Best Mediterranean Restaurants in Des Plaines

From the friendly and welcoming reception staff to the awesome waitress my experience was wonderful! It was my first visit and my server gets an A+ for her recommendations! I dined alone and the atmosphere and ambiance was welcoming and un rushed. And my meal was scrumptious! I’ll definitely return!

Arrived right at opening, happy to see other excited folks waiting to dine. Drink menu was original. Plates were adequately sized. It was nice to see Chef Flamm in the dining room! Our server Mario was wonderful.

Ema is an OUTSTANDING restaurant!! The venue, food, cocktails, and service are superb!! I am visiting friends and family from out of state for the Christmas holiday and selected Ema because of the foregoing reasons!! We will most definitely return!! Thank you!

the noise level was obnoxious. the DJ had a practically empty restaurant and she played loud techno music with willful disregard for the impact on a mostly empty restaurant and a few tables of guests trying to enjoy DELICIOUS food. The space is beautiful. The food is delicious though I found the fish stew disappointedly oily and less enjoyable than I hoped. I will return and recommend it BUT a bit of "reading the room" is indicated. She is the only person who seemed to enjoy her loud music

We went for the Thanksgiving buffet and it was a lovely afternoon. The servers were quick with anything we needed and were always friendly. They were also helpful - my husband asked for Turkish coffee and the server responded that black coffee was included but there would be an extra charge for Turkish. Totally reasonable and I appreciated not getting a surprise added charge later. The food was solid, especially the cold apps/salads, cig kofte, lentil soup, bread basket, and the two meats made from ground meat. It's tough to prepare food for such a large group, so not surprising that the chicken kebabs were drier than I'd like. I was sad not to see any lamachun available, as it was listed. But that's okay as that's also something that's better when it's piping hot. At no point did anyone indicate that they needed our table, which can be a concern both at buffets and on holidays. We were able to relax between courses and enjoy the holiday as a family. I'd happily return!