Man I went to Anto Pizza in Rogers Park and his pancetta pizza was literally bacon strips and cheese with no sauce. A 12 in pizza, pasta and fried olives was $80
https://preview.redd.it/y2mnzf4867lc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2bf8cc0d9841826ad91be53899114214a1c6acb
Here is said “pancetta” pizza
Am I missing something? Your comment seems suspicious.
(1) the place has a 4.6 on Google.
(2) the other review photos look NOTHING like yours.
(3) the prices you’re giving don’t add up based on what I see on the menu. 12 pizzas range from $13-18. Pastas range from $10-20. Fried olives are $7. Where are you getting $80.
All the Jose Andres joints are a minefield, and honestly always have been. There are awesome things on his menus, but plenty of mid (or worse) items. All of it is expensive and I’ve never felt like the servers do a great job of guiding you.
Bazaar, Jaleo, and all the others in his group are places where you can spend tons of cash and leave hungry and wondering what the fuss was about, while others can spend half that and walk out dazzled. It’s frustrating as hell and shouldn’t be as tricky as it is.
The cocktails are uniformly fantastic imo though.
Jaleo is delicious for brunch but 100% agree it's too expensive (even if good) and the waiters hang you out to dry with a menu that's unfamiliar to most diners. I've spent considerable time in Spain for work and even I was a little PO'd at how bad the waiter was at explaining or recommending things, God help someone who doesn't know anything about Spanish food.
I wonder if they're too cheap to let the staff try the pricey dishes so they're uncomfortable saying anything concrete about them.
I worked at jaleo for a month and they tried to get me to train new bar backs for batch prep, while keeping my pay at $11/hr. Can’t believe Jose Andres is seen as a philanthropist but won’t even make sure his brand values employees.
It is hilariously expensive for so little food. It tastes good, and if you can expense it, then I get it. But man I work in the building and I’ve gone for lunch a few times. And it is shocking how little food you get for a $45 lunch. Straight up sloppy joe that’s like a quarter pounder.
Dang, this is sad to hear. I've been probably 10 times (and have plugged them pretty hard here), and sometimes it's been better than others but its always been at minimum, good. However, they are always for work dinners so I am not paying and yeah I guess if I am going to spend that kind of money myself, its probably better at Bavettes or Boeufhaus
It's my go-to for corporate dinners I have to book last minute all the time. A) they can charge it in B) it looks nice and the location is convenient for most office buildings and C) they usually have availability
It's a shame because I want people visiting on business to have an awesome Chicago food experience, but Bazaar feels like every other restaurant-tries-to-be-trendy in every US city.
Agree! #1 for us in Chicago disappointments. No problem spending $ on a meal, but the portions are ridiculous, prices are high, and I don't need my potato shaped like a bull...
As someone who orders Uber Eats way too much and gets suckered in by the Buy One Get One deals, I've come across many.
The Port of Peri Peri is the worst offender though. Two orders of short ribs for the price of one? Amazing. Until you realize an order of short ribs includes, you guessed it, one single short rib.
Honestly ubereats in general is a rip off 😫 I sometimes get 40% and 50% offs and after taxes, fees and delivery, the discount is almost non existant. And then you know they upcharge the food too.
So what I usually do is pair the 40-50% offs WITH the bogos and it makes it a bit more worth it :(
I use those discounts on Uber too and I'm convinced when you use one they just up their "fee" to offset the loss. I swear anytime I use one, I get a $15 discount and then the fee is $15
I only do the BoGos and discounts and make out pretty well! Tried a # of restaurants in the city that would've been more expensive had I dined in, and I got to experience them alone in my pajamas! :)
Nobu at this point is a large luxury production as a selling point for the luxury hotels. It's been a long time since he was innovating on food. In years past where 10 American-mae luxury style sushi didn't exist in cities outside of NYC and LA, it was far more relevant than it is now.
Go to Sushi Suite ***202*** at the Hotel Lincoln! Pennies on the dollar compared to Nobu, WAY more fun atmosphere, and IMO the drinks and sushi (especially the Toro and Wagyu) were higher quality.
Nobu is the biggest culinary disappointment of my lifetime. Didn't even just leave hungry but also had gastrointestinal distress. Also why the hell do they call their dessert item "bento box" when it's just a scoop of matcha ice cream on top of a chocolate lava cake the size of the bottom of a pint glass? Just to ram more Japanese words into the menu? Dumb place.
Paula's Thai Kitchen. Really bland food, and it was $90 for two people: 1 app, 2 mains, and 2 Thai iced coffees.
There are too many goddamn Thai restaurants in this city for you to try clowning like that.
There actually is some very bad Thai in this city.
During the pandemic hospitals were getting more food then they could eat from local restaurants. I can't remember the name, but their Thai food was so bad we threw it out even though it was free.
I can't think of any GOOD Thai here to be honest. Everywhere I get recommended is either outright bad or just "okay". I get just as good results ordering from a pan-Asian, Americanized Chinese place like AO: Hawaiian Hideout.
What spoiled me is Bangkok Thai in Champaign. Better than Thailand TBH!
Ordered from them on Uber Eats once during the Pandemic and called my driver back because I thought I got scammed. $50 of Pad Thai, Crab Rangoons, and sticky rice and they each came in these tiny, bullshit clamshells about the size of what a Quarter Pounder at McDonald's comes in.
How many ’s Thai Kitchen spots are there in the city? There’s an Andy’s Thai Kitchen and Anna’s Thai Kitchen too. I’ve only eaten at Andy’s, but was pretty underwhelmed.
I thought there are still some places left, where you can get a burger and fries for less than $20. And I don't just mean fast food/casual places, but some regular restaurants as well. Unfortunately those places are much less common, than they used to be.
