Between

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars



Restaurant: Between Boutique Café and Lounge
Location: 1324 N. Milwaukee


A couple weeks ago we had a babysitter for the night so we headed out for some dinner and drinks with friends. We’d heard decent things about Between, so we decided to check it out (mostly because no one could come up with a better idea). I know now why they call it Between, because the place is best described as something between a cool pretty lounge and a very mediocre restaurant.

We were there on a Thursday night, and figured that there would be some kind of a buzz to the place, but there really wasn’t. The liveliness of the place was somewhere between a funeral home and a study hall. When we arrived we were one of only two groups in the place, and by the time we left, there were still only a handful of tables that were full. I expected it to be much more of a happenin’ place, and maybe it is on a Friday or Saturday night, or even late night, but between 7 and 10 on a Thursday, it doesn’t have a whole lot going on.

I do like the décor of the place. It’s very red, which, combined with the dim lighting, gives it a very soothing, yet very elegant and cool feel. Along the wall of the restaurant they have what can only be described as VIP booths, which basically consist a couch, a couple of ottomans that double as chairs, and red string curtains (like those hippie beads that college kids use as a replacement to the door to their room) that separate the booths. The table is essentially a coffee table, which is fine if you’re there just having a drink and taking advantage of the lounge aspect of the joint. But if you’re trying to eat? It’s incredibly uncomfortable because you have to hunch over to eat the food. And if you’re stuck sitting on one of the ottomans (as I was), then you might as well check with your insurance ahead of time to make sure they cover traction, because you’ll need it when you’re done eating.

Between is basically a tapas place, even though it doesn’t really call itself that. They just like to describe it as “boutique plates”, which is a fancy way of saying “small plates that you’ll be forced to share with friends even though you’d rather just eat everything on the plate yourself”. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I am not a huge fan of the sharing concept. Call me selfish. Call me greedy. Or just call me fat. Either way it’s not going to change my opinion. And that’s not to say that I’m against sharing food at a restaurant. When you and a friend or lover or wife or cousin or Geoff or whatever are having dinner, and you decide to order a couple of entrees and split them, I’m all for it. But that’s because it allows you to get a significant taste of a couple of things while properly filling you up. When you share small plates, you get like one bite of something and then it’s all gone. You want more, but you can’t have more without ordering another plate of it, and when you do, everyone shares it again so you only get one more bite. I know what you’re thinking; “You’ve written this before. I get it. You don’t like sharing food. Please quit your bitching and move on.” Good point. Moving on.

All that aside, the portions at Between are actually pretty substantial. Plenty if you’re sharing with just one other person (as my wife and I were doing), and tolerable if you’re sharing with 2-3 other people (which we were kind of doing with Matt and Allison). Everything came with 4-5 potions on the plate (except the burgers), and the portions were decently filling.

We got a plate of the onion rings, which were pretty good. They weren’t amazing or anything, but I did enjoy them. They didn’t really seem like they were fried, more like baked. They weren’t greasy and were very bready (which isn’t a real word, but I couldn’t find anything in the dictionary that described the onion rings any better). It came with a dipping sauce (which I typically love with onion rings) that was described as “Garlic Cream”. But it didn’t taste garlicky at all. It tasted like plant. And no plant in particular. Just plant. Like grabbing a leaf from a tree or a handful of grass or a plant, grinding it up, then using it as a dipping sauce. Let’s just say I only dipped twice and then quickly learned my lesson.

Next we got the Shiitake, Beef & Scallion Baturas, which are just empanadas. It kind of tasted like a White Castle burger fried in dough (which I know sounds delicious, and probably would be if White Castle actually came out with something like this), but wasn’t quite as good as a White Castle burger. It was fine, and I enjoyed the vinaigrette dipping sauce, but nothing special.

The next plate delivered was the Sweet Heat Shrimp, which were the highlight of the night. Just a delicious combination of sweet and spicy. I kind of wish I could have ordered a huge plate of them. I like shrimp, but here’s what bothers my about it. It’s too expensive and not at all filling. So whenever you order it you get like five pieces, but shrimp is so light that it’s like eating five pieces of celery, so you’re never full or satisfied, and you always want more, except you can’t order more because it’s usually just a little too much. But if you do happen to go here for food, I’d for sure orders these.

Batting cleanup were the Spicy Mantou Burgers. These were also delicious. They were served on Boa Bread (which was my only real complaint), and had a great spice and sauce to them that made them really juicy and flavorlicious (I’m going to see how many words I can make up while writing this review). And the two burgers were actually the perfect size. And I mean perfect if you’ve had three small plates and are ready for something to actually fill you up. They essentially took a full size burger (think a third-pounder) and cut it in half to make two burgers out of it. And they came with a huge plate of fries (which weren’t great, but that didn’t stop me from eating every last one of them).

Lastly (yeah, there’s more) we had the Shrimp and Chorizo Skewers. Whatever. I didn’t love the chorizo, or the shrimp, or the sauce. In fact, I thought they were so average that I only ate three of the five skewers.

Thanks to Matt and Allison and the idea of “mi casa (if casa meant food) su casa (if casa meant food)” I also got a taste of the Belgian Meatballs (not good).

After dinner, we decided to order a dessert. We opted for the cinnamon French toast, which came with some sort of ice cream. The good news is that it was actually pretty good. The bad news is that it took FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get delivered to us. And that’s after we flagged down our server not once, but twice to check on its status. I was livid.

Our server was awful. Didn’t come to check on us nearly enough (which is one thing if the place is packed, but as I stated before, it was deader than Tupac), took forever to deliver our drinks and food, and he never apologized for how long dessert took. After we finally got it, the manager came over to check on us. I was fully expecting him to apologize and comp the dessert, but he acted like nothing ever happened. He even tried to convince us how lucky we were to be sitting in the corner VIP “booth” because it was the best seat in the house. I basically told him in not so many words that we weren’t happy, but he was totally oblivious. I really should have just came out and told him how unhappy we were, but I was so angry I could barely speak, so instead I just sat there and stared him down. When the check came it included dessert. Needless to say the waiter got a very minimal tip.

So, if you’re looking to get dinner some place, I’d look elsewhere. But if you’re looking to get drinks somewhere, and maybe have a small nibble while you’re drinking, then you might want to check it out. But I won’t be going back.

Handshake with a manly ass slap.



Got a question? Send it to josh@borntofork.com.