R.J. Grunts — Restaurant in Chicago

First and last time here. I feel this place has seen better days. I know they have been around since the 70’s. I cannot understand why it was so crowded when the service and food was so bad. We were a party of seven with two kids (kids old enough to order their own) Our server was pleasant but clearly did not pay attention to what we asked for. Mind you we were not a demanding group, completely understood how busy it was and how hard servers work. Most ordered the Digital salad (how can you mess up a salad? ) All that ordered this only ate 1/4 and said it was Meh. We ordered cocktails two Cosmos and two martinis and one margarita. First even though I asked for olives with no blue cheese, I got olives with blue cheese. My brother in law asked for blue cheese olives and got none and had to ask for them. I ordered the cup of chili and it was good, not award winning (maybe it was the best in 1979 but not now). Again it was tasty. The grilled cheese sounded good and ordered that with fries. When my order came I had a ton of fries which is great because fries are my kryptonite. Stone cold. The grilled cheese was cold and not gooey. Had two slices of American cheese on it and one slice of something white. Half of my sandwich has almost no cheese at all. I could not even get through half the sandwich as it was so unappetizing. I also notice in the huge pile of cold fries were about 30 sweet potato fries kind of mixed in. Not sure if this was for color or they just kind of grabbed fistful of whatever was in the bin. My nephew in law ordered the exact thing as me but with chips. He stated that the sandwich was awful and held up one of the homemade chips and he was joking about never seeing a floppy potato chip. I tried one and it was soft in the middle and cold and soggy. I forgot to mention that when we ordered cocktails we asked if a mock tail could be made for one of the kids and he said let me check and never heard back. We didnt see our server until it was time for the bill. When he asked if he could take my plate I said “my meal was terrible.” He said sorry and walked away. Our cocktails were tiny and never asked if we wanted another, only one carafe of water for 7. No attention at all and didnt really seem to care if we enjoyed anything. Needless to say, we will not be returning. It looks to me like this place needs to reevaluate the whole menu and service. The location is great and it’s cozy but…Seen...

It was ok. We ate on a Saturday, right before the dinner rush wandered in. We arrived a tad early for our reservation and we're sat right away. Every table had a chilled bottle of water, which was wonderful. This is a 'Lettuce Entertain You' franchise.

The atmosphere is slightly dark, with loads of black and white photos on the walls. I had read that it was 70's inspired, but honestly I didn't get that vibe. The music playing was great! There are only 2 small gender neutral stalls for restrooms, and one wasn't working. So there was always a line for the one privy. Around us, I heard servers interacting with guests, and explaining the menu, and generally attention. I think that our server wasn't as good as the ones around us, which make a big difference. The other servers were so personable ours just made us feel rushed to order. And honestly, dining is all about the experience and the server is huge part of that.

As a party of 5 we ordered kids quesadillas, 2 Bacon cheese burgers (one with chips, one upgraded fries), buffalo chicken tenders, french dip (upgraded fries) and one Oreo shake.

My husband's food of buffalo tenders and was not hot, like food that just came out the fryer. It was warm-ish. This was the same for all the fries, which is sad considering we are charged more for them. They quickly remade his food, which was nice, but avoidable had our server been more attentive. My kids liked their burgers, they were definitely where huge and cooked to the right temperature of Med rare, which rarely happens. My French dip was fine. The horseradish sauce and fried onion strings came on the side, which was nice. My preference is shaved beef and theirs was like a thick-ish thin slice.

Overall, would I recommend this place? Sure, if you are in the Lincoln Park area in the mood for American. But I would not make a special trip here. Nor would I rush back here again when I'm in the area. It was just ok considering our total was around $125 before...

I visited RJ Grunts for Thursday night happy hour (8–10 PM) with two friends and had a reservation for 9:15 PM. While we were excited to be seated and the overall staff was kind and accommodating, our experience with our server, Maddelleine H, was extremely disappointing.

From the moment she greeted us, we felt unwelcome. She informed us we could only order one drink due to last call at 9:30 PM—despite the posted happy hour lasting until 10 PM. As a server myself, I immediately sensed she was rushing us out and didn’t want to serve us so close to closing. When we attempted to order a second round of drinks (well before 10 PM), she refused, claiming we “chugged” our drinks and were therefore cut off. This was uncalled for and embarrassing.

Fortunately, another server, Eilana, was kind enough to assist us and confirmed we were well within our rights to order another round. She escalated our concerns to management, who also reassured us that we were welcome and within policy. It became clear that Maddelleine had misrepresented the rules and simply did not want to serve us.

To make matters worse, when the check was picked up—by another staff member—Maddelleine later opened it in front of others and visibly reacted to our 20% tip (which I gave out of respect for service industry norms). I even said “thank you” as she took the card, and she walked away without acknowledging us.

This was my first visit to RJ Grunts, and while the rest of the team was lovely, Maddelleine’s attitude cast a shadow on what was supposed to be a fun evening with friends. I don’t enjoy writing complaints, but as someone in the industry, I was shocked by her behavior. It was unprofessional, dismissive, and completely out of line with what good service should be. I hope this feedback is...