I swore off going out for dinner on New Year’s Eve years ago. It’s a total mess, and even the best restaurants end up disappointing me in some way. Nevertheless, I continue to go to a new place every single year, hoping that the next place will prove me wrong. We ate at Hawksmoor, Chicago on New Year’s Eve, 2025, and while the experience was not bad overall, it still managed to disappoint.

Hawksmoor is one of the newest steak houses in Chicago, and is an outpost of the original Hawksmoor in London that has garnered all sorts of “best-of” accolades (it’s 23 on the “World’s Best” list for 2025). As such, I had really high hopes not only for the food, but also the atmosphere and service.

Let’s start with the fact that I specifically made a reservation for the Dining Room, however, for some reason never explained to us, we were taken upstairs to the “Beef and Liberty” bar area. I’m sure the reasoning was due to the fact that it was New Year’s Eve, and they had gobs of reservations, etc., but our reservation was at 5:15pm, only 15 minutes after the restaurant opened, so there had to be room in the main dining room for us. After spending the meal somewhat incredulous, when we left, I did check out the dining room area, and it has pretty much the exact same vibe as the bar upstairs. It’s larger, somewhat more lively, and the music wasn’t playing as loudly, but everything else is pretty much identical. Still, though, it’s super odd that they would put us in a different area where I made the reservation, especially without asking if it was OK to move us.

The whole restaurant is very “London.” Dark woods, cozy vibes, and comfy seating. Service was fine, although definitely not at the level one would expect for such a highly regarded restaurant, even if it is just an outpost. We ordered a particular cut of steak that was listed on their specials board, and our server was not sure if it was available. She never came back to advise that it was, although when I asked later on, she did say that it was available and we got the last one. Additionally, I ordered a bottle of wine, and when they brought out a different vintage, before they started opening it, they didn’t ask if it was OK. It totally was, but this isn’t something that should be assumed. All told, these are minor snafus that I would typically overlook, but the fact that it was a special occasion, and the fact that the mothership restaurant is so highly regarded, made me take notice of otherwise forgivable hiccups.

The food was generally good, though, with a few exceptions. This evening, they were offering a prix fixe option, but I didn’t like some of the offerings, and wanted to try their regular menu in order to get more of a sense of their usual fare for this review. We started with the shrimp cocktail, which consisted of five very large prawns and a homemade cocktail sauce which was delicious. While good, I prefer the shimp cocktail at The Gage, and RPM Steak. The shrimp at The Gage are sweeter and more flavorful, and the cocktail sauce at RPM Steak is outstanding. We also had some Publican sourdough bread, which is always solid.

For the steak, we ordered a 22 ounce boneless ribeye to share. It was cooked perfectly medium-rare, and the outsides were charred and crusty. No seasonings here except salt – as it should be for a high-quality cut of beef. I ordered the bone marrow gravy as a topper for the steak which did enhance the flavor. Normally, I’m a purist and don’t opt for garnishes on steak, but this gravy was decadent. The steak itself was easily a highlight of the meal – as it should be.

For sides, we chose the Beef Dripping Chips, Mushrooms Diane, and Lobster Mac and Cheese. The chips were awesome – at least double-fried and soft in the middle. Brian thought they were overcooked, but I prefer them this way, and I only wished that there were more! The Mushrooms Diane were excellent. It was not a huge portion, which we appreciated, and the sauce was thick and flavorful. I recalled the excellent button mushrooms with sherry sauce that we enjoyed at Bavette’s, and I would venture to say these were nearly as good, although the sherry sauce at Bavette’s is a little more acidic and well balanced than the super-rich cognac based Diane sauce here.

The lobster mac was, unfortunately, a total miss for me. The pasta was mushy, the breadcrumbs were not crispy at all, and it was almost TOO lobster-y, if that’s even possible. In fact, it was also served with a lobster bisque to be poured over the pasta, but I can’t imagine doing this with a dish that is already overwhelmingly flavored with lobster, and is already so gloopy. Brian put it best – if you didn’t have any teeth, you would really love this dish!

The absolute highlight of the meal, though, came with dessert. Brian ordered the Peanut Butter Louis, which was a soft, decadent bar of chocolate and peanut butter goodness, with a vein of crispy peanut shortbread running through the middle. I ordered the sticky toffee pudding, which is easily the best I’ve had outside of the UK, and definitely the best in Chicago. Sticky toffee pudding is steamed rather than baked, and when I asked how they prepared this ultra-moist cake, they did confirm that it was steamed – although not in the way you would think! I think I would come back here just for the desserts, they were that good. It was nice to end this meal on a really high note – massive kudos to Hawksmoor’s pastry chef.

I should add here too that when they didn’t have the particular brandy that I had ordered with dessert, they did come by the table to discuss other options, rather than just pour me something else, so that was also appreciated, and a bit of a redemption from the earlier wine blunder.

Overall, our meal was a bit uneven, and maybe I would’ve been a bit less critical if we were seated in the dining room, rather than the bar, but there were too many additional little service mishaps after this that I couldn’t ignore. The world of Chicago steakhouses is very competitive, and you really need to work hard to set yourself apart from the incredible eateries we have here like Bavette’s and Asador Bastian. Apart from a few shining moments like the steak and the dessert, it doesn’t seem like Hawksmoor is up for the challenge. That said, I will come back here to check out their burgers which look amazing (and we already know the chips are delicious), as well as the Sunday Roast, and I’ll let you know how it goes!