Captures New Orleans cuisine. Menu was very interesting and unusual and there were many things definitely worth trying. The service was good and the staff was gracious. read more

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. read more

Big Jones - Skillet Cornbread - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I came here on a Sunday morning with a friend who was visiting from out of town. Both of us have deep roots in Louisiana so we were excited to try this place out. We started with the beignets which were a lot more dense and chewier than your standard beignet. We split the biscuits and gravy and the biscuit sandwich. We found the biscuits to be on the dry side and they fell apart immediately. Both dishes had interesting flavor profiles but they just didn't land for us. We loved the Mardi Gras themed decor and our waiter was incredibly kind and attentive but if you're looking for a down home southern meal I don't think this is the place. read more

My husband and I have been coming here for years. It's changed over time but still puts out good food. The servers are a little testy sometimes but I think that has to do with the amount of people that they cram in there. It's not the place to go if you want to have a leisurely dinner with friends and visit as the noise level is deafening. read more

First of all as person that grew up on the Gulf Coast I'm always skeptical about any Louisiana/Creole cuisine outside of that area. Let's get that outta way. Just give you an idea of my mind set upon entering the establishment. My wife and I walked in and had a great and warm greeting from the front door attendant. We were seated immediately, mostly because we had reservations in the area was really buzzing so we were scared about the crowd. Despite it being crowded, the staff did not seem overwhelmed at all. We immediately get water from the attendant, which is always a good time because believe it or not some restaurants don't always want to give you water immediately, which I never understand. When we began to look at the menu, we legitimately could not understand or choose on what to get because everything sounded so wonderful. All of the dishes looked good and we didn't know what to do. Lol I finally decided on the breakfast sandwich and my wife got the shrimp and grits. She also had a hibiscus tea and I had the orange juice. Both were amazing dishes. I was not disappointed and we look forward to returning. I have to say the service was absolutely excellent. Our table attendant was very attentive and checked on us regularly. Everyone was warm and friendly and the food came out in a timely and fresh hot manner. I would say the only caveat was that the restaurant was really warm. Apparently the air conditioning was having some issues and it was about 95° outside. So you can imagine how I felt on the inside. I felt really bad for the table attendance and the bartender who was drenched in sweat because they had to have on certain uniforms and couldn't dress for the temperature on the inside. I didn't like that part too much as a former table attendant myself. I felt bad for them. Other than that, we would come back and eat because everything tasted great and the service was great. I'm looking forward to even trying them for dinner. read more

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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. read more

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On a Sunday evening. I'm glad the restaurant is still there but I was disappointed with the food. The gumbo looked wonderful - dark roux with a silky texture but was too salty to taste any herbs. The sad pulled pork sandwich only slightly warm when brought to the table was not succulent and the hushpuppies were odd - a side of guacamole was a curious addition. Had the plate sat too long before it was served to me? We enjoyed the wine and the service/staff was gracious. The restaurant's interior is charming. Southern cuisine is varied a plate and new innovations should be welcome . I never expected others cooking to taste like my family's but the dishes I ate at the restaurant were not a good representation of southern cooking. read more

Omg this establishment is amazing. I enjoyed the crab cakes ,sweet potato biscuits and fried chicken. Absolutely did not disappoint. Everything was perfect including the music playing and the great customer service. Again if you haven't tried big jones you're missing out on some great southern cooking. read more

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WOW.. the yummiest brunch for a rainy day. We got apple tart French toast and beignets to start, a delicious $8 bloody (HH), and shrimp and grits that aren't pictured. We had the coolest guy as our server. 10/10 read more

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Staff was friendly and menu had many gf and v options. My corn cakes were very yummy. read more

Big Jones - Corn griddle cakes - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Baby let me tell you something is not a southern restaurant at least not what I am use too, I was so excited about going with the great reviews, well I am here to say this was the worst fried chicken I ever tasted, terrible batter with no seasoning, I picked over it, to try and eat it, the greens no flavor added some onions to the Glory greens in the can, sweet potato souffle, we blacks ppl need real sweet potatoes, the red beans , rice was okay just to much bell peppers, onions, celery, never again ever again I can say that for sure, try at your own luck read more

Big Jones - Nasty chicken greens - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Great food and ambiance. Reserve in advance because there is always a crowd. I say try the shrimp and grits or the chicken and waffles. Very hearty meal and great selection from the bar. read more

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. read more

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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. read more

