The 10 best restaurants in the West Loop, from Randolph Street to Fulton Market

This list ranks the 10 best restaurants in the West Loop, from the old meatpacking blocks of Fulton Market to the Randolph Street strip known as Restaurant Row and down to Jackson Boulevard near Union Station. It is written for locals choosing a dinner spot and for visitors who want a short, reliable list before they book.

The ranking leans toward places with a long track record and steady praise from critics, and the prices spread wide. Two tasting menus cost more than $400 a person before drinks. The middle of the list is shared plates and pasta, where avec’s dates are $22 and Rose Mary’s pastas run $23 to $41. Three picks are cheap: $4.95 al pastor tacos, an Italian sub counter that dates to 1937 and a diner where pancakes cost $14.50.

How we chose

This list is ranked. Every pick appears in at least two of three sources: The Infatuation’s West Loop guide (updated August 20, 2026), Time Out Chicago’s West Loop guide (updated August 29, 2024) and the 2025 Michelin Guide. The order weighs how many of those sources include a place and how high, then dated awards (Michelin stars, Bib Gourmands and James Beard Awards), then years in business. Price did not push a place up or down, which is why a sub shop sits above several dinner rooms. No restaurant group holds more than two spots, and openings with less than a year of reviews went to the notes at the end.

Hours and prices below come from each business and change without notice. Call ahead if you are making a special trip.

Smyth

Upstairs at 177 N. Ada St., chefs John Shields and Karen Urie Shields run Smyth, which holds three stars in the 2025 Michelin Guide. The tasting menu is built around produce from a Lincoln Park farmers market, small Midwest farms and a rooftop garden, and Michelin’s inspectors describe the room as refined but welcoming. Smyth ranks first because no other place here has as much outside agreement. The Smyth Menu is $420 a person and the Chef’s Menu is $550. Plan ahead: starting November 5, 2026, only the Chef’s Menu will be served, and every booking will require full prepayment.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 177 N Ada St, Suite 101, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• World’s 50 Best named Smyth the best restaurant in North America on May 28, 2026.
• The Michelin Guide first gave Smyth three stars in 2023, the Chicago Sun-Times reported for the restaurant’s 10th anniversary.
• Reservations open online on a rolling 90-day basis at noon Central time.
• The kitchen cannot accommodate vegan diets or allergies to eggs, mushrooms or seafood, so read the dietary policy before you book.

See the full directory listing

Oriole

Noah Sandoval opened Oriole on Walnut Street in March 2016, and guests still ride a vintage freight elevator up to the dining room. The single extended tasting menu changes often, and Michelin’s inspectors describe cooking that pulls from French and Japanese traditions. Two stars in the 2025 Michelin Guide and a place on both critics’ lists put Oriole second. A dining room seat for the winter 2026 to 2027 season is $414 a person, prepaid. Bookings are released on a 90-day rolling calendar, so set a reminder about three months ahead for a weekend table.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 661 W Walnut St, Chicago, IL 60661

Why they made the list

• Sandoval won the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes, NBC Chicago reported.
• A kitchen table seating is sold separately from the main dining room.
• The opening menu in 2016 was 16 courses for $175, according to DNAinfo’s report that week.
• Sandoval and his longtime chef de cuisine Larry Feldmeier opened a more casual sibling, All Well, on Carpenter Street in 2026.

See the full directory listing

Monteverde

Behind the bar at Monteverde, Sarah Grueneberg’s Italian restaurant on Madison Street, a team of pasta makers rolls dough into shapes all day, and the menu mixes Italian tradition with flavors from her travels. Order the cacio whey pepe, corkscrew fusilloni with pecorino and lemony ricotta whey, then the wok-fried tagliolini arrabbiata. Grueneberg, the runner-up on Top Chef season 9, has kept the cooking consistent enough to land on both major West Loop critics’ lists, which puts the restaurant third. Doors open at 11 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and an aperitivo hour from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. bridges lunch and dinner.

Hours: Tue-Thu 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; aperitivo hour Tue-Sat 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Address: 1020 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• Grueneberg won the 2017 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes, as the Chicago Sun-Times noted in its 2025 roundup of local winners.
• Executive chef Bailey Sullivan was a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Emerging Chef.
• A separate gluten-free menu is posted next to the main food menu.
• Reservations are taken online, and pickup and delivery orders are available.

