Shanahan’s

Let me preface this review by saying I was born and raised in the heart of Cajun and Creole country in Lafayette, Louisiana – so I know what’s authentic and what’s not. Most, if not all, Cajun food I’ve had in Chicago is severely lacking, and this place is no exception.
In fact, they serve the some of the worst gumbo I’ve ever tasted. It had a hollow tomato taste to it more like a weak soup. The shrimp poboy I got would have been halfway decent had the bread been fresh and it contained more than 6 shrimp. The jambalaya wasn’t too bad and the best thing I tasted was the pork chop.
It was nice to sit outside, but overall for a place that purports to be authentically Cajun it is a disappointment.

Not very good. Shanahan’s has gone down hill over time. Our appetizer, blackened shrimp and scallops, smelled strongly fishy. I had a bloody mary which was very salty. I had a blackened pork chop and beans and rice. I could tell the beans had been sitting out on the plate for quite a while. The server was nice but very slow. We had to wait an inordinate amount of time for everything.
On the other hand, my friend had Lobster Ponchartrain and liked it.

After moving to the area I had heard raving reviews about the southern comfort food on the Madison Strip in Forest Park. I ventured in to check it out after a few friends told me how tasty it was.
When walking in sat where we wanted and waited a bit for a server. It took her a little while to come back to check on us and almost long enough that we were losing interest quick and I wont lie there was maybe one more table sitting down and people at the bar. She was sitting in the back rolling silverware– I get it I use to serve so there are always others things they have to do to keep them busy on the side but just wish she had come over sooner.
I had never had Southern cajun or Creole food so I went with something a little more «traditional» so to ease my way into it. I ordered the Chicken and shrimp Jambalaya, my mom a Shrimp Creole and my step dad the Voodoo Pork Chop. To me the Pork chop wasnt cajun other than that maybe the seasoning.
I actually liked everyone else’s meal but mine. I felt like there wasnt a lot of «meat» or in my case shrimp or chicken in the plate and a ton of rice, but that is what jambalaya is rice and meat. Just a heavy meal all around, and didnt feel like it was a good fit for me. I ate the majority of the chicken I could find and the Shrimp but didnt eat to much of the rice. Just learned this may not be my type of meal.
As for the Creole, I thought the taste was good and that the portion was right– my moms meal. Light enough where I didnt think I was going to be exploding at the seams but still enough.
MY Step Dad’s porkchops were the best. It came with potatoes and something else that he had but i had a bite of the pork chop and the potatoes as well as the sauce. It was Tasty, I would totally go back for this plate.
All in all it was okay in my book. Wish the service was a little better and that I was happier with my meal choice, but would give them another shot. Maybe for brunch?

Wow! What a mistake this serious diner made on a windy, sunny St. Patrick’s Day. But after all, the sign said they had been there since 1976; so how bad could this mixed paradigm be? Maybe even unusual in a good way but no, it was bad, yes, very bad.
A Cajun /​Creole restaurant contained in an Irish pub serving a limited menu of Irish dishes. The restaurant has two names on the façade: Shanahans and La Maison de Bön Bön. This restaurant’s is a truly, schizophrenic perhaps even bipolar experience. The Irish personality being the exceptionally, negative and distressed part of the disorder.
No more small talk.
I had shepherds pie. But I’ve never had inverted shepherds pie. Yes, the sautéed beef, without any diced vegetables or peas was served on top of a wad of powdered mash potatoes, in a standard size soup bowl. Greasy, slightly, bland, absolutely, bizarre, totally. Reluctantly, I ate this to be polite but didn’t realize we were paying $ 18 for a small portion of watery, ground beef /​mashed potato soup. I’ve had Shepard pie from Great Britain to Ireland to the pubs of the USA. This bizarre almost Hispanic-​like concoction was not shepherds pie. It HAD to be made by someone who didn’t even bother to look at picture of the real dish.
My wife’s suggestion of going to a local diner instead for corned beef and cabbage was in hindsight brilliant. I suggested we try one of the many Irish pubs on Madison in Forest Park. How wrong I was. Her corned beef was the type one buys pre-​cooked /​pre-​sliced, from a restaurant wholesaler in its juice. You slide it out of a plastic bag into a long pan and simply warm it up. It was dry and tough. The carrots served with it were the X-​large variety that are reserved for feeding horses. The one boiled potato wasn’t cleaned properly and was tough. Another $ 18.
I’m tired of writing so please do yourself a favor and skip this place for anything Irish but above all DO NOT have the key lime pie.

