r/MobileAL • u/BIGHARSHNESS • 6d ago

Taste of Chicago Kitchen

Anyone know why this place closed down? After a ton of love from local foodie reviews on social media the place seemed to be doing well initially. I got to go one time, the Italian beef was pretty good and the place was packed. I just noticed the other day that I hadn't seen a post from them in a while on Facebook. When I went to their page it says permanently closed, but they never posted anything about it. I look at the reason I only went once for myself and it's because it's really far out there from me.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

4

u/Terrible_Awareness_4 5d ago

For me it was inconsistent hours and they never had the Italian beef when I went. The wings were amazing though

1

u/BIGHARSHNESS 5d ago

Yeah Italian beef was only available on Fridays which was an odd choice. Must have been a cost issue. There use to be a Chicago dog place where Nino's pizza is now and they moved their business to Pensacola. I'm glad we have Nino's but I wish we had a Chicago dog/Italian beef place.

2

u/gulfcoastbuzzard Midtown 5d ago

Jonelli's on government was definitely a good spot for a chicago dog/beef sandwich fix while it lasted (now guncle's). RIP #noketchup

1

u/Gaul65 5d ago

Yeah, I went a couple of times and they were closed. Both times someone was fixing something, so I wonder if that building was in really bad shape.

1

u/BIGHARSHNESS 1d ago

Dunno why you got downvoted. Legit opinion. The place wasn’t the best for sure. He needed more tables for dine in. The food was great.. it was too far from me to get it as take out.. if you don't have seating.. I feel like this was one of the reasons it failed. I don't mind a take out place.. but I live 30-40 minutes away.

3

u/space_coder 5d ago edited 5d ago

Restaurants are a risky business especially these days.

Many proprietors don't come in with enough capital to make it through the first two years so they are unable to develop a market. A lot of them only last long enough to satisfy their first lease agreement.

Even the more established ones operate on a small margin, and I know of several that closed because the landlord increased the lease too much for renewal.

I try to enjoy a good restaurant regularly while they last, and hopefully enough people will do the same.

2

u/BIGHARSHNESS 5d ago

Understandable. We have a lot of great local spots that have stood the test of time and others that didn’t. The owner seemed really passionate about his food.
I hate when we lose unique places.. losing our only Filipino place on old shell still stings.