I really enjoy O'Briens but the problem is the service. Â They are very slow, I was waiting for a drink for about 15/20 minutes. Â I will go back because I feel the food is worth it and the views are amazing of the Trump building. Â
Drinks: Â I don't even like bloody mary's but they had the MOST AMAZING ONE EVER!!
Food: Love the pretzel bread for the burgers. Â
Staff: Needs a ton of improvement, they were courteous, but slow.
Stopped here for a quick dinner around 9 pm after doing some kayaking on the river. Â We ordered a few appetizers to share and a bottle of wine- the location was great but the food and experience were underwhelming. Everything is brought out on paper plates and the quality of food is disappointing given their prices. Our quesadilla could have been made in a microwave and the hummus plate was a few vegetable stalks with 3 or 4 pita chips. Clearly it was nearing closing time because the entire cafe packs up into basically a box and they locked up all the tables as we were still sitting there. I will say the timing of our visit certainly played into this review and I probably wouldn't have minded the presentation for a 4 pm snack. Â Would go somewhere else next time on the riverwalk; however, they do have actual bathrooms which are pretty nice inside the trailers there which was helpful.
Review Source:How does this place have 2.5 stars? It's on the river and the whole menu is fried! HELLO!
It's true that everything is served on plastic, but they don't have a real kitchen so I deal. We ate fried green beans (awesome) and had decently priced cocktails that got us sufficiently buzzed prior to our architectural boat tour.
Our waiter told my boyfriend he would have thought my bf was gay if he wasn't with such a pretty lady. Compliments get you everywhere in life, buddy.
Service here was terrible!
We were seated after a few minutes of awkwardly standing by the hostess stand, then promptly ignored for about 20 mins. The waitress thanked us for our "patience" and took our order. We were just there for drinks and we waited another 10 minutes to get 1 beer and 2 mixed drinks. During this time we watched our waitress talk and laugh with the other workers. I also watched my beer bake in the sun on the bar.
After we had our drinks and asked for the check (since another drink would have been quite the time commitment) we had another 15 minutes to wait as our "server" took her sweet time doing God knows what.
overall it was a little over an hour to get one round of drinks. The restaurant was about half full and there was a surplus of wait staff standing around avoiding eye contact with customers. Do not waste your time at this place.
It's kind of exactly what you think it is. It's nice there by the river though.
I probably wouldn't have found it worthy of writing a review but I was meeting some people there and I didn't know where it was so I googled it on my phone and for some reason Google thought it was at 1e Wacker.  Since it is not in fact at State and Wacker I called the place and I swear to god the bitchiest lady I've ever spoken to on the phone took my  call.
I couldn't believe how rude she was. The host and the servers were nice, but why is this lady allowed to answer the phone?
First off...the entire bar/restaurant vis on the river and the view is beautiful. This helps a lot since the drink prices are a tad high (example - $6 for a small bud light draft). The service was "ok", but for the amount of tables our server had...she should have been  bit quicker. A few folks at our table ordered food and again it looked "ok", but for what it was...a tad pricey. I guess you should expect this when you're drinking/dining on the river in Chicago.
Review Source:*Drinks/Bar
There is no bar that you can sit or even stand at. There is a walk up area where you can buy drinks and take them to stand somewhere else or sit by the foliage. Drinks were a little more pricey than average but considering the location it wasn't so bad.
*Service/Ambiance
The bartender seemed really overwhelmed like he couldn't catch his breath. I kind of felt sorry for him but I was too cranky from the wait being so long to be too forgiving.
I love love love the location. I only came by to grab a drink with a friend as the wait for a table was going to be over an hour. It was great to walk down the ramp towards the water and sit under the bridge and just people watch and see the boats go by.
*Overall
Note: I only came for drinks so I can't judge the food.
Great pit stop for if you're walking around town exploring and just want a quick drink while still being able to take in the view. The wait for a table to sit down... forget it. The wait for a drink at the "bar"... only bearable.
