I've been to McCormick & Schmick at other locations but unfortunately this particular one just did not live up to my standards. The service was good, but quite slow even though the restaurant was maybe 1/3 full. But it was the food that left me quite disappointed.
All I can say is that the food was pretty bad. The starters such as the shrimp bisque, walnut salad, and calamari were adequate. Â However, after the appetizers, the meal started to go downhill. The almond crusted trout entree was bland and the rice accompaniment had a weird combination of vegetables inside. We also had the shrimp scampi, which was definitely off. The flavor was extremely sour, my husband said it tasted like it had gone bad! Â The manager came over and kindly offered me another entree in replacement, but I felt like the food in general was just no good here and we were running short on time because of the slow service. Luckily the creme brulee was alright, but it's pretty hard to mess that up.
I felt like it was a waste of $100 and calories. If you're looking for delicious consistent steak and seafood, I would highly recommend that you spend your money at Joe's Seafood.
My husband and I went here to celebrate my birthday. I was really excited and looking forward to a great meal because I had heard so much about this place. My husband loved his steak, the lobster mashed potatoes were great, however, I ordered the special and it was really fishy. It was expensive and I just didn't feel it was worth it so I talked to the manager and he ultimately comped it. I appreciated that and I would try it again.
Review Source:Startling terrible service, from top to bottom. Â We had a reservation for lunch, but cooled our heels at the front desk, with no explanation, for quite a while before we were seated by a hostess who seemed put out by our presence. Â Our waitress disappeared after taking our drink order, and then left us sitting with our menus for fifteen minutes before she reappeared to take our food order. Â Empty, dirty dishes sat on the table without being cleared between courses. Â We had to ask for bread halfway through the meal. Â Our drinks were never re-filled. Â A long wait for entrees ended in some of them coming to the table cold. Â We finally had to flag our waitress and ask for the check, after sitting for another fifteen minutes after our meal was over.
All in all, lunch took an hour and a half, which I could have forgiven if they'd been slammed, but they really weren't. Â Maybe a delicious meal would have put us in a better frame of mind about the service, but the food was also underwhelming. Â The creamed spinach was the highlight, but the tuna in my nicoise salad was bland and mushy.
As we left, the hostess stared moodily out the front windows, and did not acknowledge us at all. Â Pretty much summed up the McCormick & Schmick's experience for me.
Ok, McCormick & Schmick's is a chain restaurant, but you'd never know from the quality of food and service provided.
We ordered crab dip, shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, king crab claws, and a center cut filet mignon.
We should have stopped at the crab dip. It was absolutely delicious, but the serving was huge. It wasn't finished,
Boyfriend loved the bisque and we shared the amazing shrimp cocktail. Our mains were fantastic as well. My filet was a perfect medium and his crab claws were fresh and well chilled.
There wasn't room for dessert.
Our waiter was attentive and friendly and not overbearing.
I have been a McCormick & Schmick's loyalist for years, and I can say with 100% accuracy that I will continue to frequent every location EXCEPT THIS ONE!
You would think that the point of a Happy Hour is to make you happy. Â You go there, you have a ton of good small food items at a great price, and you then spend more money on drinks because you get to eat resonably. Â Heck, maybe you even stay for dinner because you're there anyway and you want to go bigger. Â
THIS location wants you to leave and never return based on this experience.
My patronage of this chain dates back to 2003, when I first started getting the happy hour specials at the Gold Coast location. Â That is an A++ staff with great food. Â Back then the happy hour portions were larger than they are now, but I understand the tough economic times we have and that THIS location is in the Loop and will thusly be more expensive. Â I also wrote a really positive review of the original under my old Yelp! name years ago. Â If I can find it, then I will update and repost it because I think highly of the chain...so much so that I even went out of my way to go to Happy Hour when I lived in San Diego.
Now for the bad news about THIS location: They do not have Happy Hour; rather, they have UNHAPPY HOUR. Â You will leave a very unhappy person if you go here.
The service yesterday, December 19th was horrid. Â We arrived at approximately 5:00 P.M. or so, and the happy hour came out piecemeal and incomplete. Â (My one friend's burger order and the table's order of 2 orders of wings, an order of fries, and the Bavarian pretzel order went in together.)
My friends' vodka martinis came watered-down. Â While my lemonade came with fresh raspberries, the second wing order came short one. Â That's right! Â We were missing a wing! Â The waitress said the order of wings came with 6 wings (again, I assume the portions were downsized at some point in the last few months), and our second wing order only had 5 wings! Â When we asked her about it, she then said, "5...6, whatever."
The waitress almost took offense at asking for the martinis to come a little less watered-down. Â Now, if you have Happy Hour, shouldn't the bar be getting you GOOD drinks so that you want to stay? Â Nope, they do not want you to enjoy a good drink.
The burger was her next problem. Â The restaurant's chef is thoughtful in that she/he has ketchup come out separately for a burger, but the little ceramic ketchup bowl was half full. Â When my friend asked for more ketchup, the waitress had to send another server because she could not be bothered, I guess.
