Hey Chicago foodies!
Did you know that Chicago is among the top 5 North American cities with the most Michelin-starred restaurants?
Before 2025, there were 19 in Chicago, but Feld got added to the list in last year’s guide, making a total of 20 restaurants in this city that hold a Michelin star right now. The 2025 guide brought a few changes, including a promotion, a demotion, and the addition of the latest venue.
If you’re not familiar with how Michelin works, here’s the short version:
★ 1 star: “Worth a stop” – Very good cooking. If you’re already in the area, it’s worth making time to try.
★★ 2 stars: “Worth a detour” – Excellent cooking. Good enough that you’d change your route or travel out of your way just to eat there.
★★★ 3 stars: “Worth a special journey” – Exceptional, world‑class cuisine. The restaurant is so good that it can justify planning an entire trip around that meal.
Inspectors eat anonymously, multiple times, and they’re evaluating only what comes out of the kitchen.
We put this guide together so you have everything in one place. Whether you’re planning a milestone dinner, a birthday, or you’ve just always been curious about what’s at the top of the Chicago food scene, here’s the full picture. We’ve also included the Google Review rating (as of the time of publishing this article) and a pricing chart as reported by customers.
Before we start, we’re the Ben Lalez Team, an award-winning real estate team in Chicago. We’ve been helping families buy and sell homes across the city for over a decade, and every week we publish an article on something interesting or useful about the city. So if you enjoy this content, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page to get these in your inbox weekly.
Okay, we know you’re hungry, so let’s get going!
| Stars | Restaurants |
| ★★★ | Smyth |
| ★★ | Alinea, Ever, Kasama, Oriole |
| ★ | Atelier, Boka, Cariño, EL Ideas, Elske, Esmé, Feld, Galit, Indienne, Mako, Moody Tongue, Next, Schwa, Sepia, Topolobampo |
Three-Star Restaurant
Smyth (3★)
Location: West Loop, 177 N Ada St #101, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (1,322)
Smyth has been Chicago’s only three-star restaurant since 2023, and it held that rating again in the 2025 guide. Chefs John Shields and Karen Urie Shields built the restaurant around seasonal Midwestern ingredients, and the menu reflects years of serious research into flavor, texture, and what’s possible with what grows in this region. The menu does change, so if you love your food, you can come back in the future to try something new.
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Two-Star Restaurants
Alinea (2★ in 2025)
Location: Lincoln Park, 1723 N Halsted St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (2,965)
Alinea held three Michelin stars for over a decade and was considered one of the best restaurants in the world during that run. In November 2025, it dropped to two stars, a move that co-owner Nick Kokonas acknowledged publicly.
That said, two stars in the Michelin system still means excellent cooking, and Alinea is still doing the theatrical, experience-driven cooking it’s always been known for. Scented vapors, sculptural plating, tableside service, the black truffle explosion that regulars have talked about for years. No other restaurant in Chicago comes close to what Alinea does in terms of the overall spectacle of the experience.
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Ever (2★)
Location: Fulton Market/West Loop area, 1340 W Fulton St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.8 (446)
Chef Curtis Duffy runs a contemporary American tasting menu at Ever, and the cooking reflects a level of precision that has kept it at two stars since 2021. Eight to ten courses, proteins from land and sea, seasonal vegetables paired with fruits, grains, and seeds. Ora King salmon, wagyu with braised pistachios. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic pairing options are available.
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Kasama (2★ in 2025)
Location: West Town, 1001 N Winchester Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.5 (2,060)
Kasama is one of the better stories in the 2025 guide. Chefs Genie Kwon and Timothy Flores opened a Filipino-inspired bakery and café that also runs a fine dining tasting menu at night. It started with one Michelin star, and in 2025 it got promoted to two.
The daytime operation is casual, with a line out the door most weekends. For dinner, the menu blends traditional Filipino flavors and techniques with a contemporary fine dining sensibility, and it doesn’t feel like a fusion experiment. It feels like a specific, considered point of view on Filipino cuisine that Michelin has now recognized twice over.
