"Little Chicago", Princeton Illinois

Well, if there is one thing I could do well, it would be food critic. Unfortunately, there are barely enough restraunts in Princeton to pacify everyone, let alone in the Illinois Valley. Today, eleven of us ordered takeout from the newly opened "Chicago Style" Restraunt, named "Little Chicago" that used to be Johnny Ray's Ribs.

Now, we all had high hopes and were very excited. Now first, let me say that this is the first week they are open. They likely have some issues to iron out. Okay, I downplay. They have a shitload of issues to iron out. Firstly, they messed up our order. We ended up having to go BACK and tell them that we were missing two orders, at which point they got snotty and didn't believe us. We had only gone .25 miles down the road when we realized and we turned right around. Then when we finally got orders, and got back to the workplace, we discovered that another whole meal was missing. Then we called to get that meal and mentioned that we had already been there twice, and could they please have someone bring that last order to us? After all, it was their mistake, our 30 minute lunch was practically over, and there are 11 people, each of who know at least 10 other people, and who work with 400 other people who could easily be told how badly the situation was.

So we were told that the boss would call us back. 30 minutes later, the boss had not called back. 3.5 hours later, the boss has not called back. Nor has anyone else from the business. We were not given a ticket or receipt. We assume that we were not only charged for a meal that we did not receive, but that we had one co-worker who did not receive her lunch at all. We all felt terrible.

Then there is the food. Bad service is one thing. Bad food is another. Combine them, and you have a very very volatile combination. We had both.

I had a chili dog and mushrooms. Now, firstly, everyone's food was packaged in styrofoam and was cold. I have had food packaged in the identical styrofoam containers (recently from Sullivan's foods, which is AWESOME, but that is another review altogether) and that food traveled from Wyanet to Princeton and then out in the country to a FIELD during harvest - and it took about 15-20 minutes.... and it was SO hot it was fabulous. Now this food was cold. Not just like lukewarm, but COLD. It was not good. My hot dog was still warmish, but the chili nd melted cheese on top was cold. Like cold cold. The chili was very blah. These were not Chicago Hot dogs. These were like "bought at Wal-Mart in a 12 pack" hot dogs. I can make better hot dogs at home. ANYONE can make better hot dogs at home.

Now the girls who had Chicago Style dogs said they were okay, and the price was right, but they were ALL cold. The 3 girls who had tacos were severly disappointed. There was almost nothing IN the tacos. The two who had cheeseburgers said the meat didn't taste like hamburger and I watched them THROW AWAY uneaten halves. How can you mess up a burger to the point of unedible? (Just ask Schoonerz bar and grill in Princeton) Had the third cheeseburger we ordered actually ARRIVED, she likely would have thrown it away too I suppose.

The girl who had a hot beef (like loose italian beef) said that the meat was dry and that the "homesliced fries" were not freshly homesliced as advertised. Her comment was that she "can not recommend this to anyone."

So, overall.... if you want is straight. The food was cold. Tasted badly, and the order was misfilled. The staff didn't believe us when we said we were missing food and they never returned out phone call. One woman didn't even get her meal and we believe we payed for it. We were not given any receipt or ticket. We were unable to see if we payed for it or see what we were charged for each person's meal.