In all my years of ordering from restaurants, I had no idea that proper etiquette required that you never ask your own server for more ketchup. Â Apparently, you go outside, turn around three times on a baseball bat, and tackle any other server for ketchup (although, we did not need to tackle this time.).
Next, my other friend had a second burger order, and it was undercooked and otherwise cooked so badly that she had to eat around the center. Â If I had to guess, the culprit is a frozen patty thrown right onto the grill without thawing. Â That would produce a "medium" outside with a "rare" inside. Â I helped with the fries on this order, but the waitress incessantly hounded us to surrender the plate.
She asked me if I was "finished" so many times, I began to worry that someone ran me through with a sword, and I hadn't noticed. Â Yes, I yield. Â Take the basket forthwith, serving wench.
I'm done here. Â There are way too many GOOD Happy Hour places in the Loop that WANT me to spend money on food and drink.
We were recently here to eat dinner with a friend and his parents from out of town & overall had a great experience! The crowd was mostly older, people on business trips, and tourists.
Service
The hostess was friendly and allowed us to be seated earlier even though our party was running a little late, despite it being a crowded Saturday night. Our waiter was also very attentive and our food came out very quickly. He also wasn't pushy at all when we declined an appetizer or dessert which was nice.
I will say we were seated really close to the kitchen which was at some points distracting because anytime someone came or went from the kitchen they would yell (corner!). Seriously, put up a mirror and it would be much more efficient and quiet! Also, the tables were a bit close together, making navigating to/from your table very difficult and having to have other patrons move their chairs.
Food
I am not a big seafood person, and I wasn't really feeling eating a big slab of meat, so I compromised and am not ashamed to admit I ordered what would probably go on the kids menu: Â Buttermilk Fried Shrimp with Chesapeake Fries & Â Cocktail Sauce. The shrimp were huge and fresh and I loved that they were not too greasy; the fries were seasoned really well and were a very large portion.
Everyone else at our table loved their entrees and their portions were also huge.
Next time, I'll be sure to try to save some room for dessert: the red velvet cake we spotted at several tables looked amazing! Although I didn't drink, they have a very large selection of various wines, cocktails as well as beers.
Overall, a good place to bring the parents out for a nice dinner. Located steps from Michigan Avenue and across the street from the river makes this a great location if you plan on going sight-seeing across the city. Good fresh seafood, steak and pasta options will ensure that everyone finds something on the menu they'll like.
I visited McCormick's with a large group of out of towners and it was a complete letdown. The service was some of the worst I'd ever seen... it took over an hour to get our food and when we finally got it, not everyone was served at the same time. We're not talking wait 5 minutes for everyone to get their meals, more like 20-30 minutes.
The food itself was nothing spectacular. Honestly, I think I could have made something better at home.
Lastly, one person in the group was celebrating her birthday. We asked the server to take a picture of the group for us and he refused. He didn't give us any excuses, just refused to do it. The restaurant wasn't busy at all, so I'm not sure what his problem was. Â
In a nutshell- bad service & bad food, but the decor was nice enough.
I had a great experience here. I came as a walk-in and there was no problem accommodating me, but in fairness, I did arrive just as they opened for dinner.
The service was more than prompt, my waiter was knowledgeable about all of the dishes and made some wonderful suggestions.
In fact, the service went above and beyond; I was waiting for my main meal, then my server came back to me and said the meal didn't come out right; it was overdone. He apologized profusely and told me they were re-making my dish so it would be as it was supposed to be. Not only that, the Manager of the restaurant delivered my meal to me himself. I thought that was very courteous and above-and-beyond service.
I thought the prices at this upscale seafood/steakhouse were extremely reasonable! Our meal which consisted of a bottle of wine, an appetizer (shrimp kisses, you must try!) and my main meal came to a total of $75.00.
A definite consideration if you're looking for quality food at a fair price.
I've been to McCormick's a number of times. Â I usually go to the one in River North and have been happy there. Â However, my recent visit to One E Wacker was the worst experience I've had in over ten years of McCormick meals.
The problems all started when the people near our table, who arrived before us, received their food and we had not. Â It was at least 30 minutes from order to this point. We brought it up to the waiter and was told he would check on it. Â Ten minutes went by with no follow up with a status from the waiter. Â We then asked him again what was going on. Â He said that he had a manager checking on it. Â He then started making excuses about how we didn't receive our food because some other server took one of our orders. Â He also blamed the kitchen for having issues. Â He also mentioned that he's a teacher by training and "this" (being a waiter) isn't what he wanted to be doing. Â A few things here. Â First, the waiter should have been aware that all of his tables around us had their food and we didn't. Â Second, once he knew that someone else took our order he should have immediately come over to offer us bread, soup or SOMETHING. Third, if you're going to do a job then you do it - you don't make excuses about how it's not what you want to be doing. Â If you don't like what you're doing quit.
