re: Chicago Restaurant Recommendations needed?

For those who may or may not know... but does anyone know what

“Square” means? Some guys kept saying it on the streets and in the train sometimes...

That place is one of the main reasons I want to go back.

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we did just about everything you could do minus Navy Pier.

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Lastly, the Train system... we used it for everything minus 1 short Uber we took.

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A lot of people overlook their mass transit. It does very well.

A report of our weekend.

Just got back from Chicago a few hours ago. We stayed at Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Ave (across from the Bean).

Restaurants didn't work out as we planned and a lot of the places we wanted to go to were booked or closed. We mistakenly tried to plan on 5 days notice.

We ate at Cindy's Rooftop (on top of our hotel) on Friday night and enjoyed the porkchops and drinks. Rooftop with great food and drinks. We got priority on reservations since we stayed at the hotel. Definitely make reservations here.

We ate at Lou Mitchell's by Union Station on Saturday and Sunday morning for breakfast. First time, but loved it. Omelets are outstanding and the waffle on day 2 was amazing. Classic "at the beginning of Route 66" breakfast spot. No wait around 9 a.m., but started filling up after we got seated. On day 2, 15 minute wait when I arrived at 9:20 a.m.

We had pizza at Eataly on Saturday afternoon. I know, probably blasphemy in Chicago, but we love their woodfired pizza and don't really care for deep dish pizza (too much bread for us).

We ate at Gibson's Steakhouse on Saturday night. Great ambience and a real "old time steakhouse" feel, but the steaks were not very good. Service was good and staff was great, but food was subpar. We did bring our own wine and that was the best part of the meal. I would not go back.

Sunday morning, Lou Mitchell's again for breakfast. Waffle's are the bomb.

We skipped Sunday lunch as we walked about 8 miles roundtrip to and from our hotel to Lincoln Park down Michigan Avenue. We did have drinks at a rooftop, NoMi Garden's on top of the Hyatt off Michigan Ave. Not really high roof but decent drinks and good bartenders and good views.

Sunday night, we had dinner at Tzuco's, a James Beard Chef award winner. It claims to be a Mexican with French influence restaurant. Another dud. We had mussel appetizer and mahi mahi for main course. Fish was overcooked and mussels were bland. Again, we brought our own wine which would have been the highlight, but we got dessert. Their limon mouse was the best dessert that I have ever eaten. Very creative.

After dinner, we walked to London House and stood in line for the rooftop bar (did I say we like rooftops?). It only took about 30 minutes to make it up top, but would have been quicker with reservations. One of my favorite views in the city and a great bar.

We just arrived home. Overall, I took chances on restaurants and 2 out of 3 were duds. My mistake. Sometimes you hit HR's and sometimes you strike out.

Great suggestions in this thread, so I have would followed those suggestions if reservations were available. We planned late and dinner reservations were hard to come by due to Memorial Day weekend and one of the first weekends that Chicago has opened.

We ate at Chicago Chop House for steaks 2 years ago and it was great and we should have returned, but wanted to try something different.

Chicago Athletic Club was an interesting hotel. Had Wifi trouble on day 1 and hot water problems on days 2 and 3. Also, if you are in a park side view room, the AC does not come on if the outside temps under 55 degrees, so our room was hot from the sun on Friday and Saturday. A/C finally came on Sunday. Staff was nice and it was clean, but little hiccups meant we probably would not return. It is an old historic hotel. We did have great weather, but windows do not open, so it was 75+ degrees in our room on Friday and Saturday nights. We like it to be around 66 degrees when sleeping.

We do like that all restaurants that we have eaten over the last 2 years allow us to bring our own wine, which is a huge plus. Reasonable corkage fees apply.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I wish more of the recommended restaurants had reservations available.
May try again in a couple of years.

Cheers. Thanks for your help.

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We did also, except the food choices we made.

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Sorry to hear about your restaurant experiences. I’ve always maintained Chicago neighborhoods is what makes this city go. It’s where everyone lives and, inevitably, eats. Try venturing out next time. The train makes it easy to get to different neighborhoods, especially if you’re staying downtown.

Happy to give you some of my recommendations for page one

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Theater District and Business District were ghost towns

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Not overly surprising for a weekend. Most everyone lives outside of The Loop. Tough to want to go down there on the weekend — not much to do unless you go to Millennium Park, Grant Park or Museum Campus.

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Weather was raining Friday when we arrived, but Saturday, Sunday and Monday were gorgeous.

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Saturday and Sunday were awesome. Did some patios in Wicker on Saturday then Old Town on Sunday. Tough to get anywhere without reservations, but that’s the name of the game these days. I had a buddy grab reservations for different bars, etc., couple weeks back.

The Au Cheval neighborhood was popping on Thursday when we got out there. We had no wait to sit outside or we could wait 20 min to sit inside, easily waited the 20 min to catch the vibes of inside.. got the honey chicken for an app and split a burger with my son. Was the perfect amount of food. Definitely not an overrated spot. Was worth it.

Girl and the Goat was across the way, We walked from there to the Sears Tower to do the skydeck.. we were iffy about doing it but figured with the weather situation up in the air and we werent that far we would do it. Was an awesome way to start the trip because we were able to see the whole city right away. Got some cookies at the The little goat bakery next door to eat on the walk. Ha.

Biggest strikeout we had was Pequods after the Cubs game. Knew we didnt have to go far on the train so took that then walked thru depaul's campus. thought we'd be ok, but no chance... Should have stuck with one of the recs that were given about other spots near Wrigley, but wanted to take a stab at Pequods and given the way the trip was shaking out that was our best chance to hit that.


Also, viewed uber's every now and then just to gauge if we wanted to use it... we only took 1 that was under 10.00 when we did, but looked a few other times and the avg was like 40.00 just to go a few blocks...thats why we ended up walking or taking the train everywhere, which was fine and clutch.

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Almost impossible to get an Uber to pick you up in less than 10 minutes with a cost under $20, even going less than a mile.

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I just never leave Ukranian Village/Wicker Park these days

Friend of mine just accepted a job out there. It will be downtown, but he's looking to find a place between downtown and wrigley?

any other spots you'd rec? He's 32 and single

Thoughts on the West Loop area to live for said single guy in early 30s?