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Red Apple
Categories: Restaurants Buffets Restaurants Polish Buffets, Polish [Edit]
3123 N Milwaukee Ave(between Avers Ave & Haussen Ct)
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Avondale
(773) 588-5781
- Nearest Transit:
-
Belmont-Blue (Blue Line)
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 11 am - 9 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
115 reviews for Red Apple
Review Highlights
"The potato pancakes and pierogis were delicious."
(in 32 reviews)
"...like their potato pancakes, cheese blintzes, and pierogies."
(in 8 reviews)
"When you get a potato and cheese pierogi they are great."
(in 21 reviews)
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115 reviews in English
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Review from Rebekah H.
Chicago, IL
12/22/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great example of a Polish buffet done right, there is plenty of selection and the food is cooked well and delicious. The roasted red potatoes with dill are fantastic, the mushroom gravy is addictive and the Roast beef is great. We also love the pierogies and both the apple and potato pancakes are crazy good. They are a tad pricey but the food is definitely worth it! Don't forget your ice cream at the end!
P.S. As is the case with every Polish or Chinese buffet I have ever been to, the desserts are completely hit or miss, most are strange looking and some are strange tasting either not sweet enough or just weird, however, I attribute this to differing palates and not to lack of skill in preparing them, but that is just my opinion. :-) -
Review from Charlotte O.
Chicago, IL
11/16/2011
I had fond memories of the food here as a kid and teenager but coming back here recently didn't meet up to the expectations.
The set up is weird. The buffet is indeed down a hallway and oddly set up. With dessert being a random corner. The selection is varied enough I suppose, but most of the things on here are rather lacking flavor or salt.
Take for instance the sauerkraut, It just tasted like cabbage. The pieorgi were doughy and over steamed, the hunters stew was just blah. The only things really worth going back up to eat again where the mashed potatoes with the mushroom gravy, which were really good, and the potato pancakes.
The desserts were just sad and most all of them were in some way burnt.
I give the place credit for being brightly lit and very clean. The staff was only so friendly. I didn't get the dress code though. If you see the food and the writing on the door it's enough to know that it's a Polish eatery they don't need to be in costume. -
Review from Aaron S.
11/5/2011
I walked into this experience almost expecting yet another foray into the "Fat American Can't Figure Out Foreign Cuisine" nightmare, but it almost seemed like Red Apple were the ones who couldn't figure it out in the end.
*Author's Note: I am not in any way a full-blooded Polish, but I do have it in my ancestry and I'm quite Jewish, so forgive me if it's hard to follow some of these upcoming trains of thought. If you want a Polska Perspective, I'd suggest waiting for my girlfriend Char O.'s review since we went together tonight for dinner.
First off, buffets are all about a few crucial elements. The first element being SPACE. In order for a buffet to function, people have to be able to get to it, get their food, and then get back to their tables to eat. Red Apple has on the far left a separate dessert station near the cold area of the main buffet station, where a person standing at one kind of blocks the other side. Then as you progress to the right for the hot foods, you'll eventually come to a big sloppy arrow saying "BUFFET CONTINUES". I turned the corner past an incredibly bone-ridden whole salmon, and there beyond was a separate buffet station in a freakin' HALLWAY. Worst of all was that this station has what I was really looking for: pierogis and pancakes (apple and potato). Red Apple - you need to REORGANIZE and not put food in hallways!
(I am a fat man and am usually unapologetic about it. Which is why it PAINS me to have to constantly apologize to everyone around me trying to maneuver while I'm trying to get my freakin' food and get back to my table.)
So when I finally got back to my table, I tried most of the meats that were up there and looked appetizing (and some that didn't look appetizing but smelled okay, I guess). The rib meat was quite tasty. The stuffed cabbage was passable, but I'm not a fan of cabbage, so I won't knock them down any points for that. The Polish sausage had a nice crisp skin and some good taste to it, though again I'm not a fan. The real underground hit for me was the Beef Tongue in Horseradish Sauce. Such soft and tender meat and a flavorful sauce. I would have had more, but my girlfriend would have lost her dinner/appetite if I ate more of it.