We eventually received our food almost an hour after ordering. Â My friend received the wrong salad. Â I received my salmon and immediately noticed it was raw on the inside. Â This was not sushi grade fish. Â The waiter agreed and he took it back. Â The manager brought the fish out a second time and AGAIN it was raw. Â The manager agreed and took it back and it was finally correct on the third try. By this time I had to rush to eat my lunch. Â
The Manager, who was very nice and paid for the meal, also made an excuse and said he wasn't the regular manager and was from another location. Â Again, as a customer, I don't care about that. Â That's making excuses and trying to make yourself look better.
It's one thing to have a service issue on a visit. Â It's one thing to have a food issue on a visit. Â But when you have ongoing food and service issues on the same day it makes you think that there could be something wrong at this location. Â
UPDATE: Â I talked with the General Manager Jason (who was not there that day). Â Found him to be very understanding and he took full responsibility for what happened on behalf of his store. Â He mentioned specific measures the company had already taken to address the issues I experienced (which I'm not disclosing) which I was very happy to hear about as a customer.
UPDATE 2 10/26/12: No one from the Corp Office has called me back. Jason hasn't called me back. Â I called the restaurant today and talked with a Manager named Matt. Â He said he would follow up on what's going on and get back to me.
UPDATE 3 10/28/12: Â I received an apology letter in the mail from the COO with a gift certificate. Â It was not personalized and not a real signature. None the less, glad to see they followed up with me.
I've eaten dinner at McCormick and Schmick's before and it's a bit expensive, happy hour is a great deal. When the weather is nice, you can sit on their patio which overlooks the river, and boasts great people watching. Â My server was either distracted, or in need of more training, or in need of more help and was kinda rude. It really surprised me because the service is typically great. Â But to be honest, he brought us everything we asked for, and rang the check correctly, so I wasn't complaining too much. Â
I had wine, but some of the people in my party who ordered the happy hour specialty drinks said the drinks were watered down. Despite all this, I think it's an okay place for a glass of wine after work and an appetizer.
Classic big city chain overpriced steak house. Everything was as pretty much as expected in terms of food quality. I really liked their crab cake and the sweet corn flavors it had. I also had their lobster mashed potatoes which was basically just topped which a few pieces of lobster and some lobster bisque, good but not spectacular.
Our server was definitely not organized. It took quite a bit of time for us to be noticed in the first place. Appetizers came out with long delays between people at the table, causing the awkward moment where you have food in front of you but don't want to dig in as not to be rude. If this was Chili's fine, but this is supposed to be a high end steak house. Lastly, I ordered the petite fillet because I wanted something small. When the server brought me a rib eye instead, which is a lower quality cut of meat, he apologetically said something along the lines of "I got you a rib eye instead, maybe I'll get you a dessert or something later, good news is that it is less expensive" it wasn't...
This was my first time dining at McCormick's, but it certainly will not be my last. Since Nick's Fish Market left the Loop I have been searching for another seafood fine dining establishment. Catch 35 seemed to be alone, but now I know better. (Shaw's is simply too loud, and not at all intimate). The wine list was varied and impressive, and the food was exceptionally fresh and well prepared. The lobster bisque was second to none in Chicago, and the Lobster Cobb Salad was simply put--"SPECTACULAR!" My colleague was delighted with the Cashew Tilapia--recommended by our waiter, and the Salmon was superior. I think I have found a seafood restaurant to compete with Catch 35, and make me miss Nick's Fish Market less. McCormick & Schmick's--YES!
Review Source:I guess I have been spoiled recently since chain resturants are not my favorite anymore. This location was not crowded at all for a saturday at lunch, which was nice cause we had somewhere to be later. We started out with two bloody marys we had a rough night before...they were good, but I really look for ones that do somthing different and it was just plain. The shrimp cocktail was good and I really liked their cocktail sauce, the fish tacos i had for lunch were slightly fishy. All in all I probably wouldnt go back, theres tons of other places in the area far better.
Review Source:A small upscale chain from Oregon, they have several Chicago restaurants but I have only been to this one on Wacker in the Loop. Â The emphasis is on seafood. Â The food is good, but expensive. It is nice that they are on open table for making reservations.
The whole place has that old-style wood and stained glass look. Â I have only been here for dinner with friends, which is perhaps why I feel it is only average. Â The service was average when I have been here, and it does not seem like a great place to bring a date or go with friends. Â If you do bring a date here though, definitely go for one of the booths with the curtains for privacy Â
It really has a more business feel, and I it is a great place to bring clients for lunch dinner or drinks.  You will always get a consistent experience, and it is set up well for discussing business  But for myself, I would rather walk the two blocks across the river and go to Shaw's for my fresh seafood.
This review is based ENTIRELY on the HH Menu and not really the service, lol. Is that bad?! Oh well. Love MS's options for food. It's a great way to nibble or even get food. Keep in mind, EVERYONE knows this and you need to make sure you have someone holding down the fort until you can drag yourself over after a hard day of work, lol.
As far as service, I sat at the only seat at the bar and the service was pitiful. Not sure if they were understaffed or overworked, but geez luiz.. Can I get a glass of wine SOMETIME in the next 20 minutes? It worked out because the patron next to me was a hoot and helped pass the time. I'll try it again and update as appropriate.