See the full directory listing

avec

Since 2003, avec has seated diners elbow to elbow along a long counter and close tables in a narrow, wood-paneled room at 615 W. Randolph St. The bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed medjool dates with piquillo pepper-tomato sauce were the essential order in Time Out Chicago’s 2012 review, and they are still on the menu at $22. Add the deluxe focaccia with taleggio and truffle oil ($24). More than two decades of steady reviews and two James Beard Awards put the Mediterranean small-plates room fourth. Come on a Tuesday, when bottles of wine are half price all day.

Hours: Lunch Mon-Fri 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner Sun-Thu 3:30 to 10 p.m. and Fri-Sat 3:30 to 11 p.m.; brunch Sat-Sun 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Address: 615 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60661

Why they made the list

• The James Beard Foundation gave avec its Outstanding Restaurant Design award in 2005, and opening chef Koren Grieveson won Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2010.
• Chickpea hummus with tahini, sumac and hearth-baked pita is $14, one of the cheaper plates on the menu.
• A weekday happy hour runs from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• A second avec opened at 141 W. Erie St. in River North in 2021, and Michelin’s inspectors say that room handles larger groups.

See the full directory listing

Girl & the Goat

Stephanie Izard opened Girl & the Goat at 809 W. Randolph St. in 2010, two years after she won Top Chef. The menu is sorted by main ingredient, with a section just for goat, and nearly everything is meant for sharing. The green beans have not changed since 2010, and the current menu has a sticky glazed pork shank with butternut squash, chili-lime crunch and pickled vegetables. Sixteen years of steady reviews and a 2025 Bib Gourmand back up the fifth-place spot. Eating alone is no problem here: Michelin’s inspectors note that the kitchen will make smaller portions for solo diners.

Hours: Dinner Sun-Thu 4:30 to 10 p.m. and Fri-Sat 4:30 to 11 p.m.; brunch Sun 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Address: 809 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• Izard won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2013.
• Michelin’s inspectors describe the room as lively and consistently busy.
• The Tiniest Goat is a chef’s counter seat with a chef-selected prix fixe menu and a direct view of the kitchen.
• Sunday brunch is the only daytime service at the Randolph Street room.

See the full directory listing

J.P. Graziano Grocery

Four generations of the Graziano family have run J.P. Graziano Grocery since 1937, and the shop at 901 W. Randolph St. still sells imported Italian groceries alongside the subs. Get the Mr. G: prosciutto, salami, sopressata, aged provolone and marinated artichokes on fresh bread. Time Out Chicago gave the shop five stars and called the sandwiches reliable enough that they never miss. Nearly nine decades in business and a place on both critics’ lists put the counter sixth, ahead of several dinner rooms. The daytime counter closes at 4 p.m., so come early or use the late-night window.

Hours: Tue-Sat 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; late-night window Thu-Fri 5 to 11 p.m. and Sat 5 p.m. to midnight; closed Sun-Mon.

Address: 901 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• The house-made giardiniera is sold to take home, and customers often leave with a jar.
• Antipasti trays and catering are available for offices and parties.
• The Morgan Green and Pink Line station is about two blocks away.
• The shop appeared on WTTW’s Check, Please! in January 2016.

See the full directory listing

Rose Mary

Top Chef winner Joe Flamm opened Rose Mary in Fulton Market on April 20, 2021, cooking what he calls “Adriatic drinking food,” a mix of his family’s Italian cooking and his wife’s Croatian background. A custom charcoal hearth handles the meat and fish. Order the gnocchi with beef cheek pašticada ($24), the squid-ink crni risotto ($24) and ćevapi with ajvar and kajmak ($22). Rose Mary shows up on both major West Loop critics’ lists but has fewer years of service than the places above, so the room lands seventh. Budget for extras: a 4% surcharge goes on every check, and parties of six or more get a 20% service charge.

Hours: Sun-Thu 4:30 to 10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 4:30 to 11 p.m.

Address: 932 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• The group behind Rose Mary was a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur, WTTW reported.
• Pastas run from $23 for radiatore cacio e pepe to $41 for chitarra with crab, grilled corn and truffle.
• The dining room seats about 100 people, according to the Michelin Guide.
• A 24-ounce bone-in ribeye at $85 is the most expensive plate on the dinner menu.

