I came with such high hopes. This place came highly recommended. It was over promised and under delivered. The waiter was a trainee so I will forgive service and still tip well. But the food was lackluster. The Montreal Corn Beef didn't come with cheese. So it was just warm bread and corned beef. It came with a slice of pineapple. An odd choice of fruit for deli sandwiches, and it wasn't even peeled or cored. The worst part was the coveted milkshake. It came in two cups. Half in a glass cup and the majority in the stirring tin. Â I am totally fine with a milkshake coming served in a tin if that is the style you are going for but sending it in both is just sloppy and lazy. Told me they weren't going to be bothered by serving the milkshake properly. It didn't come with a straw of any kind, just a spoon. The overall quality of the milkshake wasn't that great. It just seemed like slightly melted soft chocolate ice cream. Â Overall it wasn't a bad place, just sloppy execution. I'd be willing to give it another try before passing final judgement.
Review Source:Very nice little place with a warm staff and nostalgic atmosphere. I want to revisit this place during dinner time!
Atmosphere:
This place is located on a neat and less busy in the heart of Elgin. Parking is fairly easy to find. Inside was a dimly lit place with a lot of history it seemed. I loved how the music was jumping around from the 1920's to 1950's. It really feels like a different time period in this place. Everything is neat and organized with green walls. This place is quite relaxing. The bar and the spirits area looks very appealing and well organized. No loud sports TVs!
Service:
We received a warm welcome and had ourselves seated by the window. Our waiter was polite and was helpful with suggestions. He did well taking care of us. But..... We were the only ones there, so I was hoping we were taken care of well. We arrived just as the place opened at 11am.
Food:
I have to say all the ingredients are top quality. You can taste the quality in the meat, the bread, cheese, and the ice cream. However despite this, nothing wowed me surprisingly. This isn't technically Al's fault, but I am not a sandwich person. I ordered a great sandwich, but I don't like sandwiches. I know that makes no sense, but a sandwich person would love this place. Their kettle chips were pretty good too, but I am not a chips person either. So I took a few bites of my sandwich and had it packed. I then ordered a mushroom and swiss burger. It tasted pretty good, but it didn't impress me enough to be memorable. I feel a restaurant can have all top quality ingredients, but you still need the cooking skills to make use of the ingredients. Not that their chef is bad or unskilled, but none of the food was memorable that day. I also regret not getting their Yelp famous Malts over the Milkshake. Their milkshake is pretty much ice cream in a cup I feel. The quality of ice cream is great! But it doesn't feel like a milkshake. Man... This review just makes me sound super picky lol. I am willing to come back and try their other interesting choices. I can definitely recommend this place for sandwiches though! They have so many menu options and props for their vegetarian options!
Overall I would give this place a four and a half stars if I could. Only because there was only two of us there, and none of the food was memorable to me. I would love to recommend this place as a great lunch date place and a place with awesome sandwiches. I will come back here for dinner food and test this place if it deserves the five stars! I would come back just for the relaxing and nostalgic atmosphere though.
I have been here a handful of times and every time I have loved the food and service. Â I work in Elgin, but live in Chicago, so I have only been here for lunch. Â
I usually get the deluxe grilled cheese and it's so delicious!! Â I have also tried a couple other sandwiches, all very good. Â Their salads look tasty too. Â
They have their own creamery and ice cream. It's so good! Yum, yum, yum. Â
Also, the interior is interesting. Â It reminds me of an old bank, maybe, or a lawyer's office. Â
Great local place!
Their famous shakes would not cooperate with the flimsy thin straw they provided.  A larger, more sturdy standard milkshake straw would have worked.  So I used a spoon and  found it to be cloying, overly sweet.  As Abe Lincoln once said "It's just the sort of thing that folks who like that sort of thing would like." Â
The vaunted salad dressing tasted like honey and mayo with a little blue cheese. Â The chicken was okay, but standard food service. Â
My son ordered grilled cheese with American Cheese (I know, I know, it's crap, but hey, he's my son, so back off). Â He had asked and was told it was American Cheese. Â They gave him Cheddar and he wouldn't eat it. Â We thought it tasted okay and didn't mention it. Â He was hungry.
I ordered a turkey sandwich. Â It tasted so old and musty that I finally sent it back (a rare move for me, but hey, it's my health). Â The owner told me that it was free range turkey, and was not old. Â He was very nice about it. Â I don't think he was correct. Â He gave me a chicken sandwich instead which was pretty good.
I wanted to like this place. Â Couldn't quite.
This place is super cute and cozy and my bruschetta burger was very tasty. Decided to check it out based on Yelp reviews because I love new places. Unfortunately my ornery father isn't the best person to take on dining adventures, although he conceded that his burger was delicious.
Said ornery father is also in a wheelchair and although there is a ramp to get into the restaurant, the restaurant itself is really not equipped at all for wheelchair access--both in the dining area and in the restrooms (I'm told). The owner?/hostess?/HBIC? did her best to create adequate space so that we could be seated, and was really nice about it, but it felt like a huge inconvenience/ordeal. Â Sort of a bummer that in order to give my Dad a break from nursing home hell, I have to go to some gross chain restaurant with sub-par food.
I should have researched further than a "yes" to "wheelchair accessible" on here so that I didn't have to make my father uncomfortable and myself a bit grumpy on his bday, but this is still somewhat new for us. Made me feel bad for all those who have to deal with this all the time.
But despite the circumstances, good food and quaint restaurant.
Had a chicken florentine sandwich, it was very good.  My wife had a roast beef and it tasted a bit too much like steak-ums.  Sandwiches come w/ potato chips.  For 1.50 you can have fries.  The fries are not hand cut, unforgivable when it is your only potato choice.  The beer selection is perplexingly bad.  Fat Tire is the only micro.  They have lite and a leinenkugel. Import list is like a list of Europe's worst lagers, and then corona.  I wanted to like it more, but the fries and my wife's sandwich  were too much to get past.
Review Source:I have lived in Elgin for 13 years and had never eaten at Al's cafe before. What a mistake! The atmosphere is very charming, the service was excellent and the food is delicious. My wife and I had lunch there yesterday and we were so full, we didn't have room for dessert, which is a shame because their old fashioned soda fountain creations looked amazing. We both ordered their cream of cauliflower soup which was thick and yummy. She ordered their Thursday sandwich special, the turkey bleu, which came on a garlic panini, with caramalized onions and mushrooms, smothered in bleu cheese. She loved it. I ordered the Russian sandwich. It was a combination of corned and roast beef, Swiss cheese, sweet and sour cabbage, dejonaise sauce on grilled pumpernickel bread. It was one of the best Sammies I've ever had. I can't wait to go back, but I'll definitely leave room for a malt next time.
Review Source:The atmosphere at Al's is cozy and inviting; it feels like you're dining in someone's home versus a restaurant. Â The staff is always friendly and the food is always fresh and fantastic. Â Try the Finnish pork chop, either schnitzel, the crabs cakes, or the Caesar salad (my favorites) and you won't be disappointed. Â Their specials are always delicious, too. Â Do save room for dessert and treat yourself to a shake.
Review Source:Had lunch with a friend today. WOW!! the Russian sandwich was awesome. Then my wife asked me to bring home a cheese burger for her. So I ordered the basic hamburger w/cheese. It was fantastic even as it was getting cold (I took a detour on the way home).
Just Go...oh, and don't for get the Maltinis!
I am so very sad to write this review. I just moved to Elgin and was hoping this would be a great place to sit outside and enjoy the summer weather along with some good food. Unfortunately, this is not the place.
I ordered the Sangria and it was ok. It was full of fruit, but the fruit looked like it was sitting in this batch of sangria for a very long time. It did taste ok, but I kept wondering how long it was around.
