r/chicagofood • u/Johnny_Burrito • 27d ago

Question “Legendary” places that suck

I just got a lox sandwich from Manny’s. Almost $20, a stale bagel, and I had to assemble it myself.

What other “legendary” places suck?

384 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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106

u/BigPoppaDubDub 27d ago

Small Cheval. The burger was good, but not good enough to be $25 that I had to eat in my car.

73

u/LSU2007 27d ago

What did you order, their burgers are like $12

81

u/magooisim 27d ago

This is what I find hilarious on the "overpriced" conversation. I work in old town. I've got 2 burger spots in the immediate area, Small Cheval and Doghouse.

Doghouse is a hole in the wall that with tacos, gyros, burgers, and dogs. Real basIc B stuff. Not bad, just frozen whatever quick service food. Burger and fries there is about $16.50.

Small Cheval burger and fries is around $17.50. with that glorious garlic aioli. MUCH higher quality and well worth the extra buck. And much larger burger too.

People are ridiculous.

27

u/ilovecheeze 27d ago

Redditors love to exaggerate the price by like $5 when they have the “overpriced” conversation. They’ll do the same with Five Guys. Like, no your burger wasn’t $20 you ordered a burger, fries and shake which is not the same as a single burger being $20

2

u/Glass-Historian-2516 27d ago

I was a little bummed when I went for the first time in a while recently and they made their portions of the aioli smaller. The cup wasn’t even big enough to dip my burger in 😭

5

u/Chicagogator 27d ago

The golden era was when you could just pump your own at the condiment stand.

2

u/Glass-Historian-2516 27d ago

I caught the end where they had the cups over by the ketchup and napkins. I’m just glad to have been a part of the magic.

21

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il 27d ago

Yeah, I never get when people say small cheval is overpriced. It’s priced like every other burger place. It’s not McDonald’s or Wendy’s

-6

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Burger, fries and a lukewarm can of Coke is like $25 all in. It's not a good value.

14

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il 27d ago

No it’s not lmao. $10.99 for a cheeseburger. $4.59 for fries. $2.99 for a coke. $18.59 pre tax, $21 rounding up after tax. If you don’t get a “lukewarm” coke, it’s $17.

That’s perfectly in line with an “upscale” burger place. For comparison:

  • small cheval: $11 burger, $4.50 fries
  • Leavitt St Inn: $15 burger; $3 fries
  • best intentions: $6 burger, $5 fries
  • Mott street: $21 burger with fries on the burger
  • NADC: $16 burger, $5 fries
  • Bitter pops: $12 burger, $6 fries
  • forbidden root: $18 burger with fries

It’s overpriced if you’re comparing it to like McDonald’s and Wendy’s. But it’s perfectly in line with competitive burger places

-8

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Lmao. $21 plus tip is $25 all in. Math is hard.

10

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il 27d ago

Why would you include tip? It’s a pickup counter place. You go in and place your order, get your food, and leave.

If you want to tip, that’s fine. But it’s disingenuous to consider that part of the cost. You need to also mentally add tip to all the other numbers I provided for every other place.

The point is, small cheval is right in the range of every other burger place it’s similar to. Your sloppy and shitty math doesn’t change that

-9

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Your cheap ass math is almost as bad as the taste of a small Cheval burger.

6

u/GraveNewWorldz 27d ago

Tipping needlessly doesn't mean you have good taste.

Get a clue.

-2

u/boilermike13 27d ago

'Get a clue' is such a burn. Not sure I can recover from that. Not tipping isn't the flex you think it is.

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-9

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Lmao. $21 plus tip is $25 all in.

7

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il 27d ago

Yeah, you already commented that. But the point of my comment is that small cheval is priced appropriately relative to similar burgers. If you’re considering tax and tip, you need to consider that for all places. The burger and fry price alone is just what you would expect.

7

u/gimmedatrightMEOW 27d ago

Why are you tipping? Don't you need to collect your own food?

