Ina Mae — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Was excited to finally try this place - saw it recommended as one of Chicago's 20 Best Outdoor Restaurants (Time-out Chicago).

For those that don't know, this is a local (and popular) watering hole in Wicker Park, tucked into a mostly residential neighborhood. Great hole-in-the-wall appeal. We were fortunate coming on a Thursday (in March) just after 4:30pm. Not many customers yet at that time, we were seated right away (there were three of us). Covid protocols are good - with temp checks and required masks. The service was very friendly, from the wait staff to the manager. Inside was charming and ambiance was awesome, themed out in Mardi Gras with hanging beads, glitter masks, and lights!

The food was a bit hit or miss, though nothing was exceptional. We ordered a Shrimp Po'boy, Nashville Chicken Po'boy, and a Catfish plate with a hush puppies appetizer and beignets as the desert - with a couple of Diet Cokes for drinks. Everything just seemed like it was suffering from cost-cutting measures.

The hush puppies were deep south Cajun-style hush puppies with large pieces of peppers, onions, and corn. Despite all that mixed in, they tasted bland, dry, and somewhat stale, like they'd been sitting out or a few days old.

The french roll on the Shrimp Po'boy also tasted stale and they tried to disguise it by toasting it slightly. The shrimp seemed like it had been bought cooked and frozen, and then fried that way - it was very rubbery. It wasn't stacked with lettuce and tomato like they show in Google videos I'd previously seen. It was also dry - with not much mayo and with about an ounce of hot sauce. It didn't taste bad - and that's mostly because it didn't have much of a taste with an overall lack of seasoning.

The catfish on the other hand seemed undercooked and expired. It reminded me of fish you'd buy on sale at the supermarket because it hadn't sold in two weeks. It probably could have used another minute or two in the frying oil.

The Nashville fried chicken was good - tender on the inside and crispy on the outside with good flavor. It paired well with the Nashville Hot Sauce that was sweet and not that spicy (which we liked).

The beignets were great and easily the most authentic item we tried. Perfectly cooked, hearty and soft on the inside. Not too sweet, but a nice overall taste with the powdered sugar.

The Diet Coke was ok, tasted like it needed syrup and the fries were nothing special - just plain with some Cajun spice added. One minor quirk was the Po'boys weren't cut in thirds - didn't really make a difference, but every picture I've seen of food from here showed the Po'boys cut in thirds. Maybe their B team was duty this night, or maybe the cost-cutting is getting them through covid. Whatever the reason, it did not meet our expectations. But, not gonna write them off - perhaps it's something we'll try again in...

This review is coming from a true New Orleanian. I was born and raised in New Orleans and have been living in Chicago for just over 2 years. This place was recommended to me by a few people who said I could find “true New Orleans food” here. I really shouldn’t have listened to them, because every place here that claims to be “creole” or “New Orleans style” is no where near it, including this place. First, we ordered the gumbo. There is potato salad at the bottom (with a strong mustard taste) and it lacked seasoning. Not everyone in New Orleans eats gumbo with potato salad…Next, we ordered the chargrilled oysters. These were horrible…they lacked seasoning and were not shucked very well. On my first bite, I realize it was nothing but cheese and there were pieces of the shell in it. I spit it out immediately. Then, we ordered the catfish and grits and pancakes and chicken wings for our entrees. The pancakes were undercooked and had batter at the bottom, the fried chicken tasted like it was fried in old grease, the catfish lacked seasoning, the grits was terrible, and I’m still trying to understand why the dish was smothered in hot sauce. Finally, we decided to try a snowball. We thought we would at least enjoy those…wrong. If you’re from New Orleans you know that it’s all about the ice. The ice was rock hard. The flavors were also not good and obviously a cheaper-grade. They charged an extra $1 for condensed milk, which is criminal, and it dried up on the hard ice. At the end, we left most of the food and the snowballs on the table.

We definitely wasted money at this place. My best advice is stop trying to replicate something without investing in the proper training, products, seasonings, etc. Upgrade your menu and do more research. There was nothing creole about this place. Maybe hire a chef from New Orleans or who has specialized in creole-style cooking.

I was so excited to tell my family that I found a taste of home here, but I think I’ve given up trying to find that after today.

Addendum to my previous review The general manager, Kyle, reached out to me personally and was very apologetic about my experience. He assured me that this wasn’t the norm, and informed me that the kitchen staff is going through a lot of changes, so this may have definitely negatively impacted my experience. I appreciate Kyle, as he did everything he could to rectify my experience. I will give them another chance, as anyone should who hasn’t had their normal/a good experience in the past month or so. With their strong and determined leadership, I highly anticipate that this place should be back up to...

Was going to see some music in the neighborhood. Selected this place to grab a bite before the show. Was extremely disappointed from beginning to end. We sat at 5pm. Sat for quite some time before a server approached us to take a drink order. The beer I asked for they didn’t have, no biggie, so I just went with iced tea. The server made no mention that they only serve sweet tea here. I don’t take sweetener in coffee or tea. When it arrived it barely had a tinge of color in it like it was watered down. When I tasted it, calling it “sweet tea” is an understatement. It tasted like it was 50% sugar, 49% water, and 1% tea. We asked to start with the hush puppies as an appetizer and three different po boys as our main course. They served us the hush puppies and literally within 30 seconds a second server was at the table with the po boys. I really hate when a server has no idea that there should be some time between serving an appetizer and an entree. As for the food, the hush puppies were the only thing I would recommend. They were tasty although they serve you like 4 or 5 massive hush puppies that includes a plastic cup that contained about a teaspoon of their pimento honey butter. Sort of a tiny amount to accompany the massive hush puppies. As for the po boys…. Everything was over cooked. The shrimp over cooked, the fried oysters in mine were rock hard, not a crunch on the outside and tender inside. They were like hockey pucks. Even the fries that accompanied each sandwich were all over done, and rock hard. There were long lapses between check ins with the wait staff which I found odd. I can see if they were slammed but it was early and only about 7 tables were seated in the whole place between the outside and inside. Maybe about 25% of their capacity. Not sure why the wait staff was so lacking? It certainly wasn’t because they were busy? I would absolutely not recommend this place to anyone. Not surprised to read so many bad reviews as our experience was very...