I love this restaurant and the food is always great, but the service and the organization at this location is definitely sub-par. I've been to Old Chicago restaurants across the city and have usually had friendly reception and helpful staff, however when we came in this evening for happy hour appetizers and drinks (being informed after arrival that the specials were not valid today and deciding to stay and eat anyway) the staff was distant and seemed not only disinterested but bored and borderline rude. Our orders were mixed up right away when the wrong drink was served to my dad, and the waitress was not clear on how it would be resolved. I think she was new so I can understand and forgive some confusion there, but the girl who was training her was disinterested and aloof and the staff at one point were gathered around talking and leaving our waitress out of the group. We ended up getting the correct drink from a bartender who casually asked (when I approached to pick up a bar towel for a spill that was not addressed) whether that drink was "for us or what". They were not busy and our food took over 40 minutes (just pizzas and salads). Overall, I usually love this place but I was NOT impressed with the service this evening. It's a Saturday evening so it shouldn't be a skeleton or a training shift. I hope it will be better next time!
Alexa S.
We came in pretty late, around 7:30 on a Friday. The place wasn't really busy so we figured it'd be a quick place to eat to celebrate my sisters graduation. We got in and it took 20 minutes for someone to even come to our table to get our drink and food orders. I tried to order 3 different beers and 2 were 'not in stock'. Takes another 20 minutes to get our drinks. Another 30 roll by and we ask where our appetizers are at. Waitress finally brings them. Another probably 45 goes by until we get our actual food. (Keep in mind the already small crowd is quickly dwindling). We taste our food and it's literally cold. Every single persons food at our table was cold - it clearly had been ready long before and no one brought it out. The only good thing I can say is we were comped for the awful service by the incredibly friendly manager. Will never eat here again.
Drew S.
So I came in on a Thursday evening about 7 PM even though there were 20 open tables I was told my party of five it was too large to be seated because there wasn't enough servers. We ordered appetizers and a round of Irish car bombs which they said they've never made before after getting our own drinks, looking at the ticket that has been sitting there for 20 minutes already for our Irish car bombs we finally got our food it's sucked afterwords another party asked me how was the food I told him they sucked and then the manager overheard it and gave us $20 worth of free food that is still going to suck when we get it again after leaving I called to complain about the service was put on hold for another 20 minutes and couldn't even complain about the place because I couldn't talk to anyone......
Jenn H.
I have been here twice. I won't ever return. HORRIBLE service. It took them even 10 to 15 minutes to notice that we even arrived waiting for a table. They took us to a table, we were not served forget again another 10 minutes. We ordered the food, that took a good 20 minutes and the food was not that great. The waitress was a dead fish, and treated this horribly. I will never ever return. Don't waste your money or time
David E.
It has been nearly a year since my last visit to this location. Decided that their baked spaghetti with meatballs sounded good. I was promptly seated mid afternoon. I ordered and received my meal within the typical wait. However when the food arrived, there was just one meatball and just a tiny crust of bread. The spaghetti was hot. The single meatball was not. My server disappeared after the meal was delivered to my table but was pleasant. Somehow my $10.59 meal ended up being $14.59 after having to ask for my ticket. I was delivered $4 and some change out of a $20. Too many mistakes. I most likely will never come back.
Patrick T.
Service goes along way with me, and the waitress at Old Chicago was fantastic.. Any waitress who without thinking brings a 2 year old crackers right as he sits down know's what's up and gains my trust as a server! I used to frequent Old Chicago in Ames when I lived there cause they had amazing Monday night Football specials with free nacho bar and cheap brews.. I dig that.. So I know what to expect! Lots of tv's, lots of beers to choose from, Pizza of all styles and everything else you might want on a menu! The salads and sandwiches are huge. I dig how the kids menu is packed with options.. I like the lunch special of salad and personal pizza (even Deep dish) 7.99 and the salad is all you can eat! How cool is that.. That's a deal I can get behind and the 25 ounce domestic beer for 4.99 is a deal I can get behind too! With prices like this, I want to frequent the Old Windy City before the night Old Chicago dies..
