Puck’s At The MCA

This is not Puck’s anymore, and has been taken over by a new company. The coffee sucks, and it is not possible to get a real cup. They serve everything in paper to go cups, which is nuts as you cannot take them anywhere in the museum, because why would you? It’s a museum. Total waste. The MCA has a chance to have a real café here, as in a spot to relax, discuss the fantastic art you have just seen, and get a second wind, but they have chosen to ignore these possibilities. It is sad, as I have been in many museum café’s that are actually a place you want to visit on it’s own. I will skip it in the future. From the emptiness, it seems as if everyone else is as well.

Rating is based on coffee and water alone.
Coffee just tasted like stale gas station coffee and the water that was offered with the lemon slices tasted just bad. I can’t explain it. Maybe I’m just not used to Chicago tap but it really was awful.

As someone who has «enjoyed» a puck café in the airport, I had low expectations for this location. However, they do have an actual kitchen space so gave it a try. Wow it was a huge disappointment. There was no service as others have commented here. Went on Saturday afternoon around 1pm. Ordered from the coffee shop on the side of this odd space. Coffee was decent. Food came out in good time. Quinoa salad was tiny, bland and somehow incredibly dry. The chicken sandwich was poorly assembled, bland, and also dry. Really unimpressed and feeling ripped off. With everything at over $ 10 was expecting a little more. Plan your trip to the MCA with another dining location in mind.

Very very delicious apple-​celery soup.
Quinoa white bean burger was good. A few good options for vegetarians My wife really liked her chicken.

I really think this place is overrated. If it were not in the MCA, I doubt it would survive as a restaurant.
The food is overpriced and the service is slow. I wanted to come here for a quick bite with a few friends once and they told me that it would take at minimum 20 minutes to get my food. Given that all I wanted was a sandwich and soup, that is just ridiculous. Better luck next time.

My daughter wanted chicken sandwich without goat cheese, but they made it with, so we sent it back. Then we waited 45 minutes for a new one to arrive. Could no longer handle it so went to the counter for a refund. We did get one, and the sandwich was ready while we were doing this, so they gave it to us to go for free which was nice. But really! Luckily my daughter ate some of our pizza while we were waiting so she was less whiny about this than I was.

I visited Puck’s after a long day for a bite to eat and time to relax. Though I walked in in basically jeans and a sweatshirt, they showed me to a lovely window table where I promptly ordered some bubbly and the signature pizza (smoked salmon).
Everything was great. I enjoyed the pizza, the view and the service. The bread showed up a little slowly… and things were (in general) a tad slow, but everything was high quality and fresh.
Food — 5
Service — 4
Bathrooms — 3 (update these please!)
Value — 3
Atmosphere — 5

Once you enter through the glass doors (which looked more like a wall), the place is split into a Puck’s Express and restaurant side.
I had this place bookmarked for a while in hopes to visiting for a nice weekend buffet. Attention Unilocalers: NO MORE BRUNCH BUFFET!!!
The menu was pretty simplistic with some out-​of-​the-​box options as well as the usual omelettes, benedicts, and pancakes. Once we ordered, our server came out with a basket of baked items for us to each choose one: madelines and pound cake. Decent, but I was immediately comparing them to my brunches at Balsan. Sadly, there were no complementing spreads.
My fried green tomatoes and cheddar grits were A-​OK, a little dry. Came with poached eggs that were in a disarray and undercooked. The whites were still transluscent. His omelette of the day: goat cheese, peppers, and crab meat was off-​tasting and flat… literally. We left with a big «meh» and hightailed it outta there in search of more food.

Kind of a weird setup in the «back» of the MCA, but it’s definitely a cool space with a nice view.
Menu items are a bit overpriced — I get that this is supposed to be a sort-​of «fancy» place, but it’s insane to charge this much for food that is cooked in the back of an art museum.
Our server was mediocre. She looked like she had better things to do than take our order (probably true, but if you’re a waitress, just be a waitress).
I had the chickpea fritters and it was okay. The black kale was tasty but weird with the fritters. My guests ordered the chicken plate and the burger plate, and they definitely looked and tasted better than my dish.
Meh. Wasn’t a total loss, but it was still not as delicious as I expected.

At this point, Wolfgang Puck should put his name on scratchy toilet paper. I’ve gone to MCA First Fridays a couple of times a year for 3 years. The buffet started bad and has gotten worse. Greasy and soggy spring rolls, popcorn with food coloring was the last spread. I predict the next will be a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving menu.

