Maple & Ash — Restaurant in Chicago

Let me start by saying as simple as possible, the service is not the reason this lost a star, the drinks are not the reason this lost a star, the atmosphere is not why this lost a star. My check says Javie so I hope that was my Server, if not apologies, but he was amazing, very knowledgeable, quick, and courteous throughout the whole experience.

With that being said, let me start with the good, I had reservations for 4 set at 12:45, the atmosphere is amazing, it's a lovely place to eat and they were quick to get us seated and started with refreshments, every single drink be it the cocktails, champagne, or otherwise were on point and phenomenal. The home by 8 was a very well balanced and unique blend that pleasantly surprised me for not exactly knowing how I would feel about it.

We ordered a few different food items, the one that started our meal was the main issue I actually had with the meal. The "Pro" Seafood tower, I was told feeds 3 to 4, great, priced at 220, that's fine, looks good, Has Alaskan king crab, half a lobster tail (No size disclosed.) Scallops, prawns, muscles, and oysters. Great, I thought, served with Garlic and chili oil it's simmered in, to break this down. The Scallops, phenomenal, great, perfect cook nothing to complain about aside from you get one each, my Prawn, was not deveined or at least did not look deveined, I expect slightly better, Maybe I am wrong but it did not look deveined, for that price for one Prawn each I think it can be deveined. Again maybe a small oversight I didn't ask the others at the table if theirs was. Oysters, and muscles? Great, no problem, very clean, very flavorful, high quality which is what Maple and Ash prides themselves on is the quality of their product being higher. The Lobster tail, was half of a lobster tail, half, and overcooked. Bad. Barely a bite if you want to share. Also, small, below average, maybe a 6 OZ tail? so I got 3 OZ? very upset about that. King crab, smallest legs I have ever seen in my life, smaller than most Snow crab legs, you get 4, no clusters, no claws, nothing else, just the legs, its insulting. It pissed me off actually. That's how I started my meal, simply said, hey it was a little lacking in flavor, underwhelming was the best descriptor.

Next, The Ricotta Agnolotti, best thing we had, lots of truffle flavor, buttery, pillowy, soft, just enough chew, very pleasant. That got comped for us explaining the seafood was mildly underperforming. about give or take 3 pieces a plate between 4 people for 36 dollars but you can tell it is definitely higher quality. I appreciated that dish, I would come back for that, thank you to the chef who made it.

Eisenhower, 40 OZ steak for 250 I bought it for the table. Out of the cuts I got, I got a decent amount of silver skin in my steak, it wasn't as soft as I expected or nearly as Tender as I have had at other places, and quite frankly I was underwhelmed but maybe I would have also preferred it medium to Medium Rare like we got it, who knows. Or maybe I would have preferred the Tomahawk, I can't give it much hassle, it's a steak, I can give a hassle about the fact all it is served with for 250 is just the sauce it's made with, no flaky salts? No like Chimichurri on the side? No accoutrement? I have had a better steak for less money.

Last thing I got for the table was King Crab Benny, 48 Dollars, It was cooked perfect, eggs perfect, nice crisp on the bread, good taste, little light on the King Crab once again. But I would buy it again.

All in All I spent 678 Dollars and I still after not really being in love with my experience tipped 180. 120 on card, 60 in cash. I don't want anything in return, I don't want to be given anything, I just want to voice an honest opinion of someone who doesn't get to do this on a daily basis and wanted to treat my family to something high class. The experience was good, service was good, drinks were good, even all of that could be considered exceptional. But the food lacked in...