I also had a meatball-thingy that tasted okay. I'd tell you more, but there was NO SIGN above it. I think there were about 8 or 9 items up there which had no sign telling you what it was. While some were easy to guess, others were not. I don't know what kind of meatball or sauce it was. Then again, the sign "Meat Pierogi" doesn't really give you much to go on, either.
So we get to the pierogis - the food I was looking most forward to eating all-I-could-eat of. In a word - "Meh." Maybe I've been spoiled by buying pierogi frozen from Polish delis/markets and having my Polish girlfriend use a two-step process of boiling and frying, but these pierogis just felt LACKLUSTER. Maybe it was the fact that none of them felt very full of "filling", which left them extra-doughy. I'm not sure. I just know that I may not have been expecting gold, but I was at least expecting something passable as tasty, and these fell relatively short in the end.
The apple pancakes were good, but I ran into a logistical dilemma of the fact that they really didn't taste great unless they had syrup. But using syrup then risked the entire plate of food getting contaminated with the runoff syrup.
I know that a LOT of people have commented that the potato pancakes here are worth the trip. I was apparently spoiled during childhood with Jewish family and our style of potato pancakes called "latkes". The crucial elements to a true latke / potato pancake is texture. You need some shreds of potato and onion in your recipe. You should not just blend it into a paste and then slap a puddle on a grill. That's potato, and a pancake, but not a true potato pancake, IMHO. The flavor of the pancake was good, though, despite some burnt tastes near any crispy edge that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
And speaking of burnt tastes, they do NOT make for good eats, Red Apple. Like the "flan" you were serving with a bitter-tasting burnt caramel sauce and the "other dessert" which almost tasted like a meringue cookie with cream made into a cake except the cake part had a very bitter crunchiness to it.
Going back to the space issue, leaving small random precariously-placed plates on the edge of a buffet is not proper serving etiquette. If it's a dessert, put it properly at the dessert station.
I had water with my meal, out of protest that they have a soda fountain and don't give free refills.
Random note - the bathroom stall was very tiny, especially for a fat person like me.
In the end, not by far the worst buffet I've been to, but they really didn't have anything good enough to entice me to take the 90+ minute trip each way by CTA. The Polish Grandma waitstaff in their strange outfits weren't very enticing either...
Your Mileage May Vary. -
Review from Lauren B.
Chicago, IL
8/6/2011
This is my first Polish buffet experience and it was great! Definitely authentic Polish. I think my brother and I were the only ones in the restaurant speaking English.
Our Great Grandfather immigrated from Poland, but we don't know all of the authentic dishes although we know a good kielbasa when we taste one. Oh baby, the kielbasa was great. Also this breaded chicken thing with cheese and vegetables on top. There was a wide salad selection as well as several desserts.
I will definitely be going back! -
Review from Jim M.
Chicago, IL
7/9/2011
Awful. Truly awful.
I had such high hopes based on the fantastic reviews. But this dump makes a bad Old Country Buffet look like the hundred foot carving station at the Bellagio in Vegas. Awful food. Awful decor. Awful smells. The whole place top to bottom is just ghastly.
And it wasn't just the food. The tacky, ill fitting uniforms on the affect-less waitresses made me a little uncomfortable. I swear to god my waitress seemed so unhappy I was almost compelled to ask her if she was being held against her will and needed help from the authorities. I haven't seen that level of desperate apathy outside of eastern European strippers I'm almost certain were victims of white slavery.
The soup sucked. The beef was dry. The pierogi seemed like the came out of a $3 box from the frozen food section of a grocery store, an awful grocery store. The blintzes were hard around the edges. The Aldi brand maple syrup for the apple pancakes was empty. Do I need to go on?
The potato pancakes were good... everything else was awful. The place near Central on Irving is pretty good and the place on Harlem north of Irving is great. Try those. -
Review from dj g.
Cook, IL
1/14/2012
Great little polish place. Food is very good and fresh. Very nice and clean inside.
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Review from Dantee A.
Chicago, IL
7/16/2011
I have a buffet tolerance. It's usually every 2-3 months. My body says it needs to binge, so I give in and travel to a buffet.
My plate usually consists of Perogis, Potato Pancakes, Stuffed Cabbage, Sauerkraut, Kielbasa, and Ham. The food from the Heavens.