In the interim, would that deter me from coming back.. absolutely not. Â But if I got the same kind of specials elsewhere with good service.. I am G O N E!
Went here for my bday and I love the food. We love Gibson's but my bf said he may like this place just as much.
Ordered: seared ahi tuna, seafood trio and lobster mash potatoes.
The ahi tuna was delicious...my bf was salivating and wanted more. The seafood trio (stuffed shrimps, grilled shrimps and salmon) came with green beans and red pepper white cheddar mash potatoes which I didn't know otherwise, we would have ordered another vege dish instead of the lobster mash but my bf loves mash potatoes so he didn't mind. Great service would have mentioned mine came with mash potatoes already since I was the one that ordered the lobster mash. But anyway...service wasn't great (the only thing we didn't like).
Mojitos were blah...will now only order it Havana.
Service is abysmal. My first and last time dining here.
We were there for a business lunch and needed some time to talk with each other before looking at the menu. We were 30 seconds into our conversation and instead of waiting for a break, our waiter jumped in and talked over us. Telling him we needed a few minutes to review the menu resulted in him coming back literally 2 minutes later. Â Nobody was ready to order when he came back a third time within 10 minutes of us being seated. Â At that point, he didn't ask if we were ready; instead he made an odd demand for our order, like "you will be having what?" His constant hovering annoyed us to the point that we made snap decisions on orders just to get him to stop. I felt like I was ordering with a gun to my head.
I had a piece of salmon. Â I don't know how it was prepared because I didn't get a good look at the menu. I just saw "salmon" and went with it. Â It was solid, if unspectacular. Had I received even average service, my rating would have been a 3.
Of course, this jerk was in a rush to clear the plates ASAP. As soon as you set your fork down the plate was gone. This was really disrespectful to the people who were still eating. Within seconds of clearing the last plate, the waiter put the check down. No offer for coffee or dessert. It turned out we wanted coffee, which seemed to bum him out.
On the way back from lunch, everyone talked about how awful the service was. The restaurant was not crowded, so there was no reason for our waiter to try to turn the table as soon as possible. Had I been in different company, I would have spoken to a manager and complained. Instead, I'm taking my complaint to Yelp. Avoid this place.
My feelings about this place have gone up and down. When it first opened up it was solid seafood, reasonable prices - a solid place for a business lunch.
At times the food has gone done. Strange lunch specials...fish tacos that were so-so, oversalted soups.
On my latest trip I feel like it's back on the way up. Lobster cobb salad good, sashimi tuna app was tasty too but the portion sizes are now going downwards.
I'll need to come back again to try a few more items before I can put it back at a 4-star status.
Either way, they have pretty quick service so ti does make it a good go-to in the middle of the day.
The girl at the front desk could not find our 6:30pm reservation. Â I told her that I made it at <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FOpenTable.com&s=c91bdbc3a0ec574526e58696cba3aeccf3c9f0bf51b27a302b229c80b40f42ac" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://OpenTable.com</a> and had a confirmation number. She then told me that maybe I made it at the wrong location. I asked her if there was another location on Wacker? She looked at me and said, "Don't worry I will be able to get you in!" Â Um considering I have a reservation confirmation...I should be giving you attitude and not you giving me attitude.
So we decided to have a nice feast. Â The food was okay not amazing but okay. Â We started with the Walnut Mixed Greens Salad with White Balsamic Dressing. Â I found it funny that the dressing was actually yellow. Â I really liked the salad because it was simple and tasted it good.
Next we went with the Maine Lobster Bisque...the presentation was well done. Â The issue I had was that the lobster in the middle was cold close to being frozen in temperature. Â It was a real shock to have a warm soup and ice cold lobster in the middle. Â The soup was also incredibly salty too...It was almost like drinking salt water...maybe the chef was going for this effect.
Finally I decided to go for the Perfect Combination...I choose 3 different fishes. Â I loved this choice because I was able to get a little of everything. Â I am going to go in order from best to worst. Â The Scampi Grilled Gulf Shrimp were really good. Â It was the highlight of the plate. Next I would say the Lump Blue Crab Cake was okay. Â It had a lot of mayo in there...it was not the best crab cake I have ever had. Â On the bottom of the list would be the Grilled Swordfish. Â It was probably the worse Swordfish I have ever had in my life. Â It was really fishy...the only way to fix it was to dunk it in the sauce that it came with. Â I thought I was making the perfect combination but I was not...I have no idea how three of my favorite items could just be this bad.
I thought the children's menu was very good...there were a lot of choices to choose from for kids. Â My little one really liked the Mac and Cheese. Â I hate to say this but I wish I would have ordered that. Â The cheese was a white cheddar and it was really really good. Â I wanna but under 12 again. Â This also came with ice cream...so we were all able to have a little desert to end the evening.
Back to my missing reservation...I received an email during dinner from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FOpentable.com&s=e2215de09505b8fbf3a047b68af38708cbc8b52c843ab34faaecc46b3704d557" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Opentable.com</a> telling me that I missed my reservation. Â This just made me mad because if you miss 2 reservations they will put you on probation. Â I don't want to go to Opentable Jail! Â As I was walking out of the restaurant, I showed the girl the email and she again didn't seem to care. Â Another guy who was there when I checked in said, "Hey I can add you in the system. He typed in my name and then all of a sudden it showed up and he put me in at 6:30pm!' Â Why didn't she just do that to begin with when I came into dinner 2 hours before? Â Maybe laziness!!!
