Mercat a la Planxa: User Reviews

Had the opportunity to finally dine at this restaurant over Halloween weekend. The. Best. Tapas. In. Chicago.

I have searched all over our great city of restaurants for something that is an experience when dining, and Mercat pulls it off with Chef Jose Garces menu.

I highly reccommend going with the Chef's Tasting with the wine pairings, it is a bit of a splurge, but so worth it.

The ham & fig salad is to die for, I was craving it the next day.
Shortrib coca- wowsers
A la Planxa- chorizo, was the best I have ever had, not your typical chorizo
Lamb Chops- esquisite
Chocolate Croquettes- little balls of heaven that melt in your mouth

Service was good- I think since we ordered the Chef's tasting & wine pairing we put the server in auto-pilot.

Reservations are reccommended

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I love tapas and this place does it better than anywhere else! It is pricey but for what your getting it is right on point. Extremely potent flavors, great quality of the food, The service was great from the host staff to server (Greg.. i think) Our waiter made great recommendations for the menu including how many to order and to make sure and try grilled meats, (we had the grilled shortrib) which was great. The place seemed excitingly busy and i loved being able to see the kitchen and watch the chefs working hard on the food. The bar was really busy and couldnt really get to it but we did have a seet in the downstairs lounge and had cocktails after dinner which were great after our wine we had with dinner. All the drinks seemed inventive and different than anyother place.

I was here for a birthday and everything was great, except desserts took like 15 minutes, but after everything else the night could not have been better for all of us and will definately tell everyone i know to check out this joint.

All for all those who complain that portions are small it is tapas and this arguement makes no sense to me. you should know what youre getting into before you go.

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To put it simply: don’t go. It’s not that it’s bad or especially overpriced. It just has nothing to offer. In Spain you pay a little and you get a little. I have already gotten used to the “get a little pay a lot” Tapas of our country, but Mercat brings little to a whole new level. Miniscule portions are the hallmark of this restaurant. You may not leave hungry (I did), but you will spend an awkward evening with your friends playing a mental game named “how many bites have I had and can I take another without seeming inconsiderate”.
We had reservations, but as soon as I heard the hostess say “it will only be 10-15 minutes”, I knew we were in for a long night. Half an hour later, still at the bar, we had some mild and tasteless Sangria, a sign for the rest of the evening. We ordered a wide selection of plates: vegetarian, cheese, seafood and meat. The food was pretentious. None of the plates hit the mark. At Mercat they try to put a new spin on Tapas, a noble goal that is not achieved. The patatas bravas, one of my favorite dishes, tasted like tater-tots. The chorizo – I mean who can destroy chorizo – was incredibly bland. The bread was terrible; soft, shapeless, tasteless and without a shred of personality. The lack of serving utensils made sharing even more awkward than just trying to divide the few molecules we had among our party of four.
Then my wife and I tried the desert. We ordered a cherry and almond-based cake. The sliver of cake was the size of my wife’s pinky (she has very slender appendages). The accompanying scoop of almond ice-cream had melted prior to reaching the table. The overall effect was that of a square plate covered in an off-white liquid with a tiny float in the middle. I think the first bite tasted fine. I wish there were a second…
We went to La Tasca in Arlington Heights with friends last weekend. It was wonderful. Every plate tasted great, the portions were good, we had plenty of good hearty bread and it was two-thirds the price.

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Bland! Spanish flavors are supposed to pop, and this floundered. The tuna dish was mushy, our waiter reprimanded us for not finishing our food, and my drink sat empty for forever. This won a James Beard? Bathrooms were a little scary, too. I'll take Cafe Iberico any day over this place, and it would have been half as much.

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Arrived at 2, restaurant was very empty. Ordered our food and drinks immediately, got drinks a half hour later, didn't get any of the food until an additional hour and a half later at 4 when we immediately asked for the check and manager... we had politely asked what was going on multiple times because the restaurant was very empty and we had ordered simple dishes, no good answer.

The manager refused to talk to us or discount/comp anything.

Food was average tasting and over-priced, service was awful, atmosphere has been done.