And their pickle soup! Yum.
The place may seem dated (as are the waitresses), but its the best place to get your Polish on. -
Review from Katie B.
Manhattan, NY
8/5/2011
It's certainly a hilarious experience (think Twilight Zone), but it wasn't worth the HORRIFIC food poisoning that my boyfriend and I both got.
If you have an iron stomach and feel like a challenge, go for it! -
Review from Joe B.
Lincolnwood, IL
5/11/2011
Gross. That is the only way I could describe the food at the Red Apple. Everything tasted very dull and just not right. Hard to explain. It also seemed like a temporary set up - even though I know it's not.
We went once - never again. -
Review from roland d.
Chicago, IL
3/23/2011
NASTY.
I'm as Polish as they come (born there). So take it from me. They had an air freshner by the desert tray. Low quality food, better just to stay in get some Kasia's or Alexandra's frozen pierogi and call it a night. -
Review from brian p.
Chicago, IL
2/15/2011
It was the wife and my first time here on Valentine's day and we enjoyed it very much. It was slow- we essentially had the whole place to ourselves, but kitchen workers were at the buffet approximately every minute or so to change and refill the buffet. This care showed itself in the buffet lineup as everything looked very fresh, full, and tasty- especially considering the lack of clientele. We were definitely impressed by this.
Everything I tried was very good and we are definitely going back. One thing though is that it looks like prices have gone up since the last yelp review. Still a pretty good deal, just be aware...
Weekdays are now $10.99 lunch, $12.99 dinner
Weekends are $14.99 all day -
Review from Michelle L.
Chicago, IL
9/23/2011
My first polish buffet. The food was pretty good for buffet quality. I had a good experience.
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Review from Suzanne B.
Chicago, IL
9/7/2011
Best polish buffet I've seen. Pierogi bar and potato pancakes and the amount of breaded meats with gravy and mashed potatoes and comfort food is fabulous.
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Review from Glenn R.
Streamwood, IL
12/23/2010
Red Apple Polish Buffet - This is still my favorite Polish Buffet anywhere in the suburbs and city. When we have some free time, my co-workers and I will go out of our way and drive 20min just to eat here for lunch. I can honestly say they have the best selection of Polish food or any buffet that I know off. They advertise that they have more than 30 different selections, ranging from traditional polish fair like pierogi and more adventurous selection of pigs feet and gizzards. It may seem gross to you to eat pigs feet, but coming from a Polynesian background, im used to eating pig, and my co-worker is absolutely crazy about the gizzards and gravy. Im really impressed by the wide array of selection and it seems they are always replacing the food with fresher items every now and then, even when it is full.
The dessert though leaves more to be desired. Although you get free ice cream with your order, there is a good selection of dessert. The desserts tasted a bit stale each time I have gone there, but I would still come here for the food. One other thing I didn't appreciate on our last visit. Not only did their buffet go up to $9.99, but they added an 18% tip to the bill. Come on now, this is a buffet where you serve yourself and not some sit down place where the waitress brings the food to you. And for this reason, I deducted one star from my review. -
Review from Britini R.
Chicago, IL
9/13/2010 3 Check-ins Here
I'm not going to lie - I'm a huge fan of buffets. Food is awesome. A ton of food laying out waiting to be eaten is super awesome.
Once we move beyond the shock and joy of food as far as the eye can see, we must look to see whether we actually enjoyed eating that food.
Yes, mostly, but not everything.
We've gone twice now, and it seems like there's a slightly better selection of food on the weekends. The strawberry pirogies on Sunday were amazing. The plain meat pirogies on Tuesday were OK. I'm a meat-and-potatoes kinda girl, and the meat and potato options were very filling, if not amazing. I like the fruit bar. I still haven't figured out which desserts I don't hate.
Of special note that I really enjoyed: on my weekday visit I was offered cucumber soup. It sounded weird. The waitress did not help when she described it "like pickle." I tried it anyways. It kind of IS like a pickle. But, in a good way! Slightly salty, slightly vinegary, with potatoes, almost stew-like. Would eat again. -
Review from Lisa A.
