Southport Grocery and Cafe — Restaurant in Lake View Township

So I wanted to give this place 5 stars. And if I reviewed them after only the first visit I would have. The food wasn't bad and our party had a good time.

But we tried going back 2 subsequent times and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. The reason being that the restaurant gave up our seats before the allotted time we had to come back to the restaurant after putting down our name. This place has ridiculously long wait times. So it makes sense that a person can put the name down and wait elsewhere and come back.

The first time this happened they just canceled our reservation due to some rain. Not the biggest issue, but this was after waiting for a very long time. It seemed the person on the phone kept trying to get us to cancel our reservation without being direct. And we told them that we can wait, but after waiting they finally were direct and canceled. A bit of transparency from the get go would have been nice.

The 2nd time is the reason I will not be going back. We waited, received the text to come in, and we made it before the time was up only to find out that the host already gave our seat away. We tried showing them the time the text was received but the they were not listening. Our time is valuable and this restaurant does not seem to value it.

I don't know why they treat customers in this manner, but it is not a good experience.

I leave most restaurants good reviews if the service was good. I don't expect anything phenomenal to leave a 5 star review, but this place has ruined my experience.

I hope they can come up with a better reservation system and improve their empathy when dealing...

If you're craving some decent brunch in the Southport Corridor, then head to Southport Grocery and Cafe! They have a nice rotating menu that has many fresh and locally sourced items. Although, prepare for at least an hour long wait on the weekends, as the restaurant is small, but they do a good job of turning over the tables. What I love about SG is their coffee, I don't know what they brew here, but it's hot, fresh, and delicious. They give you a carafe for the table, and frequently check on it to make sure that it's full. As for the food, I've had some hits and some misses. One of my favorite indulgences recently was the grown up poptart that we split for the table. There were two layers of dough, a layer of marscapone cheese (one of my favorites!) nestled in with blueberries and walnuts. It definitely whet our appetites and was a great value at $5. I've also enjoyed the Southern omelette which is a HUGE portion and filled with pimento, red onion, and small chunks of sausage, leaving one full and satisfied. Conversely, some of SG's sides leave a lot to be desired, such as their side of bacon which is overpriced for what you get, which is four small, greasy slices that anyone could make (better) at home. Their potato hash isn't the greatest, which many brunch items are served with. I feel that SG is one of the better brunch places for the Lakeview area, but Chicago is loaded with an insane number of brunch establishments, so nothing really sets SG aside...

I ordered the Hash with chicken sausage, listed as $13.95 on the menu. It came with roasted local potatoes, red onion, mushroom, peppers, red barn heritage white cheddar cheese, two over-easy organic cage-free eggs, and scallion sour cream.

Unfortunately, there was an imbalance in the dish as there were too many red onions and peppers and not enough hash. The hash was basically small fries, and they mixed in all the other ingredients and called it hash. The onion and peppers overpowered the dish, and it became a soggy mess at the bottom. The only redeeming thing about the dish was the mushroom.

Our first waiter was all right. When she left, a second waiter took over and was a lot friendlier.

The tables here are uncomfortably tiny, and we overheard other guests requesting a different table but were turned down despite plenty of seating available. However, I enjoyed the Americano here and the music they played, most of which was from the 2000 era.

I want to like Southport Grocery and Cafe, but unfortunately, the Hash with chicken sausage did not meet my expectations due to the imbalance of ingredients. I would come back to try out their...