My viewpoint is from a non-snobby kind of normal married guy. My wife and I took a nap after work so when we got around for dinner it was after eleven o'clock and most places are closed, even on Friday. Only been to Old Chicago once before a year or so ago, but decided to go off the usual path for us. By going late at night, there weren't a lot of loud children. In fact, there weren't a lot of people there, and we ended up getting a great, really great server (name: Shane)
I wasn't there to give the pizza a ten point inspection for authenticity, so bear that in mind. I found it to be a little on the decadent side, being very buttery and sweet tasting. I wouldn't eat it a lot but it was a good meal. Not cheap, but no more expensive than most other comparable places they compete with for my business.
We asked for the mushrooms and olives to be put onto just my half of the pizza and it came as ordered. In fact, the food was very good, but really the service was absolutely very great. I won't bore the reader with specifics; and maybe we just got lucky because it wasn't crowded.
This visit makes me want to return sooner rather than later and last thing is this: Friday night you get the Artichoke Dip appetizer for $4 and it has dipping bread, carrots, cucumber slices, broccoli and even celery is on there. Don't eat too much, because the pizza is thick and filling.
Don't go! Â OH GOD DON'T GO! Â
I have gone here 5 or 6 times in the last two years, they have never NEVER once gotten my order right. Â And I usually don't change the order up, I mean I order one thing and they bring me out something completely different.
Crap ingredients, crap food, crap beers with good happy hour prices, crap sauce, good service.
Our Story:
My mother was in town and she wanted to go, so my wife and I begrudgingly went. Â Just to test my theory that the cooking staff could give a shit about your order; I placed an order minus onion just to see if the crack staff could handle such a task. Â Almost an hour later on a Tuesday night, half full restaurant; I get my order and - you guessed it Full Of Onions. Â Honestly this has happened to us every time. Best part was my wife's order was a Veggie Calzone, they brought her a Meat Calzone not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! Â We laughed it off with our waitress (who was really funny and gave great service) and our meal was comped, so that was nice. Â But what does it say about a place that has to comp people for the third time. Â Yes, we have had our meals comped at old chicago three times because of this crap. Â And we don't gripe when we go to chains; we usually know what were getting into, were not those people. My wife and I both were wait staff in our lives so we know they usually get treated like crap so we try to reverse the trend there; and I was a short order cook and know how crazy a kitchen could be. But come on! Â This place has been demoted to the Black List permanently.
STOP COOKING FOR THE STAFF AND START COOKING FOR THE CUSTOMERS!!! We went here for lunch and had the buffet. The service was great, our waitress was on the ball and she always kept our drink up our table clear and made sure we wanted for nothing on her end. That was Jessica B. If you can ask for her do so.
The food was ok for the most part and some of it was good. The pizza selection was horrible. For the love of god man look at what is going off of your shelf to tell you what your customers want. If you put a pepperoni pizza out there and it is gone in 30 seconds then keep up on the pepperoni. If you put a cheese pizza, a chicken and jalapeno pizza, a ham and cheese pizza, and some other white sauce based pizza out there and they sit....then make a pepperoni or a staple pizza. A sausage and olive, a sausage and mushroom, a pepperoni and mushroom. I am just saying take a look and make what sells. I am so tired of chef's and cooks cooking for themselves and trying to be so over creative that they push they standard hard working fare out. Be creative and make me a fantastic Mediterranean pizza with lamb green olives and goat cheese, but make sure the pepperoni stay stocked as well.
Needless to say our group spent just over an hour there at the buffet and we all left still hungry and agreeing we will not go back. Not for lunch with the office, not for dinner with our families, not even for a pregame bite. I mean really, we left hungry from a buffet. Sweet Jesus how bad do you have to screw up a pizza to have people leave a buffet hungry? Holy crap I have never met ANYONE who left a buffet hungry before and this time there were 6 of us? Wow Old Chicago you really know how to suck, my hat's off to you.
Went here cause Fox & Hound was too busy on fight night and it's right across the street so... even though I was bummed, the night didnt turn out SO bad.
My boyfriend got the Employee Favorites sampler beers and then the Microbrew of the Month which was Buffalo Sweat (it tasted like cold coffee to me although I'm not a beer drinker so...) I got Old Chicago's version of a Long Island. It had added vanilla liquor and some other fruity stuff... I dont remember but I have to say that it was the best mixed drink that I've ever had.
The food was alright. Nothing special really. Michael got the meat lovers calzone. It had a LOT of meat but low grade and it came w/ marinara sauce on the side while I think we would have preferred it inside.) I got the buffalo chicken sandwich. It was SO hot that I had to ask for some bleu cheese (which was AWESOME btw. idk if they make their own but there are huge chunks of bleu cheese in the dressing which makes it even better!) I think it was supposed to have mayo on the sandwich but I couldnt tell....
I'd go back but it wouldnt be for the food.
The only reason this deserves a 1 star rating is that management does not care how their staff operates. When it first opened up, I was delighted in the 110 beer selection and the promise of tasty of food. (If you can handle what I am about to describe to you, then the food and beer easily get a 4 star rating or higher.)
