Le Colonial - Lake Forest

I truly loved this restaurant. We went on a Thursday night and it was inviting and bustling with all patrons fully enjoying their dining experience. Walking in, it is inviting and warm. Beautiful decor. Drinks were outstanding. I ordered a smoked old fashioned and it came with the smoker on top, it was like drinking a comforting campfire! The best I’ve had. Food and service were both 10/10

Our third visit was for lunch on the patio. The food was all good. I am a sucker for banh cuon or the banh uot version, both available here, because you almost never find them in the US. Also enjoyed the ribs and the fried rice. Our waiter was on point but we only saw him once after ordering. We had asked our lunch to come out as two courses, and somehow they put the shrimp roll, banh uot sesame roll, and ribs together as the first course, and the le colonial salat and fried rice as the second course. I hadn’t really thought about the service gaps until I read the other reviews. Seems like some better thinking is needed. I love this restaurant inside and on the patio (lots of bees today though) and know it’s always booked so … we will be back for sure. Just some refinement needed.

I can't think of another restaurant that offers a better atmosphere than Le Colonial. The food and drinks are outstanding but, considering the price, I felt the food portions were small. For the most part, the service was excellent but the wait staff fell short in refilling the water glasses. Also, I don't like the "Service Charge" they add to the bill. That's a COVID leftover and should stop.

Went here for New Year’s Eve, Ernesto was fantastic, food was unforgettable.

We went here for a birthday celebration. We ordered the pork baby ribs (small plate), the duck dish ( large plate) and side dish of Japanese eggplant. They were delicious. We love the duck and the Japanese eggplant. Cooked perfectly, so tender and juicy, they melt in your mouth. Those two definitely we will order again. The staff are very nice and knowledgeable about the menu and the restaurant's ambiance is so cute, perfect for a romantic dinner or date night or special celebration. Recommended!

Used to go a lot when this was Market House and was shocked at all the remodeling on the inside and the beautiful patio. Excellent service and every dish was spot on (except for the vegetable rolls) - just amazing flavors especially on the baby back ribs and the duck. Can’t wait to be back!

This is absolutely the place to go for a special occasion. The atmosphere is elevated and intimate and the service was impeccable. Our favorite dishes were the chicken dumplings, papaya salad, salmon, pickled vegetables, and crème brûlée. Our waiter Vette gave us fabulous recommendations and ensured that our birthday guest was celebrated. Was thinking of everyone I had to recommend this restaurant to as we were eating. Well done, Le Colonial!

Le colonial is a hidden gem for sure! The exterior doesn’t compare to how the inside looks. When I first walked up I thought it’s just a plan restaurant. When I entered I was highly surprised. It look amazing compared to other places I have been to. The wait staff was great! They offered recommendations and walked my friend and I through the menu. The food was amazing! I felt everything was just right! The ambiance was great! I loved all the settings and then Décor inside! I have to say check Le Colonial out for high quality food and great experience!

Second time here and so in love with this place. The atmosphere, food, cocktails, decor, and staff. Jason greeted us at the door with a smile and made us feel right at home. He made sure to get us situated to our table as we waited at the bar and had a drink. Btw, the bar area is so romantic and they prepare some mean drinks. Emily waits on us when we're here. She's badass in so many ways. Funny, great sense of humor, and has great recommendations every single time. We ordered Filthy dirty martini and a whiskey sour made with egg white. Drinks are not watered down so expect some happiness running through you in a matter of minutes lol. For appetizer, we ordered the shrimp spring roll that come with a killer peanut sauce, they're great! For dinner we ordered, my favorite CHICKEN CURRY ❤️ I literally can eat this meal everyday. It is so so so delicious. I had Emily kick up the heat, and WOW! We also ordered the stir fry, shrimp stir fry and everything was cooked to perfection. Not too salty and definitely made with love. Look forward to the next time LC ❤️ THANK YOU ❤️

Let's Get Saucy 💃🏻 Le Colonia Lake Forest lets each and every single dish dance with flavor. The staff is wonderful, but the food is simply perfection. The flavors dance in your mouth, leaving you with a high note with every bite. If you want different and wild flavors in your dishes, then Le Colonia is your place to shimmy on down, too!!!!

