McCormick & Schmick’s

Pros:
Immaculate dining area
Fantastic service
Delicious meals (recommend the surf and turf)
Cons:
Parking
Cost
If you’re looking for a restaurant for a special date or just trying to enjoy some top quality dishes, McCormick & Schmick’s is for you.

Not good. My wife and I both ordered fish, both dishes were over-​done but my son’s steak was a perfect medium rare (odd for a fish restaurant!). We were served by some dopey kid who shouldn’d have been serving anything pricier than big macs. We ordered a bottle of wine and he brought the wine glasses to us but didn’t bring our wine until we were nearly finished. First and last time i come here. The manager was very nice and did come by and try to fix things but all-​in-​all, it was not worth the $ 150 bill

Definitely not what I’ve experienced at other mccormick and schmicks or m&s grille. Nothing justified the price; not service, not surroundings, and definitely not the food. The menu was very limited, the preparation was off, and the service was lacksidaisical.

We ordered the Mussels appetizer and it was bad, and uninspiring as any rip off seafood places I have ever been to for mussels. No joke ! I have had better mussels from a freezer bag I purchased at Trader Joes or Giant Eagle «In the frozen foods». First off the serving was micro small. The Mussels where like tiny gum bands and many shells where missing the mussel.
Really a rip off for what you get.
Now onto my freezer bag of PEI Mussels from Trader Joes = Large tasty, great mouth feel and not rubbery and a big bunch for less than $ 6. That being said I did add a ¹⁄₃ cup of my own white Italian wine, Garlic and more butter. But aside from that every shell had a giant gem of a mussel and not a tiny, over cooked microscopic gum band.
Sad excuse for a appetizer — McCormicks & Schmicks.
Quality control, Proper portion sizing and plate inspection before sending it out.
YOU FAILED !

I love Seafood, and I want to love M&S, but it’s just not right. The prices are «steakhouse», but the quality is Red Lobster. Others seem to agree: it was basically empty on Friday night at 7pm.
We really wanted to order combos (me: fish+shellfish, him: fish+steak), but none of the options had what we wanted so we stuck with just fish.
I had a pan seared halibut with lobster mashed potatoes. The fish was just ok. The mashed potatoes were ok, and then they poured this super salty gravy over it with the lobster. Disappointing for the most expensive fish and side dish on the menu.
My husband had the wagoo special with andouille sausage mashed potatoes. His fish was just ok too. I didn’t try the meat potatoes.
The cocktails we tried (one was some type of mule) were better than average, and when we asked for one of them to be modified on the second round, the bar did a nice job with the request.
The service was good although our server didn’t always have answers for many of the questions we asked, and she was a bit over the top happy. It was an «honor» to get us more napkins? Uh. She admitted that it was her 2^nd or 3^rd day, but she was unaccompanied, and I never saw her interact with a trainer or supervisor.

Been here before, always sat in the bar and while this place has a solid reputation, and an affordably priced happy hour, the service was lacking, though it seemed like it wasn’t the fault of the servers, just the poor oversight in staffing levels appropriate for the dinner hour. I tried to flag folks down, they avoided eye contact as they buzzed in and out of the kitchen a from behind the bar. I asked a server for the wifi password, he said, «Sorry, I don’t know it,» and walked away. I actually had to call him back and ask him to track it down for me. My food arrived quickly, (cashew crusted tilapia with no visible cashew coating) and the green beans and couscous were barely warm, luckily the fish was hot. I think there are far better places to try than McCormick and Schmick’s.

Not good. Out of the 5 meals ordered only 1 was correct and they did nothing to correct the bill. Because the «corrected» the order… oh, and the 1 meal that was correct was cold by the time the corrected meals came back 22 mins later.

Had dinner tonight. Out of 5 meals at our table only one was right and had to be sent back. They comped one meal, but should have made the whole table right. Disappointing experience, plus side was the waitstaff was good.

Don’t go on a holiday or expected high traffic times (dinner rush, penguins steelers, pirates, etc) and you will have an excellent meal. The lobster bisque should be served with baby aspirin it is so rich creamy and chunky with lobster … worth clogging your arteries. If
you have never eaten fresh lobster ORDER it here … they will even clean it in the kitchen for you.
I love the king salmon. The staff are very knowledgeable about the menu and willing to alter order to meet dietary needs.
The warm bread made onsite is addicting. You can’t just have one slice. Order the apple pie for dessert … it comes with Dave & Andy’s cinnamon ice cream.
Alex is my favorite waiter.

