Swift & Sons

Went last night to celebrate my wife’s birthday with the family. The staff went out of their way to make certain everything went perfect. The original open table reservation was for 4. We decided to add my wife’s parents at the last minute, as HOT as the restaraunt is they were gracious enough to accommodate.
We were seated and immediately Daniel was at our table to make certain everything was ok. He was attentive he paced dinner perfectly. Amazing service.
This is a steakhouse and I can only describe the steaks with a comment — perfect. It is refreshing to be served a steak and instead of asking to cut the steak and tell the waiter how it looks, the meat is served and the waiter leaves… it is obvious the cook already knew each steak was cooked to the proper temp!
Not just another steakhouse, this is now THE steakhouse standard in Chicago.

This place is great! I was here for my birthday and was extremely happy with the service, ambiance and food. I’m a pescatarian and I can’t speak about the steaks here (although my husband said this was the best steak he had !) but their seafood selection is to die for! The salmon tartare deliciously melts in our mouth, it’s the perfect appetizer, very refreshing and perfect for hot summer nights! The halibut, just the same… perfection! My husband was very impressed with the porterhouse (their steak portions do serve 2 people, so make sure to come here with an appetite!)
I’m not even talking about desserts and wine. Just go with the sommelier’s recommendation and you won’t be disappointed.
Overall great dining experience, will go back very soon!

The food is really really GOOD! I was happy about that but the service was terrible. We waited 15 min before a server came to greet us and bring water to our table. That was a bit bizarre. During my entrée I asked for a ginger ale. I had to stop eating and my food got cold becouse it never came. While I was waiting for my ginger ale I watched my servers nose so far up the assess of the table In front of me I started to get sick. She was giving them tasting of champagne from some rolling cart and They never even ordered a bottle… The bus boy noticed I was getting upset and ran to get me a ginger ale. Big points to him!!! The server came to the table to fold my husbands napkin and didn’t say a word. She kinda had her nose up to us. I felt really weird energy from her.
The place is beautiful and big and busy. The food is good so I will go back but I will ask for a better waiter when I make my next reservations.

Great service, great food, knowledgable staff and incredible steak! We ordered the cold platter, oysters, tomatoe and onion salad, scallops and Japanese wagyu steak! Incredible!!!

Décor is so delicious unfortunately their steak is not neither is their service. The waitress was sweet and knowledgeable but the service from delivery of bread, setting up of food, and clearing up of table you need better training.
You cannot compete with the others if the basics are not covered no matter how wonderful the place looks.

Never mind that its another Boka Group owned restaurant. It’s a steak house catering to business meetings and people trying impress other people. Its a huge space that wasn’t all that comfortable. I actually liked the front bar with their food selections better than the main event. Our server was very nice and helped us through our questions about the menu. Nothing really stuck out food-​wise as amazing.
You’ve got your standard steakhouse fair. We switched up the evening a bit. We started off with the Caesar Salad to share. It was really nice of them to split the dish before presenting it to us. I enjoy that when a restaurant will take that extra step. We also had the Crab Cake from the appetizer menu. It’s a good portion if you are not in the mood for a large hefty steak. I went with the English Pea Cappelletti as my main. It was warm and comforting. When paired with a salad and a side, it was enough food for me. We also gave the Roasted Halibut a chance. And that’s all I have to say about that. For the sides I absolutely had to get the Roasted Mushrooms. The sauce that comes with them is pretty tasty. We had to order more of that. The waiter recommended the Charred Carrots. OK, but they don’t stand a chance against the Roasted Mushrooms.
For drinks they definitely focus on their high end wife and hipster mixed cocktails. We were disappointed in their beer menu. There are maybe 10 choices with four being your standard Coors and Guinness. It did not fit our taste.