Rating: 2
We have an O'Briens in Glasgow, but it is desultory and dingy. Â Same chain, but everything is in location.
In the summertime, sitting down by the River, the Chicago branch of O'Briens is everything that its Scottish Cousin is not. Â The food is good, the service is friendly and the riverside air is refreshing in the warm air of the mid-western summer.
Came here to grab a bite to eat after going on one of the Wendella Boat Tours as O'Briens is just a hundred steps away.
First off, the good. Â I can't speak for the rest of the menu but the Burgers were pretty good. Â The view, right on the riverwalk in front of the Trump. Â
Then there's everything else. Â The service, is absolutely horrible!! We arrived at around 1:10pm and literally did not leave until 3:00pm!! It nearly took an hour to cook 5 burgers (most of which were medium-rare) and then another 10-15 minutes to get our check. Â Secondly they managed to screw up two of our orders, granted I did get an extra side out of it for free.
If you're coming here from the Boat Tours, avoid going here unless you are fatigued and cannot walk any further, otherwise you're better off walking the few hundred more paces or so to somewhere on Michigan Avenue, otherwise grab something good to read or bring someone who likes to talk a lot, it'll be a while.
Wow. Â Horrible.
We had some family in from out of town and they were staying on Wacker, so we thought we'd take them down to the Riverwalk and grab a bite to eat. Â Should have thought better of that.
I ordered the $7 hot dog. Â The bun was two separate pieces and then when I picked it up and tried to eat it, the bun completely disintegrated. Â That's how stale it was. Â I sent it back and got a relatively fresh bun (it was still somewhat stale). Â The hot dog itself was horrible. Â It was obviously low quality. Â For $7 I expect a little more. Â At least it came with cold fries to take my mind of it.
One of our relatives got Blue Cheese dressing with his chicken fingers instead of ranch. Â The server wasn't too apologetic. Â
Service was below average, the food was poor. Â The only upside is the view. Â They could have a great place down there, but unless they overhaul things, I would stay away at all costs.
Not sure why everyone else is giving such bad reviews here. We got a table in the sun and enjoyed a nice lunch. I ordered their turkey burger which came out well, and my wife got a cajun style chicken which was pretty serious in the cajun seasoning department. fries were ok. others in our party got salads and a glass of wine (in a plastic cup).
Service seemed ok - we were seated right away, and our server took care of us, even bringing me a new glass of water when a bug landed in my first glass. Prices were not bad for a riverside cafe, a little bit on the upper side, but not outrageous - see menu:
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/YMSM63ZnGDW2hbb6rvr8kA?select=ta58VZgUJ3K8F8g1KiWCig">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
Not super exciting, but not bad - a good place to take out of towners to just sit by the river on a nice day and have lunch. You're going for the ambience.
Since it's on the river at Wabash and Wacker, I'd have no idea where you'd park - chances are you are on foot in the Loop anyway.
$10 burgers, $6 vodka lemonades (and that's the special Friday price! Normally they're $9. What a deal!), $10 for five cheeseburger sliders, $12 if you want fancy cheese on your burger, $6 domestic 12 oz beers... yeah folks, you don't come here for the price or the quality, you apparently come here for the horrible service, ridiculous amount of time it takes to pay the tab and for the bugs.
On second thought, why do you come here again?
This place has so much potential but is such a disappointment. Â It's in a beautiful great location on the river which would make it perfect for sunny beautiful days but it lacks in other areas.
The service is pretty bad. Â Our waiter was friendly but very inattentive and kind of aloof. Â He forgot a few things and didn't check on us often. Â The food comes out slow and when it finally got to us it looked like it had been sitting there waiting to come out for a while. Â Needless to say it was not hot. Â As far as taste goes it was average at best. Â
We all left feeling disappointed.
This place wasn't bad.
They do have upscale mobile bathrooms and a traveling kitchen on lower Wacker Drive. Other than that, you are in the shadow of Trump tower on the southern side of the Chicago River. It was a beautiful night and me and my wife decided to get a bite. It was perfect because this place was not busy at all.