Calamari for an appetizer was just ok. I’ve had way better and not as expensive. Although my swordfish was good, my husband had steak & lobster that he was not happy about to say the least. Thought there was something wrong with the lobster not being cooked right. Well I guess he was right because several hours later he was very sick.
Onto dessert … I got the chocolate truffle cake. It was good until half way through there was paper in it !!! My husband had some type of pecan pie that was still frozen in the middle !
Will never ever go back.

Went on a night where there wasn’t a crowd of people. There was about 6 or so other groups of customers at a time during our stay. The service for how crowded it was had been good. It wasn’t amazing where i would remember as superb.
Food wise it was decent. The wine menu was accommodating, this is also were we had the best from our server, as he did a good job on suggesting a pairing that fit most of our groups dishes. The portions were on the smaller side with enough but hungry, which is a good thing unless you love to stuff yourself.
Pricing for what it was i felt a little high. Not as high as some places i would highly recommend, but it simply isnt memorible enough to spend what we did.

A lesson for all. Stay away from this restaurant on crowded days. Orders came out wrong and took over an hour on Mother’s Day. This location can’t handle a large crowd for simple brunch food. When the wrong food came out, it was sent back and returned to us with a crab cake tossed onto the plate. It was obvious they hadn’t cooked new food because they aren’t capable of getting food out in 3 minutes. The crab cakes look like a sad pile of crab and filler.
What a shame that an experience like this makes me want to stay away for good. The manager here should be fired for incompetence.

Food is solid but not great. Service is good but not exceptional. Pretty much the SAFE midscale seafood place. Great for semi-​classy smaller family functions and group occasions. If they took some chances on some more robust seasonings they could be more standout in this price-​class.

Good food. It was snowing really bad when we went, so it kept the crowd away. Probably a good thing, because it was a huge restaurant.
Nice location on the south side. Not on Carson and across from a parking garage.
We both had fish and our sides and desserts were really good. I normally don’t like trout but I wanted to give it a try. It was moist and flavorful. The greens that came with it were delicious. We shared a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce that was out of this world.
Yep, I’m a fan. So, far.

I know McCormicks and Schmicks is a chain of seafood restaurants. I know that I shouldn’t have high expectations for a chain restaurant. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda! However, any restaurant that offers food at certain higher price points should deliver food that taste better their fast food/​casual dining counterparts. Thus, my dilemma after a recent visit to McCormicks and Schmicks .
This wasn’t my first time at the rodeo. Generally speaking, I love all things seafood. (Sea squirts and things of that ilk, I’ll leave to Andrew Zimmern) But shrimp, crab, lobster and catfish are some of my personal faves. I know that this sounds greedy for just three people, but we ordered the Shrimp Kisses, Coconut Shrimp, Fried Stuffed Mushrooms appetizers; Buttermilk Fried Shrimp, Cashew Crusted Tilapia with Jamaican Rum Butter and Shrimp and Andouille «Mac & Cheese» for entrees on this particular occasion. The Shrimp Kisses and Fried Stuffed Mushrooms were tasty. However, the Coconut Shrimp and Buttermilk Fried Shrimp had batters that were too heavy and somewhat rubbery. During other visits, the Buttermilk Fried Shrimp had a much lighter crust. Who knows what was going on in the kitchen that day?
I say this because my daughter Muff ordered the Shrimp and Andouille «Mac & Cheese» for an entrée and it was served sans the shrimp and Andouille sausage. Once we pointed this out to our server, she said that that was kid’s Mac & Cheese and a kid received the Shrimp and Andouille «Mac & Cheese». The Cashew Crusted Tilapia with Jamaican Rum Butter was also tasty. Our server also vacillated between being very attentive and missing in action…
Okay… So, I don’t know if this was an off day or what… But inconsistent food quality, inconsistent service, inconsistent food preparation can kill a restaurant. All of the McCormicks and Schmicks that I have been to have had a nice «clubby» feel and that’s perfectly fine. But, the food and service really need to be tightened up a little and the menu should probably be updated.
Better quality everything should be expected at the prices that they charge. All I could think about was Donna Summer’s «She Works Hard For the Money» lyric that says «So you better treat her right!». I didn’t get «right» treatment and I work hard for my money!

