Bazaar Meat by José Andrés

Came for an anniversary dinner and happy we did. The restaurant is located on the upper level with amazing views of the city. Note the seafood sister restaurant is in the ground floor. Food and service were great. Do note this is high end “tapas style” so smaller plates. The desserts options were so lovely we tried the entire dessert board. Will surely be back.

Food was awesome! Service was amazing! The manager, not so much! We had tons of points on accrued on OpenTable so we redeemed it for a $100 dining card to use it at Bazzar Meat by Andres Jose. We didn’t love Next despite the 2 Micheline stars so was skeptical if we would like another restaurant by Jose Andres. Since we think he is an amazing person and chef, we figured, we can use the OpenTable dining card to check it out. Then even if we don’t love it, it wouldn’t feel as bad. Well, the food turned out to be really good! Tasty and creative. As we made the reservation 1 day ahead, we could only get the bar seating, which was fine. We just wanted to check it out. The bartender/ waitress turned out to be amazing as well. So around, it was going great. Then at the end as we are trying to use the $100 dining card, which is in the form of a MasterCard, on my OpenTable app, things went south. When we showed the MC info from my OpenTable app, a manager, who was processing the payment, didn’t recognize it. So then she proceed to take my iPhone, fully open with access to all my personal stuff, and walks away before asking me if she can. Then she tried to run it in the system but couldn’t and comes back. So as I told her that you need to enter the information manually, she tries to walk away with my phone again so I asked her if she can take a picture of the MC then taking my phone. She says I’m a manager… didn’t know that the title gives someone freedom to take people’s smartphone while open with access to all my person stuff, including Venmo and banking, etc…. She then tells me to come by the payment system on the other end, then she tells me to enter it. So much attitude. It shows that it’s declined. So at this point, tempted to just process the payment on my credit card, decided that I’m going to call the 1-800# on the app because she’s pissing me off with her attitude. Then another person tries to help, then she notices that the manager person was trying to process the entire amount of the bill, ~$400, instead of the $100 as stated on the top of the MC information. So the new person changes the amount to $100 then it completes the processes fine. If she was giving me attitude as if I couldn’t afford the meal at Bazzar and that I NEEDED the dining card to afford it, then she seriously need to do some self reflection. That kind of judgment even if true, is so inappropriate (and frankly, that’s the vibe I got from her). We are in that situation because she wasn’t thinking the obvious… the dining card amount if for $100, why would you try to process the entire amount??? But more importantly, this dining card is literally what tipped us over to try it out. Considering the situation, someone should seriously have a discussion with her. The attitude, clearly uncalled for. And pissed me off that I wouldn’t come back. Living in the West Loop, where we can walk to all the restaurants, we tried to make an effort to check out places outside of the West Loop. I literally am redeeming dining cards, relatively frequently, because we eat out a lot. I also take my project teams out to dinner a lot. Bazzar Meat could have been a great option from the office downtown than Nobu, Oakville or Fioretta in the West Loop… this one person (who called out to me that she’s the manager), ruined it. Every human interaction should be carried out with respect for others.

Absolutely phenomenal. Menu had variety with Spanish delicacies mixed with steakhouse favorites. Tastes were perfect. Quality over quantity. They were out of cochinilla to my dismay, but the pluma and steak were amazing.

The restaurant was super cute. The staff was nice, but most of the dishes were not for me. Definitely an acquired taste.

Fantastic meal, and great service the day after Thanksgiving, so it was not busy at all, but we still spent 2 hours indulging ourselves I’ll never forget the simplicity of the pepper that we ordered with our steak. The steak should have been the star or maybe the 100$/oz prosciutto, but the way the pepper was prepared and served with the olive oil still has me mesmerized.

I dont know how you could give this place anything less than 5 stars. As a steakhouse, you really have to stand out in Chicago and this place does. The wagyu ribeye was one of the best cut of meats I've ever tasked. Crusted to perfection, cooked MR perfectly. The rest of the dishes were also fantastic. Didn't have a bad bite. Great service and ambiance.