We arrived early in the evening on Sunday and had booked outdoor seating for dinner. The outdoor space was adorned with dark wood accents, banana trees, and ceiling fans, immediately provided the immersive experience of Southeast Asia. As we walked to our table, the delightful aroma of the food from neighboring tables couldn't be ignored. After studying the menu, we selected crispy pork and shrimp rolls, pho noodles, half a duck, and two vegetable side dishes. The pork and shrimp rolls were absolutely delightful, especially when enjoyed with the dipping sauce and wrapped in lettuce. Moving on to the pho, it was certainly a nice bowl of soup but not compelling enough for a repeat order, considering there are better options elsewhere. The star of the meal was the half duck. They were perfectly cooked to the medium rare tenderness and beautifully presented for sharing. The only shortfall was in the seasoning; a touch more salt could have elevated the duck's taste. Surprisingly, the steamed eggplant stole the spotlight. Perfectly cooked and bathed in a splendid mix of soy, onion, shallot, and fish sauce, each bite was a delight. We also tasted the Brussels sprouts, featuring a fish sauce vinaigrette, though a tad overly sweet for my preference. While the meal had some ups and downs, it presented an overall enjoyable experience with a distinct new Vietnamese-French fusion that tantalized our taste buds.

A Great 1st time experience at this place and location which only opened July 2022. A very unique blend of French & Vietnamese cuisines. Food was excellent! Service is great! The only difficulty is to make a reservation for more than 4 people at the right time and date, so make your reservation way ahead.

Treated my senior parents there as a surprise so they could have a date night, and they loved it! They loved the service, food, and ambiance! It was the perfect gift for those that are hard to buy gifts for!

I was solo for dinner and was able to get a seat at the bar. The bar staff was very attentive and polite, and the drinks were great. Food was really great, fresh and spicy, and it was the perfect size for one person. I've been to le colonial in the city and wanted to try the lake forest location; it didn't disappoint. Would recommend!

We had a wonderful lunch! Service was attentive and helpful. Serving portions were quite large even for the small plates. Salmon large plate was huge. Also enjoyed the blueberry lemonade. Outdoor patio was lovely and food was excellent. Will definitely be back!!!

One of the best restaurants is finally open in Lake Forest. Beautiful restaurant, very good quality and tasty food and super service. Patio gives European feel. What else can you ask for?

I am here to write a review for one reaso and one thing only— To share how wonderful our dining experience was thanks to the lovely Luca, who gave nothing but excellent top notch service. He was attentive, gave great recommendations, and even ran through menu items perfectly with his Irish accent. He was a delight and the definition of fine dining service. Le colonial LF location is such a wonderful addition. As a fan of the old rush st location and the newer oak street, I was happy to experience the beauty that is it’s lake forest location. The PDR looks incredible. Can’t wait to come back and hopefully have Luca as our server again!

I have been here twice now and each time was wonderful! The food was excellent and everyone there is so nice. It is a gem!

We had a perfect lunch today (we ate outside at their beautiful patio). Our server Yuliya was wonderful!! She offered us great suggestions and the food was delicious. The service was gracious and attentive. The food was beautifully served. We look forward to dining here again and highly recommend!

Wow. Such an incredible experience! The food, drinks, atmosphere and service is always exceptional! For lunch, dinner or just for a perfect cocktail, I will always be returning to Le Colonial!

Great experience with family. Came here for lunch and the staff was friendly and attentive. Food was delicious, you honestly can’t go wrong with the dishes served here. I would recommend the beet salad and the tuna tartare. The brussel sprouts weren’t bad either; not my favorite but still worth a try. Other honorable mentions include the chicken stir fry and green curry shrimp. Drink picture is the Lychee Martini, also very good.

very good food but seems slightly overpriced. overall enjoyed everything though.

