Carnivore and the Queen Restaurant in Downers Grove - is it worth the price - My Honest Review

It was that time of year again for me to find a new restaurant to take my wife out for her birthday. We had initially planned to go downtown but decided we did not feel like dealing with traffic or the hassle of parking, so it was up to me to find something in the suburbs that would be unique and, of course, delicious.

Shrimp LouiePhoto bycfk

I have been enjoying the area of Downers Grove lately. They have some fantastic restaurants that I’ve been discovering. In my last review, I talked about how great Foxtail was. I decided to look further into the Downers Grove area and saw many reviews talking about a restaurant called The Carnivore and The Queen.

first dining areaPhoto bycfk

I looked at the pictures of the restaurant on Yelp, and it looked gorgeous. I made a 5:30 reservation for dinner. The reservation spots on the OpenTable app seemed to be quickly taken, so I felt I was making a good decision. This must be a popular restaurant.

main dining roomPhoto bycfk

I called the restaurant before I arrived and asked if there was a certain dress code. They informed me that there was no dress code and to come as you are. I liked that because I did not feel like wearing a full suit to go to dinner. The weather has been great in the Chicagoland area, so I felt like wearing shorts and a nice button-down shirt.

patio in parking lotPhoto bycfk

We arrived at the location and initially thought we should cancel and maybe go somewhere else. The restaurant is in a strip mall across the street from a gas station and next to a Dairy Queen. We began to look at the menu. We had about 15 minutes before our reservation and noticed that the prices of this place were on par with the most expensive places in the city of Chicago or anywhere else.

complimentary RosePhoto bycfk

I told my wife, “Let’s really give this place a try when we go in. It might be absolutely gorgeous with fantastic food.” I will say one thing I’m glad I did not do: there was an option to sit outside on the patio. The patio was in front of the restaurant, literally in the parking lot. I’m glad I did not choose that option for our reservation.

As soon as you walk into the restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a host at a small hostess stand. They were extremely friendly, welcomed my wife and me, and walked us over to our table.

charcuterie style appPhoto bycfk

This place was beautifully decorated with a very unique vibe. It felt almost like a restaurant that I would go to in the French Quarter, like a dark French restaurant. Some items, as I looked around, felt as though they would belong in a strange museum. I definitely liked the vibe.

We were seated at a large table in the corner of a room. The restaurant was much smaller than I had thought as we walked through. There is a small dining area that leads to another dining area that holds about 8-10 tables and then a bar.

Beef WellingtonPhoto bycfk

Our table was nice because it was off to the side, away from all the other tables that seemed extremely close together. The only issue that might bother some people, but not myself, was that we were directly under the air conditioning vent. It would have been too cold for some, but I enjoy the cooler air.

Roasted Chicken DishPhoto bycfk

The windows in this room are also covered in velvet curtains, and on the walls are different items like paintings and painted deer heads. Everything was dark and moody, creating a great vibe for a date night.

Chocolate tortPhoto bycfk

We were greeted by our waiter, who was also the bartender. He told us his favorites on the menu, gave us a little history of the restaurant, and told us that the owners, both husband and wife, are also the chefs.

There was an option on the menu that my wife chose: a tasting menu which was $10 per item plus the entrée, which all came to about $66. This included a crab shrimp salad, a unique charcuterie board that consisted of four items such as tuna salad, olives, beet salad, beer cheese spread, and assorted vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. She also got a wedge salad and her main dish, which was slow-roasted chicken with risotto and broccolini. My wife also received a dessert with this package.

The price for that seemed like a good deal. The good deal in pricing ended when I placed my order. From the reviews I read, the beef Wellington was a standout item that was only offered on Saturdays. I decided to go with the beef Wellington for $69, which also came with risotto and broccolini. I also chose a wedge salad for another $15.

After putting in our order, our waiter came to our table and said the owners were giving everyone some rosé on the house, which I thought was very nice and thoughtful. He also came to our table again and told us that the owners wanted to give everyone an amuse-bouche. The small item consisted of a pastry with burrata cheese, topped with a taste of stovetop stuffing. This is not a negative assessment; it was very tasty.

