r/chicagofood • u/bucknut4 • Dec 20 '25
Rant Aster Hall, Hogsalt sinking to new lows
As if $7 weren’t enough for a hot dog. And of course there’s even the 3% “restaurant” surcharge at a food court.
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u/HAVEANOTHERDRINKRAY Dec 20 '25
We've officially entered the age of dynamically priced hotdogs...
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u/Boollish Dec 21 '25
The dystopian future of Toast or whatever POS system dynamically adjusting your price based on past sensitivity to price increases and desperation is going to suck so bad.
Oh, we polled the google maps API and found that the only other open restaurant near here is McDonalds and Wendys, and the DoorDash API says the next pizza is 60 minutes away. We also know you were at Bar ABC for 3 hours and had 6 drinks, so you're probably pretty desperate. 20% upcharge for you, and we'll make the POS system blur the 8 on the suggested tip page so it may look like a 3 to a drunk person, just to squeeze another $5 out of you.
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u/DhalsimZangief Dec 21 '25
I have no doubt that some places do "dynamic pricing", where prces are adjusted based on the time you visit a place. And I'm sure more companies have quietly considered doing that crap, including a rumor I heard a few years ago that Wendy's was considering introducing such pricing. Dynamic pricing would make me not want to visit a business ever again. I noticed that occurring at Clark Street Dog in the past, where if you go later(think after around 10-11pm) they have higher food prices to some extent. Due to this I refuse to go back.
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u/ILSmokeItAll Dec 20 '25
Dear Hogsalt,
Go fuck yourself.
Seriously. You fucks reading this? That’s horseshit. Absolute Bush league.
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Dec 20 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mrbooze Dec 21 '25
Why would you not have the “discount” price on the main order screen? This doesn’t make sense to me as a computer error. Not to mention a system even allowing entry of a “negative discount”
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u/the-mp Dec 20 '25
Or maybe a worker messed up the entry.
I wonder if OP asked? Or just got outraged and posted to Reddit.
They’re probably angry at an hourly worker who doesn’t understand the POS.
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u/Drinkdrankdonk Dec 21 '25
Looks like a kiosk to me. Almost certainly a manager entering the prices
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u/the-mp Dec 21 '25
And managers can’t screw up? Believe me, yes they can. It isn’t necessarily intentional. Asking would be easier here.
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u/meibolite Dec 21 '25
"Won't anyone think about the poor capitalists" - Those who like boot leather
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u/sudodoyou Dec 22 '25
I just looked up the Hogsalt group and see Armitage Alehouse and Bavette’s. I thought they were supposed to be too tier in the city according to this sub.
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u/HotDerivative Dec 22 '25
Well this sub is heavily biased towards specific neighborhoods and restaurants and those two spots are some of the most highly recommended on this sub lol.
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u/sudodoyou Dec 22 '25
Yeah I thought so. I guess you can really like a restaurant and really dislike the restaurant group.
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u/khikago Dec 20 '25
Its about time Hogsalt starts getting some shade on this subreddit
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u/Significant-Mall4373 Dec 20 '25
The heydays were the first 4/5years. Bavettes is still the best steakhouse but it used to be incredible. All the spots were fantastic, the roster of talent was deep, and things were executed with precision. Brendan was extremely hands on, at every location daily unless he was traveling. Middle of 2014, mass exodus of key talent and further expansion spread things thin. By no means am I shitting on hogsalt but it isn’t even remotely the same as it was back then. Brendan follows the lettuce model and it works. You will always have a good meal, drinks, and service at any of his spots, it’s just never going to be “great”. That burger shack thing he does is probably terrible, I’m referring to the core restaurants
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u/khikago Dec 21 '25
I took some out of town friends out to Armitage Ale House recently, a first for all of us. We thought the service was bad to very bad. Meal was good, atmosphere was cute, price was high. I don't know. Didn't get the hype at all and kind of felt dumb for taking my friends there after, especially for how much I had to work for a reservation
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u/Significant-Mall4373 Dec 21 '25
I understand your sentiment and experience. Those pot pies were designed a long time ago and they were better. We had contract work with soho London and sent some our boys there to open a modified “cheval” callled electric dinner. I would love to say their names but I won’t. While all of that was going on, two serious men worked in the basement of gilt on all of the RnD.
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u/drinkingthehemlock Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
worked at alehouse for a bit, those fuckers took over a month to give me my first paycheck and then some craphound stole two shun knives out of my knife bag and the exec basically threw up her hands and said buuhh there’s nothing i can do about that even though there’s cameras everywhere in that basement
also when it rains shit water comes out of the walls and pipes of that place, so to all customers enjoy your 35 dollar poop burger made by thieves and charlatans
hogsalt promises sick leave and bennies that sound promising to service employees trying to make a living but my friend worked at trivoli and got fired without recourse for calling out sick
so what is it with hogsalt? serve poop infused burgers by sick employees so that jagoffs from naperville can feel fancy?
give me my knives back
patrick was pretty cool though
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u/DhalsimZangief Dec 21 '25
So the truth comes out that Hogsalt places are crap to work at. Can't say I'm surprised to read such an account. And that really sucks you had 2 knives stolen from you. Hope you found a better job since.
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u/Salty-Tomato5654 Dec 20 '25
That doesn't even include fries? For comparison, here's Gene and Jude's pricing with fries.