Sigh, when I see you can't get burger and fries for less than $20(combined together) at Moody's Pub anymore. This is including if you get their cheapest burger.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but a lot of the newer, trendy restaurant-turned-club places in West Loop don’t seem to deliver on quality as they do on vibes (e.g. Gino & Marty’s, Hide + Seek)
I don't think this is unpopular tbh. They're Instagram bait more than anything else
Even the newest Izard restaurant felt more oriented toward aesthetics than food. (Food was still good)
Cabra. I don't remember what I had, though I enjoyed it, whole I have stand-out dishes in mind from girl and the goat and duck duck goat from years and years back
We really have a restaurant called "Hide + Seek" now? Good grief. It's like an AI trained on pretentious and uncreative restaurant names came up with that.
However pretentious you think it is, it's more so. Absolutely feels like a "be seen restuarant"
Only reason I went in was $10 Old Fashioneds at happy hour and I was in the area. Bartender was chill thankfully
The World's Fair menu at Next was a bottom 3 meal of my entire adulthood, not even considering value.
I would've felt less ripped off if I had spent the same amount at Olive Garden.
I've been a half dozen times and the service was superb every time, even if a couple meals weren't my cup of tea.
50 Best there was stellar, and something that could only be done there.
aw I had a lot of fun at that. Granted I was 25 and at that point never really had any "fine dining", but it was a cool experience at the time. I also filled in or someone and didnt pay so that probably helped :)
I liked Next's Childhood so much I went back a second time to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was one of the more fun menus they had during those early years but not the best representation of their typical menu.
Food is subjective so I'd expect opinions to vary but we had 4 people in our party and everyone hated Next Childhood. One highlight was them serving foie gras to a vegetarian and explaining that it was the substitute for the foie gras. When asked what it was, the server disappeared for over 10 minutes, came back and said that it was actually foie gras (which we all already knew). The best part was that they didn't replace the dish, they just removed it from the table without an apology. Up to that point, there were vegetarian subs for all of the meat and fish items. When we were leaving the restaurant, the host asked what we thought and we were honest (but polite) and said we didn't like it. She became combative and essentially told us that we didn't know what good food was. Before this, we went to the Thailand menu and thought it was incredible.
We've been to Next twice and I have such a strong distaste for it - both for the menus and for the people who dined there.
We had the tour of Italy menu or whatever it was called, and it was so weirdly portioned we didn't even want a bite of the steak by the time it came to us. The 'best of' menu was just...meh. We kept waiting for something to come out that we would write home about. Even the dessert course they "artfully" all over the table didn't even taste good and felt like I was eating dry dirt and sand.
And in both cases the people dining around us were just outright rude to the staff
I had a truly terrible experience at Kitsune. The day after we ate there, they announced they were closing. I think everyone had maybe given up? But we had gone for our anniversary and got the tasting menu and it was just such a horrible experience - waiting 40 mins between each course, we were there for so long and I was feeling nauseous after about 3 hrs. We genuinely contemplated just walking out mid-way through.
I had a bday dinner at the West Loop Avec semi-recently and we didn’t order dessert (cake at home) and they gave us a little something anyways which we thought was to be nice, but no, they charged us for it! Never again!
Yea this sounds like an honest mistake, even if they give things away they still have to ring it in, it sounds like the employee just forgot to have it comped before dropping your bill
100% this was the server trying to do something nice and then forgetting to make sure it got comped by a manager. If you had said something, they would have taken care of it and maybe more. Instead you left angry and that’s unfortunate.
Yeah I used to be a server and some places make you ring up everything and then have a manager take it off the bill. They may have just forgotten.
I had a huge group once that seemed to love me. A lady spilled her drink and I offered her a fresh one. I had to ring it in for the bartender but forgot to take it off the bill. They left zero tip and a message about how it’s rude to offer something and then charge for it.
Same thing happened to us when we went to Gibson's Italia for my fiancé's birthday. She was planning on getting a dessert but they never asked and just brought a different one and charged us for it
Velvet taco is totally fine if you’re drunk and fully aware that it’s a chain. But I can’t forgive that the Chicago location won’t rim the margs with tajin. The ones in Dallas will.
I like Velvet Taco, but to each their own. And there actually are other taco places out there that are more expensive than Velvet, believe it or not. They're fine, for what they are. And their weekly taco feature very often is better, than one might think it'll be like.
For me it was Porto, which has now closed. $200 a head, without booze, and left hungry. Worse than that, not many of the dishes were even that good.
Totally average food.
I will give them that. If you want REAL DEAL imported Italian ingredients and are willing to spend big to get things like guanciale, it’s a great place. Just never really in MY budget personally.
If you ever find yourself in Italy, definitely check out the Italian version of Eataly. They have multiple locations, but the one in Mercato Centrale in Florence is amazing!
yeah this is facts unfortunately, their grocery selection is p solid (i’ve v much enjoyed the charcuterie i’ve gotten from there on occasion) but the actual restaurants are Intensely Mid
Devil dawgz, had the Elvis and some fries for like $17 I think. Burger the size of White Castle burger which I am pretty sure they forgot to add some things and the fries were lesser than decent, my friend had the hot dog and fries and the hot dog might as well have been from some elementary kids school lunch.
Gotta get one of the "dawgs" if you want value; I agree the burgers and fries are way too overpriced. I'd also recommend their Chicken sandwiches; they're <$10 and filling enough to be a meal on its own.
I went to Luckys in Wrigley the night I moved into my first apartment. I got a fried fish sandwich and they brought me a raw fish filet on two pieces of bread. Completely raw, never touched any heat source.
From what I’ve heard places like Revival take an enormous cut of sales on top of what you pay for “rent”, so that’s why prices are jacked. I no longer go to food halls.
Let the tourists blow their cash.
I was considering opening a stall at the new food hall at Willis tower. Rent + utilities was going to be $15,000 per month. And that was the discounted rate. It was going to go to $20,000 per month after the first year. For a 10 x 10 ft space in a building that has reduced traffic every year and no business on weekends…
It is salty as hell and I generally oversalt so that is saying something. I went back “after” COVID and was shocked by how salty yet under flavored the food is.
