Little Goat Diner

There are a few different types of restaurant reputations in my book. You've got your tried and trued favorites, your list of places you hope to make it to soon, and then those places. You know. The ones that everyone seems to want to try with wait times that just won't quit. Somewhere towards the top of that list is Little Goat Diner, the more casual across the street cousin of Stephanie Izard's famous Girl and the Goat. This past weekend a concert at the United Center meant dinner beforehand on Randolph, and the girls and I decided Little Goat Diner was the place to be!

We went on a Sunday night, which I believe helped our wait time to be minimal (don't get me wrong, it was still quite busy). The decor definitely had a diner vibe with some modern touches-there was a cool photo booth towards the front and the kitchen was open to see the cooks hard at work. Take a look (Photos courtesy of Little Goat Diner's website):

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

After being seated at maybe the biggest booth I've ever sat in, we approached the very difficult decision of what to order. Little Goat Diner offers breakfast all day, plus a slew of sandwiches and entrees. "The Goats", as I shall deem all of Ms. Izard's restaurants, have a reputation of using shall we say peculiar items. This isn't the place to go if you are a picky eater or not feeling adventurous….which may have been my problem.

I wasn't feeling on top of the world and as such my taste buds were a bit off. After a very stressful internal battle of what would taste good, I literally left it to the last second and blurted out "I'll have the grilled cheese!" to our waiter.

What? I mean, don't get me wrong I love a grilled cheese every once in a while. But it's not something I would usually order. I think my mind was going for something simple and comforting, which doesn't work when said grilled cheese includes "smoked gouda and mont amore cheese, pork guanciale, and smoked tomatoes". Combine this with the fact that the sandwich came with nothing else and cost $10-not my best dining experience.  

The girls and I split an order of chocolate cake for dessert. Don't mistake "order of chocolate cake" for a whole cake; the $8 portion was quite the opposite. Served in a tiny ramekin I was worried it wouldn't be enough for three. But the cake was rich (and a bit on the dry side); we didn't finish. 

I'd love to say I plan to go back on a day where I am feeling more myself and ready to be more adventurous with my ordering. But considering the fact that I feel the food is overpriced for the quality and quantity you get I think I've officially crossed Little Goat Diner off my list. There are too many places to eat in this city to get hung up on trying to convince yourself something is good! 

Sidenote on that concert we went to: it was Justin Timberlake. It. Was. AMAZING.