Mesa Urbana Mexican Restaurant Review (Northbrook, Chicago Northwest Suburbs)

Mesa Urbana is a hot new Mexican restaurant in Northbrook (Chicago Northwest Suburbs).  This place is PACKED, and rightfully so!  The food in Mesa Urbana is fresh, creative and beautifully presented.  Mesa Urbana means “Urban Table” in Spanish, and true to its name this restaurant injects urban flair into the sleepy suburbs.  Mesa Urbana brings upscale and inspired Mexican dining to Northbrook, and people flock to it to experience this innovative Mexican cuisine.

Mesa Urbana space is gorgeous.  Dark wood floors, quality tables, interesting lighting – it is the place I want to be in!  Your surroundings are a very important part of the dining experience, and Mesa Urbana excels in providing a fresh, cool and upscale environment to enjoy your meal! Here’s another picture of the interior:

And here’s another picture – yes, it’s the same restaurant :)  The blue hand-painted wall is so pleasing to look at, these iphone pics don’t do it justice!  I was there on a Sunday at 5:30pm and as you can see Mesa Urbana was packed no matter what angle I used to take the pictures – not an empty table in sight, so you absolutely need a reservation!

So let’s start our meal.  While looking at the menu we get a beautiful huge bottle of great tasting water.  Now look at the detail of this table!  And this blue wall is now more true to color on this photo :) It’s all these little things that really make a difference in your dining experience.

Now let’s get our drinks.  Anyone ordered a Mojito?

This is Cubano Mojito – Bacardi Silver, lime, brown sugar simple syrup, lemon lime soda and mint.  Mmmm!  Mesa Urbana makes everything from scratch, including their cocktails!  Freshly squeezed lime juice makes such a difference!

And here’s the glass of freshly squeezed lemonade.  Love those fresh strawberries inside!   Yes, it tastes as good as it looks!

The meal at Mesa Urbana comes with a complimentary basket of chips and green salsa.  When I first saw this salsa, I knew that this restaurant is going to be different from all the Mexican restaurants that we go to.  Everyone’s salsa is red, and Mesa Urbana’s is green!  This green salsa is a statement that defines the uniqueness of this place, and it’s absolutely delicious!

The chips are super crunchy, and at Mesa Urbana they refill them at no charge!  Free all-you-can-eat chips and salsa – go ahead and crunch away!

Our first appetizer was guacamole – at any Mexican restaurant, I just gotta get my guac!  And you just have to see the way Mesa Urbana serves their guac – I’ve never seen anything like this before!

At Mesa Urbana, guacamole is served with cucumber slices, celery sticks, watermelon radishes and yellow striped beets!  These veggie slices are great for scooping up the guac, and you get a more intense taste of guacamole when it’s not overpowered by chips!  But don’t worry, the chips are there too in case you want them :)

Now, this bowl of guacamole is much bigger than it looks!  We kept eating and eating, and there was still more guac!  You know how in some Mexican restaurants they serve the guacamole in those huge black stone bowls, but when you start scooping it turns out that they are so shallow there is hardly any guac? ;)  Well, no sneaky bowls here – there is enough for two hungry people to get their guacamole fix!

Next came the ceviche.  Three ceviches!  Ceviche trio appetizer consists of 3 types of ceviche: (1) Mexican style – Octopus, (2) American style – Shrimp, (3) Asian style – Grouper.  Yum yum yum!  All three ceviches were so unique, but equally delicious!

By the time we were done with our appetizers, we were already full, so I was glad that we only ordered one entree :)  The appetizer sizes at Mesa Urbana are very generous, so please keep this in mind!  For our entree, we shared Camarones Tropical – pan seared shrimp, pineapple, asparagus, blood orange sauce, jasmine rice.  That sauce was simply amazing!  I’m absolutely addicted – at the end I mixed the sauce with the remaining rice to get every last little drop of this sauce!

These are the biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen in my life!  They are almost as big as lobster tails!  And they are sooo flavorful – this  is the best and freshest shrimp ever!

And to end this amazing meal on a sweet note, we got a Chocolate Lava Cake, served with mixed berry coulis and vanilla ice cream.  Hot runny chocolate, warm fresh berries and cold ice cream – yeah that’s my kind of dessert!

If you want more from a restaurant than simply filling your tummy, you’ve got to come to Mesa Urbana – you’ll love it!  Want to bring kids with you?  Mesa Urbana is kid-friendly and has a children’s menu that is served between 4pm and 6pm.  Mesa Urbana kids menu has Mac n’ Cheese, Cheese Quesadillas, Chicken Quesadillas and French Fries.  Plus all those crunchy chips – kids love them!

Mesa Urbana is located at 3566 Milwaukee Ave, Northbrook, IL 60062, and their phone number is (847) 383-0700.  The location is right on the border of Northbrook and Glenview, so sometimes the GPS changes the address to Glenview – it will still take you there :)  Mesa Urbana is closed on Mondays, and reservations are an absolute must.   If you are in Chicago’s North Shore or Northwest Suburbs area, Mesa Urbana should be on your *must try* list!