If this all is what you’all like, then by all means. The food is better at Petergof, if it makes any difference. Me, I am putting my foot down, she can drag me to one of these twice a year, and if she does not make me see the bill, and can drive me through Portillo’s on the way, we are all good!
BTW, if you are ever in Miami, and want to see how the Russian Restaurant in America, by Russians needing the grandiose experience, try Lula’s, it is by far better than any of the Chicago adventures.

Usually when speaking of a European restaurant experience, the reviews are spectacular. This is NOT the experience I had at La Mirage this past weekend. I will be straightforward and make a list:
1. Customer service is very unprofessional all around. The wait-​staff was removing plates with food still on them. Even when asked to leave a plate, they took it away quickly. They did not excuse themselves and reached across my body instead of moving to the other side to get the plate of the person next to me, which resulted in a glass being knocked to the floor. Then the server told me i should have moved. REALLY!?!
2. House band. Unacceptable rudeness. I needed to give a speech to welcome the guests (company holiday party). I asked the band leader (in English, I’m not Russian) if I may give a speech. He proceeded to speak to me in Russian. After we cleared up the fact that i would like to be spoken to in English, he asked if I knew how to use a microphone. I said yes, I give speeches frequently. He told me «let me show you, this is $ 2000 microphone, you do not know how to use it», he then proceeded to show me how to flip the switch to the «ON» position. That was it. TURN IT ON. When I needed to speak again later, he condescendingly asked me if i remembered how to use the microphone or if I was to drunk to operate it. — I was stone cold sober.
3. Speaking of drinks… the feedback that i got from other party-​goers was that the alcohol (below bottom shelf-​grade liquor at an «open bar») was watered down and the cocktails were excessively sweet and weak. The bar also closed early & without announcement of there being a last call. Our party began at 8:30 and the bar closed at 11pm. A HALF hour sooner. We paid for 3 hours of open bar.
4. Our party was scheduled to end at 2am. The lights came on and the music stopped at 1:15am. 45 minutes early.
5. Coat check. Not the gentleman’s fault, however, there were 3 total parties going on at the hall simultaneously. The coat check only had ONE person at the end of the night trying to retrieve coats for over 300 people leaving at the same time. Needless to say, wait time to get your coat was ridiculously long. and 300 people all crammed in the lobby at the same time was crazy, to say the least.
These are only things that I experienced, the complaints that I have heard from fellow co-​workers about the poor/​rude attitude of the staff, are too numerous to list in one review. Needless to say, we will not be returning to this venue for future events.

we had company Christmas party in La Mirage. We arrived 7.50pm, with several boxes where we had gifts for employees. This Russian speaking manager with an attitude said we can keep boxes in the hallway and we must move them somewhere but she didn’t know where. And she added we can move our boxes in the room we rented only at 8pm. Omg-​10 minutes to keep boxes in a hallway, what a disaster!!! Finally we got in, the party started. Our girls had a PowerPoint presentation prepared for the party, and when we asked to turn on TV for us, another issue came up. We never said we will need a TV and laptop in advance and this is fine that they didn’t have a laptop to to insert flash card in. This is not their fault. But this guy (DJ) came to the girls and told them that due to the fact that they didn’t take care of that in advance, quote:“you are nice, but not bright at all”. Over 40 years old man said that to young girls!!! This is ridiculous! Unfortunately this is not it. We extended open bar because it got closed when people were still partying, and me and my gf came to the bar to have a shot together. We had couple glasses of champagne before so we were not drunk or something. So bartender refused to give us shots as this is a direction of the boss. We had to go and talk to 3 people before we solved that problem (just to mention, server came to me with bill for the party around 9.30 pm telling that owner is leaving and they need to close the bill, then I asked him to check if we can get a discount as we had last year, later mean manager came to me and told me that this inviice– HAND WRITTEN bill-​is final and they can not change it. Plus it will be additional 3 percent charge for credit card use) Going back to owner direction not to serve shots-​it was around 11.30 pm and he was supposed to be gone by that time as a serve told me at 9.30pm.
We have sent our guys to buy additional alcohol to the store (restaurant policy allows that) when we put bottles on tables, owner called us for a talk and told us to remove all bottles as everyone was drunk. Yes, we had couple drunk people, they broke some glasses, but come on, it’s a 100 people party, of course there will be a case like that. So we spent another 10 min arguing and he just left saying that he warned us. The impression of the party is so awful due to all this incidents, restaurant management is very poor and they do not respect their customers who are paying 9k for 5.5 hours.
Food was ok, but servers changed plates so often, I didn’t even try the main course. Nobody asked me if I am done with my food.
And the last thing– we called restaurant to see if they have a room where one of our employees can pump the milk, she just gave birth recently and in order for her not to home, she can do that in private room and stay at the party. They said there is a bridal room we can use. But at the moment when she was ready to go there, we were told this room is rented by another party. Unbelievable! So she had nothing left but to go home.
So I will NEVER visit this place again, and I will not recommend anyone to go there. There are other Russian restaurants as Zhivago or Versailles where customers are taken care of and have much better service. Thank you for your time you spent reading this, this is my first review I am leaving for any restaurant, but I am so disappointed today after yesterday’s night, so I just couldn’t not tell you this.