Ate the buffet here since we were at Museum and friend was starving and really wanted to eat here. I would have rather ate at any other restaurant in Chicago and try something different, but ended up here after friend begged me too. Just looking at the food I knew it would not be good. The food was cold, tasteless, I hardly ate. Also, it was expensive. I think $ 35, what a waste.

The fact that Pucks is inside the MCA makes it appealing. I didn’t know this place existed until my chairman took the office out to eat here. The food is okay, not much of a selection during lunch (sandwiches, pizza, salad, etc.) It’s the view at the restaurant that keeps me coming back on a nice spring/​summer day. The space is bright with large windows which allow some nice natural lighting. I would recommend this place if you’re already at the MCA or in the area and need a quick bite to eat.

A nice, quiet relaxing place to go for Sunday brunch. Saw several people sitting alone reading the Sunday paper, enjoying the sunny space.
The food itself was a mixed bag. The best of it, in my opinion, were the omelets – light and fluffy and made to order.
While it’s no culinary adventure, it’s a nice way to spend a Sunday morning, followed by a stroll through the museum.

I tried a few different Puck’s restaurants before, the food was always pretty bad.
We went to the Museum of Contemporary Arts one morning in Chicago, we didn’t have enough time for breakfast, we decided to go to the museum for brunch.
We figured a restaurant in the museum might not be too bad, since a few museum restaurants in San Francisco we’ve been to are pretty decent.
Once we saw the museum restaurant was Pucks’, I cringed. However, we were in a hurry so that we made the hasty decision to go with Puck’s, hoping miracle might happen.
We were wrong. We ordered some omelet with salad and some noodle. They were so BAD. There was no flavor in the omelet, the noodles had a terrible taste, on top of it, it was overcooked so much that noodle become mushy and soggy. I wondered what kind of people were actually hired to cook in Puck’s kitchens.
I would not hesitate to avoid any Puck’s restaurant like a plague going forward. I am stunned how a reputable (maybe not so much after all) chef can have so many bad restaurants under his name all over the country.

Still a highly recommended place for a summer lunch.
Yesterday we hosted a dozen friends for a late lunch. As before, the menu is limited. But we had some good Spanish and South American wines, several pizzas as appetizers, then everyone ordered off the menu. They have nice fresh selections with interesting flavors.
We ate outside on the patio, enjoying the beautiful weather. When we’re at a table away from everyone else I get nervous that the waiter will find his way to us as often as we would like. Ours was great — he gave us 5-​star service throughout. Management also threw in some good attitude and helpful suggestions, helping to make it a great experience.
Not quite five star food, but definitely a unique five star experience for lunch. They’re not open for dinner.

Puck’s is an amazing venue if you’re looking for a small group for Sunday brunch. We took family from out of town here and requested reservations for 16 people. They were great in setting things up — the wine connoisseur of us enjoyed their wine list and the food was great. They also have a fantastic made to order menu which not only includes omelettes but Belgian waffles and fruit pancakes, too.
We came here for our post-​wedding brunch years ago and our guests, family and friends raved about how great the food and service was. It’s nice to see four years later, things are just as great if not better!
Service was friendly and very helpful. Thank you again!

For the price I have to give the Meh rating. $ 13.99 for a decent but not particularly robust salad and a cup of coffee.
If you are downtown the location is very convenient, and the view from the dining area is quite nice — plus there is a terrace.

This place offers a brunch buffet on Sundays for $ 28. I wasn’t in the mood for such a huge meal, so I ordered from the Express line. I was a little disappointed that their menu was limited to a few pizza choices, sandwiches, and salads. The Wolfgang puck express in Honolulu had a lot more choices. The outdoor seating was very nice though. Prices here are very expensive. I paid $ 10 for a sandwich (no drinks, no sides!).

Would I be a horrible person if I said that Puck’s has excellent hangover food? The bread basket was amazing, with a variety of interesting flatbreads and artisanal bread. The ‘shroom and spinach white pizza was light, delicious, fresh and suitably starchy. My less hungover companion had the Italian panini and found it excessively pepperoni laden, but otherwise good.
The service was a bit spacy, or perhaps, given that it its the MCA, arty? Still, I didn’t have to wait too terribly long for much needed iced tea refills.
All in all, rather good for a gallery restaurant.

If this place was not in the glamorous MCA, it would go out of business. Went there for lunch today. The hostess was completely dizzy and scattered. We waited a long time despite many open tables. Slow service. Waitress didn’t listen.
The two stars is for the food, which was good, but for the prices there, I expect a more facile waitstaff.