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I have never been to a locally owned coffee shop that made me truly upset, until now.
I've been there twice. The first time, with a friend, we tried to order iced coffee and two toasted plain...
I have never been to a locally owned coffee shop that made me truly upset, until now.
I've been there twice. The first time, with a friend, we tried to order iced coffee and two toasted plain bagels with light cream cheese. All of these items were on the menu - and not terribly difficult. We ended up with warm coffee with ice in it, in plastic cups (not cold-pressed), toasted sesame seed bagels, and one measly packet of cream cheese each. When I asked the woman behind the counter for skim milk, she went to work steaming milk for me, and when I tried to stop her, she wouldn't hear it. Of course, I didn't want steamed milk in my iced coffee. What was she thinking?!? They don't have sugar or sweetener or cream/milk out there, the woman has to put it in for you. We were both incredibly frustrated.
The second time, I went in and tried to get a muffin and an iced coffee. She took my order, but not my money - went about mixing up a smoothie for another customer, and promptly forgot about me. Someone else came in and ordered ice cream, which she went to scoop... and I was just standing there at the counter. I gave up, told her to forget it, and left.
I'm not going back there. I gave them two chances.
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This isn't really a dollar store - there are lots of things in here that are more than a dollar. Nonetheless, this is where you want to go when you need to pick up something that would be just as...
This isn't really a dollar store - there are lots of things in here that are more than a dollar. Nonetheless, this is where you want to go when you need to pick up something that would be just as good as a generic brand as the expensive one down at Target. I've gotten organizing bins, trash cans, dishtowels, tools, and nails/screws here. Everything has held up as well as can be expected. The staff (owner, I presume) is friendly.
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I went into this Mexican restaurant with high hopes - the Reader had given it great reviews, and I generally tend to agree with their critics.
The service was kind of rude and incredibly slow -...
I went into this Mexican restaurant with high hopes - the Reader had given it great reviews, and I generally tend to agree with their critics.
The service was kind of rude and incredibly slow - there were not a lot of people there that night so there was no excuse for our meal to take almost 40 minutes to arrive.
My partner's meal, he said, was tasty if a bit on the bland side. My flautas were tiny, my side of rice and beans cold, and the refills on my water nonexistent.
Maybe we ordered the wrong things, or came in on the wrong night. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and come in on another night, but it's not going to be anytime soon. At least the food was cheap-ish.
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Pho Hoa
Category:
Restaurants
4925 N Broadway St
Chicago, Illinois 60640
(773) 784-8723
I went to this pho place on the recommendation of a friend who said it was better than the rest of the pho restaurants in the Little Saigon area, and I hope that's not the case!
The menu was...
I went to this pho place on the recommendation of a friend who said it was better than the rest of the pho restaurants in the Little Saigon area, and I hope that's not the case!
The menu was extremely limited, with no options for vegetarians and only one chicken option (the rest were beef and pork). I ordered the chicken pho, which came in a bowl as usual and consisted of salty broth, noodles, onions, and various chicken cuttings both light and dark meat, and including a few bones and lots of fat - not trimmed at all, no care for what got thrown in. There were only two sizes, and I got the small, which was more than enough in both size and quality.
The only think that made my pho edible was copious amounts of plum sauce, which cut the saltiness. Every other spoonful contained a piece of chicken that I wasn't sure I wanted to eat.
My dining partner had beef pho, and said it was tasty if guilty of my similar complaint of being indiscriminate with the cuttings.
The saving grace of the meal was the very tasty pineapple bubble tea, which was the same price as it was everywhere else on the block but seemed a lot smaller in size. The tapioca pearls were cooked just enough to be chewy but not falling apart.
The entire place is a smoking section, and you will find smokers there. This sort of ruined the atmosphere for me; it was pretty gross.
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Capis
Category:
Uncategorized
700 E Grand Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60611
(312) 276-0641
As a caveat, I should note that I work at Navy Pier, so I've tried pretty much all of the food options. For a full meal, Capi's is your best bet for decent food that's not bad for you.
It's not...
As a caveat, I should note that I work at Navy Pier, so I've tried pretty much all of the food options. For a full meal, Capi's is your best bet for decent food that's not bad for you.
It's not quite a sit-down restaurant. You get in what seems like a cafeteria-style line, look over the menu, and order at the counter. They give you a number and bring the food out to you at your table.