Beautiful atmosphere and great service. I was a bit disappointed with the food:(( it’s a nice place for a drink, wish they had a better choice of wine.

My friends and I went for special occasion and ordered 8 dishes for 4 people! We truly enjoyed 6 out of 8! (+)Our highlight was the Halibut, fillet mignon and the beef ravioli! (-) I personally don’t like the duck and the crispy noodles. The noodles were bland, nothing special. It was my childhood comfort but this was nothing close to it. Dessert: warm chocolate cake is warm and tasty for sure. Crème brule was a special surprise!

Beet salad was amazing. Halibut was very overcooked. Service was slow and we were never checked on after getting our food.. until it was time to pay.

The renovation and redecoration are absolutely beautiful. The tables are a little bit close together making it quite noisy. The food was excellent, however the portions are tiny given the prices. Overall an enjoyable experience mostly thanks to the attentive service.

This is a special occasion restaurant for sure, but one that can be really worth it. I’d recommend a reservation, but just for drinks, you can get a seat at the bar rather easily. While the food is excellent, the portions are quite small for some dishes. So rather than having a whole meal there, I prefer to go for the cocktails and appetizers, which are always excellent. Their lychee martini is my favorite in all of Chicagoland!

A little overprived for what you get but you can't beat the atmosphere. Food is good but American style Vietnamese food, which is not a bad thing. I go to Vietnam 4x times a year and it would be medium at best over there. So can't say it is authentic. There are so many regions in Vietnam. Northern Vietnam tastes much different than Central or South Vietnam for the same dish.

The service was excellent. Standout dishes included the crispy pork & shrimp rolls, yellowfin tuna tartare, and the spicy shrimp stir-fry. Each one was creative, well executed, and flavorful. The Japanese eggplant and rau xao were less memorable. The lychee martini and crème brûlée were solid, though fairly standard.

Just good, not great. We ordered the chicken and cabbage salad, pork ribs, shaking beef, fried rice and Brussel sprouts. Everything was good, but my biggest issue was the temperature inconsistency. For the appetizer, the ribs were lukewarm. Salad was yummy but I’m wondering if that caused the ribs to be served late. For the main dish, the rice and Brussels were piping hot but the shaking beef was room temperature. Really unfortunate since the beef was supposed to be the main course. The cocktails were delicious, I would come back for their happy hour and only get drinks + small bites. It doesn’t look like they handle meat well. Not that we ever expect a “freebie” but the birthday treat was very sad… a candle + a chocolate wafer. I’d almost rather we got nothing. For context, we went on a Thursday evening, after the dinner rush.

Having tried and loved the one in the city, it is difficult to independently review this one. It is definitely its own thing. I tried it twice just to make sure. I will say that the food presentation and taste are not stellar, and certainly not for the prices. One may say it is consistent with what one can find in the suburbs. The ceviche was missing the chips, I hope they fix this. The server did not know the menu and could not speak to me about the ingredients. Our waters were not refilled and our table was full of empty dirty dishes most of the meal. Took a while to find our server to ask for desert, by which time I no longer had an appetite for it. I still have hopes that things can improve. Great patio.

Had the worst Vietnamese iced coffee ever! Not strong and overwhelming sweet. I would recommend that you have the condensed milk on the side and let the customer add to the coffee. We could not even drink our coffee how freaking sweet it was.

Today is our first time visiting the restaurant because we heard it has just opened (about a month ago) so we wanted to give it a try. The interior is beautifully decorated and do gives a Vietnamese vibe. However, the food is subpar. First of all, the portion is really really small (plates are quite large) We ordered an appetizer, the seafood ceviche, which had a wired taste, for 19 bucks, there's literally 2 or 3 pieces of shrimp, 1 piece sliced octopus and a few chunks of raw salmon. I had the spicy stir fried chicken, the chicken is soooo tough we started laughing because how can you mess up cooking chicken? Nothing really stands out, including the rice (which comes in a very cute, but tiny bow and is hard and lukewarm) Overall, for 3 people (and we weren't even half full) the check came out to be over $130 not including tips. I can only compliment on the decor, very nice ambiance, but for the price, the portion, and the taste of the food, Sorry, we will NOT be back. Good luck with everything! (The service is okay, staffs are nice :)

