Sepia

Sepia was a delightful, higher end dinner during our most recent Chicago visit. The service was a standout for sure - relaxed but helpful and the right level of attentive. We didn't do the full tasting menu, but the 4 four option we tried was overall delicious and actually well portioned. The desserts at the end were particular knockouts. Would come back for sure!

Sepia was BEYOND AMAZING!! This was our first trip to Chicago and we made sure to add hitting this restaurant to our list. Our server, my memory is terrible but I want to say Jordan, was wonderful! He always checked in after every meal and took the time to explain the meal or even the history behind it. It was close to closing, if not passed, and he still offered us to get another round of drinks. We didn't feel rushed AT ALL. Our meals came out in a good timely manner, we never waited too long between each dish as it was perfect amount of time for the food to settle to make room for more. There was always someone around to clear our dishes and fill our waters. Everyone worked so well together it was so nice to see! Everyone was SO sweet and the place was gorgeous. We did the four course meal for a party of two, we feel the price was worth EVERY penny and do I even have to say it? The food was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! Their drinks were also very good, my husband said his old fashion was the best he has ever had and the best dang margarita lives up to its name! This was an experience we will always remember! We recommended to visit this place when visiting Chicago and we will DEFINITELY be back!! You guys did a FANTASTIC JOB making it a night to remember! Compliments to you all!!! No, I do not mind you using my response at all! Thank you!!

My first Michelin star rated restaurant was well worth it. Each course that came out was the perfect combination of flavor and richness, or umami as some call it. You can tell the chef enjoys what they do, playing around and experimenting with different flavors to find the perfect combinations. I thoroughly enjoyed every single bite. The Chef's Experience was amazing and well worth it! The staff was very friendly and attentive, as well! A++ establishment.

Sepia was truly a special experience! Of course, it’s an experience at a high price point. But it is the rare kind of place that really feels worth what it asks. Dishes were thoughtfully composed, with really interesting combinations of flavors and textures. It felt like the chefs designed a really well-designed fine dining menu, but put making good food first, and all the fancy stuff served that. Ashley was a phenomenal server, both helpful and engaging and very affable!

I love this place so bad. I wish I lived in Chicago so I could visit all the time. Incredibly cozy atmosphere with THE most attentive staff. Every dish was lovely but I adored the scallop & sea urchin (first course) and this donut dish that was a chef special-- those blew my mind. Had a sparkling riesling that was so perfect. Nice balance between sweet and dry with a delicate carbonation. Tbh, counting the days until I can visit again 🥹 [To Sepia: Yes! Please use my review for any marketing purposes!!]

Sat at the bar as a last minute single person reservation and had the opportunity to get to know Marco, an incredible bartender and conversationalist. My favorite part of the meal was the golden Kaluga caviar with smoked sablefish and in the most incredible broth I've ever had. I wish I could bottle it and pour it on everything I eat from now on. From a food perspective, I'd definitely rate Sepia a 5/5 - every item I had on the Chef Experience menu was amazing. Incredible textures, flavors, and variety from course to course. The wine pairing was a little flat for me - I could see where they were going on them - but I wouldn't say it added a ton to each course. In the future, I'd likely just choose a couple of individual glasses tilted towards my tastes.

One of my few fine dining experiences and it was overall great. Service was fast and friendly. The bread and amuse bouche are excellent. I ordered the lamb saddle and the short ribs, both of which were cooked to perfect tenderness and were paired with a crunchy side, although the sauces were a bit on the saltier side for me. The pavlova incorporates some Mexican elements with the chamoy which adds a nice kick alongside the sweetness.

My wife and I celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary at Sepia, we had the Chef Experience with wine paring menu. We were met by Christina, and she said she would be our server for the evening. She was very attentive, in explaining each of the 8 courses and the wine accompaniment, her big smile and friendly approach made for a most pleasant dining experience. The food presentation was amazing, and the flavor was divine. On a special day for us, Christina and Sepia made it a very happy one. Thank you very much.