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I've had brunch at this spot more than once and really loved it each time. The vibe is always fun inside - classy with southern charm. The back patio is small and quaint with plants growing. The beignets are always solid, but so is most any food choice including the pancakes. Loved, loved, loved the grits. The food was always out quickly, even when they were very busy. The servers are always very friendly and helpful if you have questions or need some guidance with what to order. Highly recommend! read more

Big Jones - Birthday beignets - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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[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, etc 2. 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.com 5347 N Clark St Chicago, IL 60640 read more

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Great food, insane service I've been here several times over the past 10 years. When we first went it was fabulous; delicious food and great service. They went through some bad years when the quality of the food really suffered, but recent visits have been better. So when we had a big group visiting from out of town we decided to give them a chance. MAIN TAKEAWAY: food has returned to being excellent. All the old faves, gumbo, fried chicken, shrimp/grits, cornbread, deserts, we're all really tasty, and our guests ate everything on the table. However, the meal had one of the craziest services I've ever seen experienced. I'm not saying bad, because both the server and manager were very attentive, but food and drinks took forever to get to the table, dishes came out at random times, and the wait staff was in over their heads in a way I've never seen. To give you a sense of it: we ordered 8 drinks, and about 5 min later a server walked over with two of them. We asked what beer she was holding and she didn't know, so yelled over to the bar to ask. It was supposed to come in an 8oz glass but was in a 16oz (lots of free booze so I didn't complain). We then ask about the cocktail, again she didn't know what drink it was "but it starts with a p..." Again consulted the bar and got it figured out, but how do you not know what drinks you're bringing??? The meal went on like that, and I won't pile on, but the service continued to be bafflingly confused. We weren't mad, since the staff was nice, but we couldn't understand why they were so confused. One final story to give you a sense of it: we had ordered the persimmon tart and bread pudding. Again when they hit the table the server didn't know which was which, and the manager had to come over and tell him. We asked what kind of ice cream it was served with and our server (who the manager said was in training, but was obviously quite drunk, knocking over glasses, slurring his words, brought us 10 spoons at one point for no reason) responded "it's persimmon ice cream, persimmon is a lovely sharp citrus." We, amused, pointed out that it was clearly not persimmon ice cream, and that persimmon isn't a citrus, at which point he walked away very embarrassed. We just couldn't understand why he didn't just admit he didn't know the ice cream, or at least find a more plausible lie! All this is to say we really enjoyed the meal, and were in near hysterics watching the service by the end. I don't know what was happening on the evening of Friday 12/19, but we wish this place all the best! read more

We had a reservation and didn't have to wait. The waitress was friendly and helpful. I had the fried catfish with creamy grits and red beans and rice. It was absolutely delicious! The glass of lemonade was a bit small and a little weak but not the worst. The space is a bit tight. I will go back and I recommend this place. read more

The service was awful. My husband's gumbo came with the entrees. I could see that they were sitting in the kitchen for a while. My crispy catfish had no taste , it was not seasoned. Actually nothing was seasoned (peas and grits). No one came over to check if everything was okay. No one refilled my water even thought the table next to us receivedrefills.. I had to go over to the bar for ice. I forgot the fried green tomatoes were undercooked but the breading was tasty. Surprisingly the water was good.I was very disappointed because I have eaten at Big Jones many times but this was the worst. read more

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. read more

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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. read more

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My wife and I both were craving fried chicken this night. The last time we had this hankering was in Niagara Falls, NY, a million years ago. When we had this itch, I went to KFC, got a large bucket of chicken and we got "down and dirty" in our hotel room while watching Murphy Brown. It was a rampage so nasty, we loved it. This is what we wanted to have tonight. My #3 son recommended Big Jones in Andersonville, so off we went. Well, Big Jones was far from "down and dirty". On the contrary, it was this immaculate restaurant with silverware and real napkins. What we wanted was a place with a newspaper table cloth and 500 Dude Wipes. Oh well, here we were. The service here was as pristine as the environment it was in. Their fried chicken dinner was this very well balanced plate having turnip greens, grits, biscuit with brown gravy and two pieces of chicken (either white meat or dark meat). Everything was good, but the food seemed lazy. Maybe lazy is the wrong word, but that's the word that came to my mind. Or maybe better yet, how about this - this food at Big Jones was very polished. What we wanted was some down home finger licking street food. This was not what Big Jones's was about. I'm not calling tonight's restaurant a fail. Quite the opposite, it was very good; just not what we felt like. When we left Big Jones, my shirt was spotless; I mean unscathed and gleaming. That's exactly what I didn't want! read more

