Review by Tobias Pohl for Michael Shay’s Rib & Seafood

My gf and I visited Michael Shay's today because she wanted seafood and I some ribs. The restaurant's name thus sounded promising. What we found was rather disappointing. There are some nice details regarding the interior of the restaurant but there are paper table cloths on the tables and everything seems a little shabby. I came for ribs and the waitress recommended the beef ribs. I never had one and I expected something different. Less steakish more barbecueish. Well I could have known but I asked the waitress for the difference between the two kinds of ribs in the menu and obviously she did not bring the point across. The meat was ok the fries tasted of old fat. The shrimps pasta my gf had was smothered in some kind of unidentifyable gravy that was not creamy as promised but rather disappointing. My gf and me both ordered soft drinks. We never got water, we never got a refill. Probably they are keen on taking advantage of tourists which they think do not know what is common service in the USA. What really upset us was that they charged 20% tip automatically whereas it was stated in the menu that - as usual - they would do that only when serving a large group. I seldom came across an automatic addition of gratuity for the two of us especially not 20% (in my experience 17% is common for large groups). The service was far away from excellent so I would not have tipped in the 20%-region. The food itself is also not what you would call a bargain so it felt like a rip-off. All in all I can say it was one if the worst restaurant-experiences I had in the States until now and I lived in Chicago for some time and it is my fifth stay in the US so I have some places to compare. To sum it up: if you do not want a tourist trap stay away.