Maple N Jams Cafe — Restaurant in Stickney Township

I am traveling with my 4 children, ages 4-13, on a road trip from Denver to NYC, the Adirondacks, Boston, and places in between. We left home July 9, and we're now meandering our way back. I've done several of these trips with my kids, plus some international travel. I've stayed at the Ritz and some roadside motels I would really prefer to forget. The same range applies to eateries that we have patronized. I truly have a solid range of experience, and I love finding places that deliver quality in many areas.

This place is a gem!

The food: They have good portions that are definitely on the generous side. Everything we ordered was tasty and well-prepared with fresh ingredients and nice variations from the basic items at most places. They offer fresh-squeezed orange juice, but the syrup isn't the real deal. They have a terrific range of toppings for French toast and pancakes, and same with the fillings for the omelets. Plus, you can build your own. The menu anticipates common substitution requests, and any up-charges are clearly stated. I love that! It made ordering really smooth. I really enjoyed my Denver omelet, and it was made exactly the way I like it: fresh veggies that aren't cooked to limpness, nice ratio of filling to eggs, and no runny or overdone pieces of egg. I really want another one as I'm writing this! The pancakes, bacon, and potatoes were all good, too.

The space: Seating, decor, and design all make for a very comfortable ambiance. There was smoke seating for us, which isn't always the case, and the flow established by the placement of tables was clear and comfortable. There were plenty of things around to make for a great game of I-Spy, but it didn't feel like you were in a flea market. Things were clean and in good working order.

The staff: This is why we'll return on every trip through or to Chicago! Our waitress, Michelle, completely made our day. I'm not exaggerating. I had just had an interaction with a very rude cashier at the nearby Pilot travel center, and I had spent about 20 minutes on the phone with my bank just so I could fill my car up with gas. This was after driving through the night with only a nap in the car. Michelle set a great time for our entire stay in Chicago!! She is competent, friendly, and caring. She was very patient with our laborious ordering process, didn't rush us to to decide, and have very helpful advice about what to order in what combination. She joked with the kids, getting my 7-year old out of her mopes and making her laugh. She noticed any commented on little parenting techniques that I use to make eating out pleasant for my kids as well as other customers. She asked us about our trip and shared some of her own experiences of growing up here. In short, she was friendly but not intrusive, attentive but not hovering, competent but not rushed, and absolutely terrific. If you can be seated at one of her tables, you should take advantage of it.

Every place has a few imperfections: There are only "single-seater" bathrooms. There is always syrup somewhere that I end up sitting in or sticking my hand in while trying to find my kid's super special whatever that they dropped in between the cushions - no different here. Not everyone was as warm and friendly as Michelle. One waitress in particular was rather curt with my children, but I noticed she was friendly to other customers. The hostess seemed a little harried but not rude.

I almost forgot: several customers were greeted by name, and the staff knew how they liked their coffee. That's special, I think!

Please check this place out if your travels take you near enough to it. It's an outstanding roadside eatery, and a perfect little neighborhood spot to adopt as a regular favorite. I hope your experience is as good as ours was! Tell Michelle, "Hello," from us...

Ms. Piggy French toast is AMAZING!!!! 😋😋😋

Came on a Saturday afternoon about two hours before closing. Very very busy.

We got the last table that was available. It took a few minutes for our server to come to us bc it was busy. So come early if you don't like waiting.

My bestie ordered a corn beef skillet which came with a side of fluffy pancakes $15.99. The skillet was a great portion but the egg was not seasoned. The corn beef was already naturally salty so we didn't need to add anything but FYI the eggs don't come seasoned. They do have salt and pepper and other condiments at the table though. It was still delicious though. It comes in a stacked fashion with the potatoes on the bottom, then sliced corn beef, melted cheese and scrambled eggs on top.

I ordered a customized omelette with ham, bell pepper, mushrooms and cheddar. I was underwhelmed with the omelette, it was very plain, no flavor, just like the eggs from the skillet dish. Im assuming they don't season the omelette or egg entrees so you can add your own and adjust to your liking since there was salt and pepper on each table. The omelette portion was huge and comes with a side of potatoes which were really good and as well as toast OR pancakes. I recommend getting the pancakes. They were buttery and fluffy. I like that they come with the whipped cream and syrup on the side rather than on top of the pancakes that way you can adjust how much you want yourself.

I also ordered the Ms. piggy French toast which is challah bread stuffed with their homemade vanilla honey cream filling and topped with bacon, banana, chocolate chips, and pecans!! Oh Soo delicious and sweet $12.99 🤤🤤🤤🤤

I docked one star bc the first server which was a Hispanic girl who brought us our water was a bit rude, when she brought our water she pushed me out of the way with her arm brushing up against me in order to give us our water when she could have gone around the table instead to place our water down. No self awareness and just plain rude. Later, we got a different waitress after her which was an older white woman but she took a little bit too long to fill up our coffee the second time around. I know it was busy but I saw her being very attentive with other tables and it just took her a little longer to refill our coffee compared to the nearby tables she was also serving I noticed.

I docked a second star bc the eggs for both dishes the skillet and omelette were very plain and had no flavor whatsoever so I had to season myself with salt and pepper.

However, I would come back and give it a second chance, I think bc we came at a busy time the service was lacking a bit but I will say I do appreciate that all of our food came out at once which I liked, we ordered a lot and were able to enjoy everything we ordered at once without having to wait.

Highly recommend the French toast and pancakes!!! Even the skillets! Definitely worth it!! We ordered a lot and our bill was only $60!! Great value for the amount of food.

The restaurant is very small but cozy and the washrooms are very clean!! Parking lot is small and hard to find a spot if you come later in the afternoon...

This establishment is managed poorly. I placed a phone order and was told my order would be ready in 15 mins. They asked me for a description of my car and asked me to call them when I was in their parking lot. I arrived 5 minutes early, I called and was told my order wasn't ready but they confirmed my vehicle information and told me they would bring my order to my car. I waited 30 mins in total and no one brought my food out. So I walked up to the hostess that was managing the outdoor seating and she told me to walk inside to inquire about my order. There was a customer in front of me so I waited. No one greeted me or even looked at me when I walked in. However, the lady behind the cash register was scolding Juan, the bus boy because one of their customers left without paying. Extremely unprofessional in my opinion. After 5 minutes of waiting I told the lady behind the register my last name and what I had ordered. There were 3 "TO GO" bags on a table in front of the register. She waked around from behind the register to where the TO GO orders were at, checked the tickets and began yelling at the kitchen to find my order. A waitress then checked the TO GO orders again and proceeded to tell me they had my order under my first name. By the time I sat down to eat my food, which literally was less than 5 minutes later as my place of business is 5 blocks away from them. My food was cold and the whip cream and power sugar on my French Toast was melted.

I'm a business owner and I would NEVER disrespect an employee in front of ANYONE period!!!!! There is always a time and place for correction and it's NOT in front of customers. And when is it a bus boy's responsibility to make sure a customer paid? Please learn from other businesses like Portillo's as they have perfected the carry out system.

It's a shame, because I'm a huge supporter of supporting local businesses but the lady behind the register left an ugly...