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| - I really liked this place.
We found it by accident, headed to another destination, and remarked, "Hmm...never heard of them". And on our way back from the original destination, we decided to give it them shot.
It looked a lot like a small residential dwelling that had been converted into a restaurant. In fact, it looked an awful lot like my Aunt Marion's house when I was growing up. It was warm, friendly, and it had a homey type of comfort to it that made us all feel relaxed.
The food was standard Italian fare, in home-style, non-pretentious presentations. Most of all, it was all delicious.
I couldn't decide whether to get meat sauce or mushroom sauce, and I was talking to the waiter about what I could add. He was very helpful, and told me about a dish that wasn't on the menu, (I think he called it Pasta Luigi), it had meat sauce, mushrooms, sausage and peppers, over penne. I loved it.
I am torn over whether to give it 4 stars or 5, and the reason is sort of unfair......
I think Fatburger deserves 5 Stars as my favorite greasy fast-food hamburger joint. I think Nobu deserves 5 starts as an amazing culinary experience. Does that mean that Nobu and Fatburger are of the same quality? Absolutely not, they are apples to oranges.
Having said that, I am from the East Coast originally, and have eaten in some of the finest Italian restaurants in the world. Cipriani's in NYC, Al Forno in Providence, etc....My point is, these places are 5-star, and are definitely a cut above Chicago Joes. My problem is, I enjoyed the hell out of my meal at Chicago Joes, so does it deserve less stars because there are better fine-dining establishments in other parts of the world, when that's not what they are going for?
They have created a comfortable, family-style eatery that I enjoyed thoroughly. They weren't shooting for the moon. In that category of restaurant, I think they achieved 4.5 Stars here.
So do I give them a 4? Or do I give them a 5?
Please weigh in, as I'd love a more experienced Yelper's opinion on what they do when faced with this dilemma.
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