Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Waffles Named Best New Breakfast in Time Out Chicago's 2012 Eat Out Awards


Congrats to Waffles (1400 S. Michigan) for being named the best new breakfast in Time Out Chicago's 2012 Eat Out Awards.

As you probably recall, we had a post about some of the other South Loop restaurants and bars that were also nominated. Although they didn't end up winning, congrats to them for representing the Sloop and bringing solid additions to the hood!

Also wanted to give a shoutout to Tony Hu, a restaurant pioneer who has many institutions in Chinatown. If you haven't been to one of his restaurants, you're missing out. He received the Lifetime achievement award from the TOC critics.

Finally, we had a post about Forever Yogurt opening up shop in the Sloop sometime soon. That would be good, because they were voted the best Fro-Yo Chain in Chicago. Looking forward to them coming to the neighborhood!

(Image from Time Out Chicago)

25 comments:

frank said...

haha, haters gonna hate!

Steven said...

LOL

I agree, one of the best new places in the south loop if not the entire city. Bet those who complain about their service/portions/prices/hostess/wait lines/lack of WiFi/location/lack of a cure for cancer/gluten free options can all go scratch their ass and moan about something else now.

Anonymous said...

Must not have been many breakfast spots opened in the city this year.

On a related note, the new concept at Grace O'Malley's was named "best new italian restaurant that never opened after 16 months of hype."

Anonymous said...

I love Waffles, and don't understand the people complaining about it. I wish the wait wasn't so long, but that's a testament to its quality. If you want a giant pile of scrambled eggs and hash browns for $6 there's about 1200 other places in the city you can go. Waffles does high quality food and I'm glad they won this.

I go on weekdays when I get the chance.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand how a 3-star yelp restaurant can win best new breakfast restaurant...there are over 200 reviews as well.

josh said...

because yelp is just another area where picky idiots can blog about some little thing that they didnt like.....its a haven for attention seekers, much like this blog.

Ill leave the real reviews up to the professionals, not some nimby minivan mom who wants a stack of chocolate chip pancakes and a placemat to draw on for her kids.

get real, "yelp". Pffft

Dr. Suess said...

Waffles must have been the only new breakfast spot otherwise this was set up. Steven with all the general complaints you just listed, all of which are true, you still support the place? I live in the building and was really looking forward to the place. Money not really an issue for me but still the portions are comical and service is generally bad. I would love to be able to go downstairs or order up for breakfast everyday but I still stroll down to Yolk. Lets hope our friends do a better job wiht Square One.

Anonymous said...

I love Yelp. It's real reviews by normal, everyday type people. Like anything else, you take the individual reviews with a grain of salt, but as a whole you can get a good feeling of the place and whether you want to spend your dollars there. Hardly ever does it steer me wrong.

Anonymous said...

I've never had bad service there. I've been about 8 times.

It's not a diner. It's not Yolk, or IHOP. The food takes a little long to come out sometimes. Big deal. And as for it not granting your wish of being a place to eat every day, well Tru, and Custom House and Firehouse, Xoco etc. aren't places I eat every day, but there's no need to bash them because of this.

Again, there's a thousand other breakfast joints in town with piles of gut-fill hangover-kill food for cheap and fast. And there's nothing wrong with that! It's simply that Waffles isn't that kind of place.

Different =/= Bad

Anonymous said...

YELP SUCKS

Anonymous said...

Not a foodie here, but I will say that I put far greater weight in an unbiased review from 200 "regular guys" on Yelp vs any "awards" from TimeOut Magizine (in which, by the way, Waffles has paid-for ads).

While Waffles is not too bad, the prices and the unbelievably rude hostess and staff make it far from "best new breakfast" material IMO.

Accolades are great for the owners, but I bet they would much rather have my $$$ from the once-a-week brunch that I pay for with my family of 6. We went twice (to be fair) and will never return.

Brad said...

The first time we went to Waffles the service was horrendous. We gave it another chance a couple months later and now look forward to going every weekend. The service has improved greatly. As for serving size, it is perfect. Many people eat way too much food. I have never left Waffles hungry.

