Frontera Grill and Topolobampo Review

I was actually at Topolobampo, where it lived up to every expectation. We had the seasonal tasting menu, which was fantastic.

One of the best restaurants to go to for mexican food especially for the price. very reasonable. The decor was just ok but the service and food were excellent.

Tasty and fast food in comparison with similar entities!
Their sandwiches (forgot their names) are the best

This place Rocks. Saturday lunch snow storm and all, the place was still packed. Service was somewhat slow but that was ok with us. The food was awesome. Can't wait to go back.

Mexican food as it should be. Earthy and authentically presented.

Epic rib & carnitas tacos. Fully loaded guacamole is among the best I've ever eaten.

I just love this place. I've never had a bad meal here.

Can't get enough of this place. Great Mexican food and tequila bar. I'm so happy this food is now available in grocery stores.

For me, this place is a little overrated. We recently had some friends in town who wanted to go to Rick Bayless's famous restaurant. We intentionally showed up late, 9:00 pm on a Saturday night and had to wait over one hour for a table. It's very popular, but feels more touristy that local. The bar staff are awesome and they got us the fabulous guacamole with our drinks while we waited (and played dominoes!).

But once we were seated we were put in the basement where there are no windows. The menu is all about sharing, which is fine, but we are so snacked out after waiting, some of us wanted our own plate of food. Generally, the menu is really interesting, but it's not a place I would come back to on a regular basis. It's just too specialized taste-wise and it really is so popular, it kind of takes the fun out of it.

The better option is XOCO next door which tastes the same, incredible delicious, and is perfect for lunch if you get in line before 11:30.

Very very poor service. The food was good (once we got it). Had to cancelled the appetizers (they never came and was on bill). The Margarita was ok...pre-made and over priced. Both the Fontera Grill and Xoco is off our list for places to eat while visiting Chicago. Too bad, been going for years.

I was disappointed in the service. The prices are a little high, particularly for drinks.

The Pueblo Enchilada Mole was inedible but the smoked meat plates were delicious.

Amazing everything. If you get a chance to have the dos tres quatro, get it and don't share!

Best Mexican restaurant in Chicago! Totally satisfied with their food and service:)

Never fails. Beautiful food and drinks. And service that complements it all.

My girlfriend Maggi and I had dinner last night at Frontera Grill. This Place is filled with great Mexican and Spanish art. Everything is made from scratch including the Margarita with fresh squeezed lime juice. We both wanted the Tortilla Soup, which has been a staple at the Grill for 30+ years.

Food is good but just went there to taste his version of Mexican food I was very upset he tries so hard to imitate Mexican food on his own version the point of cooking Mexican food is that you have to use the right ingredients he adds all kind of ingredients to the food making it look and taste like Mexican American just very confusing , mole supposed to have a lightly sweet and spicy taste along with the flavor of toasted pumpkin seeds his version tastes burnt . I never going back again.

Great mix of traditional and inventive Mexican dishes. Micheladas are a must. Usually busy, call ahead or go off-hours.

Bucket list... we are from Minneapolis. Anne Casey Letourneau and I planned this weekend to come here. Excellent service and the food was exceptional. Our server was first class too. If you are able to get here it's worth the effort.

Food was EXCELLENT . The girl at tge front desk was a little snotty when I inquired how much longer it would be. I asked 1 time and did so nicely so no need for attitude. Thank goodness the margaritas and food made up for her attitude!

The food was amazing! I went here while on a work trip the best ceviche I have had in a long time. The decor is fine the service was good. This is a great place for small groups and for everyone to share a little bit of their plate.

I went for lunch and we got two entrees, two very fresh limonadas, and queso fundido for $50. The enchilada entrees are great but I highly recommend the queso fundido (appetizer). They make sure to put an ample amount of chorizo into it and it's absolutely amazing. My girlfriend and I almost got too full off of just that.

The place is nice, stylish with great mezcals and delicious food

Exceeded my expectations. Had the quesadillas for an appetizer and the chicken for my main dish. Both were incredible.

The food was good, but we waited over 30 minutes for a table even though we had a reservation.

