The Publican — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I’ve waited since June to post this review in hopes that the Publican would be able to remedy the upsetting and violating situation that I experienced at this restaurant. I write this post as a warning for future patrons to reconsider hosting an event here, as the Publican treats their patrons with little respect and has completely shattered my trust.

My friend and I were wedding guests at the Publican in early June. When we got to the Publican we asked the hostess and Publican events planner, Danielle, where the card box was to put our cards in. Danielle responded “I am the card box!” And so we handed our cards over to her as she told us that they would all be given to the bride and groom. I was a bit nervous to hand the cards over, as they contained more than $500 cash, but I unfortunately trusted Danielle.

Fast forward, the day after the wedding, I asked the bride if Danielle had given our wedding cards to them. She told us that Danielle hadn’t given them any cards, but that she’d follow up with the Publican to make sure that she got them. Several weeks later I again asked the bride if she’d received our cards and she told us that Danielle hadn’t given them any cards still. Danielle even told us at one point she gave everything to the groom, but the groom confirmed that he had not received any cards at all.

We contacted the restaurant right away to discuss the situation in hopes that they would be willing to work with us to remedy the situation: simply put, we wanted the bride and groom to receive their wedding gift. We spoke with the GM, Oscar, that took the situation seriously and was deeply upset that this occurred. He had us try to work with Danielle to rectify the issue. Upon countless attempts to contact Danielle via phone calls and text messages, she finally called several weeks later and acted like she had no idea what we were talking about, even though she knew all about the situation. She told us that it was “ridiculous” for us to expect that she would be able to do something about our stolen cards & cash that were in her possession.

At first, we were hopeful that it was just a mistake. However, the Publican and Danielle continually dodged our calls and messages, leading us to believe that they had something to hide, which they clearly do.

This should’ve been and could’ve been a very simple situation to find a solution for. Unfortunately, for the past 5 months, we’ve seen quite the opposite. We have not been unreasonable and in fact, we have offered multiple options for The Publican to make this situation right for us, but most importantly, the...

This place was fantastic! We had a party of 7 and paid for the chef's menu, the cost of which is $65 a person, which may sound like a lot to some, but let me tell you, THEY KEPT THE FOOD COMING! One of my customer's who was dining with us that night leans over to me about two-thirds of the way through the meal and whispers to me, "Are we supposed to say uncle or something!" (LMAO) All of the food was excellent and well presented. These guys do pork well! There was a good blend of meat, seafood, and pleasing vegetable dishes such as beet salad, and grilled carrots that were cooked to a perfect al dente yet tasted as if they had been slow roasted inside a Dutch oven with a beef roast for hours. The value and quality for what you pay for is incredible and after visiting here for the first time, I can't fathom why anyone would choose anything else other than this curated tasting menu. You would think, after this barrage of culinary rounds being fired at us over and over that surely a modest dessert would have sufficed to close out the evening. Oh no, that wouldn't have been congruent with this insane pilgrimage of gluttonous delight that we had just embarked! They proceeded to bring out ice cream, waffles, cobblers, some type of chocolate brownie covered with more ice cream, and if this wasn't enough, a big ass cookie jar filled with fresh baked cookies. We all looked at each other and though nobody spoke a word, the look on everyone's face communicated the very thing that each one of us were thinking, "What the hell are we supposed to do with all of this?!?!" But, for the sake of not offending the chef, we dove in with the remaining strength that we had, and when the smoked clear, we had put a considerable dent into this cornucopia of sweetness. The Publican had forced us into submission and my party of seven tapped out. Bravo Publican! Every since I watched you guys on the Chicago edition of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain years ago when I was still living in Colorado I have wanted to visit here. You did not disappoint! This is my new "go to" place when I am with groups of friends or...

Probably the worst dining experience of my life.

Came here on Sunday for brunch with two out of town guests after hearing this place was good. Couldn't be farther from the truth. After we were seated, the server ignored us for about 15 min. When we finally ordered, it took over an hour for all of the entries to come out. The food was brought out in a piecemeal fashion. The server kept assuring us that the items were "on the way" but we just kept waiting. The first item took close to 35 min to arrive.

Two out of the three of us ordered a burger. One burger came out in 40 min and the second one came 20 minutes later?! How is that even possible?

My friends were done with their meals before mine even arrived. Just embarrassing for everyone involved. I feel bad for subjecting my friends to such horrible treatment and frankly embarrassed this place exists. The fact this place is in Fulton Market is shameful to that neighborhood and overall a poor representation of the Chicago food scene.

They did try to give us some free pastries and some beers that we didn't want because we were not drinking. After I complained to the waiter on how poor the service was, a manager came out with the burger I ordered and blamed the poor service on a large group of 14. To set the scene, this place was maybe a 1/3 full. I stated to the manager that I will not pay for this meal due to the pure negligence. The assistant GM then spoke to us and comped the meal and apologized for wasting out time. Honestly, this experience ruined our day.

I honestly cannot believe how big of an epic failure this was from start to finish. I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone with a pulse. The food was also sub-par. The hash-browns were burnt/cold and we requested the bacon to be crispy and it was soft and frankly not good. Not sure how you can mess up bacon, but they found a way to do it. I barely touched my burger due to anger and a lost my appetite due to the dismal service.

This place should be ashamed of the service, food and lack of communication.

Everyone, save yourself a trip to this place and literally go...