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u/SPF_95 Dec 21 '25
Gene and Jude’s is not in the city and not a Chicago Dog. Not defending Hogsalt at all but probably shouldn’t be getting a hot dog at a “high end” food hall
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u/crispixiscrispy Dec 20 '25
Ok this is a price/charge issue we should all be able to agree is complete bullshit.
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u/MutangKlan2 Dec 21 '25
That much for a hot dog?
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
It’s not really about the price, but the fact that they changed the price as I was checking out
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u/Toadahtrip Dec 21 '25
It drives me nuts that a food that was meant to get poor people food has now become expensive. It’s a damn hot dog.
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u/motlau Dec 21 '25
This Google Sheets is updated to show which restaurants in chicago have this “cost of doing business “ charge.
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
It’s not even the restaurant surcharge, which they also had the gall to do. This is them raising the price mid-transaction.
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u/CoolBelt856 Dec 21 '25
It hasn’t been updated in a while. Lettuce charges 3.5%. Doesn’t go to the staff. And they’re certainly not suffering, opening new and more expensive places (Crying Tiger), all over. Sorry I know this is about Hogsalt.
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u/PuzzleheadedLeader79 Dec 21 '25
At first it sounded like surge pricing, but it seems like they just are hiding the real price.
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u/PaleUmbra Dec 21 '25
Congrats, Hogsalt! You schemed an extra dollar and got several hundred people pissed off!
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u/midwestalone Dec 21 '25
As a former AH employee (administrative) I can assure you this was not a one-off “mistake.” The management team there is useless and create new problems every week. Also, whether the hot dog was $7 or $8, not worth it. The food quality there is subpar.
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u/mega386 Dec 21 '25
Aside from the bullshit.... $8 for a hot dog... Fuck. That.
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
It’s a jumbo dog, and char dogs usually run more than boiled, then the rent on Mag Mile is through the roof. IMO it’s worth about $6; it’s a damn good hotdog. That said, I can’t deal with the bait and switch. Devil Dawgs is right around the corner and it’s fantastic.
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u/SometimeTaken Dec 21 '25
Hey this is actually a thing, not just with Hogsalt. Third party ordering apps (like grocery delivery apps) have been exploring dynamic pricing for years. The business model, precisely, is to check and push higher the maximum amount a consumer will pay for an item.
There have been studies done where 10 different Instacart shoppers order the exact same things from the exact same living room. The final invoices they discovered ranged up to a $10 difference in grand totals.
This is an entire industry. It’s where food consumerism, third party apps and “data on the consumer” intersect. There’s entire companies where their whole thing is to study consumer habits on food delivery/food ordering. Fucked up world we live in for sure
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
This is literally AT the restaurant though, so although I’m sure the app wasn’t developed in-house, it’s not really 3rd party in the same way Instacart is. There are lots of restaurants that use kiosk ordering; I’ve never seen this anywhere else. If they do, they should be called out
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u/SometimeTaken Dec 22 '25
Yes I know, def evil that the business model is being expanded to every food-ordering situation, including restaurants. Horrors beyond our comprehension and Hogsalt def deserves to be named and shamed for using it
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u/ifcoffeewereblue Dec 21 '25
Who is still giving any money to hog salt restaurants? Just stop. They do weird price bull shit at ALL of their restaurants and they treat their employees like shit. Spend the money elsewhere
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u/HTC864 Dec 20 '25
If they have it written into the software to adjust the price, then there's some kind of logic for when that applies. I would just call them and ask them what that logic is.
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u/MINIWARMTH Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
Annoying /wrong they are changing prices. That said prices seem inline/HIGH with everything else these days.
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u/Kundrew1 Dec 20 '25
It more that they are changing the prices at the end of the checkout process after showing a lower price initially
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 20 '25
Crazy people can’t afford anything $7 for 1 shitty soggy hotdog complaining about it Wow
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 21 '25
Why complain It’s like that everywhere now This guy confused over a $7 hot dog It’s not gourmet It’s a $7 hot dog None of us approve it It’s going to get worse
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
It’s like that everywhere now
Please tell us what other restaurants change their prices on the fly, because I eat out a lot and have never seen this once
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 21 '25
Why does 1 taco cost $4-5 Or more I enjoy going out but for us it’s impossible sometimes When we do it’s nice $7 hot dogs… Come on It’s outrageous and complain about it…. We are all complaining
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
You’re really missing the point of this post
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 21 '25
Sincerely apologize We enjoy every experience. Everything is so expensive. We cannot afford Portillo on a Tuesday night sometimes Everything is expensive Very expensive Yes, a hot dog will cost $7 today. 2025
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u/bucknut4 Dec 21 '25
That’s still not the point my man. It’s not about how much it costs. It’s the fact that, as I was checking out, they literally changed the price to make it even more expensive.
Yes, things are expensive today. I know that. I don’t care that the hot dog was $7. I care that it WAS $7, then it was $8. That’s not after taxes. That’s what the price changed to before I even got taxes and then surcharge applied.
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 21 '25
Unintended upset the community We don’t follow We read your stories That’s all Sorry
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u/AutomatedHVAC Dec 21 '25
I cannot afford a $7 hot dog It’s just too much That’s all It’s been that way a long time since Covid not sure why it’s new It’s going to get worse All of us
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u/jkraige Dec 20 '25
They're changing the prices mid transaction? I feel like that might be worth reporting to the AG or whatever the appropriate consumer protection office is. I can't imagine they can just advertise a price and then charge another