Gilt Bar — Restaurant in Chicago

Edit: reached out to owner as requested - no response.

I went to Gilt Bar with my wife last night (Monday) as we are visiting Chicago for a week to celebrate our anniversary. I will start with the positives: the decor is classy and the cocktails that we had were very nice. For the bad, I have to take you through a bit of a story.

We arrived without a booking but were told that we were 2nd on the waiting list, so we decided to wait. The man at the desk pointed us to a couple of seats near the bar.

When my wife approached the side of the bar, because the front was fully blocked by people sitting there enjoying their drinks and food, she was told rather rudely by the bartender to go to the front of the bar otherwise she would be blocking the service entrance. My wife moved and did her best to order a couple of drinks while trying to not to lean over people's shoulders.

Despite the rocky service experience we were enjoying our drinks. However, after 45 minutes, they were long gone and we were still waiting. We inquired again at the desk and were told that they had tried to send a text half an hour ago. Needless to say we had had no text, and the fact that we had been sitting, 10 feet from the desk, in full view, only garnered a flurry of confusing defensiveness about how busy they are and how many numbers there are on the screen, and did we give the correct number? I suppose blaming your customers for a breakdown in your business processes and making it clear to them that you consider them an inconvenience is considered a viable customer-service strategy.

We were finally seated and offered no apology, but the man instead handed us our menus with all the tact and grace of a teenager who had just been caught doing something he shouldn't but doesn't want to fess up to it. This paragon of etiquette then disappeared and a new individual arrived to pour us some water, at which point things went from bad to bizarre.

My wife had placed her phone on the table about two inches away from her water glass. Hindsight has given us to understand that this was a risky decision. The waiter launched the water at the glass with the attitude appropriate to dealing with degenerates who have had the gall to come to your place of business expecting some kind of service in exchange for their cash. The table was doused and so was my wife's phone. The waiter managed to squeeze in a monotone 'hey, how you doin?' in the process before rushing off again without waiting for an answer, nor stopping to address what they had just done, and completely ignoring my wife's attempts to save her phone. I can only assume that this individual had very important things to do in between filling up people's glasses with water, Saving lives perhaps?

At this point, we both decided that the idea of giving anymore money to this establishment was counter to supporting standards of customer-care, good service and the desire to take pride in ones work. We decided to leave, and eat somewhere else.

Before we left, our same man was working the front desk again, so I let him know the table was free and explained what had happened. Again, he gave an oscar-worthy performance of a teenage boy caught with his hand down his pants, mumbling an apology while looking at me with the vacant, mildly-perplexed stare of someone who had been rudely pulled from a day-dream by the inconveniences of having a job. In that one expression he perfectly conveyed his disinterested incredulity at the notion that people might not be inclined to pay for the privilege of being treated with mounting levels of disrespect. Not his problem anyway, right?

To the management: I completely understand that stuff can go wrong. Not the issue with our visit. The issue was that not a single a member of your front of house staff took any responsibility for trying to rectify any of these situations. They need to feel empowered and inclined to care about your customers. What we saw was clear evidence that when things are pressured they narrow their focus, blame processes, and view the customers as...

I am a solo female traveller visiting from outside of the USA. I am experienced in dining alone, I actually enjoy it, and have never had poor experiences doing this in the many countries I’ve visited over the years.

Unfortunately my experience at Gilt Bar was confusing, uncomfortable, felt a little rushed and didn’t feel like I was really taken care of. I do not recommend for solo diners. In addition, looking back in hindsight perhaps making a reservation for myself would have been helpful to my experience.

I came here last night (a Tuesday evening) around 9pm walking in. I was a little surprised to see that it was PACKED. I didn’t want to make a reservation for 1 person as I felt it was unnecessary. So unfortunately I couldn’t even get a seat at the bar. I was able to grab first come first serve seating by the front window, however I could not enjoy the beautiful ambience of the restaurant facing the window like that.

After I decided on my order with the server, I asked where the restrooms were so I could wash my hands before I eat etc. He told me where they were but I got a little confused when he said I needed to leave a credit card first. I said I did not want to leave it open as I didn’t believe I’d be ordering much anyway but still requested it. After I went to use the restroom I came back to my seat to find my cocktail sitting there with the bill/check and my phone alerting me it’s all already been charged to my card. I’m not sure if they require all customers sitting at the bar area to open a tab/provide payment first. But, I was just thinking: wow I haven’t even sat down to eat and I’ve already paid.

I guess I should have asked for this; but I thought it would be common sense at a fine place like Gilt Bar, but my drink was served while I was not present in my seat. As a solo diner, this is more of a safety precaution and not debatable in my opinion. I don’t expect many to understand this, however waiting to serve my drink when I’ve come back to my seat has been my experience at other establishments, especially Michelin recommended ones where I dine solo. I honestly experienced some inner turmoil as I did not want to trouble anyone to make me a second drink.

My server wasn’t rude or anything but I just thought the service itself was mid level. I wasn’t checked on once during my meal and I was confused again when he offered me dessert when I had already been charged and paid.

On a positive note, I ordered one of the hand made pastas and it was delicious. The Photo Booth on the way to the bathroom is really cute. Was interested to see what the Library Room is like but it is only open on certain days.

In conclusion, there is much left to be desired at Gilt Bar for...

I have to say that all workers of this establishment were kind and friendly. So this does not have to do with attitude.

The vibe of this place is a 5. Moody, dark and eclectic. Love the ambience and atmosphere here. Has a touch of elegance and sophistication yet not pretentious. I would get cocktails here again.

Food was good. We had the wedge, salmon ceasar, ala vodka rigatoni and the spicy sausage pasta. Price is what to expect in Chicago. That's a 4.

What was disappointing, was the slow service and lack of communication. Now I am in customer service, so I empathize for service and industry employees and respect the grind very much.

We checked in for our reservation and were told it would only be a few minutes as the table we were waiting on were paying their bill. Totally fine since we were also about 5-10 minutes early. We told the hostess we would take a seat at the bar and she acknowledged. I sat sideways to ensure we weren't overlooked as we sat adjacent to the hostess stand. The hostess ended up getting slammed (as expected on a holiday weekend) while I wanted to approach her. However, I let the large groups of patrons check in. When I approached her to ask about the wait time, she mentioned texting the number on the reservation to see if we were still around. She realized the number on the reservation was a landline. But they're didn't seem to be any attempt to find us or just look over. If that is the process for upcoming tables, all they had to do was mention it as we didn't get seated until 35 minutes after our arrival.

Ok, things happen. That did however, push our night back and we felt rushed the entire time. Our waitress, again not unkind. But not nearly as attentive as I would have hoped for such a great spot. Drinks took an average of 15-25 minutes to get. I only ended up having one. The only time I saw urgency is when the bill came.

The Establishment did not seem to be understaffed, as there were plenty of employees and open tables. I understand the skill set of every employee is different and us as customers do not see everything. I did see the manager helping out everywhere. That is appreciated.

For the amount of time waiting, and the amount we spent, I would have liked better service...