501 Local - Winnetka

My wife and I (and our two little children) really enjoyed our experience. Great patio!

Awesome food and fantastic service! Our waitress was the best!!!!

Loved everything about this place. It was my first time in downtown Winnetka and 501 Local was amazing! Beautiful patio area, friendly staff, and delicious food! The presentation of the dishes were beautiful too.

When you step onto the outdoor patio at 501 Local on a clear summer evening you feel as if transported out of Illinois for a brief moment. It's a fantastic setup with a tree in the middle of the multi-level outdoor space. The ivy along the building wall opposite the table really sets the mood. It's quite charming. We were seated promptly and ordered drinks and the spring rolls to start. I have to say the spring rolls were perhaps the best I've ever had. Full of flavor and super fresh! When we were seated we had the upper deck to ourselves but this changed quickly as multiple tables were seated around us including one group of 4. There was a man in that group (we'll just call him the pontificator) who was extremely loud and would not stop talking. I'm kind of surprised no one in his own group said something but it was a mood killer. Either way I was excited for the main course. I ordered the Hangar Steak medium, it was cooked perfectly and the presentation was phenomenal with asparagus spears lining the top of the plate along with arancini. The pea and bacon filled rye crepe wasn't my favorite but I'll chalk that up to taste preference. Overall the food was outstanding. The service however wasn't great. Our waiter never checked on us after we got our food, so I wasn't able to order a drink with dinner and instead made the drink my desert. The pontificator at the nearby table kept him very busy, he probably made him take 4 separate trips just to order wine. Typically I'm fairly understanding but being a former server myself you do have to know when to walk away and attend to other guests. At one point the pontificator was showing him pictures of his garden on his cellphone. It was almost laughable. Regardless, we definitely enjoyed the food, however were disappointed in the attention we received from the server. So although I believe 501 Local deserves 5 stars for their food, I'm taking it down 1 star for service. I plan to be back though to enjoy the wonderful outdoor patio!

I love this place! It's such a nice local place and all of the food I've ever had has been excellent. Their burger is the best burger around. It's a nice place for a great cocktail with friends or poke bowl or sushi lunch. The vegetable sides and soups are really good too. I've never tried their desserts. The outdoor patio is lovely.