Nine Months Later: How's Wilde & Greene Shaping Up?

The food seemed hot and inviting. But business was a bit on the tepid side on a recent weekday noontime at Wilde and Greene Restaurant and Natural Market, the nine-month-old attempt to dramatically upgrade Old Orchard's on the go dining from its humdrum food-court past.

Management of the formerly Canadian-based self-service restaurant and specialty grocery is in it for the long run to generate customers. They seemed divided between scathing reviews posted on sites like Yelp!, contrasting with satisfied diners and shoppers whom a reporter encountered among the modest turnout.

Exiting Wilde and Greene, which opened last July, was lifelong Old Orchard patron Lindsay Kennedy of Evanston. She told a companion while leaving that she thought the combo grocery store/restaurant setup was the best she has seen.

“It was mediocre cafeteria food,” Kennedy said of the expired food court. “To come on a date and get, like, lamb and real food that you can watch them make was real amazing. I feel the prices for what you get and the taste you get are worth it. It’s not always the same, but it’s good stuff.

“The grocery prices are the same for a Trader Joe’s or a Whole Foods,” she added. “There are things at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods that are more expensive than here. Overall, I think they have a good price range for organic and natural foods.”

Happy for gluten-free choices

Inside, Kim Wantschik of Chicago had stopped in for the first time after meeting with her accountant. Always on the lookout for gluten-free food for her gluten allergic son Paul, 3, she dove into just such a commodity – a personal pizza just under $10 with peppers, red onions and mushrooms.

“It is delicious. The crust is perfect,” said Wantschik, who also found grocery items for her son. “I would never patronize a food court. I walked into a food court as a kid and it smelled terrible.”

Wantschik would have had little trouble shopping in the 3,000 square-foot grocery area. Stocked were both fresh and frozen gluten-free products alongside a big organic selection.

Edith Jaffe of Chicago and Sandy Varro of Vernon Hills, two other nearby first-time diners, gave thumbs-up to their roast chicken-and-potato lunches, even though they both thought the cost was a “little” high. Varro said her $19 bill was a little on the “pricey” side for lunch.

“We saw it after we went shopping, and it looked different – I wanted to know what it was like,” Jaffe said.

If only the management, which has transferred the Wilde and Greene concept to Skokie from its Canadian-mall roots, could bottle those opinions. General manager Brian McNeill has responded to posters of negative on-line reviews and constant tweaking is going on in both presentation and price.

“We take those one at a time,” said McNeill. “Every single comment is addressed.”

Wilde and Greene no longer issues its own credit cards to diners as they walk in. Now, they simply pay at a cash register.  A sign advises customers the 10 percent gratuity automatically added to the bill can be reversed on request. The gratuity is put into a pool and then divided among all employees, including those not replenishing water glasses at tables or cooking to order at the myriad of food stations.

“I think they should do that all the time,” Jaffe said. “These waiters and waitresses don’t make that much money.”

Standard-price specials touted

McNeill pushed price points hard at a place where, despite Kennedy’s endorsement, the image suggests higher costs than the old food court because the food is advertised as being prepared “fresh” each day.  Daily specials such as $6.98 for chicken a la king on this day, and $5.98 for a ham-and-gouda-on-croissant two days later were advertised on the main entrance.  Omelets ranged from $6.98 to $7.98, standard prices in most family diners.

Better interior design – a frequently repeated criticism of the amateur on-line reviewers -- might be in order. The assorted food stations, ranging from salads and sandwiches on one end to crepes and waffles on the other, were literally all over the layout of Wilde and Greene. They were not arranged on either side with the dining area in the middle, perhaps because that suggested the old food-court design. The sushi stand, just inside the west entrance, could not easily be distinguished from the adjoining bar that served everything from coffee to the hard stuff.

Cristiane Hioki, Wilde and Greene’s marketing manager, said Westfield Old Orchard management was not provided traffic numbers from the old food court as a comparison to what her operation now attracts.

One positive number is jobs generated. McNeill estimated he has hired “just over 100” to staff the operation. He said he is open to new hires as they apply. 

“We’re looking for good people at all times,” he said. “The difference here is everyone works with a guest (customer). The old, stereotypical line cook who can be gruff with a lot of yelling in the back of the kitchen, that’s old school, but we can’t have that here. Everything is on stage so even our cooks have to have communication skills.”

Both McNeill and Hioki do not consider the new Produce World three blocks south in Fashion Square a competitor to their own grocery operation. When Wilde and Greene opened last summer, plans for the new Produce World had not yet been announced. The two managers consider their grocery a more specialized operation with its own niche, compared to Produce World and the nearby Jewel.

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