Pint Chicago

Tonight we headed over to Pint, a Chicago (Wicker Park specific) restaurant / bar.  In honor of a returning friend who spent the majority of the last five years in Iraq, we felt a night out was warranted.  In lieu of not being able to make any kind of definitive decision as a group, on individual decided for us.  The decision?  Pint for dinner and drinks.


Now, having previously visited this restaurant on three different occasions, I admittedly love the food.  It's perfect bar food, a good bar / sports bar almost atmosphere, and has the option for outside seating when the weather is nice.  It also has an upstair "loft" like area which helps take you away from the echoing noise of the downstairs.  We, as a group of six who actually desired to speak to one another, chose the upstairs options.  


The atmosphere and company were wonderful, the food almost perfect, but the service severely unfortunate.  We sat unattended for almost twenty minutes because the waitress "just didn't even notice us!"  Then, it took ten minutes to receive our first round of drinks after which she magically disappeared for another twenty.  Now, I don't know about you, but I don't actually go to a restaurant when I'm not hungry thinking, "Gee, I'm not hungry, but I bet if I sat at a restaurant for almost an hour I probably would get hungry.  Then I could order something!"  ....mmmm, I don't think so.  Needless to say, our patience started running low after being seated for about 45 min - 1hour without any food and close to no service. 


Finally we flagged down the waitress, placed our order and drink re-orders, and then waited another 20 minutes for the food, which, as you would expect, came out on the "this is more cold than it is hot" side, my order was wrong, and another "rare" steak sandwich more like "medium-well".  It's a pity, actually, because I truly do love the food, but after tonight, I'd be hard pressed to go back on my own accord.  


So, overall?  about a 6/10 for tonight.  Maybe next time I'll just go around three and hope to be served by the time I'm hungry around six.