We had dinner at Swift & Son’s on a Friday night and had a very enjoyable meal.
Décor: The whole look and feel of this place is a cross between a nice steakhouse and a ’70’s swanky bar. The wood and layout certainly feels like a steakhouse but the decorations are all ’70’s. Now, don’t get me wrong, it works. It’s just funny. Unfortunately we didn’t get to sit in the main dining room — as it was crowded when we arrived — so we were «banished» to the back-​ish room. Much less exciting, much more quiet. However, it did have the perk of being right by the back bar! The lighting is lower here, but not too low; just enough to set a low-​vibe atmosphere. And, as I mentioned, the place is rather sizeable and can probably accommodate any size group.
Bathroom: unknown
Staff: Our waiter was a different kind of fellow but we discovered that it was just his façade. Upon ordering, and him getting to know us better, he warmed up a bit and I think took a liking to us. In particular he really dug our food and drink choices. That being said, he and the rest of the staff were rather nice.
Food: We started with a round of drinks (bourbon and wine) and moved on to the apps. First, though, the bread they brought was very tasty! We had the lobster bisque (tasty, but a bit watery) and the shrimp cocktail. The soup was enjoyable and the shrimp was fantastic! They were not the largest crustaceans but solid nonetheless. What really made this shrimp cocktail memorable was the fact that they included a side of horseradish to self-​spice the cocktail sauce — AWESOME TOUCH! We then moved onto dinner and had the porterhouse (it’s BIG and was cooked perfectly) and the scallops (very tasty but not a large portion). Seriously, when I say «perfectly cooked» for the steak I mean it 100%. It was text-​book rare and still so amazingly tender and melt-​in-​your-​mouth. Wow. Simply OUTSTANDING. For sides we had the creamed spinach (tasty) and the au gratin potatoes (enjoyable and very, very cheesy!). For desert we had a scoop of vanilla on a warm cookie (recommended by our waiter, home run!) and the Passionfruit Mango sobet (which was also out-​of-​this-​world tasty!). Everything came out hot and fresh and tasted divine.
Value: The prices here are right where you’d expect a steakhouse to be. You get outstanding food quality and top notch service so the large check at the end of the meal seems that it is money well spent.
I’ve casually been on the lookout for the best steakhouse in Chicago and I think I’ve found it. This place is marvelous and I know we’ll be back again soon.

So impressed by this new Chicago hotspot. From the yummy food to the amazing service… i’ve officially added this to my fav list. Such a well run restaurant. bravo!

Update, Revisited Swift and Sons with my boyfriend so we could get the Beef Wellington we were recommended the first time. WOW, out of this world, a must try and cooked perfectly!
This time we started w/​the EC/​WC oysters which were really good as well. I also had a cocktail w/​Pear & Basil but name escapes me, that was real good too.

Highly recommend Swift and Sons. There are too many steak houses in the city to do a side-​by-​side, but I compare most to Bavette’s, which is out of control, consistently awesome. Perhaps most important, the steak was fantastic. I’m a bit picky and like mine medium but not on the side of bleeding. Our server offered me «medium plus,» which was a perfect. My group of four also ordered the beef Wellington, which is so simple it’s often underrated. A testament to the chef’s talent– it was seriously delicious. You better consider it when visiting.
Service was also fantastic, from the hostess to the sommelier. Speaking of, the wine list is solid. You’re sure to have a great bottle even if you don’t want to throw down $ 100 (if you do though, go for the Frank Farms). Without asking, our server also made special recommendations and notes for our friend is pregnant. Special touches like that were consistent throughout the meal. (They even brought an extra dessert for us because we couldn’t decide which we should order).
All in all, Swift and Sons is a super cool space (very Fulton Market-​esque) with fantastic food and service to match. This is one of the good ones! Bring your family, your family, and be yourself– no pretention here.

Of all the great restaurants in Chicago, we were recommended by a friend to come here. All I can say is wow! The service was exceptional. The restaurant had great ambiance.
We started with crab cakes as our appetizer. Not the best I’ve had, but very good.
For my entrée I had the filet mignon, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. Best filet I’ve had, hands down. I literally didn’t even need a knife to cut through it. The sides were very good.
I think the desserts were my favorite part (I always have a sweet tooth). We shared the key lime pie which was part pie/​part ice cream, and the peanut butter mousse. Wonderful experience overall and I will be back. Plan for about $ 100/​person.