See the full directory listing

Taquería Chingón

Marcos Ascencio and Oliver Poilevey built Taquería Chingón out of backyard barbecues and late-night pop-ups, and the taqueria now cooks Mexico City-style tacos from a larger room at 817 W. Fulton Market. Every taco comes on a freshly griddled corn tortilla. Start with the al pastor ($4.95), made with Berkshire pork shoulder and pineapple, then the duck carnitas with date purée and sunchoke-habanero salsa ($7.95). A 2025 Bib Gourmand and a spot on The Infatuation’s West Loop guide earn eighth place for one of the cheapest dinners on this list. Skip Mondays, when the taqueria is closed.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 817 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• Chingón was one of three new Chicago Bib Gourmand picks on November 18, 2025, WTTW reported.
• The skirt steak taco with avocado mousse and chimichurri is $6.95.
• Vegetarians can order a crispy artichoke taco or al pastor de hongo, the mushroom version of the house taco.
• Catering and online ordering are available through the restaurant.

See the full directory listing

Momotaro

From the team behind Girl & the Goat, Momotaro opened on October 13, 2014, in an 11,500-square-foot space on Lake Street in the Fulton Market district, designed to recall postwar Japan. Chef Gene Kato’s kitchen covers sushi, the robata grill and small plates. Order the jidori chicken oysters and the beef tsukune sliders in bao from the robata, then a round of nigiri. Ask early about the ebi uni maguro nigiri, which Michelin says is limited to about 10 servings a night. Nearly 12 years of steady reviews and a place on both critics’ lists earn ninth place.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 820 W Lake St, Chicago, IL 60607

Why they made the list

• A basement izakaya bar sits below the main dining room.
• Friday lunch runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the only weekday lunch service.
• Imported whiskies are listed on a board styled like a retro departure board.
• An upstairs private dining room is designed to look like a midcentury corporate boardroom.

See the full directory listing

Lou Mitchell’s

A half block west of Union Station, Lou Mitchell’s has served breakfast and lunch since 1923 at the spot the diner bills as the start of Route 66. Servers have handed out doughnut holes since 1958, and women and children get Milk Duds at the door, a nod to the Greek tradition of offering guests something sweet. Get a fluffy jumbo omelet served in a skillet (most are $18.25) or the meltaway pancakes ($14.50). Lou Mitchell’s gets less critical attention than the rest of this list, but more than a century of breakfasts earns the last spot. The diner is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Hours: Wed-Fri 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sat-Sun 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Mon-Tue.

Address: 565 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661

Why they made the list

• The countertops have been redone only once, with the originals still underneath, NBC Chicago reported in April 2026.
• Egg orders come with toast, homemade orange marmalade and hash browns.
• The closest L stop is Clinton on the Blue Line, and the diner warns that parking on Jackson is restricted.
• The 2025 Michelin Guide includes Lou Mitchell’s among its recommended Chicago restaurants.

See the full directory listing

Also worth knowing

Since 2008, The Publican has run a European-style beer hall at 837 W. Fulton Market, with a raw bar, heritage pork and house charcuterie. The James Beard Foundation gave the room its Outstanding Restaurant Design award in 2009. Weekend brunch starts at 9 a.m., and a half dozen oysters is $22. The same owners run avec, which got the top 10 spot thanks to a five-year head start.

Brendan Sodikoff opened Au Cheval at 800 W. Randolph St. in 2012, and the cheeseburger still draws a wait. The diner seats walk-ins first come, first served, takes a limited number of online reservations for parties of up to four and texts waiting guests when a table opens. The burger is No. 1 on Windy City Magazine’s list of Chicago’s best burgers.

Oriole’s Noah Sandoval and Larry Feldmeier opened All Well at 111 N. Carpenter St. in 2026, with a 50-seat dining room serving a $120 five-course prix fixe and a 30-seat, walk-in-only bar where plates cost $15 to $25. The Infatuation put All Well first in its August 2026 West Loop guide, and the tasting menu books up about 30 days out.

See a place we missed or a detail that has changed? Send us a correction.