I liked that they bring the bottle over with a couple of shot glasses and leave the bottle, trusting guests to report how many shots the drink.

I believe they put a rubber band or some other sort of marker on the bottle. Remember seeing something a long time ago regarding how it is a late night industry place. Regardless reminds me I need to get back for some bone marrow and cocktails.

Bumping this thread due to having one of my better meals of the year here last night pre Langhorne Slim at City Winery.

Frites were stellar, braised lentils and roasted chicken were a revelation. Perfectly made Old Fashioned as well, maybe the best I've had in the city.

Food and beverage were both stellar at a recent visit but man, the service is just not even close to the same level. It's clumsy, indifferent (at best), and detached. That "I don't give a f*ck, I'm doing you a favor" aesthetic is just so tiresome.

=R=

So tired of that horseshit. Good food w/lame service means we're done.

I've had three meals at Maude's Liquor Bar in the past month and a half and the food is absolutely stellar, still. The pretension/indifference in service mirrors that of Au Cheval. The steak tartare, frites, and the shrimp cocktail, are, however still absolutely some of the very best available in Chicago. I think that Maude's is some of the very best classic French bistro food! The kitchen is stellar at cranking out great food!

Agree the food is good but if you're pissed off when you get it, it kind of defeats the purpose. I have zero interest in that type of service. Puts me off my feed (particularly @ that price point). I'll put up w/lesser service @ a mom and pop fraction of the cost place, but the arrogant pretentious douchebaggery recently experienced, I'll find somewhere else to spend my $. You get what you'll accept, and it's become my personal war I'm fighting.

Had a reservation there. Cancelled due to above posts. Hope they see this.

daveandrews3 wrote:Another thing that struck me about Maude's is how they expertly pull off "polished casual" service that I think also best describes my experiences at The Bristol and at Big Star (when they're not slammed). Our waitress at Maude's was warm and professional and friendly. She paced the meal expertly. And she informative without even the slightest hint of being overbearing -- totally exuding the essence of "polished casual".
.)

Okay, see, this is the only specific account on this thread of an experience with the service at Maude's.

If posters are going to bash the service - to the point where other forumites are persuaded to cancel their reservations! - they ought to provide similar specifics to support their point.

Roger Ramjet wrote:If posters are going to bash the service - to the point where other forumites are persuaded to cancel their reservations! - they ought to provide similar specifics to support their point.

Busboy tried to pick up way too many items when clearing the table and dropped a dirty knife on my wife's leg. Food runner tried to serve a plate of food on top of a tray used hand towels that were brought out after our oysters. Throughout the evening our main server repeatedly looked right past me several times after eye contact was made. Cocktails were slow, so slow in fact that as we sat there waiting for them, other staffers came over to ask it we wanted to order more drinks. All in all, the service was exactly as I described above: clumsy, indifferent and detached.

=R=

Roger Ramjet wrote:

daveandrews3 wrote:Another thing that struck me about Maude's is how they expertly pull off "polished casual" service that I think also best describes my experiences at The Bristol and at Big Star (when they're not slammed). Our waitress at Maude's was warm and professional and friendly. She paced the meal expertly. And she informative without even the slightest hint of being overbearing -- totally exuding the essence of "polished casual".
.)

Okay, see, this is the only specific account on this thread of an experience with the service at Maude's.

If posters are going to bash the service - to the point where other forumites are persuaded to cancel their reservations! - they ought to provide similar specifics to support their point.

On one specific occasion (of which I thoroughly enjoyed the food, as I said I did), main courses arrived before appetizers. One appetizer didn't arrive at all. Plates and silverware were also cleared but replacements were not provided. Our server stopped 1/2 way through describing food and said "waiiiiiiit... you need plates and silverware", but never finished describing food. They provided us with the frites for no cost and I still tipped 18%, so they realized some of what went wrong.

On another occasion, the overall tone of our server was pretentious and "holier than thou"; not appropriate for a casual French restaurant or anything in general actually. There were no specific missteps in service, just an overall pretension coupled with lack of care from the server to us. It's no big deal, they were just kind of short and spoke as if I was supposed to already have known what they were saying. I realize it may have been a long night or they may have been having a bad day. I'm not really that upset.

I will return to the restaurant for sure, because the food is fantastic and the atmosphere is lovely.

There. Much more helpful to have actual examples of service issues that diners have experienced. Same as with the food/drink/atmosphere of a place.

I've noticed the service at Brendan Sodikoff joints have really started to slip. I suspect he's growing his organization a bit too fast.

Roger Ramjet wrote:There. Much more helpful to have actual examples of service issues that diners have experienced. Same as with the food/drink/atmosphere of a place.

No; you're right, I should have specified and I'm sorry for making unsubstantiated remarks.

Royal Lichter wrote:

Roger Ramjet wrote:There. Much more helpful to have actual examples of service issues that diners have experienced. Same as with the food/drink/atmosphere of a place.

No; you're right, I should have specified and I'm sorry for making unsubstantiated remarks.

Well, it's a difficult thing to quantify, for me at least. Which is unfortunate, because it's such an important part of the experience. For example whenever I look a place up on Yelp I get the impression that the majority of negative reviews are generated by bad (as far as the Yelper is concerned) experiences with FOH.

Pop wants a seafood tower dinner for Father's Day and apparently Maude's serves quite a good one, so are heading here in a couple weeks.

Their current menu shows nothing like that amazing looking pig trotter special mentioned above. Service issues aside, has anyone dined recently at Maude's?

I stopped in a few weeks ago and had a great meal at the bar. The ribeye was awesome, can never go wrong with escargot (and not so easy to find in this town,) and the steak tartare is/was one if Sodikoff's signature dishes and always a treat. Now that the heat factor has died down (and thus maybe necessitating the hospitality increase?) I may return sooner than I had anticipated.

Cheers,

Chico

misterchico wrote:... the steak tartare is/was one if Sodikoff's signature dishes and always a treat.

it was very enjoyable, as was FOIE GRAS PATÉ.

My father had wanted a seafood tower for Father's Day so we went on Friday night and had Maude's Tower. All the seafood was terrific, certainly scratched the seafood tower itch. Included were 18 oysters (9 each of East & West coast), 1/2 lobster, a pound or so of king crab, 18 shrimp, salmon ceviche (only item that was just ok). Maude's does not serve clams.

Wine list seems marked up substantially

Service was quite prompt, friendly, not overbearing. The front stand hosts on the other hand, just not friendly in the least.