My son had the cheeseburger meal, my sister had the Seafood fondue, & I had a bowl of both gumbo’s with our drinks we paid $ 60. Normally I wouldn’t complain about a $ 60 tab but I just don’t feel like the food was really worth it. Everything was just okay. Nothing really stood out.
How can I say this… I wouldn’t recommend them, I wouldn’t seek them out but if I was in the area & craving some gumbo I would stop in. That’s only b/​c who else is the downtown Forest Park area has creole dishes? So Shanahan’s wins by default?
Star #1 for being a bar w/​creole dishes
Star #2 for having okay food
Star #3 for great service

Started with the Crawfish Quesadillas-​excellent. The Crawfish and Sausage Étouffée was also delicious! My husband had the Lobster Pontchartrain Crepes which were also very good. Also had a side salad with remoulade dressing-​very very good. As far as their specialty drinks-​right on point. So glad I stopped here! Wait staff friendly and knowledgeable.

I came here with the lady friend on Fat Tuesday thinking that this would be an appropriate place to have dinner. Unfortunately, everyone in Forest Park also had the same idea, so it was a bit crowded. But that’s okay. We’re city people and are no strangers to dense populations. We were okay with the wait. That’s not the reason for the two star review. The two star review is because everything that could have gone wrong ended up going terribly wrong.
First, to their credit, the service was pretty good. They were definitely very friendly. And a friendly staff means that they have a good attitude; and 90% of improving is having a good attitude.
When we got there, we were told by the manager that it would be about ten minutes for a table with which, as stated earlier, we were fine. She suggested we get a drink at the bar and she’ll let us know when a table became available. The bar was full, so we initially sat on some stools near a counter top; but then two seats next to each other became available so we sat at the bar. After about ten minutes, we saw the manager seating some other people. My girl asked the manager how much longer until we would be seated. She apologized and said that she had forgotten about us, but we would be seated next. Okay, honest mistake. It was pretty crowded, and we can’t expect her to keep track of everybody. She probably thought we left.
We got seated a short time later, but it came to our attention that the small table for two we were at wasn’t part of the dining room. They added it specifically for that night. Again, that’s great customer service, except for a few problems: For one, since that wasn’t a table that’s there during regular business days, there were no condiments on it. Secondly, it was in a very inconvenient space extremely close to a neighboring table. And it turned out that everyone who was walking in that area of the restaurant would squeeze through that small space between the two tables. By the end of the night, my girl had about twenty asses rub on her head.
We placed our orders which came with soup, but upgraded our soup to gumbo for an extra two dollars. The gumbo came a few minutes later, but it wasn’t hot. It was lukewarm. We figured that the gumbo was on a steam tray and had been sitting there for a while. We were starting to get annoyed at this point, but maybe it was because they were so busy that they didn’t get a chance to check on the temperature of the gumbo. And as long as our main dishes were hot, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
While waiting for our food, I ordered a second Guinness. The first one had been poured all wrong with about twice the amount of head it’s supposed to have. The second one came out the same. If we were at some dive joint, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But the name of the place is Shanahan’s. They specialize in Cajun food, but it’s still an Irish name. You’d think they’d be able to pour a pint of Guinness the correct way. And let’s be honest here: it’s not exactly a highly guarded secret. You can go on YouTube right now and find at least fifty different videos showing you how to do it. Watch one of them, learn how to do it, and pour it correctly next time. A lot of Guinness drinkers wouldn’t accept it if it weren’t poured properly.
Anyway, the food came and, just like the gumbo, it was lukewarm. Now we’re pretty annoyed. We’re paying money to eat warm food, get cheated out of a few ounces of beer, getting up to ask other diners if we could use their hot sauce because our table didn’t come with any, all while touching butts with our faces. The food honestly wasn’t that great. Aside from getting cold two thirds of the way through, it was kind of bland and lacked any real flavor. I ordered red beans and rice and it didn’t taste much different than a box of Uncle Ben’s stove top beans and rice.
One of the biggest problems I had was when I went to the restroom and while trying to wash my hands, saw that the soap dispenser was just filled with water. For a dive bar, this would be somewhat expected, but not for a place that served food! Did they get so busy that they ran out of soap? If there’s no soap available for the bathroom, it begs the question what the hell the kitchen staff are using to wash their hands?
At this point we were just ready to go, so we asked our waitress for the bill. The bill came back handwritten and the total was about $ 50. We didn’t know what we were charged for since the bill only had our two meals on it. Our first set of drinks were paid for at the bar, so after adding two meals with the gumbo upgrade and one pint of Guinness plus the tax, it was still about five dollars over. Rather than hang around any longer, we gave a four dollar tip and got the hell out of there.
To be fair, maybe our experience was like this because it was so busy. But they’re the only Cajun creole restaurant in the area. They knew they were going to be busy. What could be their excuse?