Ryan P.
Our bad experience was chalked up to just poor service. Server had no menu knowledge or specials knowledge. I got one drink and never got asked again for the rest of our meal. After 30 minutes our pizza arrived and we were told our appetizer of fries were taking awhile. Took forever to get our boxes and a bill at which time we noticed she rang in a large instead of the medium we ordered. I will not visit this location again.
Christine S.
This wasn't a good experience at all. We actually picked the Merle Hay location over Ankeny due to poor service experience on many occasions. It took an hour to get our appetisers (my husband's were cold) another table next to us said they had been waiting for an hour. 20 minutes after we received our appetisers they let us know they were out of items that we had ordered for our dinners. When we asked for the manager he couldn't be found. The cooks and waitresses were arguing in the kitchen. We will never eat at another Old Chicago again. On top of it all, this was our family dinner after high school graduate. I usually don't write reviews but I've had it with this company and I will be calling the GM in the morning.
Deborah Rush
Service and staff were great. I just didn't like their pizza. Personal choice. Atmosphere was great plenty of televisions I just didn't care for the pizza 3 stars.
Scott Herrmann
They treat me like a king!Traci did a outstanding job. I am thinking about opening a old Chicago franchise. If I do I would want Traci as a manager or Server trainer. 5 star experience.
First and last time I've been to the Merle Hay Mall location. Ordered BBQ Chicken Salad ($11.49), took 45 minutes for it to come out, when the rest of the table had finished eating and were waiting for their bills to come. After repeated requests trying to figure out why it took that long, we were told once "we're checking to make sure the chicken is cooked before he brings it out." Shouldn't that be the cook's job? Shouldn't it stay on the grill until it's cooked? It's chicken. Salad was browning and wilted as were the side salads of all at the table. One of 7 people got a refill, weren't "checked in" with as you typically see servers do. Tables seated after us were served their food first. When it came to paying our bills, it took 10+ minutes to get the server to come back, then almost another 10 minutes to get the change (Still only 4 tables sat in the entire restaurant). Didn't get the change back until after getting a manager involved. Overall, terrible service , food ordered outside of the buffet is not worth the price they ask, more than likely won't be back.
Amanda Stortenbecker
Got there at 715 with plenty of empty tables. Wasn't greeted at the hostess station while 3 people were back there. Put in our name. The buzzer went off and we were told oops sorry not sure why that went off. Battery must be dead. Got our table after another ten minutes. Our waitress was nice but poorly trained. After an additional hour our food hadnt come out. We had two rounds of drinks and just asked to leave. They brought out part of our order which was not warm. My child commented the spaghetti was crunchy. The entire order was still not there. We told the manager we just wanted to leave. He told us that they projected to do 4000 in business today and they were above 11000 and we're sorry. That is also why they were out of pizza crusts. They did not charge us for our food, only our drinks. The entire order was still not out when we walked out an hour and a half after we arrived! Would not recommend to anyone.
Greg T.
Service has been poor every time we've been here. Very slow, today we were almost the only customers in the restaurant and still had to wait forever for service and then had the completely wrong entree brought to the table for one of us. The manager walked past several times when we were waiting and never took the time to even acknowledge us. The most attention we received all night was while the waitress hovered over us when we were paying the bill.
Dan Noneya
Very, very poor service. Long wait times while many tables available. Had to ask for three different beers to find one available. Settled on a bud light after trying many times. The waitress still took 30 minutes to bring it out. Service from there on out was just as bad. Food was fantastic. It was really, really good. So good on the kitchen but the service staff needs to get it together.
Mark O.
Finally decided to give them another chance after previous bad experiences. This joint still hasn't cleaned up their act. No one greeted us so we sat ourselves in the bar. A manager type in a purple button up came over. We asked about specials. He admitted he had no idea and left, never to return after I told him what beer I wanted. A girl who looked like she was 12 became our server. Not faulting her, but our drinks took 19 minutes and 30 seconds to arrive. We were just about to walk out. Left after the one round. Never again. Too bad the place can't revert to a Bishop's. Craftworks should pull the franchise holder's license as it sullies the name of the Old Chicago brand.
