Harbor

I recently moved to the South Loop for love--and I don't mean for love of its restaurants. In the three months I've been here I've had enough perplexity and mediocre meals to begin to formulate a grand unifying theory for why the neighborhood has such a paucity of good places: it sure feels like the nabe's mix of young families, students, and event-goers/out-of-town convention-goers makes it easy to sustain fast casual, sports bars, and middling expense account places but much harder for the bolder and more idiosyncratic (a la Cellar Door or Superkhana) to do the same. My only surprise is how long it took Chipotle--who recently opened on Wabash, just north of Roosevelt--to enter the neighborhood: they fit right in.

(Note: would love to hear others' theories! We're building a mystery here.)

Which brings us to Harbor, which opened earlier this week in the Gioco space. The piece Eater ran on its opening had me deeply suspicious: neither the menu--falafel!pizza!raw bar!hamburger!--nor the interior design--openkitchen!exposedbrick!vividwallpaper!--suggested any sort of distinct identity or goal, even though the ownership spoke of a "Great Lakes" theme. If identity-less, conformist restaurant-ering is "Great Lakes"-esque, we should all be terrified.

Doubts confirmed. The pizza here is terrible: no char or flavor from the wood oven imparted, and the sauce and very, very doughy crust taste more like those in the shelf-stable pizza kits Pillsbury and others make than what you'd expect in a restaurant (or even takeout) pie. A side of mushrooms had no discernible miso flavor and an unnecessary amount of onions; a walleye main, while competently cooked, was dumped on top of a mound of freekah that didn't pair with the fish. Your dessert options are a skillet cookie and funfetti birthday cake. (Lesson learned: when in doubt, ask what they have for dessert first, then decide whether to stay or not).

I know, I know: making Harbor emblematic of a whole neighborhood is unfair to the restaurant--they just opened, and the staff was exceedingly friendly. But if restaurants make neighborhoods as much as neighborhoods make restaurants, this feels like bad juju for SLoopers.

Harbor
1312 S. Wabash Avenue,
(312) 736-1570

Thanks for this. I've been watching Harbor and hopes and trepidation. We need what their menu is promising badly! My trepidation began with the website full of what can only be called Glamour shots of food months before the place even opened, then deepened when the first four reviews on Google all raved in the most glowing terms using words like "the best", "wonderful", "exactly what the South Loop needed", Everything was perfect." Just over the top. We all know that not everything will ever be perfect on opening night. What are the odds that a place with one steak on the menu will turn out "the best steak I've even eaten"? It just set off my "suspicious" meter.

My other concern is that the initial menu ranges from a raw bar to PIZZA! That's a lot of territory for a single kitchen staff to cover.

So, I decided to take my own advice and sit back for a few weeks to set them settle down, get some experience under their belts, and have a chance to get some more real reviews from frequent Sloop posters whose opinion I trust. It sounds like you had issues with every dish you were served, which is actually more what I'd expect for a new place's first week. I really hope that they find their groove!!

Yelp received a considerable number of reviews over the weekend that are overwhelmingly positive. We will certainly give them a try - although likely not for the chicken pickle pizza!!

chicagojim wrote:Yelp received a considerable number of reviews over the weekend that are overwhelmingly positive. We will certainly give them a try - although likely not for the chicken pickle pizza!!

Why not the chicken pickle pizza?

chicagojim wrote:Yelp received a considerable number of reviews over the weekend that are overwhelmingly positive. We will certainly give them a try - although likely not for the chicken pickle pizza!!

If Yelp says it’s good it must be!

I was at Harbor on Monday for an opening event, tried the Fried Chicken & Pickle Pizza and found it to be much like a warm chicken sandwich with cheese. Good taste, but not eye-popping, though it was hard keeping the chicken on the slice, as the fried clumps kept sliding to the side. Solution: fold the slice, NYC style, into a kind of sandwich.