Big Jones - My pristine plate - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Two stars is generous and if not for the fried chicken it would definitely be one. I lived in New Orleans for 4 years and traveled extensively in the South on busisness so I have a frame of reference for how bad this food was and how little they know about it. I ordered the 1/2 chicken because in a lot of the pictures on Yelp, the bird looked really small. It comes with "red beans and rice" and a sweet potato puree. I really really wanted to like this place. I really did. Let's start with the redemption. The chicken was juicy and perfectly fried. The coating is tasty but some my find it heavy. It's a preference issue. It says it comes with a sweet chili sauce. There's a small dot of it on some of the pieces.... whatever. I asked for some Crystal, Louisiana or Tabasco sauce. The waiter said they make their own and that they're a real Southern restaurant. I told him that if they were a real Southern restaurant they would have one of these sauces. I will sum up theirs by saying that it reflects their cooking, too much of their ego and too much seasoning all over the place. Those three sauces complement this food. Simple, chili, vinegar, salt and time. Theirs are too spicy for this cuisine and have too many ridiculous hipster flavors. In real Southern food you can taste the main ingredient first and the rest is a backdrop, an accent. The red beans and rice are not the red beans and rice of the South at all. It's not even in the ballpark. More rice than beans by a lot and the beans are tiny. The rice was undercooked, hard. They were not delicious either. Great red beans are hard to make vegetarian too by the way. Get it together! They served mine OVER the sweet potato puree which was nothing more than a spoonfull smeared on the plate under the woeful beans. Neither was worth eating and the plate certainly wasn't worth $32. They make 3 gumbos. One of the parties at our table ordered the z-Herbs and they delivered chicken and andouille by mistake. They left it as a bonus dish and I tried it. Thank goodness I didn't order it. It was so salty I would have sent it right back. The roux was nice and dark but it was absolutely inedible. Another person at our table made the mistake of ordering the bread pudding, one of my favorite desserts. Again, a utter and complete disaster. No one who tried it came back for a second taste. I've never ever seen anyone serve it sliced like french toast. It had so much nutmeg it was cloying. Dry, over seasoned, just terrible. It comes with vanilla ice cream and they couldn't even stop themselves from adding some unidentified ingredient. It was brown. Why? It wasn't good. Just serve the classic. A little cinnamon, maybe raisins (fights break out over this issue in some parts) and serve it with a creme anglaise whiskey sauce. If you prepare it properly, it's a wonderful dessert. They have absolutely no idea what they're doing here. Another in our party ordered the shrimp and grits. You had a hard time finding the shrimp. They're the wrong size for this dish and there should be 5. She rolled her eyes and ate most of it anyway. I am absolutley positive that if it weren't for the chicken, they would not be in business. read more

I'd like to give more stars for this place, but came away from dinner last night with more criticisms than compliments. I do love New Orleans and low country cuisine, having spent years living in New Orleans and traveling through the south on business, but I don't think this restaurant delivers on either. I ordered the catfish, even though I found the accompaniments confusing; red beans and grits on the same plate? Weird, but I like both, so thought maybe the chef had landed on some interesting combo that might work. It didn't. The red beans they serve here aren't traditional New Orleans red beans (kidney beans), but crowder peas. I know this restaurant is a mash up of two cuisines, so there's some creative wriggle room, but when you offer up red beans and rice on your menu, people who understand the dish have an expectation about what that is, especially when you claim to serve New Orleans food. I know I did, and I was disappointed by the beans. Serve Camellia brand red kidney beans like they do in NoLa and be done with it. While crowder peas are a staple in the American south, they aren't part of this particular classic New Orleans dish. I did try the red beans and rice on my husband's plate, and the ratio of beans to rice was way off, plus the rice was undercooked. More beans, the right beans, and less rice. Plus cook it through. On to the catfish. I found the breading on the catfish to be heavy and not complimentary to the light favor of a nice catfish filet. It had taken on a very dark color, and was bitter as a result. The best fried catfish has a light cornmeal breading; it's done this way all over the south. It felt to me like the chef's ego was getting in the way. You really can't improve on the time tested recipes that southern chefs depend on. Maybe he needs to stop trying to reinvent the wheel and start working on perfecting those heritage recipes. They make their own hot sauces here, but I found all of them too spicy, and also thought they all had too many ingredients. Any respectable NoLa restaurant offers either Louisiana brand hot sauce, Crystal hot sauce or Tabasco table-side, sometimes all three. There were two other dishes that I sampled, the gumbo ya-ya and the bread pudding. The gumbo was too salty and the rice was undercooked. Undercooked rice?!? Wow. That's a basic cooking 101 rookie mistake. The bread pudding was way over seasoned, very confusing to the palate, and had so much nutmeg in it that I was left with the aftertaste of it for hours. It seems to be a trend with this kitchen to complicate flavors and add too much, when simplicity would win the day. I tried my husband's fried chicken, and thought it was pretty good, which is the only reason this isn't a 1 star review. It's a pretty restaurant and the service was good, now they just need to simplify the food and get a clue in the kitchen. Maybe it's time for a staff trip to New Orleans. High Hat Cafe should be their first stop, as that restaurant does this style of cooking extremely well. In fact, that's where I'll be heading, as Big Jones is just not good, and I won't be back. read more