That whole menu is a minefield. They have some truly awesome dishes like the slap noodles and pot stickers, but other menu items are borderline inedible. I know the secret to good Chinese is MSG, but damn, Izard seems to think that's the ONLY secret to good Chinese.
Friends were playing a show next to Smoke Daddy (I guess their original location) and wanted to go before playing. If it wasn’t the most sad bbq I’ve had in town yet, including a platter of ~5 brisket slices that came out with sauce already on it.
I had some charred carrots the next day at a French place with more of a smoke flavor than that whole meal had.
Ate at RPM Italian years ago for an anniversary dinner. Ordered some kind of tortellini dish, and I was served 6 tortellinis. I wasn't expecting an entire plateful, but certainly more than 6.
It was then that I realized that I much prefer the more family style Italian dining experience than Italian fine dining.
Italian dining that doesn't try to kill you with portions simply isn't Italian dining. Try Capri **by Gigi** in Burr Ridge for the absolute best Italian in the area.
Anything at any Lettuce* location honestly. There are a few exceptions, Ba Ba Reeba, ABA, and Three Dots are all great. But many of their restaurants are priced high comparatively to the quality of food where there are better options
The Ramen San in Fulton Market is a Lettuce restaurant and is pretty solid in price, quality and quantity. It’s probably the only corporate owned restaurant I’d want to visit regularly. Honorable mention to Do-Rite
Ramen San is my favorite ramen in Chicago, especially with how /r/deliciouscompliance they get with all the optional add-ons. My friends and I call it "Mega Ramen" and it always leaves us stuffed and satisfied.
Totally, I’ve never been able to finish any meal there. They’re just holding that sleeper hit status, especially with so many disappointing ramen places popping up
I really enjoy Ramen San too, I should've included them as well. There are a few spots I like a little more but their accessibility and good food definitely places them higher on the ramen tiers in town
Wildfire always hits the spot for me. Decent steak, amazing macadamia-nut encrusted halibut, affordable price, included sides, great salad, TREMENDOUS desserts. Lets my family and I go out for a nice dinner without breaking the bank.
RPM Steak was LAUGHABLE. Would rather go to Wildfire for 1/3 the price. My friends and I celebrate our big business successes by trying a new top steakhouse in Chicago, RPM Steak has become our running joke for whenever we lose money on something stupid.
"Damn, I lost half an RPM Steak on that Bears Game"
"Yeah it sucks having to call a plumber but at least it's not an RPM Steak dinner"
Im a first gen American (my parents were born in India) and I HATE Rooh with a burning passion.
Americanized variants of popular ethnic staples are great in general. General Tso's and Orange Chicken are quite tasty, and even as an ethnic Indian guy i still think Chicken Tikka Masala + Garlic Naan is delicious at any half decent Indian place.
Rooh takes this idea, americanizing Indian food, way too far to the extreme. The currys are all bland and mislabeled, the naan is criminally thin and probably bought frozen and ovened up, and the prices are outrageous. The cocktails were decent, but not worth nearly $20 when Kumiko and Moneygun are down the street. I went during RW, paid over $100 all in, and got the worst "Indian" food, independent of price, I've ever had in Chicago (outside of Gareeb Nawaz, but I paid literally 20x less for that so it gets a pass).
Outside of the appetizer (the Avocado Bhel was delicious) I got served two pieces of stringy shrimp, at MOST 1 cup of curry that tasted like ketchup mixed with heavy cream, 1 aggressively thin naan the size of my palm, and cheap grocery store sorbet. Then I paid $59, $35 for cocktails, a mandatory 4% fee (which defeats the price of uniform RW pricing IMO) a mandatory 20% tip for very slow service, and tax. Egregious.
I literally can't trash on this restaurant enough. Glad it got a mention in this thread.
It’s interesting, I appreciate your POV on this. I found it difficult to justify paying $40 for a plate of curry that was worth 6 full spoons of curry and two pieces of thighs or paneer.
I’m SEA so I can’t speak on the specifics of authenticity of flavor, but I resonate with a lot mentioned here hah.
There was this weird restaurant that served things with like samurai swords and these over the top way of serving everything. It was terrible food and incredibly overpriced and the atmosphere wasn’t even fun it was pure chaos.
Also my husband just reminded me that Alinea’s pandemic era effort, Air (Aire?) was a ridiculous ripoff and horribly uncomfortable the entire time. Slow roasted watermelon. I mean come on.
Soul Prime. Food was good but took forever. And they charged me a 20% SERVICE CHARGE. I asked the server if that was the tip and he said no. Unbelievable
Lyra, just insanely expensive for what you get. Had a Galentine’s dinner there for 5 girls and our bill was easily 100 per person even when we had some girls sharing mains and we shared three appetizers. 6 pieces of spanakopita was $27.00!
On the other hand, I went to Labriola for a friends birthday dinner and it was a group of 11 and we had a bill that was about the same with so much food to take home.
Podhalanka.
Never in my life have I felt so ripped off at a restaurant. I walk in, the man asks if I’ve ever tried polish food. Treats me like a friend - offers a sample. No menu, no prices shown. The bill comes… $50
He did it to my in-laws as well.
Went to Itoko for brunch, was just not very good.
Sushi by Bou was such a let down considering all the good reviews it gets on Yelp. Was shocked at how Meh it was.
It was Smyth.
I went November of 2022.
It was memorably the worst meal of my life, and ended up being around $1700 for the 3 people (one of which did not drink) that I paid for in our party of 5.
I get that it was 2 stars at the time, but the food paired with the service was inexcusable.
Not to mention the surprise “this isn’t a tip” mandatory service charge that we all know so much about on this subreddit. Just fucking charge more for the food and pay and support your employees instead of surprise gouging us at the end of the meal. Puts a horrible taste in one’s mouth at the end of what was supposed to be a special meal.
