The Duck Inn
| Address: | 2701 S Eleanor St, Chicago, IL 60608, USA |
| Phone: | +1 312-724-8811 |
| Site: | theduckinnchicago.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | Closed 5PM–2AM 5PM–2AM 5PM–2AM 5PM–2AM 12PM–3AM 10AM–2AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 11
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Daniel Ireland
After learning of The Duck Inns existence, I was really excited to check it out. Its rare to find a spot of its supposed caliber outside of the restaurant hot spot areas of The City, so being located in Bridgeport immediately peeked my interest. I really wanted The Duck Inn to be an all around great time, but unfortunately I left pretty disappointed. I want to stress that the entire experience wasnt bad. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was really nice, but thats where The Duck Inns impressiveness ended. I went on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, excited to sit and enjoy the weather on their spacious back patio. Each item we ordered was delicious, but the portion sizes were ridiculously small for prices. Most restaurants in River North and the West Loop demanding the same prices offer much larger portions, so I find it pretty pretentious for the Duck Inn to command the same considering its location. My biggest issue was the service. It was simply horrible. The place was in no way busy, yet we waited far too long for everything. I watched several servers walk by our table 4 or 5 times while our water and drink glasses remained completely empty. I had to get up and ask a server for water. This is never acceptable. After ordering a second drink and waiting over 20 minutes without seeing our server, I had to walk inside to the bar to let them know we no longer wanted the drink we had been waiting for and simply wanted our check. Once the server brought our check, I noticed that there were beers we never even ordered on the bill. The issue was fixed, however, there were no apologies offered. I really wanted to like The Duck Inn. I hate giving bad reviews, because in most bad situations, I really feel that its out of the ordinary and if given an another chance the establishment would most likely redeem itself. That being said, I will reiterate, the food was really good and their patio is awesome. I will go back, maybe for a dinner meal and really hope my opinion is changed. If it is, I will definitely update this review.
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Diane Hochstetter
Living in Bridgeport, I was excited to visit the Duck Inn. I have gone twice now and it has NOT been a good experience on both visits. The service is slow, very slow. Even to get our drinks took a long time, on both visits. For $10-12 drinks, they were nothing to write home about. I had the Drunk A LOrange and it tasted like a watered down kiddy cocktail. This visit, we ordered food. We had a winter tasting and paired it with beer for $10 extra and the beer didnt come out till the second course!!! If I am paying over $65 on a meal, I expect good service, and it just isnt there. Furthermore, It lacks atmosphere and the music was horrible the first time we went. As a bar going for the ever trendy "retro" bar theme, they were paying pop punk songs, like Fall Out Boy (eek gag) when we mentioned it to the manager he asked us if we had any suggestions. Yeah, I could think of a million and one other songs you could have been playing, lets see; anything from the 1960s may have been a better fit. I want to like the Duck Inn, but experience tells me that it is just NOT good, at all.
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Anna Hautzinger
The Duck Inn is in an out of the way Bridgeport location. The decor is from a 1960s bar with all sorts of kitschy items. The food was excellent. You can order from the bar menu as well as the regular menu, which does have a tasting option. The cheese curds were inexplicably light even though they were fried. The duck was an excellent item to pre-order. The shortribs, pork shoulder and mushrooms were quite delicious. The only problem was that we did not receive any utensils to serve the dishes, even though we were sharing as a table. The cocktail list is quite intriguing, and offers oppourtunities to try all sorts of good things. The drunk a lorange is great orange soda with bourbon, and the Anton Chigurh is deceptively sweet. The wine list is nice, especially the bottle list. A great homey feeling place.
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Curtis Hiller
This place is expensive. Lets start there. Given that, the service was friendly but abysmal--plenty of mistakes and a surprising lack of knowledge about the menu. The atmosphere was so loud it made communication impossible, and that was in the back room where the music was off! The country rib was passable, but the signature duck was dry and flavorless. How do you make flavorless duck! I love duck (and eat it plenty) and this was an enormous disappointment. The saving grace was good wine and cocktails, but I certainly wont go back to Bridgeport just for that.
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Megan Town
Theres been a lot of recent hype around this restaurant, but I didnt quite get what it was all about. My husband and I had a reservation at 6pm on a Friday and we were promptly seated. The staff was friendly and the service was prompt, but we felt as though both the food and beverage menus were lacking. The food was good, but nothing was really that memorable. Great neighborhood joint, but I wouldnt recommend making the trek if you dont live nearby.
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Matthew Robinson
This place is a gem of the Lower West Side. You can go here for a quick drink and bar snack, dinner with friends or family, and even more formal talks. Theres a seasonal choice for literally everyone. I came here with two friends and had cheese curds, a whole duck (super reasonably priced), and one of the best deserts ever. Also, whoever DJs the Duck Inn has among the best taste in Chicago. Highly recommended
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Barb Lawler
The food is really good, desserts are superb. They have a wonderful outdoor seating environment which we took advantage of since it was a beautiful day. Staff was excellent - I have nothing bad to say and would recommend this place to anyone wanting to have a special meal in a relaxed environment. Go, you wont regret it. We ordered the rotisserie duck - reserved ahead - and it was perfectly delicious!
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Richard McAndrews - Olympic
3 Words - Get There Fast! Yes The Duck Inn will anchor Bridgeport Revival but it will be a destination for Fine Food, Great Cocktails, and attentive intelligent service. Wine Pairings are A+. Not to be missed; of course Rotisserie Duck, Foie Gras, and do yourself a favor if not dining in the bar - get a Duck Hot Dog to go...it will Blow Your Mind. You want Flavor? Get to The Duck Inn!
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Dallas Holladay
The location is gorgeous with a MCM feel and the patio cant be beat. The cocktails are inventive and tasty. However, Ive found the food to be a touch lacking, especially given the price. Ive had a few instances when I was seated and wasnt approached by waitstaff for over 20 minutes, this seems to be associated with sitting on the patio. All in all, Im glad its in the neighborhood.
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Elizabeth Guynn
This restaurant is phenomenal - it is an innovative and unique new American restaurant with creative twists on midwestern bar food and refined appetizers and entrees, with an extensive beer and cocktail list. Be sure to ask your waiter for suggestions and also for the secret menu, which includes the "animal" fries. Other highlights were the duck wings and the chicken thighs.
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Ray Forgianni
Disappointed. For the ratings I expected more. Friendly service but disorganized service as if no one was in charge. Had to ask two times every time we wanted coffee. Forgot one main dish, duck hash, for which there were only three small pieces of duck. They comped it but really. Food was good but not outstanding. This was brunch. Maybe dinner has a different staff?
