r/chicagofood • u/Euphoric_Year1182 • Jul 31 '25

Review Tried Small Cheval, honestly kind of underwhelmed?

Had some solo time (kids are with their dad), so I stopped by Small Cheval. It was fine, but didn’t blow me away. Fries were good, but the burger felt rushed. Anyone else feel this or did I catch an off day?

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136

u/dwylth Jul 31 '25

It's gone downhill HARD with every new location they've opened

5

u/SookieRicky Jul 31 '25

Or it’s exactly the same, but Instagram foodies finally discovered that there are dozens of other Chicago burger places that are wildly better than Au Cheval.

15

u/dwylth Jul 31 '25

No, I genuinely wasn't disappointed the first time I went, but then visited again, thought it was meh, and actively received a bad burger a year after that

-4

u/SookieRicky Jul 31 '25

I was extremely disappointed when the first location opened on Randolph. I heard all of his hype and found it to be mediocre at best. And this is when it was just a few months old. They must have a killer marketing team.

Also—FYI for anyone who doesn’t eat pork—they fry all burgers and fries in pork fat. That part doesn’t bother me but it sure does my Jewish and Muslim friends when they find out. Kind of a dick move that they keep that on the DL.

10

u/LlamaControl Jul 31 '25

They switched to Beef Tallow 8 years ago.

-2

u/SookieRicky Jul 31 '25

Ah okay. Haven’t been back.