USA, Canada / Good Polish/American Restaurants in Chicago area [90]

Detroit ... Wyandotte? Yuk! Ya... you have to go north to the Hamtramck area. Supposed to have some good restaurants like Polish Village Cafe, Polonia Restaurant and Under The Eagle. I haven't been there yet. (Choice of Chicago or Detroit?... I'll take Chicago any time!)

As far as buffets go... I do eat at menu restaurants when I have to and sometimes it's like you say... fresh made, etc... but I prefer buffets so I can sample their food before pigging out. I've ordered from menus in restaurants that I wish I didn't order. (A plate full of pierogi from hell? or meat or cabbage that's tougher than my shoes?) I prefer to see it and sample it before I eat more of it. Chicago is unique for the buffets of all kinds. I've not seen so many anywhere outside Las Vegas!

My favorite menu restaurant is the Cafe Polonez on Roncesvalles Ave in Toronto. (not far from where I grew up). Tiny place with usually a waiting line but worth it.

USA, Canada / Good Polish/American Restaurants in Chicago area [90]

We're back home now and already miss Chicago.

Staropolska - 5249 Belmont with buffet. I'll have to check it out next time I'm in the area maybe later this year. Thanks!

A word of warning about Farmers Fresh Market buffet at Burr Ridge! I don't know about dinner or weekends, but on our second visit there, I noticed that the food does not "move" because they are not busy enough. We were there during the lunch hours on both days and I don't think there were more than 3 or 4 tables taken out of the 34 or so! The turkey drumsticks looked identical to the ones I saw several days ago. I would worry about food poisoning if they don't keep things at the proper temperatures! I will not return there only for that reason. I stayed away from most of the meats. On the other hand, The Jolly Inn was replacing empty trays quite often as customers streamed in and out no matter what time we went. Czerwone Jabluszko was about the same.

We went to the Warsaw Inn Buffet on Hwy. 31 in McHenry. Nice looking place from the outside. Because they are celebrating their 25th year in business, they rolled back the prices... $6 or so.. I don't recall. But it was the lowest we paid in the Chicago area for a buffet. We were seated and the waiter came over, we said something to him in Polish and he just smiled and said only what sounded like "dziekuje". I'm afraid that my Spanish is no better than his Polish! His English was limited too. I didn't hear anyone speaking Polish there. I later spoke to the proprietor in English since that seemed the norm. This place has a mix of Polish and American dishes. The Polish dishes, I would say... at best... are Americanized. Everything tasted odd. The food was OK for an American buffet but mediocre for Polish dishes. I don't know who works the kitchen there but it's hard to teach Mexicans to get the right feel for the food.

USA, Canada / Good Polish/American Restaurants in Chicago area [90]

> Przybylo`s 6839 N Milwaukee has a banquet hall and restaurant

Banquet hall?! Looks like they might have 20 of them in that building!
I went inside this cavernous place... The White Eagle... I thought I was at O'Hare! There's a HUGE restaurant on the right as you enter but I was told there is no buffet anywhere in the building so I left. (If the doors were bigger and opened on both ends, and you cleared out the place a bit, you could fly a Cesna right through it!)

> Halinas polish delights 5914 W. Lawrence

I walked away when I saw the menu on the window. Buffets don't usually have menus.
I wonder if the one on Belmont is a buffet?

> Staropolska and Angelicia`s on Milwaukee

I'm not sure Angelicia's is a buffet but I read that Staropolska is. I was too hungry to find these places and look for parking because it was hot and traffic was very heavy.

I turned west (somewhere) and (after many wrong turns) headed for the dependable Jolly Inn with tons of parking. I did check the toilet and saw they had the "employees must wash hands" sign.

Tomorrow, back to Burr Ridge and the great Farmers Fresh Market buffet after visiting the nearby Morton Arboretum (reduced entry fee on Wednesdays).

Anyone been to the Warsaw Inn Buffet on 217 N. Front St (Hwy. 31) way up in McHenry (it's NW of Moraine State Park). Seats 150! Maybe I'll check it out on Thursday.

USA, Canada / Good Polish/American Restaurants in Chicago area [90]

We're touring the Polish buffets in Chicago...
These are the ones we visited in the past 3 days... From worst to best.

Helen's buffet is a very simple and basic one that looks like it used to be a fast food joint. Noodle soup was oily. But there was enough things to satisfy our hunger at the time. Not a friendly place.

The Grota, on Central near Belmont, used to be my favorite but, unfortunately, they've been going steadily downhill over the years. It used to feel the most like walking into Poland. Now, they changed the table covers from old fashioned lace, to American bland. Their potato/cheese pierogi were too sour for our taste this time around but the soup was good as usual.

Red Apple is great if you like a lot of meat. Cranky owner never smiles. The other one up the street on Milwaukee is about the same but doesn't have the same atmosphere or neat location.

Jolly Inn is very good. (Extremely pretty waitresses too!) We keep going back to this one more and more. Not a large selection, but it's usually pretty good. I've never been disappointed with anything there.

I wasn't too impressed with the Bobak's on Archer Ave when we went there last year.
The one way out in Burr Ridge was sold to some Greeks but it retains the huge Polish store and restaurant. The fellow there said the employees are still all Polish and doubt it will change except the new owners plan to expand their veggy section in the store. It's now called "Farmers Fresh Market". Bobak's will continue to supply the deli section. We went there today and the food was excellent. Wish it was located farther north. It was a 20 minute drive from the Touhy/Elmhurst/O'Hare area where we are staying.

The Boback's in Naperville is to be avoided because I read there was no sign saying "Employees Must Wash Hands" installed in the lavatory. The health department said there were many complaints. I'll check in all the restaurants from now on but sometimes the employees use a different toilet.

We haven't tried the Old Warsaw Buffet on Harlem Ave but I heard it was over priced (Something like double the other ones?) Not sure that's true. I'll check it out tomorrow.

Also, we haven't tried the Staropolska or Sawa's Old Warsaw Restaurant.

Are we missing any more in the north or NW part of Chicago?

Walt

USA, Canada / Book stores in the Chicago area selling Polish used books? [4]

WOW! That was fast!
I'll check them out Tuesday. Not far away. Do they deal in only used books?
THANKS!
Walt