We finally made our way back to Big Jones for the first time since the pandemic started and we were blown away! Everything was amazing! We started with coffee sourced through Sparrow Coffee in Naperville. The house cups are so adorable! We paired our coffee with fluffy and sweet beignets. They were absolutely divine: melt in your mouth. Yum! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! For the entrees, my husband got the biscuits and gravy. He loved the perfectly seasoned savory gravy and was pleased with his first time trying a crawfish-cake. Yum! I got the steak and eggs. I forget the entire name of it, but it was fancy steak and eggs with seasoned potatoes and butter lettuce. Oh my goodness it was decadent and delicious. The steak was melt-in-your-mouth, the potatoes were perfectly seasoned/charred, the butter-lettuce had a zippy lemon/butter vinegar ate, the egg was perfect runny, and the spicy salsa verde on top was DIVINE! I groaned in delight over every bite. Plus the portions are very generous. It may be one of the pricier things on the menu, but it well worth the cost! My only critique was that there are too many tables. Everyone was packed-in like sardines which didn't feel fully safe with COVID cases on the rise AND it translated to slower service since there were so many people. Maybe take out a few tables for better social distancing and wait-staff coverage? All that to say, the staff were all extremely welcoming, helpful, and friendly! We were very pleased with the excellent and personable service, especially from our waitress. Thank you for a wonderful experience, Big Jones! See you next time! We can't wait! read more

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Excellent fried chicken, great staff and love the happy hour prices. The cornbread is delicious too.

Unbelievable good fried chicken. Service was stellar. Pleasant surrounding tables a little close. Only neg would prefer side choice with chicken. I would recommend you won't be disappointed read more

I have been here three times and have loved each visit. There are a few vegetarian items, so each time I've gotten the tomato and goat cheese omelet. The goat cheese is rich and perfect, and I love the side of cheese grits. I also always love to get an order of fresh buttermilk biscuits. Service is always fast and friendly, and the restaurant has a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. Big Jones never disappoints. My only suggestion would be to expand the coffee menu to include espresso drinks. read more

Big Jones - Buttermilk biscuits - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We came as a large group for dinner with a reservation and were pretty quickly seated in the back of the restaurant. Weirdly though, we were then told that we'd have different (worse) service which came as quite a bit of a surprise to us, because who even says that? The menu online is different than the one that's printed at the restaurant and that really threw us off because we had a few vegetarians in the group and there were fewer options than originally advertised. The food was fine and cocktails were good, but truthfully nothing special, and the service was minimal but the servers were polite. The restaurant was playing loud music, though the playlist was pretty good. One thing that really threw me off was that they allowed soliciting indoors of their patrons, which soured the experience. I am willing to bet that brunch here would be way better than dinner, but I don't think I will be coming back to try it. read more

