The Little Gem Restaurant

My husband and I have visited this charming spot twice—once for Valentine’s Day and again for our anniversary—and it’s quickly become one of our favorite restaurants in Oak Park. The orecchiette pasta is a standout favorite, and the braised short rib pasta is absolutely incredible! I also fell head over heels for their cappuccinos; they were so good, I’m now tempted to buy an espresso machine just to recreate them at home!

I truly love this Gem in the heart of Oakpark, and absolutely recommend them! The service was exceptional, the food absolutely delicious, the wine was also amazing, thank you for the recommendation! The ambiance perfect enough to savor the food, enjoy the wine, and enthralling conversation. I made a reservation and was running very late, i am most grateful to them for accommodating me either way. I have been here numerous times and will definitely return. I sure recommend them!!!

We went for an early dinner right after 3pm, we told the server we only had 40 minutes before Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio tour nearby. The service was very quick and we got out around 3:45pm without feeling rushed. The food is delicious, the server is very professional. Wish we had more time to get some drink and enjoy more. Cash is preferred for tips.

We came here for a date-night. It's a cute spot with some beautiful French decor, gold, and fresh flowers. Our waitress was very nice and attentive. We started off with the prosecco. They brought out this garlic, buttery, crusty bread. It was so good. Next, we tried the soup du jour, which was the French onion. It was a cute little crock with the cheese melty and crusty. It was everything that a French onion soup should be. We also tried the tomato bisque. I have to say with confidence that this was the best tomato bisque I've ever had. It was rich and creamy and so flavorful. Each spoonful was like a meal. Next up was the short ribs with the cavatelli pasta. The meat was juicy and tender and full of body and flavor. The pasta was perfect and it had these amazing mushrooms in it. Last, we had the tiramisu with an espresso spot and a cappuccino. The dessert was decadent, we really enjoyed it. I loved that they used Julius Meinl coffee and espresso. I haven't had this coffee from Vienna in a very long time. We will be back. This is a perfect anniversary or romantic date-night.

Little Gem is an absolute treasure. The cuisine is French and the kitchen really knows what they're doing. The baked onion soup is wonderful and the brie & fig crostini are a nice shareable plate. For entreés I'd recommend the steak frites and the pan seared salmon. Creme brûleé is a must for dessert! The ambiance is perfect for date night and the live music really completes the experience. I'd 100% recommend this restaurant.

Adding to my previous review from a few years ago. We hosted my sister in law’s baby shower at The Little Gem this weekend. It was lovely! We got so many compliments on the food and the space. We had about 26 people and the space was the perfect size. Rubin and Tim were awesome servers and Judith the owner was easy to work with and very accommodating throughout the planning process. I highly recommend booking The Little Gem for your next event! Previous review: Love The Little Gem. Always have! They did an amazing job with their curbside pick up programs during quarantine and are following all restrictions and precautions now that they’re open for indoor and outdoor dining. Love their live music on tuesdays! Cute vibe, great food.

Had brunch after my breast cancer awareness walk on 9/28/24. The little gem omelet and cornbeef hash was a hit with the group. The food was amazing! The atmosphere was spot on! And the service was impeccable! Even got a sweet treat on the house! Thank you so much, The Little Gem,for making this day a bit more special.

Last Thursday was my husband's and my wedding anniversary and although this visit was only our second time, we celebrated at our favorite restaurant The Little Gem Cafe and they did not disappoint. The staff was so wonderful and accomodating and the food as always was exceptional from the calamari appetizer, the honey Brussels sprouts down to the main courses that included the Gouda stuffed pork chop and the sausage orecchiette; but the sleeper super rock star was those Brussels Sprouts which were crispy, sweet, flavorful and perfectly done. As always the desserts were fantastic and I would like to thank our server Carlos for being so attentive.

