In between all of this luxury travel, I’ve been trying to save some money at home, and one of the best ways I’ve found to do that and STILL be able to enjoy Michelin-level extraordinary food, is check out the bars and companion restaurants to the real deal. This is a review of The Loyalist, which is three-star Michelin Smyth’s baby basement bar brother. Definitely click here for my ode to Smyth, which was easily one of the best meals I’ve had in the last five years, if not ever.

The Loyalist is indeed on the garden level of the building which occupies Smyth, and it’s dark and moody down there. We arrived to celebrate my dad’s birthday on a Monday evening in July, right when it opened at 5pm. Yup, you should still make a reservation here.

We were seated in a large, comfortable booth and the whole staff signed a handmade card for my dad, wishing him a happy birthday, and we were all offered a complimentary glass of prosecco to celebrate too!

Service here was excellent and fun, and the servers were really excited that we decided to celebrate with them! The food was really top notch as well, and we were able to sample a lot of stuff since there were five of us. Cocktails were all excellent, and there are even some happy hour specials from 5-6pm!

To start, we had to try the gougeres, which not only are made with mimolette cheese, but were covered with shredded mimolette as well. These gougeres were huge and fluffy, and also surprisingly filled with a bacon cream which really made them unique.

Following these tasty bites, we also ordered the escargot tart which was smothered in escargot and gobs of mushrooms. Not too briney, the tart itself was buttery and melt-in-your-mouth, and really balanced the salty diced escargot and mushrooms. We also ordered the mussels bourguignonne. The mussels were totally massive and my dad was really impressed (not an easy thing!), and thought these were probably some of the best mussels he’s had in the city. The brandade cream made the mussels more elevated than just a simple white wine broth, which I appreciated. There was about a pound or so of mussels, more than enough for the five of us to share.

We tried a whole bunch of items for the mains, including their famous “OG Cheeseburger,” which has been ranked towards the top of most best burger lists in Chicago. I thought the burger was delicious, but I wouldn’t put it in the top 5 in Chicago. I felt the meat itself was almost too grainy or too minced, and so the consistency was a bit off and didn’t retain the fatty flavor that I love in a good cheeseburger. Also, I prefer a fluffier bun, though I did appreciate the gobs of sesame seeds on this one. The Cheeseburger Royale at Francois Frankie remains my favorite burger in the city, for now!

Brian ordered the half chicken, which was glazed with a really light BBQ sauce and smelled divine. It was a massive portion, and he really loved it. My mom ordered the special lobster risotto which was chock full of lobster and super rich. Honestly, there may have been more lobster than rice, and it was also a really generous portion.

For dessert, we couldn’t decide on any of the offerings, and so we literally ordered all of them! While we all thought that the chocolate chip cookie and the profiteroles were delicious, the desserts that really stole the show were the tart anglaise, and the cherry clafoutis. The tart was chilled to perfection, lightly lemony, and perfectly textured. The cherry clafoutis was decadently sweet-sour, like a hot creme brûlée topped with delicious cherries. Absolutely divine!

We all enjoyed several drinks, and for under $100 per person, plus tip, for all that food, I thought that The Loyalist was an absolute bargain for the high quality of food, service, and fun that we had here. If you’re looking for high quality cooking without the thousand-dollar price tag, I urge you to try The Loyalist in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. I’m inspired to do a Top Five list of best Michelin side-bars in Chicago!