This is more of a 3.5 stars but I'll round up. I tried coming here a couple of years ago. There was an hour wait, they put my name and number down but they never called me. Obviously at that time I didn't really care because I had found another spot that didn't have a wait time at all, but I mention this so they know their customers aren't forgetful of their past actions. I risked coming here without a reservation and felt fortunate enough to get seated right away. After we were finished, a long wait seemed to have appeared. I believe they were still social distancing at the time because they were leaving a space in between tables. Our server was great and pretty much on point through out our entire brunch. We started off with an order of their beignets. These were ok, I've definitely had more airy and fluffier beignets, most seem to just make doughnuts, these weren't any different. They also had brunch happy hour on bloody Mary's. I don't usually order these but hey, for a special price I'll get one, or two. Jk. I only ordered one. My wife ordered their "Biscuit & gravy". You get a fresh buttermilk biscuit covered in creole hot sausage gravy, served with a boudin patty, two poached eggs and turnip greens. This dish was pretty good. A very hearty and filling dish. The greens were perfect, and the gravy was very tasty. I ordered their #BeatBobbyFlay Biscuit Sandwich. Very rarely am I defeated, but this sandwich was not edible to eat with hands only. I had to use a fork and knife to eat this sandwich. The biscuit was so soft and buttery that it instantly fell apart when I tried picking it up. The sandwich came with Chaurice sausage, which is very similar to chorizo. A spicy sausage. It also came with fried eggs, apple chutney, and Tomme cheese. I honestly didn't really care for this sandwich and regret ordering it. The flavors didn't mesh together for me. It also came with a side. I chose their creamy cheese grits. These were very delicious. But just so much food at this point I couldn't finish it. Overall the food was just ok. The biscuits and gravy were good, but certainly didn't wow me. I would however wouldn't mind returning for some of their other brunch offerings, and definitely need to try their fried chicken. I'm not sure when I'll return, but I'll be back. read more

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Great restaurant with tasty food. Big size portions for the entrees. Parking is limited as you have to parallel park in front of surrounding businesses. The restaurant has a small dining room, so your privacy seems limited. All In all it's a great restaurant to check out if you love New Orleans style food. read more

Big Jones - Catfish and Grits - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My friends wanted to come here and take advantage of the restaurant week menu, and I haven't had crawfish in almost 20 years so I was more than happy to to oblige. The space is fun, with mardi gras themed decor complete with the infamous beads. I will say it's a tight fit, but that's par for the course as far as restaurants in the area go. Service was friendly and fast. We started with drinks so I got the sazerac, which was strong and straightforward. The limited restaurant week menu had a fair amount of options, so I started with the boudain. They do theirs as croquettes filled with sausage, rice, and crawfish. It was perfectly fried, managed to avoid being greasy, and the creole sauce that came with it really tied everything together. The bread service was jalapeño cheddar monkey bread, and we went overboard and got ourselves some cornbread as well. The monkey bread was delicious, piping hot, and perfectly soft, definitely a must have. I could take or leave the cornbread, I found it a bit lacking in texture but the bacon fat butter helped a lot. For my main I HAD to have the crawfish pie, it was amazing! Perfectly portioned personal pies (try saying that 10 times fast) served in a puff pastry, with a light salad on the side for some freshness. I'd like to try more menu items here someday... but I doubt I'll ever be able to resist that crawfish pie. Dessert offered me a butterscotch bread pudding that I couldn't pass up. It came with a spiced apple butter that was truly a next level addition. It was a terrific finish to an epic meal. My friends tried the fried chicken, and while they enjoyed it and found it juicy they were ultimately jealous of my choices. We had a nice night and left with full stomachs at a price that didn't break the bank. I'd say this was a 4.5 star experience, as close to perfect as you can get in a packed space. I'll have to come back and work my way through the menu in the near future, I know some people who need to try this food! Overall, if your looking for a fancy rendition of creole comfort food you should definitely stop in here. You won't be disappointed. read more

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Went to Big Jones for a late brunch. Very homey spot with kind, attentive staff. Highly recommend the Eggs Bayou Lafourche- the popovers were the best I've had. Fruit cup was very fresh and tasty! read more

Big Jones - Eggs Bayou Lafourche - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My husband and I came here for Andersonville restaurant week and enjoyed it. The menu was $30pp which is very reasonable. First the punch drink was good and different (though a little pricy). My husband got the mango habanero cider which was also good. I was not super impressed by the appetizers. I got the gumbo which I did not like -- I don't typically like gumbo though so it shouldn't count against them! The cornbread was really good, super buttery and delicious. I LOVED the fried chicken -- it came with a biscuit and mashed potatoes which were also good. My husband got a veggie jambalaya which was stellar. The desserts were good too! The beignets were better than the ones I had in New Orleans (but not as good as Luella's in Chicago)! read more