The menu wasn't all that but had basics, salads, sandwiches and drink. Though be warned, the drinks here were measly sized. The food we ordered wasn't that bad. We ordered the mini-burgers, bean fries, and popcorn shrimp. These servings were huge, so what you lack in drink you make up in food. The bean fries are actually green beans that have been deep fried. My wife liked them, I passed. The shrimp and the burger, not bad.
I would probably try some place new rather than repeat.
We were downtown Chicago for the day and decided to stop for a few cocktails as we were making our way to dinner. Â
The venue is great in that it is situated on the Riverwalk right along the Chicago River, but every other aspect of this place isn't so great.
Service is slow.
Drinks were WEAK and way overpriced.
I'm certainly glad this place wasn't our dinner stop.
Cute little cafe on the Riverwalk conveniently located by several river cruise loading docks. We stopped for an appetizer & drink; service was quick & the appetizer prices were reasonable. I was a little perplexed since they serve their food on plastic plates (everyone had plastic plates) but you have real silverware...
I would rate higher had I actually eaten there or been there longer than 25 min!
I've been to O'Brien's for drinks after work before but had never eaten there until last week. Â Terrible mistake! Â I felt sick for a couple of hours afterwards and was scared that I was going to get food poisoning. Â There were three of us and we all thought the food was terrible. Â
First of all, it took about ten minutes for someone to even come up to us and greet us. Â I ordered a Portabello Mushroom sandwich and, even though the menu stated that "all sandwiches come with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes", my sandwich didn't contain any of the above. Â When I asked the waiter about this, he stated that this one sandwich doesn't come with them. Â Huh? Â Why not, when all of the others do and it's written on the menu? Â Also, the bun tasted like it was a generic store brand bun bought two weeks earlier. Â
I'm definitely not going to be going here again for food and may not even go back for drinks!
Yes, ambiance is great, but everything else is......bleh!
Service wasn't great. Our waiter claimed he was new and was only working for the 2nd day.
My guy ordered the steak sandwich and he asked if he can sub for a salad without being charged and the waiter said yes. So, he got the caeser salad.
I ordered the cajun sandwich with fries.
Sandwich were ok. Fries were ok. Salad was basically a few greens with croutons.
Bill comes and they charge us $3.00 for the salad substitution. That measly few greens and croutons.....not even cheese on it in a plastic bowl. WTF! We call him over and ask him and he was like yeah they charge for substitution and we were like we asked you that and he basically was like uhhhh......yeah sorry. It's my second day here. So, we just paid and left.
For the price and service.......go elsewhere! Not recommended!!!
Excited to eat next to the river. Here it is summed up in bullet points:
- waited over 5 minutes for a server to get there.
- waited 15 minutes for our drinks
- waited an additional 10 minutes for my kids drinks
- servers hung out up at the bar and did not pay any attention to the needs of their guests.
in other words, the service sucks, the atmosphere is great.
On a beautiful October day in Chicago, my friends and I wanted somewhere quick and easy for lunch along the river. O'Brien's was a convenient option, but after eating there I think we should have kept walking. I've never had so much food that tasted like nothing. I don't know how you can screw up a turkey burger and fries, but apparently it's possible. I'd if you want a good place to dine on the river head a few blocks up to Flatwater.
Review Source:It is a beautiful day here in Chicagoland... and, as winter will be here before we know it, we decided to find something along the river and outdoors to enjoy the day... Â We decided to stop at O'Briens Riverwalk... Â not all good, not all bad....
For the good, location! We had a great view of the river, the new Trump Tower and all the buildings around. Â We loved watching the boats passing by. Â
The bad... firs of all, no happy hour! Â What bar/restaurant does not have happy hour! Â Silly... Â Then for beer on tap, only Miller Lite. Â Everything else is bottled beer but served in plastic glasses for being by the river... I would like to know... what does glass has to deal with the river? Â I mean, there are a bunch of other restaurants with outdoor seating, and some of them by the river, that we have been served with glass... Â wine served on a plastic cup? Â Yuk!
