Perilla Fare (Chicago)

A friend and I decided to come here on 2/5/26 for Chicago Restaurant Week. We both had never been here before. We walk in and notice how pretty the restaurant is. They seated us in the back of the restaurant. Our server's name was Patty. She was friendly and helpful. The dinner here is a full EXPERIENCE. We were given a complimentary broth first and that hit the spot because it was a cold night. They have a place inside the table where a fire can be lit for cooking meat. They cooked the pork belly and the steak for me which were both good. They are very generous in the "freebies" they give you to eat with the meal. I really enjoyed the flavored radishes and fishcakes. They also have kimchi and a few other items. Staff were nice and the food was pretty good. I especially liked the chicken wings. Things for improvement - When the freebies were put down on the table, the female waitstaff said what they were but my friend and I couldn't understand what she was saying because it was relayed too fast. We had to ask to repeat a couple of times. As a newbie, that is a bit frustrating. Also, when we got our bill, my friend happened to notice that a 5% charge was automatically added for a "kitchen staff support fee" We both didn't like that at all. If you are going to do that, explain to us verbally that is a fee they would like to add to the bill and ASK if it's okay to do so. I didn't see until I got home that the receipt at the bottom said that it's an optional fee which is too late by then to have it taken off. The restaurant is responsible for paying it's workers, not the diner. The tip we had no problem with, it's standard and Patty did a good job. Parking can be a bit tricky to find due to the area. We parked kinda down and around the corner where there was metered parking. It was a fun experience but my friend and I agreed it wasn't a place we could see ourselves coming back to.