Le Titi de Paris in Arlington Heights: A Little Disappointing (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 64)

In preparation for our upcoming trip to, among other places, Paris (Steve has never gone before), we decided to try a French restaurant in the suburbs that had gotten very good reviews, called Le Titi de Paris. While the room was certainly beautiful, we can't quite say that the experience matched the high price.

We started with a bottle of Chateau d'Evangeline Pomerol. The quality of this wine fit with Steve's theory about the correlation between expensive and good wines. We liked it very much, particularly its tart, smooth flavor. Before ordering, we were served a salmon amuse bouche, which we both liked (the salmon tasted particularly fresh).

One of the things we've both acquired a taste for, at least every once in a while, is caviar. In fact, we have always loved it when we have ordered it. Here, however, the caviar left something to be desired. Incongruously, in a continental restaurant, the caviar was American, and American caviar simply is not as good as European caviar. Also, this dish was supposed to come with whole wheat blinis and came with raisin bread instead (the blinis were not brought out until we were almost finished, but they were quite good). There was also not much creme fraiche. We then decided to go out of order and substitute a cheese course for salads. Again, we almost always love cheese at top level restaurants, but these cheeses, while good, were nothing special. They also had very few accompaniments compared to other cheese plates we've enjoyed.

For entrees, Lisa had the salmon. She thought it was too well done and a little tough. Steve's lamb shank was also a bit tough, which is particularly surprising because a good lamb shank falls off the bone. For dessert, Steve ordered sticky toffee pudding. Steve usually likes pudding, but here the accompaniments (caramel sauce and some sort of meringue) were far better than the pudding. LIsa had the ambrosia chocolate cake, with almond ice cream. She liked the dish overall but found the chocolate cake a bit too sweet. We also were served an amuse bouche dessert plate filled with petit fours, which we thought were quite good, and we wished we hadn't eaten so much of the other courses so we could have eaten all of these instead.

A review of this place would not be complete without a discussion of the service. Both of us would characterize the service as quite interesting. Most of the captains and servers spoke with a distinct French accent and were friendly, but it was difficult to tell who was doing what, since almost every server had some contact with us during the evening. Also, the main server seemed somewhat harried given that he had to take care of almost the whole room.

The bathrooms were both very clean and well decorated, but they were very small and not really fancy. Also, the Women's Room was a bit chilly.

Dinner for two, with a bottle of (expensive) wine, was $515 and would have been about $315 with wine by the glass. This is a very expensive evening and we believe other places in this range that we've reviewed, such as Avenues and Everest, offer a better value and experience.

Our ratings for Le Titi de Paris, 1015 W. Dundee Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois:

6.5 of 10 Steak Knives, 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes