Chicago - Anyone stay at new Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Ave.?

This hotel is new in the past 6-9 mos. and is located in the old Union Carbide bldg on Michigan south of the river.

I have been in love with this bldg (from the outside) for some time.

Any comments appreciated.

Thank you.

Mike

This hotel is new in the past 6-9 mos. and is located in the old Union Carbide bldg on Michigan south of the river.

I have been in love with this bldg (from the outside) for some time.

Any comments appreciated.

Thank you.

Mike
I have not,but a friend of mine did and said he had a great time.Service and staff were top notch.. ^

This hotel is new in the past 6-9 mos. and is located in the old Union Carbide bldg on Michigan south of the river.

I have been in love with this bldg (from the outside) for some time.

Any comments appreciated.

Thank you.

Mike

Not stayed but I have been to the bar on the ground floor there. Very stylish with extremely friendly staff. Recommended.

Yes, very courteous staff. Very close to Millennium Park, and great views high up. Almost too high design: it's hard to figure out the light fixtures, which is stupid since the interiors are pretty dark. Don't even open the mini fridge: if you so much as look funny at it, they'll charge you. (Wasn't hard to convince staff that I hadn't actually had anything, tho.)

I stayed on a recent weekend, and the downside: loud vacationers.
.pc

Although I haven't actually seen a room...we've had guests stay there (my office is around the corner at Lake/Wabash) who were not thrilled.

Obviously the original structure is old...and some of those 'older' parts were not changed during the rehab -- i.e. plumbing noises, windows, etc. The common complaint is that a lot of the road noises from down below enter the rooms.

As far as China Grill goes, to me that place leaves little to be desired other than if admiring some neat decor is your thing. The food is good, but very overpriced. You can essentially get the same thing at Opera or PF Chang's and spend 1/2.

Second on China Grill--and yes, Opera is much more exciting. However, I think it's a given that hotel restaurants (with precious few exceptions) aren't even worth considering when in a large city. Around Chicago, I'd only recommend the restaurants at the Four Seasons and Peninsula on quality, maybe the Burnham, Sofitel, and Drake for design/ambience, but overall you'll always find better food for less outside the hotel.
.pc

We had a jonesen for Asian food and the China Grill Restaurant was very convenient for the Chicago Theatre event we were going to see, so we went the other night. Just goes to show I should have done a search and read the comments below:

As far as China Grill goes, to me that place leaves little to be desired other than if admiring some neat decor is your thing. The food is good, but very overpriced. You can essentially get the same thing at Opera or PF Chang's and spend 1/2.
Second on China Grill--and yes, Opera is much more exciting.

China Grill was bad.

Service: Mid 30's waitress calling my wife (mid 40's) "baby" as in "Oh I'm sorry baby, I'll bring the drink you asked for", didn't listen well to our questions about the menu, brought out wrong entrees, poor & incorrect pacing of items ordered. Acoustics in the restaurant stink, not easy to hear your partner.
Lamb Ribs - could have been a stellar item but they put the plum sauce on way too early so it burnt rather than caramelized.
Lobster pancakes - very good item.
Drunken Chicken - so dry, not good.
Duck Fried Rice - decent fried rice with good amounts of duck in it.

For the above & 3 drinks, I can think of MUCH better places to spend $150. Won't be back.

=

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g35805-d287568-Reviews-Hard_Rock_Hotel_Chicago-Chicago_Illinois.html

About a month ago Groupon had an coupon for the Hard Rock: cannot remember exactly what it was, but it seemed good and came with a free guitar lesson. I have seen offers repeat, you may want to keep checking.

About a month ago Groupon had an coupon for the Hard Rock: cannot remember exactly what it was, but it seemed good and came with a free guitar lesson. I have seen offers repeat, you may want to keep checking.

I got a Groupon around that same time but it didn't mention anything about guitars. It was a $40 drink certificate for the Base Bar for $20. Is that what you were thinking of?

Free alcohol - seems ok to me! ^

Post deleted, because I didn't notice the original date before posting my comments.