After beers on the Chicago River, the group headed to the Navy Pier where we planned to have dinner.  Along the way, we enjoyed more beautiful architecture including Lake Point Tower (the one on the right) which is where my mom has dreamed of living upon retirement Every condo has a view of Lake Michigan!

Navy Pier was built after I stopped visiting Chicago frequently so this was only my second visit there.

In addition to lots of shops and a handful of restaurants, Navy Pier is known for its Ferris Wheel.  It’s modeled after the first ferris wheel which was presented at the Chicago’s Worlds Fair in 1893.  It was built to be bigger than the Eiffel Tower! I learned all sorts about the Chicago World’s Fair while reading Devil in the White City.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!

After our friends took a quick ride, we decided to get some dinner (or so we thought…).  Our options were Bubba Gump’s, Harry Carey’s, and Chango Loco.  Rachel had been wanting to try Chango Loco for a while and since we are all fans of Mexican we decided to check it out.  It’s located on the upper level of Navy Pier and has a nice view of the city.

Rachel had heard mixed reviews so after we sat and began looking through the menu, we began checking the Internet for reviews. 

From what we could see, the reviews were not good.  We enjoyed the chips and salsa that they brought out and ordered some drinks.

The Husband ordered the Goose Island 312 while I had a Strawberry Daquiri.  The Husband wasn’t a fan of his beer (though that’s not the restaurant’s fault).  My daquiri had little flavor.  It tasted mostly like ice (no real strawberry flavor) with a hint of rum.

Rachel had a margarita and it tasted like it had tap water in it.  She wasn’t a fan.  Every one else had beers and they were fine.  Then, the Husband found a string in his mouth after eating a tortilla chip.

Between the unsavory drinks, poor reviews, and the string with the chips, we immediately decided we weren’t going to be staying for dinner.  I will note that our server was attentive for the short while we were there and was friendly.  The food might have turned out okay, but we didn’t want to risk it.  A good chunk of the group wanted to try Giordano’s so we figured out what the closest one was located and headed that direction.  Good bye pretty views from the Navy Pier!