How might one describe the sentiment of this review?
Born and raised in Chicago--my sister-in-law was a Cafe Ba-Ba-Ree-Bah! employee so the wife and I hit all the Lettuce Entertain You joints (if this sounds foreign to you, you aren't a Chicagoan, so don't try to rebut). Don and Charlie, LEY should revoke your membership. If you're going to advertise your Rogers Park heritage and tout all your North Side hangouts either 1.) be genuinely Chicago (or suburbs!) or 2.) have food so great that everyone can ignore the lack of #1. Decor is an attemp to knock-off a Loop Chop House mixed with Harry Caray's baseball fanaticism. Arrived at 5 PM; nobody took our order until 5:20. Wait staff stood in the back and argued about who would take which section--we had to ask a busboy if we could get service. Appetizer arrived at 5:40--decent coconut shrimp. The wife ordered the porkchop--which arrived lukewarm, dry, and hard as a rock. Her soup tasted like Campbell's Homestyle from a can and the applesauce was like Mott's from a baby food jar. I had baby back ribs with chicken. Gents, don't tout your rib abiliities--I've lived all over the US and these were some of the worst I've ever had. I had to hack (not cut) these with a steak knife and what little meat was on them was unpalatable. The chicken was pretty good. The sauce was not "Midwest" style. The creamed spinach was so hot that I had to wait until I had finished everything else to even start tasting it. Final tally: $72.72 WITHOUT drinks. In Chi-town, you would have been run out of business/shot in a driveby for prices such as these--ie: Scottsdale does not immediately equal Loop (or Lake Forest) in terms of price vs. quality. The $50 gift card brought this bill down the correct level for the experience. What surprised me was that by 6 PM this place was packed to overflowing and what appeared to be "regulars" were all bellowing about how "authentically Chicagoan" they found it to be. I never write reviews because I like to give places the benefit of the doubt, but this was such an incredible letdown that I had to post something. Seriously folks--do no waste your time/$. If you want a Chicago experience, go to Chicago. If you want good food at a decent price, there are plenty of places in Phoenix that put this joint to shame!...Possible answers: (I) negative. (II) positive. I think the answer is
(I)