We were shooting a First Communion there on Sat and we were there few more times earlier and every time I see at the contract LaMirage am so excited, cause the food is just really really good there. We did a lots of weddings, christenings, communions and LaMirage got THE Best Banquet Food EVER!!!
Me and my bf/​assistant we are both veggie lovers so at the banquet sometimes it’s hard to find something to eat, besides a potatoes. At LaMirage they always got over 10 appetizers, salads, not only «meaty» dishes. They always got some seafood app-​s. Every appet and dish looks so original!
Staff is nice to.

My best friend had a wedding there … Service was so bad all the guests were complaining cause they will wait until you go dancing and will take ur plate away… The steak was cold. And when I asked one of the Servers to bring another bottle of Cognac they said there is no more. Until the Broom went and got in to a fight they found 30 bottles right away Which he payed for… Don’t waste ur time and nerves. Will never celebrate anything there again. And definitely will tell my friends to go to other places.

Had my wedding here in May. Great experience. Our guests are still raving about the food. Boris helped us organize everything before the big day and Sasha was our MC the day of. Both were easy to work with and had many suggestions which made the experience much easier. We used the house band, I don’t think my feet left the dance floor the entire night!
We also had our brunch there the day after. Being crazed that weekend, I miscounted the number of guests for the brunch, and their staff quickly prepared an entire extra table complete with food, in less than one hour!
Let’s just say they know how to work efficiently! Thanks La Mirage!

The quintessential Russian dining experience, including
— 3 layers of vertically stacked dishes
— no room on the tables from the abundance of food and drink
— amazing selection of cold appetizers, hot appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, dessert, and all manner of drinks
— the used up, chain-​smoking band comprised of synthesized drums, a monotone keyboard, and one to two singers, all of whom are completely oblivious to how ludicrous and unmusical the whole farce is.
Heavy drinking is required to fully enjoy the place, its ambiance, and the experience. They’ve got a solid Sunday brunch option which allows one to partake in the feast without the nighttime drunken debauchery, goofy music nonsense, and the added requirement of having a party of at least 15 persons.

Recent visit to La Mirage Restaurant really got me thinking about customer service.
We have had good experience with them in the past with overflowing tables, but our last time there was a disaster:
The salads were salty, appetizers — greasy and overcooked.
They served small portions on huge plates. Deli was sliced too thin making it hard to hook it up with a fork. Plates with cold appetizers were taken away half-​full. By the time our last guest arrived there were hardly any cold appetizers left on the table!
In the past hot appetizers were served individually, but not this time.
Main course dish came out not fully heated.
All-​in-​all, there was not enough of food. Every guest noticed it; and we did not go with a cheap package; actually we paid close to $ 100 per person!
There are couple of other things we did not like:
At the very beginning, the head waiter got upset when we pointed out that wine glasses were missing. He stated that they do not put wine glasses on the table unless it is requested. There were wine bottles on the table — wasn’t it obvious that we were in need of wine glasses?
They put a chair for our extra guest, they increased our bill by $ 100 but they never added more food.
When time came to pay, the same head waiter came with the check. He expected immediate pay and he made me uncomfortable standing by while I was preparing cash.
Also, I wouldn’t call it Russian restaurant. Majority of guests were Ukrainian and Polish people. Most of songs performed by the band were Ukrainian folk songs dedicated to one of their guests.
I am beginning to understand why they accept cash only as a form of payment…

