Lunch at Leo's Coney Island of Confusion

With great fanfare, the arrival of Leo's Coney Island is official, kind of. For all of us Chicago natives, this is apparently an introduction to a new Culinary experience we have seemingly been deprived of. So with the anticipation of finding a new form of Gastronomic excellence, brought to us by our Michigan neighbors, I want to be among the first to venture to Leo's, on behalf of you my loyal following, to provide for you, an early recap of what this broo ha ha is all about, and besides I was hungry.

As I arrive at Leo's a small crowd is milling about outside. Always a bad sign. I have to push my way through the door and work my way to the Host counter, immediately  I sense a lot of tension in the air. I am greeted with not a smile or hello, but by a proclamation that there is an hour wait, do I want to give my name. Not deterred, because of my mission to file this early report, I cheerfully give my name.

With time to kill, I take a stroll to the restroom, on the way I hear a patron tell the sever "I'm not paying $10 for this", another ominous sign.The place is a mass of complaints by customers, and a visually stressed out manager, who is now purposely not seating waiting customers at open tables. I am not happy with this peculiar system, and I am growing hungrier by the minute. With half the chairs empty, the manager informs a steady stream of new patrons arriving, and  much to their dismay , they are not seating anyone until 5 P.M.

After a about 20 minutes I am seated and presented with a large menu of Greek and American fare. It looks pretty tasty, with several choices of Burgers.. The server approaches me with some more odd and certainly not welcome news. They are only taking drink orders, and by drinks I mean soft drinks, as they have no alcohol. Asking why,  I am informed they may start taking food orders in 20 minutes. Not deterred, I give her my order right then and there, and inform her to put it in when they actually start cooking. One half pound Leo's Angus Burger with American Cheese and extra raw onion. a.k.a. Blogburger, with French Fries, and a Leo's Coney Dog.

My hunger grows as the time ticks by, finally I see food appearing, the staff seems to be re energized, but still no food for me. The server is now giving me regular updates of when the kitchen will start to actually cook food, like in most actual restaurants, and I point out to her that several other servers are carrying actual food as we speak. Caught off guard, she runs from the table back to the Kitchen, as if to find out how come they are serving food without her personal knowledge. My hopes are now rising that I may get to eat sometime that day. About 10 minutes later, hazaa, my food lands on the table, and it looks pretty good. However, there are not any onions, let alone extra raw onion, I am informed they will appear shortly. What is it about getting your onions the same time as your burger, is this a conspiracy? Anyhow the onions finally make an appearance, I place them on top of the 2 almost melted slice of American cheese, and dive in famished. I start with a rapid series of bites to quell my hunger, unable to slow down and take pause for a more aesthetic photo, why, because much to my surprise, this is a good Burger, a very good Burger indeed. I force myself  to finally take a break to gather my thoughts for this report, (and take this very unprofessional snap). Upon closer observation this Burger is cooked medium rare, if not a little on the rare side. Big beefy flavor, juicy to the point where the juice is soaking into the bun, an enjoyable, big  Burger blast of flavor.

Time to hit the fries, a semi skin on affair, but noticeably undercooked, pale, and limp. Upon first bite I am not deceived, despite the skin on appearance, these are not fresh cut French Fries, and they are not very good. As they cool down, they begin to take on a strange chemical like taste, I stop eating them, I am not going to eat the rest of them either. The French Fries here are bad.

 I happily go back to that delicious Burger.

All in all I think things will improve at Leo's, but considering all their marketing hype, they should have been much better prepared, much-much better prepared.

The Damage:

Leo Burger     $ 5.99
Cheese                   .30
French Fries       1.90

Ratings: ( out of 4****)

Burger 3*** Fries 1*


A word about the Leo's Coney Island dog. I had to of course try one of the namesake dog's, although I have had variations of the same sandwich in the Northeast where they call them Weiners and New York system. A dog, a bun, chili like sauce, onions, and mustard. Once again I was not wowed by this combination. It is a messy bite for sure, but there are some flavor's going on, so I'll give it another shot, but not to soon.

Coney Island Dog  $2.59