Best Restaurants for Birthdays in River North (Chicago)

The location, ambiance and food were good. Our server was just ok but the manager, Ernesto, was absolutely amazing !!!

What a perfect place to go for date night after seeing the Nutcracker on a winter afternoon. The food was absolutely phenomenal. We stuck with a light dinner, so strayed away from the apps and dessert. We ordered the rigatoni vodka pasta with the prosciutto sausage (yum) and the gnocchi. Both of us loved our meals and I'm enjoying the leftovers now! The portion sizes were great and it was a good $$$ value with quality ingredients and obviously fresh pasta. If we were hungrier, we would have ordered a few apps - like their burrata, arancini, or the waygu beef meat balls. Their salad offering was also great - the Siena Chopped caught my eye. It was also awesome to see pizzas being fired up in the oven across from where we were seated. We ordered a white wine and standard dirty martini. The tini was not my favorite- i think next time I'd get their speciality dirty martini. They didn't skimp on the alcohol which I can appreciate, but the blue cheese stuffed olives were lacking and squeaky and it wasn't a smooth taste. Our server was great, he was timely, kind and was right with his recommendations! We went at 4:30 and the atmosphere was inviting. It was very quiet and peaceful. Thanks for a great dinner, Siena Tavern!

Great menu and super delicious food! Patrick our server was incredibly excellent and made the evening very special. Megan was so friendly and helpful even on a busy night when our friends hit a travel delay. Service and food quality like this make dining there a true pleasure

Love Pizzeria Portofino's riverfront location & we were seated on the enclosed "patio" which was very nice but a little chilly. Also a bit loud. But the cocktails & food more than made up for that. I highly recommend the limoncello spritz - it's amazing! We had charred pepperoni pizza, vodka pasta pasta, octopus & arugula salad. All were good but the pizza was the star of our meal. Our server was excellent. We'll be back without a doubt.

Hawksmoor is a wonderful addition to Chicago's dining scene! We first discovered Hawksmoor several years ago in London and quickly made it a tradition to have Christmas Eve dinner at their Seven Dials location before returning to the States from our annual holiday trip. This year, our travels brought us to London earlier than usual, so we were unable to continue our tradition there. However, since Hawksmoor Chicago opened, we’ve had the pleasure of dining here several times, and we were thrilled to continue our Hawksmoor tradition—not in London, but in Chicago—tonight! Everything about Hawksmoor Chicago is wonderful—the food, ambiance, and service are all exceptional. The portion sizes are just right, and the quality of the steak and all ingredients shines through in every dish. In a city brimming with steakhouses, Hawksmoor stands out for being unpretentious, fun, and consistently delivering a perfect night out. We’re so excited to have this piece of London here in Chicago, and we’ll definitely be back soon!