It’s pointless trying to figure out how many times I have been here. From birthdays, to weddings, anniversaries, and even work holiday party (3x), I can easily say I’ve been here 20+ times over the years. Being Russian, having Russian or European friends, or working with them, It is given that you will one day come here for one reason or another. La Mirage is definitely my favorite out of all the other choices that Chicago and its suburbs has to offer. It’s spacious, beautiful décor all around, and great food.
I love coming here with someone who has never been to a Russian banquet before. Let’s just say that these people experience culture shock to the fullest. They don’t know what’s crazier: the endless amount of food or the unlimited flow of vodka, wine, cognac, or champagne. Gotta love it :)
Here is a short and sweet summary of what this place represents. It’s a large banquet that has three rooms — one is the main room that can host multiple parties, the middle room is smaller, more private and has an entrance to the outside, and the room on the right is a bit bigger but also private. If there is a wedding, then the main room is usually reserved just for that, otherwise, you can have as small of a table as two people, to 50 or 60. There is a main band who sing mostly Russian songs all night and announce all the different occasions going on. You can request songs, for money of course.
The food, which may seem an endless amount to those who don’t know how this works, ranges from cold appetizers to dessert and coffee at the end. The table is already prepared for you when you get there, and it’s probably set according to the package the party ordered. Appetizers can range from multiple salads, fish, crepes with caviar, mushrooms, sushi, and other types of foods. After the appetizers are served (and that lasts about two hours) there is a small break and you get the main entrees — all kinds of meat (beef, chicken, pork), potatoes, fish, just name it, you got it. Another break to dance and drink is given, and finally, the dessert is served (around 12:30/1am). You can bring your own cake, or they offer many types of pastries and desserts as well.
Believe me when I say that you WILL NOT go hungry after leaving La Mirage.
My only other note in this essay of a review is to dress to impress. These are Russians after all, and they WILL judge you!
Just be prepared to eat a lot, drink like you have never drank before, and dance all night to crappy music. It’s a guaranteed good time!

How many times have I been here? A lot. Maybe three to four times a year. It’s inevitable that within a year’s space someone I’m related to will have a birthday, anniversary, wedding, or child’s 1^st birthday here. How is one place appropriate for all these things?
That part might be up to your personal judgment. If you’re on the fence, I refer you to the Gogol Bordello song «American Wedding,» which starts, «Have you ever been to American wedding? Where is the vodka? Where is marinated herring?» in a manner that deems a party is just not a party without these things. Let’s not take it quite that far, but that’s the idea to go in with: this is not the mild-​mannered restaurant experience you may be used to, so come with an open mind. If you’ve never had the Russian banquet hall experience, it’s also a good idea to being shoes proper for dancing in all night and an outfit that says «I wore this to look better than everyone else,» and just let go. When you arrive, you’re dressed fancy, you’re about to eat more good food than you can imagine, and the band is covering Lady Gaga and killing it. If you’ve come to party, what’s not to love? If you haven’t come to party, someone poorly prepared you.
Depending on the event, the food can range from beef tongue to sushi to fresh, green salads with Asian touches, smoked fish, whole fish, whole crab, shish-​kabobs, rice pilaf, filet mignon, olivier salad, beef in deep-​fried dough, blini with caviar… I could go on forever. The concept seems to span old Russian favorites, French-​inspired goodies, modern Asian twists on Russian dishes, and central-​Asian grilled meats.
I never walk away hungry, and I always bring a pair of flats so I can drive home. The music can be deafeningly loud, but it wouldn’t be a party otherwise, would it?

Being as I have nothing to compare this to, I’m going to just go ahead and give it 4 stars. Russian techno banquet = AWESOME. There were a lot of food items I didn’t like, though I’m certain it was mostly being unfamiliar with it. But the things that were very good were very good. I really, really liked the spicy pickled red cabbage. In fact, I really liked all the pickles, including the delicious, oddly textured mushroom pickles.
We ended up eating mostly the cold foods, because when we left at 9:40-ish, very few hot foods had trickled out of the kitchen. I understand that the idea is that you eat, dance, eat some more, dance, etc. But I had a pounding headache (and Russian techno isn’t a cure for a headache), and he had to work, so we ducked out, having not drank or danced at all. (Not drinking at a Russian banquet is almost as bad as not dancing.)
We missed quite a bit, I’m sure. All the same, we greatly enjoyed the experience, and I’m not sure we’ll ever get to do it again, but it will be fun if we do.

For those who would like to experience traditional provincial Eastern European life style, this palce is perfect. With faux French décor, rowdy Russian/​Polish/​Ukrainian/​Lithuanian patrons which look like they might be either streetwalkers, Soviet grocery store workers, or mob bouncers, a hgue cover charge to get in, it screams «home», the era of the 90, every time I am dragged there by a friend that hates the place herself.
On a positive side, the dancing is pretty fun, if you dont get hit on by a burly old cab driver. The live music, forgiving the tackyness, is pretty decent as well. The food is pretty good.
To get into this place, you need to be a part of a group, or maybe a president. One or the other. Otherwise, you will just walk into the lobby, and the staff will look at you like you just fell from Mars.