side street grill

food was top notch!!!! service was great but brunette female bartender was horrible. i ordered simple drinks and they tasted like my 8yr old kid made them. i will bebackto eat but not to drink. sorry!!!!! get some exp. behind the bar....


-----09 apr, 2013-----

ok, i was there saturday night and first off i would like to say the food and drinks were amazing! the kitchen over did themselves with my pasta and the young short guy behind the bar was highly recommended by some of my co-workers , and let me tell you his drinks were amazing and his imagination is what sold me on sidestreet. he was creating drinks and shots and they were bottom line some of the best in midtown. the only problem i have is the female cocktailer that has a dull personality andseemed like she hated being at work. she tried talking to us and the conversation was very dull and not smart at all. her service was horrible and that maybe due to the fact that she spent more time on the phone than she did paying attn. to her customers. besides that this place was amazing. just a tip if you go on a saturday sit in the red bar and let the short bartender serve you and your sidestreet experience will be great.

i've been a somewhat regular customer of side street grill for about three years now. i think i first tried it when a nearby midtown restaurant had a long wait time one evening. i loved the experience, and i've beenbackmany times.

the food has always been good, the service has always been friendly, and they usually have some fairly good drink specials. i like the laidbackatmosphere around the bar. the restaurant is naturally divided into sections, so it feels more intimate than many bar and grill spots. when the weather is cooperative, the outdoor dining area is pleasant. some reviews here have mentioned smoking in the restaurant. that might have been something that's changed in the more recent years, because i've never observed indoor smoking over the course of my visits. i think of ssg as a great choice for a wide variety menu options and an overall good dinner experience.

have seen better days. i usually enjoy eating here but today was a little disappointing. i ordered the mother load chicken sandwich with italian spinach for the side item. the sandwich was fine but the spinach was way too salty. my mom had the salmon club with spinach. the salmon was overcooked, and she also commented on how salty the spinach was. the service was great as always but everyone has a bad day in the kitchen. it won't affect me comingbackbut today's quality was a let down.

was great... now it's good!!. i always liked this place as a drinking place, very lively always busy and generally happening. to top it off the food was really great.. every thing from the side st steak to the philly was certainly at the higher end and i considered it to be some of the best casual dining in midtown!!
then tragedgy struck and a fire gutted the place.. and sadly it had to close for about 6 months, which at the time you had to feel that something great would come out of the deal for the owners as the place could have done with an upgrade and refit!! that is surely what you have got, a much cleaner, way more brighter and a new look was born. unfortunately in my opinion it has lost a lot of the old charm in the process. the most dramatic and drastic change is the crowd... a lot younger and definately a lot louder!!! the patio is still great and in my opinion one of if not the best in midtown!!
now on to the food...well as the title explains it also has lost some of it's appeal.. the bread for the sandwiches is a complete let down, whereas it used to be a nice french roll has been replaced with something similar to what you buy pre-packaged in schnucks which does not do the sandwiches justice!! the consistency is way off.. sometimes good and sometimes average!!
they do have great specials during the week for a couple and mosty definately value for money!!
a lot of staff changes... some good and one or two really bad, where i will actually leave!!!
as always would i go back... most definately in the warm months for their patio... i have beenbackseveral times since the re-open, but instead of my main stop it is now my starting or ending point.
would i eat again... absolutely but not as frequently and definately a lot more selectively!!!

great selection, enjoyable atmosphere. side street has been our girls night location for years! equally fun to start off date night. fun and laidbackatmosphere. great food ranging from well prepared traditional bar food to casual fine dining - whatever your mood. great selection of martinis, wine, whiskey, and cigars.

just not the same.... the side street grill has been my favorite stomping ground for the past 2-3 years. the martinis, although pricey, cannot be beat for sheer flavor and alcohol content! you wouldn't expect the food to be as decent as it would be in a bar, but it's excellent - i'm craving it right now!

that said, the grill recently reopened after a fire earlier this year, and the atmosphere has completely changed. what used to be a very low-key, dark and relaxed environment has become a much brighter and louder place. my friends and i hit it up last week and we couldn't even hear each other talking across the table. perhaps it was the acoustics of the new building or the amount of people inside, but it was never this loud in the old building.

in addition to the noise, one of the bartenders was quite rude to us. while not yet published for the new place, the grill had a shooter menu before it burned down, and my friend asked for one of the drinks that we remembered being on that menu. the waitress said it would be no problem, and it was brought to us soon after. the drink tasted like watery coke and was nothing like what we remembered. we flagged the waitressbackover and asked for it to be remade. second try, still watery, and we just sent itbackfor good.

then - and this is what made us mad - the bartender came over unprompted, telling us that she made the drink the way it's supposed to be. we informed her that no, it's never tasted like that here, and we really just didn't care to try it anymore if it was going to be prepared like that. she got huffy and said "well, what would you like?" i'd never seen this woman before, and really didn't appreciate her telling a bunch of regulars what her crappy drink was supposed to taste like.

the food cannot be beaten, and the drinks (most of them!) are impeccable. the grill itself just isn't the old relaxing place i remember.

good food and good martinis. i was lucky enough to get a table at side street two days after they reopened after a devastating fire destroyed the original building. the food is simple but well done. too many restaurants complicate burgers and salads. side street sticks to quality ingredients and great seasoning.

my waiter was outstanding (a slim dark haired fellow). the crowd was divers and fun.

the only drawback is that there's no place to escape the smoke. this is a bar's bar. , i'd love gobackmore but my allergies only allow for so much smoke.

other than that, it was a great experience. note: the extensive list of martinis comes in two sizes. the smaller size lets you try more of the fun flavors.