FireLake Grill House and Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Chicago

We love going to tea and our favorite spot unexpectedly recently closed. Anyway, we bought the Groupon for afternoon tea for 2 with 2 classes of sparkling wine. The directions on the Groupon said to either call to make a reservation or sign up on Tock. I tried to reserve on Tock and I was prompted to pay almost $200.00 for the reservation. I thought that was weird because I already paid for the Groupon. I decided to call the restaurant and ask if there was somewhere I needed to enter the redemption code or something.

When I called the receptionist said that yes, you have to pay the regular price in order to reserve and then when you get to the restaurant they will collect your Groupon and refund your previous payment. WHAT?!?!???? I asked why would they do this as we already paid and she said well we make the food and if you don’t show up we don’t get paid. I’ve never heard of this in my life. As a business owner myself who uses Groupon this is very shady, when a client purchases a Groupon the client gets a certificate with a redemption code on it. The restaurant only needs to take the redemption code to make sure they get paid by Groupon (whether or not the patron shows up). However, they charge you the full amount on your credit card. OMG! So so soooo shady. This is not stated anywhere on the information page when you purchase the Groupon. Scammy.

We were nervous going to tea because of their policies. Concerned that if we were a couple minutes late we’d be charged fully. That made the whole experience tense. Then when we got there the parking garage was mostly full. We’ve lived in the downtown area for 10 years, parking isn’t difficult.

On to the experience… The food was strange. For afternoon tea it was quite plain. You get a chicken sandwich on a croissant (croissant is a little soggy but the chicken salad was good). A small egg salad sandwich - about the size of a half dollar. You also get a duck sandwich which wasn’t good. The smoked salmon was okay and the cucumber sandwich was so plain. It was the thinnest piece of bread with a couple thin slices of radish and cucumber on it. No spread, no cream cheese, nothing. The scones were laughably small. I’ve never seen such a small scone. You get three half dollar size scones. They tasted okay. The tea was alright. Only thing that was odd was that the tea isn’t in a pot so it’s hard to pull out the tea bag so it doesn’t over brew. The waiter told me to leave the bag in the whole time which was strange. We requested a wheelchair accessible table and seating and were given a short table like everyone else with heavy chairs on the ground. It was awful and uncomfortable. The hostess and manager were so rude. The manager yelled at the hostess to not put us in the dining room. The waiter was fine. However, he disappeared and never brought us a check or told us we were all paid up.

I would definitely NOT recommend this. We really disliked it. Do not...

If you are staying at the Radisson and are looking for a place to eat, you are in luck because this is a fantastic option. You can definitely mark this up as one of those restaurants that's attached to a hotel that is actually really, really good.

Though, even if you aren't staying at the hotel, this is still a great option for eating in. Their masterful execution of classic dishes (with a twist) is worth the time & money.

The place is well spread out, with employees following current health guidelines. The staff were all very kind and the service was fantastic. Food came out quickly and nice & hot.

The pork belly appetizer was a delicious starter, perfect for sharing.

The hamburger I ordered (with bacon and egg on it) was AWESOME. It's definitely in my top 3 of favorite burgers of all time. Very classic burger, well-cooked, and the fries were crunchy and flavorful, too!

The seafood sandwich was thoroughly enjoyed by my seafood-loving lunch buddy and the fresh-fried chips were great (I don't think she noticed I stole some).

In short, whether you are a Radisson guest for the night or a passerby with an empty stomach, FireLake has nailed the execution on making classic dishes that taste fresh, flavorful, often throwing in a positive twist.

I'll definitely be dining here again. Highly recommended!

DINNER REVIEW

After being blown away by their lunch, I just had to try their dinner. And, I was not let down. Their prime rib and filet mignon are among the best that I’ve had. If you are looking for an AWESOME steak, look no further.

The filet... one fear I have when ordering the filet is that it won’t be filling enough for me since it’s a smaller portion. It was plenty. The cut is nice and filling, full of flavor.

Now, the prime rib... holy smokes. This is worth coming back for. I admit, I lean more towards ordering prime rib over a filet nearly every time and enjoyed the flavor of the prime rib more. If you have to choose one, I’d personally go with the prime rib. But, this may just be because I’m a prime rib guy.

In fact, to get an extremely affordable/filling/out of this world meal, I would even recommend going for the big prime rib and asking for another plate. It’s easily shareable with your dinner partner and you’ll both be extremely happy with the flavors (and the smaller dent on your wallet!)

In short, this place is a home run. The staff are extremely friendly, the area is very well cleaned, the food comes out hot and in a timely manner, and the food itself is out of this world.

My only fear is that, after publishing this review, I hope I can still order the prime rib because it’s so good you’ll be wanting to come back again and...

We had a great time at FireLake, with a more accurate score being 4.5. The ambiance was great, our server was thoughtful and attentive, but not overbearing, and the food was quite solid. Everything was fresh and tasty, with the farm to table functionality really elevating things. My burger wasn’t the best burger ever, but it was very good, even if the yolk wasn't over easy as I had asked. And the sweet corn was delicious. The highlight though, was the mega pretzel. It is a two-pound monstrosity that stands as probably the best pretzel I’ve ever had. It’s a gimmick but it really works and the beer cheese and honey mustard that accompany it are both top notch. Things fall off a little with anything fried, as it all came off a little soggy and not quite to the level of everything else. The fries were boring and clearly from a bag and the fried fish had a flavorless batter that was just kind of mush after a minute or so. Also, the hostess, Fatima, was a little unpleasant, seeming actively startled by my family showing up and having a reservation and seeming hesitant to show us in. We were dressed down a little, but nothing bad. It was just not a nice way to start the meal. A little more of a hospitable approach would help. But overall, we will definitely come back. They mad the birthday celebration we had something special and the food really was above the norm. Just don’t get anything fried and you’ll...