Y M.'s Profile

I've been going to Tre Kronor primarily for breakfast, so I can't vouch for lunch or dinner.  But after regular visits these past few years, their breakfasts have been consistently good.  My usual order is either the Oslo Omelette or the Crab Cakes Benedict.  The Oslo omelette is simply smoked salmon, fresh dill, and cream cheese, served with potatoes and toast (get the Limpa toast, which is a Swedish rye bread).  

The crab cakes benedict is probably my favorite dish.  Two crab cakes topped with poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce, served with potatoes and toast.  No English muffin (who needs carbs when you can have fat?).  It's not on their regular menu, so check their daily specials.

Other notable dishes: Anders' Hash and Eggs - the hand-cut corned beef is always delicious.  Kobenhavn Omelette - a very simple omelette of fresh spinach and blue cheese.  Cinnamon rolls - not too sweet, with a light glaze scented with orange.  The main theme of breakfasts here is simplicity.  Don't expect huge portions or American diner-type food.  The upstairs space is like eating in someone's living room/dining room.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it once was someone's home.  There's even a cute little home kitchen upstairs.

I've taken family members out for breakfast and they've all enjoyed their meals here.  Be prepared to wait for a table during weekends and holidays.  They always send people to The Sweden Shop across the street to browse around while waiting, which is a smart move in theory (except that no one ever buys anything).

Underwhelming.  I came here for their Happy Hour special, and none of the appetizers stood out.  The calamari tempura was huge, but I'm not a fan of thick-cut calamari.  I was expecting small rings of calamari.  They use wide strips of larger calamari.  At least they were tender.  The Dengaku Tofu would've been better if the tofu had a crispier exterior.  The hoisin-type sauce drizzled on it was too thick and sweet; it didn't need it.  The grilled short ribs were ok, cooked to medium-rare.  But the sauce on it was unnecessary and too sweet.  The Kaisen Ceviche, though loaded with shrimp, scallops, and avocado, had a bitterness to it.  I couldn't figure out why it was bitter.  Plus, it definitely needed more citrus to it.

The saving grace of the meal was the Jade Lotus cocktail, which has lychee in it.  Sweet and refreshing.  The place is a chain, which explains the generic blandness of the food. There are better sushi options elsewhere in the 'burbs (Arlington Heights, for example). I guess that leaves you with getting cocktails here, which isn't such a bad thing.

This place is a typical, hole-in-the-wall type restaurant you'd normally find on Argyle St. in Chicago, but in... Glendale Heights?  The pho tai here is acceptable - neither terrible nor great.  The broth was fairly light, lacking the thick, beefier broths I've had at other pho restaurants.  The sliced beef was fine, but kinda overcooked.  At least it wasn't gristly.  The noodles were chewy, but had a strange taste to it, like it's been sitting in the fridge too long.  The pho here is certainly better than the other pho place I tried in the area, so I'll give them that.  Also, their Vietnamese iced coffee is too stong, too syrupy.  And served in a styrofoam cup instead of a glass...  =/

After many visits here, this place is due for a review.  The quality and flavor of the beef they use for their burgers definitely sets them apart from other burger places.  They get their beef from NYC butcher Pat LaFrieda.  They offer hand-cut fries WITH the burger (not a la carte), and the ketchup is house-made.  The fries are great plain, or with seasonings.  I'm a fan of their truffle fries and their garlic fries.  If you're getting an appetizer, definitely order the fried cheese curds.  Greasy, salty, and cheesy, oh my...

Their burger menu changes regularly, but the majority of the burgers are always on the menu - like the Black 'N Blue and The Frenchie.  Those are the two burgers we almost always order.  Medium-rare.  I've also tried the Edmund Fig-Gerald (nice balance of sweet with savory) and the El Chupacabra (bold flavors going on there), as well as a few others.  But honestly, keep it simple if you want to taste the actual burger.  Too many toppings muddle the flavor of the beef.  Just order the basic Bad Apple Burger if it's your first time there.  The beer and drinks menu is extensive, probably bigger than the food menu.

They offer outdoor seating in the summer, and they even have a "kids" section, where they have board games and pinball.  If you want to skip the crowds, lunch time is your best bet.  They've had a few hiccups in the past - burning the fries and overcooking the burgers - two big no-no's for me.  But it seems like they're more consistent now.

I admit that I didn't have high expectations for this place because of the location (Yorktown Shopping Center area) and the decor (clean, but generic).  The music playing in the background was 80's rock.  It's very... suburban.  

But for a fast-casual restaurant, the food was quite good.  I had the Carne Asada meal, which comes with rice, refried beans, pico de gallo, sliced avocado, and tortillas.  The carne asada was delicious.  They use outer skirt steak, which is thicker and more tender than inner skirt steak.  It's one of my favorite cuts of steak - beefy, tender, flavorful.  They cooked it perfectly.  I also ordered guacamole and chips.  I usually don't like tomatoes in guacamole, but their guac was delicious (though, for fast food guacamole, no one tops Chipotle's version).  We also tried the skirt steak fajitas, which was delicious, as well.  We were given a choice between corn or flour tortillas, and we chose corn.  But at the end of our meal, they gave us a sample of their homemade flour tortillas.  I never order flour tortillas, but you really can't go wrong with these.  

