Editor’s Note: This is a new and hopefully informative column written by residents for residents. Our columnists are not trained or paid professionals, nor do they get complimentary meals from the restaurants they visit. They arrive unannounced and do not reveal that they will be doing a review. The criteria for evaluating each dining experience will include the following: quality, variety offered, quantity of food vs. dollars spent, service, ambience, and desire to return. They will usually be accompanied by another couple whose opinion will be included in the evaluation.
This week we visited a recently opened Algonquin restaurant called Georgia’s, located at 1470 S. Randall Road, next to the Chili’s and in front of the Wal-Mart. Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily. Georgia’s is a Chicago Greek-owned-style family restaurant with a very attentive management and wait staff. Accompanying us were our good friends and fellow N-33 neighbors Mike and Emma Burns. We were seated immediately and informed of the specials of the day by our server, who we learned was new on the job, but gave us attentive service. Each of us ordered a different meal and each had very positive comments about quality and quantity of the food served.
Emma ordered a patty melt burger, specified with Swiss cheese, but delivered with another cheese. She pointed this out to the server, who apologized and quickly returned with the correct meal. The waitress had failed to ask Emma how she preferred her burger cooked, which came too well done. She thought the quality of meat was excellent and the fries were hot and crispy. The first course cup of beef vegetable soup was tasty, but thin. Mike, who loves catfish, was pleased to see it as one of the nightly specials. He enjoyed the split pea with ham soup and was more than satisfied with the lemon-pepper seasoning on his fish. The sides of corn and rice made the dish very reasonably priced at $10.95.
Judy ordered a Portabella focaccia sandwich and the split pea soup. The three of us who ordered this soup thought it was excellent. Judy described her sandwich as very tasty and more than she could eat at one sitting. She took half of it home. Sam chose one of his favorite dishes to order in the Chicago-Greek-style restaurants, calves liver and onions. He was not disappointed, as it was thinly sliced, nicely seasoned, and perfectly cooked. He, too, had more than he could finish and took a portion home for a future lunch. His entrée included a salad with choice of dressing.
General Consensus: excellent quality and quantity of food, attentive but not perfect service, very good value for the dollar, huge variety of reasonably priced dishes to choose from, and a very friendly and pleasant atmosphere. One other real plus was that we could talk in normal tones and easily hear each other. Overall, we enjoyed our first experience at Georgia’s and will make subsequent visits.
Geezers’ Grade: B+
