Quay

Love this place! My husband and I stumbled upon it on our anniversary, and it met every requirement- great location for people or river watching, great food, great service and hip metro feel (with big screen TVs featuring our favorite Sox)! While some folks might wonder why a fine dining place also provides sports-bar style entertainment, I thought the combo was brilliant! Both the women and men will be satisfied. Thanks for rethinking the old restaurant model and bringing Chicago a truly unique escape in the beautiful North Pier building. We'll be back soon!

Very rarely can I say that I've been to a Chicago restaurant twice within a month.

Also, it is not so rare that I might mispronounce a restaurant name, and this held true here. It's not "kway", it's pronounced like "kee" and means a landing place aside water. You learn something new every day!

First occasion here was brunch. Both bf and I ordered the Amish chicken hash and were pleasantly surprised. The chicken portion reminded me of a Scottish egg, in that we were presented with this batter fried, crispy egg shaped mound made of starchy potatoes and chicken. It was interesting, and I would recommend it. The dish also came with 2 eggs prepped your way, bacon, and a hearty side of seasoned potatoes.

While we were seated up front by the floor-to-ceiling open windows for brunch, for dinner, we got a table in the elegant, dimly lit back room. Our group tried the roasted Amish chicken (yes, again) with pumpkin polenta and kale, bacon wrapped scallops, beet salad, honey pear salad, and duck pasta entree. The chicken was 2 ginormous chicken breasts and could seemingly feed a small village. Everyone enjoyed the flavors of each of the offerings, esp the pumpkin polenta, which was extremely comforting.

Friendly service, unique bar and dining atmosphere, and great location next to Navy Pier!

For a few years when a person went out in Streterville, there would have been many choices.

If you have been trekking through here or live in adjecent hoods you know what I am talking about.

I like the place because you will meet a diverse group of people of different ages who are over 26 who know how to have a good time.

My favorite section is the back lounge section.

I was here recently with a group of my friends after Millenium park concert on a Saturday Night.
The service is great and attentive. The various powers that be basically make sure that if you are ordering a mixed drink or a cocktail that there is a good amount of alchahol ( I e vodka etc ) in it.
and not like other places where they are watering down your drinks. They definitely do not do that over here.

On this particular night which was on July 4th weekend we stepped briefly into the outdoor area to watch the navy pier fireworks for a few minutes.

They also have another area which is to the extreme right of the bar area where people can just chill out and have a cocktail outside.

On the whole this is a good experience. The only thing I would change is maybe having the sound on for a hockey game or the bears game. Maybe they do put it on for a bears game but I have not been here just yet for that.

Just for the sake of posterity I have brought groups of people for private events in the back and people do like it. It was with the 312 Social/ After hours meetup that I run. Shameless plug I know but its the truth.

Good for dancing when they have a DJ

I may write an article sometime about it on yelp. Who knows.

This place is HORRIBLE.

So I was SUPER pumped when this place opened because its close and looks nicer than D4.

Ended up coming here on a Friday night at about 1230ish. The place was totally empty, but I still wanted an adult beverage so we belly-upped to the bar.

The bartender was ok. Kind of short and snotty. Whatever. We were almost done with our first drinks and she was like, its almost last call. So we of course, got two more. She sets the bill down and walks away. Literally 5 mins go by and she comes to grab the tab....we hadnt paid yet. So she opens the bill and pushes it closer to us....it was RIDIC. She then says they are closing. I was absolutely appalled. It was like 120 and you just served us two more drinks.

We left....I refuse to go back and it looks like every time I walk by, most people are thinking the same thing. This place will be out of business in 6 months unless they change something soon.

BOO to QUAY!

Quay still has an identify crisis in my book. I like to go here in the Summer and hang out in the back bar, or grab a drink with friends at the front bar- but the central restaurant portion still lacks something for me.

We went for dinner the other night. While I was warmly greeted by no less than 3 hostesses, when I sat at the bar to have a drink before my friend arrived, I had to flag down the bartender just to get a drink. And even odder was that my request for a "Pellegrino" stumped her. "What?" she asked. After I explained to her I wanted some type of sparkling bottled water, she was able to find one small bottle behind the bar but the effort seemed tremendous.

When my friend got there- we were seated in the mostly empty restaurant section. Keeping in mind this was a Friday night, I expected more people to be there but every time I come here it is usually the same.

The highlight of our evening? Our server, Kristy. This woman was amazing! Personable, friendly, willing to accommodate even the hardest request, this woman on her own would make this a 4 star review! She even went back and checked with the chef to make sure my "no oil" request would not get me a dried out piece of tuna!

Dinner for two without drinks or dessert was about $100. My ahi tuna was $27 and my friend's steak was $34. The rest was in veggies. The kitchen staff did an great job in dealing with our special requests. They were executed perfectly which is not always the case. My tuna was lightly grilled and my friend's steak came out a perfect medium rare.

All in all, Quay still goes on my list of places to grab a drink rather than a dinner destination. But due to the wonderful server we had and the efforts of the kitchen, I'm taking my earlier rating up a star.

What a crazy but interesting space. The last restaurant I remember in the extremely large and sectioned area was De La Costa. I have no idea if anything has been there since. People have written about the three faces/sections of Quay - the front bar, the middle dining room and the back lounge. I liked the vibe of the bar with lots of TVs, nice bench seating and plenty of high tops. The entire place is well designed with funky and new age style. This is especially true in the rather small dining room. We went on a Monday night so I'm not surprised it wasn't packed, but I an also imagine that it might get a little loud and cramped if all the tables were occupied.