Price point: None to display
Oriole (2★)
Location: West Loop, 661 W Walnut St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.8 (632)
You’ll have to enter through a freight elevator to get into a converted warehouse to find the dining room. Chef Noah Sandoval runs a contemporary tasting menu that draws from both French and Japanese influences. Foie gras parfait with pickled strawberries, capellini with black truffle, clean and focused cooking where nothing is there just to be interesting.
Reservations open on a 90-day rolling calendar. Seating is limited and evenings book up.
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One-Star Restaurants
Atelier (1★)
Location: Lincoln Square, 4544 N Western Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.7 (126)
Atelier is in Lincoln Square and stays mostly off the radar compared to the downtown and West Loop scene, which is part of what makes it interesting. Chef Bradyn Kawcak calls it “fine dining folk cuisine.” The menu changes seasonally, draws on Midwestern producers, and reflects global influences. It earned its first Michelin star in 2023 and has held it since.
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Boka (1★)
Location: Lincoln Park, 1729 N Halsted St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.7 (2,030)
Boka has been in Lincoln Park for a long time and has held a Michelin star for years. Executive Chef Lee Wolen runs a contemporary American kitchen with a focus on seasonal ingredients. Brown butter Hokkaido scallops and refined pastas are the kinds of dishes you can enjoy at this venue.
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Cariño (1★)
Location: Uptown, 4662 N Broadway, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.8 (136)
Cariño earned its first Michelin star in the 2024 guide. Chef Norman Fenton runs an ambitious Mexican tasting menu in an intimate space right near the elevated tracks in Uptown. Huitlacoche ravioli, queso truffle quesadillas, and lamb tartare tostadas. Considered cozy rather than grand, the cooking is delicious, and the menu reflects Mexican cuisine at a fine-dining level.
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EL Ideas (1★)
Location: University Village/Little Italy area, 2419 W 14th St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.8 (403)
EL Ideas runs a single seating per night, no servers, open kitchen, BYOB, and one long tasting menu. The idea is closer to a dinner party than a restaurant in the traditional sense. Guests are encouraged to get up and visit the kitchen. There’s nothing quite like it in the city.
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Elske (1★)
Location: West Loop, 1350 W Randolph St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (795)
Chefs David and Anna Posey run Elske with a Scandinavian sensibility and have held a Michelin star for several years in a row. Both tasting menu and à la carte are available, where you can find lamb tartare on rye and a sunflower seed parfait dessert. It’s one of the more relaxed fine dining experiences on this list.
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Esmé (1★)
Location: Lincoln Park, 2200 N Clark St Suite B, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.4 (345)
Chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo built Esmé around an arts collaboration concept. The menu changes every 12 weeks alongside a new artist partnership, and the custom plateware is part of the experience. It’s a tasting menu where the visual and conceptual side is treated with the same seriousness as the food itself. One star in the 2025 guide.
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Feld (1★, New in 2025)
Location: Ukrainian Village / West Town, 2018 W Chicago Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.7 (157)
Feld is the newest restaurant on this list. Chef Jake Potashnick opened it in 2024, and it earned its first Michelin star in the 2025 guide, bringing Chicago’s total to 20. It also received a Michelin Green Star for sustainability, which the guide awards separately for environmental commitment. The tasting menu is built around ingredients sourced from within roughly a four-hour radius, and the format can run 20 to 30 small courses with multiple treatments of the same ingredient throughout a single meal.
Dinner service runs Wednesday through Saturday.
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Galit (1★)
Location: Lincoln Park, 2429 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.4 (928)
Galit is one of the livelier rooms on this list. James Beard Award-winning Chef Zachary Engel runs a modern Middle Eastern kitchen with wood-fired pita, salatim spreads, falafel with mango labneh, and a prix fixe format where guests choose their own progression through the menu. It’s been at one star in both the 2024 and 2025 guides.