I hate to do this but I’ve definitely experienced better. This review is really only on the food and where we were seated in S&S. The service was good, even though our waiter had no clue what he was talking about. My husband asked him questions about how his steak was prepared and you could tell he really didn’t know so was just making things up. But he was super nice and we didn’t wait on anything.
They seated us in the conference room section of S&S, way in the back left of the restaurant. This is a big mistake to seat any tables in here except maybe if they had a big party. It feels like you are eating in a hotel. The room is nothing special, is quiet and really just unappealing. The rest of the restaurant is fun, lively, upbeat, and we both really wish we were seated there. Being seated in the conference room made the experience very boring and I would advise any one going to S&S to ask to be seated in the main dining room.
I got the crab cake which was really just okay, very fishy. My husband got strip steak and it tasted like it was smoked in a smoker. Very odd, but edible. The potatoes were the best by far. Everything else was just mediocre, which I really hate to say since we were so excited to give S&S a shot.
The location is great and you can tell they spent mega $ making both the outside and inside look young and trendy.
My advice would be to go to their pop up seafood place, Cold Storage, instead of S&S. Cold Storage was bright, fun, and lively. The bar was so much fun and the bartender was super nice. The food looked great. Next time I would much rather go here for dinner and drinks.

Amazing steakhouse! And, that’s coming from someone who doesn’t usually love steakhouses. The food, service and ambiance are all top notch.
When I first entered with my older parents, I was concerned about the noise level. No need to worry — Swift & Sons is like several restaurants within one space. While the front bars are hustling and bustling, there are three dining room areas, each with a different vibe. The one furthest in the back is quiet and classy, perfect for my retired parents. If you want a Gibson’s-like, louder dining space, no worries. You have that as well! There is something for everyone; just ask the host!
Service was just the right amount of attention and help. My dad has a difficult onion allergy and the waiter was well-​versed in the food preparation. When he couldn’t have the crab cake appetizer due to his allergy, they provided a salmon tartar, which was AMAZING. My parents generally aren’t fans of raw meat/​fish and devoured it. All of our steaks were prepared just the way we ordered them, and my mom said the King Crab (which she had as an entrée, served warm) was among the best she’s had.
Highly, highly recommend Swift & Sons if you’re looking for a great steakhouse. It’s not the typical Gold Coast tourist trap but a unique ambiance paired with delicious food and amazing service.

Swift and Sons has gorgeous space to impress and be impressed. I would say this is a good spot to bring your guests from out of town or your parents. Having said that, please don’t have high hope on the food here. Appetizers were good but were not amazing. We ordered the steak tartare which was just like another steak tartare from other cheaper restaurants. The presentation was superb and instagram-​friendly though. Oysters were fresh and not fishy — but they were nothing extra ordinary. Since my guest and I were not super hungry, we ordered steak frites; which were tasty and indeed came «medium rare». The highlight of the meal was probably the deconstructed boston crème pie which looked gorgeous and tasted delicious.
If I were to come back, I probably just ordered the dessert and skipped everything else. It’s that good.

I was ready to call this place my favorite steakhouse after my first visit. I went on a Sunday at 4:30pm and they were empty. The service was above and beyond and the food was amazing. After the experience I made reservations to go next month. Last night was my second visit and it did not live up to the first time. The food was still delicious but the service fell short. We had 8:45pm reservations and we still had to wait an hour to be seated. We did not get seated until 10pm. Our waitress was good and very nice but did not go above and beyond like our last waiter there. We had to even ask for bread. Another thing to note about the place is that it’s very loud when they’re busy. In order to have a conversation at the table you have to shout. If you’re going to try this place out, I only recommend going right when they open. Otherwise forget it.

