Niche in Geneva, Illinois: A Pleasant Suburban Experience (Chicago Area Restaurant Review 68)

On a recent Saturday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and long days by driving out to Geneva, which is a quaint suburb well west of the city. We love this area, because of its proximity to the Fox River and all the interesting little shops. However, we have never really found a restaurant in Geneva that we love. Niche has garnered some very good reviews, so we wanted to give it a try. It sort of fits in with our prior dining experiences in Geneva, because it failed to live up to the hype.

The room is pleasant enough, with nicely spaced tables, open spaces and a relaxed feel. And the service was quite friendly. The food, however, was overall only average.

We started with a bottle of Sylvan Ridge Reserve Pinot Noir. We found it light and easy to drink, and both of us quite enjoyed it. For an appetizer we had the artisan cheese plate, consisting of 3 cheeses, two cheddar and one camembert, accompanied by cherries and nuts. We really liked only the beehive cheddar which had a smooth, smoky flavor. The other two cheeses were sort of non-descript. One of the two was a combination of cheddar and goat cheese which just didn't work (the flavors cancelled each other out). Steve really liked the brioche bread, however.

Steve had the field green salad. The entire salad was good, but particularly the watermelon, which gave it a summery feel. Lisa had chilled spring rolls, whcih she didn't care for because they were not crunchy as she would have liked in a dish of this kind.

After the salads, we had perhaps our favorite part of the meal, the palatte-cleansing sherry sorbet with basil oil. From the sound of it, we were dubious, but we both thought the dish was luscious, and even liked the mix of basil oil and sorbet.

Too bad, they couldn't make the sorbet an entree, becausee our entrees were uninspired. Steve's short ribs did not fall off the bone, like short ribs should, and lacked substantial flavor. Lisa's center cut organic ribeye was cooked properly, but was very fatty (even for a ribeye) and also lacked flavor.

For dessert Lisa had the chocolate cake with honey mousse. This was an interesting combination. The chocolate was a little too sweet for Lisa, who also found the honey flavor overpowering. Steve, a big honey fan, could have eaten 10 portions of the honey mousse, though. Steve had the strawberry rhubarb tartlet, which had too much rhubarb and not enough strawberry.

We both found the bathrooms very clean and well laid out. They were a bit small, however.

Dinner for 2, with a bottle of wine was $250, and would have been about $200 with wine by the glass. All in all, for Geneva, this place was okay, but it wasn't great by any means.

Our ratings for Niche, 14 S. 3rd St., Geneva, Illinois

6 of 10 Steak Knives 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes