bad night at chicago joe's. i take no pleasure in passing along this news, but last night's dining experience at chicago joe's was a total disaster. until then, chicago joe's was one of our favorite offbeat places to eat. we often took out of towners there for the non-strip experience.
i can only assume they've had a change in ownership, management, chef, or all three of those variables since we last dined there in late march. again, i have no axe to grind with this place, but last night's food was inexcusably bad. they've managed to screw up the meat sauce and my favorite dish, lasagna. my wife ordered chicken marsala only to discover that marsala is apparently an italian word that means horrible. she managed to get about two bites down and left the rest swimming in a suspicious watery brown sauce. another dinner guest ordered chicago joe's shrimp, and quickly declared, "this is the worst shrimp i've ever eaten." (and she used to be a flight attendant, so you know it took some doing to establish a new benchmark forbadshrimp.)
i should mention, the place was packed when we walked in at 7 pm and was still crowded when we escaped a little after eight -- $115 poorer and borderline nauseous. so who knows, maybe everyone else enjoyed a great meal. or, it's under new management and they ran a groupon to bring in new blood... most likely to replace the people who used to like the place.
i am truly sorry about being so negative. i hope more people comment and i hope the mgt responds to the negative comments in a positive way, while there's still time to salvage their reputation and their business.