Eleven City Diner — Restaurant in Chicago

Eleven City Diner is a superb breakfast / brunch spot in the Chicago area! It was recommended by staff at the hotel I was staying at in Chicago, and did not disappoint.

Last Thursday, I rushed to come here for brunch, and took an Uber here because I am just visiting the Chicago area.

I walked in and ordered table for one, and got bar seating immediately. I immediately enjoyed the casual, laid-back atmosphere around me and snapped some photos to capture the moment.

I asked the waiter for popular items, and 11 City French Toast (FT) was mentioned. Rita's Plate appealed to me because it had eggs, meat, and potatoes, but also came with the FT. Waiter said FT is better with 11 City toppings -- strawberries and bananas that is. I said why not, let's go for it.

While we were waiting, I saw a keg of root beer (RB) and saw that 11 City is known for its authentic, bottomless RB. I said why not, and called the waiter over and ordered that for my drink.

The wait time was not egregious, but it was somewhat long.

I was presented with the Rita's Plate at long last, which came with what looked like ham, scrambled eggs with fresh avocado, and potato wedges. On the second plate there was powdered FT, and since this was 11 city style, came with strawberries and bananas.

All the food was pretty spot on. I enjoyed ham, egg, and potatoes plate but it was not a home run. Still flavorful and enjoyable.

The FT was amazing, probably one of best FT I've tried at a brunch spot before. Flavorful and with the strawberries and bananas it added lot of natural sugar to it. If getting toppings, I would advise against using too much of the maple syrup; in this case it is already sweet enough with the powder and fruit, and maybe conservative quantities of syrup is called for. As well, if you order anything else sugary like root beer as a drink, you most certainly don't want to get an overload of sugar for breakfast, so I would advise again limited quantities of maple syrup or skipping it altogether.

I will say, there was a few mishaps and delays in my order, such as the bartender forgetting I had ordered RB so I had to remind him, and it only arrived much after my main dish. But it's not a deal breaker, and I understand that folks can be busy here.

As for the RB, the drink was a bit sugary but I missed root beer as I haven’t had it for the longest time, it was good to try authentic fresh RB once again and best is they offer free refills, so I got one and finished half of the other (as I said, bit too sugary for me!)

All in all, this is a spot-on breakfast or brunch spot if one is visiting Chicago, and cannot go wrong with 11 City Diner. I will recommend, and my suggestion will be to ask for popular items and/or toppings, and then adjust or add substitutes -- as I have for the FT -- accordingly, based on best judgement or preference. I enjoyed this spot and will likely be back once I find myself in the Chicago area again. Definitely...

We're intown visiting the Chicago area for a couple of days. We arrived at Midway Airport around 1p.m. and wanted breakfast. I was ready for some great French Toast and location Eleven City Diner. The breakfast menu looked outstanding. We arrived and the host and our waiter were friendly and welcoming. I looked at their large menu selections and now I'm torn between French Toast and my two favorite sandwiches (Monte Cristo and Tuna Melt). I have to go with one of my favorites sandwiches. I was leaning the Monte Cristo. Everyone knows it's hard to find a place that prepares the Monte Cristo the old, proper way (pan fry the whole sandwich). Our waiter would be the deciding factor. He was asked the biggest question ever. What raspberry jelly comes with the Monte Cristo sandwich and he advised that we have different jellies on the table to choose from. I'm old school Monte Cristo lover, if Raspberry jelly isn't served with the sandwich. The tuna melt was the winner. My beautiful wife for the first time ever, had to wait for her husband to decide his meal. Fellas you know what I'm talking about. My wife ordered tomato basil soup, grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and fries. I ordered albacore tuna melt with cheddar and fries. As we were waiting the dessert/milkshake menu called my name (everyone knows I can get dessert crazy). We called the waiter over and asked what milkshake flavors did they have. He advised the flavors and l asked what would he pick. The choice was the triple berry milkshake. I was being adventurous, triple berry it will be. All the food arrived at the and the presentation was outstanding. The soup arrived lukewarm warm, but our waiter immediately changed it for a new hottt soup. The advised that her whole meal was outstanding. Happy wife, happy life. I was looking forward to my tuna melt, but was disappointed with the result. Maybe it was my fault I was expecting a tuna melt and I received an open tuna sandwich. The only thing melted on the sandwich was the cheese was semi melted on top of the tuna on top of the bread. The tuna was average nothing special. I was hoping for an Eleven City Diner special tuna mix to blow me out of the water and l received average tuna on top of 2 pieces of bread. The meal weren't all bad. The fries were outstanding, but the winner was the triple berry milkshake. Thanks to our waiter for the suggestion. On to the ambiance is was beyond outstanding. We were transported back to the time when malt shops were the place you wanted to eat. We paid the bill and again thanked our waiter for his outstanding service. I can wait to turn because this beautiful thick chocolate cake was calling my name on the way out. Next, time it will be Monte...

Yesterday I went to have dinner and the place was very nice with good atmosphere, food was fresh and tasty. Unfortunately service was not the same experience, I sat on the bar by myself and ordered a salad, I was given a roll up with silverware and napkin, when I was ready to start eating, I noticed my fork was very small (I was given a dessert / cake fork), I asked the server to please get a regular fork as this one was not useful to eat a regular dish / entree, the server smirked like if I was joking, she looked at the fork and insisted that all their forks looked the same and were standard size, jokingly she even offer to bring me a "jumbo fork" but she would have to look for it, I declined to that and honestly at that point I even doubted if I was asking for a legit request or overreacting as the server kept insisting that there was no issue with my small fork. I decided to keep eating my salad with this fork, however, I noticed on other tables that they had regular size silverware including forks and decided to ask again, at that point I couldn't keep eating as the little fork was hurting a finger while trying to eat, I know it sounds an exaggeration but it's really uncomfortable to eat with small utensils, I asked for a box and mentioned again to the server to please check again If they had a regular size fork, that's when she finally went to grab 3 more forks and realized I was right and had a very small fork for eating an entree, it's really upsetting to not be listened and respected, since the first time I kindly asked to check the size of the utensil and she didn't really care and thought I was being irrational and made me look like I was being too much by asking that and offering a "jumbo fork". Felt like she was making fun of the situation or my request. Very disrespectful. At the end she didn't even acknowledge the issue and just said "oh I'm sorry" while still smirking. Place has nice atmosphere like I mentioned at the beginning and food has great quality but I wouldn't go back for the inconsistent service, the place is not inexpensive so I'm not risking spending on a good meal when I can not eat it properly or ending up with a sored finger for eating with the wrong utensil. Then being disrespected by not trusting on my request. Tell your staff to listen and value your customers...