Mercat a La Planxa

Best tapas I’ve ever had! Perfect before going to see a show at the CIBC theatre. Outstanding service and one of our favorite places in Chicago.

The food was average & the service was okay. We wouldn’t turn down an invitation to go again, but also wouldn’t go on our own.

This place had very interesting food that was very good. The wait staff is something to be improved on. They were not bad but could really care less what they were doing.

Outstanding food and service!

Service and food were spot on. We were celebrating my wife's birthday and the complimentary dessert was a very nice touch

Everything was fantastic! The only dish i felt was lacking just a tad in flavor was the octopus. Thw rack of lamb and the scallops were among the best I've ever had! Thank you to Sam for being an excellent and knowledgeable waiter. Great birthday dinner for my wife!

Everytine my business partners come to Chicago we make this great place a stop. This time I was in town with my wife and she loves. Spanish tapas. Great service

The food lacked flavor, octopus was too rubbery, and the meal was way overpriced for the portions received. Will stick with other tapas restaurants in the area

Very good food, very different (in good way) serving . Service is brilliant

On 2nd floor up the stairs.
Never saw hostess stand but server quickly noticed and seated us.
Beautiful setting. 10+ service.
Nice array of food choices. We had bacon wrapped dates, calamari, beef/lamb meatballs, ham croquettes, & lamb chops.
Sauces were tasty, plating gorgeous, but overall food was not impressively tasty. Rather bland. N lamb was fatty.
Crowded 4 a Monday night so others obviously love but we were not impressed especially 4 the $. Chicago has better tapas restaurants.

Great Spanish and Catalunya foods for brunch, in particular the Mercat Benedict and Truita de Samo. We can't wait to have a dinner prepared by the chef from Barcelona!

Has the Chefs tasting menu for dinner of 6. Food and service was very good. Will go again.

Very delicious food and attentive service.

The food was nice but they only had a brunch menu since it was during the weekend.

The food and ambiance were great. The service- not so much. They lost our reservation and managed to squeeze us in and never apologized. Then, our waiter said he “would portion out” our order based on our group size. I guess I misinterpreted what that meant because the $500 bill was a bit of a surprise. It’s a shame that the poor service overshadowed the delicious menu and pretty atmosphere.

Great place to celebrate with friends. While it can get pricey, the menu is fantastic if you like Spanish food (Tapas). It's one of my favorites.

Our server, Samuel, was very knowledgeable, friendly & patient. He guided us through quantities to order & never pressured us to place the next round.

Great way to share a delicious warm up to the concert with friends. Meat and cheese platters with sangria to celebrate!

We love this place but beware - we were there in a Friday evening before a show at the Auditorium and our server was great but got totally overwhelmed as the evening went on. We barely were able to have our glass of wine before we had to rush off for the concert. Food was great - we especially enjoyed the tapas over our entree!

I have to start with the fact that I used Open Table to book our reservation and used the "special request/instruction" field as a bit of a joke. I asked that the waiter treat my husband as if he was a regular (it was our first time trying this restaurant) and insist that he was just there this week a number of times. Completely forgot I put that into the reservation, as at the time I thought no one actually reads this stuff.

We arrive at the restaurant which is inside the beautiful Blackstone Hotel (Art Deco gem). The Mercat is beautiful and sumptuous. We are seated in a corner booth, which is lovely and cosy. My husband and I had already checked out the menu and had our game plan on what we were going to share. This restaurant is all about sharing small plates. The waiter starts his "pitch" and then sees my husband and completely changes his his mood from all business to old friend. "Hey buddy! you back so soon? You closed this place down last night!" The look on my husband's face was priceless. I couldn't stop laughing and did a horrible job of helping the waiter out with his improv! High five to him! They do read the special instructions people!

But really, this should be about the food. Our waiter told us about the chef's choice tasting where you get to pretty much run through the entire menu. You get to try smaller portions of many dishes and we were on board. It did not disappoint. We started with warm olives, delicious bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates, and shaved Spanish ham on warm bread with a tomato reduction. Then a bright salad arrived consisting of pea shoots and arugula with nice cheese and asparagus. Diver scallops, then shrimp! Both just perfect. A bowl of broiled peppers YUM. Then the steak came out - it was the best flank I have ever had - perfectly cooked and so flavourful & tender. It was accompanied by two sauces, one was a very vibrant garlic and herb sauce - the other a smokey tomato and almond. Really stole the show!

despite glowing reviews this place didn't cut it. We were staying in the attached hotel and were happy to read this was a good choice as we were tired of going out. The first thing that strikes you is the need for a total makeover. Been a while since I sat in a cracked final chair and it wasn't pleasant. The fig salad was very good but the shrimp over cooked. I can't even remember what else we ordered... must be trying to blank it out! Would not return

Sadly, this was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time, anywhere let alone in downtown Chicago.
Worn out, unkept dining room. Good quality but extremely overpriced wine selection.
Limited, uninspiring menu and worst of all poor preparation and food quality. Server was thoughtful enough to steer us away from 2 dishes however we still ended up sending our main entree back due poor quality.
Sorry to say but this place needs to close.

Mercat has been a favorite of ours since it opened. We have yet to bring an out of town guest that didn't love it. Our waiter Sam who has been there from the start is another reason to go, he's excellent!

We chose this for my birthday dinner and it was absolutely wonderful!

Food was very good, but pricey. Did not offer bread service, which is a staple in Spanish cuisine, and a must with tapas (??). Nice ambiance.

Very disappointing service. Food was delicious, but very expensive for tapas.

Outstanding dining experience...will return next time in Chicago

Overpriced but offers cuisine you don’t find elsewhere.

I was visiting Chicago with my son and a friend recommended Mercat a la Planxa. Great food, service, wine and ambiance. Best Paella I've ever had.

Ales was a phenomenal server and very knowledgeable...brunch menu had ample options for any type of eater...only suggestion would be to add more mint to the carrot/(israeli)couscous dish...likewise quinoa would be a nice substitution .

This restaurant is tucked in the Blackstone Hotel... don't think it's typical hotel food - it's not! Great tapas style restaurant - every dish we had was amazing. The paella was fantastic - just be prepared to wait 35 minutes for it as it is cooked to order. Highly recommend!

Great service!

Best tapas in Chicago. Great food, great vibe to hand out and enjoy the evening. Service is great often but not always.

Not to much selection and portions are very small. The food was very good though.

We came in for a family get together and had a fantastic time. Not only was the food delicious and the drinks amazing but our server Katie was fantastic. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the menu and wine list and really made our dinner special. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Good spot overall. It can be hard to find quality Spanish cuisine, but they executed well.

Overall I was quite pleased. The tapas were excellent. I was very disappointed with the paella. I am Valencian and as a rule I never order paella but my friend never tried paella before. We ordered the seafood paella and to be brutally honest it tasted like soggy rice with some seafood. I wouldn’t call that paella. It didn’t have saffron and the rice was not cooked properly. Everything about this “paella” was wrong. I am sure the average costumer would not be so harsh but the costumer who has tasted paella done right would be very disappointed.

The food was very expensive! I have lived in Spain and I know many of the recipes. Many have have changed and you may expect something different than what you order.

Nice place for casual dinning, good service, excellent food.

Very good service, outstanding food. They need to do some acoustical dampening as the noise level was too high for the prices! Beautiful setting in old hotel.