I didn't like the attitude when I walked in and I was not happy with the quality of the fish here. Â I think I am done eating here...I have been here before and I have walked away feeling less then satisfied. Â I need to find a seafood restaurant that cares about what they serve and not just stand behind there corporate name!!!
Went to M&S today with two friends for lunch. All in all, pretty good, here's the details:
Food: Of the orders we had, I felt that mine was the lesser of the three. I had whitefish that was served over spaghetti squash in a tomato broth. The portion was kind of small and when they served it, it was skin side up, which I thought was unusual. The taste was good, though maybe a touch overcooked. The other two entrees were almond encrusted brook trout and grilled salmon in salad greens - both my friends were very satisfied.
Service: Â Really good. The waiter was prompt, the service was timely and the manager stopped by to see how we were and even poured some water for us once. Seating was immediate when we arrived around noon.
Overall, I would definitely return to this M&S again.
The ever changing menu depending on what's in season is a treat here. This usually means that they do the harder part for you when you are trying to decide what to have as they already narrow down what should be the best.
The seafood here is good. I've always enjoyed my meals here whatever fish or seafood dish I ended up with.
The servers are attentive and the place feels a little more high class.
I was disappointed with our lunch here the other day. Â 1) It took 1 hour and 15 minutes. 2) We had to continually ask for water, refills on soda, etc. Â 3) Our waiter was MIA the entire time - except to do the expected of taking our order, delivering our food, and bringing our separate checks. Â
I went with some co-workers and we all had debit cards and no cash so we asked, before ordering, if it was okay to split the checks.  He was a d*ck about it and rolled his eyes at us.  "Well, I guess, but it's going to take me a  while."  Really?  We ordered 3 entrees, 1 soup, 2 waters, and 1 diet coke.  How hard is that order to split, honestly.  I was a server 6 years ago and it was EASY PEASY to split checks...ESPECIALLY when customers tell you before ordering.  I know that computer systems now in the food industry are WAY more savvy then what I dealt with way back when. Â
Our food was good and decently priced. Â I would've given more stars had our waiter been more friendly and answered our questions better. Â I've been here for happy hours and they have great deals...so I may have to just stick with that time of going to this restaurant.
Sooo aside from the fact that I thought this place was a law firm when I first heard the name, I can honestly say that I am smitten with M&S. I've only been here a couple of times for their Happy Hour, but it is by far one of the best in the Loop!
The service, atmosphere, food, and drinks are all phenomenal. The patio is the perfect place to people watch on a warm summer day. The Trump Tower, Marina Towers, Hotel 71, and the Riverwalk are just some of the city sights you can see while enjoying some fabulous food and drinks at fabulous prices.
My favorites would have to be the Steamed Mussels $5, Blackened Fish Tacos $4, and the Pinot Grigio $6. I also recommend their cocktails because they are delicious and strongg (that's what Happy Hours are for, right?)
All in all, perfect. I can't wait to go back for lunch or dinner sometime. Now, I just have to decide who I am in love with more, McCormick or Schmick?
Really, strangely fantastic happy hour. Â I can't say anything for the food or seafood - but trust that when you're in Chicago, you're not in Maine. Â Don't expect the best.
Anyway, back to the happy hour. Â The drinks aren't amazing, but you can get a $2.50 Budweiser (no thanks) or a $5 cocktail (yes please), or $6 wine (okie dokie). Â The food specials are what really hit the spot - a $3 hamburger, $2 soft pretzel, $4 hummus... and it's all pretty tasty. Â I wouldn't recommend the chips & salsa or the quesadilla, but the sweet potato fries were top notch, and I don't even really like sweet potato fries.
All in all, the patio was really lovely, with some live ambient jazz music. Â Our server wasn't so great, but we were also a pretty cheap date (over 3 hours, the 6 of us spent about $100), so whatever. Â I'd definitely hit it up again.
Check out the happy hour menu. Â It's the only experience I've had at M&S, but here are the high level details:
M-F 3:30 to 6:30
1. Â A GREAT range of items (nachos, sliders, mussels, tuna salad, pita/hummus, etc) for under $5
2. Â An OK range of drinks/cocktails, but nothing too exciting (FYI: you'll pay a $3.50 beverage fee just for sitting, so there's not point in not drinking)
3. Â Foursquare: check in and you get a free appetizer per table.
I had the tuna salad sliders, that came with a side of mixed greens. Â It was a nice, light meal for a happy hour.
Sit outside when the weather's nice.
