Sunny Side Up — Restaurant in Chicago

Updated review: We decided to give this place another chance, to see if we just got unlucky and the restaurant was having an off day. There's so many glowing reviews, so it must have been! Right?

Nope. It blows my mind how this place can stay in business. We were barked at when entering and yelled at about what to do and where to sit. It was not busy AT ALL. The atmosphere is bland and sad inside. No character, no warmth. There was no background music for most of our meal, just silence and the very clear conversations of the people seated somewhat nearby. Not enjoyable. Our waiter was very efficient, but offered no warmth and was not personable (he wasn't bad, just felt like he was existing and nothing more). Thankfully the food was not terrible this time, but good enough. Again, I can make better myself at home.

We figure this place must only exist because of tourists that either 1. Are typically only exposed to mediocre food where they live, or 2. Don't really know any better and just want that classic American breakfast that they can't get in their home country. But folks, there's way better places in Chicago to get a diner experience. I most definitely will never be back.

Original review: I'm quite confused about my experience with this restaurant. Why are there such good reviews? The food itself wasn't necessarily bad-tasting, but it was not warm when they brought it to me and the majority of my potatoes were undercooked - even the one that was only 1/4 of an inch thick. I got the croque madame and I felt that while the flavor wasn't bad, I can do better myself at home.

The thing that really solidified the fact that I'll never return to this restaurant was the rotten attitude of the servers. I can clearly see that the employees do not like their job. This was a weekday morning and didn't seem that busy but the servers were behaving extremely rushed and frantic, like chickens with their heads cut off. Not one smile. Not one welcoming gesture. They spat directions at customers about where to sit and the customer experience was very low on their list of concerns. I felt as if I was an inconvenience and that's not the vibe I'm trying to have if I'm going out for brunch.

The nail on the coffin was probably when I noticed the table next to us having issues. A while after they placed their order, the server informed them they were out of one guest's meal choice and asked what they would like instead. Before she even decided, they brought the meals for the rest of the table instead of abiding by one of the most basic rules of a restaurant kitchen and reassess the situation to bring all meals at once. When the patrons complained, the servers took the meals back to the kitchen but when they brought everything back with the new meal, everything was cold. The staff did not even bother to keep the meals warm or remake them. At this point, the group notified the server they would not be eating the food, that they were leaving and why. The server sarcastically shouted, "Okay that's fine, BYE!".

Please don't subject yourself to such mediocrity in an amazing food city like Chicago. We just moved to the neighborhood from Uptown and have quite the tradition of going to brunch so we were looking forward to having a place so close. But we will definitely continue to take the 20 minutes bus ride to our old neighborhood to have brunch because it's leagues better than the experience we had here. If you don't mind a bit of travel, I highly suggest Tweet in Uptown.

Oh and as a heads up,...

The servers only see you as dollar signs, not people.

My partner and I came to eat here while on vacation. As we were waiting for our food, sitting outside, the sun was burning up my head & causing me to feel very hot. I could barely even look across the table at my boyfriend without having to squint it was so bright out. I politely asked an employee if we could move tables to another one in the shade, because our server had disappeared for several minutes. The employee said it was okay. My boyfriend and I grabbed our things and moved over. Right as we were sitting down another server began complaining in Spanish that we had moved tables. They most likely assumed I didn’t understand them, but I am a native Spanish speaker. I heard the complaint and explained sincerely that I was getting hot sitting where we were before, that I would be willing to move anywhere (even inside), I just wanted to be able enjoy my food. The server got very upset because he said it was taking a table from his section. At that point our server came out & also spoke in Spanish & asked why we had moved & said that it wasn’t allowed — almost scolding us in a way. I once again said it was because I was hot.

Throughout the rest of the meal, we were never checked on, my boyfriend had to flag down our server for even minor things like refilling his coffee, they gave us our wrong food (the meal was for another table), then my order came out incorrectly (I had ordered a different side), then we were given the wrong check when it was time to pay (the check was intended for a different table), and then when handed the correct check the server made sure to highlight that 18% gratuity was included. Lovely.

All for wanting to stay cool in some summer heat. Truthfully didn’t think it was a big deal, but it felt extremely unprofessional (as someone who has worked in the restaurant business for years) and put a damper on...

I arrived here around 11:20am in a party of 3 on a Thursday morning while on vacation. They have their menu posted outside, which we looked at. They make it known that they don’t accept Apple Pay and that an 18% gratuity is added to all checks.

Once inside, we were greeted promptly. I thought it was weird that the host pointed to a table in the back of the restaurant that was available and told us we could sit there versus walking us to the table, which she did with other guest.

About a minute after seating, we were brought a pitcher of water. It was a cozy place with about 12-14 tables on the lower floor. They have two restrooms and additional seating upstairs on 2nd and 3rd floors. I didn’t even realized that had 3 floors until I went to restroom on 2nd floor. There are ample seating options. Seating on the upper floors is less than the mail level.

When the waiter came to take our order, we weren’t ready. He took a while to come back after we were ready. Additionally, he didn’t introduce himself, which is a pet peeve of mine.

My sister and i ordered the French toast combo with scrambled eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes. My son got the cinnamon roll delight pancakes with a side of bacon.

Our food came about 10 minutes after ordering. The breakfast potatoes were unseasoned. The bacon was decent. My son’s pancakes were delicious as he enjoyed them and I tasted some. I would say my French toast was average. There was nothing special or spectacular about my meal.

Apparently, you can’t split checks, which made paying different/complex. I’m teaching my son to spend responsibly and use his own money. My sister was paying in cash. I don’t like carrying cash and neither of my banks have locations here. Fortunately, we were able to pay using cash and two cards. They should be able to split checks to...