Absolutely exceptional experience. Top -notch. Flavors are a true trip. Customized cocktail are wonderful. Service and presentation 👌 the best! I loved everything about Sepia. After my 4 course dinner came back next day with my son for the dessert 🍨

Everything was amazing here! Came here with my husband and an old friend for cocktails and dinner. The set menu was amazing. We each tried to order a different item from each course so that we could try most of the dishes and literally every one we ordered was delicious. Flavors and seasoning was perfect. The service was friendly and prompt and helpful! Everyone was really nice. Atmosphere was great too. We sat inside by the window and it was a nice area to sit for views of the inside and the people walking by the window. Definitely on my favorites list now!

5 Stars – An Unforgettable Anniversary Dinner at Sepia We had the absolute pleasure of celebrating our wedding anniversary at Sepia, and it was hands down the best dining experience we’ve ever had. From the moment we were seated, every detail was thoughtfully curated. Chef Andrew Zimmerman surprised us with a gifted starter that set the tone for an incredible 4-course meal—each dish was more stunning and delicious than the last. To top it all off, we were treated to an extra cake dessert to celebrate our love, and it was such a thoughtful, personal touch. Our waitress, Kim, was impeccable. Her warmth, attention to detail, and professionalism made us feel truly special. The entire staff made the evening unforgettable. Sepia didn’t just serve us dinner—they gave us a memory we’ll always treasure. If you’re looking for elevated cuisine, impeccable service, and an experience that celebrates the art of hospitality, Sepia is it. Thank you for making our anniversary so magical!

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Sepia during a trip to Chicago and I must say, I walked away thinking I didn’t pay enough for my meal. We opted for the four course option and the chef was kind enough to send an item compliments of him. The portions were generous, which we did not expect. But more importantly, the flavors!! Oh my, my eyes rolled back a few times. And my son kept dinging his bowl with his spoon as he tried to get every last crumb from his dessert. The atmosphere was perfect and the staff is phenomenal. If you are a foodie - highly recommend securing reservations for an incredible dining experience!

The place has a classic and rustic vibe that feels really inviting. The food was good and satisfying. Staff were friendly and accommodating. A nice spot for a laid-back meal.

The quality of dishes in Sepia’s four-course menu absolutely lived up to its reputation. What is more impressive, however, are incredibly well choreographed movements among the staff and impressive array of cocktails. One knock in the experience was the add-on of caviar dish, which did not justify the cost. Overall, Sepia remains as one of the best fine dining experiences in Chicago without being overly pretentious. Highly recommended.

We waited at the bar for our table, but were guided shortly after. 4-course prix fix with lots of great choices that didn't disappoint. All the dishes were well presented and tasted amazing. Wine list is extensive and reflect an adequate price point based on the restaurant standards. Service was very attentive and extremely gracious. A great experience and one of the finer meal we had while visiting Chicago.

With an extensive selection of wines and a four-course prix fixe menu, the price was surprisingly affordable. The waitstaff were very nice and kind, but the only small issue was the waiting time between courses. After the first dish, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next one. However, the pacing felt more natural after that and it wasn’t a big deal. Overall, we had a great time! In my personal opinion, they excel in seafood dishes.

The food was very inventive, interesting and tasty. The 4 course tasting menu with wine pairings was too much food for us so we're glad we didn't do the 8 course menu. The desserts were the best but i was so full by then! Staff was very, very attentive and were sensitive to dietary restrictions.

Everything is just as you would expect for a one star Michelin restaurant. The food is like a symphony in the mouth. My husband and I each tried 4 different items so we could sample each others. We also added the caviar, which is divine, and the wine pairing. Service is excellent. The only thing I was surprised about was how loud the restaurant is. Absolutely incredible experience from start to finish!! The pavlova is the best dessert I’ve ever eaten. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys scrumptious food.

