Lucky Dog Chicago Style Grill

 

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Jeff H.

Austin, TX

Let me tell you, if you've never been to Chicago, take notes.

Born and raised in the Midwest, I know there are very few dishes of any renown other than "Deep Dish Pizza"  and  "Chicago Dogs".

Yes we invented "Hot Dish" and "Friday Night Fish Fry", but nothing is as unmistakable as the Chicago Cuisine.

Lucky Dog is an Oasis for people like myself who miss the unique flavor of a Chicago Dog which includes tomatoes, relish, sport peppers and celery salt. They nail it.

In addition, the Hot Italian Beef, Pizzas, french fries, and of course, the Combo, (Italian beef and Italian sausage on a roll) bring me right back to the Windy City.

Do yourself a favor and skip the fast food and chain resaurants, you'll keep coming back to Sweet Home Chicago!

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3

11

cha cha v.

TX

This isn't Chicago, but its as close as I'm gonna get.

First of all, let's just say that as far as Chicago food in Austin (ok ok Round Rock) is concerned, this makes Mangia's pizza taste like someone vomited on Chicago and put it on a crust.

I have not eaten Lucky Dog's pizza, but that is because I don't expect it to be Chicago pizza, but the REAL stars of this place are in no particular order: The Italian Beef, Italian Sausage, the Vienna Beef dogs, Maxwell Polish, and last but definitely not least, the sleeper hit of the establishment, the legendary Iltaco Pizza Puff.

Yes, the prices are outrageous. Yes, it takes twice as long as it would at any place in Chicago, but its pretty close to the real thing when you can't just fly 1100 miles to get it. Everything is authentic from Chicago, so you're basically paying for imported food, so I'm willing to take a hit in the wallet for a little home.

Chicago Italian Sausage is indescribable, and no amount of local Texas hot sausages can erase the goodness from my memory. Artery clogging beef and sausage combos (for god's sake DO NOT PUT CHEESE ON IT!) is like a food orgasm.

Anyway, the dogs are authentic and we all know that from other reviews, but hold on, I'm getting to the good part.

The Pizza Puff.

Words cannot describe its greasy amazingness, but I will attempt to explain it. Imagine a deep fried baklava-type dough pocket filled with some unidentifiable, but addictive pizza and cheese flavored filling. Probably 4000 calories but well worth it once in a while.

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7

17

Duane D.

Cedar Park, TX

My office recently moved to a location that is very near this eatery, and as an avid carnivore I'd been very much wanting to try it; so last week my brother calls, says he's in the area of my office, and asks me if I want to grab a bite.  "Sure!" says I, "and I know just the place" - and off to Lucky Dog we went.  

I grew up eating a lot of Italian food, and Italian sausage and Italian beef are two of my favorites, so I heeded the recommendation from the other Yelp reviews and ordered the Italian Combo (only I got mine with cheese, sweet peppers, and onions).  When they brought the sandwich to the table, it became evident that a fork and a knife would be necessary to eat it, so I procured the requisite utensils and set to work.  First thing I noticed was that the Italian beef was very flavorful - just the right amount of seasoning, and juicy - a very authentic taste.  The second thing I noticed was that this was one spicy sandwich.  The third thing I noticed was that my sandwich had no sausage, but had lots of hot peppers...

"What the...?  This isn't my sandwich!"

I got up to take my sandwich back to the counter, but before I could even get there the guy came around the counter and came up to me to ask if there was a problem (bear in mind that we were there right in the middle of lunch, and they were pretty busy).  I explained to him that this wasn't my sandwich, he asked what I had ordered, I told him, and he took my partially eaten wrong sandwich and disappeared.  Within about a minute or so he brought me the correct sandwich (given how quickly he came up with it I assume that it had been made and was waiting to be brought out to our table, and that they had simply brought me someone else's sandwich the first time around - whatever, the fact is that he got me my correct sandwich VERY quickly in the middle of a busy lunch time).  He then stopped by our table two more times to make sure that everything was OK with our meal, which I appreciated.

For the most part I enjoyed my correct sandwich (the Italian combo) as the ingredients were top notch and the flavor of everything was excellent (my brother felt similarly about his sandwich as well) - my only issue with the sandwich was that the Italian sausage was a bit overcooked and thus a little dry.

Also, this tasty sandwich doesn't come without a cost, and we both agreed that the prices were a bit steeper than what we were expecting for a relatively simple lunch; for my sandwich, chips, and a fountain drink I paid almost $12.

In short, it was a tasty sanwich, but the next time I want to spend $10+ on a sandwich I'll probably go to Delaware and get a large philly.

I give this establishment 6 stars for the service, 4 stars for flavor, and 2 stars for value, which averages out to 4 stars.

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Elite '08

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Clark H.

Round Rock, TX

Lucky's gets most (or all) of its ingredients from Chicago. I thought the pizza was not so special. But I can think of two reasons you should go to Lucky's in Round Rock. The Reuben sandwich is pretty darned good with a generous helping of corned beef. The Italian sausage hoagie is freaking delicious (also available topped with italian roast beef) and could give you a heart attack on the spot. Also the dogs are  tasty and authentic enough to get by me. OK, that's three reasons.

The last time I was in (about 5 weeks ago) they had removed the beer taps. What-the...!?! A Chicago dog house with no beer? That's just broken!  Also, they keep sports on the TV but need to modernize to a larger screen.

In short, go here for an authentic fix on a few dishes. But you are not going to make this place home in it's current form.

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4

7

Geoff S.

Round Rock, TX

The city of Chicago hosts many eating establishments that have a very strong argument for serving the best of their kind of specialty food. And while Austin is many miles away from Chicago, if anyone gets a craving for some Chicago style hot dogs, or Italian Beef sandwiches I highly recommend Lucky Dog.

They serve hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, gyro's, philly cheese steaks, Italian sausage, Italian beef and more.

I HIGHLY recommend the following. Italian combo (sausage and beef) topped with Mozzarella and spicy peppers. Just do yourself a favor and have some antacids on hand....just in case. But even so, it's a delicious sandwich. Soft fresh bread, buttery mozzarella, juicy, tasty italian beef, with spicy peppers and sausage.

It might not be Chicago but it'll get you by.

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