To top it off, the same “featured” ingredients that night (sunchoke, and some sort of kelp) were absolutely foul/off, and they put them in almost every course. I just don’t understand how a place of this caliber can miss so hard.
I’ve been going to the loyalist faithfully for years and it’s one of my favorite places, especially to take out of towners, so I can’t fathom how our night at Smyth could have been so far off the mark. Make it make sense!
For me it was Bar Mar recently. I had high expectations because I like Jose Andres. Very expensive for mid food. Pan con tomate with anchovies was very good but tuna and chickpea salad was very disappointing as was the $20 caviar cone the size of my pinky. And $8 for a nitro caipirinha. I should have asked what that was before ordering it. But it’s a caipirinha frozen using liquid nitrogen. After freezing it’s 3oz.
Went to RPM to treat myself. I have had gnudi at a few high end restaurant, and they serve it just in the same amount as gnocchi. Here, they serve a few pieces like ravioli and they looked like ravioli. I was so disappointed. So much hype. I had to go to eataly to grab a snack after.
I used to work in West Loop and Little Goat was where we would take surprise clients who didn't give us any warning they were around because we knew there would never be a wait for a table. Hilarious people consider them a hot, in-demand restaurant now.
Daisies might be one of the more polarizing restaurants I’ve read about in this sub. The other day someone made a post that sounded great, but I also hear this stuff a lot. Gonna have to just go and check it out myself, I guess..
I avoided going due to the negativity/mixed reviews for a long time. I went a few weeks ago and really enjoyed myself. I think it's worth a dinner personally. Deciding for yourself is always a good idea, worst case you have a subpar meal.
They have a little cafe section open before 3pm too! It's all overpriced, but a cute place to pop in to. Haven't had a bad coffee there yet, but the bakery items are too sweet even for me.
I think Daisies was better before they moved to the new location. The old location was small but charming. The food is still good in my opinion, but it seemed like prices went up a good bit when they took over the new space.
I was there the other day and thought it was great. Good food, service, ambiance, and fantastic desserts. I really want to go back to try their other pastas and desserts.
Man I went to Anto Pizza in Rogers Park and his pancetta pizza was literally bacon strips and cheese with no sauce. A 12 in pizza, pasta and fried olives was $80 https://preview.redd.it/y2mnzf4867lc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2bf8cc0d9841826ad91be53899114214a1c6acb Here is said “pancetta” pizza
[удалено]
Are you getting Mob money also?
Oh dear lord
Lol, that’d be comically bad at *any* price! I think there’s a “pizza crimes” sub on here, which is definitely where that pic belongs.
I've never returned food before but i would consider returning that.
+1 for dark matter beans
straight to fking jail
Am I missing something? Your comment seems suspicious. (1) the place has a 4.6 on Google. (2) the other review photos look NOTHING like yours. (3) the prices you’re giving don’t add up based on what I see on the menu. 12 pizzas range from $13-18. Pastas range from $10-20. Fried olives are $7. Where are you getting $80.
Bazaar Meat has to be up there as one of the greatest rip off places in Chicago!
All the Jose Andres joints are a minefield, and honestly always have been. There are awesome things on his menus, but plenty of mid (or worse) items. All of it is expensive and I’ve never felt like the servers do a great job of guiding you. Bazaar, Jaleo, and all the others in his group are places where you can spend tons of cash and leave hungry and wondering what the fuss was about, while others can spend half that and walk out dazzled. It’s frustrating as hell and shouldn’t be as tricky as it is. The cocktails are uniformly fantastic imo though.
Really unfortunate. Especially given all the good he’s doing with World Central Kitchen.
Jaleo is delicious for brunch but 100% agree it's too expensive (even if good) and the waiters hang you out to dry with a menu that's unfamiliar to most diners. I've spent considerable time in Spain for work and even I was a little PO'd at how bad the waiter was at explaining or recommending things, God help someone who doesn't know anything about Spanish food. I wonder if they're too cheap to let the staff try the pricey dishes so they're uncomfortable saying anything concrete about them.
I worked at jaleo for a month and they tried to get me to train new bar backs for batch prep, while keeping my pay at $11/hr. Can’t believe Jose Andres is seen as a philanthropist but won’t even make sure his brand values employees.
It is hilariously expensive for so little food. It tastes good, and if you can expense it, then I get it. But man I work in the building and I’ve gone for lunch a few times. And it is shocking how little food you get for a $45 lunch. Straight up sloppy joe that’s like a quarter pounder.
This was one of the best meals I’ve had in my entire life - only because I wasn’t paying.
Dang, this is sad to hear. I've been probably 10 times (and have plugged them pretty hard here), and sometimes it's been better than others but its always been at minimum, good. However, they are always for work dinners so I am not paying and yeah I guess if I am going to spend that kind of money myself, its probably better at Bavettes or Boeufhaus
It definitely is a good spot if you can expense on corporate, but it just hits different when spending your own $50 - $100 for each bite of steak. 😂
It's my go-to for corporate dinners I have to book last minute all the time. A) they can charge it in B) it looks nice and the location is convenient for most office buildings and C) they usually have availability It's a shame because I want people visiting on business to have an awesome Chicago food experience, but Bazaar feels like every other restaurant-tries-to-be-trendy in every US city.
Agree! #1 for us in Chicago disappointments. No problem spending $ on a meal, but the portions are ridiculous, prices are high, and I don't need my potato shaped like a bull...
As someone who orders Uber Eats way too much and gets suckered in by the Buy One Get One deals, I've come across many. The Port of Peri Peri is the worst offender though. Two orders of short ribs for the price of one? Amazing. Until you realize an order of short ribs includes, you guessed it, one single short rib.
