Sidney Z.
Yelp
There is an axiom in restaurant talk - "Hotel Restaurants usually have pretty good food, with pretty good service and pretty good ambiance - but at least it's going to be expensive".
Well, Casa Chi at the Inter Continental Hotel on Michigan Ave was way better than "pretty good" food, service and ambiance, and way more expensive than expected.
So, basically Casa Chi slaughtered that (above) axiom.
The food was actually magnificent:
* Our Tuna Ponzu Guacamole was out on this world. They used serrano, chipotle aioli, salsa macha, ponzu, housemade chips; we devoured this dish
* The Cheviche Rojo had hamachi, shrimp, rocoto aguachile, orange, mango, serrano, red onion - completely delicious
* The Acevichado Roll was made up of scallop tiradito, leche de tigre, togarashi aioli, cooked shrimp, kabayaki - Winner Winner Winner!!!!
* One gin martini, one vodka martini and a beautiful Del Maguey Vida mescal cocktail put us right where we wanted to be.
Then the bill came - Ouch
Three cocktails with (basically) three appetizers came to a whopping total of $176.00 - all I could say was "What The F#@%"?
I've had full dinners and drinks for four people less than this whack.
Mind you, the food was wonderful, the service was exceptional and the ambiance was terrific, but a "Break The Bank" tab?
I wasn't expecting this sweeping sum. I added the bill up three times and it was what it was.
Now I'm no prude and I rarely get sticker shock, but this rocked me.
Will I ever go back to Casa Chi- a resounding YES!
The caveat will be, "at Happy Hour ONLY!!!!!"