Bienmesabe

Food: This is not your typical arepa stand/​café. The restaurant offers such a wide range of dishes from different regions of the country. You really want to eat everything on the menu! We started with the BienMeSabe Sampler, an order of tequenos and mandocas. Yes, all are a taste of delicious fried finger foods, but amazingly enough, they were not oily at all. Not a crumb was left behind! We were a party of seven and the stars of our table were the patacon plate and the pabellon criollo. The dishes were flavorful, rich and juicy. Every bite was a piece of delight to the palate. The arepas did not fall short. The rice and beans, so well seasoned. In Venezuela rice is cooked a certain way, and the chef does not disappoint, he sweeps you off the floor, taking you back home to grandmother’s home cooking. Expect nothing less than divine flavors and fresh ingredients. As if this was not enough, we still have not talked about desert. It is a difficult choice to make, but if you have to pick one: hands down bienmesabe. This desert is the queen of all cakes.
Service: We were a party of seven. We were greeted as soon as we arrived. We did not have to wait for our table since it was ready for us. Our server was courteous, professional and knowledgeable of the menu. The restaurant handled our orders to perfection. Our appetizers arrived shortly after we placed the order. Our main courses came out simultaneously, so we were all able to eat at the same time. Everything was cooked perfectly. The dishes were at the right temperature and we had no issues whatsoever with plates being mixed up etc.
Ambiance: We went a Sunday night. Most of the tables were booked, yet the noise level was moderate. You are able to have a conversation. The restaurant is very clean. Our group was a mix of Venezuelans and non-​Venezuelans. We were very happy with the level of attention, the food, and the great vibe. It was a wonderful experience.

Excellent service, delicious food with very generous portions. Glad to have a new restaurant in the neighborhood!

Went in for lunch on a Saturday.
Nice enough décor and ambience and great to have a different (Venezuelan) cuisine in the neighborhood.
For the food I had the pork sandwich (solid and large) and fries (very good, though a little cool). My wife had the pabellon arepa that was really great.
What was not great was waiting 45 minutes for our food. The place was at best half full. It appeared the tables around us were on the slow service side. I cannot understand that not once our server came out to provide updates or even apologize. It is head scratching that it would take that long for the type of food that can be prepared in advance. Even at the end of the meal no apology. We were given a free serving of arepa that arrived after we had finished eating.
I think most people would understand if there was a reason for the delay and just communicate. Apologize. Offer a complimentary drink, snack or something.
We will not be back.

Disclaimer: We ordered wrong. Giving three stars because you can order wrong here. I got the prosciutto sandwich which turned out to be an expensive ham sandwich, overwhelmed with cheese and a tough bread. We also got the Venezuelan burger that was unfortunately way overcooked, and lacked flavor. The After Party arepa was the best thing we had but is constructed in layers that it’s hard to try the different components all together. The service is great, and the space is modern. Definitely a welcomed addition to the neighborhood but I think they should double down on the Venezuelan classics and lose the «fusion» dishes which (right now) would disappoint.

I really enjoyed checking this place out for the first time. The food was great — although by the time we were done with the Appetizer Sampler we were almost full! Really nice first experience for a newly opened restaurant!

We finally tried the new Venezuelan restaurant, Bienmesabe, down the street, and we were not disappointed! We started with the house named ‘sampler app’. Was delicious, we loved all four items! We both then ordered an Arepas. We decided to share two, and ordered the Pabellon, and the After Party. Both were great, but both agree we enjoyed the Pabellon most.
Highly recommended. I read in a few reviews that it was a bit on the expensive side. We went out to dinner on a Friday night, BYOB, had a wonderful dinner for $ 40 with tip, totally worth it!

I can’t say that I’m a big fan (yet) of Venezuelan cuisine but my friend was so excited for there to be an arepas restaurant within the city limits and she attested to the authenticity of preparation. We ordered the appetizer sampler platter with tostones covered in shredded cheese and dressed with a sweet and tangy sauce, cheesy fingers covered in a thin buttery crust (tequenos), little hand pies of ground beef (pastelitos), and fried cornmeal rings (mandocas). There was a tangy dipping sauce that resembled ranch and everything was very starchy in a comforting way. We then took advantage of the $ 6 arepas special (on Wednesdays only) — she got the Reina Pepiada, a rich mishmash of avocado, chicken, gouda cheese, and sauce, and I got the roast pork arepas with added sweet plantains. Both arepas were about the size of a large burger and very good. My reluctance to declare myself a fan of Venezuelan cuisine stems from the fact that all the flavors were somewhat muted — by design, I think — but I’m used to having a lot more seasoning. My soursop smoothie was refreshing but somewhat on the watery side. Her traditional Venezuelan lemonade (or iced tea?) was very good with a unique flavor from the sugar cane used to sweeten.
Take the nostalgic Venezuelans or arepas fans in your life. Skip if you happen to desire spice.

