Drake Bros

The buffet style breakfast was just okay.
Not worth it for the price but overall good because it was inside the hotel

We had a wonderful brunch with a lovely view and perfect service from the hostess to the waiter and everyone in between. We had Eggs Benedict and bloody Mary’s. Outstanding!

Lovely place. Beautiful views. Order off the menu. The buffet was sparser than I remembered. They ran out of plates at the Buffett. I had to ask to get more plates. It was hard to find bowls for the yogurt and fruit. The cereal wasn’t the other end of the Buffett.
It took 15 minutes waiting in line to make an omelette. She had no personality. Used a ton of oil. Yuk!
No interesting options.
It was a Sunday and I thought it would be better.
I’d go again order the Eggs Benedict and a plate of fruit.
Can’t beat the view. And the History of the hotel. It is gorgeous inside.
Skip the buffet.
Lots of hotels have cheaper and better buffets.

Christmas dinner at the Drake

Had breakfast here twice on a recent stay at The Drake. Very nice view of either Lake Michigan or the City with lots of tall windows. Has either an ala carte menu or their Buffet. Typically not buffet eaters but ordering ala carte was actually more expensive than their $ 26 per person buffet. Had your typical buffet fare, lots to choose from. Good coffee. Very fast and prompt servers keep your waters and juice topped off.

Today was the first time dining in the Drake Bros room, although I have dined in all of the other restaurants here. This is not an updated review, as Unilocal reports. This is the first review of the standard café. It’s way over-​priced. I wasnt hungry, like my friend. The buffet would be the way to go if hungry ($ 27, adults), otherwise a light breakfast is expensive. The atmosphere is delightful, I admit; there is a cost for that. Service is good. My order of a side of bacon (3 pcs, $ 6) and toast ($ 4) is nothing to write about. Bacon is good regardless, and the toast was toast.

NOTICE:((This Review only applies to the Christmas Dinner!))
We have been coming to Drake Brothers for Christmas dinner for the last five years or so. We look forward to it every year, and this year’s experience was the first time we were very disappointed. While the carolers continued to delight, Santa Claus did not even show up. We avoid the holiday lines at the mall all season knowing that we are going to be able to visit with Santa during Christmas dinner. You can imagine how difficult it was to explain to our children why Santa never came and why they were not able to visit with him at all this year. In addition, there has always been a wonderful dessert buffet, which was also missing from last night’s offering. This year proved quite different than years past. If this new approach is going to continue, we will definitely not be coming back if it does.

Don’t waste your money on this place until they get their mojo back, you can get a better brunch at the Holiday Inn Express. It breaks my heart to say that, but these people need to wake up!!!
My father first started the tradition of coming to the Drake for brunch when I was a child. It has been a tradition ever since. However, in recent years, the restaurant now called the Drake Bros, which was originally the Oak Terrace, has gone down hill drastically. The space and view are world class, but the food and service has since diminished greatly, especially since changing to the Drake Bros name.
The Oak Terrace had a sunday brunch weekly that was to die for with original dishes and spectacular items like corn beef hash, prime rib, specialties, etc… The Drake Bros has a mundane typical brunch of omelet station, meat and cheese, etc. Nothing original and at a very expensive price.
Today we went to the annual «Charles Dickens Buffet» at Drake Bros. This was originally the best holiday brunch in the city and arguably the world. All traditional English 18^th Century dishes and a Christmas feeling that couldn’t be beat… See below review from 1997:
Not any More…
Now it is a very substandard, mundane brunch that even dedicated ¹⁄₃ of the buffet to goofy little kiddie dishes like mac n cheese, french fries, pizza!!! Yes Pizza at a 75 $ per plate freaking holiday buffet… Grilled cheese, etc…
There wasn’t even one egg dish, nothing original, just a pasta, a couple meats, one soup, a cutting station unmanned with precut, luke warm meats, the salad dressing could easily be recognized as bottled!!! YES, Freaking bottled dressing!!! The food was a joke. The managers, and hostess barely spoke clear English, I think this place has been contracted out to some foreign owned chop shop restaurant operation… What a damn shame.
If you read the above tribune review from 1997, you will see how wonderful this Event once was, and how incredibly foolish the hotel management is to allow it to be destroyed like this. You are basically paying for the Michigan Avenue views. They didn’t even do the parade, just some Santa wandering around… But the carolers were very good.
I have to say, the rest of the Drake is awesome still, from the decorations, the Palm Court, the Coq’dor lounge, etc… It is just the Drake Bros restaurant…
Please!!! Get a good chef and manager in that space and bring that tradition back to what it should be.

