RFK Cuisine · Tasting Menu · Chicago
Best Tasting Menu Restaurants in Chicago 2026
Tasting menu · Chicago · 6 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
In November 2025 Alinea lost the third Michelin star it had held for more than a decade, and for the first time in years Chicago had a new name at the top. Smyth, the husband-and-wife room in the West Loop, kept its three stars and then took the number one spot on North America's 50 Best Restaurants in 2026, settling the question of which kitchen now leads the city. Chicago has long been a tasting-menu town, the American capital of the long, chef-led degustation, and this guide ranks the six strongest of those rooms in 2026. These are the multi-course, fixed-price, two-to-three-hour dinners, judged on the cooking, the room and what the evening costs.
1.Smyth
Chicago's only three-star and number one in North America for 2026; book the Tock drop for the city's defining tasting menu.
Smyth is the best tasting menu in Chicago and, as of 2026, the best in North America by the 50 Best vote. John Shields and pastry chef Karen Urie Shields run it at 177 North Ada Street in the West Loop, cooking a long menu drawn largely from their own farm in Kentucky, which gives the kitchen produce most restaurants cannot buy. It held three Michelin stars through the 2026 guide while Alinea fell to two, leaving Smyth alone at the top of the city. The style is precise but unfussy, vegetable- and fire-driven, with dishes that change constantly with what the farm sends. This is the Chicago reservation to build a trip around. Book through Tock when the calendar opens, a couple of months ahead for weekends.
Book Tock months ahead; the farm-driven tasting, dinner.
2.Alinea
Still the most theatrical dinner in Chicago even at two stars; buy a ticket for diners who want spectacle, not subtlety.
Alinea dropped from three Michelin stars to two in November 2025, but Grant Achatz's Lincoln Park flagship at 1723 North Halsted remains the most theatrical tasting menu in the country. This is the room of the edible helium balloon and the dessert painted directly onto the table, a kitchen that treats dinner as performance art and has done since 2005. The experience runs long and expensive, sold as a prepaid ticket through Tock rather than a standard booking. The drop to two stars is a talking point, not a reason to skip it: nowhere else delivers this particular brand of edible spectacle. Go when you want to be astonished more than soothed. Buy tickets the moment a monthly batch releases, especially for weekend seatings.
Buy Tock tickets on release; the Kitchen Table or the gallery menu.
3.Oriole
A hidden-door two-star with a luxurious, generous menu; book weeks ahead for a polished celebration without the theatrics.
Oriole is the most quietly luxurious of Chicago's tasting rooms, a two-Michelin-star kitchen reached through an unmarked freight door at 661 West Walnut Street near Fulton Market. Chef Noah Sandoval cooks a long, generous menu that leans into luxury ingredients without the conceptual games of Alinea, the room small and warm enough that the staff learn your name by the second course. It has held two stars consistently and is the pick for diners who want the polish of a top tasting menu and the comfort of a dinner that simply tastes wonderful. Go for an anniversary or a deal that closed well. Book through Tock several weeks ahead, and take the wine pairing, which is one of the city's strongest.
Reserve Tock weeks ahead; the full tasting and the wine pairing.
4.Ever
Curtis Duffy's precise eight-to-ten-course room, two stars since 2021; book for diners who prize technique over fireworks.
Ever is chef Curtis Duffy's return to the top of Chicago after Grace, a two-Michelin-star room at 1340 West Fulton Street that has held the rating since it opened in 2021. The menu runs eight to ten courses of exacting modern American cooking, all clean lines and controlled luxury, the kind of plate where the precision is the point. The dining room is calm and contemporary, a deliberate counter to the louder rooms in the neighborhood. It is the choice for a diner who wants flawless technique without the conceptual show, the tasting menu as craft rather than theatre. Go for a milestone where you want the food, not the gimmick, to lead. Book on Tock several weeks ahead, weekends first to fill.
Book Tock weeks ahead; the eight-to-ten-course tasting, dinner.
5.Kasama
The first Filipino restaurant anywhere to earn two stars; book the evening tasting for the most exciting cooking in the city.
Kasama made history twice: the first Filipino restaurant in the world to win a Michelin star in 2022, and in the 2026 guide the first to reach two. Genie Kwon and Tim Flores run it at 1001 North Winchester in Ukrainian Village, where it works as a bakery and counter spot by day and transforms into an intimate tasting-menu room at night. The evening degustation threads Filipino flavours, kare-kare, adobo, ube, through the format and discipline of fine dining, and it is some of the most personal cooking in Chicago. It is the most exciting reservation on this list and the hardest to frame as anything but essential. Go for dinner, not the daytime counter. Book the evening tasting on Resy the moment it opens, weeks out.
Book the evening tasting on Resy; the Filipino degustation, dinner.