The good... some people here complaint about the food. Â We liked it. Â The Roquefort burger was pretty good and the fries nice and crunchy. Â The Cobb salad was huge and fresh. Â
Half good/half bad... The Good? Â seating arrangement is good with plenty of space between tables. Â The bad? Â Outdoor furniture could use a cushion to make it a little bit more comfy. Â
The good... Â Bathrooms are portable potties but surprisingly enough, clean with running water, soap and flushing toilet with no bad smell. Â And a mirror too! Â
The bad... price... Â $40 for 2 beers, a salad and a burger? Â Come on! Â But we just paid mostly for the view and location... Â we kept looking up and the buildings and down to the boats passing buy to remind us that it is not all bad...
Then again, we could have gone upstairs to McCormick and Shmick and could have enjoy a great a happy hour, great bar food for about half of what we paid at O'Brien and better food too.
The Final Verdict:
Ambiance/Decor: Â 5.0 out of 5.0 Â (for being outdoors)
Staff Service/friendliness: Â 4.0 out of 5.0
Staff attentiveness/awareness: Â 4.0 out of 5.0
Seating Arrangement/Layout: Â 4.0 out of 5.0
Seating Comfort: Â 3.0 out of 5.0
Food Quality/Flavor: Â 5.0 out of 5.0
Wine/Alcohol Selection/taste: Â 3.0 / 5.0
Food Price Value: Â 3.0 out of 5.0
Alcohol/Wine Price Value: 1.0 out of 5.0
Bathrooms Cleanliness: Â 3.5 / 5.0
Final Score: Â 35.5 out of 50 Â (71 out of 100% or C- Grade)
Final Comment: Â Location, location, location.... keep reminding yourself of that while seating out there and keep looking at the view and not at the prices or bill... Â Food is good. Â Drinks are ok (too pricey - $6.50 for a Corona) but served in plastic is silly. Â A better option, McCormick and Schmick just upstairs... not on the river, but the same view and half of the price if there at happy hour.
I wish I would have looked up the reviews on this place before meeting my family here for lunch. They did the river boat tour and I met them on my lunch hour. O'Brien's has a fantastic patio, I will give them that. My lunch was just OK but I'm not at all satisfied. You're supposed to eat until satisfied right? I got the Cobb salad. It consisted of mixed greens and I had a lot of greens that looked like mini shrubs, who the hell eats that part of the salad!? Not me! The salad also had a couple of slices of turkey, 1/2 avocado and bacon bits. I only had tomato because I stole my brother's tomato from his turkey burger.
Yes they do have Leprecan's as the bathroom facilities. I would hold it if you can. No one wants to use a port a potty at a restaurant! The reason why they use plastic everything is because they're on the river. But I can honestly say I will never be back. Sorry O'Briens... you have a nice view and that's it.
My friends were staying at the Hard Rock hotel and wanted to go on a mini pub-crawl before grabbing their luggage and heading to the airport. Easy enough-- plenty of bars in the immediate area. Stephanie spotted O'Briens from up above on Wacker and decided she wanted to experience the Riverwalk. So down we went.
And then up we came. $9 mojitos should not be served in plastic cups. Nor the wine. The only beer on tap at a supposed 'Irish' pub? Don't laugh-- Miller Lite. My drinks took too long to make and then even more time was spent paying for the disasters. But, my friend got her river view. And the bartender was a nice guy-- slow, but nice.
What a great location to get to know an attractive single guy!
What a horrible place to get to know an attractice single guy over dinner!
I was in Chicago exhibiting at an educational conference. Â My new friend and I decided that we would explore and find dinner together. Â After walking many many blocks around the west side of michigan avenue, we stumbled across o'briens. Â The restaurant is located right on the river and just screams wonderful location. Â That wasn't the only thing it was screaming!