Drake Bros is a great breakfast option when staying at the Drake. The breakfast buffet has a little something for everyone. Looking for something a bit healthy? Greek yogurt, cereal, and fresh fruit. Maybe something a bit more traditional? French toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon and more. They also have an omelette station for those of you who want to customize your protein intake. Appearance is clean, with friendly staff and huge windows offering views of Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. I would say the buffet option is of good value and the $ 30 a person price point is in line with other Luxury Hotel Buffets.
*Gold & Diamond members get complimentary breakfast

Came for brunch on a Sunday afternoon and the food was very hearty and delicious. Of course its not the beautiful main restaurant in the Drake but has a great view of Michigan Ave and the park. The restaurant has a good omelet station and also a very good variety of breakfast foods. Drake Bros is a bit out of the way and the décor is a a bit old. But its a good place to eat. The servers were top notch.

Came for brunch. It was hearty and filling. They have an omelet bar with plenty of toppings. The bacon was deliciously crispy. They have the usual fruit plates and yogurt, the granola was yummy. The servers were the best part of this experience. They were all extremely attentive and nice. The valet area is a cluster-f@ck but it’s only $ 14 when validated. In all, it was a good meal.

Hostess and servers were aloof and seemed miserable, and the food was underwhelming. Pats of butter were small, cold and hard as a rock, potatoes were barely warm with no flavor, pancakes did not come with enough syrup, and omelette was not very filling. Orange juice was good, but the coffee was very bland. Server gave me an attitude when I asked for cream. I was disappointed since it brings down the hotel, which is quite nice. Won’t come here again.

I ordered breakfast off of the menu, not the buffet. I just wanted a simple eggs, bacon, and toast breakfast. The scrambled eggs were runny, cold, and tasted like they were ½ melted butter. The potatoes were barely warm and bland. The bacon was good and so was the service! It was an expensive, bad breakfast in a great setting.

This review is for the Drake Bros Charles Dickens «Brunch». First let me say that I have been to the Drake for afternoon tea many times and that is fantastic. The hotel is beautiful and the service top notch. However, if you are thinking about going to the Drake Bros for their holiday Charles Dickens «Brunch» Buffet, DON’T (now or in the future), unless they improve it drastically. The «Brunch» is $ 75 per person, so it is one of the most pricey brunches I have ever been to, also they require a credit card to hold the reservation. The invitation that popped up in my email promised «Brunch» and Carolers and Santa. I had already built up this grandiose brunch in my mind to be a spectacular event with choice pickings. My husband and I made the hour long drive downtown to enjoy this brunch as a holiday treat for both of us. When I arrived at the Drake Bros restaurant, I was a bit confused and thought there had been a mistake. The restaurant was empty, and I thought why on earth would they require a credit card to hold a reservation when there was nooooobody even eating at the restaurant. After we were seated and I got up to browse the buffet, I realized why the restaurant was empty. There was no «brunch». There was one round table with a few «lunch» items, and one very sorry dessert table. The lunch items included chicken breasts, some pasta, salad, cold vegetables, cold meats and cheeses and a few oysters and some «crab» cakes. Where was the omelet station or the pancakes, bacon, sausage, please give me any breakfast items. Isn’t that what «Brunch» is? Also, Santa and the Carolers made a 5 minute appearance during the course of this brunch. The food itself was cold, bland and clammy. Mimosas not included in the $ 75 per person price tag. After all was said and done, my husband and I dropped $ 200 total including tax and tip. Save yourself the money and the heartache and go somewhere else! This was one of the most disappointing «brunches» I have ever been to. I wouldn’t give them $ 5 a person for this brunch if I had to do it again.