Oh my! We've eaten at several Michelin starred restaurants around the world. Dare I say it, this was one of our best experiences. As a picky eater, I'm especially appreciative of a carefully curated menu with options. Own top of that, service was stellar. Being seated in a private section of the restaurant made the celebration dinner even more special. The staff was attentive, but not overbearing. The complimentary prosciutto starter foretold a divine dinner to come. Each dish was phenomenal. I could easily eaten 10 of the scallops, and briefly contemplated requesting another order. The subtlety spiced English pee puree perfectly complemented the sweet and succulent scallops. Sepia is a perfect date night for any occasion. Definitely looking forward to going back the next time we're in town.

Absolutely incredible dining experience. There is a reason this place has a Michelin star: the menu offers a true tour for the senses, with courses as aesthetically pleasing as they are delicious, and flavors as novel as they are interesting. The wine menu is also excellent, and the service on par with what you would expect at such a place. The environment is upscale but not standoffish, classy yet approachable. The kind of place that would serve some of the best dishes in town without requiring a dinner jacket. Perfect for a date, dinner with a client, or an upscale dinner with friends. It’s not cheap, but you pay for what you get, and I left feeling like the experience was well worth the price. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to Sepia the first chance you get.

Delicious food. Pleasant staff. Excellent drinks. My friend and I did their Prix Fixe menu and it was excellent. The one dish I didn't enjoy wasn't an error of the kitchen, but a personal flavor preference. Even then it was still an amazingly well put-together dish. It's kind of a bummer I'll never have steak tartare as good as the dish I had from Sepia, but totally worth it and I can live with this reality. Please check this place out.

Nice little Michelin restaurant in Westloop. Four-course menu with great selection and taste. Good customer service. Would improve with less noisy atmosphere.

Fantastic food here. It's flawless from a taste and presentation stand point. The only issue - portions are never enough! The appetizers were great. The carrot soup was thick and rich, with a nice play on the texture with the pecan granola. Chicken was grilled to perfection as well, a lot like Roister.

Went there to celebrate our anniversary night. The food was amazing, and the wine pairing was excellent. My husband loved the Pavlova dessert – one of the best he's ever had. I enjoyed every dish; the flavors were delicate and well-balanced. We were very pleased to get a delicious compliment as well to celebrate our anniversary. However, I'm giving 3 stars for the service because our table could have been kept a bit cleaner, and the seating experience fell short. In a Michelin-starred restaurant, I expect more courtesy with seating arrangements. Unlike my husband, I wasn’t offered any assistance when being seated. Despite that I’d recommend the restaurant, as food and wine pairing was very good.

Fantastic food and wine, fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere. Compliments to staff and kitchen, love to go back

I had a wonderful evening dining here out on their patio. Each dish was amazing and the service is phenomenal as well. You have the option to add on other courses and the caviar dish will not disappoint! There's great care and attention given to the food and drinks which makes me want to dine here again during my next visit.

Fantastic service and food, almost everything hit the mark from what I would expect of a place like this. Service was attentive without feeling overbearing, always there right when I needed them or sometimes just before. Excellent wine and cocktails to pair with your courses. If you can't get a table just a seat at the bar for one of the cocktails would be worth going out of your way for. All of the food was well presented and of very high quality. Portions were good and large enough to share a tasting bite with a partner. Decor and atmosphere have a nice late 19th century feel to them. Lighting was dim but not so much as to impede reading the menu. My only complaint would be the tables, which have a sort of semi cushioned top that felt like I was in danger of toppling the water glass, but this was minor and didn't detract from the overall experience. Would definitely come back, if to just try more of the cocktail menu.

Sepia is an exquisite restaurant that offers a memorable dining experience. The staff was attentive and courteous, and they made us feel special by acknowledging our move as per our OpenTable notes. Our waitress was very friendly and helpful, and she even shared some of her favorite places near our new home with us after our meal. The food was outstanding and full of flavors. We enjoyed trying new dishes and ingredients that we had never tasted before. The food transported us to a different world and we will be raving about it for a long time. One more huge shout out to Erin. Best server we’ve had in a long time.

