Eleven City Diner

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars


Restaurant: Eleven City Diner
Location: 1112 S. Wabash

Here are the 11 reasons why I love Eleven City Diner.

1. The décor. I loved everything about it. It really combines a ton of different diner and deli clichés into one great place. They’ve got a classic diner counter top seating area. Some booths. A HUGE blackboard. An old-school soda fountain. Cakes presented on glass cake plates just chillin’ on the counter. White tile everywhere. Old records framed up in each booth. A little 5 and Dime type of candy counter. A bar area. Honestly, when you walk in, you can’t help but like the place.

2. The G-List celebrities. The first time I went there was for lunch and our waitress comes by to take our drink order. After she walks away I tell John (my lunch date), “I know her from somewhere.” And John gets a little giddy and says, “So do I.” So we sat there for the longest time trying to figure out how we knew her. I say that I’m pretty sure I know her from a lesbian connection of some sort. Can’t figure out which one, but I’m positive she’s a lesbian and that’s how I know her. Then John says, “I think she was on the Real World.” “I think you’re right.” “The Real World: Chicago. That makes sense.” “Oh my god,” I say, “Did she date Aneesa?” “That’s it. She was that first girl that Aneesa dated. I think they had problems because she always cheated on Aneesa or something.” In fact, her and her girlfriend came to the loft and got in a fight with Aneesa, leading to Aneesa screaming at her in the street. Good times. Of course neither of us had the balls to ask her outright, but we were positive. When the meal was over and we got the check we got the last piece of evidence we needed – her name on the check. It was Veronica. I went back for breakfast later that week and she was there again. It’s her. And it amuses me.

3. Rye bread. Not enough places have it, and I love it. They have it.

4. The Patty Melt. Served on Rye bread. I never get patty melts, but it just sounded good that day. A beef patty, served on rye bread with cheese and Thousand Island dressing. A huge sandwich, or burger, or whatever you consider a patty melt to be. The cheese was perfect. The bread was perfect. The burger was cooked perfectly. And the dressing was the perfect, well, dressing. There are a ton of things to choose from on this menu, and somehow I made the PERFECT choice. I might get this every time I go there. That’s how much I enjoyed it.

5. Breakfast served anytime. Just like a diner should. I got the Tom Waits when I went. Two of everything. Good eggs, sausage, bacon, and even pancakes. The potatoes were just OK. And coffee was filled up constantly. I like that.

6. The menu. There are a ton of options on this thing. Something for everyone. Between the apps and sandwiches and entrees and desserts and breakfast and noshes and everything else, if you can’t find something you like here, then I hate you. Or momentarily dislike you a lot.

7. The portion sizes. It comes as no secret that I love food. And I love a lot of food. The lunch portions here are huge. In fact, too much for even me. I’m embarrassed to admit it. We started off with the spinach dip. Now, every place serves spinach dip in a small little bowl that I normally finish by myself, and it’s like I never even ate an appetizer. Eleven City Diner serves their dip in this huge dish. John and I ate, and ate, and nibbled, and dipped, and did all we could with the dip, but in the end it looked like we didn’t even have a bite of it. Amazing. And it was good. And John’s ham and cheese sandwich had three whole pigs on it. He could only eat half of it, and I don’t blame him. I’m not sure Jenna Jameson could get her mouth around that thing. Just a pile of ham and cheese. Almost too much. Ham is a salty meat and so you can only take so much of it. And when there are 14 lbs of it on a sandwich, finishing half is an accomplishment. And it looked delicious.

8. The bagel chips. The spinach dip came with them. I didn’t see it coming. And they’re not the kind you pour out of a bag. They are full circles. Someone slices the bagels and cooks them there. Handmade bagel chips. They were perfect. And most places don’t have enough chips with their dip, so you either have to ask for more chips or eat the dip with a spoon (also knows as “Pulling a Josh”). There were more chips than any human could eat.

9. The location. South Loop. I just like it down there. And really, it’s a place to head for some good food now. Between Eleven City Diner, Yolk, Bongo Room, Opera, Cuatro, Café Bionda, Custom House, Gioco, Orange, Oysy, Zapatista, and more, there are a ton of options in that part of the city.

10. Everything feels homemade. From the bagel chips to the hand-sliced meat to the cakes on the counter to the Cherry and Vanilla Cokes from the soda jerk, everything has a personal touch to it. Just like a diner and deli should.

11. The speed of service. You wait about 10 seconds for your food. Order taken, then order up. No messing around here. Granted, I haven’t been when it’s been packed, but still, quick food service is nice. I don’t like to wait to eat.

And here are 11 things I didn’t love about Eleven City Diner.

1. The food was served too quickly. I’m all about speed of service, but at lunch we had our dip for about two minutes before our lunch was brought out. Just poor form. That might have more to do with Veronica than anything, but I can’t be sure.

2. The prices. They really aren’t that bad (about $8 bucks a sandwich), but I was hoping for one of those classic diners where breakfast was like 2 bucks and a burger was $4.50.

3. The service. I’ll be honest, as excited as I was for Veronica to be my server, she kind of creeped my out a bit.

4. The hours. They are open late (to midnight I think) and they actually open pretty early for most breakfast places (7:30 during the week, and I think 9 during the weekend), but for a true diner they should be open at 6 a.m. No questions, no exceptions. Even opening at that time for coffee and a really basic menu (eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast) would make sense. But that’s just me.

5. The size of the place. It’s almost too big, with even upstairs seating. I want my diner/deli to feel like a nice cozy little place with a little hustle and bustle. Not a huge deal, but if I’m going to try and reach 11 things I don’t like, it’s time to start stretching.

6. The name. I don’t know what it means. Is it a combination of the owners 11 favorite diners? Is Eleven City a nickname for Chicago I’ve never heard of? Or is it simply because it’s close to 11th St.?

7. The fries. Not bad, but nothing special.

8. The hash browns. Again, not bad, but nothing special.

9. No Splenda. Seems like anyplace that has coffee should have Splenda available.

10. No HJ service. Every meal should come with a happy ending.

11. The location. I really love this place, and I wish it were about a block from my house so I could go all the time. Since it’s in South Loop it’s either two train rides away or little drive (but parking is a pain). And if I want to run there for lunch I need to have a slow day at work so I can take an hour and a half break to get there and back. Tough to complain about it being in South Loop since I love the area, but on the other hand I wish it was walking distance from my house. Or office. Or bedroom.


I can’t say enough about Eleven City Diner. I really, really, really love this place. I wish breakfast was just a little more special, but I also didn’t get anything too fancy. But that patty melt, easily worth a half handshake, half chest-bump hug.



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