Chicago, IL
4/4/2010
My roommate dragged me here with 9 of her classmates, I thought I would leave hungry. I was wrong. They had an entire 'vegetarian' section, filled with borsht, potato pancakes, crepes, pirogies, blintzes, and loads of fruit and vegetables.
The staff was really nice and explained a lot of the food, and kept clearing away our plates. Well worth the $9.95. -
Review from Sara B.
Chicago, IL
6/24/2011
This place is pretty neat...Good food. Always leave WAY too full. Nothing has crossed my mouth that I would tell anyone to stay away form. I love the super dill soup they give you. :-)
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Review from Michael G.
Rockville, MD
11/21/2008 ROTD 12/5/2008
Free the babushkas!
To produce quality heartwarming Polish food in this much quantity, there must be a small army of little shawled babushkas in the back! And to produce it at this price for a buffet ($9.99 weekdays and $10.99 weekends), they must be working for near slave labor wages from morning until night!
True story. My little Polish grandpa was in town a few years ago back when he could still travel and he actually said (almost with tears in his eyes) that the food here was better than his mother, a babushka of the highest order from the old country, used to make. And my Michigan-based parents, for whom Frankenmuth (a city with multiple German buffets just north of Flint) is a way of life said they would rather come here, despite it being two hours further away both directions.
Don't come here if you've already eaten something (seriously, in the last six hours) though. The buffet is the only thing on the menu now. They've done away with pierogis-to-go as well (shockingly there wasn't as much of a demand for them). And the whole thing is gut bustingly wonderful starches and a mouth watering desert table.
This may be one of the first places where I've ever hit the desert bar and then went back for more main courses - pierogis, potato pancakes, and blintzes (my goodness, the blintzes, they are truly heaven) - because they were more decadent. It's a herbivore's delight what these folks do with the humble potato! It's a delight for a heart surgeon's wallet as well; but I try not to think about that as I'm downing farmer's cheese (a sweet cottage cheese) while missing the rest of the substantial salad bar (filled with a United Nations of salads from around the world).
But they really need to let those babushkas out! Seriously, if they don't free the little old grandmas they've got trapped in the back putting all that love into the food, I may have to picket this place.
And then, when no one's looking, grab a dinner buffet. -
Review from Justin V.
Seattle, WA
6/22/2008
On my frequent trips to Avondale to see my boys at the Dunkin' Donuts for a re-up or maybe to tie one on in a lovely three bedroom flat on one of the quieter sidestreets, a powerful hunger will occasionally overtake me.
Normally I just have mama bear fix me up a Manwich or some Chunky or something, but sometimes the soup that eats like a meal just isn't a meal, you know? It's at that time I might decide to roam the mean streets of Little Poland in search of sustenance.
Enter Czerwone Jabluszko, buffet savior. While my Polish is a little rusty and my initial translation of "Mighty Warhorse" was a bit off, it turns out the GIANT, GLARING RED APPLE on the sign is a pretty good indicator of the establishment's English moniker.
Admittedly, I was expecting a breakfast joint. A greasy spoon diner full of stevedores and sexy, if orthodontically impaired waitresses. Imagine then my surprise when my steaming cup of greenish coffee was joined not by a menu but rather by a lengthy, embarrassing silence while I slowly realized the buffet was not just an option but the only available option.
My inherent disdain for buffet-style foodstuffs was then replaced with awe and wonder as I crammed my hungover gullet full of (in no particular order and in some cases a distictly uncalled for combination of) fresh fruit, baked salmon, a breaded "chicken ball", greek tuna salad, pork shank, shrimp scampi, apple pancakes, an unidentifiable meat product, zesty lemon and cup after old-school diner cup of bad (but in my opinion, proper) coffee.
Add to this heady witches' brew of Pulaski sexiness the delightful conversation of my ladyfriend, the sight of many, many greasy haired but strong jawed Polacks chasing their canteloupe with beer at 12:30pm, the knee-weakening accent of the waitress and the subdued murmur of thirty conversations in various Polish dialects, and what could have been an early afternoon breakfast was instead magically transformed into a vibrant, vital lesson in ethnic diversity and the difference between a sausage patty with your pancakes and a whole fucking Polish sausage.