Love this place. Wish I could get this much flavor in my food

Just took my boss here last week and enjoyed the creative presentation and delicious flavor. Although we did not order the 7 course tasting menu with an inspired by art theme, we each enjoyed 4-5 course. Highly recommend the soup Azteca and the plantain crepes.

My dad's favorite spot when he comes to visit, Topolobompo is modern mexican meets fine dining. great flavors and inventive dishes - Bayless offers a high end menu and great cocktails with a south of the border twist. So many great sauces and moles, you can't go wrong!

The food was great, the service was fast and the drinks were on point. Reasonable prices. Staff were very friendly even though it was seriously busy.

This place has awesome Mexican food! The margaritas are off the charts and service is great! They have vegetarian options and gluten free options as well.

Tasty and real authentic Mexican food!!! Ceviche is a must!

I've wanted to try Frontera Grill ever since Rick Bayless won the first Top Chef Masters all those years ago. I finally got the chance on a mini family vacation to Chicago when we stayed at a hotel right around the corner, so we walked over and put our names on the reservation list to sit outside. The wait was initially an hour, but a previous reservation cancelled, so we were sat in perhaps less than 20 minutes. Our server, Albert, was very knowledgable about the menu and the drinks. He brought me and my sister delicious seasonal cocktails and recommended a fantastic sipping tequila for my husband who is a serious whiskey man. My mom has a pepper intolerance (they give her nasty migraines), and when she told Albert about it he was absolutely thorough that there wouldn't be cross contamination. He even alerted management to the issue, who came out and introduced himself (Jay) and double checked that her allergy wasn't as severe to air-borne contamination, and he worked with her to create a dish that would fit her dietary needs. It was above and beyond anything we expected, we just wanted to be certain no peppers got tossed on her salad, but Jay made certain a dressing was especially created so there wouldn't be any oils or seeds in it. Truly a testament to any great restaurant! I'm vegetarian and there were plenty of incredible options for myself, and I loved the Wild Mushroom Mixotes I ordered. Even though that might have been enough, since we didn't do appetizers, my table split the desserts Mexican Chocolate Cherry Tart, Frontera Chocolate Pecan Pie, and Local Corn 3 Sweet Ways. Everything was amazing and you can't get it prepared like Frontera prepared it anywhere else. The experience was absolutely amazing and will be hard to top: 5 stars all the way! There will be a wait, but it is 100% worth it!

Spectacular - seriously some of the best Mexican food I've ever eaten. Highlights were the chargrilled beef in rich mole, lobster and pan-fried char dished up with garlic sauce I could have swum in, and plaintain crepes drenched in caramel sauce - it's high-end food, but with friendly, knowledgeable staff who make you feel special. I really loved this place, worth seeking out.

Loved the food. We are not from chicago. We ordered 4 plates to share + dessert. Everything was awesome. Don't skip the dessert!! My top were: the half and half dip and the fish enchiladas. The 2,3,4 cake was sooo good as well. 100%recomendsf

I use to watch rick bayless cooking show growing up and use to think to myself that one day I d love to eat his food. Although he did not cook my food last night, he formulated all of the recipes and oh man, it was over the top delicious. We started off with a Mexican bottle of wine which was also pretty good, we ve never had wine from Mexico. We then moved onto the three ceviche appetizer, it was amazing, I m not a huge fan of seafood but I couldn t stop going in for more! I ordered the carne asada brava and oh man.... the meat was so soft and flavorful, the sauce that came on it was nice and spicy gave it a nice kick, the tamales... don t even get me started, they had no filling but even with no filling had so much flavor and were so tasty! The thing with tamales is they can sometimes be dry but these were not at all. My hubby went for the ribeye plate which was also pretty delish. We ended the night with the tres leches chocolate cake which was just perfect. We came out to celebrate our anniversary and had a great time the service was impeccable, from the servers to the bussers. My only thing is we were seated in a corner that was hard to get to by staff, which means it was also hard to get out of by us. We were right by a service station and by the kitchen so it was a bit noisy. Nonetheless everything went great, definitely would go back. I love that the food doesn t cater to any other culture other than the Mexican culture, the flavors are not diluted so that people can like the food based off what they re use to, it stays true to the culture and what we eat on a daily basis.