I felt pushed around from the outset. As an experienced diner, I was asked our opinion of various dishes but the eyes rolled when I didn’t concur with the servers approval. The food was correct but underwhelming. I was hardly given time to breathe before the next course was put down. The restaurant wasn’t full, so I don’t know why I was being rushed. It was like being served by a bunch of automatons…

Used to be great when lox was included in the breakfast buffet. Since they took the lox off the Buffetits mediocre at best and over priced.

We had breakfast here a couple of times while we were staying at the Drake. We ordered off the menu the first day and had the Chorizo and egg burrito, the St. Nectaire and organic egg sandwich with pork, and a fruit bowl. I liked the fruit bowl but didn’t care for the entrees themselves. They were a bit dry and didn’t have much flavor to them.
We had the full breakfast buffet the other days and that was much better. They had omelets made to order, pancakes, sausages, potatoes, pastries, cereals, and fruit. The highlight for me was the wonderful cut fruit selection (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries). The fruit was fresh and all offered separately instead of being mixed together in a mushy fruit mix.
The dining room has an old school feel to it and it was usually pretty quiet whenever we had breakfast. I’m sure there are less pricey options for breakfast in the area but it was a nice way to start off our day.

What a fun coincidence that I happened to go to Drake Bros. restaurant the same day as it it RotD!
I was looking for a brunch venue for a work meeting and Drake Bros. was the rare offering.
The buffet spread was quite limited — cereal, fruit, eggs made to order and muffins.
The menu was a little more extensive in optionality, so we opted for a la carte. The eggs, waffles and french toast were all satisfactory but not memorable.
Service was spotty and we struggled just to find someone to request glasses of water!
Drake Hotel overall has a history, but not so much a present.

It’s just Dad & I at Christmas these days. I don’t cook, and he doesn’t want to anymore.
We happily leave it to the pros!
So we had Christmas Dinner at Drake Bros. and couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It was a bit of a pricey prix fixe 4-​course, but we couldn’t say it wasn’t totally worth it.
Started with a generous and delicate pan seared scallop, moved onto lobster bisque and our entrée was the Beef Wellington — cooked to an absolutely perfect medium. Seemed to liquefy in my mouth. Even the dessert buffet was good — my dad loves mince meat pie, which is a decidedly 20^th century delicacy these days. Well, the Drake dessert menu had mini mince meat pies! Leave it to the Drake to get it right!
We had a lovely table overlooking Lake Michigan on an unseasonably mild, sunny Christmas Day. It was a wonderful experience. My «complaints» are relatively small — the butter should be room temperature; the booth seat is a little low and the table a little high for a petite gal like me. And I don’t like the fact that there’s no place to sit in the valet area. My dad’s 81 – if he’s gotta wait 10 minutes or more for the car, he needs to sit.
Otherwise, The Drake does an amazing job and has a packed house for Christmas. We had a lovely visit from Santa, who even sat down at our table because he was tired (he’d been working all night, you know…) and the old-​fashioned carolers were a nice touch as well. My dad was talking about that Beef Wellington and those mini mince meat pies three days after dinner — always a good sign that he enjoyed himself.
And that’s really all we wanted for Christmas – a good meal and a good time with each other. Thank you Drake Bros. for helping to make that happen!

We come here every year for our company’s holiday luncheon. The service is amazing; they remember which one of us is new to the company, they remember that my boss likes to have a glass of milk at the end of his meal. The champagne and the wines never stop coming, and they have Christmas carolers going from table to table, singing well, Christmas Carols to you. It was amazing!
The luncheon was buffet-​style (I’m not sure if it isn’t on regular days). I loved the variety of salads they have, the cheese platter, the various cured meat, the different entrees — an excellent variety of vegetables and meat. Their bookbinder soup is amazing, if only a little lukewarm– I like my soup piping hot. And I love their crabmeat and oyster stew. The food is always delicious, every year that I come here with my company.
The only thing that I don’t particularly like is that the restrooms are soooooo far away, in another part of the hotel. Every year, I get a little lost trying to find the restroom. Other than that, I have no real complaints as the food and the service are amazing.