Chicagoist: Spotlight: Eleven City Diner

Falcone Alpini

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:24:45 -0600

I live in the neighborhood and really want to like Eleven City Diner, but just can't. I've been there 4-5 times and had similarly underwhelming, if not negative, experiences each time. I'm done. The food is OK; greasy, but OK. The service was poor and dismissive each time, despite being helped by different staff each visit. The overall theme is one of self-importance. The prices are high and the portions either huge or tiny. I like the appearance of the room, but again, it's a bit too proud of itself. The clincher for me is the following - this year's July 4th fell on a Wednesday. Bongo Room down the street was closed and Eleven was open. Flyers were taped to Bongo Room's windows saying, "Hungry? We're open down the street at Eleven City Diner --->" I'll assume that the Bongo Room didn't consent to this stunt, which is incredibly low-class. If they did consent to it, it's just another reason why they'll continue to get my business, and Eleven will not. Or how about flying the Puerto Rican flag on June 16th, the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which kicked off a few blocks away? I thought it was a Jewish diner/deli -- cheap, transparent, classless pandering for business.

Zachary B

Tue, 15 May 2007 10:03:25 -0600

I live on the same block as Eleven City and my boyfriend loves the place, so we seemed to go almost everyday for breakfast. My boyfriend is allergic to dairy products so he cannot have the potatoes that come with the eggs and stuff he usually gets. For the first time in the 5 days in a row we had gone we were told it would be an extra 2 dollars for a fruit cup. Now, we had gotten the fruit cup every day that week and the thing is tiny. 2 more dollars on top of the 8 dollars for some eggs is a little ridiculous. We asked for the owner and he came over. We told him we come in at least twice a week etc, but he instead offered tomatoes because fruit is so expensive. Basically I think the owner is pretty much impressed with himself about what he has made and is more concerned with making a dollar that day than for the future. We decided to leave because he would not take off the simple 2 dollar charge. As we walked out the door he just said goodbye. In this day loyal customer are hard to come by, we simply informed him that he was going to be out more than the 2 dollars for the fruit after he looses us as customers and everyone we end up telling. He then asked if we could take it outside and it basically turned into him yelling at us. Needless to say I will never be going back. The owner seems to be a stuck up a****** that does not have much concern for repeat customers paying his business.

Jack

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:17:42 -0600

So, I was excited about trying out Eleven City but was disappointed. The service was terrible and the food did not impress. My waiter forgot about my order, no apologies were offered and I was overcharged. I would never consider going back.

Stuart Linderman

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:25:56 -0600

You should rename the sandwich "M F Macie". Let's see them drag that into court...

Robbie

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:52:57 -0600

Sorry to disappoint, but just because they serve matzoh ball soup - they're not a kosher deli. In fact, if they serve bacon, as you mentioned, they're pretty much just the opposite. Then there's that whole meat and dairy in the same place thing, so it's pretty much trayf all around.

Benjy

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:32:01 -0600

Yeah, decent matzoh ball soup is an important test for any good deli, too. But those of us of the Jewish faith know no restaurant will ever come close to Mom's... Corned beef on rye, on the other hand, is the realm of the deli.

Ed

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 21:06:49 -0600

The pastrami I can vouch for. It's quite good. A little moister and yet a little leaner than manny's, on superb rye bread. The corned beef is also, apparently, good. I found the matzoh ball soup pretty mediocre. The matzoh ball itself was good, but the soup was unbelievably bland. Chocolate phosphate was good. Manny's is a cafeteria, not a deli. Eleven City is a diner, not a deli. Chicago still needs a good jewish deli :)

Matt Sayler

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 20:04:30 -0600

My wife and I had breakfast this morning. Other than (what I condisider the usual) newly opened blues of a couple of missing items, things were nice. The article mentioned Bongo Room South, and the comparison is an interesting one. Eleven certainly seems to have the deeper menu, and the average price of a breakfast at Eleven is probably a couple of bucks less than Bongo. The atmosphere at Eleven is the big winner, though. With ample room and about half the noise, it was a real treat to eat there. Even if Eleven draws off some of the Bongo crowd, there will still be plenty of people to eat there, and I think both will coexist. That stretch of Wabash really needed a middle-price, open lots restraunt. We'll be going back.

Chuck

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 11:14:27 -0600

Benjy: Matzoh ball soup? Hello? Coppoletta: It's real convenient to get there, too. CTA can drop you a block away on Roosevelt via orange, Red, or Green lines. I went back last night after a long shift behind the bar and had the challah French toast with mixed berries and chocolate chips. I'm eager to see what kind of walk-up traffic they pull from Bongo Room down the street.

Benjy

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:41:17 -0600

You tried a supposed Jewish deli and didn't sample either the corned beef or pastrami sandwich? Those the true benchmarks for an deli. I'm anxious to try the place out -- I'm tired of having to trek out by my parents for decent deli food.

Tony Coppoletta

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:56:59 -0600

Thanks for this review. I love Manny's, but do have trouble finding a lot of this stuff around town, and Manny's has really inconvenient hours for me. I'm so going to check this place out.