Both my mom and I ordered the veggie burgers. The bun was way too dense and almost sweet. The veggie patty itself looked like any old frozen veggie patty, not homemade at all. It had barely any flavor and the texture was thick and almost gooey. I asked for the fixings from the southwest burger and so my veggie burger came with a dollop of guacamole and salsa. Both tasted ok, but again did not seem homemade. The guacamole had the creamy consistency of the packaged stuff you find at the grocery store, and the salsa also seemed store-bought.
I opted to keep it light and asked for just fruit and no chips or fries. The fruit ended up being 3 slices of pineapple with both the rind and the core still attached, so I had to do a lot of work to get to the edible portion of the pineapple. My mom got the fries and they looked fine, she said they were ok.
I really wanted to enjoy this place, but it was a very sad experience. The food was not good in any way, nor was the sangria, and the outside dining experience just made me realize how empty downtown Elgin is.
Downtown Elgin is such a cute area, too bad it's not booming with business and nightlife.
I did try to pretend that I was in Colorado and hoped that would help the experience but it did not.
One positive...our server was extremely nice and easy on the eyes. He was the highlight of the experience.
Also, to be fair, I am vegan and so I could not partake in the malts that everyone has said were amazing. Perhaps if I ate meat and dairy I would've enjoyed the food.
Had  the crab cake appetizer last week and it was an excellent lunch or light dinner option.  Had the Turkey and Swiss melt sandwich on light sour dough and was very tasty!  The bread wasn't overly toasted/greasy and the mushroom-dijonaise ratio didn't take away from the top quality turkey.  Also the shakes are still *the* bomb!
Review Source:We have been eating dinner prior to ESO concerts at Al's for what? Five years or more? We are a group of seven friends and tried several other restaurants before settling, more or less permanently, on Al's. The food is excellent, the service likewise, prices quite reasonable, and the "monthly specials" offer an wide and pleasing variety to the menu.
Where else can you get Bar-B-Que, Cajun, German, and other regional specials all at one place? And for those whose "hamburger and shake" experience is limited to the fast food chains, try Al's for the real thing.
I guess these people giving such glowing reviews don't get out much and judging from the deserted downtown on a Saturday afternoon, they don't. Â It looks like most people living in Elgin never leave their houses to enjoy strolling, seeing friends or the outdoors. Â This is a shame because the downtown is a real gem. Â I fear the businesses will not survive because the community does not support them. Â Al's is an exception; though small it did have a good crowd. Â
I ordered what they call a bruschetta chicken sandwich which included melted cheddar cheese on it. Â This sounded wrong but I decided to trust them. Â However, it WAS wrong. Â Â Clearly, there is no trained chef working here because what chef would combine cheddar cheese with bruschetta? Â Mozzarella, or dare I suggest it, FRESH mozzarella would be appropriate for bruschetta. Â They opened a bag of chips and dumped those on the plate next to this nonsense sandwich. Â Jeez, thanks for opening that bag of chips for me, how about just giving me the bag? Â My friend had a bland, turkey sandwich on some bread purchased from the local grocery store with those same chips. Â I looked at the diners next to us who had hamburgers and the fries were most definitely from a freezer bag and not homemade.
Service was polite and efficient.
Have been here a few times and really have not left disappointed.  Have gone for lunch in the past and the sandwiches have been good, but the soups have been great.  Like another review said, the Blue cheese burger was ok.  Went to dinner this past weekend, and it was pretty slow.  I had  the Schnitzel that came with red cabbage, spaetzle and some veg.  Nice fresh greens for salad as a precursor.  The kicker was the mushroom gravy on the side....unbelievable.  Big portion of food and they gave me extra gravy for my 'to go'.  Nice work.  Carrot cake was great with a nice drizzle of caramel around it.  Presentation was nice. Try the huge cookies they keep in jars on the bookcase. Will definitely continue to eat here.