Mediocre food with poor service. Management cares little about customer service as was reflected by the attitude I encountered when I flagged the manager down no less than three times to get water, clean silverware and salad dressing, which my wedge was served without.
I am sure that corporate management would be very troubled by the situation at this restaurant.
I was visiting Pittsburgh for the week, I frequent the Columbus location, it’s quite different in quality and a huge difference in service.
I would not recommend this restaurant under any circumstances.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that I was celebrating a friend’s birthday I would have come here for lunch over dinner. The post both menus outside and there is a big up charge for the same food if you come for dinner.
They do have WiFi but you need to get the «code» in order to use it. They do not validate parking like some other restaurants in this area.
My girlfriend had the seafood trio which she enjoyed and they gave her a free dessert. They were offering a chef’s special Sun-​Thurs evenings for $ 24.99 which includes a choice of soup or salad, entrée, and dessert. I opted for that one and settled for the breaded tilapia with sweet potato cous cous. and green beans. There were only flakes of sweet potato in it.
The meal is served with bread and there was plenty to eat. Our waiter was busy with other tables so it took long to get refills on our beverages but other than that it was good.
I learned that if you are an AARP member you can present your card and save 10% off your check. When we got our check it didn’t have that discount and my whole meal was broken up in charges instead of one bundle. Took a while to get it straightened out but we managed.
Again I will visit this place if I find the need to. My preference is lunch since you can get most of the same items a lot cheaper.

I would give this place five stars. The professionalism of the staff from when I made my reservations to the end of the meal was first class. It was VERY clean and had an upscale appearance.
The food was delicious but sort of on the pricey side but that’s okay because it was for a special occasion. They brought my wife out desert with a candle for her birthday. I’ll definitely be going back!

I went here recently for a bachelorette dinner, and the night started on a high note: our party of 13 was seated quickly and we were all pleased to see «Congratulations Tiffany!» at the top of all our menus! Unfortunately, that was about the only thing that was remarkable about this place. We started out with 4 servers — 2 seasoned employees and 2 new employees that they explained were shadowing them. This created a little bit of confusion when ordering drinks and dinner because we weren’t sure who to order from! Our drinks came quickly: I ordered the Raspberry Mule and was underwhelmed — too much ice in the glass. I probably only got 5 – 6 sips out of my drink before it was gone and transformed into a glass of water.
The caravan of servers was back soon after to take our orders. I debated between a couple of items, but ended up settling on the Seared Ahi Tuna — seared tuna is one of my favorite dishes and I was looking forward to a nice tuna steak! Unfortunately, what I got was more like the ahi tuna appetizer at Outback. There were about 10 very thinly sliced pieces of tuna on the plate, with a tiny (and I mean like, maybe ¼ cup) serving of sticky sushi rice and a tiny serving of seaweed & cucumber salad.
The cost for this appetizer-​worthy dish? $ 27.99.
I was honestly appalled and disappointed that I paid so much for so little. I could go to Wholey’s and get myself a couple of nice tuna steaks for the same price! I noticed that the other dishes that our table got were a little more fairly-​sized for the price, however this was the first time I’ve been to a restaurant and really felt ripped off. They’d be better off moving this dish to the appetizer menu and cutting the price in half. I don’t see how they can justify the price for such a small portion.
While a few others in our party ordered dessert, I decided to get a coffee. They brought it out almost immediately, but with no cream. Remember how I said we had 4 servers earlier? Well now, suddenly, POOF! There was no one around. And the restaurant was about ¾ empty at this point. I waited probably 8 minutes before finally grabbing a server and asking for cream. Minor detail, but I would think that a dish of cream would be standard when serving coffee.
I want to come back to this place for their happy hour, I’ve heard its AMAZING. But if I ever find myself back here for dinner, I’ll be sure to order something a little more meal-​worthy.
My total bill for 1 cocktail, 1 beer, 1 coffee and 1 entrée: $ 50.06 (before tip)

We came here on a Friday night and were seated almost immediately. In general, the service was nice, but it took a bit too long for our orders to be served.
Anyways, we started with the seasonal spring sashimi and oysters. I liked the assortment of delectables on the sashimi plate; it offered a fresh contrast between spicy, bitter, and fatty. My group really liked the oysters. The couple of oysters I tried were fine.
For the main entrée, I had another seasonal special: the Cobia with crab chimichurri. I was underwhelmed with this dish. The Cobia was thoroughly cooked through and did not have enough flavor to be served as a feature; hence the chimichurri! I thought this was a great idea fir a pairing. Unfortunately, the chimi was not very flavorful. It was nowhere near as good as the chimichurris I’ve had at Gaucho and Cure. Also, I did not taste or see any crab. I think the idea behind the dish is good, yet it needs to be executed better.
The dish came with a cheese pancake and a fried, stuffed jalapeño. I actually found these two items to be better than the fish. I think the jalapeño was stuffed with ricotta or a similar cheese. I wouldn’t have mind a few of these as an appetizer!