Hey Rick there is a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck why should restaurant workers be treated any different then anyone else ,here is a thought how about with your multi restaurants and multi homes and your television show how about you pay them a little more and instead of relying on tax payers to keep your businesses relevant.

Stumbled on this place accidentally and very hungry! It didn t disappoint! Everything we had was wonderful :)

Everything tastes really good. Service is good too and the place looks authentic Mexican.

Very disappointed. Had better at chain Mexican restaurants. Enchiladas were bitter.
Fajitas chicken meat had no flavor. Chips were good.

Quesadillas on fleet
- ign

We really loved the beet salad and queso fundido. Excellent carne asada. Very innovative menu.

After being one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in the US, my last two visits were below average on the service. I truly believe that by including 20% gratuity automatically to the bill, even for a party of two, coincides with the drastic decrease in service. Sad times.

Say what you will about Rick Bayless, the tortas (sandwiches) here are really good.

Fantastic! Great meal, I had the duck quasamole. No, I didn't misspell that! It was fantastic. The drinks (topolo margherita) and guacamole were also tasty. Great service, great atmosphere, what a treat!

Not-to-be-missed restaurant serving clever takes on traditional Mexican creations.

The tortilla soup is as awesome as suggested, but the beet enchiladas (!) I ordered since I was feeling vegetarian for once may *sound* weird but they didn't disappoint. If you're a tequila buff, they have a wall of it. Just make sure you have a designated driver handy.

Best salsa ever
If you can get that right everything else falls into place

I have visited twice now and every dish we have tried from appetizers to entrees has been absolutely phenomenal. Even the coffee is fantastic! The wait staff is among the best I've ever experienced. There is nothing that falls short at this place. I cannot recommend it enough.

Made a promise to our son years ago that if he achieved Eagle Scout, I would take him to Frontera. Being NC natives, not a small promise. Took a while with HS and college honors graduations as additional incentives. Finally, Navy boot camp graduation made it a reality. The mole own it s own made it worth the trip. Salsa, Frontera beer, everything was outstanding. Highly recommended! Oh, one complaint. While the salsas are outstanding, would prefer large soup bowl amounts!

Love this place, the food and drinks are delicious!

This was the Mexican restaurant I've ever experienced. The food was authentic, delicious, and the service was impeccable

My friend really wanted to go here for dinner. She said it was the best Mexican meal she had ever had. I m from California, so I was skeptical. It was good, but my dish was over the top spicy. I could not eat it and had to ask for a side of sour cream to cool it down. Once I got that (finally) I could eat the food, but it wasn t fabulous and not worth the price in my opinion.

I m going with 3 stars. The food was good not great. I ve had better upscale Mexican before. They were busy but I thought the staff was inattentive. We waited a bit too long once seated before anyone brought water (we were all thirsty so we noticed) then certainly too long before the waiter came. He was then knowledgeable and helpful. Once food came no one checked on us. I ran out of anything to drink. Then waited too long once we were finished. I thought this would be better especially for a $100 lunch.

Amazing meal. Well prepared shrimp dish that was spicy. Margaritas and Palomas are very good.

Great spot for tasty Mexican food. filled me up in no time. next time i'll be back with my coworkers. the bill won't break you. menu is similar to a restaurant in el paso i loved.

try the mezcal list. who knew that the good stuff from cactus tasted so much like scotch?

Huge Fan of Rick Bayless. I've seen many of his shows, videos and guest appearances on TV. I love how he put together the Menu for Frontera Grill. He always seems to had a little spin to an Authentic Mexican dish. This is why when we were on vacation in Chicago, Frontera Grill had to be on the top of our Restaurants to eat at and we were NOT disappointed. Can't wait to try his other restaurants, which I'm sure are fabulous.

Nice place for lunch or dinner. Broad menu with plenty of choices. Attentive service and reasonably priced.

Aggressively flavorful food. Very attentive and considerate staff. Came with a small group from a long day and left with very happy people. Get the tortilla soup if you haven t had it before. Probably get the tortilla soup even if you ve had it every other time you ve been there.

The Eggs a La Mexicana was fantastic. Also order the Cran Diggity cocktail. This place is a must visit.

