Food was very boring and flavorless. The steak was delicious, but other than that, the shrimp was oily, the tomato salad was bland and the server was devoid of any personality. He kept handing me my cocktail by the top of the rim so I was forced to use the straw. Gross
Neighbor
I had brunch there and it was fabulous. Restaurant overlooks the park across the street with a lovely view. Food is great and quite different. For years, it was a favorite of mine when I went to the aquarium on any place near South M Michigan Avenue. Also when I went to the theatre in the South Loop or just to meet friends. I was sad when it closed during the pandemic and absolutely delighted to see that it has reopened.
SandiK
Carlos was an excellent waiter! All the staff were courteous and professional. The food was delicious and we enjoyed everything we ordered. Our favorite at Mercat is the bacon wrapped dates!! Thanks for a great evening.
HungryRabbit
We came in for dinner before a CSO concert last evening. Service was fantastic! Our server Jeff was very personable, as was our food runner. Jeff was attentive, helped us find wines we would like, and made great food recommendations, too. We had the tuna tartare, carrots, bacon-wrapped dates, potatas bravas, scallops with risotto, chicken, and churros with chocolate sauce. Everything was delicious, but honestly the carrots were perfection. It had been a bit since we were last here for dinner. Love to see that Mercat is still such a great restaurant! Plus, we love how close this gem is to the CSO. Makes for a leisurely dinner, with a short walk up the street for the concert after.
NelSc1
The food was excellent. The service was good. The wait person had too many tables to give great service but he tried. The other personnel kept the table cleaned and replaced frequently. The 2 things that were less stellar was the large plate orderswere brought at different times. My order was served long after my dinner partner's so they were almost done by the time mine came. The other was dessert. I was unimpressed with the dessert. One was the topping had too much sugar (Crema Catalana) with the pudding bland and the cheesecake too dry.
Jeremy Aufderheide
Food was great. Almost everything is stellar. The things that weren't stellar were just because they weren't my thing, not a failing of the kitchen. My only quibble with the food was that on the menu, it says that paella takes "30 min or more" but the waiter told us it takes over 45 min, so I think that some wording should change on the menu. The service, however, was not great. The waiter went into a long rambling explanation of how tapas works, as if I'd never left my house. He should have asked us if we'd ever been to a tapas restaurant before instead of giving us all of this info that most people already have. He kept looking out the window and looking at his fingernails like he was making a mental note to cut them, and barely made eye contact at all. I actually had to cut him off and order some food because he was going on way too long. We asked about spiciness (my husband can't have spicy food right now due to a medical issue). He didn't ask us why or anything, just told us that Spanish food is flavorful and not spicy (this was incorrect and my husband couldn't eat one of the dishes). Then he left and we only saw him one more time while we were there. The food came several minutes before the drinks, so we were halfway done with our salad and had our first two plates before our cocktails even arrived. Finally the people that were bringing the food would mumble the name of the dish and walk off. They didn't care about our comfort. I'll give it another shot because the food was so good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 2
Great place for dinner. Beautiful view of the park across Michigan Avenue. Service was friendly. Wasn't sure about the door to get in, but the hotel doorman saw our confusion and pointed us in the right direction. Best scallops ever in the Paella.
Lidia Garner
Excellent food!! Wonderful atmosphere and service!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
disappointed
Tapas are incredibly diverse and delicious. An improvement would be to space delivery of these delicacies to avoid overwhelming the patrons and keep the food temperature controlled.
AnnE
Enjoyed Happy Hour at the bar with a tapa. The mixologist makes a great sangria. Later we had a dinner reservation, food was amazing , waiter great but his assistant was fabulous!!!
I found the tapas to be amazing. Everything we tried was really good. The bacon wrapped dates were exceptional. The service was perfect. If you're looking for a good tapas restaurant, I would definitely recommend the Mercat.
