Review: 2 Years After Opening, Cherry Circle Room Realizing Its Considerable Potential

When I first reviewed Cherry Circle Room, the clubby fine-dining space in the Chicago Athletic Association hotel, the operation was barely 7 weeks old. I liked the food, loved the desserts and hated the error-prone service.

Almost exactly two years later, the Cherry Circle Room is realizing its considerable potential. I still think it can get even better, but I'm quite happy with the state of the restaurant right now.

The stylish dining room is one of the most handsome spaces in Chicago. (It won an Outstanding Restaurant Design award from the James Beard Foundation last year.) Carpeted to muffle noise (after walking through the hotel's raucous bro-fest known as the Game Room, stepping inside Cherry Circle Room is like entering a sonic refuge), clad in cherry paneling and outfitted with high-back booths, the restaurant gives the aura of a private club or perhaps a very intimate steakhouse.

Find out why executive chef Peter Coenen's menu invites the steakhouse comparison.