So, I think this place gets somewhat of a bad rep – at least for the food. Since I grew up in Forest Park, my friend and I used to always walk past and always thought it was strange that an Irish pub would specialize in Cajun Creole food so we really never thought of going in. Well fast fwd. about 15 yrs later, we wanted to try something new and at the same time not travel too far out. And, since we both like Cajun food, we decided to give it a shot. I ordered the Duke’s wings which are basically jerk chicken wings, my friend ordered the red beans & rice that also came w/​soup or salad and my son ordered the Voodoo pork chops. And let me just say that both my friend and I were pleasantly surprised. She is particularly hard to please because she tends to like her food heavily seasoned and very spicy and she had no complaints about the spiciness of the red beans & rice. As for the wings, I’ll just say that I have been back more times than I can count for carry out just for the wings. And my son loved the pork chops and I tasted his and can tell you those were very tasty too,
When we first decided to come here, I checked the reviews first and noticed that they were overall very mixed and that most people either love the food or don’t so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But at least for me, I have found a new favorite. And, as many times I have been back for carry out, the quality of the food has been pretty consistent. One last thing, I have been to New Orleans at least 4 times although I generally order seafood when I am in New Orleans and not the traditional Creole dishes like Etoufee or shrimp creole so I can’t really comment on how this place stacks up against authentic New Orleans style Creole food.

Chicken and shrimp creole is small and ketchup based for $ 16.50. Pea soup is thin and full of fatty ham. The salad’s «fresh greens» are just iceberg lettuce with almost zero veggies. Very disappointed.
Update: the owner emailed me to try and make up for our bad experience which is a thoughtful gesture. We may give Shanahan’s another try but probably just for drinks. It does have a nice atmosphere and feels like a little small town hideaway.

I tried the Blue Cheese Burger (the Black and Blue Cheese burger as I remember,) there yesterday and it caused me to kick up the rating a notch. Service is always good, and the times I am there about mid day always has had a nice, relatively quiet and dark ambiance. Not a fan of their Creole fair, but found the American style food and beverages good. If you are in the area, definitely check them out as well as the semi attached chocolate store just next door.
Cheers!

Wow, just wow. great ambience. Wonderful bartender. Food was fantastic. TV’s to watch the game. Loved it and everything was perfect. Definitely recommend this place to you.

Let me start out by saying that it is very possible that I’ve been spoiled by being able to go to New Orleans this past summer. Combine that with the fact that seafood is generally hit or miss in the Chicago area, and I think it is true that I have high standards in the Cajun/​creole department.
On our visit to Shanahan’s, we went late on a Friday night and had choice seating. The servers were very nice, and went above and beyond to make sure our experience was enjoyable. We tried the seafood gumbo at $ 4 a cup. It was spicy, but pretty skimpy. We also got the artichoke appetizer, and it was okay.
I have had a craving for a po’ boy for a while, and opted to get the bayou shrimp and fried green tomato po’boy. There was exactly one slice of tomato on each half of my po’boy. The shrimps were few and far between as well. The flavor was slightly fishy, and overall I could not recommend it.
My wife got the Lobster Ponchartrain, which was a seafood pasta dish. It was rich, but very fishy as well.
Again, I will give mad props to the servers who were exemplary. But since Forest Park/​Oak Park has so many great options, I definitely won’t be back.