I had my birthday dinner here back in October. For Sepia being a michelin star restaurant, the food & service, it was definitely worth the $$$. We added the caviar course which became the table favourite. Every single dish we had was just full of flavour. Personally, the king crab etouffee knocked it out of the park for me. The only thing I wish could be better was the dessert course as it didn't really stand out to us.

Excellent service, excellent food, excellent drinks. From the Amuse-bouche (pictured) I knew this was going to be special — that alone was perhaps the best single bite of food I’ve ever had. The beef carpaccio course was good but the real highlights for me were the duck breast and the lamb (pictured). Absolutely incredible on both counts. The flavors are balanced wonderfully — I love the addition of the barbecue sauce and peaches with the duck. The duck is, in my opinion, a must-try. Our service was extremely good and efficient. The only things to note were that I asked for regular water and received sparkling and that the “frosty” desert was just a tad too salty. Those things don’t even begin to make a dent in the wonderful experience that Sepia provided for my first time fine dining and I will absolutely be back. A very strong recommendation from me. Presentation, flavor, service, everything is top-notch.

My wife and I had an excellent date night at Sepia. This is probably our new favorite restaurant in the city. The food was approachable and delicious, with familiar flavors yet unique combinations. The service was impeccable, with Erin making our time in the restaurant feel like we were the only guests in her section. We will be back.

Amazing food, intimate ambience with a touch of swank. Sepia was my first Michelin-star restaurant experience in Chicago, and it did not disappoint. The cheeseburger martini is a must-try — I normally don’t go for gin martinis, but this one was spot on. The menu follows a four-course format, with the option to add more if you’re extra hungry. Everything we tried was excellent, but the real standouts were the beef carpaccio, duck, and the frosty dessert — all beautifully executed. Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with any dish on the menu. The only reason I didn’t give it a full five stars is that a few of the courses took 15–25 minutes between servings, which felt a bit longer than usual. Other than that, the staff was friendly, attentive, and made the evening feel special. Would absolutely go back.

Sepia is a reservation i’ve been trying to get for a while. We’ve dined for years at its sister restaurant Proxi. The server we had was wonderful. She was so kind and knowledgeable and made our first wedding anniversary very special. The food was good, I wanted to be wowed. The short rib and the crème brûlée blew us away. Don’t get me wrong every course was good, but I left wanting even more. I highly recommend Proxi, I think it is better and cannot believe it doesn’t have a Michelin Star.

Food was delicious , every single item we tried was amazing Extensive wine list Kind of left upset. I had prepaid for wine pairing for me and my partner. Our waiter completely forgot about the wine pairing. I ended up ordering a bottle of wine i was recommended by staff and just figured id get refunded the difference. That was not the case. Our waiter only found out about the wine pairing when it came time for our check. Said i would have to order drinks or more dessert or just loose the extra money we had paid. I ended up ordering 1 shot of 1942 and left disappointed a place like this would forget about wine pairing that was already paid for with my dinner

My party of 3 had a nice evening at Sepia. We went with the 4 course option which was a sufficient amount of food. The amuse bouche was delicious! Most of the dishes were really good. My favorite was the Crispy Cream Cheese Gnudi. The Stuffed Chicken Wing was weird. It didn’t taste like chicken at all and the texture was surprisingly strange. The Scallop and Sweet Potato was almost perfection but the smoked trout roe was tough to chew. I’ve had smoked trout roe multiple times and never was it hard to chew like these were. The Rohan Duck Breast had good flavor, but one of the 2 dishes didn’t have the best quality meat. The guest struggled to chew it. The Beef Short Rib dish was very well thought out. I loved the complex flavors but expected the meat to be more tender. The server said it cooked for 48 hours but I could hardly get the knife to cut through it. Once cut, I was able to chew it okay. 2 of the 3 guests enjoyed the dessert. I had the Caramelized Apple Mille-Feuille and it was amazing! The other 2 guests had the Sticky Toffee Pudding. One loved it and the other didn’t. She expected it to be similar to what she had in London but it was very different. To drink, I had the “Best Dang Marg in Town”. Although it was good, the large chunk of ice took up most of the glass. For $22, there really wasn’t much to drink and for that reason, it’s not the “Best Dang Marg in Town”. There was quite a bit of wait between each course and it took about 2 hours for the entire meal. We choose to park in the garage across the street. Although pricey, it was very convenient and we didn’t want to walk far in the cold weather. However, there’s street parking and more affordable options nearby. It was really nice trying Sepia and we were satisfied with the food for the most part. With that said, I do think the price-point is too high for what we got.

