UncommonGround - Lakeview — Restaurant in Lake View Township

I have been dining/drinking at Uncommon Ground from around the time they opened on the Grace Street location. I lived on Lakewood and Waveland from 1991 to 1995 and would stop by the 2 room restaurant after riding my Bike with friends. The restaurant had a large outdoor dining area from the time they opened around 1992.

I moved and purchased a condo at the Lake and Diversey and for reasons I'm unsure of I stoped going here for several years. Probably due to so many places to choose from near my condo. Although, there isn't one or even two casual dining spots with quality food, outdoor seating and music that even come close to the urban chic, yet casual ambiance offered by UG on Clark. I dined at the restaurant on Devon a few times and also my mom loved the Devon location plus we grew up right down the street and my Mom and dad cooked often so they loved that UG has a herb and vegetable garden on their "green" roof.

I'd say I frequented Devon more often during my mom's illness 2007 to 2011 as she enjoyed it there. We had her wake right across the street and I recall after the wake - the last night friends and I dined here.

I sold the condo after 14.5 years and developed an illness in 2015 so when I could venture out I'd head back to UG on Grace. My dad often dined with me. The place expanded, appears slightly more upscale and has taken over 3-4 rooms total but the food is as good as ever.

I started having lunch with my dad at UG on Grace as I returned to health. We'd always wonder if my dad's favorite server, Savanah, is working. She and dad both grew up in or near Tera Haute Indiana-which has its own fan base I learned and dad and Savanah spoke about this town which I'm certain I'm spelling wrong for over 1/2 hour. We learned that Savanah is an actress and my dad rents to an acting teacher who teaches an acting method familiar to Savanah. She's quite keen on taking lessons.

We also learned that on many of the days we keep Savanah from doing her job because we all love chatting so much- that the Cub's owners and management also enjoy her and didn't say one word when we were talking to her too long and the Cub's staff had to leave. That's classy.

The owner often chats with us and is friendly, down to earth and takes much pride in his great food.

The food is always made fresh daily, with some menu staples but also fresh changes regularly.

I love the chopped salad with salmon, the sweet potato fries, Asian spicy grilled calamari and all the soups - tomato and the cheddar broccoli. Vegan chili is also fantastic. Breakfast is always good. A bit pricy...

I have been a long time fan of Uncommon Ground and because of that, I reached out directly to management - twice - without response. Because of that, I am posting this as a formal review, but wanted to reach out to express my extreme disappointment with our last visit.

We arrived at 10:45 and left at 1:10 - not by choice but because it took almost 2 hours for our food to come out. We understand that the chef had some medical challenges and the kitchen was backed up - which is extremely unfortunate and I really hope that the chef is OK. I also understand that our waiter was both waiting tables and doing dishes. The day was not the best for the restaurant, for sure.

I used to be a server so I have a great deal of empathy for the staff and know that today was difficult on everyone. However, there were some very critical breakdowns that aren’t really acceptable in my mind.

First: we had to flag our waiter down multiple times to get drink refills. On everything from mimosas to water to coffee to soda.

Second: we were not proactively told that the kitchen was backed up. I had to flag the waiter down again only to hear that he would check. 10 minutes later he came back stating it would be another 15 minutes…which turned out to be about 35 minutes. All in all, we waited an excessive amount of time for our food.

Third: one of the members at my table asked about the food again before it arrived only to get some pretty significant disregard for our concern and a nominal apology at best. In fact, it felt more like he was shaming us for asking when he should’ve proactively told us the situation well in advance of us having to ask.

Fourth: when the food finally came, we asked for the check, only to fully finish our meals, have 3 of the 4 of us take bio breaks and still not have the check. I personally had to go inside and find our waiter to get it.

Fifth: I ordered the farmers scramble only to get a pile of scrambled eggs and a few ingredients put on top. That does not constitute a scramble by definition. My potatoes were also over cooked as were one of the other guests at my table. And last, but not least, we received no real apology or discount or comp of any kind for the situation. We felt very disrespected by the waiter - and almost judged for our frustration.

This situation has left a very bad taste in our mouth for the 4 of us and I am not sure how quick any of us will return. I value local business and the Uncommon Ground model in particular—but this experience (and the lack of follow-up) was not an acceptable...

It was a pretty unfortunate experience from the start. I am unsure whether they’re severely understaffed or if the bartender/server was just overwhelmed but she was pretty standoffish to begin with. No one came to the door so I approached the bar and asked if I could sit there. She coldly informed me not unless I had my vaccination card and ID. As I try to immediately show her my proof she walks away to attend to other people- which I thought was weird since it seemed of the utmost importance when I walked in.

I order my food and am not told that I’ve ordered things that are larger portions even though I ordered the small version. When I comment on the portion size and that it wasn’t what I was expecting the server/bartender said, “yep. You’ve got your work cut out for you.” But I feel as though had she taken 2 extra minutes to talk to me about the menu (it was my first time) it could have been avoided. One of the things I ordered was the Buffalo cauliflower dish and it was NOT what I expected. It was basically oily cauliflower with a squeeze of lemon juice. I communicated to the staff that the dish was a bit misleading from what the menu stated and what I received. This new server/bartender says “I’ll let the kitchen know” but how does that help me? I’ve already received a dish I didn’t like and there’s no offer to rectify the situation. The new bartender/server proceeds to tell me that I must close my check out as my previous server is getting ready to leave. This is after I’ve requested to keep my check open. After I close my check my server proceeds to sit at the bar and talk about 420 versus 422 (420 too) and just have pointless conversation. I guess my issue is that if she’s still going to be hanging out why would I need to close my tab out? So all in all I received mediocre service, misleading food, and paid for things I really didn’t enjoy. Save your money, friends! There are better breweries in the area that have great service, better prices and...