Bobbi’s Italian beef — Restaurant in New York

I wanted to like this place and give it a high score, as I fell in love with Chicago roast beef and hot dogs at Portillo's during a trip to Chicago not too long ago. As a veteran of the service industry, I believe in and will give this spot another chance someday, but I cannot argue first impressions, and well, my first visit to Bobbi's was a nightmare.

First the good news- I wanted to see how a Chicago inspired spot would do a chopped cheese, so that's what I ordered to go, along with a potato salad. While well seasoned, my chopped cheese was more like a "less sliced cheesesteak" than a chopped cheese, tasty but very messy and not chopped at all. My potato salad was good though underseasoned- a few dashes of salt at home fixed everything but in the case of potato salad, shouldn't it be well seasoned already?

Now for the not so good news. On this warm Sunday, I arrive just after 12:30pm (I think they open at noon as there were many in the dining room when I arrived) and here are my obversations:

-the restaurant was VERY hot inside. It wasn't until I had been there almost 30 minutes waiting on my to-go order (more on that later) that someone finally opened the door for ventilation.

-The person who was running the show, a young man behind the counter, was quite loud and vocal, not necessarily a good thing in a restaurant that is small in size with an open kitchen where sound travels. While waiting for my food, multiple times I heard excuses about how the vegan dogs will take time because "no one defrosted any the night before", "the steamer wasn't hot", etc. After I and the person in front of me had placed out orders, this same voice loudly said "great, 2 more orders."

-Many of us in the dining room were clearly waiting quite some time; one person asked for his dine in order to go as he couldn't wait any longer. When the voice behind the counter finally got to my ticket, he was loudly reading the instructions for my sandwich, clearly he had never made it before, and this is something that did not give me any confidence in my sandwich.

The owner walked in after I had been there waiting for some time, made one singular loud broadcast to quickly apologize and that he was stuck in traffic on the other side of Brooklyn. Shortly afterwards I got my bag of food and promptly left. Total time waiting for a sandwich and potato salad: 49 minutes.

I have so many questions about this day but honestly, based on my tme spent vs the product I received, I'm not sure asking would be worth my time with so many other food and sandwich options on the same street, the neighborhood, the...

I have seen this restaurant on IG and put it on my list and today was the day. This atmosphere is pretty cool, it’s decked out with a a lot of Chicago memorabilia. They love home and I dig it. I’ve never had a Chicago style dog before and I gotta say it wasn’t good, it was great! The natural flavors of the dogs they use with the relish, peppers, pickle spears, tomato, onions with the mustard drizzle and that soft, warm poppi seed bun make it’s a whole experience. Textures and flavors really worked well together with a lil zip from the peppers kept me thinking about it. I went in there for the Chicago dog, loved it and had to try the chili cheese dog. The chili cheese dog was dope! It was flavorful and filling. The raw onions on top were a nice add. If you dine in they’ll throw you some tater tots which was pretty cool. That staff is very friendly and I appreciate that. While I was there I was able to get a taste of their Italian beef. I don’t think I have the culinary background to describe the flavor without messing it up. I will say it was delicious! the way the jus got soaked into the bread, the flavor of the tender Italian beef had me licking the cup it was in -_- I wanted more and I will be back for it! In my honest opinion this place is worth a drive for. I wasn’t disappointed. They have weiner Wednesday where you can get $2 off their dogs which is cool. I can’t like $9 for a dog is just a sign of the times, but at least they try to help their consumers out. All in all I will be back! This was a great experience and I am very grateful for the interaction I had with the staff. If you’re in the...

Chicago born and raised, so I'm always curious to see our food represented outside of the city. This place nails the Chicago hot dog joint aesthetic - the random bits of wood paneling from 1970 are a nice touch.

The Chicago dog was very well done. If you're from Chicago you will not be disappointed with it. It has truly been dragged through the garden and everything is as it should be.

I was less impressed with the Italian beef and the potato wedges, but neither of them were bad. The potato wedges are their sub for fries. They're okay, but they're more the consistency of baked potatoes with a slightly crisp, under seasoned exterior. They're also $7 ($10 with a drizzle of cheese) and it just doesn't feel worth it for what you get, both from a taste perspective and a portion perspective.

The Italian beef was a good sandwich, but it's not what most people from Chicago would imagine if they were ordering one from their favorite spot. All of the flavors were right, but a few things missed the mark a bit for me. The giardiniera needed more heat, but most importantly the beef needs to be served differently. A proper Italian beef is so soaked through with rich, spicy, savory gravy, that every bite is dripping with juice. To get that experience you need to slice the meat super, super thin, otherwise the gravy can't penetrate. The meat Bobbi's used was very tasty and super tender, but it was way too thick. Thinner slices of beef and hotter giardiniera would have made it...