Five & Dime — Restaurant in Evanston Township

I really love the idea of this place, I really do. It really should be an easy 5 star rating but the employees try so incredibly hard to frustrate you and prevent you from buying things. The employees constantly seem annoyed when you show up with an interest in spending money on food and drinks. This is a paradox because you would assume that employees would like you buying things, because they get bigger tips, make more money, etc.

More humorously, on numerous occasions we have called ahead about the place being open or the kitchen being open, and upon arrival we have discovered numerous times that the place is closed for a private party or that they decided to close the kitchen earlier than they told us over the phone. This is has become comical because we have walked onto the patio watching the cooks starting to throw burgers on the grills and they won't allow us to order a burger (or any food for that matter) because "the kitchen is closed."

I am befuddled constantly with their business plan of frustrating me on every occasion when it comes to me ordering food and alcohol. Like for example, I was told by the manager tonight (30 June 2017) that the kitchen was closed upon arrival at 1035pm even though I called ahead about wanting to order food from the kitchen upon my arrival which they agreed was a win-win situation for both of us. Unfortunately, this was a complete lie because we sat down and saw the cooks starting to grill meat, but were told the kitchen closed 20-30 minutes ago, but regardless of that managerial misstep we were told that we were at least allowed to buy chips and Guacamole. Wouldn't you know it--the server didn't want to sell it to us, and then asked the manager for permission to sell it to us. We told her we didn't want guacamole and she sure showed some gusto and initiative by deciding we weren't worthy of our chips purchase because she never delivered them. I eventually asked her an hour later about the whereabouts of our chips, and she lamented that the chips were all gone--who could believe that in the midst of summer school in evanston that our precious supply of chips would be extinguished by 1110pm on a Friday night. I realize business management is hard and so is running a restaurant, but one would assume that the only rooftop bar/restaurant in Evanston would want to make some money.

#FirstWorldProblems

Five & Dime owners and management, please feel free to make some easy fixes and course...

Wheelchair user seal of approval! Unfortunately, the elevator was broken when I was there, but the staff was AWESOME. They explained that they'd had a repairman out earlier, but due to the holiday weekend they couldn't get the part to fix the elevator. Several staff members were there to carry my chair, and I was able to use my canes to walk up the stairs. At the landing halfway between floors, they offered to bring a chair so I could rest. When I declined, the hostess came running down to tell me they didn't have a table ready yet, because she didn't want me to have to go all the way up the stairs yet if I didn't need to. I was there for a party, so it didn't matter, but I appreciated the proactive approach! Once upstairs, I had no problem getting around in my chair, including getting in and out of the bathroom. When it was time to leave, a staff member carried my chair downstairs and waited with it until I was ready for it. Everyone was just the right amount of helpful, and they were all sincerely apologetic about the elevator being broken. Thank you for making me feel safe...

I dined here yesterday for 1st time. The atmosphere and ambience is nice but was VERY displeased with the food. I ordered side of fries for sampling and they came to me room temperature. I took bite of 1/2 of 1 fry and asked server if they can remake my order as my food wasn't hot. She took my plate back to the kitchen and returned later with what I expected to be a new fresh order of fries. That same 1/2 eaten fry was on the plate where I left it! They simply put my cold tempt fries in a microwave and heated it until hot and then brought it back out to me. That's horrible! For $8 side order of fries, which is a high price anyway, I expect fresh cooked fries served to customer. Not microwaved fries. No telling how long those fries were sitting out after being cooked before they were initially ordered by me. Very cheap on their part! Serving old cooked food that's been re-microwaved countless times and served to customers is unacceptable!...