Chicago Food Writers' Most Disappointing Meals of 2016

What was your most disappointing meal of 2016?

Morgan Olsen, RedEye: Mahalo. I was really bummed to see predecessor Bom Bolla shutter last year, and this opening didn’t fill the big cava-filled shoes left behind.

Elizabeth Atkinson, Time Out Chicago: Duck Duck Goat.

Anthony Todd, Chicagoist: Probably the expensive, tasteless mess I had at the revamped Ocean Cut (Formerly C Chicago). It felt like I was piling onto an already defeated restaurant, but it's still, somehow, a packed downtown power joint. The food was bad, the service was bad, and the whole thing was unbelievably expensive.

Chandra Ram, Plate: Each and every meal that began with a server explaining the concept of small plates to me as though I was an idiot from another planet who had never been in a restaurant before.

Michael Nagrant, RedEye: Myron Mixon’s Smoke Show. It was more like Myron Mixon’s Sh!t Show. I totally respect Myron Mixon. He’s the Michael Jordan of BBQ. But, like Jordan going to play baseball for the Sox, Mixon opening a restaurant was a total failure. Except for the ribs, everything else was mushy or dry and felt like it had been sitting around since the Cubs World Series win of 1908.

Lisa Shames, CS: I can't seem to remember a specific one. Maybe it's my sunny Southern California upbringing that makes me forget the bad ones.

Matt Kirouac, Zagat: The food at SPiN is about as disappointing as Susan Sarandon's ridiculous politics. But I suppose most people aren't going there expecting anything revelatory.

Penny Pollack, Chicago magazine: Bad Hunter. I love the idea, but the kitchen needs to calm down.

Michael Gebert, Fooditor: If Imperial Lamian has a time when it's really on, it's not Monday at 9:30 p.m. after a Between Bites show.

Chris LaMorte, UrbanDaddy: n/a.