Cafe Absinthe

Just ate there tonight.   Mediocre for the price food. Very Frustrating customer service experience.
 Food- Mussels were good. Lamb was slightly over cooked. Duck was solid
Service - Frustrating as we tried to use a credit certificate we had from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> that had been purchased a while back. They refused to accept it stating that they haven't worked with them in a long time - even though the certificate said it never expired.  So I'm not sure who was lying-  the cert or the restaurant.  The waitress felt bad and offered to comp dessert which I thought was nice.  But the mgr decided that good customer svc wasn't required and over ruled her on the comped dessert. Given we were  literally 2 of the 4 people in the entire restaurant tonight and that we decided to eat there because of the gift card, i think a comped dessert felt like a reasonable solution if they weren't going to accept the $25 card.  Instead, the manager decided the $9 he collected  on the reneged comped dessert was worth insuring that we never eat there again and I post this review.  Smart choice.
Much better choices in the area. Should have followed my initial instincts and walked over to trencherman.

I almost never write reviews, but just wanted to acknowledge a terrific job by the team at Cafe Absinthe. My girlfriend and I dined here yesterday, and we had a late reservation. We pulled up in a car, and there was a lot of confusion about the valet. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes, only to find out that the valet had gone home early, and we would have to go and find street parking. Needless to say, we were a bit frustrated.

As soon as we sat down, our waiter immediately acknowledged the situation, and told us that our first round of drinks were on the house. A small token, but just really perceptive of them to understand the situation and reach out to us. Really turned the whole night around.

As for the food, it was terrific. The Australian lamb was cooked perfectly, and my girlfriend's scallops were very flavorful. I definitely recommend the chocolate cake as well.

Thanks, guys!

Really enjoy this place, it is one of my favorite stand-bys in Bucktown, given the quality of the food, service and the ease of walking in or getting a reservation.

Really like their menu, of contemporary american cusine... the lamb is my favorite entree, and in my opinion they have one of the best foie gras in the city - ask for it "fresh off the pan", it is fantastic!!

Good selection of value priced wine, intimate environment, great location for grabbing a drink within walking distance either before/after dinner, very good service, and again in a pinch, fairly easy to walk in or get a reservation.