Lark On the Park

Such a charming surprise with one weird quirk.  First, the highlights:

1)  The appetizers:  Yummy with a beautiful presentation.  I've had the mussels, the curry pillows (which remind me of Indianesque empanadas), beef carapaccio, and the antipasta dish.  They were all great, but the standouts were the beef carappacio and the antipasta dish (which, by the way, is also so pretty to look at).  

2)  The entrees:  Also yummy.  I tried the moo krob (thai pork with sticky rice) on my first visit.  I've always associated pork in thai dishes with shredded pork, but the pork here is a big chuck of meat, like a steak.  On my second visit, I tried the house-smoked duck,  Also very good... would just be nice with a side of bread or something.  I guess you can always ask.  I tried my friend's pasta dish on my last visit, it was good but way too salty.  

3)  The dessert: Pretty good.  I've tried both the s'mores sundae and the coconut mango coupe.  Both were served in a tall, narrow glass and are meant to be eaten with a spoon.  Both were good, but I prefer cake-type desserts to desserts in tall glasses.  That's just me.

4)  The service:  Good.  Our waiters both times were attentive, friendly, and on the spot.  No complaints.

5)  The ambiance:  Too cool.  The crowd is diverse, ranging in age as well as in "type" - you have the hipsters, the douche-bags, the highland park princesses, the regular ole' joes, etc.  :)  The interior is also cool.  Large panels of the wall are (what appear to be) large chalkboards with unexpected images drawn on them.  

Finally, the quirk -- I met three friends there at about 6:15 on a Friday night.  Two of the girls arrived there at around 6, when the tables were about 25 percent occupied.  When they checked in with the hostess and told her they would wait at the bar for the rest of the party, the hostess informed them there would be a 45-minute-wait.  Come again??  When I arrived there at 6:15, the tables were still mostly unoccupied.  Thankfully, when we checked in with the hostess at around 6:45, we were seated right away.  The wait turned out to be relatively short, and we really didn't mind it.  But we couldn't help but be weirded out by the experience.  

All in all, Lark in the Park is still pretty good in my book and I'd definitely keep going back.

Very cool atmosphere and bar scene. Chalk art from local artists was great.

Very knowledgable and talkative server.

Food was good to great. Scallops were a bit overdone (chewy), ribs were very hearty and tasty and grilled bread rocked! The mango sorbet / cocounut ice cream desert was sublime.

If you like mixed drinks, don't miss their drink menu. Some unique wines and beers plus a nice brewed root beer.

I have been to Lark on two occasions. Once for lunch, and again for a full on evening out to dinner.  Both times I was impressed by the food and the space.  
Lunch was the lamb burger which was inventive and interesting.  Great middle eastern flavors against an American staple.  Dinner started with drinks that were awesome, mine being a craft beer that was great enough to be the drink of choice throughout the meal as well.  Appetizers were a great mix of flavors.  Entrees: The smoked duck over quinoa was great. Very tender and turned out to be a good match with the Revolver beer I had brought to the table and continued with.  My wife had the scallops which were their own range of flavors and were cooked perfectly as well.
Wait staff was there when you needed them, and disappeared when you wanted to be dining.  Desserts were also inventive and we felt the portion size was adequate.  The cost seems right as well based both on the level of the food and the place itself.  If I had to find something to be critical about I would say they need to work out the kinks with the seemingly nervous and inexperienced hostess staff.  There were so many of them yet they seemed to struggle to figure out when to seat people and how to handle patrons as they entered.  You had to navigate some of that yourself.