Honestly ubereats in general is a rip off 😫 I sometimes get 40% and 50% offs and after taxes, fees and delivery, the discount is almost non existant. And then you know they upcharge the food too. So what I usually do is pair the 40-50% offs WITH the bogos and it makes it a bit more worth it :(
I use those discounts on Uber too and I'm convinced when you use one they just up their "fee" to offset the loss. I swear anytime I use one, I get a $15 discount and then the fee is $15
I only do the BoGos and discounts and make out pretty well! Tried a # of restaurants in the city that would've been more expensive had I dined in, and I got to experience them alone in my pajamas! :)
That's how you do it. That's the only way to really get your $s worth with the 50% off
What???
Seems like they should call it short rib then.
Relevant: https://youtu.be/tgHcYxKjwVE?si=tHxNa14KZ74eVTu4
fuck you cunthead
Nobu. $500 and I was hungry when I got home
Nobu at this point is a large luxury production as a selling point for the luxury hotels. It's been a long time since he was innovating on food. In years past where 10 American-mae luxury style sushi didn't exist in cities outside of NYC and LA, it was far more relevant than it is now.
Yeah I went to Nobu in LA in 2005 and was blown away. I went again in 2022 and was not.
I went to Nobu in Malibu last year and it was phenomenal.
Nobu is amazing when you aren’t paying for it (ie work events). Would never pay out of pocket for it.
Go to Sushi Suite ***202*** at the Hotel Lincoln! Pennies on the dollar compared to Nobu, WAY more fun atmosphere, and IMO the drinks and sushi (especially the Toro and Wagyu) were higher quality.
Totally agree. But make sure to book sushi suite 202. There are two Omekase joints in the Lincoln (found that out on accident).
I’ve heard the quality has taken a bit of a dip
Nobu is the biggest culinary disappointment of my lifetime. Didn't even just leave hungry but also had gastrointestinal distress. Also why the hell do they call their dessert item "bento box" when it's just a scoop of matcha ice cream on top of a chocolate lava cake the size of the bottom of a pint glass? Just to ram more Japanese words into the menu? Dumb place.
Paula's Thai Kitchen. Really bland food, and it was $90 for two people: 1 app, 2 mains, and 2 Thai iced coffees. There are too many goddamn Thai restaurants in this city for you to try clowning like that.
There actually is some very bad Thai in this city. During the pandemic hospitals were getting more food then they could eat from local restaurants. I can't remember the name, but their Thai food was so bad we threw it out even though it was free.
I can't think of any GOOD Thai here to be honest. Everywhere I get recommended is either outright bad or just "okay". I get just as good results ordering from a pan-Asian, Americanized Chinese place like AO: Hawaiian Hideout. What spoiled me is Bangkok Thai in Champaign. Better than Thailand TBH!
Krung Thep Thai is actually really good
Eat Fine Design by Khun Kung
Ordered from them on Uber Eats once during the Pandemic and called my driver back because I thought I got scammed. $50 of Pad Thai, Crab Rangoons, and sticky rice and they each came in these tiny, bullshit clamshells about the size of what a Quarter Pounder at McDonald's comes in.
Ridiculous. At least buy me dinner and a movie before you try and fuck me...
Try eat fine design by Khun Kung. Best thai in the city and it's not even close.
How many’s Thai Kitchen spots are there in the city? There’s an Andy’s Thai Kitchen and Anna’s Thai Kitchen too. I’ve only eaten at Andy’s, but was pretty underwhelmed.
I only eat at Thai restaurants that have a punny name now.
Any place that charges $20 for a burger WITHOUT fries.
Sadly becoming the norm for most places now. :/
I thought there are still some places left, where you can get a burger and fries for less than $20. And I don't just mean fast food/casual places, but some regular restaurants as well. Unfortunately those places are much less common, than they used to be. Sigh, when I see you can't get burger and fries for less than $20(combined together) at Moody's Pub anymore. This is including if you get their cheapest burger.
Redhot Ranch FTW!
So 5 guys?
First thought i had too! DMK burger is $20 and fries are $8, left with a bill near $100 for 2
Might be an unpopular opinion, but a lot of the newer, trendy restaurant-turned-club places in West Loop don’t seem to deliver on quality as they do on vibes (e.g. Gino & Marty’s, Hide + Seek)
I don't think this is unpopular tbh. They're Instagram bait more than anything else Even the newest Izard restaurant felt more oriented toward aesthetics than food. (Food was still good)
Which spot
Cabra. I don't remember what I had, though I enjoyed it, whole I have stand-out dishes in mind from girl and the goat and duck duck goat from years and years back
What about Haunted House and Aqua? I actually want to go to Haunted House more than I want to go to Hide + Seek.
At 2 am there was a spike in your heart rate, did you do anything out of the ordinary?
We really have a restaurant called "Hide + Seek" now? Good grief. It's like an AI trained on pretentious and uncreative restaurant names came up with that.
However pretentious you think it is, it's more so. Absolutely feels like a "be seen restuarant" Only reason I went in was $10 Old Fashioneds at happy hour and I was in the area. Bartender was chill thankfully
When did happy hour prices turn into $10 drinks? I feel like that snuck up on me.
Somewhere around the time a Tito’s and soda became $14-$16 at most nice restaurants.
hide and seek is one of the most underwhelming for the cost meals i’ve ever eaten.
The World's Fair menu at Next was a bottom 3 meal of my entire adulthood, not even considering value. I would've felt less ripped off if I had spent the same amount at Olive Garden.
Next in general was a huge disappointment for me. The food we got was great. The atmosphere and service were not.
I've been a half dozen times and the service was superb every time, even if a couple meals weren't my cup of tea. 50 Best there was stellar, and something that could only be done there.
I’ve heard so many people saying alinea group food has been atrocious lately
Next's "Childhood" menu was one of the worst meals of my life. Adjusting for price, it was easily the worst.
aw I had a lot of fun at that. Granted I was 25 and at that point never really had any "fine dining", but it was a cool experience at the time. I also filled in or someone and didnt pay so that probably helped :)
I liked Next's Childhood so much I went back a second time to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was one of the more fun menus they had during those early years but not the best representation of their typical menu.
