The Kitchen American Bistro — Restaurant in Chicago

Have you ever experienced a time where there was such a collective mistreatment that you feel compelled to write a review, not for personal reasons but rather for the sake of humanity? This is unfortunately one of those times.

Yesterday my friends and I dined at The Kitchen for their St Patricks day breakfast. To say we were excited was an understatement. We went last year and raved about it for the last 364 days. It was $55 for a made to order breakfast meal (the food was delish!) and bottomless mimosas. We booked it again this year for $65 each (plus tax and tip) without thinking twice.

I have to wonder if management was bought by private equity in the preceding year, as this year the offerings were gutted. Instead of a made-to-order meal, we had a buffet. Instead of bottomless drinks, we got nothing, not even bottomless juice or coffee. If you want to get rid of the bottomless offering, fine, but for $65 I expect a blowout buffet. I would expect some combination of a oatmeal/yogurt bar, fresh-squeezed juices, an assortment of fresh fruit and pastries, fresh-baked bread, an omelette station, pancake station and etc. There was none of that. It was eggs, bacon, potatoes, bratwurst (?), salad and dinner rolls. My $65 plate consisted of 4 strips of bacon and two spoonfuls of eggs. Yikes. I would call this a disappointment, but a better description may be rampant greed. I've never felt more like a dumb tourist in my life, despite being at a table with a majority of born and raised Chicagoans. I write this review not as a disgruntled visitor, but rather someone who wants our city's restaurants to be unlike the rest.

When the manager came around to ask how everything was, I was direct to the point and honest. For $65, we expected bottomless drinks. The manager, wearing a seriously amazing green suit, stated they raised it from $55 to accommodate the buffet. There was no reason given for the axing of the drinks. She stated the primary offering was the location, more on that in a moment.

As a business owner with thousands of reviews, I understand reviews don't always reflect reality and will often be buried. At worst, they can be featured and cause great destruction to the business. At best, they serve as a warning shot to management to reconsider their practices. I hope this review is the latter not the former.

I would highly advise management to study up on pricing and consumer psychology. There are numerous books available on Amazon with overnight shipping. The price of $65 isn't the point here, we spent an additional $500 on drinks alone. Our table, like most of the room, was filled with young career-oriented professionals willing to splurge on a once-a-year event. They could have upped the price to $75 or even a $100 and we likely would have paid. It comes down to value. Dearest manager, the location is certainly important, but location alone does not justify excess greed, you're selling a holistic experience. An analogy I think of is court side basketball tickets, where the location is the point. However, there are also other benefits like VIP parking, a dedicated entrance, security escort, and food and beverage. If you were forced to pay for parking, enter through a normal entrance, and fight through crowds, it would feel like a mis-match.

Some suggestions for management: the buffet should have been no more than $35 for what was offered, price it higher if you include expanded offerings. A complimentary glass of green champagne would have went a long way. Add an optional drink package for $20-30, or bundle everything for $75-$99 with the improved buffet. You're selling a once-in-a-year experience with an unbeatable location, so act like it.

I must add we had two tables come up to us saying they overheard our conversation and thought the same. We also witnessed another table be thrown out after they spoke up in a way that was not as polite as we did. An avalanche of negative reviews will likely come in, and the power then shifts to management to put their best foot...

The restaurant only gets two stars because they redeemed themselves!! I have been to many places around the world and have never left a review, not to the best places or even the worst I’ve been to. However, with the awful experience I had at this restaurant I would like others to know what kind of nonsense they should expect.

My party of six arrived exactly at 11:10am, approximately 10 minutes after they opened. We were all so excited to eat at this restaurant only to be let down. The host, very rudely asked if we had reservations and I informed her that we did not. I panicked for a second because my party was excited to eat here and I thought oh snap did we need a reservation even though I never seen something that said a reservation was needed. After she informed me that a reservation was not needed, I asked if we could sit outside, the host rolled her eyes and said she would go check if she could seat us outside. My party was in complete shock that the host had rolled her eyes but we proceeded to patiently wait for her to come back. Shortly after, the host returned and explained she could not accommodate us outside. My party was disappointed but we understood. We thought others had reservations and were coming at a later time.

We got seated at a table shortly after and out server greeted us. The view outside was just gorgeous and my party was willing to split up as a party of three in hopes to sit outside due to scattered seating. We asked our server if this would be possible, she got very upset and said she’d need to ask her manager. The server didn’t even turn the corner when she comes back and says “my manager said no”. At this point my family was confused because we saw she never talked to a manager and we wanted to know why we were being treated like this since we had arrived. When we asked her why the manager said no, she proceeded to say “she just said no”. I then informed the server that I needed to speak to her manager, simply because we wanted a real answer and because we had already decided at this point that we were going to be leaving the restaurant due to this uncalled for behavior.

The manager came to our table before our server left. The manager looked outside and said she didn’t understand why we couldn’t sit outside, she said if we were okay with splitting our party up there was no problem. The manager said she didn’t want to seat 6 people outside because it would be too crammed. She proceeded to say it was hot outside, we were very much aware that it was hot outside. We were the ones asking to sit out there so we obviously knew what to expect, the manager went to the back and scolded the server for saying no and took us right outside with no problems. The manager then became our server and provided excellent service. We honestly should’ve never agreed to eat here because of how horrible they treated us in the beginning but the manager truly saved those girls.

The food was average food, we paid for the view and a terrible experience. Note to the staff that works there, fix those attitudes. If you don’t like being a server then find yourself a new job, it was literally only 10 minutes into your shift. All I did was ask two simple questions to two different people and they acted like I asked for them to move mountains. Never coming back here again and definitely never recommending to anyone. I read reviews after going to this place and it appears many others have also experienced disrespect. You have all been warned about this...

I was very pleased with the whole experience. Location was perfect with a wonderful view of the river, city and the hustle/bustle of Chicago. The restaurant has a very open concept with lots of natural light and impeccable design. We were greeted by bright and bubbly people and had an excellent waitress that was very attentive to all of our needs. I started off lunch with a Kitchen Rickey drink which consisted of lime, cherry bitters & ginger ale. A very light and refreshing drink that I highly recommend. The menu looked a little light on the options, but it could have just been a lunch menu. In either case, it had enough options to cover most directions you could possibly want to go good wise. We started off with some great hush puppies where the shrimp, cheesyness and hot pepper honey made them worth the purchase. The only piece that was unfortunate was that you only received 2 in a serving. About 10 minutes after the appetizer, my double cheese burger arrived. This burger is on my top 5 list for sure. No ketchup and mustard required as it had all the components needed to make it juicy, flavorful, and to be honest, a conversation stopper. I felt bad for the others that wanted to chat while I was eating, because I couldn't put it down once I started. I highly recommend adding the bacon, as I felt it made it that much more enjoyable. Fries that came with the burger made the cost of the plate worth it. These fantastic pieces of art had that perfect crisp on the outside and hot/warm softness on the inside. The ketchup that came with them was a conversation starter for sure. I liked it a lot while others did not. Best thought of as a ragu sauce consistency and sweeter taste. I thought they matched wonderfully with the fries. All in all, 5 out of 5 stars is neccessary here and I don't hand those out lightly! I will be bringing my wife back to enjoy the...