I love this restaurant and the food is always great, but the service and the organization at this location is definitely sub-par. I've been to Old Chicago restaurants across the city and have usually had friendly reception and helpful staff, however when we came in this evening for happy hour appetizers and drinks (being informed after arrival that the specials were not valid today and deciding to stay and eat anyway) the staff was distant and seemed not only disinterested but bored and borderline rude. Our orders were mixed up right away when the wrong drink was served to my dad, and the waitress was not clear on how it would be resolved. I think she was new so I can understand and forgive some confusion there, but the girl who was training her was disinterested and aloof and the staff at one point were gathered around talking and leaving our waitress out of the group. We ended up getting the correct drink from a bartender who casually asked (when I approached to pick up a bar towel for a spill that was not addressed) whether that drink was "for us or what". They were not busy and our food took over 40 minutes (just pizzas and salads). Overall, I usually love this place but I was NOT impressed with the service this evening. It's a Saturday evening so it shouldn't be a skeleton or a training shift. I hope it will be better next time!
We came in pretty late, around 7:30 on a Friday. The place wasn't really busy so we figured it'd be a quick place to eat to celebrate my sisters graduation. We got in and it took 20 minutes for someone to even come to our table to get our drink and food orders. I tried to order 3 different beers and 2 were 'not in stock'. Takes another 20 minutes to get our drinks. Another 30 roll by and we ask where our appetizers are at. Waitress finally brings them. Another probably 45 goes by until we get our actual food. (Keep in mind the already small crowd is quickly dwindling). We taste our food and it's literally cold. Every single persons food at our table was cold - it clearly had been ready long before and no one brought it out. The only good thing I can say is we were comped for the awful service by the incredibly friendly manager. Will never eat here again.
So I came in on a Thursday evening about 7 PM even though there were 20 open tables I was told my party of five it was too large to be seated because there wasn't enough servers. We ordered appetizers and a round of Irish car bombs which they said they've never made before after getting our own drinks, looking at the ticket that has been sitting there for 20 minutes already for our Irish car bombs we finally got our food it's sucked afterwords another party asked me how was the food I told him they sucked and then the manager overheard it and gave us $20 worth of free food that is still going to suck when we get it again after leaving I called to complain about the service was put on hold for another 20 minutes and couldn't even complain about the place because I couldn't talk to anyone......
I have been here twice. I won't ever return. HORRIBLE service. It took them even 10 to 15 minutes to notice that we even arrived waiting for a table. They took us to a table, we were not served forget again another 10 minutes. We ordered the food, that took a good 20 minutes and the food was not that great. The waitress was a dead fish, and treated this horribly. I will never ever return. Don't waste your money or time
It has been nearly a year since my last visit to this location. Decided that their baked spaghetti with meatballs sounded good. I was promptly seated mid afternoon. I ordered and received my meal within the typical wait. However when the food arrived, there was just one meatball and just a tiny crust of bread. The spaghetti was hot. The single meatball was not. My server disappeared after the meal was delivered to my table but was pleasant. Somehow my $10.59 meal ended up being $14.59 after having to ask for my ticket. I was delivered $4 and some change out of a $20. Too many mistakes. I most likely will never come back.
Service goes along way with me, and the waitress at Old Chicago was fantastic.. Any waitress who without thinking brings a 2 year old crackers right as he sits down know's what's up and gains my trust as a server! I used to frequent Old Chicago in Ames when I lived there cause they had amazing Monday night Football specials with free nacho bar and cheap brews.. I dig that.. So I know what to expect! Lots of tv's, lots of beers to choose from, Pizza of all styles and everything else you might want on a menu! The salads and sandwiches are huge. I dig how the kids menu is packed with options.. I like the lunch special of salad and personal pizza (even Deep dish) 7.99 and the salad is all you can eat! How cool is that.. That's a deal I can get behind and the 25 ounce domestic beer for 4.99 is a deal I can get behind too! With prices like this, I want to frequent the Old Windy City before the night Old Chicago dies..