Review Source:I'm going strictly off the service and food here and not on the ice cream...I feel like someone has to bring this place down a notch. Â Obviously, the ice cream/malts/shakes here are awesome, but the food is just "good". Â Our table ended up trying a couple of different burgers, the alligator etouffe, and the jambalaya. Â We also got drinks: some beer and some sangria. Â Food was decent...I feel like the specialty food (Mardi Gras specials this month) was great but the regular everyday food was just ok. Â The burgers weren't anything different than you could make at home as there was nothing special to top them off. Â The bleu cheese was good, but there was nothing else to make it memorable, which is really what I am searching for. Â The specials were pretty decent, but they were nothing AMAZING and were pretty pricey. Â Service was good, a little slow, but good. Â Beer selection is pretty crappy but the sangria was awesome. Â
I think that the ambiance and the desserts are what keep this place going, so if you are in it for that, or the patio (which wasn't open yet), give Al's a try...otherwise, well, skip it.
This is a super little cute place. Â Went with my folks for lunch, and I had the Ruben - it was delicious. Â I love that the space used to be a bank, and the boots are church pews.
This just has a lot of character, the food was great as was the service. Â It's a hike from my parents house, but it was worth it.
The food is fine; not fabulous, but good. The real reason to go to Al's is the shakes and malts. OH. MY. GOODNESS. They are thick and rich and oh-so-amazing! I love to go there on a nice summer or fall evening and sit outside to enjoy my malt. I love the atmosphere inside too; the restaurant  is housed in a cool historic building in downtown Elgin.  Al's is a must-do if you live in or around Elgin.
Review Source:This place is one of the sweetest and most enjoyable cafes I've been to in a long time. We stopped in for an early dinner on the way back to Chicago and found the place pretty empty, but, that was no indication of the food not being tasty. The service was excellent, very friendly and attentive and the atmosphere was extremely cozy.
I had the Grilled Chicken Salad (although the Schnitzel was extremely tempting...sadly...waistline won that battle) and the chicken you could tell was home roasted, vegetables were fresh and you could tell were not grown in a test tube. Friend had the Thai Shrimp (also delicious) and I convinced another to order the Gypsy Schnitzel with a red pepper sauce I thought was very delightful.
They start off the meal with homemade white bread, which I have to add is excellent dipped in their homemade buttermilk and Honey Bleu Cheese dressing. This is quite the little gem downtown and I hope that they continue to have much success.
Still regretting not getting a malt though...
While the place is pretty cute and the servers are very courteous, the food is far from mind blowing. I agree with Cindy G., this place's rating is really high for below average food. Â
I had the southwest chicken salad... the grilled chicken reminded me of something you would get from a fast food place. I think that sums it up.
I worked here for a brief stint during the summer months so I might be a bit biased, but probably not because it is that delicious!
I took a friend here last night that is not from Elgin because I figured it's a step away from all the chains and such. The unique historic building is a conversation starter as there are bookshelves on the second floor full of old books and there is also a wall of old postal boxes. The main floor is an intimate setting with maybe only 7 tables (don't worry, there is plenty of seating upstairs).
Character aside, Al's has a wide assortment of menu items to choose from such as homemade soups, salads and sandwiches and a separate dinner menu that features enticing entrees that usually stick to a particular theme. (I remember the Cajun menu being a popular one!) After the healthy portion of lunch or dinner save room for a malt! My favorite combination is the chocolate banana peanut butter malt. YUM!!
When I was a little girl I was invited to a birthday party at a drugstore called "Burns". These days if a kid had a birthday party in a drugstore it probably wouldn't be very popular, but Burns Pharmacy was different. They had a soda fountain and they made the best malts on Earth.
Burn's Pharmacy is no longer with us, but Burn's Malts are: At Al's Cafe and Creamery.