Something that I love more than finding a good happy hour- is discovering hidden gems wherever I go! The Little Gem Cafe is located in the Chicago/Oakpark area and is definitely a treasure in the area! I sat on the side that has live jazz and loved it! Even Connor loved it - that’s his little hand, giving the thumbs up at the end of the video! Lol The food was so tasty and the service was great! Eats in the 🎥 Sea Scallops Au Gratin - sooooo good! Fried Calamari- loved it! The breading was super light and crunchy Salmon Filet New Zealand Lamb Chops Orecchiette Pasta Everything was so good! Fun fact: Tuesday- Thursday, they have a date night special that comes with a 3 Course Dinner for 2 , with a Bottle of Wine! You choose 1 Appetizer and 1 Dessert, 2 Salads and 2 Entrees!!! Go check them out and tell ‘em that Planes & Plates sent you!!! Enjoy!

This restaurant is indeed a little gem! My mother, grandmother & I enjoyed our impromptu lunch date after celebrating the loss of a love one. We were greeted by staff and a owner I believe( definitely all the warm fuzzy feelings from that). We order the mussels for an appetizer ( immaculate and perfectly cooked in a white wine sauce). We each order drinks; mom has the erocia riesling( she loved), myself the new old fashioned( it was good nothing to put of the ordinary or different), grandma had a martini with no vodka as she really isn’t a drinker but she loved it to say the least. For main course I had the boneless slow roasted half chicken ( pure perfection juicy and crispy skin; it wasn’t quite half of a chicken it was only a breast & thigh). Mom had the seafood risotto ( definitely lived up to the reviews of being delicious and cooked perfectly; the only critic I was there was a bit to much liquid to the risotto cause it to continue in absorption of liquid. If you were saving any for later( which you probably won’t because it’s just that good) it might be a little mushy while reheating. My grandmother had the pan seared salmon filet cooked medium well. She enjoyed it immensely; leaving nothing for later hehe. We’ve all started planning our return the on a couples date. Service, vibes and food were all amazing. Thank you for a pleasant dining experience.

Went for lunch midweek-excellent food! Very impressive!! From the beet salad to the honey brussel sprouts, short ribs with ricotta cavatelli, scallops with black rice & carrots-outstanding! Well done!

Accidents happen and some for a reason; a good reason. I was Googling something ordinary and mundane and totally unrelated to dining and this place came up as part of my online search. I took a brief look at the Little Gem Cafe in Oak Park because I never heard of it and what I saw sounded interesting, but I had to get back to my original search but I put the Little Gem Cafe in the back of my mind. Now to the the review: Perfection. Everything was perfect to me and I am presuming by the droves of customers that came in during our Date Night. Our reservation was at 5pm but we were a little early and had to wait for the switch over from lunch service to dinner so we wandered around on Marion Street for about ten minutes. What's charming about Little Gem is that it is off the beaten path of dow town Oak Park. The interior of the restaurant is quai t and old school like how a person (me) would imagine an intimate dining establishment. We stared date night with soup. My husband had the French Onion Soup and I had the soup of the day which was Lobster Bisque which was smooth as silk with junks of lobster. The French Onion soup tasted like time, techniques, taste; the broth was beefy and the onions well caramelized I thought there were like little cubes of gelatin and was delicious. We also ordered the Truffled Fries the nibble before deciding on our main courses. The fries were abundant and tasty, perfectly seasoned and were not overly truffle tasting like a lot of places do with overusing truffle oil. For our entrees we both ordered the Angus Hanger steak that was presented with roasted carrots and cauliflower; the steak was juicy and the vegetables perfect and not overcooked although my husband wished his carrots were softer (don't worry, this wasn't a Date Night argument). Dessert which is my favorite part of the meal was difficult to decide at least for me but decisions were made. Wayne had the Creme Brulee with seasonal fruit and I had the Godiva Chocolate Mousse. Both were great choices and we sampled each others' pick. The brulee came with strawberries, sliced and fanned across the tip. A bite of the Creme brulee with a slice of strawberries (which were obscenely ripe and flavorful and when tasted together reminded me of an upscale strawberry milk shake in all its creamy. Their chocolate mousse is now what I will judge all other chocolate mousse. I tried to get every last bit scraping and clanking the spoon on the inside of the dish. I wouldn't classify the cuisine as French but rather Continental if that's even a real thing diningwise. The food was better than the French restaurant we generally frequent and we spent less money and got more quality. The host and the waitstaff were extremely friendly and answered all questions I had about the restaurant and the dishes I chose. On a less sexy topic but one I care about was the bathroom. The men's room was clean and nicely decorated which I appreciate. Little Gem Cafe has part of the restaurant a spot next door for dining with live music which some people were attending. We've already decided that this will be a regular part of our dining.