We went to celebrate my birthday and Mother’s Day and they kicked us out saying that the limit time on the table is 3 hours (we didn’t stay 3 hours there) The food was amazing but the service was very poor. We spent $400+ (party of 3) at least we deserved to received a good service and stayed as much as we wanted. I never experienced never like this before! That’s a shame!

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS TWICE! This was my fourth — and probably last — visit. I ordered a margarita and was served a house-style margarita instead of the regular one. They corrected it and brought the right drink, but still charged me for the first one ($18). When I pointed it out, they removed it from the bill but still charged me for two margaritas I had ($56 total). Two shots of tequila for $56. You just don’t expect this kind of petty overcharging in a place like this. My family and I left with a bitter taste in our mouths.

The food was good, but the service left much to be desired. After placing our orders, we were told one person's order was not available, but instead of our server addressing it with a menu or alternatives, another staff member simply asked us to pick something else—very dismissive, as if it didn’t matter. When our dishes finally arrived, some items were missing, and we had to remind them. Communication was also difficult, as the service team spoke with a heavy accent, which made it hard for us to understand. Finally, although there were only five of us at the table, a 20% gratuity was automatically added. It almost felt like they knew the service was lacking and didn’t want to risk a lower tip.

I have always been a huge fan of Le Colonial and have dined at their locations in downtown Chicago and Houston. I often spend my birthdays there and was excited to hear that they had one in Lake Forest. I was sadly disappointed to see that the food did not have as much flavor and the waiter kept pushing us to order more than we wanted. He added extra items without telling us the cost and was rushing us the entire time. I was incredibly disappointed as the restaurant is quite beautiful and in a lovely location. My friends and I will not be coming back and I will not be bringing my clients here.

What really leaves a bad taste in my mouth are hidden fees. 18% for all to go orders + 3% “restaurant fee”. If you need to charge more for your food, then charge more money for your food. Don’t hide behind 21% restaurant/service charges and pretend like people are going to be okay with this sort of deceptive nonsense. I can literally go and dine in at the restaurant and actually receive service not to mention much larger portions. When I have dined in here in the past you easily get 1.5 -2 x as much food compared with the to go. The salmon we received had minimal veggies and was on the smaller side for ~$42. If anyone is looking for an alternative, I highly recommend the green room in Libertyville. I’ll never be ordering from this restaurant again.

Went on Valentine’s Day for dinner. The menu was extremely limited and way overpriced, there is no value for the prices they charge. It felt really bad and exploitative experience. A 20% gratuity was forced in the bill, regardless whether you had a good or bad experience. Unfortunately, given the predatory pricing and blackmailing people on an occasion like Valentine's Day, this restaurant won’t be on my list for a very long time

Hard to know where to begin with this review. I took my girlfriend here for our 5-year anniversary. We love the location in the city and decided to try this spot since we’d heard good things. I made the reservation a week in advance and noted that it was for our anniversary. When we got to our table, everything was covered in flies. This was somewhat excusable since we had asked to sit outside, but the staff didn’t even offer to bring new plates or silverware—we had to ask ourselves because of the smeared, dead flies all over the table. Despite the rocky start, we tried to stay positive and ordered an appetizer and our entrees. When the food came out, they had completely forgotten my girlfriend’s order, and we had to remind the waitress what she had asked for. Maybe if she had written it down, this wouldn’t have happened, but I digress. There was barely an apology, nothing was comped, and we weren’t even offered dessert despite them knowing it was a special occasion. Overall, the experience was extremely disappointing. We’ll be sticking to the city location from now on—it’s miles better in both service and atmosphere. Hope this helps anyone considering this spot for a nice night out. Far much better vibes in the city.