Went to The Hampton Social and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. You had to pay through their app (which charged $5 to use ???), they automatically added an 18% gratuity plus a required 3% minimum tip, and somehow two 8 oz glasses of bad wine came out to $60. On top of that, the waitress was weird af.
I will say the food was good, but I’m never coming here again, seems like a tourist trap.🤨 Granted, I’m visiting Chicago after not living in IL for years, so this could be a new thing- still crazy to me.
by East-Assistance-6779
50 Comments
Meh. Avoid chains.
Honestly forgot about this place.
Thanks for the tip. Will avoid the place.
If it’s the one in skokie their happy hour has been great. Pizza and fries and drinks were awesome
You had to go there to discover this place was a no?
Hold on isn’t a carafe like a container that should hold like 4 glasses of wine? If so, you should ask for a refund bc they charged you incredibly wrong
I went for Easter brunch and it was horrible lol
Place is a joke.
Totally agree
Tacos for over $20 bucks is ridiculous. I know it might be 3 but that’s a ridiculous price. I’m glad I can make some decent carne asada tacos on my grill.
Looks like a TV dinner.
It’s a great concept but what else do you expect from a restaurant that only exists to let upper middle class suburbanites cosplay as wealthy new englanders.
And I say this as someone who is a sucker for a lobster roll.
“Sunday platform fee”??? What does that even mean? Can you request to NOT use the platform and just pay regularly instead? This sounds like some Ticketmaster BS.
$27 for that shitty fish and chips?
It’s terrible for what it costs.
Ho lee fook
Sunday platform fee? I am too poor to know that one.
That bill is all sorts of fucked up
I mean they have multiple lawsuits going on right now so I think many are frustrated
There’s one in Hoffman estates. Bad service. Overpriced food, which I didn’t think was too bad
My SIL and her friends visited from out of town and were so hyped to go there. They didn’t believe me when I said it was influencer bait. They sure as hell believed me when they came back
The one in Old Orchard (Skokie) had pretty good service but yeah massively overpriced
Your first mistake was not going to a place that serves something like this…
https://preview.redd.it/8ri3z9yan2mf1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22528fae426b733d9fe9a567a42234273015bb6b
It was fine 10 years ago, but that was 10 years ago.
Hot trash
Thank you for reminding me of this place.
I’ve been trying to recall the name of this place where I had a below average lobster roll for an absurd price.
I was there the other week and it was 23 bucks for a Mac and cheese. It was ok but not 23 dollars ok.
Went there a looong time ago, bartender asked if we wanted to try the rosé slushee or whatever (we had full drinks) and we said sure and he charged us for it lol. Shady place.
It’s real bad
That whole restaurant group is hot garbage
Choosing Hampton Social “after not living in IL for years” was your first mistake. (Of all restaurants this city has to offer..) Actually going was your second mistake. You have to redeem yourself somehow. 🙃
Never been but I hope I wouldn’t have the same experience
I’ve never had a good experience there. I have never even thought their food was “good” for the price. It’s very very average.
You’re about 15 years too late.
Overpriced crap so glad they closed by us
I’ll say that I wandered in here the other day and had a couple of cucumber cocktails and some lobster brioche and I thought it was about par for the course for the price. The atmosphere seemed ok and the bartender was pretty competent (the drinks were real cocktails and I asked to substitute gin and they actually asked if I wanted it stirred instead of shaken which I think is better than many bartenders these days).
I was thrown off by the auto gratuity and tip too, but I just didn’t give any extra. I’m not trying to invalidate your experience, but I didn’t have to use the app and my cocktails were normal for the price these days at a venue like that and I didn’t see any additional fees. I’d give it 4/5 stars personally which is in line with what it has online.
Hampton social is good for what it’s good for. You can recognize this right away similar to Santa Monica house. No slight, all vibes are welcome, but you gotta learn to know what to look for when you see it
This is like everything that’s wrong with fees/inflation in our society right now. Stop the madness
$25 for shrimp tacos is diabolical
I went to the South Barrington location once every few months for a few years and always enjoyed it but the last time I went (sometime in June I believe) I was not impressed. The service/quality and portion size all seemed like they had all taken a hit while their prices increased.
Also to commenter who said it was for upper middle classes Suburbanites to cosplay as rich New Englanders
https://preview.redd.it/zzjigop223mf1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb69bbbd4ca4cff634ba3329faf19c604cd4ecdb
It was never good.
Insane. Also, who told you this place was good???
Yeah I think it’s a “capitalizing on boozy brunch” type of situation
Parlay in LP uses Sunday too and it ended up being 30% more on top of taxes. You couldn’t select a tip below 22% and then it automatically added 5% more tip on top of that (there is a way around it but it’s not easy to figure out and you’re still required to pay a min of an additional $1) plus their fees, plus tax. It was actually crazy. It was great in terms of being able to split the bill easily but if you’re not splitting, folks should have the option to not pay the extra fees.
If you got two 8oz glasses of Moet Chandon for $60, I’m going there tomorrow. Thats a decent deal for champagne. Most places give 5-6 ounces tops for $25.
Eat at home next time.
I have a rule: never go to a restaurant with “Social” in its name
It was a fun happy hour spot back in the pre-COVID times, with a very memorable smoked rosemary cocktail. My partner and I put it on our list of places to try again after she gives birth next month (and the baby is old enough for a sitter), so this is really disappointing to hear.
Yikes! Wtf is a sunday platform fee, at this point I refuse to patron restaurants with extra fees. I work as a server/ have managed in Chicago, and it is literally hot garbage to be charged extra fees, on the back end it just goes directly into the pockets of the owners basically tax free. Please for the love of all that is good, (anyone reading this) stop going to these spots and make these places work for our patronage again.
Hampton Social sucks. That place is a tourist trap for the photos of Rosé All Day!!!
I work at another one of their concepts and the owner is a money hungry coke addled socialite that no one seems to want to be around. The moment our place seems to host a celebrity, he shows up and tries to ease his way into their ecochamber and act as if he’s important. Fuck Brad Parker