My husband and I ate here last night as a special treat to ourselves for the holidays. Fine dining is an investment we like to make about once a year when we’re near the city. I am admittedly a picky eater, but I do try every dish on a tasting menu because I am normally taken on a wonderful journey with these type of dishes. That being said, I loved many of these dishes! The frosty and ham donut were my favorites, I would eat those all the time if I could! A few of the dishes were too smokey and “dill” for my palate, so I did give my husband the last bites of my courses. The service was poor for a highly rated restaurant. My cocktail glass, finished by course 2 was never taken by the staff, nor was my tea cup/milk/honey, nor bread plate by the end of the experience when we paid, leaving the table feeling crowded. See the pictures below for a visual of our table when we paid. I had to request my spilled honey be wiped down after it went unnoticed for 15 minutes by the wait staff. If we weren’t at fine dining, I wouldn’t be using high criteria, but when we invest in a fine-dining restaurant, my expectations tend to be higher. I will say we arrived 30 minutes early and were sat immediately, so hats off to the hosts! The bathroom was clean and gorgeous, although I did have to replace the toilet paper in my stall. It wasn’t the worst experience, but again my expectations are higher for this type of establishment. Overall, it was a unique experience and offered a good meals but I am not sure I’d return here when we have other fine dining options in the city to try.

Of all the Michelin restaurants I’ve been to, this one was the worst. Definitely not the experience I expect from a Michelin. I booked the tasting menu with the wine pairing, but the waiter seemed to have no idea when we got there. The food is amazing, so kudos to the chef. However, everything else was lacking. Took about 40 minutes before anything but water was brought to the table. The pacing of the dishes was inconsistent. The staff appeared be in a rush and didn’t pay us much attention. While the food was amazing, I expect more from this type of restaurant. Definitely not worth the price. I’d honestly skip this one.

I visited Sepia as a reward after running the Chicago Marathon and I was unfortunately disappointed. My partner and I did a Google search halfway through to make sure it was still a Michelin-starred restaurant because it didn’t feel like it. The place was full and the service did not feel exclusive. The waiters had a lot of tables to tend to and it always felt rushed. The waiter would tell us about some wines and then forget to bring them to us. Also, there was not a single dish that stood out and nothing felt revolutionary. It was overpriced for what we ended up getting. It was a decent night out but not outstanding as as it usually is with Michelin-starred restaurants.

We went for an event (employer bought out the restaurant) and it was meh. 2.5 hours for four courses. Opera cake for dessert that was fine, but Costco quality. Gluten free and veggie guests got mediocre accommodations. Only one kind of non alcoholic beer that was too light and tasteless and no mocktails or other good non alcoholic alternatives. I assume there are different levels available if you buy out the restaurant and our employer probably didn't buy the high end options, but the overall experience was disappointing.

Food 2/5 stars - could be better. Started off strong with the first dish (king crab) and ended poorly with the short rib and cloud cake (both of which seemed unbalanced flavour wise). None of the food was mouth watering however and nothing I would try again. Service 2/5 - it was definitely a bit awkward with the servers constantly watching you as you eat. We ordered super quick and the server seemed shocked at that, especially because we didn’t order drinks beforehand. Felt a little like if you didn’t spend as much money as possible you were looked down upon. Atmosphere 2/5 - cute atmosphere inside but the seating was not ideal. The tables were really low to the ground and the chairs were really high. Not ideal for someone who is on the taller side. Overall, though I appreciate a good quality tasting meal, it didn’t hit the spot for me in a way that justified the huge price.