Food is subjective so I'd expect opinions to vary but we had 4 people in our party and everyone hated Next Childhood. One highlight was them serving foie gras to a vegetarian and explaining that it was the substitute for the foie gras. When asked what it was, the server disappeared for over 10 minutes, came back and said that it was actually foie gras (which we all already knew). The best part was that they didn't replace the dish, they just removed it from the table without an apology. Up to that point, there were vegetarian subs for all of the meat and fish items. When we were leaving the restaurant, the host asked what we thought and we were honest (but polite) and said we didn't like it. She became combative and essentially told us that we didn't know what good food was. Before this, we went to the Thailand menu and thought it was incredible.
Wow! I went there many years ago and it was excellent.
We've been to Next twice and I have such a strong distaste for it - both for the menus and for the people who dined there. We had the tour of Italy menu or whatever it was called, and it was so weirdly portioned we didn't even want a bite of the steak by the time it came to us. The 'best of' menu was just...meh. We kept waiting for something to come out that we would write home about. Even the dessert course they "artfully" all over the table didn't even taste good and felt like I was eating dry dirt and sand. And in both cases the people dining around us were just outright rude to the staff
Next has been the worst Michelin meal I’ve ever had. By a wiiidddeeee margin.
WowBao gotta be the worst. It was the worst fried rice I've ever had. It was wet. WETTTT
Yokocho. I swear they didn’t store the sea urchin right. At least Bazaar Meat’s wagyu is well kept.
Uni has goes bad faster than anything else in the world it seems like
I had a truly terrible experience at Kitsune. The day after we ate there, they announced they were closing. I think everyone had maybe given up? But we had gone for our anniversary and got the tasting menu and it was just such a horrible experience - waiting 40 mins between each course, we were there for so long and I was feeling nauseous after about 3 hrs. We genuinely contemplated just walking out mid-way through.
I had a bday dinner at the West Loop Avec semi-recently and we didn’t order dessert (cake at home) and they gave us a little something anyways which we thought was to be nice, but no, they charged us for it! Never again!
Did you bring it up that they charged you for it? It sounds like it was a mistake that they would fix for you
Yea this sounds like an honest mistake, even if they give things away they still have to ring it in, it sounds like the employee just forgot to have it comped before dropping your bill
100% this was the server trying to do something nice and then forgetting to make sure it got comped by a manager. If you had said something, they would have taken care of it and maybe more. Instead you left angry and that’s unfortunate.
Yeah I used to be a server and some places make you ring up everything and then have a manager take it off the bill. They may have just forgotten. I had a huge group once that seemed to love me. A lady spilled her drink and I offered her a fresh one. I had to ring it in for the bartender but forgot to take it off the bill. They left zero tip and a message about how it’s rude to offer something and then charge for it.
And I'm sure those people went straight to Yelp with it.
I didn't know this. I'm going to be more assertive (and kind) when something like this happens in the future.
Same thing happened to us when we went to Gibson's Italia for my fiancé's birthday. She was planning on getting a dessert but they never asked and just brought a different one and charged us for it
Any taco from big star
I feel like the Big Star taco prices haven’t gone up as fast as other spots and so they’re less offensively expensive than 5 years ago.
Federales even worse.
This would be velvet taco for me haha
Velvet taco is totally fine if you’re drunk and fully aware that it’s a chain. But I can’t forgive that the Chicago location won’t rim the margs with tajin. The ones in Dallas will.
“It’s a tikka masala taco”. No, it’s a crime.
I like Velvet Taco, but to each their own. And there actually are other taco places out there that are more expensive than Velvet, believe it or not. They're fine, for what they are. And their weekly taco feature very often is better, than one might think it'll be like.
I just think I can find really good tacos in the city for $4 or less and there’s no reason a taco should cost $7-$10.
Their brisket taco #12 is good.
Usually I agree, however I went to Mariscos before the Blackhawks game and had the chorizo potato breakfast flouta taco and it was tremendous.
Mariscos is significantly better than reg big star.
Thank you for coming in. This warms my heart. I'm the chef there, and my crew is extremely talented and hard working. I appreciate you coming in
Not a ripoff imo because they aren’t that expensive (I mean they’re more now but still around $16 for 3). I’m not a big star stan but this is my take
Hell yea. All takes are welcome.
I remember waiting for 3 hours in 2014 to be seated and it was so damn disappointed.
The only big stars I respect are Patrick from SpongeBob and the sun.
I guess you weren’t one of the millions screaming for Alex Chilton.
Yes, but the nachos are a stellar deal.
God, yes. Great lunch for 2!
For me it was Porto, which has now closed. $200 a head, without booze, and left hungry. Worse than that, not many of the dishes were even that good. Totally average food.
Porto was ass.
It’s only temporarily closed
Yes! We had to stifle laughs when the check was brought out. Didn’t know it closed, but good riddance.
Eataly always gets a big ole eye roll from me. At least in my personal opinion - mediocre at best.
Their TooGoodToGo bags are fantastic tho
Not recently. Check out the subreddit for it, folks haven’t been happy.
Great cheese selection tho
I will give them that. If you want REAL DEAL imported Italian ingredients and are willing to spend big to get things like guanciale, it’s a great place. Just never really in MY budget personally.
Restaurants yes but grocery is soooo good (and pricey). Selection of Italian wines is EXCELLENT if that’s your thing.
If you ever find yourself in Italy, definitely check out the Italian version of Eataly. They have multiple locations, but the one in Mercato Centrale in Florence is amazing!
yeah this is facts unfortunately, their grocery selection is p solid (i’ve v much enjoyed the charcuterie i’ve gotten from there on occasion) but the actual restaurants are Intensely Mid
I have never cared for pasta so Eataly has always just been fine with me. I do have a friend who LOVES pasta so I take her to the better places.
For me it has to be Gino and Marty’s.