The little Gem cafe feels like place located in southern Europe and convincing with elements of warm feeling and welcome. Food also right on point not overwhelming. Mussels and lamb dish was Perfect for cold night. Cocktails was good as well but more like classic than creative but very reasonable price.

I recently had the pleasure of dining at this remarkable establishment, and I must say, the experience was nothing short of exceptional. The atmosphere exuded a sense of tranquility and sophistication, providing a truly relaxing ambiance that set the tone for a wonderful evening. From the moment we stepped in, the service was impeccable. Attentive and knowledgeable staff ensured that every need was met, enhancing the overall dining experience. As for the culinary offerings, they were simply outstanding. We started with the Calamari, a delightful appetizer that set the stage for the flavors to come. The salmon and shrimp scampi was a testament to the freshness and quality of the ingredients used, leaving a lasting impression. The accompaniment of live jazz music throughout the evening added a perfect melody to the dining experience. To complement our delightful meal, we indulged in a Raspberry Martini and a Cumberment Martini, both of which were crafted to perfection and greatly enhanced our overall enjoyment of the evening This establishment truly excels in providing a memorable dining experience. From the serene atmosphere to the delectable cuisine and exceptional service, it's a place I highly recommend and look forward to visiting again. Kudos to the entire team for delivering an outstanding dining experience.

Like it's name suggest, is a Gem. Service was slow but worth the wait. The brussel sprouts looked and smelled delicious. Table next to ours had them. We had lunch but any of the entrees were available. Was a good find choosen randomly.

Wonderful early lunch today. Great service and value for the price.

Rarely do my girlfriend and I go to the same place more than once. This "Little Gem" is the exception, and its really 2 restaurants. Theres a quiet side and a live music side. Excellent food and service every time.

My favorite restaurant in Oak Park. Charming interior, live music, delicious food, attentive servers. I wish I could give more than 5 stars. We had calamari, brie crostinis, rib eye steak and cheesecake. All spectacular.

A nice, sit down place in a great location that offers lunch (yes, fancy lunch place is a bit rare in Oak Park!). Extremely vegan friendly - multiple vegan/adaptable options on the regular menu.

Loved the food and service. I’m sensitive to sounds so the noise level was too much for me. But otherwise the place really is a gem. We had the seafood risotto and it was delicious.

The Little Gem Cafe absolutely delivered. The prix fixe menu was incredible — I had the prime rib and it was hands down the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly cooked, flavorful, and generous. The cocktails were just as impressive — beautifully balanced and crafted with care. It was nonstop busy, but the servers hustled and never missed a beat. Despite the packed room, we received excellent, attentive service the entire time. The owner was present and so gracious — warm, welcoming, and clearly invested in both the guests and the team. That kind of leadership shows. At one point, a table nearby gave the staff a hard time because their payment methods weren’t working and they had to use the ATM. The team handled it professionally and kept things moving. Some people can be rude, but the staff stayed gracious and focused. Overall, an amazing experience. Outstanding food, great cocktails, a genuinely kind owner, and a hardworking team. We’ll definitely be back. Finnegan M.

Went for the v-day prix fixe, entree + salad + dessert was crazy good. Apps were ok. I think it's hard to find a place with better atmosphere than this for a romantic Valentine's dinner. If that's valuable to you then this is definitely worth it. Desert came out kind of slow but forgivable given that we went on (probably) the busiest day of the year.

I wanted to try a new place fora ladies get-together I was hosting. I called Little Gem and the owner answered. I was looking to place an order for noon on a Saturday and wanted to verify if the dinner menu would be available at that time. She asked me to text her the order I wanted to place and she would get with the chef to ensure they can accommodate everything I wanted. The customer service was above and beyond! And everything came out delicious. I will definitely be ordering from here again!

