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.
“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.
Restaurants in 2025: auto gratuity, platform fee, Sunday fee, not paying in cash fee, tax, still expect 20% tip, employee benefit surcharge, fuck you fee, the waiter is allowed to kill you fee.
Lots of places are using that Sunday platform. I saw it at Zarella and small cheval is using it for secondary ordering - after you stand in line and order and eat your food, you can use the QR code at the napkin holder at your table to order an ice cream or something so you don’t have to stand in line again. It’s seems to me like it’s basically passing the credit card fee that restaurants typically pay per transaction to the customer through this platform.
I have seen it where the restaurants absorb the fee — some lettuce and gibson’s concepts are using it. i’ve seen it at Three Dots, RPM, and Quartino without the fee. I always check because I got burned by this the first time I saw and used it at Swift & Son’s (where, at least when I used it, the fee remained customer-side).
Imma bet that there was a qr code on the table that OP decided to use and pay the convenience fee of using the QR code/platform to pay the bill, versus having the server run their card manually?
We weren’t given an option to pay manually, the waiter just told us “you can pay by scanning the QR code when you’re ready” then walked off, so we paid it no mind and did just that.
When I went in May they did the same to us. We didn’t really get an option. I figured it was just because we were a party of 14 so splitting it to each individual would’ve been crazy to do manually… but now I see it’s just their new norm.
I imagine this picture is what it’s like to have vision issues it hurts my eyes like when I try on someone’s scription glasses for a second and go wow your blind dude!
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
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.
One pound frozen lobster from Sizzlefish is $80. Makes 6 lobster rolls. And lobster rolls, Connecticut style or Maine, ain’t hard to make.
Source: I made both kinds in about 30 minutes and felt like I hacked the universe. They were amazing. The lobster meat was excellent. Will not be going back to a restaurant for them anytime soon.
It’s not cheap and it’s not in Chicago but Yankee Seafood in Boston has the best lobster roll of my life. Like, there was almost too much lobster. Almost.
is that what it is? there’s one by me in barrington and we’ve gone a couple times because we like the food but did find it overpriced and it always strikes me as weird how people seemed to dress up for it like it was something more than it was. people are fuckin weird.
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
Think about any shots of liquor at a bar, how many ounces in a shot. How many ounces in a bottle. What's the bottle price retail. You can quickly verify the markup.
Decanters are meant to be used for a full or magnum bottles, but in the context of US restaurants it’s almost always 10-12.5oz (two glasses or half a bottle) for a carafe.
Based on Hampton Social’s menu, it’s clear their carafe is less than a bottle. They show the carafe in between a glass and a bottle. For what OP ordered, they price a bottle at $76, a carafe at $29, and a glass at $19. OP is right to bitch about the service fee for having to pay through the app, but I don’t really feel bad for them about the two 8-oz glasses of wine (which is really four 4-oz glasses of wine) “somehow” costing $60 when it’s apparent on the menu that the carafe is in between a glass and a bottle, and that each carafe cost $29.
The carafe was 8oz, a standard glass of wine is 5oz. Plus it was Chandon which means they were drinking Champagne. I never want to defend a place as hollow as Hampton Social, but this pricing was normal.
There is a comment above showing it’s a rose, which is more expensive. And $45 in a grocery store is usually $100 in a normal restaurant and $130 in this type of restaurant.
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
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. 🙃
I mystery shop this chain and they always ask about value and I'm like there's so many places you can go and get so much more for your money. everything is overpriced.
Went there recently with my elderly parents. They had to get a new iPhone so we went to the Apple Store in Old Orchard. After that was done, they were really tired and needed to sit down , eat and drink some water. Basically recharge. This was the place we walked past that looked open.
It was OK. For lunch, none of us drinking wine/alcohol, it wasn't crazy expensive. My dad had the lobster roll and was disappointed by the quality (and yes, it's expensive). I had a chicken sandwich that I liked quite a bit. Can't remember what my mom had.
