FILTHY FILTHY FILTHY. I have seriously never been to a dirtier, run down place allowed to serve food. Polish food?!? Maybe years ago but not anymore. The pierogi were more like an empanada. The sauerkraut seemed to be mushy I wasn't sure it was possibly potato mixed?? It was nothing like I have ever had. I have had many a pierogi in my lifetime and this is not a pierogi. I'd sooner have a store bought frozen one. But honestly my real complaint is the filth. If you don't take pride in the cleanliness of your place just hang it up. I don't care how much history is in the place it's seen its day. read more

A great first polish food experience for my party. We loved the family owned mom and pop vibes. Very friendly staff, service was fantastic, food was tasty. The owners were hanging out with locals and came to our table to ask how we liked the food. Highly recommend the potato pancake dipped in sour cream and applesauce, which I learned is a polish tradition. Will definitely be back!! read more

Cavalier Inn - a plate of food on a table - Polish Near Me - Hammond, Indiana

I was disappointed, I always what mom-pop places to succeed. It's been around for a long time, and boy it looks it. As a business manager if you look dirty and shabby people wonder about the kitchen. The food was just ok, both the fish and frog legs. Bring out coleslaw on a very thin paper plate not a good idea. My drink was fine. read more

This place was amazing! The food was very authentic. It was like you were at you grandma's house for dinner!!! The owner, Wally, and his mom were the most charming people! HOSPITALITY is their specialty along with the great food. I didn't get to have stuffed cabbage because they were sold out. So now I gotta go back! read more

Cavalier Inn - Polish Near Me - Hammond, Indiana

WOW! This mom and pop restaurant has soul, heart and flavor. Visited during National pierogi day and I'm grateful I did. Their coleslaw alone is worthy of a 5 star review. Worth the drive from Chicago read more

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I have been coming to the Cavalier Inn since 1984. The food, the ambiance, the decor, and most of the people have stayed consistent throughout all these years. It's an old school bar, just stick with a shot and a beer. Don't get cute here. Service can be shotty at times because the owners can't seem to find good help anymore but the owners are awesome. Everything I have had on the menu is delicious. Just because they haven't changed the decor since maybe they have opened doesn't mean anything. If Wally or Nora are working just sit at the bar and order there. They will take care of you. 3 bean salad, polish sausage, kraut, and pierogi are homemade and excellent. These pierogis are not your typical small church fry pierogis. They are big and packed with filling. Probably the best perch dinner in the region. Tiebels uses way too much butter for me. Great hamburgers and fried chicken. Great place to host small parties and luncheons. They do a great job on that as well. read more

We Order the pork chop and it was Unable to eat it. It was a big piece of fat. We will never be going back there again. That used to be a very good restaurant. I don't know what happened. read more

My first time here after a friend of mine recommended Cavalier Inn. I've lived in the area for years and still have family in the vicinity and wondered why I've never dined here. To my surprise, my sisters have been here many times in the past, but not me. Cavalier Inn has been here since 1949 so they must be doing something right! I love Polish food too! The food was very good and filling, fresh Polish sausage and kapusta. The Polish beer, Okocim, went well with my entree. I even took an order out for someone at the end of my first visit here. I ate in the back hall, which was in dire need of renovation. The very tired and worn service counter in the banquet hall corner was a total disgrace for patrons to view. The kitchen appeared quite organized and clean but the cook appeared to be a very young Hispanic guy and the wait staff consisted of American girls in jeans that spoke little or no Polish... Welcome to 2016 Hammond, Indiana, I guess. Gone are the starah-babas (old Polish ladies) cooking up a storm in the background. I will return and maybe sit up in the colorful bar area next time. I guess I was a bit taken back by the dingy and dated in a bad way, banquet hall. You guys need to spruce up things without ruining the nostalgic atmosphere of Cavalier Inn. You probably could attract new business in the process! The food was very good... but I will hold further judgement until after I return to try something else from the menu. read more