We decide to try there as it smelled so good! Â You could smell steaks and it was heaven (must have been the mccormick and schmidts just a block away). Â We stand for about 2 mins before a hostess finally seats us. Â We have a great little table next to the rail. Â A really nice atmosphere to talk and get to know each other. Â And let me tell you, we had plenty of time do just that.
Our waiter had the look of "i don't want to be here" on his face when he finally decided to come take our order. Â We are at an irish place and egad! Â no irish beers to be found. Â We order 2 domestics and are a little put out when then are delivered in 8 oz plastic cups. Â They weren't delivered by our waitperson so we were a little confused by that, not really sure as to who our waitperson was going to be.
We finally order our food and of course when it comes out - ALL WRONG! Â Our appetizer came after we requested to still have it even though our main course had arrived. Â HORRIBLE!! Â My companion's food is fine, mine is not. Â I had asked for my steak sammy to be medium rare. Â Well done. Â I ask to have it cooked again - well done again and with all the yucky onions and stuff i requested not on it the first time. Â
Its time for the manager visit.......
I thought my dinner companion was going to hit the roof. Â Again, not a good start of what could end up as being a pseudo-first date. Â Charlie, the manager on duty, was fabulous. Â Too bad he had to show that by removing my food, the appetizer and my 2 drinks from the bill. Â All hail Charlie!!
In conclusion, what a waste of a great outdoor eating opportunity. Â At least the management didn't fight with me about it! Â Oh well. Â At least Ditka's was good that night when i finally had my dinner.
O'Briens is like a prostitute in the dark, it looks good from far away but once you begin the experience you immediately begin to regret it. And like any good prostitute, Â this place sucks balls. If I can save at least one person from visiting this place, I will be happy.
To start there were a good 7 or 8 waiters standing around, none of who would come over and seat us. Apparently there was a hostess but she would disappear for long periods of time until an angry crowd formed at the podium.
It took forever to order our food, forever to be served our food, forever to get our check. The only thing that came in less than 20 minutes was the glasses of water at the start of our meal. The food was admittedly tasty (when it finally arrived and we were actually given silverware to eat with) and the riverside view was beautiful, but it wasn't enough to save this place.
My worry is non-Yelper tourists will stumble on this place like I did and have to suffer the same fate.
The best way I can sum up this place is WTF. Â
In brief: plastic cups, paper plates, port -o-johns. Â Is this place a joke? Â We planned on eating, but left after drinks. Â We almost walked out before that since it took 15 minutes for the waitress to come by the table, and the restaurant had at most 10 tables full. Â The entire staff was trying to figure out how to void an item from the bill of the table next to us. Â This place is incredibly ridiculous and I feel extremely sorry for the staff.
Remember, the steps leading down to O'Briens are there to DETER you.
Pretty horrendous. Friend and I came here for a lunch after not being able to get a table outdoors at Smith & Wollensky's across the street. We still wanted to sit outside, so we strolled on over. The outside cafe was the only good quality about the place.
The service is pretty bad, it took forever to get our drinks and food and I think my request to get a sun umbrella for the table went into the customer request black hole.
When the food did arrive it was pretty tacky. I felt like it was something that I would get at a grade school summer picnic outing.
The hotdog and chicken wrap lunch became a two hour affair.
Very silly indeed. We did see some cool boats pass by on the river, and it was nice out, so no harm done. Just never going back and can whole heartedly recommend to anyone to skip the place.
Went here today for a business lunch. Â Had it been appropriate, I might have suggested an alternate location after reading these reviews! Â However, I put my game face on, and as I stood on the steps leading down to O'Briens, I thought, "Hey, there's a lot of people here, how bad can it be?" Â (This is the beginning of the end.)
I looked at the menu and avoided the dreaded lukewarm turkey burger...but after taking a look at the remaining choices...I opted for grilled vegetables. Â Yep. Â They're not really on the menu, but they were listed as a side with entrees. Â I was pretty pleased with myself. Â Figured I'd beat the system, right? Â Hm.
