A compact, serious dining city where the stars cluster in a handful of neighbourhoods — and the tables are released in waves
Anyone searching for Michelin star restaurants in Chicago today will find a city with one three-star kitchen, four two-star kitchens, and a long list of one-star rooms. The selection is published as the Michelin Guide Chicago edition, and the most recent ceremony took place on 18 November 2025.
The city rewards a particular kind of planning. The best tables are concentrated in a few neighbourhoods, the formats are often tasting-menu only, and the evenings that matter fill well before the guide is next updated.
The Chicago Michelin Guide is easier to read than most. At the top, Smyth holds three stars. Alinea, Ever, Kasama, and Oriole hold two. Below them sits a one-star group that includes Next, Topolobampo, Schwa, and Sepia, among others.
The list moves every year. The starred list visitors read about last year may have changed, and recent history shows how much. Alinea held three stars from 2011 to 2024 and moved to two in the 2025 guide, while Kasama, a Filipino restaurant in West Town, rose to two stars in the same edition. We treat the guide as a snapshot rather than a ranking to memorise. The 2025 selection lists 20 starred restaurants in total.
Searches for three Michelin star restaurants in Chicago lead to one name in the current guide: Smyth, in the West Loop. It is a contemporary kitchen, and it is the only restaurant in the city with three stars.
The nearer question is usually the two-star tier, where the choice is wider and the experiences are more distinct. Alinea, opened in 2005 on North Halsted Street in Lincoln Park by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas, remains the best-known name in the city. Ever and Oriole sit in the West Loop, and Kasama in West Town.
A third star does not make a better evening for every table. The decision is about the room and the occasion.
A long, theatrical tasting menu suits a milestone dinner and a small party. A one-star room with a lighter format suits a business dinner where conversation has to carry. Most of the serious kitchens in this city are built around a fixed menu, so dietary requirements and timing need to be settled at booking rather than at the table.
Tasting-menu restaurants usually run fixed seatings and release tables in batches, so the window for a specific date can be short. Chef’s counters and private rooms are fewer and go first. If your trip is tied to a convention week or a major sporting weekend, plan on the assumption that the stronger rooms are already full. See our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Paris for how the same logic works at a larger scale.
Name the evening, and we will arrange the table in Chicago
We arrange tables at the starred restaurants Chicago is known for, including chef’s counters and private rooms where they exist, and we hold a second option until the first is confirmed. We brief the restaurant on dietary needs, build transport around the reservation, and plan the hour before and after the dinner. The same approach runs through our Fine Dining & Nightlife service, and we apply it to business dinners when the table is part of a larger trip. For other cities, see Michelin star restaurants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
In the 2025 selection, Chicago has one three-star restaurant, four two-star restaurants, and fifteen one-star restaurants, 20 in total
Smyth is the only three-star restaurant in the 2025 Chicago Michelin Guide. Alinea, Ever, Kasama, and Oriole hold two stars
The last ceremony was held on 18 November 2025. The 2026 selection for Chicago is due at the Michelin Guide Northeast Cities ceremony in New York on 14 December 2026, so the list above may change
For the leading tasting-menu rooms, plan well ahead of the trip, since seats are limited and released in windows. Concierge access can widen the options, including counters and private rooms
No. We arrange access on your behalf, working with the restaurants directly, rather than reselling seats