There are plenty of other beautiful restaurants on Michigan Avenue who will treat you with respect, so avoid Mercat a la Planxa at all costs unless terrible service and 3 hour lunches is something you enjoy.

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The food was out of this world, the service was good, and the overall experience was wonderful. The only knock was that it was a little pricey. The food was well worth it though, but $200+ for a party of 2 without ordering a bottle of wine is a little excessive. As for specific things to try, the potato dish sticks out, as well as most of the meat dishes. My server was wonderful at giving me advice.

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We recently took our dad here for his birthday. He is not from Chicago and we wanted to do something special and go to a really great place. The ambience was great and the hostess staff very pleasant, but our waitress was not. She was very slow and it took about 20 minutes just to get our drink order. When I ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc, she was really trying to get me to buy a different glass because "the one i selected was not known for that vintage". I almost said OK without a word but asked to check the menu instead. The wine she was upselling was 3x the one I had picked! She turned up her nose when I still asked for the original wine. In this economy, I didn't appreciate being made to feel bad for not ordering an $18 glass of wine.

THen the waitress suggested we all order 3-4 items per person. DO NOT DO THIS! IT IS WAY TOO MUCH FOOD! We got 2 rounds of food and thought we were done, but she said we had one more round coming. 25 minutes later we were still sitting with empty plates with people walking by saying we had "one more coming". Finally the food runners brought our last round. The waitress never brought anything herself and never once asked how things tasted. She only asked questions when it was to sell something--another glass? another drink? another round? By the time our last round came we were so full and tired, we didn't even want the food. The whole experience took hours and was so not worth the huge tab at the end of the night. Another point--as this is a tapas restaurant, and very loud, and we had 6 people at the table, inevitably we double-ordered items accidentally. In the past at tapas restaurants, the waitress always says, "just so you know, he ordered the same dsh down there so you might want to get something else since everyone shares". We had 2 repeater dishes and she never warned us--of course why would she? She was making more money by having us order more food we didnt need!

The waitress took the opportunity to add her own 19% tip on the bill, which was very smart of her.

As for food--I won't speak to that because I truly do not like Spanish food, so I won't make a judgement about it. If you go to the restaurant, just don't overorder and don't let people talk you into anything.

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dinner for 3 on a Tuesday evening. service was great, all the waitstaff seemed to be well-versed in the dishes. the food was really great, but a bit expensive. noise level was low. decor was nice, this is a very large / high space. we each had one glass of wine, and the tab was $230 including tax and tip.

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We were a table of 7 -- they sat us so we had a view overlooking the park, the server was incredibly friendly and knew the menu well. One of the guests in our party has food allergies and our server was so attentive to that. She knew all the ingredients in everything and so did any other server coming to our table. The food was AMAZING! I would never order rabbit -- but this rabbit was devine! And, the bacon wrapped dates...hello! Their seasonal sangria was great too -- refreshing! I will be back soon!

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I have read numerous restaurant reviews over the years that were critical of the service and though, com on, how bad could it be to wreck your experience. Well I found out while dining at Mercat. The evening started with hitting some unexpected traffic on my way to the restaurant. At one point it looked like I was going to be late for my reservation so I decided to call Mercat to tell them I might be 15 minutes late. I was told by the hostess that after 15 minutes, my table would be given away. So I picked up the pace and arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes late. Upon checking in, I was told by the hostess that they were running 20 minutes behind and that I could wait in the bar area. When I questioned her and said I had called and asked why she didn't tell me this then, the hostess said "that's just the way it is" and couldn't be bothered. The evening continued on it's downward spiral when our waitress arrived at our table and acted like she would rather be any place but at Mercat as a waitress. She provided no insight into the food and offered no opinions on what she thought was good. At one point, I asked her about an ingredient in the Sea Bass dish I had just eaten. She tried to tell me it was the fish's skin. I had reached my limit of patience and told her to go to the kitchen and find out (it was celery root). Too bad, because the food is good and the atmosphere is pretty cool too. Wont be back anytime soon.

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