OMG, one of my all time favorite restaurants which was an arepa place in Oak Park (Aripo’s) closed not too long after this placed opened. I couldn’t wait for opening day. I asked the staff if they were related, but it’s a totally different restaurant. I though it was so bizarre, especially you don’t see so many arepa places.
First, let me just say — it doesn’t compare to Aripo’s in Oak Park which I will be comparing it to but it’s still up there with them! They both just have a different approach. Second, this place is a lot more expensive which I’m not used to, but since the food is good and the only other arepa place I know, I will pay the price.
Both arepas are delicious, the dough is perfect — not too crispy or soft. You can choose your meat. I usually like ordering chicken, but I would recommend the shredded beef which is the original recipe anyways. I did prefer the chicken at Aripo’s though, the chicken here lacked flavor.
Now, topping’s — at Aripo’s everything came included, but here you have the option to build your own arepa. Let me tell you, it can get quite expensive! Normally, the original arepa comes with black beans, plantains, and cheese on top. All of that quickly added up! I normally like to add avocado so I had to choose my sides wisely or else I would have a $ 20 arepa!!! So I got beans, cheese, and avocado. I missed out on the plantains which I love…
The only thing that I didn’t like as much as Aripo’s is the sauce they serve with the arepa. Aripo’s had this green avocado-​like sauce which was sooo good. My friend and I would go crazy over it so it was hard to eat with a different sauce. They served a white sauce which tasted like mayonnaise which I’m not a fan of. I would rather eat it with the avocado sauce they gave me for the yucca.
Now the Yucca is a must have!!! It’s absolutely out of this world! I have to say they do the yucca better here. It’s fried and they give you huge chunks. They serve it with an avocado sauce which was really good.
The servers are always very friendly. The place looks amazing compared to the previous restaurant that was here. They did a good job on renovations. It’s very intimate/​candle-​lit dining for the evening. The bathrooms were so small before, they did a good job making them seem bigger and more stylish.
Overall, the food is top-​notch. I like the build your own arepa, it’s just wish the prices were a little bit more reasonable. Aripo’s was much more laid back, casual which I’m used to. I guess because this place is candle-​lit and the area it’s in — they charge more. I get that. It’s a little more high end so expect to pay a little more. I usually go for lunch, so it can be an expensive lunch for me… $ 20 plus tip just for me. The service is also pretty slow, it was just me for lunch too. One last thing, the presentation was nicely done! My lunch looked so nice, wasn’t used to having my lunch look so nice.

The food is really good. My husband and I have been there twice, already planning to go back. Authentic Venezuelan food, nice atmosphere and friendly staff.

Welcome to the neighborhood! The new décor is clean, simple and lovely. And our food was amazing! I had the After Party arepa with pork, avocado and Gouda. Incredible flavors, hot and juicy, delicious. Can’t wait to try all the others and come back for dinner entrees.
Service was delightful — happy to accommodate our two high-​chair monkeys and the fresh and perfect French fries we ordered for them (with scrumptious sauces like curry mayo) were taken care of by the grown ups, thank you very much.
Not the quickest food delivery but with everything made fresh, and they warned us it would take a few minutes, it was totally worth the short wait. We’ll be back soon!

Authentic Venezuelan food. I went to the restaurant with my family and we truly loved their food. I had tequeños as appetizers and patacon as main plate, the tequeños were excellent and the home sauce too. It actually tasted like real tequeños brought up from Venezuela to Chicago and the shreddered beef on the patacon was delicious too, it was very well seasoned. They serve huge ammounts of food on your plate so your money is well worth it. I also liked that the chef came out to bring some of our plates. Their batidos are completely natural and taste amazing. The only detail was that the waitress was a little lost and didn’t know much about the menu and the waiting time for the order was a little long, but the attention was very nice.

My family and I tried this place today and we loved it. We’re Venezuelans and we can be very picky about Venezuelan places in the Chicago area, but this one really surprised us. We’ve tried, or have attempted to try, all Venezuelan restaurants around the area to show our support and this is by far the best we’ve been to yet. Aripo’s in Oak Park was decent in terms of taste. It was OK if you’ve never had Venezuelan food, but this one is much better.
We didn’t try arepas because we eat those every day at home, so we tried their patacon which is another traditional venezuelan meal and it was amazing. We also had the bienmesabe sampler and it was great. The servings are huge so you get your money’s worth. Their «salsa de ajo» (garlic sauce) was delicious. It’s funny because I read a review posted here critizing that it was served with every dish and that’s very typical in Venezuela. We put salsa de ajo on everything, it’s like the butter to our bread so it’s totally normal that they serve it with most dishes. The chicha was delicious and the juices were 100% natural, I loved that!
The place is new so it still needs a few homey touches, but overall very nice and clean. The attention and service was good. The chef actually came out to introduce himself and brought us our meals. I thought that was a very nice thing to do. You rarely see that in restaurants anymore.
I highly recommend this place and I definitely encourage people to try it. We’ll go back for sure!