Our bad experience was chalked up to just poor service. Server had no menu knowledge or specials knowledge. I got one drink and never got asked again for the rest of our meal. After 30 minutes our pizza arrived and we were told our appetizer of fries were taking awhile. Took forever to get our boxes and a bill at which time we noticed she rang in a large instead of the medium we ordered. I will not visit this location again.
This wasn't a good experience at all. We actually picked the Merle Hay location over Ankeny due to poor service experience on many occasions. It took an hour to get our appetisers (my husband's were cold) another table next to us said they had been waiting for an hour. 20 minutes after we received our appetisers they let us know they were out of items that we had ordered for our dinners. When we asked for the manager he couldn't be found. The cooks and waitresses were arguing in the kitchen. We will never eat at another Old Chicago again. On top of it all, this was our family dinner after high school graduate. I usually don't write reviews but I've had it with this company and I will be calling the GM in the morning.
Service and staff were great. I just didn't like their pizza. Personal choice. Atmosphere was great plenty of televisions I just didn't care for the pizza 3 stars.
They treat me like a king!Traci did a outstanding job. I am thinking about opening a old Chicago franchise. If I do I would want Traci as a manager or Server trainer. 5 star experience.
Restaurantji Recommends
First and last time I've been to the Merle Hay Mall location. Ordered BBQ Chicken Salad ($11.49), took 45 minutes for it to come out, when the rest of the table had finished eating and were waiting for their bills to come. After repeated requests trying to figure out why it took that long, we were told once "we're checking to make sure the chicken is cooked before he brings it out." Shouldn't that be the cook's job? Shouldn't it stay on the grill until it's cooked? It's chicken. Salad was browning and wilted as were the side salads of all at the table. One of 7 people got a refill, weren't "checked in" with as you typically see servers do. Tables seated after us were served their food first. When it came to paying our bills, it took 10+ minutes to get the server to come back, then almost another 10 minutes to get the change (Still only 4 tables sat in the entire restaurant). Didn't get the change back until after getting a manager involved. Overall, terrible service , food ordered outside of the buffet is not worth the price they ask, more than likely won't be back.
Got there at 715 with plenty of empty tables. Wasn't greeted at the hostess station while 3 people were back there. Put in our name. The buzzer went off and we were told oops sorry not sure why that went off. Battery must be dead. Got our table after another ten minutes. Our waitress was nice but poorly trained. After an additional hour our food hadnt come out. We had two rounds of drinks and just asked to leave. They brought out part of our order which was not warm. My child commented the spaghetti was crunchy. The entire order was still not there. We told the manager we just wanted to leave. He told us that they projected to do 4000 in business today and they were above 11000 and we're sorry. That is also why they were out of pizza crusts. They did not charge us for our food, only our drinks. The entire order was still not out when we walked out an hour and a half after we arrived! Would not recommend to anyone.
Service has been poor every time we've been here. Very slow, today we were almost the only customers in the restaurant and still had to wait forever for service and then had the completely wrong entree brought to the table for one of us. The manager walked past several times when we were waiting and never took the time to even acknowledge us. The most attention we received all night was while the waitress hovered over us when we were paying the bill.
Very, very poor service. Long wait times while many tables available. Had to ask for three different beers to find one available. Settled on a bud light after trying many times. The waitress still took 30 minutes to bring it out. Service from there on out was just as bad. Food was fantastic. It was really, really good. So good on the kitchen but the service staff needs to get it together.
Finally decided to give them another chance after previous bad experiences. This joint still hasn't cleaned up their act. No one greeted us so we sat ourselves in the bar. A manager type in a purple button up came over. We asked about specials. He admitted he had no idea and left, never to return after I told him what beer I wanted. A girl who looked like she was 12 became our server. Not faulting her, but our drinks took 19 minutes and 30 seconds to arrive. We were just about to walk out. Left after the one round. Never again. Too bad the place can't revert to a Bishop's. Craftworks should pull the franchise holder's license as it sullies the name of the Old Chicago brand.