If I looked good with my hair Brylcreemed to my scalp or wanted to pound beer before noon I would probably be here every day, looking for a little slap and tickle from the waitstaff. As it stands, Czerwone Jabluszko is still a fine and possibly dandy twist on the traditional concept of "breakfast" in Chicago.
... and the canteloupe is just amazing. Honestly. I would fuck it. -
Review from Jess S.
Chicago, IL
4/8/2007
Damn this sh*t is good! All you can eat buffet stocked with your polish favorites. So what is the potatoe pancakes are so greasy no napkin can effectively soak up the grease. So what if some of the stuff is only luke-warm. Its f*cking delicious. (Not in a gourmet way, but in an affordable, I-might-be-hungover-or-dying-from-starvation kind of way)
And all for 10 bucks (or thereabouts).
And they serve beer. For cheap (surprise).
Go and try it. Just for fun.Listed in: Jackowo (aka my 'hood)
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Review from Yanyao N.
8/11/2009
Holy pierogi! Glorious feasting (buffet style) is a wonderful way to spend a lazy Sunday evening with friends. We drove up Milwaukee, parked for free in the lot behind the restaurant, and entered into a magical little world of meat, carbs, and darling little waitresses. And at $10.95 a person on the weekends (even cheaper during the week), how could anyone pass up a deal like this?
Upon entering, just grab a seat and sit down. A waitress (their outfits are too cute!) will come with water, and offer not only drinks (I think you pay separately for these) but a choice of soup (which is free with the buffet). They had beef tripe soup (!!!) and my heart sang a little. Doing a walk-through of the buffet, that expands over TWO rooms, made it sing even more.
Here is what I remember eating: Potato pancakes, apple pancakes, cheese blintzes, pierogies (3 KINDS!), stuffed cabbage, sauerkraut, schnitzel, beef tongue in gravy, fried beets, herring in vinegar, carved ham off the bone, pork skewer, coleslaw, carrot salad, chocolate pudding, cheesecake, jello, watermelon, grapes... by the time our waitress came to ask us if we wanted any ice cream (also free with the meal!), I had to say no. No to free ice cream?! Yes, this is how nuts the buffet is.
They also had a million salad type things, breaded pork cutlet, roast beef, roast duck and pork shanks (!!!) on the buffet but the sheer size of each portion was too large for one person so consume. Sad. If I hadn't stuffed myself to the points of nausea, I would have made myself a take-out box and happily paid the$4.49/pound to be able to eat pork shanks and potato pancakes at home later.
The restaurant itself feels like you've walked into 1980s eastern Europe (I don't actually know but I'm just guessing) with some of the best people watching in the city (where do all these people come from?!)... just watch out when you're walking around - the floors were slippery (greasy?) when we came in.
OH! And I can't but mention the Hawaiian salad in the dessert section. Does anybody know what this is? I looked like mini marshmallows, shredded coconut, and cool whip, mixed up with some red jello powder thrown in. And yes, I tried some.Listed in: Buffets!
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Review from Jessica D.
Chicago, IL
10/14/2010
I have just returned from an utterly fabulous dinner. Two people, $25 (plus tip), a full buffet with plenty of vegetarian options. For meat eaters, there's free soup and plenty to choose from, but for my vegetarian heart there were mountains of fresh fruits and salads, potato pierogi, potato pancakes, cheese blintzes, apple fritters, mashed potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli, plus desserts and (had we felt up for more) free ice cream.
Service was super friendly, even when we were less than perceptive (like when we didn't notice that this is a pay at the register kind of establishment and sat waiting for someone to grab our card for a while). Empty dishes were whisked away without our noticing and there was always someone there waiting to answer questions or offer more food.
For what you pay, everything ranged from good to great, and the fruit was so fresh and delicious that, despite this being a Polish restaurant, I could have made a meal of that alone. -
Review from Wayne C.
IL
6/22/2008
I thought this was a breakfast place? Don't big red apples signify bagels and pancakes and stuff? But it's a Polish buffet. Maybe I would've known that if they wrote "Polish Buffet" on the sign.
Oh well. I'm not a huge fan of Polish food but the coffee was good and came in cool cups. I am, however, a big fan of Polish people - old drunk ones, specifically - and Red Apple is full of them. And I swear to God, that was the freshest God damn cantaloupe I've ever placed my mouth on. So I guess there was some reason I ended up there. Because everything happens for a reason. -
Review from Dave S.
