Ricobenes

Dizzz-aaammmmmm. This place may be the greatest place that I've been that's completely underrated. Sorry Yelp, but this time I didn't trust the reviews! Don't really understand some of the negative reviews (I didn't have the same experience) other than the A/C thing. Yeah, that would frustrate the hell outta me if it was the middle of the summer.

We originally tried Ricobenes because the breaded steak is on Chicago's Top 50 Sandwich list as decided by Chicago Magazine. We've been meaning to get there for ages. We were on our way to Darien this past weekend for a wedding. Weddings aren't always known for their amazing food, so we figured we'd stop and eat at least a little something in case the food was miserable. (The review of the wedding venue will be forthcoming, too.)

We got the original breaded steak sandwich combo that came with a soda and fries. It cost about $9. It was fricking yummy and I can see why it's on a great sandwich list. In fact, it's going on MY best of Yelp list. They give you an option of adding cheese or peppers. We added cheese, but I don't think the cheese really added much and next time I'd just get it plain--because even plain, it's not plain at all with all of it's saucy goodness. I must have looked so funny trying to pick up the messiest sandwich I've ever consumed in a cocktail dress. Proud to say though, not one single spill on my clothes! Yummo! The fries were also really good, even though I'm not usually a big fry person. I dipped them in the marinara sauce from the sandwich and made some disturbing mmmmm noises the whole time.

There was only one guy working (possibly the owner or manager??) so it was about 10-15 minutes for us to get our food. We weren't in a hurry so didn't mind waiting and freshly made food is ALWAYS worth waiting for. The service was great and I know that this'll be my newest sandwich spot.

Not a good experience. There was only one man (owner?) working and he was the cashier & cook. He took about 5 orders from people in line and then about every 10 minutes, emerged from the kitchen with someone's food. We were told that the food would take 15 minutes but it took over 30 min. for two sandwiches with fries.

Items like cheese & sweet peppers were offered as if they came on the sandwich, but then showed up on the bill as extra charges of $ .99 and $ .49.

The food was greasy but decent but we had to rush eating it to make up for the wait .

Breaded steaks and pizza all day son!.. Love ricobenes!..