Chrysoula Sarantopoulos
Horrible. The menu online looks nothing like what we were served for Easter brunch. We took our family of 4 out to eat and where do I begin? The staff uniforms were dirty and they were unkept, the food was horrible and not worth $95 a person and the restaurant itself was dirty from the floors to the tables. They were mad and unhappy and didn't greet us no one smiled! We don't mind spending money on an experience but this was beyond an experience. Staff wouldn't even come around to take out used plates we had a pile of plates on our table. We will obviously not return again!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
1515fish
Abject failure of value,, execution, quality and service. At $85 per person for Easter brunch we expected at least passable food and service. Major decline since previous visit. Food was not cooked well and was bland, tough or poorly executed. Understaffed and little attention to customer needs. Will not return! Don't waste your money or time.
Marta A Rivera Diaz
Mercat a la Planxa is a Spanish-inspired restaurant located within The Blackstone Hotel.The restaurant itself is a beautiful space with a pleasing aesthetic. Unfortunately, the staff and food left a lot to be desired. My friends and colleagues and I were in town for an international food blogger conference and decided to reunite over dinner at Mercat.The evening started with drinks at the bar for half of our party. Unfortunately, the bartender made them feel less than welcome. His service was curt and outright hostile. My friend told us she felt compelled to leave but didn't want to ruin the evening we had planned a week for.Our server was no better; when she came to introduce herself, we all immediately felt unwelcome. Common questions about the menu were answered with a condescending remark about how "it's exactly what it sounds like" or "I have no idea." Without her guidance on the menu, we took some time to decide on what to order. She would return to us in a harried state, asking, "Are you ready yet, or do I need to come back?" We all agreed her vibe and energy were completely out of line and unprofessional. Having overheard how she spoke to others who didn't look like us, we realized we were her problem.We ordered many menu items, the croquetas de serrano were the best dish we ordered, but nothing really stood out as remarkable. When we asked for the check, the server brought it to us and said, "We don't split checks." Not that we asked, but the way she said it as she slapped down the bill was the final straw for us.The next evening, another friend who wasn't at the dinner the previous night invited us for a pre-dinner cocktail in the bar. We attended and were met with the same dismissive, hostile behavior from the bartender. It was so overt that we decided to tell fellow Black food bloggers not to patronize this restaurant. As a result, I can't, in good faith, recommend it to anyone.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
StephenD
Some highlights; dates, red pepper goats cheese, paella but mostly blah (the hake was raw). However, the waiter was not good. Perhaps a bad day. He was as the reason I won't go back.
Food was very boring and flavorless. The steak was delicious, but other than that, the shrimp was oily, the tomato salad was bland and the server was devoid of any personality. He kept handing me my cocktail by the top of the rim so I was forced to use the straw. Gross
I had brunch there and it was fabulous. Restaurant overlooks the park across the street with a lovely view. Food is great and quite different. For years, it was a favorite of mine when I went to the aquarium on any place near South M Michigan Avenue. Also when I went to the theatre in the South Loop or just to meet friends. I was sad when it closed during the pandemic and absolutely delighted to see that it has reopened.
Carlos was an excellent waiter! All the staff were courteous and professional. The food was delicious and we enjoyed everything we ordered. Our favorite at Mercat is the bacon wrapped dates!! Thanks for a great evening.
We came in for dinner before a CSO concert last evening. Service was fantastic! Our server Jeff was very personable, as was our food runner. Jeff was attentive, helped us find wines we would like, and made great food recommendations, too. We had the tuna tartare, carrots, bacon-wrapped dates, potatas bravas, scallops with risotto, chicken, and churros with chocolate sauce. Everything was delicious, but honestly the carrots were perfection. It had been a bit since we were last here for dinner. Love to see that Mercat is still such a great restaurant! Plus, we love how close this gem is to the CSO. Makes for a leisurely dinner, with a short walk up the street for the concert after.
The food was excellent. The service was good. The wait person had too many tables to give great service but he tried. The other personnel kept the table cleaned and replaced frequently. The 2 things that were less stellar was the large plate orderswere brought at different times. My order was served long after my dinner partner's so they were almost done by the time mine came. The other was dessert. I was unimpressed with the dessert. One was the topping had too much sugar (Crema Catalana) with the pudding bland and the cheesecake too dry.