I had an amazing experience at Swift & Sons — from the customer service, to the food, to the ambiance… it’s a really nice steakhouse without being pretentious, the employees really care about the quality of the meals/​drinks/​experience.
They have a cart for almost everything awesome that needs to be on wheels: Champagne cart, cocktail cart, and a chocolate trolley. We didn’t get to order anything from the cocktail cart, but we had a great time chatting it up with the mixologist. He was very enthusiastic about his work and I will have to try one of his cocktails next time I go!
We were a fairly large group, so we were able to order a variety of dishes to share. One of my favs was the bone in ribeye. I just love a thick, juicy ribeye with the perfect amount of marbling. Even the complimentary bread was amazeballs! So fresh and hotly made.
We ordered:
Tomato & Red Onion salad with burrata and balscamic dressing
Arugula salad with parmesan, mushrooms, fennel, onion and lemon
Skirt Steak Frites: fries were perfectly cooked on this
Bone-​in Filet and Bone-​in Ribeye: by the way, all prime steaks come with two house sauces — a bernaise and a steak sauce (similar to A1 sauce)
For sides, we ordered: au gratin potato, which comes with country ham and caramelized onion (yum!). Roasted mushrooms, which comes with porcini aioli and croutons. Crispy Brussels Sprouts with soy and lime chili. And creamed spinach with vin blanc.

I dined here recently with my husband and another couple and we were pleasantly surprised. I had heard mixed reviews prior to dining, and so wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
The space is stunning — they did a fantastic job and it’s aboslutely huge inside. Very romatic décor so perfect for a date or a girls night.
We ordered a ton of food — started with the salmon tartare (maybe the best tartare we’ve ever had), the crab cake, and the foie gras. Now, I absolutely love foie and I will say this one did not stack up. It was very dense and just not the right texture. I also had the autumn chopped salad which was fantastic and full of delicious veggies including sunchokes and fennel.
For the entrees the table ordered NY Strip, Filet, and bone in filets. One of my dining companions ordered his filet Oscar style, which the server had really talked up when we were ordering since theirs is done much differently than typical. Our steaks arrived and they were cooked perfectly, however my friend didn’t receive the Oscar on his. When we told the server she acted shocked and then said she’d go look into it, and he was halfway done eating his steak by the time we ever saw our server again. She delivered his Oscar toppings about 20 minutes after we received our steaks and she informed him that she would ‘take care of it’ since she wanted him to still be able to try it. Umm no kidding we aren’t paying for the Oscar topping if it didn’t show up until he was halfway done. Was definitely a huge miss on service there.
The one thing I thought was really weird was none of the steaks produced any juice when you cut into them. The plates were dry — no joke. My steak was still juicy and pefectly cooked but considring it was a medium rare NY Strip, I thought it was so strange that there was literally no juice inside! Must be in the way they cook it.
Wine list was great. Overal service was a bit spotty but considering the place is new we figured that was just indicative of the kinks that need to be worked out.
I rank every steakhouse against Bavette’s and RPM Steak, and while I think this place is competitive, I don’t think it’s as good as my beloved benchmarks.

I waited for the hype to get better before heading here. The early word was it wasnt very good.
I would really give it a solid 3.75
Likes
the space. Upscale, new, mod steak house
simple menu
Interesting crowd. Hipsters, suburban moms, tourits, Chicagoans… a bit of a mix here for shizzle.
Filet-​wow, great piece of meat! Perfectly cooked and cut like butter
Lobster-​hell yes. Perfectly cooked
Roasted beets-​loved the texture component of this dish! Thinly sliced, chunk diced, little cheese and some grain. It was great. looked like a jello mold. HA
Raw mushroom salad-​YUM! So good. That dressing that was bright and creamy all in one.
Lobster bisque-​heavenly! It tasted like a cross between a butternut squash soup and a light brothy fish soup. Yum.
Dislikes
We had bread plates… were we supposed to get bread?
Service-​server was great… but I felt that she was SLAMMED. We were definitely left looking for her on more than one occasion… whether it was for water, drinks, food, etc.
The rug underneath the tables in the main dining room… I mustve caught my chair legs on it at least 3 times. Definitely someone is going to fall.
Unsure
Salmon Tartare-​refreshing, crisp, very cucumber-y…I liked the concept but in the dead of winter in Chicago… I wish we wouldve ordered the steak tartare
Service was good, but I felt like they were a little short handed.
Brussels-​it was good, not great… wanted a little more from this side dish.
No coat check? Hmmm…
Overall, I liked the S&S experience… just didnt fall in love after first sight. We might have to work on our relationship a bit.