Great local restaurant fantastic service food and drinks. Kyle our host, waiter, and bartender was great. It appeared he was a one man operation and doing a great job of taking care of the rest of the customer's as well as us. The French onion soup was off the hook!

Amazing service from bartender Nathan. Very knowledgeable also shared with me a valuable wine book that explained the various wine regions. Would def return for a relaxing drink and great conversation!

Friendly staff, nice jazz music, the food was good. The place felt classy.

Reserved a table for a small group of friends. Food very good, prices reasonable. The waiter was new to the job so there was some confusion in getting our orders straight. (It's difficult to any help these days.)

I'm moving my reviews over from Yelp. Originally published 2/2020 Great place for a nice meal with the wife! I had been to see these guys for lunch (killer burger, see photo) and knew that I wanted to get back in for dinner. They served me a burger good enough to warrant a return visit so I brought the wife in for their Monday/Wednesday dinner special on a Wednesday (live music scared us off of Monday night). They run an amazing date night special: $75 for a 3-course dinner for two, including a bottle of wine. We aren't really "wine people" so we asked the waiter to recommend a red wine based on our food order. There was a decent explanation behind the recommendation and it tasted fine but wine doesn't really resonate with me so the name or description didn't lodge itself sufficiently in my brain to make it into the review. Sorry about that. We started with the brie crostinis. I like brie and I like bread so there's just about no common configuration of those ingredients that won't work for me. That said, these were delicious! I really enjoyed the chunk of fig and the drizzle of honey. The crostinis were toasted well without being dry while the brie was delightfully softened. I didn't really like sharing them with the wife. Next up was the entree course. We had one order of roasted chicken and the hangar steak. We split the entrees but I didn't really develop a favorite. Both were pretty good but neither was life-changing. For dessert we had their Godiva chocolate mousse. It was pretty good but also a bit on the pedestrian side. The service was absolutely impeccable!

Service is good, food is also good and tasty (especially the mussels), but it is a little overpriced for what you actually get. $80 for two sandwiches, one appetizer, and one bottle sparkling water. Again, the place is very nice and the decoration is good-looking, with a cute terrace, but the price is a little too much. Will recommend for a date or a business lunch, but not for casual dining

I mean - it was fine - I wanted a "nice" sandwich and they had one and it was good (BLT - bacon was perfect! Rest was textbook. Fries were tasteless.) But service was slow and uninterested in a solo diner sitting at the bar. I had to ask for almost everything and no one talked to me. I think it's more of a "make reservations to have lunch with your mother" kind of place than a real hidden gem.

I really wish I had enjoyed my meal here more. The servers were nice and the decor was well done. I do want to preface this with that I think I ordered poorly and that other things on the menu looked better (especially for the price). I ordered the vegetarian risotto and it really just was not that good. I love risotto, but this one sadly was pretty inconsistently cooked and probably a quarter of the rice was still mostly uncooked on the inside (more than just the slight bite one would expect). The general flavor of the rice was alright, although whatever depth of flavor was there was overshadowed by too much black pepper and pools of grease that coated the rice. I found myself mostly eating the vegetables. I left feeling a little sick to my stomach from the grease, feeling sad to have payed $26 for this meal, and wishing I would've picked something else on the menu at a similar price. I would try this place again, but only after researching which dishes are better!

So we ate here once before, but quite some time ago. We didn’t have a reservation and it a Thursday evening with plenty of seating available. Service was good…nothing exceptional, but good. John was nice and polite…also the bartender. $14 for a sparingly spread of Brie and some figs with some honey on 4 small slices of common bread is pure profit for the restaurant. Skip Plentiful hummus, but the ration of pita was incorrect. Sea bass was average and chopped salad with salmon was slightly above average. Skip the truffle fries…$14 and sitting in a mess of too much oil. I’m going to sit this one out next time.

First time visiting this restaurant, Mother's day 2025. The meal was packaged for the ocassion. The egg and steak was my order. The meat was a little tough. The restaurant had only about 10 tables but was very noisy. The waiter was not very attentive, did not even remembered what each order from which person (Carlos).