Food was great. Almost everything is stellar. The things that weren't stellar were just because they weren't my thing, not a failing of the kitchen. My only quibble with the food was that on the menu, it says that paella takes "30 min or more" but the waiter told us it takes over 45 min, so I think that some wording should change on the menu. The service, however, was not great. The waiter went into a long rambling explanation of how tapas works, as if I'd never left my house. He should have asked us if we'd ever been to a tapas restaurant before instead of giving us all of this info that most people already have. He kept looking out the window and looking at his fingernails like he was making a mental note to cut them, and barely made eye contact at all. I actually had to cut him off and order some food because he was going on way too long. We asked about spiciness (my husband can't have spicy food right now due to a medical issue). He didn't ask us why or anything, just told us that Spanish food is flavorful and not spicy (this was incorrect and my husband couldn't eat one of the dishes). Then he left and we only saw him one more time while we were there. The food came several minutes before the drinks, so we were halfway done with our salad and had our first two plates before our cocktails even arrived. Finally the people that were bringing the food would mumble the name of the dish and walk off. They didn't care about our comfort. I'll give it another shot because the food was so good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 2
Great place for dinner. Beautiful view of the park across Michigan Avenue. Service was friendly. Wasn't sure about the door to get in, but the hotel doorman saw our confusion and pointed us in the right direction. Best scallops ever in the Paella.
Excellent food!! Wonderful atmosphere and service!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tapas are incredibly diverse and delicious. An improvement would be to space delivery of these delicacies to avoid overwhelming the patrons and keep the food temperature controlled.
Enjoyed Happy Hour at the bar with a tapa. The mixologist makes a great sangria. Later we had a dinner reservation, food was amazing , waiter great but his assistant was fabulous!!!
Restaurantji Recommends
I found the tapas to be amazing. Everything we tried was really good. The bacon wrapped dates were exceptional. The service was perfect. If you're looking for a good tapas restaurant, I would definitely recommend the Mercat.
Horrible. The menu online looks nothing like what we were served for Easter brunch. We took our family of 4 out to eat and where do I begin? The staff uniforms were dirty and they were unkept, the food was horrible and not worth $95 a person and the restaurant itself was dirty from the floors to the tables. They were mad and unhappy and didn't greet us no one smiled! We don't mind spending money on an experience but this was beyond an experience. Staff wouldn't even come around to take out used plates we had a pile of plates on our table. We will obviously not return again!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Abject failure of value,, execution, quality and service. At $85 per person for Easter brunch we expected at least passable food and service. Major decline since previous visit. Food was not cooked well and was bland, tough or poorly executed. Understaffed and little attention to customer needs. Will not return! Don't waste your money or time.
Mercat a la Planxa is a Spanish-inspired restaurant located within The Blackstone Hotel.The restaurant itself is a beautiful space with a pleasing aesthetic. Unfortunately, the staff and food left a lot to be desired. My friends and colleagues and I were in town for an international food blogger conference and decided to reunite over dinner at Mercat.The evening started with drinks at the bar for half of our party. Unfortunately, the bartender made them feel less than welcome. His service was curt and outright hostile. My friend told us she felt compelled to leave but didn't want to ruin the evening we had planned a week for.Our server was no better; when she came to introduce herself, we all immediately felt unwelcome. Common questions about the menu were answered with a condescending remark about how "it's exactly what it sounds like" or "I have no idea." Without her guidance on the menu, we took some time to decide on what to order. She would return to us in a harried state, asking, "Are you ready yet, or do I need to come back?" We all agreed her vibe and energy were completely out of line and unprofessional. Having overheard how she spoke to others who didn't look like us, we realized we were her problem.We ordered many menu items, the croquetas de serrano were the best dish we ordered, but nothing really stood out as remarkable. When we asked for the check, the server brought it to us and said, "We don't split checks." Not that we asked, but the way she said it as she slapped down the bill was the final straw for us.The next evening, another friend who wasn't at the dinner the previous night invited us for a pre-dinner cocktail in the bar. We attended and were met with the same dismissive, hostile behavior from the bartender. It was so overt that we decided to tell fellow Black food bloggers not to patronize this restaurant. As a result, I can't, in good faith, recommend it to anyone.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Some highlights; dates, red pepper goats cheese, paella but mostly blah (the hake was raw). However, the waiter was not good. Perhaps a bad day. He was as the reason I won't go back.