Aura on the Lake

Beautiful view of the lake! Some of the best ceviche, guacamole, and hummus we've ever enjoyed. We arrived about 4pm on a Friday night and walked in to a gorgeous corner cabana. Don't miss!

Love . A bit buggy but it’s fall and back Warm.a noisy barking dog.for 2 minutes otherwise all quite excellent. Great music. Gooooo , see for yourself. My salad was fresh.

Total hidden gem on the Chicago lakefront! Summer vibes, city vibes, island vibes. Food is so good! And they have private cabanas! Easy to get to! Felt like we were on vacation! @chicagopescetarian

When I saw that Aura was opening at Osterman/Hollywood Beach, I added this Google map location so people could find it. Today's visit was amazing. Mark took care of us at our table and was friendly and helpful. We started with wine, the Deviled Eggs and Fish Dip. The eggs were to rave for. We love fish spread and enjoyed it with the raw vegetables. At dinner I had the Beach Cobb and husband had the Beach Burger. Both were very high quality. He loved his gin and iced tea drink. We live next to another beach restaurant, and the food and quantity far exceeds other locations. We had an amazing conversation with Diego. We saw how he interacted with the clients and wanted to compliment him. All the staff is friendly and helps each other. We look forward to returning and bringing friends. 2024 update Love returning. The food is still amazing. The fish dip has more cream cheese than fish. Still love the Deviled Eggs. Loved the carrots that came with. Husband had fish tacos and I had Aura burger. Robbie is a delight. Katie is s great waitperson. Loved the music tonight.

One of the best restaurant experiences I have ever had and it was made even better by being at such a wonderful location! The service was amazing. Even after closed out, our server brought us more water and was attentive. The food was the best food you could imagine, even at the beach. I would come here every day.

Just came back from celebrating my birthday and a friend’s birthday. I was able to reserve a table for 10 with the help of Ana. The staff was very accommodating. The ambience is just like being on vacation. It’s really wonderful there. The food is Interesting and delicious. Thanks for helping us celebrate

This place has always been a diamond in the rough and now that new people have taken over it's better than ever. You really can't beat the scenery. Food is good and staff friendly. Service is a bit slow but on a beautiful night who cares, location makes up for it. I do have to mention one thing that I believe is an oversight. I'm sure there will be mixed reaction and I stand behind the LGBTQIA+ community but there needs to be a no shirt no service policy. I do not need to see someone in transition with full breasts and no shirt. Osterman Beach is a family beach and though the group I was with were all adults, there were children at the restaurant. It's just plain impolite to go topless and have breasts fully exposed at that beach restaurant. I sincerely hope that the management can provide guidelines or at least a minimal dress code and adhere to it. I highly doubt that you could get away with that behavior at any other lakefront beach restaurant in Chicago.

We have lived in this area for nearly 20 years. We have visited this cafe often since it’s opening but every time we go with my husband, we are told we cannot sit on the chairs on the beach (beach chairs placed on the sand) and we have to sit by the tables on the concrete. Every time that happened, the cafe had no customers, it wasn’t busy weekend or Holiday as we don’t like big crowds. There were no reservations pending at that time. Just a week day… it wasn’t busy, no large parties, etc. I think the service was just lazy. At one point, we were told that to sit on the sand area we must order minimum $25 worth of drinks or food. As for the experience with the service itself, it is yet to be smooth. My veg burger came with literally nothing on it but the bun, no side salad, the waiter forgot to bring our drinks. We had a party of 4 and 3 the same drinks were ordered brought out within 30 minutes apart ( I ordered 3 the same drinks but they were served separately because the waiter forgot …)One time my husband was even told by a waiter “ I already brought you a beer”… yeah… nope.

Let's be happy this place exist. The space looks cool, the staff is chill and the food surprisingly is quality. They just opened in June of 2024. Did I mention they're on Kathy Osterman beach that alone is worth the visit. The arugula salad is excellent. Arugula offset some of the sweetness of the vinaigrette - it's amazing. The luau burger was fine. The elotes were ok . The best however is shrimp po boy. Come visit before the season is over.