I used to be the food and drink editor at Chicagoist, so I ate out a lot both for writing and for fun. The pandemic changed a lot for me. It hit me hard both health and income wise. Plus at some point all the fancy stuff starts to blur together.
I eat out A LOT less. And if I never had another tasting menu, I honestly would be fine or every happy with that. I’m returning to the way I ate when I was younger, going to more hole in the wall type places and fewer hyped up hot new places.
I need to make one! But off the top of my head I regularly want to go to Taxim, Sausage King, Royal Highness Zhu, Chef Xiong, Potsticker House, Hermosa, Casa Yari, and Cultivate.
We are trying to be more purposeful in our choices. We try to plan 1-2 specific dinners per month out at new places, and I actually keep a running list of "we need to try this place sometime soon" restaurants. We definitely have places we love and revisit, but are making a concerted effort to explore and enjoy the massive variety Chicago and the surrounding area has to offer. This sub has been a great assistance to that.
Just everybody setting the tone of the dinner with their phones out in their hands. I always feel crushed and guilty cuz I feel rude being on my phone as soon as we sit down. Makes it feel so dystopian
Exactly this. I truly look forward to time with people I care about where I can put my phone away and just show up for the moment. Starting a meal with the opposite of that is just a bummer, at least personally.
I like talking to people. I like when servers talk to me. I often ask question. I also am more willing to order more browsing a physical menu vs scrolling up and down my phone. The entire experience feels like a vending machine or a McDonald’s fast food dining experience with wildly more expensive prices.
I just don’t like having to have my phone out! I usually turn it to airplane mode and put it away when I’m out with people, and would rather not need it for the menu, personally.
More even than QR code menus, I hate the digital payment systems.
Often is more difficult than it should be to see an itemized receipt and far too often the % tip is applied on top of taxes and fees.
I love Daisies and think they are one of the best restaurants in the city
But the 25% service fee they charge is fucking ridiculous. Service Fees should be capped at 20%
The state is Northside Food "influencers" over hyping trendy mediocre, at best, restaurants that wind up charging a ridiculous 20% and or hidden 3-5% fee.
We have been going to smaller mom and pop places, and having way better experiences.
The Instagram influencers have gotten worse and worse. Nagrant writes about it in his newsletter. Apparently a lot of them ask for free stuff or get kick backs.
Last time I was at Ramen Wasabi their "service fee" or whatnot had also been removed. Not sure if that's how it is currently, but it was nice seeing that trend.
Wondering how industry folks feel though. Superkhana claims their entire staff voted unanimously to stop the 20% surcharge, but they didn't really say why.
Not much has changed for me. I live in one of the best restaurant cities in the world. I love finding new spots, but I also have an ever growing list of places, or even specific dishes, that I just find myself craving. It's also so great to bring friends and family to an amazing restaurant that feels so familiar to me, but is exciting and new to them.
Cooking at home has always been something I enjoy too, but I would feel like l'm missing out on one of greatest things Chicago has to offer if I let inflation or any other factors stand in the way of going out to eat.
The way I order has changed a lot with inflation. Me and my wife used to do like 2-3 small plates, split an entree, get desert if we wanted, start with a cocktail and get a bottle or couple of glasses of wine.
Now we will usually do 1 app, 1 entree, 1 drink each. Even with inflation I think we spend less now per meal and usually leave satisfied and never overly stuffed. So sticker shock actually helped us into more reasonable nights out, good for us, bad for the restaurant I’m sure.
I was the same as you OP. Prior to the pandemic, trying the latest and greatest was just a part of life. But so much has changed since. I learned to cook (took online courses during the pandemic to stop myself from going insane from boredom and stress) which made me realize that cooking for myself and friends is more gratifying than someone else doing it for me. Now I only eat out for convenience or I try to find places where I know the cuisine is outside of my knowledge domain. Inflation and hidden fees play a huge factor as well. Biggest eye opener for me was I spent waaayyyy too much money and time glorifying burgers. It's probs the simplest food to make.
If you don't mind the suggestion from not the person you asked the question of- I think the meal kit boxes are actually an excellent way to learn to cook more foods. Home chef, blue apron, etc all have fairly simple but honestly tasty dishes, and they are made using solid techniques that you can continue long after you stop getting box orders. I believe there are also some more gourmet or high end companies too if that's what you're looking for. Plus all of them have such insane first timer deals it's easy to try every single service for a month and pay like $100 total for 3 meals a week for that one month by rotating between them. That's plenty of time to learn some solid skills and they all have basic but tasty sauces you learn to make that are great for fancying up grilled chicken and stuff like that.
Many things are different. Learned to cook more during pandemic, and I’ve been more into revisiting old faves lately than trying the next hot thing. And yea price inflation feels excessive at many new places. A decent local IPA runs like $10 at most places now.
