So, I heard about a restaurant named Wildfire, and that Michael Jordan himself is a regular. As a consequence, I thought Wildfire would be exceptional. However, our findings did not match our expectations...at all.
So, we go to Wildfire in Glenview and dine one day. We ordered 2 bisques and 2 plates of steak medallions - 2 baked potato crusts, 1 bernaise crust, and 1 horseradish crust. First came the soup. It was ok. The ingredients were high quality but the taste was below average. It was as if they put the best possible ingredients into a dish and forgot to put flavor into the dish. Then, the greatest disappointment that I have probably ever had for $19.99 came to our table: the medallion steaks. A medallion, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is, "something resembling a large medal; especially : a tablet or panel in a wall or window bearing a figure in relief, a portrait, or an ornament." What we received was not "something resembling a large medal." The steak medallions were more like very small onion rings with garnish. These "onion rings" were small. I mean really small. You could have cut one of them up in half, ate it, and then about 1/4 of your dish would be done. That would be about $5.00 if you are counting. That is unacceptable. Oh, I should not forget, these "small onion rings" had "special" crusts. Yeh, but as we saw earlier, as the steak medallions did not look like steak medallions, so the crusts on the "small onion rings" did not look like crusts either. They looked like garnish that was thrown on top of the steaks...and then burnt. But the fun does not end here, no, no, no. The dessert came over. The waiter, who was the highlight of the whole trip because he was well-mannered, showed us the desserts. He brought out a tray with very good looking desserts. It seemed like every other dessert he named was the best of the bunch and that the previous designation of "the best" did not conflict with new "best" dessert. We did not have dessert. I wish we did, so I could put something positive in this review as far as the food goes. I probably should not comment on the dessert, but I can confirm that the descriptions of the desserts were very good - good job on that Wildfire, keep it up (not lol). Oh, what was good about Wildfire was the water...when it was lasted. Yes, that was good, but there was another problem: the waiter did not care to serve us more. Lake Michigan water is good, but it does not deserve a special trip to a posh restaurant to meet such water.
All I have to say about Wildfire is, never again. If there is any reason for you to go, it is for the dessert... and the water, if you can get refills. Yes, the dessert looked good, and the water tasted good. Other than that, the restaurant looked nice. Too bad that the food did not match the quality of the dcor. Oh, one more I need to say about Wildfire. You know those servers who seem to be jealous of you if you are better off than them - the type of server who does not greet you or say farewell to you when you depart? If you are a doctor, manager, professor, or someone who expects things from servers at a restaurant - say, a greeting, a complimentary smile, or anything related to high-culture - you will probably not find it here.
Well, Wildfire...you are a great disappointment. If you have some so-called "friends", say Jay Mariotti, and you want to get back at them, give them a gift certificate to Wildfire. Make sure that you do not get a certificate over $50 dollars for a couple, because you will probably need to buy 2 entrees per person to have enough to eat. So, for each person you would need to have about $50 to have something that would even come close to filling you up the way that a $4.00 Big Mac would. Lettuce Entertain You - you really need to improve this restaurant. Go to Europe and learn. I have seen enough of bad manners in the US. read more