I had driven past this place for years but never stopped in. I recently saw this shop on an edition of Chicago's Best on TV. My wife and I took our son fishing by the bridge in downtown Algonquin, so that presented a perfect opportunity to try the subs here.
We were there on a Saturday around noon, so the line was pretty long. Although we were the third customer in line, it took about 20 minutes until we were up at the counter to place our order. That was actually OK because it gave us a good chance to read the menu and decide.
There were quite a few different subs, and it was quite a decision to make. Pretty much all of the subs are upscale ideas; definately not your run-of-the-mill sandwiches. I had a Southwestern Chicken sub, my wife had the Beefy sub (not the Philly) and my boy had the Al Capone (atta' boy!); we all had our own drinks but we shared an order of fries. We had gotten the order to go since it was standing room only when we arrived, but it cleared out enough by the time we finished ordering to be able to sit and wait for the food. Good thing too, because it took another 25 minutes to get the food, and at least we could sit down. Even though we found seats, we decided to take it all back to the river for some lunchtime scenery.
In all fairness it was packed before as I said, and there was only 1 cook actually making the subs, so it understandably took a long time to get our food. I'm sure the service would be faster on a different day or different time, but that's just my luck. The food, however, made up for the wait.
My sandwich was tender and juicy, the southwestern flavor was ample yet not overpowering. It wasn't actually hot (spicy) but was full of flavor.
My wife's Beefy sub was good, but not anything really special (but personally I don't think a cheesy beef is EVER anything special) however she really liked it. She says she would get it again but wants to try other subs on our next visit.
My son loved his Al Capone. He said he wished he orderd two; one to take home for a snack later. He particularly liked that it had pepperoni and olives on it. He said it reminded him of an Italian sub but with a pizza background (this from an eight year old!)
If you are used to 5 dollar foot-longs from a different shop, these are definately different. Much better quality and taste, but we had to pay for it. Our bill came to $36.00 and some change. I was at first somewhat surprised, but when we finally were able to dig in I felt much better about the price.
We will certainly go back here when we are in the area, and may actually make a special trip (about 50 miles) to try some of the other subs sometime. Although we had a long wait, and it was somewhat more money than I expected; it was understandable considering the time, day and the fact that it was seen on TV shortly before this, as well as the taste and quality of the food. I would definately recommend this place even if there's a long line again. I'm not even going to knock it down to 4 stars, because man, was that cook movin'; I don't think he could've cooked any faster without having a heart attack! read more