Happy dining,
Evan
I have been a HUGE fan of McCormick & Schmick's ever since I was treated to a business dinner with all of the higher-ups years ago. These old rich guys knew how to eat and eat well. They actually showed me how to appreciate certain things. Like for example how to really eat mussels, they said "mussels are great but the real flavor is below in the sauce". Take a piece of bread, soak it, and enjoy. They were right!! It was insane, I wanted to drink it, it was so good!! Then sadly I learned that no "sauce" has compared to M&S since. Even worse, I have now learned that each M&S must be different because the "sauce" wasn't as good. I know it's been years but I will NEVER forget that amazing flavor.
I stopped in this location for a quick few appetizers with a lady friend who has never been to a M&S. Of course I was raving about the establishment the whole way there. To my surprise a Saturday lunch crowd was not much of a crowd at all, there were maybe 4 tables seated. It kind of made me nervous, then our waitress took forever to come to the table, it was not going well. I was starting to get the "you picked this place" look but then thankfully the service and the quickness of the food picked up. Although the mussels sauce wasn't as explosive in flavor as I described they added claims to the bunch which was a very nice. We also order the Ahi Tuna Tartare, it's tossed at your Table with Capers Chopped Egg, Red Onions and Dijon. That was pretty mind blowing good. I could have easily eaten three of those. M&S may be on the pricy side but the food is excellent.
I'm still a fan.
Simply put, this place sucks.
Went here with my boss and some vendors today. This was their pick as they probably wanted to select a more upscale spot in order to have us sign with them for another year.
First of all: if you're a busy restaurant in the Loop, it behooves you to have at least 2 hostesses working the reservation desk at lunchtime. We waited at least 10 minutes just to check in. The hostess could only check one party in at a time and seat them, so it just seemed inefficient.
We were seated and waited at least 10 more minutes for the server to come by to take our drink order. I have no problem waiting as long as there is some acknowledgement by the server that we were not forgotten. There was no such acknowledgement and by the time the server arrived at the table, she was quite harried.
I ordered a tuna Niçoise salad and it was bland, bland, bland. Flavorless tuna, anemic tomatoes (grape tomatoes should be substituted as they always seem to be in season), boring lettuce blend, and nary an asparagus spear that initially sold me on ordering this salad.
Took at least 45 minutes for our food to arrive and another 30 minutes to close out the check.
We were there almost 1.75 hours. What a waste of time.
Boring, bland food; horrific service.
No reason to come back.
Pssst.
What?
McCormick & Schmick's has the best happy hour around.
What?!
[*Flintstones it to McCormick & Schmicks!*]
At 41 E. Chestnut in the middle of Gold Coast, McCormick & Schmick's stands with its famed and acclaimed happy hour menu. Why I had never previously verified the rumor is beyond me, last night I got my first crack at McCormick & Schmick's!
Calling ahead a week and a half ahead, I had to organize a meeting of the Association of Loyola Entrepreneurs for a networking event. I had called and left a message for the GM who called me back and went out of his way to set aside seats and room for my group even though the bar is first come first serve. I do not think their happy hour extends to 10pm, but the GM made a special exception for us and allowed us to have a happy hour from 9-10pm!
After trekking a few blocks in the cold, I got to McCormick and Schmick's and the hostess politely pointed me the right direction. Â On getting back to the bar, all the space was reserved for my group with signs, menus, and water ready to go. I ordered a Sam Adams and waited for the crowd to shuffle in. Indeed they did and while you have to order a drink to access their happy hour menu, it can be non-alcoholic which is perfect for friends who do not like drinking!
The food took a little while to come out and we had people waiting but that was more a reflection that so many of our party arrived so quickly. Next time, we will be wiser to start ordering a little bit earlier just to make sure the food arrives right when the guests do (which sometimes can be hard to predict). When the food did start coming out of the kitchen it was a non-stop rush.
The first wave of hummus and quesadillas arrived and were quickly snatched up by everyone similar to the rush at a UN food drop! For those with patience, the food rush sustained itself until eventually everyone had a bite to eat and relearned civility and manners after some helpings of garlic fries, sliders, bruschetta, more hummus and a few drinks. The food was terrific and everyone remarked how much they liked everything.
There was only one server in our area, but she was a hurricane of activity serving up drinks or food one second and politely bobbing and weaving through our crowd to hand individual checks. I really have to give her credit for making sure we were well served with drink and food! Bus boys were also on the hurry, clearing everything when it was done and keeping us well-stocked with napkins, plates, and utensils.
McCormick & Schmick's is a perfect after work relief with it's afford drink specials ($3.50 Bud) and appetizing happy hour menu. I will put out the caveat that a Sam Adams is priced at $7.25, but this is downtown after all. I would highly recommend McCormick & Schmick's for group meetings, hanging out with friends, or bringing a friend for happy hour and then hopping to see the rest of Gold Coast.
Great job, McCormick & Schmick's!
I'm familiar with the McCormick & Schmick's on Chestnut Street thanks to its very wallet-friendly happy hour specials. Â $1.99 for a burger? Â When you're broke and in law school, that's music to your ears!
I have also enjoyed dinner at M&S on occasion, always enjoying the food as well as the impeccable service.
My most recent visit was for lunch with a pal. Â They have a terrific lunch menu for under $10, but other options priced reasonably at $12.95 for an entree. Â Not bad at all, especially when you get cloth napkins when you're used to take out sporks.