We decided to have Arnold Palmers as our main drink. The drinks were tasty and not overly sweetened. It was a good mix of tea and lemonade, with neither overpowering the other.

My wife’s first course from her tasting menu was the crab and shrimp. We shared some, and it was enough to share. It was very tasty, with heavy use of mayonnaise. The seafood tasted very fresh, and the seasoning was just right. The salad, being iceberg, was very fresh and crunchy.

After we enjoyed that, we were given the charcuterie plate. This was the standout item of the night for me. I really enjoyed all the fresh vegetables and the spreads; they were absolutely delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed trying each individual tasting. The tuna salad was the best tuna salad I’ve ever had. The beets were absolutely delicious, and I do not like beets. The beer cheese spread had a unique and strong flavor. There was also a unique rice taste that I’m not quite sure what it was, but it had a good flavor. It tasted like a cold salad but with rice. This plating was large enough to share. I’m glad that we ordered only one tasting menu. I could’ve added this tasting to my entrée, but I did not feel it would’ve been worth an extra $60.

We then had our salads, which were both wedge salads topped with maple and bourbon whiskey-glazed bacon. This was hands-down the best wedge salad I’ve ever had in my life. Every single item was fresh, and the candied bacon really put it over the top.

Around this time, the owner started to walk around the restaurant, saying hello to his guests. I thought this was a nice touch. Many restaurants forget how important it is to touch base with all of their guests.

We moved on to our entrées. This is where things started to kind of fall flat.

I received my Beef Wellington. The last time I had beef Wellington in a restaurant was at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas. I did not care for that Beef Wellington; it was very mushy and not worth the price. I wanted this to be life-changing in both flavor and experience.

I will say my beef Wellington was better than the one at Gordon Ramsay in Las Vegas, but it still somewhat fell flat. The dish consisted of a large 8-10 ounce fillet wrapped in Iberico ham with chopped morel mushrooms. I thought it was odd to pair this with risotto and broccolini. I would have assumed they would’ve used a potato purée and possibly carrots or some other vegetable. The Wellington had all the right ingredients to make it outstanding, but my pastry was somewhat mushy. The ham did not add any flavor to the meat. I will say that the cut of meat used for the fillet was outstanding and melted in your mouth. The risotto was also creamy and delicious. The broccolini did nothing for the dish. I would say this dish was good, but not great. I do not think it was worth $69.

My wife had the oven-roasted chicken. It was well-seasoned. It was half of a chicken, and there was a lot of meat. It was juicy. It was served with, again, a strange condiment of horseradish. She enjoyed her broccolini and her risotto. It was a good dish overall.

When I made the reservation on Tock.com, there was no option to explain that this was a special occasion of a birthday for my wife. I called the restaurant to tell them this, and they said they would mark it down as a birthday.

I noticed on the menu that if you wanted them to do what they called a big birthday/anniversary surprise dessert, they would charge you $15. We did not opt to do this. We assumed they would do something for the occasion.

We also knew that she was entitled to a free slice of key lime pie or flourless dark chocolate torte cake. Maybe they would do something elevated for the experience.

Our server came out with the chocolate torte that came with her tasting menu. There was no candle, no anything special. I felt they kind of dropped the ball with that, considering how much money this meal was going to cost us. It’s pretty standard now that any nice restaurant gives you a free dessert with something nice for a birthday or anniversary, and to charge for that to go above and beyond the free dessert that was part of her tasting menu, I thought was kind of tacky.

There were many things about The Carnivore and The Queen that I enjoyed. The atmosphere, once you were inside, was great. Some of the food offerings were very good, and the ingredients used were very high-end and quality. I thought a lot of the entrées were extremely overpriced, especially for the area. The service was good, and it was nice that the owner came out and touched base with all of his customers constantly. Our wait staff constantly asked how everything was. We never waited on drinks or refills of water.

Our bill, without alcohol, was just shy of $200. I do not know if I will be going back anytime soon. I feel that the service was great. Some of the food offerings had strange accompaniments and were very expensive. Here is my final breakdown of the experience:

Ambiance - 7
Service - 10
Food - 7
Price - 5
Location - 6

I give Carnivore and the Queen in Downers Grove a 7 out of 10.