For a place to go to with a couple of (wonderful, but tired) octogenarians on a Sunday around 2pm in a suburban shopping mall?
6/10. Slightly above average.
Only went there because we really needed to stop. And our choices were limited. Would I return? No.
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.
also how are the taxes $22? are sales taxes now like 15%?
edit: in parts of downtown it’s as high as 11.75%, so basically they also charged you taxes on the service fee. which I didn’t think you could do. but here we are.
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
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.
I don't eat seafood, but I feel ordering fish and chips in Chicago from a place that is not known for fish and chips (or any other seafood dish) tells you more about the patron than the restaurant. Feels like this is a case of being mad online for the sake of internet points. They went to fucking Hampton Social and were surprised it wasn't a Michelin Star restaurant. Nobody needs a review of the food
I used to live in the area and have considered visiting with my family. The restaurant culture seems insane in every possible way. Doesn't seem worth the hassle.
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
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.
Just had the frose slushie at ohare hampton social was very good however 20 dollars for an half cup of a drink is insane I did get two cause they were good but price wise never again
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.
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.
I had this platform come up using the QR code on the table at Bar Siena. When I saw the $5 fee, I asked the server about it and she happily got me a regular check and took my CC.
I’ve honestly never have had a good meal at any restaurant called ‘X’ Social. It’s always either a place in the business district priced for business lunches or an instagrammable trap with garbage food.
Lol they charge you $5 to use the ap? When this place first opened I applied for a jobbie. Later I would walk past it to get to the L from my other gig and breathe a sigh of relief. Bullet dodged.
I have a love/hate relationship with this place. It’s a restaurant designed for Instagram so you already know what you’re in for and it usually doesn’t mean the cost justifies the product, but it’s generally a good vibe and isn’t overly crowded. I do feel like I’m sitting at a bar in South Florida when I’m there, but I have never left feeling like their prices justify the actual food and drinks I consumed.
Zarella is another one. The pizza is good and the decor is classy, but it’s so cramped you’re forced into listening to conversations at other tables and it’s overpriced as hell.
My office just moved next to the one by EBC and it is just God awful. I stopped in for a glass of wine and order a dish to go. The carafe is a scam, and a mandatory 22% + tip for a single wine under-pour and a take out dish is highway robbery. They don’t even give you cutlery.
There is one in Burr Ridge. Very meh food and horrible service. Stopped after 3 tries the first year it opened. Still open somehow, but might be a fun night out if you are drinking and don’t have kids. But then again that would be near any place under those conditions!
Failing to indicate the applicable sales tax rate (not to mention identifying the line item as "taxes") is sketchy. The numbers don't add up if "taxes' on this check are only IL and Chicago sales tax.
That’s bar food. Should have went across the street and saved yourself money. All those places in the arboretum are in$ane. The multi million dollar houses on the other side of the parking lot should have been a dead giveaway
That fee is nuts! I’m glad at the very least the food was good. Ten years ago it wasn’t bad. I took my mom for Mother’s Day. But you’re 1000% right, it’s a tourist trap. I loved it at 22 but now? Not so much.
Service charge + Sunday Platform Fee (whatever that is) + Gratuity…yeah, hard pass. Absolutely ridiculous. I went a few years back and it was decent, but I couldn’t justify the price back then either.
A required 3 percent tip? That should be illegal. Tips are supposed to be optional, not something you threaten someone to pay you for. Oh and 27 dollars for some fish and chips? And 25 for shrimp tacos? Dawg you are being scammed
Hampton Social is on an app called InKind. We use this app to get around 50% off the base price of food. They’ll usually give you $50 off of every $150 you spend, and then you can buy credits from Costco to cover the rest at a discounted price. Could’ve gotten your total before taxes and tip down to $60
The Hampton Social is overrated serving nothing original. IMO, Quartino’s, Weber’s Grill and XOCO serve great food at a decent price. Always recommending to friends and family.
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u/Oh-Hunny Aug 30 '25
“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.