Try These Restaurants Next Time You're in Chicago
- Georgia Louise
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 10
G and I travelled to Chicago in August 2024, flying into O’Hare Airport from Nashville. This was stop No 4 of our 7 cities in 18 days trip across Canada and the USA.
Whilst in Chicago we visited the nightly Lou Malnatti’s - yes, they are a chain and are dotted all over Chicago and it’s outer areas, but boy their pizza is good! We travelled to their branch in River North which was pretty small but busy and buzzy. The tables were fairly closely packed together proving just how popular they really are. We opted for bruschetta to start - you get around 8 pieces of bread, topped with the usual tomato, olive oil and herbs which was delicious, if a little on the large side! Reasonably priced at around $8.
For mains we ordered just one small deep dish pizza, opting for the Malnatti Chicago Classic which was, well DEEP! Gooey and delicious we ended up eating about half and taking the remainder back to our room in a take out box ! Defeated by a pizza! The small is priced at around $13.
We did manage to squeeze in a tiramisu which we shared, again totally yummy and well worth the money at just $7.
We ate breakfast in our hotel restaurant the following morning but did venture out to Raising Canes on N Michigan Avenue, up near the Bean for lunch. I’d never been before but G, as usual, did her research beforehand so knew what to order.
We opted for the large plate which we shared - chicken tenders, fries, bread and sauce, washed down with two huge cokes! A bargain at about $19 for the food, it was really nice ‘fast food’.
For dinner we decided to try the infamous ribs at Carsons Ribs - based out on East Illinois Street it was a little more upmarket than I had imagined but was really reasonably priced. We were seated in a comfortable booth and our order was taken quickly. We opted for a half rack of ribs with potatoes each - G chose the Greek potatoes which she reported to be not particularly Greek and a little bit of a let down; I opted for Au Gratin potatoes which were nice, if a little firm for my liking. The ribs however were really nice - they actually give you paper bibs here as they know the mess you are going to get into eating those ribs. You just HAVE to pick them up - they are tender but are not soft and falling from the bone as they are barbecued.
The staff here were lovely and we never felt rushed - our water glasses were kept well topped up too!
We paid around $60 including tax for this meal so really reasonable and one of the cheapest non fast food meals we had eaten!
I’d definitely visit Lou’s and Carsons again; Raising Canes was a pretty bog standard chicken fast food restaurant and nothing particularly special (although in my opinion much better than KFC we have at home in the UK).
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