The decor is relaxing, with lots of different table options including booths and alfresco. Some of the tables themselves are wobbly. The drinks are self-serve and there is an area with utensils and napkins that are also self-serve.
When the food arrives (quickly), the first thing you will notice is the presentation - clean plates, large portion sizes, and the vegetables are very brightly colored. The lettuce and spinach are vibrant green, the tomatoes red, the peppers yellow and orange. Nothing looks wilted or old.
I have eaten (or been with people who have eaten) several of the panini sandwiches, bruschetta, pizzas, and caesar salads. The paninis are on the small size in terms of bread but they are stuffed to the brim with fresh mozzarella and meats and veggies. The bruschetta is my favorite item here; the chopped tomato and onion are perfectly seasoned and marinated and spooned generously over crisp bread. The pizzas are thin crust and not as filling as one would hope, but the ingredients are top-notch. The caesar salad is the best one I've had in a long time - it's very simple but flawless. The lettuce is romaine and all good leaves (and I've had it here multiple times, never have I had a gross piece of lettuce), the dressing is tart and savory, and the parmesian cheese is in freshly-shaved curls over the top. There are no croutons, but I didn't miss them.
Most main dishes are less than $10, which makes this place a favorite of lots of Navy Pier employees on payday - a weekly treat well earned, but not so expensive as to break the bank.
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This pastry shop has two sections; a euro-style bakery and a traditional Asian baked-goods area. I've only tried the Asian things.
For cheap eats, this is the place. There's nowhere to sit...
This pastry shop has two sections; a euro-style bakery and a traditional Asian baked-goods area. I've only tried the Asian things.
For cheap eats, this is the place. There's nowhere to sit (just pick out your food from behind the glass and it's handed to you in a paper bag), but it's got a nice ambiance all the same. It doesn't look shady like lots of the other shops on Argyle. For all of the Asian baked goods, you'll be hard pressed to find something for more than a dollar.
I've had the red bean buns, green bean buns, custard buns, and pretty much everything sweet they've had to offer. It is all warm all the way through, sometimes straight out of the oven. The consistency of the fillings is smooth and they are not fake-tasting; you can actually taste the red beans, or the egginess of the custard.
My luck has not been so good on their savory treats. The chicken bun had other "stuff" in it; I have no idea what it was, but it may have been vegetable matter. It was not in any recognizable state. The chicken itself was sort of stringy, not soft. I've heard varied reports of their BBQ sauce - mostly that it tastes different every day. They may be tweaking their recipe, or otherwise BBQ is a code for "whatever we have in back."
My biggest disappointment was the taro roll. It had unidentifiable bits of something in there, and I have no idea what it was. It may have been meat, so vegetarians beware! I was already too far away to go back and ask them.
All that being said, the sweets are to die for. Stick with them, and you'll be fine.
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This is a nice little Vietnamese grocery store. The sign on the front says "Viet Hoa," so don't be confused if you're looking for it. It does have a small parking lot.
Their dry good selection...
This is a nice little Vietnamese grocery store. The sign on the front says "Viet Hoa," so don't be confused if you're looking for it. It does have a small parking lot.
Their dry good selection is good. Despite not having many commercial ramen noodles, they do have noodles of every kind in larger packages, mostly not in English. There is an entire aisle of canned goods, including some of the more exotic things you may be searching for in your cookbook recipes for Vietnamese and Thai foods - durian, pickled eggs, all sorts of odd things that might surprise you. The aisle of hot sauces is also a good bet. Yes, I said an entire aisle of hot sauces.
The shining star here is the dead stuff. I say this because I can't always identify what everything is, and it changes daily. There are always lots of different kinds of fish on ice, chickens (whole), shrimp, and unidentifiable things. The best part is that none of it smells. There is no fishy smell, which tells me that everything is wonderfully fresh. If you're looking to grill some fish tonight, this is the place to pick it up at reasonable prices.
Unfortunately, the main downside to this grocery is the lackluster frozen foods section. I like to be able to count on my Asian grocery store to have lots of frozen red bean buns, vegetable dumplings, and tofu. The variety here is pithy at best. Most of the frozen items are meat-based or seafood-based, most labels are not in English, and I can never find what I'm looking for before freezing to death in front of the doors. I bought some steam buns from there and they took more than 30 minutes to steam when I got home because they were so frozen solid.
All in all, check it out for the dry goods and the meats/fish, but if you're looking for frozen foods, move along.
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