Cochon Volant Brasserie

Reviews 4

FR

Franco Rizzo

I don’t normally write review, positive or negative. I’ve just always assumed that no one would ever cares about my opinion… However after my awful experience at Cochon Volant Brasserie in the heart of the Chicago loop, I’m taking pen to paper (or keyboard to screen) and share how rude the employees and management are to their guests, namely to ME. I work in the loop and often go out for lunch. This particular sunny Friday I walked past many options and decided to spend my money at Cochon. I’ve visited them before soon after they opened and found the service poor at best, but at the time I attributed it to teething pains and just assumed they would improve in time, well I was wrong… I was alone, so upon arriving I walked strait for the bar and sat myself in the only open bar stool close to the middle of the bar. And waited and waited and after 10 minutes (this is meant to be lunch not an experience and Alinea) I flagged down the bartended and asked for a glass of water and a menu. I’m assuming that that wasn’t part of his job description since he gave me a look that could have stopped a grizzly, but I didn’t say anything since I was hungry. Well he eventually gave me a glass of water and a menu, though I could tell he had zero interest in serving me, for what reason I have no idea. After a few minutes, he returned and asked what I wanted to drink. I wasn’t planning on having anything to drink, but I thought I would make it worth his time, since he’s going the extra mile for me, so I order a glass of rose and just to be safe I ordered the mid-priced option, worried that if I ordered the least expensive I might get something else than wine. Well my readers, this is when things went downhill. After a few minutes I saw him pour what looked like rose into a glass and just left it at the end of the bar, maybe 5 feet away from me and continued helping the other guests. At first I assumed it was meant for someone else, maybe a waiter, but that glass of rose, slowly getting warmer by the second just sat there and again I waited, and waited, and waited. While that glass of warm rose just sat there, at that point I realized that he had no intention of ever serving it to me. I was both annoyed, hungry and felt slighted, so I stood up and left. I approached the hostess and asked her who I might be able to share my experience with, to my luck that person was standing next to her. As soon as I started to share my story to him, I quickly realized that he cared less about the quality of service that I received than a flea seating on top of an elephant 10000 miles away, his level of arrogance was palpable. At that point, I realized that the level of service I receive is systemic at Cochon Volant Brasserie and it starts at the top. I’m in sales and understand the basic tenants of sales, he top one being, treat your customers well and they will keep coming back. Apparently, the owners of Cochon Volant Brasserie never learned that lesson and rather communicate to their staff to treat the custom as a dispensable commodity. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you avoid this restaurant and frequent the other 10000 establishments in the city where you’re more likely to be treated like a value customer.

BR

Brandi Kenner-Bell

ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS SERVICE. We arrived for a pre-show dinner at 5:45 on 5/31/17, 1 member of our party was going to be late. We were seated by an unfriendly hostess, who couldnt be bothered to even smile. We sat in a mostly empty restaurant for 15 minutes before I had to flag someone down to find out who was our server, only to discover it was the guy who had been walking by our table repeatedly while we sat waiting. He finally came over, we ordered drinks, which he delivered about 10 minutes later without so much as a pause as he dropped them on the table and turned to walk away. I had to call out to him to return to the table and ask him if I could order a salad. Again the salad is dropped on the table without comment and he walked away. He continued to walk past our table tending to the few others in the room, not once stopping to ask if we wanted or needed to order anything. I finally asked for the manager. I explained what had transpired. He apologized and sent the server over to our table. When he arrived he said "Can I get you anything else?". No apology, no explanation as to why he had been ignoring us for the better part of an hour. We promptly asked for the check, which he seemed very happy to provide. The manager came over again and offered to remove the salad from the bill. I was incredulous as I expressed how in credibly rude the server had been, to which the manager replied "He might have thought you were waiting for another person." As if that explained his complete lack of attention, courtesy and service to the 2 people who were actually sitting there for an hour, begging for food. Needless to say, we were not happy with the managers attempt to explain away his unacceptable behavior. I would never return to this place and plan to contact the powers that be about my experience.

JA

James Murray

Poorly designed, badly managed, poorly executed. All hard surfaces enhancing the noise (in Chicago it is “excitement”, in NYC it is noise). They should sue and get their money back from the designer. We had asked for a quiet table (there are none), and pointed one out, but it was “reserved”, yet still empty when we left! Not clear what that was about. The place setting had bread plates, but I discovered only some of the offerings come with bread. The server was challenged by a madly managed kitchen or processes (our oysters walked around the dining room before discovering where we were seated). The meal took so long as to require us to order another drink! The check took a very long time to show up (after we asked for such). The oysters were priced individually, but when I ordered four, I was told that they only come in half dozen or dozen (I did not know that they bread that way!). I ordered white fish, expecting Lake Superior White Fish, but was told that “today the white fish is Haddock”. When I commented, they pointed out that the menu does not capitalize white fish, but neither does it have an “a” in front of it. It arrived as a slab of fish on a plate, nothing else with it, not even a sauce. We asked for a desert menu, but were told that there was none, so the server had to describe the offerings, which we could not hear (because of the noise), so we skipped it. The couple next to us over heard my comments, and said it is a Hyatt, what do you expect?

RY

Ryan Sullivan

I came here on a whim after church last Sunday for breakfast. I walk by it all the time so finally decided to try out my first French brasserie. The interior is quite nice and had a lively, brunch-like atmosphere even though not many people were drinking. We were seated immediately near the pastry display, which contained dozens of various donuts, croissants and other bread products. I took the waitresss suggestion and ordered the corned beef hash with a side of bacon. The cocktails were all $12, so I decided to just get a coffee and save the drinking for later. There was only one waitress in our area (or maybe the entire restaurant), so the service was a little erratic. After forgetting my coffee at first, and then the cream after that, I finally had my drink by the time the food came. The corned beef hash was savory but not extremely flavorful, however the poached eggs I ordered on it were nice and runny. The bacon was thick and crispy, but I couldnt help but with it was the jalepeno bacon at 25 Degrees. Overall, this place is a nice place to stop for an expensive, sober brunch downtown. However, if you want a boozy brunch I suggest you look elsewhere.