I heard this place had a bad start, but if that’s the case they’ve definitely turned it around. It’s on point with any of the other contemporary steam places in Chicago. The entire meal showed finesse and high quality. The service by the whole staff was outstanding. The space has that 1940s post-​modern feeling, very cool.
Shrimp cocktail — A
Mushroom salad — A+
22oz bone-​in ribeye — A+
Filet — A
Tartiflette potato — B+
Brussel sprouts — B+
Black bottom pudding — A

Another steakhouse opening in Chicago? Well Swift and Sons has plenty of competition in a town that is already saturated with steakhouses with at least 7 new ones opening in this year alone. But with a name that links back to the Swift family who basically invented the frozen railroad car to move their beef and helped Chicago be the meat capital of the nation, I had high hopes for the latest from the BOKA group.
For those of you who like stories, the one I find interesting is that the original name of this place was to be Swift and Armour based on the other meat baron who once roamed our fine city. But then the lawyers weighed in from Armour saying it was a trademark infringement and thus the shortened name. Gotta love those lawyers! And clearly they have clout as no one really wanted to talk about it at the restaurant!
Anyway– the space is really something! Actually a repurposed cold storage building (maybe housing some of the original Swift meat packing beef?) it’s huge, with large banquet rooms for private parties in the back, and a rather fun looking bar area in the front with it’s own menu of items (it’s also in the new Google headquarters so I can imagine plenty of business deals taking place in these walls!). There is a new seafood only area in the front called appropriately «Cold Storage» which wasn’t open when we visited but should be now. This space looks intriguing and will get me back to check it out!
We were first seated in the middle of the room at a 4 top, which probably was because of server distribution but where we wanted to be was in one of the booths along the wall so we asked and they were able to re sit us with little problem. Kind of funny as when I made the reservation, they must have been pacing out the tables as there was nothing available until 8pm and yet most of the restaurant was empty.
Our server was interesting, as while she was functional, there really wasn’t a warmth emanating from her but more of a «this is how we do it here» attitude said with her hand on her hip, which got us what we needed, but didn’t really make any of us feel all that welcome. A big miss in my book but the super friendly host off set that for me
The food was a bit of a mixed bag. The appetizers were both winners. The salmon tartar was my favorite but the celery root and pear agnolotti was also very tasty.
While the steaks were really well prepared and delicious (also expensive so you may end up splitting them which is what we did as the larger cuts are perfect for two people!), the sides did not fare well with our group. We sent back both the squash (flavorless and soggy) as well as the Brussels sprouts (too vinegary) and just gave up after trying both of those.
The good news is that no sides meant plenty of room for dessert and our server steered us toward the Black Bottom pudding (scrumptious) and the Cracker Jack (also VERY calorie worthy!) And the wine list has plenty of wine choices for wide ranges of budgets.
Given we visited shortly after opening, while this feels like a solid 3.5 experience, I rounded up to 4 as I need to go back and check out «Cold Storage». That felt like it was going to be my kind of place!
Time will tell. But if old Gustavus Swift is looking down at this new namesake, I can bet he’s nodding his head and smiling at the copious amounts of meat being consumed and chuckling to himself that people are actually eating where once sides of beef hung.