Alinea, is it worth it?
Alinea, Alinea my gastronomic muse, where to begin. Since Alinea is such an experience and there is so much to share this is going to be a long review. The TLDR version is that if you have never eaten at a Michelin star and above restaurant where they serve you a plethora of different dishes then I would recommend you go to Alinea once. After you have had the initial experience it is not worth the money to go back a second time.
First things first, watch Chef’s Table Season 2 Episode 1 which covers Alinea and the head chef Grant Achatz’s story before going. This will give you a greater appreciation for the experience and will provide you with a cool back story (I won’t spoil it!) that you can tell your friends when you share your Alinea experience.
You can check the photos below for the different dishes that we received on the night and the menu that was on offer. In general and as expected, the food was excellently cooked, flavorful, and presented in interesting ways. Alinea’s pride and joy is preparing dishes (each course is called a “Presentation”) that challenge your normal associations with food. For example, they made a piece of watermelon akin to sushi by sucking out the sweetness using salt and thus making it taste more like the tomatoes that accompanied it on the side. In this sense, you should approach the Alinea experience as a show or performance. Another example is that they were able to prepare seaweed in a way that it looked and tasted like pasta.
The waitstaff were all friendly and professional. It was amusing to see that there was one lady with a laptop and headset co-ordinating everyone so that tables received their next dish when ready. Due to COVID, our meal was not at the normal location on Halsted but on a rooftop downtown. One related annoyance was that it was hard to hear the waiters while they were wearing masks, which is especially important as they are explaining the constituents of the dish and how it should be eaten.
Another annoyance of all the dishes at Alinea is that they are small and give you a little taste that leaves you hankering for more and ultimately a little unsatisfied because you cannot have more. My friend and I both left feeling hungry and were considering Mc Donald’s until we wandered into the nearby Federales and were given warm chips and salsa with our drinks.
I am glad I had the 3 Michelin star experience and I know what eating at one of the top 50 restaurants in the world is like (Alinea ranked #37 as of 11/1/2020). Can I say this is the best food I have ever eaten? No. Would I do it again and pay another $400? No. Would I pay a lot of money for any Michelin star experience again? Unlikely.
Taking cost off the table for a second. If it is a Friday night and I am thinking of where I would like to eat, I would much rather get a hearty serving of tasty orange chicken, pad thai, or deep-dish pizza from a restaurant near me that would leave me full and satisfied afterward. I would especially feel more satisfied knowing I had paid a reasonable amount of money for this meal and would not have the guilt of spending $400 and the question of was it worth it weighing down my enjoyment.
On the note about cost, for me, an important consideration when I am eating out is always “Satisfaction per Dollar” i.e. how much I enjoy the meal versus how much I spend. This is why places like Mc Donald’s are always a winner for me. Bringing it back to Alinea, I feel that you could get outstanding tasting food and get the same level of satisfaction as you would from Alinea from many other restaurants in Chicago at much more reasonable prices and therefore much better “Satisfaction per Dollar”.
In summary, I will give Alinea 4/5 stars for the unparalleled eating, entertainment, and experience, great-tasting food, and friendly waitstaff but not the full 5 stars because there will always be the question of whether it is worth the price tag.