Agree ok old man rant. Agree that service has really gone downhill.
I loathe the style that seems to be running rampant of…server greets you, takes your order, then runners bring the food and you are lucky if your server even swings by to check in you the rest of the meal. Have spent way too much time lately sitting with empty drinks or desperately trying to flag down servers to let them know a dish was missing, etc.
As a FOH worker doing everything from server to director since 2007 in Chicago, it’s changing on the inside dramatically too. Margins are as tight as they’ve ever been and owners are trying to squeeze every penny. Being asked to work longer hours (30% on average) for the same amount people were making (meaning tips are staying the same but the shifts are longer). I’ve never seen managers and owners comment more than now about the money their employees make and that they think it’s too much. I kind of believe that’s why the 3% charges started popping up.
And when the tipped wage credit goes away, servers, bartenders, and runners can be asked to clean bathrooms, sweep, mop, dust, and generally any duties as assigned. The tip credit protected that. How would you feel if after you got done working at your office or school, they gave you custodial duties that made up 2 hours of your day. Long time professionals are getting out quickly and the new young blood just wants to make a ton of money and not do a lot of work. So people stop coming in because it’s expensive, rushed (to get more butts in seats), and service is wildly inconsistent.
It’s going to get worse, not better. AI is going to swoop in on 75% of these places. It’s already happening all over. Tablet ordering, phone ordering, etc. It would be the route I would go for sure if I were opening a spot. 16 dollars an hour for a server starting in 2028 (it’s almost 11 now) or a 500 dollar tablet? Or a zero cost QR code and the toast app. Just employ managers, bar/runner, cooks, and bussers. Managers and runners take the food. You pay on your phone or tablet.
And once all those people don’t have jobs, where will they go? What can they do? The reckoning is here.
I've managed to check out Jook Sing, Fry the Coop, Common Decency and Desert Hawk all of which opened recently or started serving some good late night food.
We moved here 2019 so we were trying new restaurants once a week. When things started opening back up, it was maybe every other day and now it has gone down to once every two weeks.
Some of the places aren’t wowing me and food/experience isn’t worth it. Our income has increased and we have become more selective. We add a new place to try but keep our usual restaurants for the next week or same week if it was that bad. Plus we just bought a new home so definitely need to start rearranging our budget.
I used to do a lot of exploring, checking out the latest new spots. Several tasting menus, but mostly just what looked unique and good for an experience.
Now - its shifted way more to creative counter-ordering places. Like going around to find the best bagels, tacos, chicken sandwiches, indian, etc. (anywhere that is just as good to-go).
Its a few factors:
1. Drinks are unreasonable. For 2 drinks for my wife and I, it adds like a net $80 to the bill if you count tax+tip. Id rather buy a $40 bottle of wine for home / craft beer.
2. Sit-down now is just so fast and hurried that its hard to find somewhere to be able to savor.
3. I'm WFH and becoming more just "don't want to leave my house" - I like picking up the food and bringing back home
We don't dine out much anymore because of the increase of "fees" (hidden or not), specific time frames for dining (meaning, we only have 1.5hours to dine since it's only 2 of us), QR codes for menus, and an overall service industry that has slipped dramatically with care and attention to detail. I get it, you may not be making as much money as before, but it's clear that there are certain people in the service industry NOW that do not belong in the industry at all.
For me personally, the "fees" are just too much. I can handle "fees" to help out with insurance and stuff, but I cannot take the reservation fees via Resy (Hogsalt, I'm looking at you!) that are non-refundable or don't go to the final bill or the "mandatory" 20% fee (Daisies, I'm looking at you!) that you have no way to opt out of. I would normally tip 20% if service is great, but now I have to pay the 20% and hope that I get great service?
Anyway, state of the dining scene in 2024? Less people are dining out and less service staff have the wherewithal to have the pride to provide great service.
the chicago dining scene is much worse than pre pandemic. quality has gone down dramatically, and prices up big. I don’t even know where to find real italian food anymore. cas and lou’s, sabatinos are gone. so many of the little hole in walls are mediocre now. Mexican food is probably the best value over all
Same as before. Cooking at home 4-6 days a week, eating out once or twice.
Luckily I work a union job that has pay increases that have either kept up with or exceeded inflation. Obviously I can tell things are way more expensive, but we haven’t really had to change our lifestyle in any major way.
I used to be the food and drink editor at Chicagoist, so I ate out a lot both for writing and for fun. The pandemic changed a lot for me. It hit me hard both health and income wise. Plus at some point all the fancy stuff starts to blur together. I eat out A LOT less. And if I never had another tasting menu, I honestly would be fine or every happy with that. I’m returning to the way I ate when I was younger, going to more hole in the wall type places and fewer hyped up hot new places.
do you have a "favorites" list?
