Need Help Choosing First Date Restaurant.

Alrighty. So, I am confirmed for a dinner date for this weekend, a first date, if you must know (just so you know where I'm coming from).

Prospective date guy mentioned the following restaurants (and wanted to pick somewhere I'd never been): SushiSamba Rio, Narcisse, Nine, or somewhere else of my choosing.

Our after-dinner plans have us in the River West area.

What do I know about these places? Well, they all sound rather tres swank, they're all downtown downtown (rather than my usual northside/far northside standbys), rather ecclectic in their selection (which is good, he's giving me variance), and I've never been to any of them.

Has anyone ever been to these places? Thoughts/opinions? How's the food? Service?

Would you go just for the people watching? (Ha!)

If you hated the above restaurants, where would you choose (in the same line, same neighborhood, etc.) instead?

I posted a few times on the old site, and pop in here to read every so often when I can!

Back in the days when I was actively dating, Narcisse was one of my best go-to spots. Not cheap, but excellent champagnes and caviar, and if you get there early, the seating on the couches near the front can be very relaxing.

I've been to both Nine and SushiSamba...

Of the two, Nine was far superior on the food side. Outstanding steaks and some really nice lobters, oysters, clams... If you took Nine's food and put it anywhere it'd be excellent. The atmosphere is chic, sometimes too much so, but the food more than makes up for any overuse of mirrored surfaces. Sushisamba on the other hand was all glitz and pretty average food. For the price, I'd say the food is poor.

So I'd absolutely go to Nine again, never again to SushiSamba. I have no experience with Nacisse.

I've been to all three in question.

N9ne is the best of the bunch. The food is great, but it is a steakhouse. We had stone crabs and shrimp cockail w/ a bottle of Vilmart & Cie NV, then when each had Surf and Turf (a petite filet and half a lobster, it was a special) with a bottle of Justin Isocoles(sp) '01. A side of mashed & a side of broc. The food was great, the service was excellent (i managed to spill my whole water glass n my fiance's dinner, which was deftly resolved). A fab experience, but pricey.

Sushisamba and Narcisse are about the same in quality but with very different feel. Sushi feels very chainy and Narcisse more than feels like a bar. I wold go back to Sushi of the two.

Sushisamba: Had Tuna ceviche, GREAT! Fiance had the crab cake, which she thought was great, and she is a crabcake vertran. Had a Arrowwood Chard '01, the were out of the wine i wanted, buy i really likd this one. We got suckered into sushi, we had two pieces of otoro-not so good, i wouldn't order sushi. She had the ribeye, i had the snapper. The snapper was good, but the steak was great. We had a pinot from new zealand, but the name escapes me. Good exp, fun atm (i sent some out of town business associates who loved it). i would retutn.

Narcisse, went for a post v-day celebration. Had the tasting...don't remember the app, a cesar salad, a tuna steak, and a great dessert. Drank some Veuve gold label. the food was good, the portions weren't sized down for the tasting, but nothing was spectacular. This was the most expensive dinner we've ever bought - we've done some pretty swanky places tru, everest, ambria, spiaggia (all of which i thought provided good value for the cost) - and i didn't think it lived up to the cost.

Just my 2 cents

I've only been to N9ne once and it was good. The fried shrimp appetizer was perfectly cooked and the sauce was divine. Our steaks were excellent also. I've not been to the other 2 but would return to N9ne.

My first date with my now husband was at Opart, entrees were $6.95 and up. Totally different experience than what you are about to have - but clearly it worked out for us!

Enjoy your first date!

Christine

I was going to suggest someplace like Sabor Al Cuba until he dropped those three on me... and he doesn't seem the type for those either. Ah well, I'll have fun with it and see how it goes!

Most important question to ask would be does your date like sushi? That would not be fun if you got to a sushi restaurant and found out she didn't! As a single female I'd have to go with Sushi Samba...just because it's a great place to people watch, they have fun drinks and there's so much to do in the area after your done eating. I'd also recommend Tizi Melloul on Wells which has awesome spicy mussels, also very chic looking...

southie wrote:Well, they all sound rather tres swank, they're all downtown downtown (rather than my usual northside/far northside standbys), rather ecclectic in their selection (which is good, he's giving me variance), and I've never been to any of them.

Has anyone ever been to these places? Thoughts/opinions? How's the food? Service?

Would you go just for the people watching?

Swank is right. Dress up for all of these places.

For people watching, I'd definitely choose Sushisamba, which, among other things, has its bathroom sinks out in public. It would also be my pick of this trio as the place to take somebody I was evaluating as a regular dining partner: Order the sawagani and check out the reaction. (Tiny river crabs flash fried and eaten whole.)

Sushisamba rio
(312) 595-2300
504 N. Wells St., Chicago