Visited friends in my old Chicago neighborhood of Roseland and Pullman on Chicago's south side. We discussed how time has changed so many things. Talk centered around the many businesses that have come and gone. Today it seems everything is a franchise. Restaurants and places all seem to follow the same recipes striving for financial success. Seems a cookie cutter approach is used everywhere you go. No individuality can be seen, felt, or tasted as we go from one eating and drinking establishment to the next. It's if you've been at one place you've been to them all. In an attempt of defiance I deliberately took my trip home to Munster Indiana as a means to seek out and find those places that still hold to their roots and old ways of doing business. My first stop was "Old Fashioned Donuts" on Chicago south side at 11248 S. Michigan ave. It's been in business for 47 years as I was told by the daughter of the 80 year old founder and owner of the establishment that served me. Yes Pop's still shows up for work cranking out the donuts everyday but Sunday when they are closed. They to this day, as I recall in my youth, continue to make the most delicious and best apple fritters of anywhere I've ever had. To this day they continue to be bigger then the size of most peoples faces. Are their donuts any good? I can say they are but I'll let the fact that daily they sell out of many and most of their varieties of donut offerings speak to that question. So if you come, come early. Secondly as I partially consumed a fritter, I stopped at the Cavalier Inn. I've passed this joint many times and never stopped in. Inspired today by my friends conversation of the past and fueled by a tasty fritter, I last second veered left into a parking space and entered unfamiliar terrains. What I stumbled to find though was not foreign. True I'm Italian and it's a Polish eating and drinking old school inn but oddly the place reawakened memories of my past. I was taken aback like a time warp to the 1970's. It was triple D. No not the kind of triple D's your immediately thinking.... It was Dark, Dingy, and possibly Dirty and oddly I loved it that way. I approached the then empty bar, that was corralled with a wide assortment of nonmatching bar stools, and confidently ordered a "Old Fashion". It's the drink I routinely order in a new place In order to gauge how well ones bar skills are. Turns out the staff labored intently without success to locate any bitters. I responded with a follow up request that a Makers Mark and ginger ale would suffice. It was my gain in the end as it was prepared and filled in a large beer glass. Seems I initially used a standard with which to judge a bar/eating place in which the Cavalier Inn isn't looking to meet or satisfy. It's not a cosmetically enhanced fancy dining and drinking establishment that seems to pop up so often today. You don't come here to order the craft beer in season, the margarita of the month or seek to feed on the latest offerings from the Food network. What you'll find and get here is a honest to goodness savory meal that satisfying to it's core and that you won't likely find anywhere else. Here you can find meals of your past and yesteryears. Here you'll find Liver and onions and frog legs. They've got traditional Polish faire prepared fresh they way it was done in Poland. From the bar I could hear from the kitchen the pounding of porkchops as they tenderized them into a submission of tastiness. I thoroughly enjoyed my fried lake perch and I was pleasantly surprised to have it arrived after the complimentary relish dish of coleslaw, cottage cheese, and bean salad. Sure it's old school, but it's goodness and I doubly enjoyed it's compliment to the meal and its transporting me back to a wonderful bygone era of dining. Spoke at length with the places owner Wally and it harkened, as I sat at the bar, back to a time when bar talk was not only a right of passage but as well helped develop ones ability in the art of conversation. Places like the Cavalier Inn need to be supported. They hold for us a key to our past thats worth revisiting and should never be forgotten. Let's return to a time and place where we can put down our cell phones, talk topically with friends and strangers over drinks, and enjoy an affordable tasty meal. Sadly the locations not found on my street corner or in my town or I would love to make it my regular watering and dining hole. I shall though no doubt return for more triple D's and Delicious food. read more

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The Cavalier is a typical North Hammond neighborhood place. I love the tiny two person booths in the (smoking) bar - very 50's. The dining room is not fancy but is usually full on Friday night. The specials board never seems to change - Lake Perch, Walleye and Shrimps. They added the s on shrimp, not me. Each meal starts with cottage cheese, cole slaw and bean salad. I love the dilled beans! Stay away from the breaded pork chop. It is too thin. Also skip the canned green beans. The fish is quiet good and the fried chicken is the best I have had. Dinners are inexpensive and imported beers are $4. There is a lot of fried food on the menu. I'm anxious to try the Polish Platter. The waitress says it is plenty for two at $17. Service is a bit slow but friendly. read more