My family and I visited Chicago for NYE 2024. I was super excited to dine at Maple and Ash (12/30/23). I had a reservation set for 9:30 p.m. We sat at a table near the bar upstairs. Nice surroundings with some Christmas trees and wreaths nearby. We were then greeted by our less than friendly waiter. I regretfully do not remember his name, but it was older gentleman that did not seem very interested to serve us. He brought over some welcome drinks and chips with dip/caviar. Both were good. He then disappeared for quiet awhile, buzzing back and forth serving other tables drinks. When he finally came over, he rushed us to order drinks. We wanted to order a bottle of wine and needed help with a good recommendation. He told us the menu featured some popular ones-not sure how we were to make our selection based off of this statement. After a minute or two of trying to pick one ourselves, he offered to send over the sommelier. Well, you would think this would be helpful, it was NOT. The sommelier was very unfriendly and seemed like he did not care to help us choose a wine. We ended up choosing a bottle ourselves-without his help. Luckily for us, we liked our choice and ended up ordering 2 bottles during our dinner. The service we were receiving was shocking. I would expect more from such an established restaurant. Or waiter never came by to ask us how our food was. Every time we needed something, we would have to pretty much flag him down.

Pushing past the service, the food was good. My husband enjoyed the Alaskan King Crab Legs for appetizer. My parents and I had the French onion soup-wasn't our favorite. It was too sweet. For dinner, we had the ribeye, steak frites and the Maple & Ash surf & turf. The sides we chose were brussels sprouts, whipped & buttered potatoes, lobster mac & cheese and Yukon gold potatoes au gratin. Taste wise, everything was fine.

Now for the disappointing part, I got FOOD POSIONING later that night. It ruined the next day, especially with it being New Years Eve, as we had plans. I am super super disappointed. It clearly meant something was mishandled and/or prepared incorrectly. This was a HUGE factor for my poor review. Second reason being the terrible service.

A couple days after my visit, I received an email from Maple and Ash. It stated "please let us know if there is anything we can adjust prior to your next visit." I emailed them back to let them know about my experience. I received an automated replay saying they will get back to me. Its been 10 days and I conveniently never heard back (a third reason for this review).

I probably would not return or recommend as I expected more.

P.S. Also requested a customized menu in my reservation. I read online that its usually served with dessert. We paid the bill and the waiter told us bye and we still did not get it. I asked him about it at this point. For some reason, it seemed like he knew I requested one but did not bother to bring it. He eventually printed it and gave it...

Update on previous review:

We ended up returning to give them another chance as I truly have loved this restaurant. This time we brought my parents and went earlier in the day for dinner. Our waiter Mike was phenomenal and took great care of us. The ambiance was how I imagined it’d be after my very first experience at Maple & Ash, so after our previous visit this was a relief! Everything we ordered was delicious and very well executed (still some of the tastiest steak and pasta!) All or our drinks were also great. One of my favorite things about Maple & Ash is how detail oriented they are from the food to the phrases engraved on the straws. I’m extremely glad we decided to go back because now we plan to return again in the future. :)

Previous Review: This was my second time at Maple and Ash. The first time being in 2017 which was one of my favorite restaurant experiences ever. I even bought family members gift cards for Christmas that year. I raved about how beautiful the space was but mostly how much effort went into making you feel special to dine there.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. My boyfriend and I had reservations for 10pm since that was the earliest available. We were celebrating an early Valentine’s Day since we both work in the restaurant industry. I had been telling him about this place for years and we finally found the time to dine here.

We arrived for our reservation a couple minutes before 10 and were told tables were finishing up and we could wait at the bar. We chose not to because it was packed. We sat and waited watching people walk around without masks which made me realize no one was checking for vaccination cards? About 20-25 mins later our table was finally “ready.” We were escorted, pushing through the crowd near the bar, to a table with only one chair and had to wait for someone to find another. Another staff member took the remaining chair away from the table so we had to them wait for 2 more chairs. It felt really unprofessional as we waited awkwardly in front of our table. We were finally seated but extremely overwhelmed by the crowd of people in the restaurant. What was once an elegant experience somehow turned into a night club type atmosphere. Our only saving grace at this point was our table facing the kitchen which gave us a distraction from the other diners.

We did enjoy sitting by the kitchen and the staff worked flawlessly. Once they were done putting out food for the night we could see cooks downing beers which was completely unprofessional especially being an open kitchen. All of that being said our food was incredible and if the atmosphere and clientele was different we’d be back again.

In our notes for the reservation I had chosen to have a personalized menu which we never got. If we didn’t have to pay the $200 deposit we would have left before we even got seated. I was so upset I had tears in my eyes. I don’t know what happened to this place but it’s not the same as it was a...