Sociale Chicago

"Sociale packs its patio with fire pits during the fall, providing a place to gather for bottomless mimosas during brunch or spend happy hour sharing snacks like flatbread, Buffalo wings, and grilled wagyu steak skewers. A theater menu ensures diners heading to a show or movie won’t be late and there’s a menu just for kids complete with mocktails. Make a reservation through OpenTable." - Samantha Nelson

"Mad Social is trying to be something different than the typical bar or pub. It wants you to think it's an exciting restaurant that serves an interesting menu full of globally-inspired food. It's not. Mad Social is basically a clubby gastro pub with inconsistent food, and it would be better off if it stopped pretending it was anything other than that. Dance music plays loudly the entire time, which is what gives it a club-like undertone, so there's definitely a lot of action going on. But they also want you to think this is a real restaurant, and, in the process of trying to be kind of a fun bar and kind of a restaurant, Mad Social ends up being good at neither. Add in the fact the food isn't great, and we struggle to find any reason to be here. The menu reads like someone who is trying to sound smart and worldly but got a little carried away. There’s everything from crispy brussels sprouts with a yuzu soy vinaigrette, elote fritters, poutine, tuna carpaccio, duck confit baos, chicken & waffles, ropia vieja, and a charcuterie section because why not. Half of it is good, half of it is bad, and none of it is a convincing enough reason to eat here. If they took the same environment, added 100 TV's to the mix, and embraced being a somewhat out of the ordinary sports bar, then the place would at least serve a purpose we could get behind. But in its current form, Mad Social is as useful as a pop-up Halloween shop on November 3rd. " - Sam Faye