Admittedly, I've not been to Al's very much -- and when I do I usually am in a hurry to finish whatever I've ordered to get to the main reason I'm at Al's: the chocolate malts. But I do know that everything I've eaten at Al's is wonderful. Their staff is wonderful. The decor is wonderful. The patrons are wonderful.
Back to the malts: Until June of this year I'd only eaten the chocolate malts, (Did I mention they are the best on Earth?) but because a friend suggested it, I tried the Oreo malt. Wow! Nearly as good as the chocolate.
If you're in Elgin (even just to gamble on that blasted boat) stop by Al's and have lunch. And save room for a malt (and don't give me the excuse that you're lactose intolerant. I am too and the malt is worth it!)
Al's is really cute. The shake was good, but other than that the dinner was really below average.
I had the clam chowder, which I ordered because everyone says it is homemade and so good. I couldn't tell it was homemade, and it wasn't very good. Just thick and bland. For my entree I had the trout, described as pan-seared with a 'white wine butter sauce.' In reality, it was breaded with something soggy and drowning in greasy butter.
Someone else at another table complained about their food and was told the head chef is out for the month. Well, I don't know if that is why everything was sub-par, but based on my meal the good rating is not deserved at all.
Holy Peanut Butter Malt Shake.
AND THE WHITE BEAN BRUCHETTA! Unexpected and delightful!
My only gripe is the prices of the entrees however I don't really have a need for eating anything but appetizers and ice cream here so it doesn't bother me.
The decor is spot on everything I want an ice cream parlor to look like.
This is a gem. We didn't know exactly what to expect, but we were looking to eat and kill some time in Elgin. Based on the yelp reviews, we figured this would be a good bet.
We happened to be there on a day with PERFECT weather, so we opted to eat on the patio. We got a couple sandwiches, a bruschetta burger and a tuna sandwich... and they were both excellent. We were a little wary of the high prices on the entrees, but judging by the quality of the ingredients in our sandwiches, the cost is probably justified.
We saw someone else get a shake and Sarah remembered that a former coworker also worked at Al's and raved about the shakes... so we split a 12 ounce shake with marshmallow topping and added bananas. It was amazing and plenty big enough for us to split.
We'll definitely be back.
My wife and I enjoy Al's quite a bit. It is a great cafe with a good feel to it. The service is nice, the kind that makes you feel welcome but isn't overdone.
The outdoor seating is nice, the little park/garden area outside of the cafe is a great place to eat. I have had everything from salads to burgers there, and  haven't had a complaint about it. I wish they were open for breakfast, but for what it is now, I definitely recommend Al's.
Another delectable meal at Al's. Â Some friends asked us to give them a tour of Elgin's Historic District and as the grand finale we took them to dinner at Al's. Â They are now huge fans of Al's :-)
Each month Al's has a themed ingredient for their Specials menu. Â August is Steaks and boy oh boy, did I have a steak! Â I ordered the bleu-crusted steak which came with a delicious sauce and mashed potatoes, as well as soup or salad. Â My steak was quite large, much larger than I was expecting for $13.95. Â It was easily two servings and I happily enjoyed it for dinner the next day as well.
My husband tried the weiner schnitzel which he said was good. Â Not as fabo as an actual German restaurant but still tasty. Â Our friends tried the veggie sandwich and one of the burgers - both with big thumbs up.
Each couple shared a half-shake and our friends agreed it was the best milkshake they had ever had. Â Even our friend who is lactose-intolerant couldn't resist a sip.
