Calumet Fisheries — Restaurant in Hyde Park Township

The smoked fish was the best food here. I will miss that. But honestly, the fried seafood seemed like pre-packaged frozen cheaper brand items, u know the fried coating very thick, chewy, and flavorless, I don't think they breaded anything on-site, Way overrated. There are much better places in Chicago for on-site quality breaded fried seafood. The worst about this spot was waiting for your food in the small cramped dirty looking front space, no chair or bench to sit on which is rough for us older people, especially since walking in and ordering could usually take 30+ minutes to get your food, longer if there was a crowd there. Also, there was nowhere to eat, only take out. The owner should take this opportunity if they rebuild to address some of the negative issues and do it right. Have a nice food prep area where you can bread your own custom coating on your seafood to make it the best in Chicago Get rid of the frozen pre-packaged items. You dont need so many items on your menu, just the best tasting. Please make a nice area for customers to wait in, put in a few chairs or benches for us older folks so we can sit down for the long wait for food. Don't have such disdain for your customers. Maybe you could even put in a few stools or tables for eating. If you're going to rebuild and reopen, please take some thought and time and do it right, don't just take the fast cheap route to reopen or really what's the point, just move on...

We frequent this place. Last month we ordered 3 large shrimp orders, two onion rings and fries. Of course spent a nice amount of money. Onion rings were just pieces and didn’t have any moons in them. Just batter.

We went to the restaurant yesterday. Informed management of the onion rings issue. They said they do not make the onion rings in the location and buy them from a supplier as is and gave us a free order. Great. This time we ordered shrimp in again and were told that they do not sell large shrimp until Friday and the weekend. The smaller shrimp were tough, the batter was gummy and just overall not as flavorful as the large shrimp. We tried to give this place another try and support. They should at least have signage regarding the shrimp orders and sizes. We would have waited until the weekend to order large shrimp.

Edit: I saw the response from the restaurant. My father who is a senior went in the business. I did not personally go in to check for a sign. They did not address the food quality. Either way, the fries were not warm, tasted old and the shrimp were tough. If they invested as much effort in providing consistent service and quality, fresh food as they did on being cheeky then the business...

After reading great reviews I was excited to try this place. However I found the experience to be confusing and a little bit underwhelming. They were also inconsistent with enforcing their covid capacity, waving us to come in when they were already at capacity.

We got fried calamari, crab cake dinner, and smoked pepper and garlic salmon. The fried food was alright, good for the price, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. The salmon, however, was delightful. The smoked flavor permeates through the entirety of the fish. I would stop by again if it were on my way only for the smoked fish and to try their shrimp.

A last note: if you’ve never been here before the ordering can be confusing. Anything that needs to be cooked/fried has to be ordered to the cook at the grill first and their smoked fishes are to be ordered to a second employee behind the counter. The second employee did not seem happy to take our calamari order and then perhaps due to the confusion overcharged us. (She refunded us when we pointed it out).

This place seems to have a rich history in Chicago and has been hyped by many reviewers. As such, consistency and patience is a must as many customers are surely making a trip out to go...