The bartenders are ignorant. I can't tell you how many times I've been there and had seen either what was brilliant bar maintenance, or a lazy early start to daily closing duties. Either case, I could sit in plain view with an empty mug and a puppy dog face to get service. Granted, I'm not one to speak up in most situations, but when you're one of three patrons at a bar, well before closing, with an empty mug, you tend to get service! I hate to "flag down" employees at bars and restaurants, but this seems to be the status quo here. I have never once tipped above minimum + tip share here.
Regular servers are a bit of a mystery. The culture of them here is friendly (as all greedy money-suckers are [I used to be one]), but there is an air of "just hurry up and pay me" that stands out more than anywhere else. I really can't put my finger on it.
As far as the beer tour, I was really wanting to drink up and get my name on that wall, but having reached almost 80 and watching the service sink from reputable to disgusting, I don't think I really ever come back; even to one in a different city! When they offer their "mini tours", the reward for drinking all of the selected beer in the time frame is a t-shirt. I've never received my t-shirt on time. Hell, the only prizes for drinking in the tour that I have received on time were the deck of cards and watch/compass. Everything else I had to wait two months for only to find that when the managers finally, lazily put in an order, that they must have ordered half a dozen and handed them out to staff very quickly.
The food is great and some of the specials are worth it. If you don't mind being treated like a money bag and otherwise ignored, you can get a filling, tasty dinner (during their happy hour) for a modest price.
Hah! I just thought of a reason why I hate the staff! You see, I went there with three others one night and saw an empty booth in the bar area. The bar area is seat yourself, usually, since the hostesses are the most incompetent sorry bunches of lazy sorority girls in existence, so I moseyed the party on over. As soon as we sat down, we were bullied by the table next to us that they were going to move over because the server had requested that no babies (a BABY in a SMOKING BAR?) were allowed to sit at tall bar tables. We looked around and saw another and reluctantly gave in once the server came over to verify that she requested that they moved. In hindsight, I should have told both to f-off: one to the server about making people move from their seats; and one to the group of idiots who brought a baby into a bar and wanted to sit at a high table. To make up for the inconvenience (and what could be a high tipping table), she promised to take our orders timely and from any table in the restaurant. When asked, she identified the "bully table" as "stupid rednecks who you could tell came here to complain and get free food." I just wonder what she said about us! She seemed to know what she was doing and showed some promise to management (who later gave me free appetizer coupons for other BS I had to endure) and had promised me that I would make a customer statement to the regional managers once she relinquished my phone number to them upon next inspection.
I have not received a phone call, nor have I been there for nearly a year and a half.
I'm at a loss to explain what the connection to Chicago was here. I looked for clues in the menu and decor, but found none. I was hoping for some kind of Al Capone/Mike Royko/American pharaoh/pure Vienna beef kinda vibe. Naw, not here. Maybe the logo's typeface was similar to that of the eponymous musical film...? Maybe they had some Chicago albums framed on the wall...? In any case, this place seemed like your typical Ruby Tuesday's or TGIF or whatever, but I sat down with an open mind and a hungry belly. I had traveled 8+ hours with my dining companion to play a roller derby match and we were ready to carb-load. However, our pasta dishes were totally bland. Eleven bucks for a plate of over-cooked pasta with some sad-sack artichokes and olives and feta? Our server had said the dish was "really good" with genuine enthusiasm. We should have saved our money and hit the Fazoli's across the parking lot.
Review Source:I have to update a bit with some props for Old Chicago. I've been back twice since my first visit and both times have been a little bit better. The first time was with Springfield's Premier Gentlemen's Dining Club (Sausages). I went the safe route and ordered the burger, which was tolerable. The second time was to use a free coupon I got for my birthday by virtue of being in the World Beer Tour thing for a medium pizza. Initially service was pretty slow and I had to take matters into my own hands to get a menu and whatnot. Our first beer order took forever, but a nice manager came by and saw our concerned looks and got us our beers. Restaurant rule #2-get your beers out quick. If folks are on an empty stomach, they can get happier/drunker quicker. We ordered the super nacho thing, which is basically the cheapest, weakest nachos in the world with some salsa and other shit. You get a ton of them, but again, they are super cheap, so if you got an extra $8...The big surprise of the night was the pizza. They gave us credit, so we got the "Classic", I think, deep dish to see how it matched up with actual Chicago style deep dish. It didn't really. Its a different ball game. Somehow though, I actually really liked it, pretty much by virtue of its cheapness. The crust is surprisingly crisp, but still kind of then. The dough is very pillowy, nothing like the density you get with real Chi pizza. It reminds me of a nostalgic tasting Pizza Hut thick crust; I'm remembering back to when I was a little kid and loved it this way. The toppings were standard, but this one had roasted garlic in it. It hid in pockets in the pizza unfortunately, so you would get one nice bite and one OVERWHELMING bite. So if/when we go back; maybe to sample some more beer, or get seasonal Sam Adams on draft, we will stick to Pizza. You should too.
Review Source:
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