The atmosphere is social and the dining room has energy. If you don’t like boring or formal dining, Galit is a good place to start with Chicago’s starred restaurants.
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Indienne (1★)
Location: River North, 217 W Huron St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (774)
When Indienne earned its Michelin star in 2023, it became Chicago’s first starred Indian restaurant. Chef Sujan Sarkar grew up in Kolkata and trained in Michelin-starred kitchens in London before opening here. The tasting menu reinterprets Indian dishes through a contemporary fine dining lens, occasionally borrowing French technique. Vegetarian, vegan, and non-vegetarian menus are all available.
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Mako (1★)
Location: West Loop, 731 W Lake St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.4 (343)
Mako is a 22-seat omakase counter in the West Loop. Chef B.K. Park built it around sushi omakase, a progression of nigiri with a few cooked dishes worked in throughout. Braised abalone and chawanmushi set it apart from a straightforward sushi counter. It’s been at one star in both 2024 and 2025, and it’s intimate enough that you’ll enjoy the quality of each piece.
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Moody Tongue (1★)
Location: Near South Side, 2515 S Wabash Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.5 (628)
Moody Tongue is located above a working brewery and describes itself as the world’s only Michelin-starred brewery. Brewmaster Jared Rouben and CEO Jeremy Cohn built the fine dining side around beer pairings rather than wine, which makes the tasting menu experience different from anything else on this list. Hokkaido scallop with tempura squash blossom, Australian wagyu with oxtail-stuffed cornbread, and curated beers alongside each course. It previously held two stars and sits at one in the 2025 guide.
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Next (1★)
Location: West Loop, 953 W Fulton Market, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (639)
Next is built around the idea that the restaurant reinvents itself entirely multiple times a year, each time around a different culinary concept. One season, it’s Paris in 1906. Or, it might be ancient Rome or Thailand. The menu, the atmosphere, the beverage program, all of it changes with each new concept. Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas have been running it this way since 2011.
Reservations are ticketed and prepaid, and new concept windows typically sell out.
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Schwa (1★)
Location: Wicker Park, 1466 N Ashland Ave, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (309)
Schwa is the outlier on this list. No servers or loud hip-hop. Chef-owner Michael Carlson and chef de cuisine Caleb Trahan run a tasting menu that plays with classic dishes in unexpected ways. The gumbo reimagined as a chilled, aerated preparation comes up in reviews quite a bit.
It’s been earning Michelin recognition since 2011 and has a cult following. If you want a Michelin-starred dinner that has nothing in common with the formal tasting room experience, check them out.
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Sepia (1★)
Location: West Loop, 123 N Jefferson St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.6 (1,519)
Sepia has one of the better spaces on this list, a converted 19th-century print shop in the West Loop with exposed brick and warm lighting. Chef Kyle Cottle runs an American kitchen with global influences including Southeast Asian and Mediterranean elements. It’s been a one-star restaurant for years and shows up consistently on the Chicago Michelin roster. Both tasting and à la carte formats are available.
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Topolobampo (1★)
Location: River North, 445 N Clark St, Chicago.
Google Reviews: 4.5 (753)
Rick Bayless opened Topolobampo in 1989, and it’s been a Michelin-starred restaurant for years. The kitchen focuses on regional Mexican cuisine, with seasonal tasting menus that reflect Bayless’s long history of documenting and researching Mexican cooking traditions. À la carte options are available alongside the tasting menu.
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Final Thoughts
Twenty Michelin-starred restaurants across a single city is something to be proud of, because most American cities don’t even have a handful. Chicago has been compiling this list for years, and the 2025 guide is a good snapshot of where the city’s fine-dining scene stands right now. We’re waiting to see if there will be any new additions this year for us to try out!
In the meantime, if you’ve been thinking about making a move in and around the city and need some of the best and most Chicago-informed agents, give us a shout. You can also call us directly at (312) 766-9073. Our team would love to help you.
Keep those bellies full, and we’ll see you next week.