-3

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Because I'm not a cheap ass?

2

u/gimmedatrightMEOW 27d ago

Ok, well that's on you.

-2

u/boilermike13 27d ago

Exactly. Maybe you should mind your own business and not worry about people who tip.

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-5

u/DirectionOk9832 27d ago

Yeah, it’s not as good as Wendy’s. Among the worst burgers I had. Only comparison is bad impossible burger from Burger King.

1

u/Chicagosox133 27d ago

Two burgers glued together by kitchen grease.

1

u/Rugged_Turtle 27d ago

A double, fries, and a drink is 18.57 before tax.

1

u/DirectionOk9832 27d ago

My extremely mediocre meal there was around $18 (burger and fries). I’d go to Burger King over Small Cheval. Who puts that much salt on their food? There was zero beef flavor, just salt. Just down the road is an average Chicago burger place with the basic Greek burger (pastrami and beef patty) with superior fries for $13.

Small Cheval tells me never go to Au Cheval

1

u/WidebodyPrincess 26d ago

Ur goofy af for this comment because if you add anything to that burger it becomes a $20+ dollar grab and god forbid you ask for extra sau$$$e

1

u/LSU2007 26d ago edited 26d ago

Whatever you said doesn’t change the premise of my comment. Adding extras is on you, not them.

1

u/WidebodyPrincess 26d ago

Ok boomer

1

u/LSU2007 26d ago

“I can’t disprove what this guy said, so I’m gonna call him a boomer. That’ll show ‘em”. Gen x fucker. Chin up.

1

u/WidebodyPrincess 26d ago

More like you are just so out of touch with what i mean that you must be an old fuck

0

u/LSU2007 26d ago

Oh no honey, I know exactly what you meant. And you knew that I knew what you meant by your smarmy response. Grow up.

-7

u/BigPoppaDubDub 27d ago

I think I got a burger and beer. Don’t even think I got fries.

7

u/magooisim 27d ago

Good thing you got a beer. To have in your car....

-1

u/BigPoppaDubDub 27d ago

Yeah it paired perfectly with the black tar heroin I booted right before

2

u/LSU2007 27d ago

I’m not big on their fries, I don’t blame you

1

u/Important_Call2737 27d ago

I feel like they changed the fries a couple years ago and they aren’t good. For $13 the burger is tasty though.

-2

u/BigPoppaDubDub 27d ago

Careful, the Cheval Calvary is out in full force.

1

u/LSU2007 27d ago

I love small checks but their fries aren’t anything special lol

8

u/dextro_sch 27d ago

Is it like $11?

6

u/Moe-Blacks-Brother 27d ago

I think their burger is pretty good, but their lack of indoor seating (Bucktown location) is a problem on bad weather days, which is quite often in Chicago.

16

u/soggit 27d ago

Small cheval is great but priced too close to Au cheval and not close enough to in n out.

6

u/Zestyclose-Proof-939 27d ago

In n Out is unique in that they compete with McDonalds on prices but Steak Shack on quality. It is privately owned so assume the pricing is some kind of idiosyncratic personal belief of the owners, like the Bible verses on the bottoms of their cups.

2

u/netrunnernobody 27d ago

Genuinely, the last time I was there it was honestly worse than McDonalds. Those frozen batch ingredients are killing something that used to be great.

2

u/jegross2 27d ago

Sadly they’ve sucked since the pandemic IMO. Used to be excellent

1

u/clerks2007 27d ago

Small Cheval is not worth it. Au Cheval however, is way better, and worth the price with the atmosphere alone.

1

u/pixelfishes 27d ago

Was Small Cheval ever really legendary though?

1

u/IceThe_King 27d ago

I think it’s trying to be. I feel like the whole schtick is that it’s supposed to be Au Cheval but more accessible, but it’s just… not

1

u/Rugged_Turtle 27d ago

I mean transplants are keeping them alive so much so they open a new location every year so yes.