Big Jones - Sweet potato and mushroom Jambalaya - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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This has been one of my favorite spots in Chicago since 2011. I have dined here for brunch and dinner, but this review will focus on their brunch I had in mid-December of this year. The beignets never disappoint, and there are some new additions I truly enjoyed. I was part of a group of 3, and we ordered their buttermilk biscuits (we requested sausage gravy as an addition) and skillet cornbread. For our main entrees, we ordered the fried chicken dish, sautéed duck rillettes, and tres leches pancakes. We also ordered beermosa flights, which we all enjoyed. Delicious food and an excuse to be in Andersonville. A win across the board. read more

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Went for lunch with 2 friends. There was only 1 other customer. We ordered food, drinks. We did not get drink for over 30 minutes and food took almost an hour. We saw 2 other tables get food before us! only ordered omelets and fried green tomato sandwich. The reason for delay per server was that the orders are cooked when received?? When food arrived, eggs were undercooked and sandwich was more bread than tomatoes.I keep going back thinking things improve but they don't! Never again. read more

This is an update on a review I posted a few months ago, where I came in and left after sitting for 40 minutes of NO service. One of my party called the manager to complain, and he was good enough to invite us back for a comped meal! Such a good, generous sport. I arrived early and was seated right away. I'm still not crazy about seeing the kitchen from my seat. That's only interesting when more 'exotic' food is on the menu. I ordered the Zwickel Lager beer while waiting. Kevin our server was attentive, helpful and diligent. (He gave an odd explanation on why he does not automatically give his name as an introduction. I found this a little off putting. I don't believe he was the same waiter we encountered earlier but my other party disagrees..) We got Fried Green tomatoes (which is NOT vegetarian as it comes with small shrimp!) and Cornbread as appetizers. The tomatoes were good, as was the cornbread, which is listed as gluten free. The plant SORGHUM appears a few times on the menu. It's a very versatile plant used for flavoring, sort of. I got the gumbo ya ya without rice, and the Reezy-Peezy/Hoppin John, which is traditionally black-eyed peas and rice, but this had Cahokia Rice (it's similar to rice but lower glycemic content) red pea gravy, fried okra chips and piccalilli(mustard relish). I am not diabetic but I wanted to limit my white rice intake. My party got mac and cheese, bacon fat fries (they like bacon fat here!) and fried chicken. The Reezy-Peezy was good, the gumbo was just ok. I'm used to thicker broth with gumbo, and this was a little watery. Dessert was good too, I got salty sorghum ice cream with oat streusel (which is crumbs). I sampled the bourbon bread pudding by one of my party, and it was SOO good! I tried the fries but not the mac n cheese or chicken. The 20% automatic fee is still an issue, and though we ate for free, we insisted on paying it since we got good service. It was kind of busy for a Tuesday night. I'd go again but only for carryout. The service industry is still in 'recovery' phase these days. read more

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Well Big Jones has delicious Fried Chicken, and interesting take on a smokey Gumbo, wonderful choices is fresh brewed Teas and warm beignets. I can't recommend the Shrimp and Grits ‍ but the service was beyond excellent. I loved how special Blake made me and my girl feel. I want to return because of Blake, the food and to try their dinner menu. We came Saturday during Brunch read more

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Went for brunch on a weekend. I had shrimp and grits, they are good but nothing special. The sauce on top tasted a kind of similar to their gumbo. I also had gumbo for a starter, it was light but had good flavor. It came with some rice but their rice was dry and they soaked up a lot of soup. So you might want your rice for the side. The tables are really close to each other so it would be really loud especially during busy brunch time. And also, like a lot of people mentioned here, their service is slow. They are nice but just slow so I do not recommend the place if you are super hungry and can't wait for your waiters/waitress for extra minutes. Overall, they are good but nothing special. I rather try new places so won't go back. read more

Big Jones - Shrimp and Grits - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

If your in the mood for Southern style food, look no further than Big Jones. You can't go wrong with anything here, everything we ordered and everyone else in our party had nothing but rave reviews. I started off with Beignets (3 per order) and the skillet cornbread. The cornbread was by far the most delicious item of the meal. So, be sure you get it, served with melted butter on top! For my meal I got the Egg Bayou which contains crawfish, pork/bacon, sour cream, bearnaise sauce. The sauce had a bit of spicy kick (in a good way). The dish came with your choice of side, I opted for hash. My husband got the griddle cakes which were like pancakes but extremely fluffy and light with layers of a sweet sauce and berries. When we are back in Chicago we will be sure to stop by again for brunch! read more

Big Jones - Berry Rice Griddle cakes - Southern Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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