Lou Mitchell's in Chicago, IL

After reading many glowing reviews of this breakfast hot spot, I felt, what I realize now, to have been an over-inflated sense of anticipation. Upon arriving at Lou Mitchell's, I was greeted with a what I call, "standard" 15 minute wait to be seated. The place was certainly bustling with patrons and worker bee servers, but what immediately caught my eye was the "No checks or credit cards" and another sign indicating a charge for criticisms/suggestions. I thought the latter sign was a joke, but I think that it was actually a legitimate notice. Now this immediately turned me off as a rather pompous and arrogant statement. I understand that people may be upset with some decisions they have made, which I imagine include not accepting checks or credits cards, but to charge customers for criticisms/suggestions seems like a rather maniacal method of handling the situation. To say I started my Lou Mitchell "experience" on a bad foot was an understatement.

Either way, standard service followed along with a fairly standard breakfast menu. The food was promptly served and was satisfactorily prepared. I feel they could handle the traffic of patrons in a more efficient manner, but to say they were mishandling it would be brash. Everything flowed smoothly until the end of the meal, where the server neglected to notice a finished and clean table. After waiting roughly 15 minutes for a check, which included flagging down a bus boy to simply get the attention of our server, the Lou Mitchell "experience" had concluded. To sum it up, I would not recommend this place as there is a marginally better breakfast hot spot right down the street in Greektown by the name of Meli's Cafe and Juice Bar. I give Lou Mitchell's a 6/10.