I really like the menu - it's approachable, to the point and affordable. Many of the items focus or feature seafood but there's a good balance of meat and vegetable selections too (lots of bacon usage). The four of us all had different tastes that night so we were able to see and try many things. We started the meal with two flat breads (one mushroom and one tarte flambe), tuna tartare and the surf and turf trio of sliders. The flat breads were nice and the appropriate size for a starter. I actually liked the mushroom and goat cheese more than my flambe (i.e. bacon and fromage blanc). Our trio of sliders were ok but not amazing. the lobster roll wasn't bad and I liked the burger but not a huge fan of the short rib.

Erica and I split the pork chop special and the served it to us on two plates without asking (a nice touch). Ari and Tali ordered the ravioli and grilled ahi tuna. I didn't taste the tuna but I heard good things. My bite of the ravioli was quite good. Our pork chop was very tasty: well cooked, well seasoned and full of flavor. It was served with slightly under-cooked brussel sprouts and an interested mashed vegetable (potato I assume). I'm glad we shared the plate because I would have been tempted to eat the entire serving.


To round out the meal we ordered sides of garlic potato puree and mac and cheese. The potatoes were great and full of garlic (and butter I'm sure). We ordered the mac without the pork (lots of pork on the menu) but it still came with the chipotle seasoning that should have had a stronger warning label for how much heat it carried. I'm a huge fan of spicy mac n cheese but this needed more clarity for the unsuspecting diner (read: Erica). Oh well.

We had a nice meal with pretty good food and good value. Our service was friendly and attentive and our drinks kept coming (though my first cocktail was a bit of a disaster). We all had plenty of food but no one felt over stuffed. There were other items worth exploring so another visit isn't out of the question. The back lounge area looks very cool with great views and seating areas. The location doesn't do it any favors but hopefully people decided to hang out post meal. Quay is a good addition to that part of town that I hope can find enough people to fill all that space.

Cool place to chill before hitting up a movie at AMC (right down the street)

Good beer selection. I recommend the macaroni and cheese.

I stopped in here for a light dinner with my brother tonight.

The space is large and beautiful, if a bit disjointed. There are three separate rooms. The front area is centered around a spacious bar, has open leather seating and high stools with flat screen TVs-- an upscale sports/gastropub feel with a perfect view of the better-than-food-network kitchen. The middle room is a pristine white tableclothed formal dining area, and the back room is a more casual, colorful and playful bar overlooking the Chicago river. Each space is gorgeous, but nothing seems to pull the whole thing together, except for the all-black clad staff.

(An aside: Why are people against pants? Didn't anyone ever tell you tights are not pants? Ah well, if you got it girl, flaunt it!)

I didn't do drinks tonight, but I can say, the food was pretty great. Pricey as downtown will always be, but obviously fresh and made with care. We ordered the cod burger ($12) and the beet salad with herring and arugula ($11). The cod was well cooked, the batter perfectly seasoned, the bread appropriately soft, and the fries salty and crunchy and velvety on the inside. But my favorite was the salad, and I'm not really a salad girl at all! Slices of red and yellow beets were topped with arugula, watercress, cucumbers and pickled herring, then drizzled with olive oil. It was so good I will have to try and duplicate the flavors at home.

The other dishes that passed me by also looked delicious, in particular the flatbread with bacon and what looked like a well dressed satay.

The place is huge and I wonder if they will get the foot traffic necessary from the close-but-not-close-enough hotels in order to pay for the real estate. The crowd that walks home from Navy Pier is not exactly going to stop in for a $15 martini either...but who knows? I think if more people check it out they won't be disappointed with the food or service. Good luck!

Four of us came here for an early Saturday lunch. We were pleased on all aspects of our dining experience. We sat in the patio room with a view of the river and the windows open just a bit to let the cool breeze in. The cool breeze along with the warm sunshine through all of the windows created a perfect ambiance.

Run down on the food:
Slider trio - 1 lobster salad slider, 1 pot roast slider, 1 cheeseburger slider. All were terrific. Would order this again.

chicken salad - so-so. As a previous reviewer noted the grilled chicken on top of the greens was somewhat dry. Would have liked more dressing. Would not order again.

Seasonal fruit french toast - Fabulous. Four thick triangles of french toast with a delicious fruit topping and powdered sugar. Syrup came with it but was not used because the fruit topping was enough. Would order again.

Mac and Cheese with pulled pork - The menu said it would be spicy and it was what we considered very spicy. It is kind of an odd brown color. Large serving size. Toward the end of the meal my sister noticed that most of the pulled pork was in the bottom of the bowl and so once she mixed it up, the pulled pork seemed to calm down the hot spice somewhat. It makes a good side dish but I don't see how anyone could eat that entire bowl as an entree. Very rich and very spice. Would not order again.

Dessert
s'more chocolate cake - chocolate perfection.
strawberry tiramisu with pistachios - delicious and would order again. I consider this a trifle. I don't quite understand how it is connected to 'tiramisu' but it was good. Would order again.

Service was excellent. Prices are reasonable. We enjoyed our meal very much.

Great service!!

I checked out two of the three areas of this place - the bar and the inner dining area. The bar was fun with the Bulls game on and a decent selection of beer. The inner side was a quieter.

The goat cheese mushroom flatbread was great and the mushroom risotto wasn't bad. But the one thing I want to really highlight is service! There are few places these days that make you feel that dining out was an experience because someone took care of you and our server did a very good job indeed!!