Excelente lugar, deliciosos platos como hechos en casa en Venezuela.
El sabor es algo único yo diría que en todos los Estados Unidos porque he visitado muchos lugares y sinceramente el sabor es una vaina del otro mundo!!!
La chicha es exquisita
Los tequeños muy frescos, la masa se derrite en tu boca, el jugo de guanábana ufff expectacular… El pan de jamón es inolvidable.
El patacon es demasiado rico.
El churrasco con la guasacaca típica venezolana…
El lugar es bien acogedor y cundo se pone FULL… La maravilla de los olores es como sentirse realmente en casa…

When four Venezuelan friends take you out to diner at a Venezuelan restaurant you had better be sure it’s the real deal restaurant. When that happens you in the right place. Well let me tell you the besides authenticity the food was delicious and fresh, I I tried the Christmas dish for dessert you must have the Torta BienMeSabe so delicious Their waiters are super friendly, the prices are very cheap and affordable. I’m so happy Chicago have new Venezuelan food restaurant so far the best I can wait to go back again.

The absolute best tequeños I’ve had in the U. S!!! The sampler tray is delicious, and Patacon on point. I absolutely recommend this place to anyone who wants to try authentic Venezuelan food.

This place is legit! I’m Mexican married to a Venezuelan (maracucha) and well I’ve had my share of Venezuelan food and this place is by far the BEST Venezuelan restaurant that I’ve been to

I had really high hopes for this place and left feeling pretty mediocre about everything.
To start, I had the fried plantains, which I expected to be very soft and sweet. These were rock hard and crispy, more like chips, and then came with their «home sauce». I also had Tequeños, which were not bad, but again, the exact same dish of home sauce on the side… which didn’t do much for me the first time. I then had the After Party arepa. The actual arepa shell was pretty on point, I’ll give you that. I thought better than Aripo’s in Oak Park. The arepa contents however was kind of bland, and again, the exact same ramekin of boring home sauce on the side.
Our waiter was not exactly the most welcoming person I’ve ever met, he did not seem happy we were there. No plates were taken from the table, we had a stack going on the side by the end. After waiting quite a while for the check I finally had to go ask for it at the kitchen counter.
Other notes… the branding for this whole restaurant is really really good. I loved the signage and the menus, very playful and fits very well. Interior space however looks like it wasn’t touched from the previous restaurant. Very old faux wood paneling, marked up walls, uninspired seating, and then for some reason white linen table cloths?
My take away was it’s about good enough for me to order pickup delivery if I’m really craving an arepa, but I don’t think I’ll be back for anything else.
It’s also only fair to note at this point that Caracas Arepa Bar in NYC set the bar really damn high for me and has ruined all other Venezuelan restaurants for me so far.

Excellent food. It taste like it was originally made in Venezuela only better because of its premium ingredients. The service was very pleasant. The environment was of a fine restaurant.
Congratulations there are several Venezuelan restaurants in Chicago but this one is by far the best of all.
Well done guys.

This place is authentic and represents the beautiful country of Venezuela very well! My friends and I shared the «bien me sabe» apettizer which was was out of this world and plenty for four people. I had the AREPA stuffed with beef, plantains, avocado and Caribbean cheese which was also delicious. For desert we shared a «bien me sabe» coconut cake and almond cake with a yummy crunchy topping.
The service was friendly and the atmosphere of the restaurant was simple and elegant.
This will be the next big foodie destination on the northside, no doubt. Go… you won’t be dissapointed.

Bienmesabe opened its doors this weekend with a bang. The upscale feeling décor built with modern clean-​lined black furniture and high contrast light walls drew in a packed crowd. Tables were earmarked for reservations and walk-​ins kept all of the tables hopping on opening night.
I look forward to seeing how Bienmesabe evolves. This is the owner’s second restaurant at this same location. Their previous restaurant, La Sierra, was a Mexican-​Ecuadorian neighborhood gem. Bienmesabe keeps those Latin roots, opening as the first neighborhood Venezuelan restaurant. Their price points are reasonable. Beautifully plated arepas and sandwiches make affordable entrees on the menu while sharing a space with more pricey steak offerings. Bienmesabe also offers a selection of juices that, paired with the more breakfast oriented arepas, allow Bienmesabe to compete for the neighborhood’s large weekend brunch crowd.
I went the steak entrée route when I visited on Saturday and I was not disappointed. I look forward to going back to Bienmesabe and becoming a bit more familiar with the menu in order to provide a selection of detailed tips, but to start:
TIPS
– The restaurant is BYOB so bring a bottle to share!
– Steak entrees offer a filling selection of sides.

I really recommend this restaurant! The food is awesome and the juices delicious! You have to try the Chicha (rice smoothie). Great location and is #BYOB