We sat out on the patio since it was a nice Summer evening. Â If I were basing the review on food and location/atmosphere alone I would give it five stars. Â But Al's is always quite busy and the service tends to suffer from this. Â Not bad service, just not always as attentive as you would like. Â Definitely friendly though, and we keep coming back :-)
Al's Cafe is an Elgin landmark, that has undergone multiple transformations. Â The shakes are excellent. Â The sandwiches are very good. Â
The surprise here is the steaks. Â The French trained Hungarian born chef, uses eastern european inspired sauces to make excellent steak dinners. Â He serves these with spaetzle, roasted tomatoes and assorted vegetables. Â Highly recommended
I met a friend in Elgin to have dinner and seeing as how she's lived in outskirts of Elgin her whole life and never ventured into the city, I turned to my good buddy yelp to figure out a destination. The reviews overwhelmingly pointed me to Al's, and the reviews were exactly right. If you're near downtown Elgin, stop whatever you're doing and get ready for a greatly satisfying dining experience.
We started out with a couple glasses of wine. There was a crazy cheap wine deal that was yodeling our names, so we both got a glass and were quite satisfied with the result. Little did we know that this mighty fine table wine would be the start to a great experience.
The meal started with delicious soups. The waiter said that the soups were homemade, and he was definitely telling the truth. This was the best clam chowder I've eaten in a state that doesn't have an ocean next to it; the potatoes were hearty, the clams tender, the flavor chowdery to the max. My friend had a minestrone-style soup, which was not overly salty like most soups of that genre and really had a solid mix of fillings.
Next came the entrees. It was cajun week, so I went with the cajun salmon with bourbon and andouille sausage sauce. I usually don't order salmon when I go out, but I had a great feeling about this one and it was spot on. The sauce was a fantastic enhancer to the fish, like tartar sauce on a fish stick or sour cream on anything. Overall I found it to be a fantastic dish. My friend had the fettucine, which she couldn't finish (aka I got the leftovers... sweet) and it was some of the best leftover pasta I've ever eaten and instantly gotten food coma from.
Although we were totally stuffed, a malt had to happen. Being intolerant in the lactose kind of way, this was a daring experiment for me and a true test of the power of almighty Lactaid. While the Lactaid was an epic fail (I underestimated the power of an Al's malt), the malt was magically delicious. While we were there, 2 loners came in, ordered ice cream products of some sort, and left... if people wander in by themselves for the malts/shakes alone, this is obviously yet another sign that you need to consume one while you're there.
The decor and style of the place is great. Its a hipster feel in a family restaurant, something I find quite unique and not expected in the city of Elgin. Grab a date or the fam and check it out, you won't be sorry.
I love Al's. Their shakes and malts are insanely delicious. I had some carrot cake there once that was probably the best I have ever had.
I always get their veggie melt. It is really good and I usually have leftovers for the next day :)
They have a good variety of stuff on their menu - something for everyone. The people that work there are really personable. It's especially nice to go there in the summer and eat outside.
I went here for lunch with my sisters and mom. My mom loves this place, and kept telling me how quaint it is. It's an old building -- rehabbed post office or pharmacy.
I thought it was on the dirty side, and service was just so-so. Waitress had an attitude when my sister asked questions about the menu (half soup and sandwich thing). CD kept skipping, which drove me insane.
But the food was ok, shakes were good. One sister and I split a half -- which was plenty for dessert. She also got the peanut butter cookie, which was very tasty and soft. Coffee was good, and they came to refill often.
It's an ok place. Doubt I'd return without my mom (for whatever reason she finds it incredibly charming), but I wouldn't complain.
I love this place. When friends and I have 1.5 hours for lunch we go here. The service is always slow. Luckily, the food and atmosphere make up for it.
If you are visiting during the cooler months, ask to sit upstairs. You will feel like you are in grandma's dining room. In a good way. They patio outside is nice when the weather is not too hot.
Al's is probably best known for their ice cream, shakes, and malts. My husband and I always split a 1/2 shake. It is enough for 2 whole servings.
I like to order from the 'make your own deli sandwich' portion of the menu. Lots of meat, cheese, bread, and veggie choices. I always throw in cucumbers, even though they're not really on the list. No one has ever minded. The two times I have ordered the veggie burger it has arrived without the listed dressing. Be forewarned.
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