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Decor was exceptional. Service was excellent. Food was fantastic!!!! My new favorite restaurant!!!!

recommended by a chef friend of mine. in sum, the service was spotty, not very knowledgeable. we were with a group of 8 people. the food arrived in shifts, the hot food was cold, the cold food was hot. we sat outside. on the upper deck, not even 20 feet away was swamped with smokers and the wind shifted down into the eating area. my cold amish chicken tasted like marlboros. in the end, the server asked us how we enjoyed our meal. expecting us to say "fabulous" we told her the truth. she was thrown for a loop and didn't respond. she didn't even mention it to ownership/management. sorry, but this was my experience.

we had the steak and eggs and the chilean sea bass.....awesome! duck apps were just ok..(where's the flavor other than fattly....!) and lobster pizza was good but too crisp.... our server was nice and seemed well informed on both wine and food....he helped us pick out the apremont really good sauv blanc style white. outside was reallly the place to be, so we were glad we waited..... we noticed the chef or sous chef walking around, but we did/nt get a chance to meet him. overall, nice addition to wicker/bucktown.... good wine list. a little dark outdoors....

let's start out by saying i really wanted to like duchamp. i live just around the corner and was probably meritage's best customer for many years . the new space is nicely decorated , the staff attractive and the barman was friendly and proficient while i waited for my date to arrive. we sat outside and i have to say i'm not a fan of the communal tables (especially on a date) but there's no choice so we went with the flow . being unsure of the size of the portions and in no hurry, we wanted to order our meal one coarse at a time but were informed by our waitress that "the chef doesn't like that , you have to order everything at once". that's a pet peeve of mine especially when eating food that doesn't require lengthy or complicated preparation, such as that served at duchamp. we ordered our "small plates" , white pizza with lobster and gazpacho with shrimp. both were very nice , especially the soup. our "large plates" were not good and certainly not large. my bouillabaisse was "constructed" in a small deep bowl with a tiny piece of chilean bass at the bottom and some rock shrimp and mussels on top, there was barely enough broth (which was very tasty) to cover the bottom of the bowl , leaving the shrimp and mussels dry and tasteless (all the ingredients had obviously been cooked separately and only the bass had any flavour). the toasted bread that accompanies the dish is pointless as there's not enough broth to dip it in . my dates skate wing fish and chips was awful . the skate (naturally one of the most moist of fish) was as dry as a bone and tasted like fish fingers that had been under a heat lamp for an hour at a buffet. growing up in europe where skate wing is very expensive and treated as a delicacy , i've never imagined it was possible to prepare it so poorly. for desert we tried the creme brulee which had good flavour but again the preparation was terrible, once the sugared top was broken it was liquid inside, like an amateur had made it. the wine list was interesting and reasonably priced and we enjoyed the champagne available by the glass and a very nice bottle of french sauvignon blanc. the service at duchamp was attentive and unobtrusive , the wine selection good . however the preparation of the food is very poor, as i said earlier , almost amateurish. i really wanted to like duchamp but i just couldn't lower my standards that much.