6.Moody Tongue
A one-star tasting menu paired with the chef's own beer, not wine; book for drinkers who want something genuinely different.
Moody Tongue is the outlier and the most original idea on this list: a one-Michelin-star tasting menu built around beer rather than wine, at 2515 South Wabash Avenue in the South Loop. Chef and brewmaster Jared Wentworth runs a roughly ten-course seasonal menu paired with the culinary-minded beers brewed on site, an approach no other starred kitchen in the city attempts. The pairings are the reason to come, beers designed to do the work a sommelier's list usually does, and they reframe what a tasting menu can be. It is also the most accessible price of the six. Go when you want a degustation that surprises the format itself. Book on Tock or Resy a couple of weeks ahead.
Reserve a couple of weeks ahead; the beer-paired tasting menu.
How Chicago does the tasting menu
Chicago invented its reputation as a tasting-menu city in the Achatz era and never gave it up. Degustation, the long chef-led sequence of small courses, is the form the city does best, and most of these rooms cluster in the West Loop and Fulton Market, the converted-warehouse district that became the centre of Chicago fine dining. The booking culture is its own discipline: Alinea and Smyth use Tock's prepaid-ticket and reservation system, while Oriole, Ever, Kasama and Moody Tongue split between Tock and Resy. Weekend seatings go first, so a Tuesday or Wednesday is both easier and often calmer.
Plan for the format. These are two-to-three-hour dinners at a fixed price you commit to when you book, with pairings, tax and service stacked on top, so the headline number is never the final bill. Flag dietary needs at the time of booking, since a timed menu leaves little room for last-minute changes. For the a la carte side of the city's fine dining, see the best fine dining in Chicago; the Chicago dining guide maps the wider city, and the best tasting menus worldwide place these rooms against New York and Tokyo.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for a Chicago tasting menu
The classic steakhouse, if degustation is the goal. Chicago's great chophouses are a genuine pleasure, but they are a la carte rooms, not tasting menus. Book one for a different night; do not expect a porterhouse and a wedge salad to scratch the same itch as Smyth or Kasama.
Alinea, if you want a quiet, conversation-led dinner. The theatrics that make Alinea worth the ticket also make it the wrong room for an intimate, talk-across-the-table evening. If that is what you are after, Oriole or Ever is the better two-star; save Alinea for the night you want to be dazzled.
Frequently asked
What is the best tasting menu restaurant in Chicago?
Smyth, the West Loop room from John and Karen Urie Shields, is the best tasting menu in Chicago. It holds three Michelin stars in the 2026 guide, the only three-star in the city after Alinea dropped to two in November 2025, and it was named number one on North America's 50 Best Restaurants in 2026. Behind it sit four two-star rooms, Alinea, Oriole, Ever and the newly promoted Kasama, with Moody Tongue's beer-paired tasting at one star.
How much does a tasting menu cost in Chicago?
Expect roughly 285 to 425 dollars per person before drinks at Chicago's two and three-star tasting rooms. Alinea is the priciest, with its top experiences running several hundred dollars and a prepaid ticket model; Smyth, Oriole and Ever sit a little below it. Kasama's evening tasting and Moody Tongue's beer-paired menu are the more accessible of the group. Pairings, tax and service push the final bill well beyond the headline figure, so budget accordingly.
How do you book Alinea and Smyth in Chicago?
Alinea sells prepaid tickets through Tock, released in monthly batches that go quickly for weekend dates, so set a reminder for the drop. Smyth also books through Tock and opens its calendar a couple of months out. Oriole, Ever, Kasama and Moody Tongue take reservations on Tock or Resy several weeks ahead. For any of them, the prime Friday and Saturday seatings are the first to vanish, and a weekday booking is both easier to land and often the better experience.
Which Chicago tasting menus have Michelin stars?
In the 2026 Michelin Guide Chicago, Smyth holds three stars, the only restaurant in the city at that level. Alinea, Oriole, Ever and Kasama each hold two stars, with Kasama promoted from one in the 2026 guide. Moody Tongue, Next, Indienne, Elske and Esme are among the city's one-star tasting rooms. This list takes the six strongest degustation kitchens across those tiers rather than every starred restaurant in town.
Is a Chicago tasting menu worth it?
If you want one big meal on a Chicago trip, yes. The city's tasting rooms are among the most inventive in North America, and Smyth's number one ranking on the 2026 North America's 50 Best list is earned. The format asks for two to three hours and a fixed price you commit to upfront, so it suits a celebration more than a casual night. For a la carte fine dining instead, see our best fine dining in Chicago guide.
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Browse the full Chicago dining guide, compare the a la carte rooms in the best fine dining in Chicago, read the global picks in the best tasting menus worldwide, plan a special-occasion dinner in Chicago, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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