Recommended Place to Eat

[YMM (Ship 12 Div 98)]

Please include address, type of restaurant, and range of prices.

[Patti (7/174)]

We ate out in various places.

1. Right near the Ramada is a great Fillipino restaurant, SMC Pampanga Express. We found it on Yelp and came highly recommended. It is on the same side of the road as Dunkin Donuts.

The only confusing thing is that they have no menu at the restaurant. They suggest you look up their menu online (pampangaexpress.com) and then order if it's something you want off there. They have a bunch of prepared foods at the restaurant itself that are in steamer trays, that you can also choose from.

Since we weren't aware of that, we just had the food already made. WOW was it great! We didn't want to wait the  25 mins for the menu items (they literally prepare everything from the menu from scratch, so that's why the delay and why they suggest ordering online). The cashier told me her aunt is from Manilla, and walked us thru all of the dishes they had already prepared. CHEAP, great, authentic Fillipino food. ($7.95 for rice and 3 choices of foods).

 

2. For superb dim sum, we went into Chinatown. We went to a place suggested on Yelp (yelp.com) and we weren't disappointed at all. Furama is super easy to get to, but parking is a bit of a chore. We didn't realize they had a parking lot next door, so we wound up parking on the street, after some driving around waiting for someone to leave. With hot tea, an order of veggies and roast pork off the menu, and LOTS of dimsum, lunch for 3 was around $45.00.

3. If you take the drive to Milwaukee, there is a great place we stumbled onto for lunch. Not only was it reasonably priced, it was HOPPING! Joey Buona's Pizzeria Grille is in a fabulous building right near a parking lot, and across the street from the Milwaukee Market. It seems to be the hotspot for the local business people as they were coming in by the droves. The sandwiches come with a soup and home made potato chips, for around $8.00. We had the Italian beef sandwich on crusty Italian bread, that we actually split because it was so big.

4. If you love Indian food, stop by the Himalayan Restaurant a few miles away from the Ramada in Gurnee. We had also found this on Yelp and had great reviews. (http://www.himalayanrestaurant.com/menu.php)  We went for dinner and did the meal for 2 so we were able to try many dishes. There is a coupon available on their website, plus they said they had one on Restaurant.com but I couldn't log into my account for some reason :(  The staff is wonderful, very attentive and helpful, and the reviews were spot on.

 

 

 

 

[slapout52]

Italia Pizza is a hole in the wall in Libertyville where the manager will spend a lot of time recommending pizza options for Southerners like us who don't understand the difference between Chicago- and New York-style pizza!  So we ordered one of each!  Plenty of delicious food, reasonable price, and they took care of our sailor!

[Dr.Debb]

The FULL MOON RESTAURANT has a GREAT meal at an AMAZING price! Good 'ol fashioned home cookin'.  We liked it so much we went back!

[Concernedad]

Best ribs I've ever had was in Chicago, at a place called Carson's. I notice there is one in downtown Chicago and much closer to the base.

[Concernedad]

We ate every morning at Wildberry Cafe. Very good food! Very popular with the locals so get there early.

Had pizza at Silo Pizza, as we felt we had to have a Chicago Deep Dish. Very good, Pizzeria Uno style, but family owned. When they saw our son in uniform, they sent over a free appetizer. Also had a few different people come over to the table to thank our sailor for serving, this meant a lot to him.

If you are flying into Milwaukee, you HAVE GOT to go to the old German part of town and eat at Maders. This place is as authentic as it gets. Great food! The pretzel bread is to die for.

http://madersrestaurant.com/

 

[Renee]

If you want a local brewpub, try Mickey Finns in Libertyville - good food, great beer, nice atmosphere, reasonable prices.  We also went to Giordano's on Friday, along with lots of other sailors and their families!

[Diana (Proud Navy Mom)]

My son's PIR was 10-28. The best place we ate at was called Potesta's and it was right down the road from the Ramada where we stayed.  It was wonderful, great customer service and not expensive.  For dinner for me and my two sons was $35 and we had a small deep dish pizza and a medium (I think, it was the third from smallest and my Sailor and I could only eat half of it!!) as well as 3 drinks (sodas) and an appetizer.  It was so good!!  The day before we went to Gino's East in Chicago and Potesta's was soooo much better and about half the price!  They do have other things besides pizza.  I think the address was 334 Green Bay in Waukegan.

[Bandito's Mom]

Gino's East vs Giordino's Pizza.... I have to vote for Gino's East.  Yes, there are probably lots and lots of small local places, but when you come from out of town, it is hard to not go to a well known name.  Not used to Chicago style pizza, so in Girodino's there wasn't enough sauce and was too thick for me.  Gino's East we did order extra cheese, wasn't as solid and layered, therefor it fit my tastes better. 

We also went to Portillo's for a beef sandwich and loved it. 

Best meal was snacks and drinks at the 96 floor Lounge of the John Hancock building.

[sdees3]

Yes, staying at the Navy Lodge this weekend we ordered twice from Anastasia's and it was really good. They deliver for $5 as well.

[momofson]

Just returned from 2/10/12 PIR. If you can get there, highly recommend restaurant "South Gate" it is in Lake Forest, about 20 minute drive from GL. It is $12-20 range for lunch, but good food, quiet and elegant. Felt our sailor deserved a good meal.