We both started with the crab bisque. Â The presentation of this dish was marvelous. Â The bowl is placed in front of you dry, with a pile of steaming crabmeat surrounded by a drizzle of the port wine reduction, and the server add the bisque part of the soup. Â Stir it all up and it's creamy seafood heaven. Â Rich and creamy, it was exactly what we both needed to deal with the bout of dreary, wet weather we've encountered lately.
Since I'm pretty sure the soup had close to 1,000 calories, I stayed on the lighter side for my lunch, choosing the carribbean shrimp salad. Â Served in a long platter, it was a refreshing mix of romaine lettuce topped with bits of fruit (pineapples, watermelon) and grilled shrimp, all tossed in a light and vinegary dressing with black sesame seeds. Â Perfection on a plate. Â And it was lovely after my rather rich first course.
No dessert for us, as we both had to hustle back to work, but a fantastic lunching experience. Â Reasonably priced entrees given the nicer setting, and fantastic service.
Very nice.
I met a friend here for lunch and we had a great experience! Our waiter was very helpful and attentive. I had the chopped ahi tuna salad. This was the best chopped salad I ever had! It has tiny slices of rare ahi and the salad had green olives, scallions, blue cheese, bacon, Parmesan and tomatoes with mixed baby greens. That salad was truly amazing, just wish there was more ahi. I wasn't sure of the dressing but it was some sort of vinaigrette.
My friend had a chicken salad with fruit and poppy seed dressing. Her salad looked very good. We both ended our meals with individual desserts. I had apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream and my friend had an ice cream sandwich made with cookies. Both were small and sweet. The perfect amount for lunch. McCormick & Schmick's also has a $10 lunch menu and everything sounded so good. Great place to meet friends or take clients out to a nice lunch.
One star upgrade for my last visit here:
Painful feet and an hour or two to kill drew us here, as I promised my visiting friend a decent cocktail and a view of the river.
Sadly I didn't catch her name, but the bartender who served us was brilliant. We had two delicious cocktails to start. Then a cheese quesadilla (at $2 it would have been rude not to). My friend was educating me on the joys of gin (I'm still skeptical, I find it largely joyless) and talked up Hendricks. The barlady joined the conversation. Five minutes later - a taster glass of Hendricks and an ice water for me, to try the acceptable side of gin drinking.
It's that kind of friendly service that will bring me back here and happily pay a premium for the drinks.
Note: the happy hour menu is all day on Sundays. yes that means a $3 cheeseburger and fries, and a very good $2 cheese quesadilla. cheap as chips but twice as good.
Four stars for not being crowded and loud like most places around here during lunch time. I was worried about having to wait and called two hours ahead before meeting a former co-worker for lunch. Whew. It was not as busy I was expecting at 12:30 on a weekday. We had really nice service this particular day. We received a lot of stop-bys from our waitress to, whom I'm guessing as the managers (?), asking if we were having a nice time and enjoying our food. My friend and I wondered (and joked) if we looked like we weren't having a pleasant lunch to be receiving all this attention?
Hmmm...far from it. I loved my chicken soup and crab cake appetizer which I asked to be my "main entree." My friend enjoyed her baked salmon and sauteed spinach. Portions were just right for lunch. The menu changes daily, so don't heavily rely on the website. For those on a lunch budget still want to indulge on some delicious seafood and non-seafood options, there's a $10 and under section on the lunch menu.
Had some friends come into town this past Thursday and they were staying at Hotel 71. They wanted to eat close by and I looked over at old faithful' McCormick & Schmicks.
We walked in about 5:30 and the bar was packed, so we could not take advantage of my favorite bar menu. We chalked it up and got a table, which was the only option. Our server was superb to the 10th power (I hate I can't remember his name).
We started out with drinks and ordered the Bellinis, which was so good we wound up having 5 a piece. Whew!!!!! I ordered the tilapia, which came with mashed potatoes and asparagus, which was delicious as well. To be honest with you, I will go out on a limb and say that was some of the best tilapia I have ever had.
If you have not paid this place a visit, I suggest you do. Great food, great place and great service. What more could you want?
With 56 reviews, I doubt I can say anything that hasn't been said, but the mahi mahi cakes nd the fish tacos are the Bomb!!
Of course every silver-lined cloud has some rain in the middle. Â The girl I was with got a burger that shit was damn near mooing when it got to the table. Â there was blood (yes,BLOOD) on the bun and plate. Â And when the guy brought the cooked new burger back, I swear he tried to put it on the blood from the original burger. Everyone say it with me, "ewwwwwwwwwww". Â AND they charged her for it. Tacky.
But I swear by the fish tacos for happy hour. You don't need to add sour cream or anythign extra to em. Just eat them as is. Yum.
Coworkers and I came to the patio for happy hour. We were told they ONLY do happy hour inside at the bar. Oooo-kay.
Made a beeline for the bar and proceeded to order 843570287543 dishes and drinks, while looking for a table. They handled us pretty well.