Best Mexican food I ever had. Love those homemade ice cream with caramel. Great food and staff..I recommended to everyone who love Mexican food.

We waited almost 90 minutes to be seated but it was no issue as they took our number and texted us when our seat was available. I've been wanting to eat here for a long time, and it didn't disappoint. Chef Rick was in the kitchen which was impressive considering his other restaurants and activities. The Tropical Tuna Cocktail was the highlight as part of the Cerviche trio we ordered, and the Duck in Yucatecan Pipian was nicely cooked and tasted authentic. Menu is excellent and we can't wait to come here again and try Rick's other restaurants

1st time visiting Chicago..drinks are in point and food was very good. Service was GREAT...

Great Latino food in the Chicago area! The ceviche was pretty decent, but the smoked chicken toquitos and the masa cake sliders were super phenomenal meals. Highly recommended just for those last two dishes.

Totally overpriced and deceptive pricing. $49 for two margs and chips, then they add without telling you a 20% "Service charge" yet still add a tip line for you to "tip." Very, very shady. The chips would have been better at Chipolte. Won't be back a again. Total scam.

Very disappointed. Had reservation for months and finally went last week. It's very noisy with tables close together and no privacy. If you want to hear about the relationship issues of the girl sitting at next table,,, this is the place for you.

Also felt rushed, we ordered apps before main which was good because as soon as we ordered mains, they arrived.

Food was reasonably priced. Unfortunately I was talked out of what I wanted to order to try something different, and didn't like the chefs choice beef enchiladas. However the shrimp and scallop crevice was delicious, and my companion enjoyed the duck.

It was a very busy environment. Not recommended if you want to talk or have a nice relaxing meal.

Brutal tourist trap. Avoid if you are in any way into food / dining. Essentially Mexican food made by a celebrity Caucasian chef for 10x the price. Cultural appropriation at its worst. Terrible, impolite management and cold impersonal service. Atmosphere is that of a boutique hotel lobby, zero personality.

Left the sushi place and got way better service and awesome food

The food here is very good, but I have to say that it was definitely not worth the 3 hour wait and the hype.

Here's my take on the dishes we had.
0. Sweet fried plantains - these were the best plantains I've ever had and the best of the dishes we ordered. They had a nice crispy exterior and come with homemade sour cream and fresh cheese. Delicious! I could have eaten 2 or 3 orders of this.

1. Guacamole - pretty good, with some sort of fresh red pepper mixed in, but it was a tad on the bland side. It could have used some salt and possibly some lemon juice. I like the guac at Qdoba as much or better.

2. Chicken taquitos - these were good, but not so different than your typical taquitos. They do come mounted on a nice little mound of guacamole which added to the value.

3. Falda Asada "Brava": spicy serrano-marinated grass fed flank steak (from Bill Kurtis's Tall Grass) with spicy salsa huevona (hand-crushed, grill-roasted tomatoes, jalapenos). Grilled knob onions and sweet corn tamales (topped with homemade sour cream and fresh cheese). 29.00
I'm not a big steak guy, but this was pretty good. To be frank though, I enjoyed the sweet corn tamales more than the steak itself. It certainly wasn't worth $29.

4. Tacos al Carbon: wood-grilled meat, poultry, fish or mushrooms sliced and served with roasted pepper rajas, two salsas, frijoles charros, guacamole and homemade tortillas. 16.50
We had these tacos with pineapple pork, but we could not really taste the pineapple and so I think these were fairly mediocre.

The corn tortillas that accompanied the meal were good and fresh which I enjoyed. These were probably the 3rd best part of the meal (after the plantains and the tamales).

The flagship of Bayless' restaurants showcases his, brilliant, exceptional recipes. Always busy, noisy, and lively. A mandatory experience. The ceviche is delicious! But if you are in Chicago, don't miss Lena Brava, my favorite of Bayless' restaurants!

Chef Rick Bayless serves up delicious food in a rustic, unpretentious environment at Frontera Grill. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty enjoying the flavor packed and imaginative Mexican cuisine. The Ceviche Trio is so delightful and a must order. There's an energy to Frontera in both the ambiance and the food.

Excellent service! They turned down the volume of the music so that we could hear each other. The food was delightful.