Update November 5th, 2025 – The Golden Hour
The Tiny Martini was a cold and served in a cool retro-style glass that’s preferred to the classic martini glass – which sometimes feels like a bowl. The Italian Beef Popcorn — not too salty, not too messy, paired with the perfect martini – that’s not served in a bowl. The Truffle Fries were hot and crisp and they didn’t last long.
Later in the evening, the Oliver’s Burger and Miller High Life. The champagne of beers at a place like this is special. Pure class. And pure confidence! It was a familiar face, an old friend that hadn’t been seen in a while but all the while has been doing just fine. Better than fine, actually.
About this burger.
For context, we’ve spent all summer eating smash burgers by chef matt skolarus. Tracking his pop-ups around chicago, our feeling has been that we didn’t see a reason to ever go back to an un-smashed burger. Even feeling angry at times because we could have been smashing burgers this whole time. But Oliver’s has shown us that there must be room for both. For the last two summers, shorty’s had us chasing the thin, crispy edge of the smash burger; Oliver’s answers with a burger that stands taller, confident in its heft. We shared one. Cut in half out of decency – mistake.
Recently added to Chicago Michelin Guide for 2025 but there’s no pretense here, no glossy nonsense. Just a wonderful bar with beautiful natural lighting, a wonderful chef and staff, serving wonderful food and drink. It’s being what it set out to be.
Oliver’s Martini
Get started with the Oliver’s martini: london dry gin, house vermouth blend, and a relish tray.
We added two of the caviar stuffed olives so we could both try one. I don’t care for caviar, and she doesn’t care for olives. So what drove us to spend $18 on two caviar olives?
Still, somehow pairing the two together changed both our minds and we will absolutely consider both olives and caviar in the future, thanks to the Oliver’s Martini. Also, all martini’s should come with a relish tray like this.
The Interior
Oliver’s pays tribute to the 1930s, blending velvet seating with vintage artwork. It’s a mix of soft natural lighting thats easy on the eyes and compliments skin tones in photos. It’s warm, inviting, bustling, and cinematic.
Frankly, I didn’t shoot enough of the interior this time around but will update this post after our next visit, which will likely be for one of their “golden hours“.
On their website it states “Welcome, we saved you a table.” I thought about this as they walked us to a beautiful corner table by a beautiful floor-to-ceiling window that happened to look out to the neighboring dog park. While having our drinks and dinner we got to watch dogs horseplay which we enjoyed very very much though it made us miss our dog at home, Sassafras.
Lemonfish Crudo
One of us wanted the truffle gnocchi and the other wanted the lemonfish crudo. So we compromised and got the lemonfish crudo: preserved citrus, hearts of palm, coriander.
Thin, even slices of fish laid out with discipline—bright citrus doing the lift, a clean thread of olive oil for sheen, shaved hearts of palm for snap, and coriander bringing that citrus-spice echo without stealing the show. It paired well with the aforementioned martini, but it paired wonderfully with a cold white wine. A sharp knife, cold plate, just enough salt. Outstanding. We are a lemonfish crudo house now.
Stracciatella
Our next starter was the Stracciatella: grilled tomato, fried rosemary, garlic toast.
We can describe this is a single word: balance. Cool stracciatella meets warm blistered tomatoes. Acidity meets dairy and they keep each other honest. Balanced, as all things should be. The rosemary is fried just long enough to crisp and perfume the plate, and the garlic toast has a nice char to it.
Typically, anything with bread turns into an uneven split at our table. This time it was 50/50 to the breadcrumb. We made this garlic-toast starter a memory before either of us were ready.
If you’re sharing, consider two.
Half Chicken
For our main course we went with the Half Chicken: shallot, dill, crème, fraîche, roasted chicken fat.
…and split it like a treaty—right down the middle, last bite accounted for. The plate works because the technique is tidy: skin rendered to a clean crackle, pan juices built on roasted chicken fat and shallot, then tightened with a spoon of crème fraîche so the sauce goes glossy instead of greasy. Dill does the finishing—fresh, green, a little lift over the richness.
Scroll the photos: half chicken to quarter chicken to clean plate in a blink. Proof that when the fundamentals are right—temperature, resting, reduction—you don’t negotiate over the good pieces. You just pass the fork and keep the pace.
Dinner Logistics
Menus evolve, hours shift, and specials rotate. Use the links below for the latest Website, Reservations, Call, Map, and Instagram so you’re working with real-time info.
- Address: 1639 s wabash avenue
- Phone: 213-320-3100
- Email: hello@eatatolivers.com
- Reservations: visit website
- Website: eatatolivers.com
- Instagram: @eatatolivers
