[1][2] The restaurant's bartender, Michael Simon, was noted by food critics for the experimental cocktails he created at Acadia.

Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune described its dining room as "a warmly minimalist, softly lit and serenely quiet space with alabaster walls, neutral carpeting and beaded-metal curtains.

[10][5] Jeff Ruby, of the magazine Chicago, observed that many dishes on the ten course menu had "a green-and-white palette meant to evoke McCaskey's briny Maine summers as a kid.

[11][4] Acadia opened in 2011, and was founded by Ryan McCaskey, a Vietnam-born chef who had been adopted by a Chicago couple as part of Operation Babylift.

During the temporary closure,[15] several former employees came forward with allegations that McCaskey fostered a toxic work environment in which sexual harassment occurred.