The happy hour dishes were great for the price:
*Fish Tacos - two decently size tacos. I'm from LA though so let's put it into perspective - they have NOTHING on Rubio's Baja Grill. and this is M&S!
*Cheese Duet - nothing bad/good to say about their brie/feta
*Lobster Ravioli - awesome
*Burger - a regular burger, again, nothing bad, nothing good. fries were delicious, but then again, that could have been because we were starving.
*Green Bean Tempura - good lord that sauce is amazing. and I'm picky about japanese food.
(Not a HH dish)
Sambuca Dome Chocolate Cake - this thing was RIDICULOUS. we had 5 people and had to fight to polish this thing off. I would come back just for this cake. the cake is rich yet light, the filling/frosting is just creamy with a touch sambuca...what more can i say?
Also, this place gets another star for the fact that my friend called them out on using peach vodka instead of the Goose on the rocks with a twist like he asked, and they graciously looked into it and acknowledged the new bartender had accidentally used the wrong topper. They then proceeded to give my friend not one, but TWO additional drinks - free of charge.
It's right on the river at State and Wacker, so cabs will wait outside to pick you up, which is convenient for when you've had a few too many HH drinks.
I wasn't overwhelmed... Went to lunch recently with a fairly large group (15) but we had called several days ahead of time to make reservations. Â When we showed up, our table was set for less than 15--13 or 14 people or so, and that was by packing people in to places they normally wouldn't go. Â We asked to add a table and somehow this was decided to be too dificult, so after the first 13 people sat down everyone was moved several minutes later to a different room with a larger table. Â An exercise in stupidity if you ask me. Â
Service was OK but not what I'd expect at a higher end steak house... I felt like everyone was training everyone else. Â They didn't have the wine we ordered in a section of our table so brought some cheap substitute which wasn't what we ordered at all. Â The whole thing took far too long. Â I had a meeting that was to start 1.75 hours after our reservation time. Our office is only 2 minutes away so it didn't seem like a big deal; but I had to take my food to go because it wasn't ready until 10 minutes before I needed to be back in the office. Â The food itself was kinda "ehh" ..nothing memorable.
somewhere around 3.5
I struggle with this review because I don't like seafood. Â At all. Â Still, when I am with someone who goes out for seafood, I always manage to find something on the menu. Â I was definitely down to try this McCormick & Schmick's with a Yelp buddy especially since I hadn't been back since Nick & Tony's closed (RIP).
Lunches here are very business-y with and there was a sea of suits to complement the white table clothes. Â Make sure if you do lunch here that you have a large chunk of time - Service is SLOW. Â SO slow, it made me feel a little anxious. . .
Since I don't eat Seafood, my options were limited. Â I went with the grilled vegetable sandwich and it was OK - kind of dry since I got it mayo-less. Â I even tried a crab cake (for me this was a huge step). Â The sauce was good but the crab cake - eh. Â I did like the cole slaw it came with if that counts at all.
The manager came by our table a couple of times. Â It was kind of random because that didn't make the service any faster at all. Â He did make a BIG production out of the dessert tray. Â VERY intense. Â We split a sundae and that was actually my favorite part of the meal (and I'm not a dessert person).
Would I come back here for lunch? Â Doubtful. Â I think I MAY swing by here for a post work cocktail - especially to sit on Wacker and people watch.
The first time I tried McCormick and Schmick's I left in disgust without tasting any food or drink. Â It had been a rainy day and at about 3 p.m. the sun came out. Â I needed to meet a friend someplace before going out so I suggested the patio in front of McCormick and Schmick's, since it used to be my favorite happy hour spot when it was Nick and Tony's. Â Apparently, the managers thought it would be raining all day so they closed down the patio. Â At 6:00 when I got there they had put out the tables but there was no service. Â Ok, no biggie, I'll just go inside to get a beer and come back out. Â The bar was packed. Â The bartender was rude (a snippy reply of "I just said that we don't carry that brand of beer!!) I stormed out while talking to my friend on my cell and saying "THIS PLACE SUCKS!!!!"
The other day a few co-workers suggested going to McCormick & Schmick's for lunch and I figured I would give it a second chance. Â I'm so glad that I did, because the food was outstanding! Â We ordered the coconut shrimp appetizer, which was ok but the dipping marmalade gave it such a punch. Â I had the fish tacos, which seemed more like a fish fajita to me, and my companions all said that their dishes were delicious. Â We also sampled some desserts. Â The key lime pie was great, the bread pudding was to die for, and the creme brulee was so-so. Â
The service was very slow, though. Â Our server didn't come to our table for 15 minutes after we sat down. Â We had to flag down the hostess to ask if we had a server or a busboy that could at least bring us some water.
ETA: Â I have been to this restaurant three times since I wrote this review and the service, although the staff is nice and accommodating, is still slow. Â It's lunch in the loop, people! Â Pick up the pace!! Â We all have to get back to work. Â
Plus, I made lunch reservations for 12:30 on a particular day and when I arrived with my guests I was told that there would be a 10 minute wait. Â Um, isn't that the point of reservations?? Â So that I don't have to wait?! Â Not my favorite restaurant.
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