A guide to the best restaurants in Bucktown. Discover French, Italian, Costa Rican, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Vegetarian cuisine in this Chicago neighborhood.
Bucktown is a neighborhood that feels like a neighborhood. It’s a quieter residential neighborhood with lots of charm. While restaurant groups dominate the dining scene in some other neighborhoods, most of the restaurants in Bucktown are independently owned.
People debate the exact location of the Bucktown/Wicker Park border. For the purpose of not excluding restaurants from this list, we are saying that North Avenue is the southern border between these neighborhoods. This means that some restaurants are also included in our list of restaurants in Wicker Park.
Last updated: March 2022
The Best Restaurants in Bucktown:
Le Bouchon
French, Romantic, Lunch
You will feel like you have been transported to France when you dine at this charming romantic restaurant. The cuisine is classic French with a menu serving escargots, mules a la Provencal, French onion soup, seared foie gras, steak frites, and duck cassoulet. Le Bouchon serves lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday.
The Bristol
American, Kid-friendly
The Bristol is a modern American restaurant with Italian influences serving rustic cuisine in a welcoming space. The restaurants offers both an a la carte menu and an eight-course tasting menu.
etta
Italian, Romantic
Etta serves housemade pastas and a perfectly executed cacio e pepe. In addition to the pastas, they serve pizza and wood fired meats. Their rooftop is a beautiful and romantic space.
The Leavitt Street Inn & Tavern
Gastropub
A tavern serving craft cocktails, local beer, and pub food like burgers, fried chicken, and shareable snacks.
Small Cheval
Burgers, Fast Casual
Small Cheval has two locations in Chicago and is a sister restaurant to the hugely popular Au Cheval. Au Cheval is so famous for their burger that they created Small Cheval, a fast casual restaurant serving burgers, fries, shakes, shots, and beers.
Club Lucky
Italian
A red sauce Italian restaurant with a big menu that includes all the classics like fettuccine alfredo, lasagna, rigatoni with meatballs, homemade ravioli, veal marsala, chicken parmigiana, and eggplant parmigiana. Club Lucky has a tendency to be busy so make a reservation in advance.
Aramu
Latin
A James Beard Award semifinalist in 2022, this small plates restaurant serves pan-Latin cuisine. You can find Cuban oxtail, Puerto Rican style pork shoulder, and lobster and crawfish empanadas on the menu.
Bloom Plant Based Kitchen
Vegetarian/Vegan
A new restaurant from the owners of Aramu, Bloom’s menu is 100% vegan and gluten-free- and anything but boring. The menu includes items like toasted yuca gnocchi topped with celery root puree, mushroom soffits, kale, and shaved cashew pecorino. Bloom’s cuisine uses fruits and vegetables to create complete meals, without relying on plant-based meats. Bloom serves dinner daily and brunch on Sundays.
Phodega
Asian, Vietnamese
Phodega is a Vietnamese restaurant and market serving pho, chicken rice, and sandwiches. The market sells candy, snacks, and soft drinks. Vegan pho is available.
Irazu
Costa Rican, Lunch, Vegetarian
Iraq’s sunny patio is an ideal place for a meal on a summer evening. The menu includes empanadas, tacos, sandwiches, burritos, and the national dish of Costa Rica, Casado. The two most important things to know about Irazu are that it is BYOB and cash only.
Ada Street
Global
Ada Street serves a mix of classic and contemporary cocktails and a small food menu featuring bites, pasta, and larger entrees. The food has global influences with dishes like mussels in Thai curry broth, Parisian gnocchi, and grilled pork char siu on the menu.
Rangoli Indian Cuisine
Indian, Vegetarian
This popular restaurant has locations in both Bucktown and Lincoln Park. Rangoli’s large menu has all the Indian classics. There are a generous amount of vegetarian, seafood, chicken, and lamb mains plus biryani and several appetizers. If you want to order takeout or delivery, Rangoli asks that you order through their website directly.
Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar
Chinese, Asian
A cocktail bar on the Bucktown/Logan Square border that serves American-Chinese cuisine like orange chicken, sweet and sour (tofu, chicken, or shrimp), kung pao (tofu, chicken, shrimp, or beef), dan dan noodles, and lo mein.
Coast Sushi
Japanese, Sushi, Vegetarian/Vegan
This BYOB sushi restaurant has a large menu offering sushi, sashimi, maki, and a handful of cooked meat dishes like yakisoba, teriyaki with your choice of meat of seafood, and tamarind duck.
Cafe Robey
Breakfast/Brunch
A bright sunny cafe on the street level of The Robey Hotel that has it own entrance so it doesn’t feel like it is attached to a hotel. The menu focuses mostly on breakfast classics like shrimp and grits, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and eggs benedict but there are a couple sandwiches too. Brunch is served daily from 7 am – 3 pm.
Lotties
Gastro-pub/Bar
You may recognize Lottie’s from the shows Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. This classic bar opened in 1934 and serves a large menu feature bar food staples like cheese curds, chicken wings, burgers, pizza, tacos, and sandwiches. Currently, Camp Lotties, a set of seven private heated tents with televisions are open.
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Sunday 17th of April 2022
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