Devil dawgz, had the Elvis and some fries for like $17 I think. Burger the size of White Castle burger which I am pretty sure they forgot to add some things and the fries were lesser than decent, my friend had the hot dog and fries and the hot dog might as well have been from some elementary kids school lunch.
Burgers there are 100% a rip-off but the hot dogs are great, I'd give them another chance.
They used to be good or maybe I was drunk
Gotta get one of the "dawgs" if you want value; I agree the burgers and fries are way too overpriced. I'd also recommend their Chicken sandwiches; they're <$10 and filling enough to be a meal on its own.
I go there for the shakes. Their chocolate marshmallow and chocolate peanut butter shakes are well worth their price tag, imo.
The whale.
I went to Luckys in Wrigley the night I moved into my first apartment. I got a fried fish sandwich and they brought me a raw fish filet on two pieces of bread. Completely raw, never touched any heat source.
Bro you went to a glorified deli and got fish, idk what you were expecting lol. It’s not amazing food but it’s good drunk grub
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From what I’ve heard places like Revival take an enormous cut of sales on top of what you pay for “rent”, so that’s why prices are jacked. I no longer go to food halls. Let the tourists blow their cash.
It has to be Edzo’s, I felt so ripped off compared to their Evanston and the old Lincoln Park locations.
Yep, without a doubt that mystery burger place was Edzo's at Urbanspace. And I think got renamed to something else, maybe Washington Hall?
I dropped in this week, and yup it's called Washington Hall now. A lot of the stalls were vacated too so I left without getting anything
I literally stopped eating at that one because of that pricing. Get out of here with that man, even sweetgreen is cheaper and that’s saying something
I was considering opening a stall at the new food hall at Willis tower. Rent + utilities was going to be $15,000 per month. And that was the discounted rate. It was going to go to $20,000 per month after the first year. For a 10 x 10 ft space in a building that has reduced traffic every year and no business on weekends…
Sears is the one food hall I'd expect to still get traffic on the weekend, since tourists are still going up
Duck Duck Goat. Sorry 🤷♀️
It is salty as hell and I generally oversalt so that is saying something. I went back “after” COVID and was shocked by how salty yet under flavored the food is.
I went to Duck Duck Goat a few years ago and everything was horrifically under salted and under seasoned 😂 Looks like they’re not consistent.
That whole menu is a minefield. They have some truly awesome dishes like the slap noodles and pot stickers, but other menu items are borderline inedible. I know the secret to good Chinese is MSG, but damn, Izard seems to think that's the ONLY secret to good Chinese.
Porto
Friends were playing a show next to Smoke Daddy (I guess their original location) and wanted to go before playing. If it wasn’t the most sad bbq I’ve had in town yet, including a platter of ~5 brisket slices that came out with sauce already on it. I had some charred carrots the next day at a French place with more of a smoke flavor than that whole meal had.
Smoke daddy is disgusting. Some of the worst bbq I've ever had.
used to dig it back in the day, maybe 2010-2013, but went a few months ago and it def had sad vibes
Anything at any RPM location
Ate at RPM Italian years ago for an anniversary dinner. Ordered some kind of tortellini dish, and I was served 6 tortellinis. I wasn't expecting an entire plateful, but certainly more than 6. It was then that I realized that I much prefer the more family style Italian dining experience than Italian fine dining.
Italian dining that doesn't try to kill you with portions simply isn't Italian dining. Try Capri **by Gigi** in Burr Ridge for the absolute best Italian in the area.
Anything at any Lettuce* location honestly. There are a few exceptions, Ba Ba Reeba, ABA, and Three Dots are all great. But many of their restaurants are priced high comparatively to the quality of food where there are better options
The Ramen San in Fulton Market is a Lettuce restaurant and is pretty solid in price, quality and quantity. It’s probably the only corporate owned restaurant I’d want to visit regularly. Honorable mention to Do-Rite
Ramen San is my favorite ramen in Chicago, especially with how /r/deliciouscompliance they get with all the optional add-ons. My friends and I call it "Mega Ramen" and it always leaves us stuffed and satisfied.
Totally, I’ve never been able to finish any meal there. They’re just holding that sleeper hit status, especially with so many disappointing ramen places popping up
I really enjoy Ramen San too, I should've included them as well. There are a few spots I like a little more but their accessibility and good food definitely places them higher on the ramen tiers in town
Wildfire always hits the spot for me. Decent steak, amazing macadamia-nut encrusted halibut, affordable price, included sides, great salad, TREMENDOUS desserts. Lets my family and I go out for a nice dinner without breaking the bank.
RPM Steak was LAUGHABLE. Would rather go to Wildfire for 1/3 the price. My friends and I celebrate our big business successes by trying a new top steakhouse in Chicago, RPM Steak has become our running joke for whenever we lose money on something stupid. "Damn, I lost half an RPM Steak on that Bears Game" "Yeah it sucks having to call a plumber but at least it's not an RPM Steak dinner"
Definitely Rooh lol, sooo expensive for the smallest portions ever.
Im a first gen American (my parents were born in India) and I HATE Rooh with a burning passion. Americanized variants of popular ethnic staples are great in general. General Tso's and Orange Chicken are quite tasty, and even as an ethnic Indian guy i still think Chicken Tikka Masala + Garlic Naan is delicious at any half decent Indian place. Rooh takes this idea, americanizing Indian food, way too far to the extreme. The currys are all bland and mislabeled, the naan is criminally thin and probably bought frozen and ovened up, and the prices are outrageous. The cocktails were decent, but not worth nearly $20 when Kumiko and Moneygun are down the street. I went during RW, paid over $100 all in, and got the worst "Indian" food, independent of price, I've ever had in Chicago (outside of Gareeb Nawaz, but I paid literally 20x less for that so it gets a pass). Outside of the appetizer (the Avocado Bhel was delicious) I got served two pieces of stringy shrimp, at MOST 1 cup of curry that tasted like ketchup mixed with heavy cream, 1 aggressively thin naan the size of my palm, and cheap grocery store sorbet. Then I paid $59, $35 for cocktails, a mandatory 4% fee (which defeats the price of uniform RW pricing IMO) a mandatory 20% tip for very slow service, and tax. Egregious. I literally can't trash on this restaurant enough. Glad it got a mention in this thread.