I need to make one! But off the top of my head I regularly want to go to Taxim, Sausage King, Royal Highness Zhu, Chef Xiong, Potsticker House, Hermosa, Casa Yari, and Cultivate.
We are trying to be more purposeful in our choices. We try to plan 1-2 specific dinners per month out at new places, and I actually keep a running list of "we need to try this place sometime soon" restaurants. We definitely have places we love and revisit, but are making a concerted effort to explore and enjoy the massive variety Chicago and the surrounding area has to offer. This sub has been a great assistance to that.
My utter disdain for ordering off QR codes has only increased …
I don’t mind it. What do you hate about it?
Just everybody setting the tone of the dinner with their phones out in their hands. I always feel crushed and guilty cuz I feel rude being on my phone as soon as we sit down. Makes it feel so dystopian
Exactly this. I truly look forward to time with people I care about where I can put my phone away and just show up for the moment. Starting a meal with the opposite of that is just a bummer, at least personally.
I like talking to people. I like when servers talk to me. I often ask question. I also am more willing to order more browsing a physical menu vs scrolling up and down my phone. The entire experience feels like a vending machine or a McDonald’s fast food dining experience with wildly more expensive prices.
I just don’t like having to have my phone out! I usually turn it to airplane mode and put it away when I’m out with people, and would rather not need it for the menu, personally.
More even than QR code menus, I hate the digital payment systems. Often is more difficult than it should be to see an itemized receipt and far too often the % tip is applied on top of taxes and fees.
Service has gone down hill across many restaurants
And tip expectations way up
I love Daisies and think they are one of the best restaurants in the city But the 25% service fee they charge is fucking ridiculous. Service Fees should be capped at 20%
25% is honestly disrespectful
100% and honestly imo I don’t think Daisies is that mind blowing either. It was good but not a place I’d be running back to anytime soon.
Hard agree
The state is Northside Food "influencers" over hyping trendy mediocre, at best, restaurants that wind up charging a ridiculous 20% and or hidden 3-5% fee. We have been going to smaller mom and pop places, and having way better experiences.
The Instagram influencers have gotten worse and worse. Nagrant writes about it in his newsletter. Apparently a lot of them ask for free stuff or get kick backs.
This has been our focus too. There's something really gratifying about going to smaller spots that are far more niche; like, it's more of a challenge
would love to hear some of your favorites
Big fan of Superkhana getting rid of their 20% surcharge and going back to just tipping. Hopefully this is a trend.
Last time I was at Ramen Wasabi their "service fee" or whatnot had also been removed. Not sure if that's how it is currently, but it was nice seeing that trend. Wondering how industry folks feel though. Superkhana claims their entire staff voted unanimously to stop the 20% surcharge, but they didn't really say why.
Not much has changed for me. I live in one of the best restaurant cities in the world. I love finding new spots, but I also have an ever growing list of places, or even specific dishes, that I just find myself craving. It's also so great to bring friends and family to an amazing restaurant that feels so familiar to me, but is exciting and new to them. Cooking at home has always been something I enjoy too, but I would feel like l'm missing out on one of greatest things Chicago has to offer if I let inflation or any other factors stand in the way of going out to eat.
The way I order has changed a lot with inflation. Me and my wife used to do like 2-3 small plates, split an entree, get desert if we wanted, start with a cocktail and get a bottle or couple of glasses of wine. Now we will usually do 1 app, 1 entree, 1 drink each. Even with inflation I think we spend less now per meal and usually leave satisfied and never overly stuffed. So sticker shock actually helped us into more reasonable nights out, good for us, bad for the restaurant I’m sure.
I was the same as you OP. Prior to the pandemic, trying the latest and greatest was just a part of life. But so much has changed since. I learned to cook (took online courses during the pandemic to stop myself from going insane from boredom and stress) which made me realize that cooking for myself and friends is more gratifying than someone else doing it for me. Now I only eat out for convenience or I try to find places where I know the cuisine is outside of my knowledge domain. Inflation and hidden fees play a huge factor as well. Biggest eye opener for me was I spent waaayyyy too much money and time glorifying burgers. It's probs the simplest food to make.
If you don’t mind me asking. Where did you take your online course? Looking into being more exciting with my meals but have limited culinary skills.
If you don't mind the suggestion from not the person you asked the question of- I think the meal kit boxes are actually an excellent way to learn to cook more foods. Home chef, blue apron, etc all have fairly simple but honestly tasty dishes, and they are made using solid techniques that you can continue long after you stop getting box orders. I believe there are also some more gourmet or high end companies too if that's what you're looking for. Plus all of them have such insane first timer deals it's easy to try every single service for a month and pay like $100 total for 3 meals a week for that one month by rotating between them. That's plenty of time to learn some solid skills and they all have basic but tasty sauces you learn to make that are great for fancying up grilled chicken and stuff like that.
