Pierogi Kitchen — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

This is was a book by it's cover to its ending is Game of Thrones.

I'm Polish I'm always looking for a good spot as we are one of the few city's have a second language that is more than Spanish. I love my Spainish Brothers and Sister . Milwaukee is German. So it's a rare thing. Last Polish review was over charging for Polish sausage in the south loop . While fusion Polish Pizza that was. Cheaper than the sausage.

So i walk in, the style is contemporary, the people inside seem happy but most working on laptop or whispering at each other. Polish is family is talking at the pub. This place had a pretty good menu. Pirogies are a staple . Like potato cakes. But this had more western food then polish.

You could mix and match Pirogies for one order . Not Polish.

Then I went to order a whiskey . One after the next on the paper menu they didn't have it.

So in frustration I switched to beer. The same thing on after the next , so I look at the wall caulk board. How do you not up date the caulk board.

With a smirk David kept trying like a lost puppy who clear was on the 2:58 PM shift for a reason when another bartender or someone else shout the whiskey we have are on the shelf.

Do they say them no . So I walk over tak a picture and zoom it to see. I pick one . While wait ask about last beer taps and they clean their beer lines ones , week, twice a week, or monthly. After about 2 minutes (I counted in my head) David cle a rly guess every two weeks. Didn't even want to taste if the line were dirty and my Pierogies arrive. Great pic. Smell was thier.

Then I tasted them I have been making These with my family since I was 7 years old . My Mom and Brother would spend 7 hours freeze want we didn't eat for the next few weeks to last 6 months. Sweet , saviory. We live on a farm with an orchard we had options.

The mushroom, saurekruat where not even warm , soggie. Sad if not offencive. The Mexican soar cream they added i was ok sure I'll try to see if that helps. I did not.

It took 23 minutes to get then to me. So place looked neat, there bar tender could tell me when the lines were last cleaned. Whiskey well don't look at the menu or chalk board. Which they didn't even erase the ones they now new were not on tap. This place is at north and welcott. Let me tell you the're are some Chicago Icons and get close to here. But avoid this place.

At the very end thirty dollars for 6 bad Pierogies, higher then room temp whiskey .

I wasn't disappointed i was offended. You can make all the Polish jokes you want . They don't even get that high a bar.

And last insult David ask do you speak Polish and before I could answer jumped into a statement in polish. So as he treated me with such disrespect, care of his customers, know of where he worked. I responded ,in French , German, really bad Maderin ( the point of inflection is hard)

I'm critical but honest this was my experience. Try them out but I can tell you ten places that are less then a ten minute walk. Or with prices to 6 peirogie on whiskey for 30 with tip. So many better options. This location has gone through two BBQ now ... is it just a bad spot Haunted by ghost of the past.

Or lazy , people that don't care about the food, service, or quality. Think thump like charm . You got 20% because i believe in liveable wages.

My final...

We've been here several times and introduced friends to this place. Kind of regretting it. Probably experienced an off day and considered not coming back.

The service team seems inconsistent. Wasn't immediately greeted when we walked in as all the staff was behind the bar counter top. We had to ask if we could have a seat anywhere. After sitting down, a second group entered and they were greeted/seated immediately and provided with menus before us. We waited until someone came around to drop off the menu and water after the party who came after us got seated. As a person who was hungry, just not feeling like we were welcomed and were serviced to get situated promptly.

We tried to brush it off and continue with our meal but it just wasn't our day.

Unfortunately, the mix platter came out with undercooked kielbasa. Bright pink and raw at the center. Just a side note, the potato cheese pierogi doesn't have the buttery onion coating that it used to. It's still fine but I'm just disappointed that it doesn't have the same preparation. The service team proposed sending a new plate out to addressed the undercooked kielbasa and we appreciate that. Once we got the corrected dish, the service staff didn't check in to see if everything was alright and just left us there. Felt like we didn't close the loop on it. Maybe just pure confidence from their end.

Additionally, the hunter stew was way off. We had this several times and the sauerkraut was not stewed all the way through and it was bright orange (differently prepared than previous visit), tasted like kimchi. It tastes fine if you name it kimchi stir fry but not savory and braised cabbage texture like a hunter stew with sausage and meat which we have photos from previous dining experience to compare.

Don't know what happened. Just doesn't make a good impression this time around and it's kind of sad. Hope they spend time reviewing their operations and...

Absolutely terrible food and service. My partner and I came here for dinner and ordered the stuffed cabbage, the baby kale salad, and the kielbasa platter. The stuffed cabbage was filled with a corned beef-life meat and rice, and covered in what tasted a lot like Campbells condensed canned tomato soup--no modifications, probably just reheated and poured right on top. It didn't taste fresh, and it certainly did not taste like any stuffed cabbage I've had at other Polish restaurants. The baby kale salad was something worse than anyone could make at home, with pre-shredded parmesan sprinkled instead shaved to order. And then the platter was truly the most disappointing--the sauerkraut was too salty, the filling in the pierogis were cold, and the toast was cold too (griddled on one side only). When I had notified the server, they took the whole plate back to the kitchen, and brought back new pierogis that were probably just microwaved to temperature. (I'm also not sure what makes their kielbasa house-smoked when clearly there's no smoker....)

Finally, the service was pretty bad. It wasn't a particularly busy night, but my partner and I were largely ignored compared to other tables that were being served. We sat by and watched other tables get their waters replaced, get checked on, and have small talk throughout their meals. It felt very strange to see other tables get this kind of service. It's hard to say what might attribute to this poor service, but it makes me sad to see a business like this get such high praise for being so mediocre when there are other amazing restaurants I could have gone to in Chicago with incredibly hardworking folks who care about hospitality. I have no idea how this place got over 4.5 stars, but unfortunately the restaurant fails to meet...