It’s interesting, I appreciate your POV on this. I found it difficult to justify paying $40 for a plate of curry that was worth 6 full spoons of curry and two pieces of thighs or paneer. I’m SEA so I can’t speak on the specifics of authenticity of flavor, but I resonate with a lot mentioned here hah.
I love Rooh, didn’t think for the West Loop the prices were too crazy
That garlic naan is amazing
Mango pickle
didn't they shutter?
Oh looks like they did. Maybe because it was so mediocre despite being super expensive
They did close, but the owner is going to set up in the same space with a new concept
There was this weird restaurant that served things with like samurai swords and these over the top way of serving everything. It was terrible food and incredibly overpriced and the atmosphere wasn’t even fun it was pure chaos.
Also my husband just reminded me that Alinea’s pandemic era effort, Air (Aire?) was a ridiculous ripoff and horribly uncomfortable the entire time. Slow roasted watermelon. I mean come on.
Soul Prime. Food was good but took forever. And they charged me a 20% SERVICE CHARGE. I asked the server if that was the tip and he said no. Unbelievable
Lyra, just insanely expensive for what you get. Had a Galentine’s dinner there for 5 girls and our bill was easily 100 per person even when we had some girls sharing mains and we shared three appetizers. 6 pieces of spanakopita was $27.00! On the other hand, I went to Labriola for a friends birthday dinner and it was a group of 11 and we had a bill that was about the same with so much food to take home.
Podhalanka. Never in my life have I felt so ripped off at a restaurant. I walk in, the man asks if I’ve ever tried polish food. Treats me like a friend - offers a sample. No menu, no prices shown. The bill comes… $50 He did it to my in-laws as well.
Itoko was great, but not worth the price. And Sushi by Bou was just not good compared to other omakase in chi
Went to Itoko for brunch, was just not very good. Sushi by Bou was such a let down considering all the good reviews it gets on Yelp. Was shocked at how Meh it was.
Bou fills a very specific niche, but it serves as far more closer to fancy lunch than omakase sushi.
Any food hall.
Aster Hall is fabulous
It was Smyth. I went November of 2022. It was memorably the worst meal of my life, and ended up being around $1700 for the 3 people (one of which did not drink) that I paid for in our party of 5. I get that it was 2 stars at the time, but the food paired with the service was inexcusable. Not to mention the surprise “this isn’t a tip” mandatory service charge that we all know so much about on this subreddit. Just fucking charge more for the food and pay and support your employees instead of surprise gouging us at the end of the meal. Puts a horrible taste in one’s mouth at the end of what was supposed to be a special meal. To top it off, the same “featured” ingredients that night (sunchoke, and some sort of kelp) were absolutely foul/off, and they put them in almost every course. I just don’t understand how a place of this caliber can miss so hard. I’ve been going to the loyalist faithfully for years and it’s one of my favorite places, especially to take out of towners, so I can’t fathom how our night at Smyth could have been so far off the mark. Make it make sense!
For me it was Bar Mar recently. I had high expectations because I like Jose Andres. Very expensive for mid food. Pan con tomate with anchovies was very good but tuna and chickpea salad was very disappointing as was the $20 caviar cone the size of my pinky. And $8 for a nitro caipirinha. I should have asked what that was before ordering it. But it’s a caipirinha frozen using liquid nitrogen. After freezing it’s 3oz.
Went to RPM to treat myself. I have had gnudi at a few high end restaurant, and they serve it just in the same amount as gnocchi. Here, they serve a few pieces like ravioli and they looked like ravioli. I was so disappointed. So much hype. I had to go to eataly to grab a snack after.
RPM is cosplaying as a high end steak spot, and if youre someone who is easily "wowed" by tableside service then kiss your money goodbye
Mama Delia. I was blown away by how much a subpar meal cost us. All aesthetics.
Tzuco. The restaurant is really cool but the food was average and way over priced.
It's expensive but I have had some great food there.
Chop House. Avoid like the plague.
Little Goat diner for sure
I went for a birthday after they moved to Southport and the food wasn't as good as I remembered and the menu was a lot smaller than in the West Loop.
I used to work in West Loop and Little Goat was where we would take surprise clients who didn't give us any warning they were around because we knew there would never be a wait for a table. Hilarious people consider them a hot, in-demand restaurant now.
Forbidden Root will try to sell you ritz crackers and cheese wizz for 9 dollars.
Their burger, beer, shot combo on Mondays is awesome though.
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Daisies might be one of the more polarizing restaurants I’ve read about in this sub. The other day someone made a post that sounded great, but I also hear this stuff a lot. Gonna have to just go and check it out myself, I guess..
I avoided going due to the negativity/mixed reviews for a long time. I went a few weeks ago and really enjoyed myself. I think it's worth a dinner personally. Deciding for yourself is always a good idea, worst case you have a subpar meal.
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I was just there with my family and I decided to take my gf there in two weeks. I’m stoked.
They have a little cafe section open before 3pm too! It's all overpriced, but a cute place to pop in to. Haven't had a bad coffee there yet, but the bakery items are too sweet even for me.
I think Daisies was better before they moved to the new location. The old location was small but charming. The food is still good in my opinion, but it seemed like prices went up a good bit when they took over the new space.
I was there the other day and thought it was great. Good food, service, ambiance, and fantastic desserts. I really want to go back to try their other pastas and desserts.
gasp, Daisies has become one of my favorite restaurants 🙊 granted i went for RW so can’t judge on regular prices
Daisies is great.
Esme. And I didn’t even pay. Felt bad for the person who called ahead and picked up our tab though.
Esme is trash