Galit

Galit is a Michelin star middle eastern food festival. You are treated with wonderful personalized service, homely atmosphere, nicely packed seating area, great choices of drinks and of course the food. Humus was the best. And so was the falafel. And the warm bread on the side was perfect. Portions were enormous compared to the overall price and we had to go boxes. The best part was the cookie - it was eclectic. If you like middle eastern cuisine … this is the place to go.

Galit has exceptional food. The food exceeded our expectations and the price for our meal with drinks was fair given the quality of the dishes but having to reuse forks between courses and not getting fresh plates was surprising given this is a Michelin Star restaurant. I will definitely come back though and look forward to seeing what else they add to their menu in the near future.

Given the overall massively high costs of tasting menus across Chicago, Galit offers something that feels relatively reasonable for the amount and quality of food you get. We went with a larger group and so were able to try almost everything on the menu. We did not do the wine paring. Location and Ambience: Galit feels relatively small and its design separates the diners a bit and prevents it from feeling as crowded as many of its peers. It also avoids the loud bar/brewery feel of the lofted spaces of West Loop and we were easily able to have a nice conversation with everyone in our party. It does have a bit of that sterile feeling you can find in high end restaurants and I personally do not find anything to be added by an open kitchen. Food: You get four courses and it does feel like enough. They encourage sharing them. The hummus and salatim was the highlight for us; they were all very well done. They felt on par with other fine dining Mediterranean hummus (Aba, Sifr), but not noticeably better (perhaps there is a ceiling to how good hummus can get). The next course (Mezze) was a mixed bag, with the falafel as the star with really good mango dip. The halab, though, was pretty flavorless (I agree with a previous review that describes it as a corndog in quality) and the sunchokes had an inedible texture of warm banana. By the time the "over coal" came out, most of our party was pretty full (the perils of starting a tasting menu with a large amount of hummus and bread I suppose). Nevertheless, these dishes were mostly enjoyed. The lamb in this round was well-flavored with excellent potatoes and the walleye was fantastic (hard to find good seafood sometimes in Chicago). The turkey is pretty much just basic turkey shawarma with barbecue sauce on it, but wasn't bad. The desserts were uniformly off-putting, with odd mixtures of flavors and textures - the phyllo pie was the best of the lot. Drinks: Excellent wine by the glass. Reds were all good. Unless you're drinking enough to justify it or an amateur sommelier, you can safely skip the wine paring and be satisfied ordering a la carte. We skipped the cocktails. Service: Overall friendly and not snooty at all. Reasonably attentive without hovering. Could be improved. Plates and food was not cleared between courses at first, which led to a crowded and rushed feeling with our table covered in new and old food, although this improved with later courses. In the first two courses, our dishes were introduced so rapidly we didn't process what was what as they were thrown quickly on the table. This also improved with later courses. There is a 20% built in service charge and they charge another 4.5% (or something similar) for employee health insurance. As an added bonus, you do get some pretty nice cookies in packages when you leave - it's a nice touch. Overall: Fun experience, decent service and ambiance. Food felt a bit overpriced for the quality. I enjoyed it, but can't see myself returning.

This was one of two Michelin-starred restaurants we visited over the weekend, and while it was very good, there were a few disappointments (very few). The first two courses were absolutely amazing. We went with Bubbe's Brisket, which was tender and very flavorful. The Salatim course was our favorite part of the meal; we could eat it every day. They bring out several plates simultaneously, including Labneh, Tabouli, Baba Ganoush, and pickles with hot flatbread. YUM!! For the third course, we had Falafel, which was good, but the Heirloom Tomato Börek was exceptional. It's one of my all-time favorite dishes! Our entree course was a bit disappointing. I had the Pastrami, which is basically a deconstructed Reuben. It was good but not great. My wife had Turkey Shawarma, which was not good at all. Very tough. We sent it back, and they swapped it out with the Striped Bass, which was quite good. My wife was quite pleased that they swapped it out for us. For the dessert course, we had the White Chocolate Crémeux, which was delicious. My only recommendation is that when you go to Galit, keep in mind that a 24% service charge is added to the tab, and you are expected to tip the server on top of that. I would have been much happier if the menu price reflected the percentage. Given my poor vision, I am not one to read the fine print at the bottom of the menu, so it was a bit of a shock.