The Chicago Athenaeum

Food price was high but everything was fine

This hotel was very nice however they have one elevator that was working for 36 floors. We constantly had to wait for the elevator and sometimes we waited so long that we decided to take the stairs and walk down 14 flights, we ended up doing this 3 times. This was incredibly inconvenient! When the elevator was working, it stopped on every single floor as we went down. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday, it was very frustrating!

Excellent hotel, my only complaint would be the Peninsula food service. We ate at the Shanghai Terrace our first night on site and honestly the food was only 2 stars. Specifically the appetizers were minuscule, and 90% pastry dough. Whatever filling was supposed to be inside all the dough largely wasn’t. The whole Peking duck was arranged haphazardly on the plate, the skin was not really crispy, and the taste experience was completely lackluster. As to the main dining room the service continues, as always, to be erratic and frequently slow. Food is sometimes served hot, sometimes not. The room service on our checkout day was absolutely abysmal. We both ordered eggs Benedict and both orders were served not a degree above room temperature. The hollandaise sauce was so cold it had solidified. There really is no excuse for this. And unfortunately we did not have time to return the order as we had a plane to catch and we were running a bit behind. For an otherwise professional hotel the food service and quality is sadly lacking. It leads one to believe that the F&B manager could be a nephew, a cousin, or some other family member need of a job.