Fireplace Inn — Restaurant in Chicago

36 years ago, almost to the day I was in Chicago with friends. I stopped a taxi in front of our hotel and asked him to take us to Hard Rock Cafe. He told me there was always a line to get in and he could take us to a better place, if I trusted him. Sure I had no problem with that. The place he took us to was the Fireplace Inn. The restaurant was very busy so we had to wait at the bar, in the back. We got a table and in short the food was awesome and that night my love affair with BBQ ribs started.  Since then it has been a dream to return but as life takes you around the world my path never ran through Chicago. Until a few days ago.  I was in Minneapolis and was on my way to attend the Axpona audio show. As I was done with my needs at the show just after lunch time, I thought it would be brilliant to do the 30 mind drive (60 in reality) to The Fireplace Inn and eat some ribs. Asked the parking fairy for a good spot and got one in front of the restaurant. As I walked in I came to understand that the Fireplace Inn is a sports bar now. But hell, this was my "place" so I got a table, sat down and ordered a full slab of ribs, with fries and coleslaw. The ribs tased fine. Lose from the bone and all was ..... ok. As I walked out and sat in my car, my stomach grumbled a bit. I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me to my hotel in Indianapolis and I thought I would be ok. As time passed my stomach grumbled more and more but not to the point of needing to stop. When I stopped and stepped out of my car in front of my hotel my body confirmed a need to find a bathroom. I walked into the and checked in. When I turned around to grab my stuff I noticed the bathroom. I did not use it, my mistake no. 1. Short walk to room on the second floor. Open the door, step in and the need for a bathroom was more pronounced. Instead of dropping everything and "run" for the bathroom, I decided to take my pants off first. Mistake no. 2. What happened next was not pretty.  Underwear down and as I sit down to hit the toilet seat, bend my knees my mind and body take control. If the fart leaves the body at 7 mph, this was  more powerful. Most of the liquid did not go where we all want it to go. It was all over the seat, back, side, wall, floor. Because it was too late to do anything, I sat in it as well. I did my best to clean up, myself and the bathroom. I am sure I still left some remains. I paid $41 for the ribs so I felt it was correct to leave $41 for the person cleaning the room. So in total I paid $82 for a bad meal. The mead was not ok. My longing to eat at the Fireplace inn is over. I guess what I got is a "good story" that does not include a recommendation for anyone to go to the Fireplace Inn. It is a sports bar. I bet they serve drinks fine and provide entertainment form screens...

If you want to go to a very loud place were you cannot hear yourself talk let alone think then you should come here. I can't believe how much this place has changed. It went from a family-style type atmosphere from not too long ago and they turned it into a sports bar and it is loud as hell and lots of young people. They still have great food of course and the food is so excellent. And they serve until midnight which is nice. But it was just so loud and I mean really loud they have an outside patio which is really nice. But like I said I'm only 55 years old and it was loud and I've been in the bars all my life and working them. This place was loud. With everybody talkin and yelling it was crazy. I have not missed much in the bar business since I haven't been in one in twenty years. But again the place is exciting if you're a young person or middle-aged and if you want to come here this place is really exciting with big screen TVs and lots of lights and lots of entertainment and it really is nice. They did a good job here. Just too loud for me that's all. And it was a Thursday. Lol 😭😭🤣🤣 but again a great place to go to and always a great time at least when I want to get food. Come one come all. A great place. F🔥replace in. I love how you kept the old sign even though you upgraded...

While I was let in last Thursday without my physical ID and with a copy of my passport (government verified), the the light haired bouncer with glasses refused to let me in due to my being mugged. My wallet was stolen from me when I was violently robbed last week, hence why I did not have my physical ID—I am waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and it has yet to arrive. While I understand having a policy for not allowing people in without a physical ID, he directly told me “i don’t care if you were beaten and mugged, I am not letting you in.”

If you are going to have this sort of policy, I recommend enforcing it equally among customers rather than picking and choosing who you enforce it on. While I may spend hundreds of dollars each Thursday, I will not be spending a dime there in the future.

Perhaps consider whether or not the bouncers you employ are equitable with who they do and do not allow in— perhaps they should not be discriminating based on my appearance. I cannot imagine his actions were based on anything other than my appearance, since another bouncer let me in last week with the situation. So sorry my ID was stolen on my commute home from work! My deepest apologies that the state has taken a while to send my replacement in...