7/28/2007
Once again another solid buffet! When I go to a buffet I really don't expect the greatest service. I mean come on it is a buffet yo0u get your own food, what kind of service do you want? Fill your drinks and clean off your dirty plates. Unfortunately we just had water and our glasses ran empty. Shame on them!
The buffet here is extensive and the potato pancakes were excellent. All of the selections that I tried were good but nothing that really wowed me except for the potato pancakes. I was not disappointed with any of my selections.
The place is not all that big at all and you really can't say too much about the decor. It was just a simple place. As I said before, this place is solid. Although it is not my top polish buffet in the Chicago Area. I have no major complaintsListed in: In My Hood
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Review from Amy H.
5/8/2007
Last night, through a series of circumstances, I found myself at Red Apple. I have never really eaten Polish food so I am not an authority on the authenticity of Red Apple, but a $11 all-you-can-eat buffet??? Well, that's right up my alley!
When I first saw the buffet I thought that it looked like the crappy hotel food that I ate in Russia, but I'm adventurous so I dived in. Heading back to my table I heard someone remark "now THAT'S a plate!!" Yeah, I know. I like to eat.
The food was ok. The perogies...eh. The potato and apple pancakes were the best! I could have eaten a heaping plate of potato pancakes! Yum! Our waitress was such a sweetheart...a feisty older Polish lady that waited around past closing for us to finish out meal. An extra star for her and the potato pancakes. -
Review from Jeff A.
10/26/2009
This was a trip and an experience to be had!
My friends picked me up from the airport and this place is conveniently located not far from the airport on the way to my place...
Overflowing with meats and sweets and happiness abound!
I had it all twice, well maybe once, but if i had the room it was worth twice for sure!
From pierogi to meat jello (hell no I didn't eat the meat jello), and oh my...desserts a million!
Its all juicy and full of comfort! juicy chicken and pork and beef, not just one preparation but many hoo-ray!
From the liver to the tongue, from the head to the toe, its all overflow oh oh oh! (well maybe no toes)
You and your friends will be happy wallowing in the food explosion that is Red Apple!
I will be back again and again!Listed in: Chicago Musts!!!
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Review from chris j.
Chicago, IL
11/29/2010
I love Polish food. I love nothing more than a good buffet. Combine the 2 and you have what I refer to as "Chris's Heaven".
I love coming to Red Apple. The restaurant is clean, inviting, and nicely decorated. The staff also keep the buffet items freshly stocked. I've been to other buffets where you could tell that the food had been sitting there all day. This is definitely NOT the case at Red Apple.
I strongly recommend the potato and meat pierogis, the potato pancakes almost fall apart they're so fresh, and the boiled sausage tastes like it's fresh from the deli. I never quite have enough room left for desert, but the desert cart is teeming with all kinds of fresh pastries.
If you want excellent Polish food at a fair price, check out the Red Apple!! -
Review from Liz Q.
Pittsburgh, PA
3/12/2008
Red Apple has always been good to me.However, lately they've broken the cardinal law of buffet dining.
There have been no (or few) signs identifying the food.
This is very dangerous when dealing with a cuisine that, for every satisfying, delicious-in-its-simplicity dish there is at least one horrifying, remnant of Soviet Bloc poverty dish to counterbalance it.
Look there - some sort of protein source in a grayish cream sauce. What is it? Fish? Liver? Beef? Your guess is as good as mine. Best to skip it and head to the easily identifiable (and no - not just because it's the only dish with a sign) kielbasa. Or the potato pancakes. Oh, and those potato dumplings.
When you get a potato and cheese pierogi they are great. But watch out for the mystery meat pierogi. There isn't enough sour cream in the world to mask that grotesque pasta pillow of putridness.
And ditch the desserts on the dessert counter. Dry and tasteless. Load up on apple pancakes to finish your meal.
Ah, Red Apple.....you are the best of Polish food and the worst of Polish food. And thus the three stars. -
Review from Bonnie L.
