Mashed Potato Club

West Erie, Chicago

Score: 83 in February, 1999

Mashed Potatoes is a specialty of the house (duh!), with lots of optional toppings. I had the garlic mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese - not too fancy but they were truly outstanding. I had a fried jumbo shrimp entree, which was okay but I probably should have had something else. The shrimp weren't "jumbo" jumbo, and I'm not sure frying is really the best thing to do with shrimp anyway. I suspect, in hindsight, that I would have liked some of the other menu selections better. The menu itself was a high point, because of the variety of different foods, including steaks, chicken, pasta, fish, and potatoes, of course. Everything sounded good. They also have a wide variety of drinks, although I didn't indulge on this particular visit.

Service was reasonably good, if you don't object too much to obviously gay waiters. Our particular waiter was quite competent, although I prefer to have the waiter himself bring my food, and here they had some guy whose English wasn't very good bring out the food, and it took him several attempts before he got the right dishes to the right people and all of our order in place. It seems like delivery of the food to the table is an important part of service and you shouldn't leave it in the hands of busboys, especially if their English and/or communications skills aren't particularly good.

Its very lively and a fun looking place. A diverse crowd of generally pleasant and attractive people, including a couple of medium sized birthday party crowds. Very high ceiling, exposed bricks, lots of interesting decoration, and not overdone, in my opinion. Not too crowded on a Sunday night, but I can see where it might be a madhouse on a Friday or Saturday night. Parking was easy, less than a block away. It didn't seem particularly dark, although I had a hard time reading the menu. On this particular night, a singer, who turned out to be a man dressed up as an attractive woman, (a drag queen) entertained the diners. Its not really my type of entertainment, but it was interesting, anyway. Not raunchy or distasteful, I should say, but a little bit unusual for a boy from Colorado.

The prices are pretty high and its not a great value for food alone, but the overall value, everything considered, was relatively high. Several menu items I might have been tempted by were over $20.00, so I took a lower road. Besides that, salads, toppings for the potatoes, and in some cases the potatoes themselves, were extra. Overall, a fun and interesting dining experience. I would highly recommend going, and I will probably go back, though not particularly often. I would like to see them offer a few good meals at a lower price so that you can go there for a casual night out and not blow so much money. Dinner for two was around $60.00, but could have easily gone over $100.00 with a few drinks, appetizers, and salads.