Big Jones

Great vibe. Great food. Great drinks. Being in the heart of Andersonville, it's a wonderful place to take out of town visitors. Plenty to do in the neighborhood or surrounding neighborhoods. The food is not shy on spices and has an authentic southern feel (note: I'm no expert in southern cuisine, so don't hold it against me if you think I'm wrong). Regardless, the food is vibrant. Lots of great flavors. I've been here a half dozen times and have never been disappointed! Also... During Covid, my family would sometimes order the chicken dinner for pick-up. It was always a special treat!!

I've dined here once before and had a good experience, unfortunately my return visit wasn't as favorable. The air conditioning was on blast today even though it's cool outside. (I presume because yesterday was a warm day) My partner and I started off ordering beignets and coffee with a baileys alternative to go with it. The beignets came out warm and fluffy. They were delicious. The coffee wasn't brought to us for a while and when it did arrive it was room temperature at best. We told our waiter and he offered to replace the coffee, but it didn't taste very good to begin with. We asked it they had flavored creamer, no. We asked if they had espresso, no. I asked if I could microwave the coffee, but he said they don't have a microwave but he could put the coffee under the heat lamps for a while. We declined. It would have been nice if he Insisted on getting us fresh hot coffee, and offered more solutions. Or better yet, not charged us when we resigned to just dealing with the cold coffee. We both ordered the fried catfish with grits and beans. The catfish was heavily fried, and a small fillet. There was an unusual red sauce drizzled on top of everything which I personally didn't enjoy. It threw off the flavor. U left feeling no longer hungry, but unsatisfied unfortunately.

Big Jones is a southern restaurant in Andersonville that has been in business for over 15 years now. It's run by a chef that has been nominated for a James Beard award and was a contestant on Beat Bobby Flay. And he beat him with a breakfast sandwich that's featured on their brunch menu. After watching that episode I was dying to try it. Their menu features a lot options of the Southern variety and everything on it looks incredibly appetizing. I came in with the intent of ordering that breakfast sandwich, but after browsing through the menu I was seriously considering getting something else. I decided to go with the breakfast sandwich, though. My girlfriend and I ordered the breakfast sandwich that comes with a side of your choice (I ordered the cheesy grits), the potatoes O'Brien, the Cajun pancakes, the skillet cornbread, and a biscuit. The sandwich was huge and it had a chaurice sausage patty, egg, Swiss cheese, and spicy apple chutney on a buttermilk biscuit. I really enjoyed it and the grits were some of the best I have ever had. The potatoes are basically hash browns and are super affordable since they only cost three bucks. The Cajun pancakes are essentially blueberry crepes that are great and the cornbread was really solid, as well. Overall, it was a really satisfying meal and I can definitely see why this place has gained loyal customers throughout the years. I also think everything is reasonably priced for the amount of food you get. I saw servers carrying around fried chicken and they were HUGE and looked incredibly appetizing. I do plan on coming back at some point to try other items on the menu.

As someone who grew up in Virginia, this was far from southern food. This is what AI would think southern food is. It was overall either very bland or too salty. There was no seasoning. Additionally, the service was slow and it took awhile to get seated even though we had a reservation. It seems like a place where you get charged for just the ambiance and I would not recommend it unless you just want to dine for the vibes or just drink.

[Big Jones] Chicago Restaurant Week Edition / Southern Creole/Cajun-inspired restaurant located in the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago. Perfect day to post a review for this restaurant on Fat Tuesday. Came for their CRW Brunch menu. We were seated upon our reservation time and immediately received service. It was not too busy when we arrived but half-way in, the restaurant started to pick up. Now let's talk about the food.1. Cornbread muffins for the table included pimiento cheese, butter, pickles, etc2. Duck Fat Fried Chicken 3. Roasted Viridian Farms Mushrooms 4. Grillades & Grits 5. Bloody Mary 6. (Forgot to picture) Beignets and Gateaux de Sirop Everything was good. I really liked their cornbread, sweet and fluffy. The fried chicken was good but not the best that I have had. Although seasoned well, it was not as juicy inside and the outside was fried hard. I liked the bloody mary. Theirs was more peppery, which if you know me I love black pepper. The desserts were fine but I personally was not the biggest fan of their cane syrup cake. It was a bit too mushy for me. The price point was a deal. The service was amazing. The ambiance was lively. Overall, 6.5/10. https://bigjoneschicago.com5347 N Clark St Chicago, IL 60640

