Chef Art Smith's Reunion

My mom and I recently went to Chicago and this was the first restaurant we went to upon arrival on 6/14/2024 and let me just tell you, the food was smack your momma (but also please don't) good!This would have been a five star review, however service was slowwww and it took forever for someone to greet us, otherwise this place was the move. Great location, good outdoor space and great food. We ordered and we recommend: the fried catfish meal which came with hush puppies and corn grits and collard greens, in addition to that we got a salmon Caesar salad - we shared it all. The food was perfect, no notes! The catfish was perfectly cooked, flavorful, crunchy exterior and a soft and perfectly textured interior, the grits were surprisingly good, lick the bowl good, I am not sure I knew hush puppies were bomb, but they were little balls of awesomeness. Also, someone's grandma was in the back making the greens, they were so delicious and just the right amount of tartness. Let us not sleep on the Caesar salad, the dressing was yummy, the salmon was plentiful, the croutons were crunchy and well seasoned, all in all just perfect!Get off my review and check this spot out! Said with kindness!

Beautiful Southern style restaurant in Navy Pier with lots of outdoor and indoor seating. Space was nice and thoughtfully designed. Loved all the wood and warm tones.Drinks were delicious and so was the fried chicken. So crispy, yet juicy and tender, accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes. Service was good and attentive.

Given the lack of decent sit-down dining on Navy Pier, we were eager to try Reunion on a recent weeknight prior to a show at Chicago Shakespeare. We were not disappointed...VIBE: The dining room is a large, segmented space expanse with a mix of booths and tables. Décor is traditional. Our booth was very comfortable. It was well-lit when we were there, and the noise was moderate. It was daylight, and the generous windows lent an open, airy feel. Soft music was not intrusive.SERVICE: Staff were all cordial. Our server was friendly, helpful, and attentive. Food was coursed at a reasonable pace.FOOD: Shrimp & grits was very good; shrimp were tender, fresh, and tasty and the dish had a smoky note. Fish tacos were ample and delicious. Braised greens was nicely done, though a bit sweeter than I prefer and sans garlic (to be expected at a Southern restaurant). There's a compact list of decent wines by the glass and a broader list of bottles.We had a good time and will surely return when we go to Chicago Shakespeare. (As a bonus, Reunion discounted the bill by 20% because we had Shakespeare tickets.)

Thanks to Jay & Brittany for giving us a lovely evening! Jay is an excellent server & Brittany is an "old school" chef/maître d'/manager who walks to each table to say hello, how are you, thank you etc. Totally awesome! :-)I ordered the Brussels sprouts salad w a side of chicken and it was tasty & plentiful, highly recommend it. The belle of the ball tho is an order of biscuits! Just wow! It's a not miss. My friend ordered the crap cakes & they too were hot & tasty. The food is presented nicely and full credit to Chef & Co. for a lovely meal! My only complaint was that the fries were soggy. We were so hungry tho we ate them anyway! :-)There was a small misunderstanding about the bill but Jay quickly figured it out & all was well. Highly recommend Chef Art! Patrick Shaughnessy Chicago, IL

The food and service were excellent! My family and I were very much pleased with everything we ordered, albeit some of the dishes were better than others. The skirt steak with chimichurri was absolutely delicious and cooked to perfection, we also tried the fried tomatoes, calamari, fried chicken, fish sandwich and fried shrimp - all of which were great. The flights offered here are very much worth the price, we tried two of the three they have and everything was great. Highly recommended place at Navy Pier!

The last Saturday for Restaurant Week 2024. Went to Art Smith's Blue Door last week, this weekend was Reunion on Navy Pier.Pretty place. Food was delish but compared to the value from Blue Door, I'd rather go to Blue Door. Don't get me wrong, I will be back to Reunion, it's that Blue Door seemed to offer a better value, IMHO.My deviled eggs left me wanting more. The short rib hash was fabulous. I ordered a side of their add-on bacon for $5. Holy moly!!! Great! The place was not full and we had to sit at the bar. My guess is due to restaurant help being scarce. The bartender was so nice. Overall, we had a really pleasant experience!

We stopped in to have some drinks and quick bites while waiting on our pizza to be finished at Giordano's and we were pleasantly surprised by how good everything was here. They were not busy, and offered a nice place to relax in the otherwise bustling area of Navy Pier. Pimento cheese hush puppies were addictive. I kept saying "this is my last one" and kept going back in for more. Honey hot charred bbq wings were great, love that charred smokey taste. The chicken sliders were probably the only thing we got that wasn't super memorable. They were fine but nothing to write home about. I got a peach and orange blossom sweet tea which I would highly recommend. That was the most delicious cocktail I've had in a long time. As it turns out, our pizza ended up being kind of blah, but we'd definitely come here again and try out more things!

Super cute patio on the Navy Pier. We dined on a weeknight, and they had a live musician, which added to the ambiance. Service was good. I was excited to eat at Art Smith's place, but it was underwhelming. The hushpuppies were okay, the pepper jelly was flavorless, the fried shrimp had a really nice light batter - best part of the meal. The summer pasta was cold, underseasoned, and just not the best. Just okay, underwhelming meal overall.

Since we were on a tight schedule and there was no one at the reception area for a while, I popped inside and tried to ask a server if it's open and we can be seated. The server looked at me, walked toward me and turned away without saying anything... It was extremely odd, but we still decided to have lunch there since I was craving for fried chicken. Decor inside the restaurant was cute. The table set has cushion, which is supposed to be cozy. However, the cushion has too much stain.Unlike the 1st server I met, our server was nice. Fried chicken itself was just okay. Although dark meat and white meat were juicy, the fried chicken was very oily and the skin was still chewy. Chicken sandwich was okay, but wasn't spicy enough. Wish the fries could have stayed in the fryer a little longer, but the bacon was good.Since this is a touristy place, the place was extremely pricy given the taste. Not a place I'll go back.

2 stars for service.Dined here on 7/30, for lunch. We decided to sit outside. Wasn't sure what was worse, the wait time or the bird crap that was still on the table that we were seated at. My hubby wiped off the table. Service was very, very, very slow. It took forever for my hubby to get a beer. They told us that the bar was swamped. I was inside before we were seated. There wasn't that many people inside or outside. It took a while to get our food after we placed our order. We were served food that belonged to another table, 2X! When we finally received our correct meals, my son had the Pan Seared Salmon (salmon was a nice big portion), I had the Char-grilled chicken breast with baby arugula salad with lemon and hubby had the Crispy chicken Sliders. We enjoyed our meal! I had the Oprah's Electric Lemonade. It was good and refreshing. The staff could have been a little friendlier. Maybe it was an off day.We will give them another try. Hopefully, it'll be a better experience.