Chicago, IL
12/5/2008
So I saw that the Red Apple was the ROTD today. I work a few blocks from there so I thought that I would give it a try. This neighborhood is in such need of decent places for lunch and I was hoping to add to my short list of tried and true in the Avondale. For me, Red Apple was just ok. I do admit that I am a vegetarian. But when I checked out their website they raved about all the veggie options that they had, as well as 10 different meat options per day. So I thought that I would give it a try.
Heres what I thought was really good:
Mashed potatoes with vegetarian mushroom gravy.
Mac and cheese, oddly REALLY good.
Potato pierogi.
Sauerkraut pierogi.
Potato pancakes.
Heres what I thought was just ok:
Brussel sprouts
Asparagus, they were really mushy but still tasted good.
Cheese Blintzes.
Heres what I thought was really God awful:
All the desserts, very dry cakes
Buckwheat
Creamed Spinach
Vegetarian sauerkraut
My friend had some of the chicken and beef and liked them just fine.
Would I go back to Red Apple? Sure, why not. Maybe once every few months. The pierogis and mac and cheese were delicious. I probably would not frequent more than that.Listed in: The Northwest side
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Review from Beth G.
10/6/2008
Okay, I'm Romanian... but Romania is kind of close to Poland, right?
Ah, the never-ending buffet of pierogi, kraut, blintzes, and apple fritters. Lots and lots of things to sample. You've gotta haul me out of this place in a wheelbarrow when I'm done. And my husband, who normally dislikes buffets due to their usual poor quality/poor selection of meat items, is in carnivore heaven here. -
Review from Kiki M.
1/31/2010
I am a strict vegetarian, and I love to go to the Red Apple. There is actually quite a lot for a vegetarian to eat here (pierogis, veggie gravy, salads, fruit, amazing desserts, steamed vegetables), plus they always let me substitute a glass of juice for the non-veg soup course. Wonderful value.
PLUS I get to watch my friends eat a smorgasbord of animal innards AND I can glare creepily at the waitresses in their bizarre dirndl outfits that appear to have been sewn out of leftover sofa upholstery.Listed in: Cuisine of the Ex-Soviet World
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Review from David C.
Chicago, IL
7/10/2011
Just shameful. I don't know what happened to this place, but I've been here in the past and I don't recall the food being this awful. Stuffed cabbage, apple pancake and perogi's had a tinge of sour flavor which forced me to put my fork down as I felt my stomach start to do cart wheels....should've ordered a glass of alka selzter with my meal instead of a diet coke. Do yourself a favor and skip this place, it's not worth getting food poisoning.
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Review from Jonathan A.
Chicago, IL
4/15/2008
This is at least once a year place for me. Especially in the winter when you need your extra insulation on your body.
It's a huge Polish buffet for $9!
To give you a sense of how big, I only discovered the second buffet table around the corner the third time I was here.
Ok, it's not fine dining. It's kitschy, but not intentionally. Although the last time, the waitresses weren't wearing short red skirts and tennis shoes.
It's comfort food and one of the best values in the city.
Last time we came when we couldn't get into Fogo De Ciao.
This was the answer. It was probably 1/4 quality, but 1/5 the price.
P.S. There is a liquor store across the street where you can get some interesting bottles.Listed in: Best values for cheap eats
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Review from Sharlene K.
Chicago, IL
5/30/2007
Any buffet available for under $10 (on weekdays) is a good deal, but this is far from exemplary Polish food.
If you want good Polish food, you're better off going to one of the many Polish delis down the street and getting things there whether it's frozen pierogis or potato pancakes. A quarter of their food isn't even Polish! (fried rice, bbq chicken, fried chicken, etcetera)
However, if you want to eat yourself into a stupor, this is the place to do it. I strongly recommend the soup before the buffet (it comes with the buffet charge).
The salad selection is great and very Polish too with at least 4 different cold cabbage concoctions and plenty of sour cream, apple sauce, and pickled beets available. If you eat some of those salads with your greasy fried carbs, it'll cut the heavy grease feeling and allow you to eat more.
It is important that you save room for dessert as they have so many miniature varieties of cake of which all of them are delicious.
If you want to regulate on yourself, grab a styrofoam box and take advantage of their per pound option. -
Review from Garrett C.