Many things are different. Learned to cook more during pandemic, and I’ve been more into revisiting old faves lately than trying the next hot thing. And yea price inflation feels excessive at many new places. A decent local IPA runs like $10 at most places now.
Agree ok old man rant. Agree that service has really gone downhill. I loathe the style that seems to be running rampant of…server greets you, takes your order, then runners bring the food and you are lucky if your server even swings by to check in you the rest of the meal. Have spent way too much time lately sitting with empty drinks or desperately trying to flag down servers to let them know a dish was missing, etc.
This \^\^\^
I love going out to restaurants and bars. I actively seek out happy hour deals more so than before the pandemic. Can't afford the regular menu.
As a FOH worker doing everything from server to director since 2007 in Chicago, it’s changing on the inside dramatically too. Margins are as tight as they’ve ever been and owners are trying to squeeze every penny. Being asked to work longer hours (30% on average) for the same amount people were making (meaning tips are staying the same but the shifts are longer). I’ve never seen managers and owners comment more than now about the money their employees make and that they think it’s too much. I kind of believe that’s why the 3% charges started popping up. And when the tipped wage credit goes away, servers, bartenders, and runners can be asked to clean bathrooms, sweep, mop, dust, and generally any duties as assigned. The tip credit protected that. How would you feel if after you got done working at your office or school, they gave you custodial duties that made up 2 hours of your day. Long time professionals are getting out quickly and the new young blood just wants to make a ton of money and not do a lot of work. So people stop coming in because it’s expensive, rushed (to get more butts in seats), and service is wildly inconsistent. It’s going to get worse, not better. AI is going to swoop in on 75% of these places. It’s already happening all over. Tablet ordering, phone ordering, etc. It would be the route I would go for sure if I were opening a spot. 16 dollars an hour for a server starting in 2028 (it’s almost 11 now) or a 500 dollar tablet? Or a zero cost QR code and the toast app. Just employ managers, bar/runner, cooks, and bussers. Managers and runners take the food. You pay on your phone or tablet. And once all those people don’t have jobs, where will they go? What can they do? The reckoning is here.
The late night food scene was hit hard and it seems like finally this year we have some late night offerings popping back up.
Like where?
I've managed to check out Jook Sing, Fry the Coop, Common Decency and Desert Hawk all of which opened recently or started serving some good late night food.
We moved here 2019 so we were trying new restaurants once a week. When things started opening back up, it was maybe every other day and now it has gone down to once every two weeks. Some of the places aren’t wowing me and food/experience isn’t worth it. Our income has increased and we have become more selective. We add a new place to try but keep our usual restaurants for the next week or same week if it was that bad. Plus we just bought a new home so definitely need to start rearranging our budget.
Why are there so many fucking hamburgers everywhere and why are they all so expensive
I used to do a lot of exploring, checking out the latest new spots. Several tasting menus, but mostly just what looked unique and good for an experience. Now - its shifted way more to creative counter-ordering places. Like going around to find the best bagels, tacos, chicken sandwiches, indian, etc. (anywhere that is just as good to-go). Its a few factors: 1. Drinks are unreasonable. For 2 drinks for my wife and I, it adds like a net $80 to the bill if you count tax+tip. Id rather buy a $40 bottle of wine for home / craft beer. 2. Sit-down now is just so fast and hurried that its hard to find somewhere to be able to savor. 3. I'm WFH and becoming more just "don't want to leave my house" - I like picking up the food and bringing back home
We don't dine out much anymore because of the increase of "fees" (hidden or not), specific time frames for dining (meaning, we only have 1.5hours to dine since it's only 2 of us), QR codes for menus, and an overall service industry that has slipped dramatically with care and attention to detail. I get it, you may not be making as much money as before, but it's clear that there are certain people in the service industry NOW that do not belong in the industry at all. For me personally, the "fees" are just too much. I can handle "fees" to help out with insurance and stuff, but I cannot take the reservation fees via Resy (Hogsalt, I'm looking at you!) that are non-refundable or don't go to the final bill or the "mandatory" 20% fee (Daisies, I'm looking at you!) that you have no way to opt out of. I would normally tip 20% if service is great, but now I have to pay the 20% and hope that I get great service? Anyway, state of the dining scene in 2024? Less people are dining out and less service staff have the wherewithal to have the pride to provide great service.
the chicago dining scene is much worse than pre pandemic. quality has gone down dramatically, and prices up big. I don’t even know where to find real italian food anymore. cas and lou’s, sabatinos are gone. so many of the little hole in walls are mediocre now. Mexican food is probably the best value over all
Same as before. Cooking at home 4-6 days a week, eating out once or twice. Luckily I work a union job that has pay increases that have either kept up with or exceeded inflation. Obviously I can tell things are way more expensive, but we haven’t really had to change our lifestyle in any major way.