Marigold

4832 North Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640-3604
(773) 293-4653

Type: Indian Restaurant
Fancy Shmancy Factor: 3.5/5
Price: Entrees range from $12-$30
Quality for price: 3.5/5
Ambiance: Intimate and warm, on the verge of elegant
Other: Named after a flower

Here is something that restaurant patrons always love: being rushed. There is a fine line between getting people in and out of a restaurant in a timely manner and making them feel like they are welcome to stay as long as they want. It's a very delicate ballet between the server and guest at every stage of the meal. Last Thursday we decided to use one of our Groupons to Marigold in Uptown. We called around 8:00 to see if we needed reservations, but the woman on the phone assured me we would not. We told her we would be there in an hour and confirmed they closed at 10:00. Usually this would mean that a restaurant would take their last seating at 9:45 or 10:00, but not close the kitchen right at 10:00. However, we showed up a few minutes before 9:00 and by the time we could say, "Table for two" a gentleman at the door informed us the kitchen would be closing soon. He wasn't rude about it, just very matter-of-fact. So at this point, as conscientious restaurant patrons, we felt rushed. We sat down, trying not to let this initial contact get to us. We got water from the busser (who was awesome, by the way) and our server came over to greet us. And, what luck, it's the guy who greeted us! Oh goodie. We asked about the appetizer and drink special they had listed on their website and at first he acted like he had never heard of such a thing. I told him I saw it on the website an hour ago and he admitted that they used to do that, but had discontinued it. The next part is our favorite:

"Okay, well, what would you recommend for a cocktail?"

"That's really hard for me to say, since I created most of them. That would be like asking me to pick between my children."

"Okay, well we won't tell the other cocktails you didn't pick them."

"I'll give you guys some more time."

That was almost verbatim the exchange. So it went "What do you recommend?" to "Pretentious comment" back to "No, really, what do you recommend?" and ended with "I'm leaving and not answering your question." We were really not fans of this guy. But did we mention the busser was awesome? We ended up trying a couple of cocktails and then a couple more with our meals. Trying to win us over with his mixology skills and charm he asked, "Okay pop quiz: Out of the four cocktails you've had, three were created by me. Can you guess which one was not?" So now we get to play Quiz Show with this guy? We guessed it correctly and he was interested to know how we came to our conclusion. If we weren't so nice we would have said what we were thinking: "Well, that one was our favorite..."

If it seems like we were dissatisfied with our experience at Marigold, we must assert that it is only because of the awful taste left in our mouths from our interactions with this server, and not at all connected to the quality of the food. In fact, we were both very impressed with our meals, the classic Tandoori Chicken and spicier Lamb Shank Vindaloo. The portions were generous and both came with sides of basmati rice and we ordered a side of naan as well. We also enjoyed the Chicken Tikka we ordered as an appetizer but didn't much care for the kachoomber salad alongside (likely because neither of us like raw tomatoes and onions, which happened to be two of the three ingredients). Unfortunately, we didn't leave talking about the food, but could barely wait until we got out the door before we both exploded with the gripes we'd had to communicate non verbally in the quiet restaurant. Sadly, the most fun we had on this date was entertaining each other with impressions and reenactments of our pretentious waiter as we walked home.

So would we recommend Marigold as a date restaurant? The ambiance is nice, the food is tasty, the cost is reasonable. But to be honest, it's not worth the risk of having this guy (we really wish we caught his name) as your server, so as for our recommendation: order carryout.