Went here with my partner for her birthday and our two year old daughter. My partner ordered a Cubano with the pickles on the side (she doesn't like pickles, but our daughter likes to eat them). While the "chef" was making the sandwich we could hear him loudly refusing to the servers that he wouldn't make the sandwich without pickles (it's an open kitchen and we were sitting just off to the side of it). The servers couldn't help but cover their discomfort with laughter, since they knew we were within earshot, as they urged him to make the sandwich as we asked. This went on for an extremely uncomfortable 5-10 minutes of this grown man complaining about making a sandwich. At one point he said to the servers "you wouldn't m*rder a baby would you? So I'm not making it without pickles." An insane comparison especially considering we were there WITH OUR BABY. He eventually made it as asked, but not before complaining again about putting the pickles on the side. By then, obviously, we were both extremely uncomfortable and the mood was ruined. To top it off the fries were completely overcooked. Fried solid all the way through like the texture of those bagged Hot Fries. I hope they don't serve them that way normally. We had been here once before this, which was fine, but we won't be returning.

Restaurant was buzzing for brunch. Service was not super friendly, but it was a busy morning. Portion sizes are pretty generous, but food is quite heavy. Unfortunately the beignets were underwhelming and would not get again. However the #BeatBobbyFlay sandwich and Shrimp & Grits were delicious. Hashbrowns were well seasoned and the biscuit was the perfect vehicle for the sandwich.

Ok... a lot to impact here. So here's the setup, me and the wife went for dinner. We picked the place based on location to The Vic theater and based upon a list of best chicken sandwiches in the area. Spoiler alert... they don't serve the chicken sandwich for dinner. Any who. I decided on the gumbo Yaya, I'll be brief, Hard pass. Now on to the main entree, I had the fried chicken, comes with greens and biscuit. The greens and biscuit were ok, just plain. The chicken however was on point. It had a very good crispy batter. The catfish by wife had also was nice and crispy. The red beans were tasty and sweet. The fish taste fresh. Overall it was a tasty dish. The Cornbread taste southern like my grandma use to make. Solid. It's not sweet though, if you prefer your Cornbread sweet something you might want to keep in mind. It has a butter on top that you can spread adds a little sweetness. Finally for dessert we had the rum bread pudding. Excellent. All portion sizes were on the small side imo. Only 2 pieces of chicken a side of greens and a biscuit was $17.50. Conclusion (currently)Would I go back? Yes, Gotta try the chicken sandwich. And the main chef has a biscuit sandwich that beat Bobby flay, so I gotta come back for brunch.

Bummed to give this place 3 stars. I was hoping that the food was going to be better. The hostess was so sweet and very polite. The waitress was okay, I could tell she was a bit overwhelmed with the crowd of people. We went during restaurant week and she said a lot of ingredients were out. I think that contributed to her inattentiveness to our table. I personally found the food to be a bit on the saltier side. I had the omelet. Some bites were really salty and other bites were really bland. The balance was a bit off. I loved their hash browns. I would have gotten seconds. Their portions were huge for the price which was a plus. I love the interior of the restaurant. Very NOLA vibes. I would love to go back to give this place another try. I would like to get another dish like their fried chicken.

Stopped by on a Thursday night and it was pretty chill. Service was pretty slow but decent. We ordered Mac and cheese, cornbread and fried chicken. We were given complimentary biscuits. We also had their lemonade and a cocktail. The food was okay. The rice that came with the chicken was very bland. Our cocktail was so strong we couldn't take more than a sip. Overall okay experience but no need for me to return.