Prices are a bit high for the concept, and the food is very simple.  They're playing it safe (no tacos de cabeza, no lengua, obviously).  But if you stick with the carne asada, you'll be happy.  Now if they only had Tampiquena and margaritas... *hint, hint*

I love their potato samosas.  The pastry is crisp, not too thick or heavy, and not too greasy.  The spiced potato filling is creamy without being mealy, and I like the pieces of cubed potato and peas throughout.  The tamarind sauce and cilantro chutney served with it are just ok (I think they're from a jar), but I like the samosas plain anyway.  The meat samosas aren't as good as the potato samosas.  The spicy meat filling is wrapped in spring roll-like wrappers and fried.  They're a bit too greasy for me.  I prefer the pastry used in the potato samosas.  

In the dessert section, the cream gulab jamun are excellent.  They're obviously very sweet, but there's never a puddle of syrup at the bottom of the container.  If you're looking for something not cloyingly sweet, get the pista katli.  It's similar to marzipan, made with ground pistachios.  There are countless other desserts to check out, too.  This is definitely the place to stop by after lunch to grab samosas/sweets to go.  And don't make the mistake of just getting 1 or 2 samosas, you'll regret not having enough at home to snack on!

Average.  The chips tasted like they came from a bag.  The three salsas offered - green, red, and tomato, tasted jarred.  I played it safe and ordered the carne asada entree, which is skirt steak with refried beans, rice, guac, lettuce, onions, and tomato.  The skirt steak was ok.  That cut of meat is pretty forgiving as long as you don't overcook it.  Everything else was average, nothing really stood out.  I will give them credit for being open til 2am Sunday-Thursday, and Friday & Saturday til 4am.  They do offer lengua, tripas, and birria tacos, as well as menudo, pozole, birria, but I doubt the party crowd is ready for that jelly.  Don't want to count them out just yet, but I'll have to check out the other Mexican restaurants in the area before I come back.

I recommend the chicken boti grilled in the charcoal-tandoor.  The chicken is boneless, skinless chicken thigh pieces, marinated, and grilled.  Get it with some naan or paratha, a veg, and you're good to go.  The raita served at the table is a bit too runny, but tasty nonetheless.  It pretty much goes well with everything on the menu.  The bhindi (okra) is excellent.  Spoon it over rice or scoop it up with naan; it's pure comfort food.  If you're going to order the broast chicken, get it spicy.  You really can't go wrong with crispy, spicy fried chicken.  

The frontier chicken rice was ok, but probably won't order again.  I'd rather stick to tandoor-cooked meats + plain rice or bread.  For a non-chicken, non-meat option, the tandoori fish is pretty good.  It's well-seasoned, but not too spicy.  My favorite breads are the plain naan and aloo (potato) paratha.  The naan is cooked in the tandoor, giving it a nice flavor.  The aloo paratha is carb heaven.  The garlic naan is fine, but the garlic cooked in the tandoor is too crispy.  And the onions in the onion naan are a bit much, not really necessary.  Overall, this is the go-to place for tandoor-grilled meats and tandoor naan.

No, just no.  Ordered the pho tai... and out comes a tiny plate of sad-looking bean sprouts, one small sprig of thai basil, and dried up lime wedges.  No culantro.  They didn't offer small condiment bowls for dipping meat.  No fish sauce, no chili-garlic paste, no chilis in vinegar, no sate/chili oil.  The pho broth was completely bland and watery.  I don't want to make assumptions, but it tasted like bouillon or canned broth.  The broth is the most important element in pho, and they failed here.  The sliced beef was fatty and sinewy (kinda like the bad bulgogi you get at some Korean restaurants).  

The barbecued beef banh mi was terrible.  The bread they used was too thick and doughy.  It was a strange consistency, like it was previously frozen.  The bread for banh mi is just as important as the fillings, so they failed here, too.  The beef they used was the same type of meat they used for the pho, and it was slathered in hoisin sauce.  Gross.  Even the pickled carrot & daikon looked sad, like it's been sitting in a jar for too long.  

I hate to give them such a low rating, because they were very nice to us and the service was great, but the food was disappointing on all levels.  I'm no snob, I'll gladly eat in any hole-in-the-wall restaurant as long as they have good food.  But for a place with "pho" in their name, they should serve pho that THEY would eat and serve to their families.  The watered down stuff just isn't cutting it.  Sorry.

I've been to this store a couple times and it's a good place to find appliances at discount prices.  Since it's an outlet, the prices reflect the condition of the appliances, but that doesn't mean you aren't getting a good product.  You can buy a brand new stainless steel refrigerator for almost half off, as long as you're okay with a small dent or scratch on its side.  If the refrigerator is pushed against a wall and the dent or scratch is hidden from view, it really isn't an issue.  You can scan their website for specific items, but I strongly suggest going to the store to check out the appliances for yourself.  Then you can decide if it's a good deal or not.