Atmosphere and service are fine. The place is actually really cute. The food, could be better though. The chips on the chilaquiles were soggy and the toppings were placed off to the sides rather than the normal way. The steak tasted burnt which was over empowering. The brioche bun on my friends order was dry so she opted to just eat the prime rib meat on its own rather than a sandwich. Pancakes were ordered for the kid and they are pretty big. The portions are huge where u can actually share a plate rather than ordering a single plate.

Came here for the second time for a date with hubby. We were really impressed the first time last year. The whiskey flights are awesome. But this time around the food was kind of disappointing. Ordered lamb, medium, and it was kind of small, undercooked and overseasoned. Also ordered the special potato encrusted trout. It was very salty and the fish was a little dry. Skipped dessert this time. Honestly, whiskey was probably the best part of the visit food and drink wise. Service was excellent.

Had reservation. Waited 15 minutes before we were seated. Waited another 20 minutes before our order was taken. Only 2 menus available for the whole dining room. Wait staff apologized for long wait to order and only two menus. I counted 22 people in small dining room. Two people eating tables. Food took a long time to come out and it was cold. How do you ruin an omelet? No refill offered for coffee. They refilled the water glasses. No follow up on the meal, no checking if any problems with the dishes served. Waited patiently for the check as wait staff seemed overwhelmed. However we did get his attention to bring the bill. That was promptly taken care of. Cute little cafe, food was not to my liking, I had spinach, onion, cheese omelet with patas on the side. Everything was cold. Service was poor. I will not go back. Very very disappointed.

Wow, I have never given a review before but this was so disappointing I thought I should let it be known. We had dinner reservations on Saturday night before Mother's day at 6:30. The restaurant was busy but we were seated on time. We placed cocktail and appetizer orders and eventually our meal orders as well. It took over 90 minutes to get the appetizer and well over 2 hrs for the dinner. They had a party on the other half of the restaurant and they did not have the staff or kitchen to handle what was being ordered. They apologized for the delays again and again. The staff was overwhelmed and very nice. Once we got the meal it was hit or miss. The mussels were great as was the seafood risotto. The paella was a joke ( so bad) served in a soup? The branzino was burnt, literally black and dry as can be. Such a disappointing meal when were expecting so much better. The staff did try their best to offer us some free dessert but overall it was a VERY disappointing night.

I keep thinking about the dinner I had here with a friend, when we were both on medications that prevented us from ordering alcohol. As soon as the waiter heard no drinks, his attitude cooled, even though we ordered apps and desserts. When I got coffee to go with dessert, it was room temperature, and tasted like it had been sitting on the burner for too long. I told waiter it was cold, so he nuked it for a minute and brought it back just warm, still undrinkable.

Mediocre food. I tried to like this place, I really did. The prices are ridiculous for what you get. I ordered a chicken sandwich with fries for $16. The fries were cooked in the air fryer I believe, but they were dry and inedible. Regular chicken sandwich on white bread, barely toasted. Chicken wasn't amazing or anything but good enough to eat. The fries just ruined the meal for me. They are plated very nice. "Seasoned" with garnish but just were too dry. My wife had the Salmon filet. It came with what was supposed to be ratatouille but it was not. It was cooked veggies, arranged to look like ratatouille. That was $26. I get what the place is trying to do. They want a downtown Chicago feel in Oak Park but .. it's not that good. So for 2 lattes, a chicken sandwich with fries, and a salmon filet for a total of $98. Almost $100 for lunch is not my idea of a quick, delicious meal. I won't be back The staff was nice and that's the only reason why it got 1 star

The food was amazing from the limited options we were giving however the service was horrible. They literally only had two servicing the encore part of the restaurant… It was supposed to be a beautiful one and a half, 25th wedding anniversary anniversary and we spent most of it, waiting on food and inconsistencies of the waitress… The manager only came and spoke to certain people and while we were waiting, we seen two couples leave and one that was in the midst of leaving, but the Waitress talked them to say… The service was horrible however, the food was good….