Anonymous said...

i loved this place from the get-go

Great place to have a very tasty breakfast and perfect portions. never had a problem with service either. People who need more food than what they give you should goto Denny's, the portions are good at Waffles.

Anonymous said...

You want to eat at a REAL breakfast spot, try Lula in Logan Square, or any of the Nookies locations.

Steven, you should try leaving the sloop every once and awhile. No need for your negativity towards people stating their subjective opinions on a restaurant. Not everyone has to agree with you on every issue.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

ANON @ 1:53

Glad to hear people like you will not be there anymore, enjoy IHOP chump.

Dr. Suess said...

@Anon 1:31..I dont eat at waffles everyday because I dont like the place not because of money. I do go out for breakfast everday and locally I walk the two blocks to yolk instead of walking into waffles in my pj's. You list custom house and firehouse as not eating there everyday as comparison. I could eat at those places everday and I do frequent them. My point here is small portions dressed up nicely and high prices do not mean high quality. Add terrible service and you get waffles. It was surprising as Alex is a manager at Japonais which is a nice place. As I stated before I hope they do a better job with Square One.

Anonymous said...

Doctor suess why dont you eat in your condo instead.....walk to yolk and deal with the tourists and hipsters....

Just because YOU dont like waffles doesnt mean its bad.....and just because you eat sausage and pancakes every morning does not make you a expert---it makes you fat.

Anonymous said...

build your own pancakes for 2.99!!!


Figures some of you suburbanite transplants would get sticker shock in Chicago hahahahaha

DrJen said...

Haven't been yet. I'm a fan of waffles (the food type) in general. but I'm wary of most brunch-focused places...if I I sleep in a bit on the morning of my day off, I'm not likely to stand in line for 45 minutes for breakfast food. (Sure...no wait at 8, but at 10:30?) The whole brunch thing in Chicago kind of baffles me. (Engineered cognitive dissonance?) But, again, I love waffles. Is this a place that always has a line? And, I see that they have delivery. Has anyone tried it? If they can keep waffles crispy and get them to my condo in a reasonable amount of time, I may have found my new comfort food. I want this to be good :)

Anonymous said...

That award was no doubt weighted. If waffles was so great, then they wouldnt be whoring themselves out to groupon and every other deal of the day site around. They are hurting. The owners are trying to create a buzz and it won't work because their food is trash, end of story.

Anonymous said...

This only reinforces why I cancelled my subscription to Time Out Chicago in 2008. Best new breakfast? Get some taste buds. I'd take Perennial Virant any day over this dump.

I've lived here almost 5 years. Sloopers are so deprived of restaurants that one goes in and suddenly it's the 'best of Chicago'. Please. You won't see me in here again. I'll take my taste buds to Nightwood for brunch.

Dr. Suess said...

@Anon 4:12 these types of ignorant comments prove the type of trash that supports this place. You dont know what a good place is. Sausage and pancakes? Fat? you were bullied on as a kid werent you? still are? internet tough guys! Pretty sure I made it clear im appearently in the minority who actually eats out IN the sloop on a daily basis. I support local business and the sloop as I have much invested here. That being said a bad product is a bad product. @Anon 11:57 is right. The sloop is so deprived of restaurants people blindly support them regardless of quality of product or service. Even then its not enough as we have closings and empty space all over.

Anonymous said...

Why are there some many mean and negative comments? We just moved to the South Loop and I am very disappointed to read these kind of comments. Like Will Rogers said, "Never miss a good change to shut up".

Anonymous said...

Frank - every post on Sloopin turns into this. Dr Seuss just said in the other post that he walks to Yolk in his PJ's for god's sake.

Dr. Ruth. said...

Totally agree with earlier pots. It's like we have the equivalent of beer goggles for restaurants. To the new resident of the south loop. Welcome. Ignore the negative comments. This really is a great place to live. Some of us just get frustrated because we know that some of the restaurants could be so much better if their were more development and competition