Good Evans — Restaurant in Chicago Precinct

I had been wanting to try out Good Evans for a while ... the few times I've passed by it is full, and the reviews are pretty good!

Initial appearances were great! We arrived about 8:15 on Sunday morning and were immediately seated and given menus. I noted that mine had been 'stuck' to another and pulled away, as a good chunk was ripped away, leaving me to guess what some of the menu item descriptions were. Not necessarily a red flag, though this detail just helped stack the deck for this review -- it goes to the overall experience.

As we were seated, a server appeared and took our drink order.

A different server came to take our orders, and we didn't take much time to order. I didn't catch his name.... which was a shame, because until it was time to pay, we never saw him again (except for about 5 minutes before we needed to pay). I noticed that other than salt, pepper, and ketchup, there were no condiments at the tables -- again, not a red flag, but weird. I ordered coffee and it came out with creamer and a kiosk of various sweeteners.

Our breakfasts came out quickly, minus the toast / English muffins, which appeared about 5 minutes later.

My dining partner ordered an item called The Cambridge, which is hash browns with bacon, ham and scrambled eggs on top, covered in Hollandaise sauce. I ordered the GE Omelet. She immediately noticed that the hollandaise was a curdled and congealed blob. Yuck. And that there was almost no bacon or ham. My meal was perfect. OK, a rookie cook mistake. But we couldn't flag down a server to inquire about it -- eventually, getting cold, she just ate it.

The server never came back to check on us.

A different server brought out our toast / English muffin and at that time asked if we would like jelly for our toast, it took a few more minutes for that to arrive.

Our server finally appeared as we were almost finished with our meal. He asked if I wanted coffee, I said yes and he left to get the coffee. It never appeared.

Had the restaurant been full and our server assigned to several other tables, this could have been understandable, however the restaurant was less than half full. There were several idle staff members. I noticed 3 standing at the check in desk, and other wait staff attending to other tables.

Our server did concentrate on another table, making 4 consecutive trips to get them water, drinks, a highchair, and a coffee refill.

We finished our meal. Then, he finally arrived, asking if I wanted more coffee (without a coffee pot in hand). I just said, 'no, I'll take the check'. He did ask if I wanted a 'to go' cup, but at this point, it wasn't worth the wait.

He proceeded to whip out an electronic card reader, punched a few buttons, announced the total, and asked me for my card. Then the machine was presented to me, while he waited for me to select the tip (the options were 22%, 20% or 15% ... .huh? What happened to 18%?) Very uncomfortable as he stood right there.

I never had the opportunity to review the check! I elected to receive the receipt via text. When we got home, I checked my receipt, and I paid for someone else's breakfast. I hope they enjoyed the sausage I never got.

Of huge note, at 9:10 AM when we left ... the restaurant was NOT full ... and on a Sunday morning.

If you've read this far, I'm not a Kevin/Karen, nor am I a bougie snob. I get that this is a casual sit down breakfast/lunch place. I'm expecting a Denny's/Perkins experience, decent food, a refill on my coffee, and to pay my actual tab. Honestly, feel as if I'd have gotten better service at McDonalds -- and saved $20 in the process.

Perhaps, as Gen X, I don't fit the demographic Great Evans is apparently seeking, apparently Millennials, and the service represented that choice. I'm not sure ... but I am sure of one thing ... it may be a while before I can be persuaded to try this...

Came in around 11ish, almost noon. When we walked in there was a line of people. We first asked if we could put our names down on a wait list. There was no wait list, just a line of people waiting to be seated. No hostess in sight. We were quickly informed by other patrons waiting in said line that they had been waiting for well over an hour. A lady who was not the hostess but other staff said it was gonna be longer still and walked away. Quickly as we came in tables started to open up, yet people were not being sat. We heard talks from other patrons and staff that the kitchen was backed up with online orders. Mind you, I saw their doordash/ online order area from the line and from our table. Which in the time I was there (waiting and eventually eating- total time there about an hour and a half) in total there was only two pick up orders. Multiple tables opened, yet none of the multiple people were being sat. We, in our roughly 30 min wait, witnessed about 6 or 7 different groups either leave the line, or walk in and directly back out. The people we were standing behind: a nice lady, nice gentleman and little girl. They advised us they had been waiting roughly an hour. Hearing the little girl saying how she was hungry, while there was clearly tables to accommodate their party of 3. Mind you, even if a kitchen is backed up and there are multiple tables, there are plenty of dishes that could of been brought out to accommodate or tide them over that didn't involve the kitchens and could of easily been run by servers, like fruit or juice or coffees for the adults. They just had to be sat, yet were never sat. Eventually, they walked out.

The hostess eventually arrived, we were sat, and our food came out in a timely manner. Food overall was good, our server and her service was good. Server was nice and seemed upbeat despite clear problems with the hostess and the communication from management.

If the supposed online order was an issue, a manager should of been back their assisting the cooks, servers should be able to grab customers and also assist with seating if needed.

A wait list might actually be useful, or like a option to check in online and calling for their party.

Even if food service was slow, it behooves the business not to quickly sit these people, again I saw multiple angry people walk in and out during my wait, when there was plenty of open tables to accommodate these people. Yet no one was being sat.

I understand Sundays are hell for breakfast places, but honestly seems like issues with communication overall between staff and hostess...

Not sure where to begin here.. our 2 visit since opening and it’s safe to warn folks away from here! We went in on a Sunday morning, no line or wait which should’ve been our first hint on how this was going to go… our server , blonde girl with the worst attitude I’ve seen in a server yet. No greeting of any sort just demanded drink order then returned over 20 minutes later with wrong drinks. No apology or offer of bringing the correct drink.. our food - GE breakfast pie and Cajun Benedict.. awful. Both meals looked to have been sitting in the window far too long and yet both were cold. Gravy had separated and tasted like it was days old. Poached eggs were no where near being considered poached as they were hard as a rock. We mentioned to the server we weren’t happy as we took a few bites from each and couldn’t handle more.. she snatched the plates from table without an apology or care. This place is never going to make it with servers like her. Super disappointing because we love the other Omaha location! Heck we went next door to runza right after and fully enjoyed our lunch!! I wouldn’t recommend this...