We came here for lunch on a Saturday. The staff were extremely friendly and attentive. We ordered the calamari. It was okay. I’ve had worse but I’ve definitely had better as well. It was cooked to perfection but the calamari itself needed a bit more seasoning and the dipping sauce was bland.
We ordered the shrimp and grits along with the shrimp, chicken, and sausage jambalaya. The grits were cooked perfectly. Although there were a lot of peppers and onions that could probably have been omitted from the dish. I only tried a few bites of the jambalaya because they initially brought me the wrong dish. The staff immediately rectified the situation but by then we were ready to go. The chicken and sausage gumbo was quite good. I would definitely order again.
Overall the food was a little mediocre. The staff were nice and the restaurant was very cozy. They also had a nice outdoor patio area. I would not come here again.

I will start off by saying I am a Louisiana native. That said, I was somewhat uninterested and quite reluctant to give this place a try. But in the relationship world there is compromise, so after several requests to dine here, I acquiesced.
Mr. ordered shrimp, chicken and andouille jambalaya and I ordered a cheese burger grilled cheese with a side of dirty rice. After placing the order we were told each entrée comes with soup or salad. I opted for the crawfish bisque.
I found the grilled cheese Thursday theme to be a good idea and my sandwich was tasty. On the other hand, my bisque and dirty rice were rather disappointing. It was way too much season salt, sodium flavor for my liking. Definitely items to avoid if you care about your blood pressure. Think week’s sodium intake in one meal.
I prefer fresh seasoning which provides creole or cajun flavor but I get season salt is cheaper and easier in a restaurant setting so places like this and Pappadeaux’s pump lots of season salt and call it cajun.
Prices were reasonable. Service was very slow but there was one person serving the entire place which had a crowd of about 15 or so. But the crowd size on a week night says this place has a few regulars and gets decent traffic on a street with several similar dining options.
My diet coke was terrible even after the server replaced my original with a glass from the other tap. It tasted like a Canada Dry with a licorice flavor. I drank it anyway because I just could not bring myself to ask for anything else. Including a glass of water. Our server was as attentive as one could expect under the circumstances. But I will admit that if I could turn back the hands of time, I would avoid dining when there is a waitstaff of one with a mid size crowd.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while. Definitely shouldn’t be on a diet though or watching carbs if you want to eat here.
I got the most excellent $ 5 bloody mary that was so dirty it was sinful. Probably the best part of my experience. Service was ok. Food was decent. The cheesy grits were pretty decent. Definitely will go back and try more of the regular food rather than the breakfast experience. The jumbalia was very good and made me very happy.
I like that they have an outdoor seating area. It’s nice to sit and watch the cars and people go by while sipping on the bm.

I original discovered Shanahan’s when walking past about two years ago. In a sea of bars on Madison the one thing that stood out to me was that they were an Irish Cajun bar… oh okay.
Out of the five or six times I’ve been here they defiantly bring the Cajun flavor to all the dishes. Every time I’ve came in it usually was slow with only a few people either at the bar or outside on the patio, but the service was always attentive and very welcoming.
Food. I’ve had mixed experience with. Some things I loved and some things I hated.
Wings — I’ve gotten the Mojo flavor (BBQ+Hot) I’ve came here twice just to watch the game while eating theses wings. The only thing would be I wish they were whole wings.
Seafood fondue — a little mix. I liked it but that might be more of the fondue and not the seafood part. Seafood needed more seasoning or to even blacken the seafood and added it in. but some of the seafood wasn’t on point as I would have liked.
Three From The Bayou — Large portion of food that I had to take home. Bit more of a miss for me. I ended up like the jambalaya the most but not so much the Creole or the étouffée.
Voodoo Pork Chops — Two blackened Pork chops, over a bed of dirty rice with Jalapeño Hollandaise sauce on top with home fries on the side. Pork Chops they were good but wish my meat was warmer then how I received it. Warm/​hot on the outside but medium to cold on the inside. The dirty rice had a creaminess that went well. I almost ate all my home fry’s before I even touched anything else. Didn’t even have to add salt as they were seasoned well. really crispy and wish I could have this for breakfast everyday with some eggs
Nice size bar area stretched across a full bar and five televisions. and 1 or two behind you on the wall. (TV’s needed to be updated. out of 6 TV’s only 2 were the same brand. The largest TV is being run in SD vs. HD and on top of that was running about 3 sec slower than the other TV’s running the same channel. One TV had two noticeable burn in’s in the middle of the screen.)
They changed the website and menu since I last been here recently. It looks more condensed. but one of the things that I like about this place is that they actually update the menu constantly with weekly/​monthly specials. It’s usually the same food that you can get on the menu but with and added twist to it.