San Francisco, CA
11/10/2008
I love to eat. I love to feel full. I have been full in different states and different countries on countless different types of food. THE FULLEST I HAVE EVER BEEN WAS AT RED APPLE. I was so full it hurt for 2 hours and I didn't eat anything else for 10 hours. If you think you can take it...try this place out. They have a massive spread of food including a large cold salad bar (not salad salad, but like potato salad, macaroni salad, etc.) a few different kinds of potatoes, about 30 different meat dishes, I think there are vegetables (but this is a Polish buffet in Chicago so can you blame me if I didn't notice them?) They also have blintzes, pierogi, potato and apple pancakes in the back (follow the sign with the arrow)
WARNING: This place is not for the health conscious (duh, it's a Polish buffet). It is all about carbs and grease. If you have a hangover...give it a shot. -
Review from Annie R.
Chicago, IL
6/17/2011
Do it at least once. Crazy but awesome experience.
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Review from julie m.
New York, NY
4/4/2007
The food is pretty good, for being a buffet. My busia (grandmother in polish), used to make a lot of the same food, and the food is farily in keeping with her flavors and style. It's definitely authentic Polish food. And if it tastes like hers, then I know it's good.
Everything here is yummy, and I love the meatballs/meat patties smothered in gravy.
But it is true that you a) shouldn't go if you're a vegetarian unless it's friday during lent in which case you can get fish and that b) there is so much meat-and-potato heaviness even if you never have before, you'll want elastic granny pants on your lower half by the time you leave.
Desserts are good too - lots of yummy eastern european style cake selections from which to choose!
Buffet price, if I recall correctly, is something like $10, and includes a hot beverage (coffee, tea, water, etc) and a cup of soup, as well as the buffet with salads, main dishes and desserts. With a beer or soda, you're looking at $10 - $15 tops, per person. -
Review from Robert S.
Atlanta, GA
5/10/2010
My partner and I were visiting Chicago from Atlanta, which has very little in the way of Polish cuisine. He suggested we find a Polish restaurant for our Saturday night dinner- we found and agreed upon Red Apple. Staying in downtown Chicago, we knew we'd have a bit of a journey. About 30 minutes up the blue line and then another 15 minutes of walking. We found Red Apple, walked in, and by the aroma of the buffet, we knew we were in for a treat!
I've never been to a Polish restaurant, so I don't have anything to compare to, but the food was fantastic. We filled up two plates of food, tried nearly everything. After finishing off the second plate and a beer each, we were stuffed. Then we realized there was another room with another buffet. After one final trip to the buffet and then a sampling for the various desserts, we were miserably full and wonderfully happy with our meal. Had we been in town another night, we probably would have dined at Red Apple again.
After all of that food, we looked forward to the 15 minute walk back to the train station. We will definitely be back when we visit the Chicago area. -
Review from Camille O.
Chicago, IL
10/10/2005 2 photos
I suggest you wear loose clothing when going to dine at 'Czerwone Jabluszko' otherwise known in English as the Red Apple Restaurant.
This is a Polish buffet that almost demands a well-designed plan of attack before diving in. Survey the selections, start slow, serve yourself up small portions, and try to leave room for dessert!
The variety of meats, salads, and side-dishes is staggering: chicken kiev, roast beef, baked ham, stuffed cabbage, carrot salad, cole slaw, sauerkraut salad, cheese blintzes, mashed potatoes, pierogies....and that's just the start of things!
Good, solid, rib-sticking food at a bargain price. All this for $7.49 during the week and $8.49 on the weekends!
Beverages are extra and buffet take out goes for $3.49 a pound.
Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 11A - 9P
Friday and Saturday 11A - 9:30P -
Review from Kelly M.
Chicago, IL
5/8/2007
Loved:
potato pancakes
apple pancakes
the waitress that busted her arse to accomodate our large group in the back room (no, you go get a clean plate if you want to get more food, give that dirty one here)
Didn't love:
pierogies labeled as potato and cheese but actually filled with some weird undefinable concoction
the super sweet dessert ball rolled in coconut that was tasty the first bite, but not good enough to finish
I ate a little bit of everything and enjoyed it well enough for a $11 all-you-can-eat buffet. I definitely ate all the potato pancakes I could!