My dining companion ordered next. Â A Caesar salad, always a safe bet for business luncheons. Â "Ah," said the waiter. Â "We ran out of lettuce yesterday."
Excuse me? You ran out of LETTUCE? Â It's Friday lunch hour, on a summer day in Chicago. Â This is a riverfront restaurant. Â And you have no lettuce? Â Was it really that difficult to acquire more lettuce? Â Is there not a grocery store four blocks north? Â Oh sure, that's right. Â No one in their right mind would order salad for lunch...
The voices of other yelpers howled with laughter in my head. Â I lol'd to the max myself.
It's not the fault of the server. Â In fact, the only reason O'Brien's got a star is because the server was very good. Â He checked on us multiple times, and brought me a new iced tea after mine got contaminated by a fly. Â He also did not try to defend himself when I laughed at him for saying, "Oh, we have lettuce for sandwiches, just not for salad." Â Anyway, I thought the service was just fine.
The grilled vegetables were alright. A bit too greasy and I couldn't even cut the carrot with my plastic knife. Â But the red and green peppers and the zucchini were cooked and flavorful.
My dining companion enjoyed his chicken caesar wrap. Â In fact, he was quite happy that his "chicken wasn't drowning in dressing." Â He did eat the entire wrap, and finished off most of the accompanying side pickle.
Go for beer. Â That's all I have to say.
Do I really have to give a star? Can't I give half a star, no stars or negative stars?
So I show up with my friend and we wait for a table to open up with the matre d'. As two tables open up, some other couples walk up and just immediately take them without waiting. We ask the matre d' what was going on and ask him to correct the situation. He wimps out and says that he doesn't want to cause any problems. We decided to take our business elsewhere.
I sent an e-mail to management. Let's see what they have to say. By the looks of the other reviews, I guess I didn't miss out on much.
I really wish I'd seen these reviews before I went to O'briens last week for lunch with some work colleagues. Â The next time I'm in the mood for microwaved frozen turkey patty and a bag of chips I'll make it myself and save $10. Â How can they justify serving food like this in this city, where there are so many great options?
Even though I work in a building 1 block away, I'll never visit O'Briens again.
I went to O"Brien's Riverwalk Cafe hoping that it wouldn't be AS bad as Joseph M. described, and no, our experience was not quite as abysmal. Â But it was still slightly abysmal. Â
First, the positives (since I'm in a glass-half full mood):
--The location RIGHT on the river is kind of cool. Â Front row view of the Trump tower construction (but it was evening when I was there so it wasn't too loud, as construction had slowed quite a bit.) Â Again, it was evening, so the boats we saw on the river were more of the fancy yachts with people who've been drinking all day. Â Which was actually sort of entertaining. Â
-- They had these sorta cool fake owls sitting along the railing. Â They're supposed to scare away pigeons. Â
-- Our waitress was very attentive.
And now, the BAD:
-- Food sucked. Â Sorry, but there's really no other description. Â Unoriginal dishes that were poorly executed. Â We started with a spinach and artichoke dip. Â It was served cold. Â Not cold as in only partially nuked, but cold as in straight out of the refrigerator. Â I've had good cold spinach dips (helloooo Treasure Island), but this was NOT one. Â I had a salad that sounded good but was average at best, and my date forced himself to finish his filet out of principle. Â
-- Poor presentation. Â If I wanted to eat off of plastic plates, I'd stay at home and get delivery. Â
-- Bathroom situation. Â Yeah, it's two or three port-a-pots. Â I won't even go into all the reasons why it grosses me out to have port-a-pots as the only bathroom option at a food establishment. Â Like Joseph said, they could try to hide them a little better....
Overall, I'd never go back to O'Briens Riverwalk for dinner. Â I could potentially see it as a good place to get after-work drinks, however. Â Just so long as it was ONLY drinks, and not food.
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