Shanahan's in Forest Park- Avoid it

Last Sunday, I went with my mom and brother here. It was "lobsterfest" and mom wanted to go. We have been here once before, ironically for a Cajun/crawfish fest. That experience was not great, but I thought we could give them a second chance.
The waitress was prompt in taking drink orders, we ordered food and then it went downhill.We ordered cups of soup. Mom got lobster bisque. It had tiny bits of lobster in it, and had a taste like vinegar was added. I had chicken and sausage gumbo, it was OK, a fair amount of shredded chicken and one sausage coin. Bro had the lobster chowder. From a distance it looked great- nice thick soup with lots of big chunks. Unfortunately the chunks were potatoes and carrots! There was not one piece of lobster in the cup.
The appetizer special was lobster cakes. Two show up about 10 min later. Their were 2 about 1/2" high and 5" around. Nearly all filler and reddish colored, any lobster in them must have been ground. They were also soft like they had been steamed or microwaved. Not good.
By this time we had been out of drinks for at least 10 min. Waitresses and the busboy passed our table repeatedly, taking over 10 min to clear the soup bowls after we were finished.
Now this is a pet peeve of mine. Restaurants make money by making sure you keep buying drinks, and to be empty for a long time is a mark of a poor waitress. When she finally thinks of it, she comes by and asks my brother if he would like another beer. He says yes and she goes away to get it NEVER BOTHERING TO ASK THE OTHER TWO OF US IF WE WANTED ANY MORE! (This actually happened the first time we were there so I shouldn't have been suprised.)
When she brought the beer back, I asked her, "What about the rest of us?" Oh, sorry, sorry, and we got our drinks.
Entrees came a little later. Mom had twin tails with boiled potatoes and corn. 2-4oz tails one 4" corn cob and maybe 2 potatoes. Potatoes were only warm.
I had the "lobster kadobster" described as blackened lobster medallions served over pasta with a spicy Cajun tomato cream sauce. This arrived with some chunks of lobster and more pieces mixed in with the pasta. None of it was blackened, all of it had that fishy taste of frozen food.
Now how does a place that advertises as a Cajun eatery not know what blackened means? And the pasta sauce was the blandest sauce I have ever eaten. I left most of it. A woman at another table did the same.
Service never really improved, even after my outburst. I think she decided we weren't going to be good tippers so she didn't even try to get better. Maybe she couldn't.
In summary, poor service, poor food quality. It is mostly a bar, and maybe they should stick to bar food. I know we won't be back.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience there. I'll admit the service is usually not that great, they could use a couple more servers maybe. But I love the Gumbo here, best I have had in Chicago, (and I go to New Orleans often). They have good Crawfish etoufee, good crawfish pasta, the Lobster Ponchatrain is great too. Jambalya not so good. Also the best Dirty rice (second Favorite Popeye's) I think this place blows Heaven on Seven out of the Water! Po boy's also not so strong, but yet to find a good one in Chicago, Although Twisted Spoke has a good Shrimp Po' Boy.
Sorry for rambling.
Joey B

I think it just shows management that is either absent or doesn't care.
There are much better Cajun restaurants around, even Pappadeaux has better quality.
The best gumbo I ever had was at Let's Go Bistro in Downers Grove. We went to a cooking class there and the chef made gumbo. It was delicious.

Shanahan's is hit and miss. First, I'd agree the the service is consistently poor, but I can get past that when I'm eating in a bar.

We too went for Lobster Fest as well this weekend, and I had the whole lobster. It was fresh and larger than the advertised 1.5 lbs. My wife had the crawfish etouffe, which was very good and substantially better than anything at Pappadeaux.

I've had the po' boys on several prior visits and thought they were above average. It's a nice stop for locals who want some variety without going into the city, but probably not worth a special trip from the city.

BTW - Toon's at 3857 N Southport has the best po' boy I've found in Chicago, and a better than average beer selection for the neighborhood. Try the catfish po' boy there.