Came here on a beautiful day where i sat outside on their patio and ate. Had the watermelon mojitos, the bowl of gumbo, the bayou platter which game with etoufee, jambalaya and I substituted the last dish for red beans and rice. The drinks here were amazing and if it wasn’t a Sunday I could have had a few more rounds. The Gumbo needed some more seasoning and unfortunately was bland. Thr best dish on my entrée was thr red beans and rice which I thought was extremely good. The other dishes which were the etoufee and jambalaya both tasted the same and I added alot of hot sauce to give it some additional flavor that it was lacking. I was really hoping this place was going to be amazing because I love cajun/​creole food, but unfortunately it was pretty bad. The two stars are for the outdoor patio seating and the great cocktails. I would try it again but would need them to first modify their recipes to get that true new Orleans taste in their food.

Wow, reviews all over the board on this place.
I guess I’m a lucky one because overall my experience was really good. Pretty decent selection of beers. I went there to eat though — looking at the menu I eyed the jambalaya, which is noted on their sign out front of the restaurant. Ordered it along with a cup of seafood gumbo, which added $ 2 to the $ 16.25 or so entrée.
The soup tasted great, though it could have been a tad hotter temperature wise. The jambalaya was really good — I got the version that included shrimp w/​o the tails which is exactly what I wanted — less mess. Great flavor and a pretty large portion.
Another positive part of the visit, was the bartender who served me, Diane. Really pleasant and kept me «well stocked» with food and drink. Places that have good food are a dime a dozen nowadays, it’s the staff that can make or break a place. A definite edge with her behind the bar.

Cute bar with a small outdoor patio. Has a lot of Cajun flair including tons of Mardi Gras decorations. I appreciate they seem to be Sox supporters too.
The bar has a fair craft beer selection, seeming to favor Abita brand with lots of those selections on draft.
The menu is extensive, with all sorts of Cajun food options, most which I was not familiar with, but they also have some American bar standards like sandwiches/​burgers. My guy got the Cajun Combo– Rice/​beans and Jumbalaya. The portion was huge, and both had good flavors and heat.
I ordered the remoulade salad with shrimp. I requested it to be served on romaine, as Iceberg is the worst, but a lot of the lettuce was a little white, and I wasn’t totally convinced it was all romaine. The shrimp were large, plentiful and deveined. The dressing was creamy and a little sweet, which I liked. I love salad with a hard-​boiled egg in it, but these were wayyyyyyy over done, with a solid border of grey aroudn the yolk. I tried a quarter of it, and it tasted funny. I was worried it was an old egg so I stopped eating it there. My stomach did feel a little icky for a while after that, too, so I’m glad I stopped early. The salad was OK, but definitely not amazing.
I might try this place one more time, but it’ll have to be on someone else’s suggestion. I wouldn’t think of going here on my own, it wasn’t super memorable.

Another great Forest Park place to get something delicious to eat in true FP fashion. The booth by the window was awesome and perfectly time for winterfest. We had a great dinner, affordable, friendly, and fun. I really like this place and will be back for sure.
The only down side is it really isn’t as spicy as I hoped — but we will see what they stir up next time I come in.