Comments on: Meditrina: small plates and wine bar restaurant review

By: Kathy Douthit

Kathy Douthit — Sun, 23 May 2010 07:24:23 +0000

Food….not special….many items tasted of charred grill. Service…..very good. Prices….too high for the small amount served. No one in our party said they would go back. A suggestion: include a basket of really good bread to mop up the sauces. The bread that we did have was, at best, mediocre.

By: Gabi

Gabi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:24:33 +0000

We enjoyed a stellar meal at Meditrina last Wednesday. The menu had a nice variety- there were hardly any plates described that we weren’t tempted to order. While not every table was busy there were enough other patrons to make us feel cosily social rather than desolate.
The service was pleasantly good- the food delicious. In particular we enjoyed the divers’ scallops which were excellent enought to warrant an immediate reorder.
We split 11 small plates between 4 people and enjoyed each and every bite of an effectively light but very satifying meal.
We were planning our next visit during our dessert of roasted pear creme brulee -which is always the best endorsement possible.

By: cindy

cindy — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:07:04 +0000

Went to Meditrinas last night, and thought it was devine! Keep in mind that this is a wine bar, and the dishes are designed to compliment the wine. Our waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable concerning the wines and food.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:15:30 +0000

We really enjoyed our dinner last night at Meditrinas last night. We had the inside-out chicken satay, the flank steak/asparagus stack, the patatas bravas, brie cheese with mushrooms, and creme brulee with pear. Also, a great rioja/cabernet wine. Everything was delicious! Well seasoned, and beautiful presentation of each dish (especially the flank steak!) Prices seemed very reasonable compared with tapas restaurants we have enjoyed in the Chicago area. Only one other table was occupied this Wednesday evening. We hope more people discover this new restaurant so that it succeeds and we can enjoy it again in the future.

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:18:39 +0000

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience Patrick. You really did seem to have the polar opposite of what we found. That’s a real shame as our meal accompanying service was great.

I’ll have to venture back in due course to see how things are panning out.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:21:40 +0000

I have to be honest, it really wasn’t very good. I differ from the review I just read. Here’s a review of what we had. LAMB LOLLIPOPS:
I had to order the lamb lollipops 3 times and they still didn’t get it right. 1st ATTEMPT: they tasted like they had zero seasoning on them. I’m in no way an over-salter either. I just like meat to have some seasoning. I told the waiter he could just bring me some salt. No salt on the tables says to me that the chef is seasoning the food to such perfection, that there isn’t any need to put salt or pepper on the table. I love this when done right, but not in this case.
2nd ATTEMPT I took a bite and it was overcooked and still flavorless. I was embarrassed to send them back a second time but I did. The chef came out after sending them back asking why I had done so. In fairness the other 2 pieces were cooked less, and I saw that she had cut into one of them to see the level of doneness. I pointed out the one I took a bite of which was overcooked, (you would think they’d be cooked the same) so she went back for a 3rd try. 3rd ATTEMPT: They were cooked fine the third time, but they still lacked seasoning, and the meat was chewy and sinewy. I didn’t have the heart to send them back again.
CURRY LIME PRAWNS: We wanted to split an order of lime curry prawns and we asked the waiter how many were on the plate. The waiter assured us that there are 4 prawns that come with that order, so it’s perfect to share. When they came out there were only 3, which was a little awkward when splitting a plate with a friend. They were nice looking, seasoned okay, but rubbery in texture, I think steamed -?? My friend thought they needed more curry and more lime. We didn’t ask for our promised fourth prawn, didn’t finish the 3rd one either actually. CHEESE PLATTER: The waiter started walking off after setting down the cheese platter, I had to ask him to come back to describe what cheeses they were because the menu doesn’t state anything. I think it was pretty pedestrian variety. A tiny tiny portion of a nice creamy blue cheese, some parmesan and irish cheddar. The pear was nice. OLIVES The olives were good. CLAMS AND MUSSELS The clams and mussels were awesome actually. Savory tomato broth, very good, but the crostini were almost inedibly hard, the bread was nice, but not nearly enough bread to sop up that good broth. They brought our bill before we had to remind them that they had forgotten to bring us the second clams and mussels for 2 of my friends. MEAT PLATTER: They forgot to remove the casing on one of the meats on the meat plate so people were picking string out of their mouths. Otherwise good. The wine was good, short list for a wine bar everyone agreed. You need another NZ sauvignon blanc. Try Spy Valley? Maybe they are still building it up. I’ll try them again in 6 months if they are still around. If this were Top Chef, someone would be going home.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:05:17 +0000

Ate here last night based on this and many other recent recommendations. The tapas were amazing. I love Spanish tapas, so I recommended to our group of 9 to try the “Patatas Bravas” since they are my favorites tapas I tried in Spain. They did not disappoint and we nearly fought over the last piece…