Smakosz Restaurant — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

This place is a gem. When I go out to eat, first and foremost, the food has to be the star. Smakosz delivers big time. I went with my wife and her sister on a Friday night and it was outstanding. Started with the potato pancakes, had a cup of borscht and the kielbasa, while my wife had the stuffed cabbage and sis-in-law had the pierogies. We all traded bites and each was outstanding. This is the kind of cooking your grandma made from scratch every day. Fresh ingredients, tremendous recipes and all done perfectly. What a treat. The place was busy on a Friday, and there was only one dining room attendant. She was busy taking orders, serving tables and pouring drinks. The dining room had about 25-35 people around 7:00pm (in addition, many were picking up orders). They could have used a couple more people helping and service was a little slow as a result. But...extremely friendly staff, outstanding food and a nice dining room all combined for a relaxing evening. And for good measure, the men's bathroom is the cleanest bathroom in all of Chicago, period. When a restaurant pays that close of attention to the cleanliness of a bathroom, they pay attention to all of the details. It shows. If you are looking for an outstanding Polish meal, or just want some good home cooking regardless of ethnicity, this...

Our party of 7 ate here at 2:30 pm. There were a few items not available when we ordered. It didn’t matter because there were plenty of other items on the menu. We ordered appetizers, soups, pierogies, entrees, and apple strudel. We ate family-style so each person got to try a little of everything.

Service was excellent. The waitress was attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. There was practically no wait for food. Everything was delicious. The potato pancakes were crispy and a little oily. The sausage was yummy. We had sour, chicken noodle, and red borscht soups. I was surprised the borscht broth was thin; the dumplings in it were tasty.

We shared 2 platters of assorted foods including stuffed cabbages, pork chops, sausage, pierogies, and potatoes. We ate Smakosz style, meat, and sauerkraut & mushrooms pierogies. Other foods we partaked in were finger dumplings, goulash, and a Hungarian pancake. We shared warm apple strudels. We left well fed...

I specifically made a detour on my way to the airport to try their pierogi topped with fried onion. I ordered ahead of time a mix of Ruskie (translation: Ruthenian) potato and cheese pierogi and the Smakosz-style, which were with farmers cheese, buckwheat, and mint, which I would not consider traditional but I nonetheless found the taste to be enthralling. I also got a side of pan-fried sauerkraut and fruit compote to drink. Pierogi were well worth the 30 minute detour as they were supremely seasoned and provided more than enough sustenance for my return flight back home. Fried cabbage is one of Poland’s finest contributions to European cuisine and the refreshing fruit compote teleports you to a grandma’s cottage in the Polish countryside in the middle of cherry harvesting season. Sweet, refreshing, natural—everything you’d want from a fruit beverage. Despite almost missing my flight, I would consider these pierogi from Smakosz to be well...