Hello FOOD SNOB here, This neighborhood place has been the same since 1963. I drank Beer here for many years. Sometimes I have lunch here. GREAT BLT sandwich and Delicious TUNA MELT. Just tried the POLISH PLATE. It is big enough for 2 and is excellent. All HOME MADE, OLD WORLD comfort food. Family owned since 1947 I believe. Many regulars sit at the bar and eat. Nothing fancy just GREAT food, read more

We went in on January 18. The Christmas tree was still up. Crazy. The sign on the door said no smoking. The business was smoke filled. No customers in the dining area. It was a Friday night at 730. We decided to maybe tough it out. Sat down and we could see employees in the kitchen area smoking. Combine that with high prices and we left I'm not going to pay almost 10 bucks for stuffed cabbage prepared in that environment. The place was Smokey and looked very ran down. read more

I'm not one that's big on writing reviews but was at the Cav yesterday after a funeral for a friend and was very impressed in many ways. The hospitality was exceptional and the food was delicious. It is getting more difficult to find good ole homecooking but this is the place, & the deserts were fantastic, Might be worth a stop just for the deserts. I recommend this while I am eating the leftovers that are just as good the second time around. read more

Just some good food with great service. Nothing fancy, but you will feel like you are at your grandma's house eating the type of food you remember eating when you were a kid. read more

This place feels like home away from home. It's the comfort food you grew up on, not some hipster take on it. Just like busia used to make it, and if you eat in the back part of the location, it feels and smells just like her house once did. If you get the polish platter, you better be hungry, because you're getting everything and the kitchen sink. The potato pancakes are perfect and the pierogis are delicious as well. Definitely go for the fresh polish sausage, the smoked is nothing to write home about. read more

Awesome polish: Okocziem, pirogi, nalasniki, flatke, and kielbasa. Just like mom used to do. Very generous portions. We'll be back Walt!

Made my first stop at Cavalier Inn on this day and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. Now granted they don't have a vast menu of Polish food, but what they do have is delicious! I ordered the Polish Platter and you talk about a meal fit for a King! The platter comes with: mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, 2 Polish sausage, 1 stuffed cabbage, 3 pierogi, 2 potato pancakes, corn, & applesauce. Unless you have a serious appetite, you will be taking some of this home. Not to mention that they start you out with bread, cottage cheese, bean salad and coleslaw! I really can't wait to try some of the other things on their menu. Even their iced tea was fantastic. They said it is freshly brewed and you can taste that it is.I recently tried Pierogi Square in Crown Point and this place blows Pierogi Square out of the water as far as real Polish food goes. I'm not trying to deter anyone from stopping here at the Cavalier, but the one area where they get negative marks (that's what kept me from giving them 5 Stars) is their cleanliness and appearance of the place. First off, the floors in the dining area looked like they hadn't been swept in weeks. The bathrooms were disgusting with a dirty sink, no hand soap or paper towels available(I had to dry my hands with toilet paper!) and pubic hair all over the urinals! Then the gentleman serving me left the pitcher of iced tea at my table (which is cool because I always need a lot of refills) and before I could pour a refill, I had to sweep crumbs off the top of the pitcher first, which also didn't look all that clean in the first place. And not that this is a big deal to me, but this place is in need of a serious remodel. The sign says they've been in business since 1949 and I think that this is the same building since 1949! At least it looks like it is. So bottom line is this on The Cavalier Inn, Food & drinks: A Cleanliness & appearance: D- read more

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The Cav is truly a gem. This bar instantly will make you feel like family (I happen to have luckily married into it, too!) I have never had Polish food before and what an absolute delight!! Come for the pierogis and beer but you'll return for the people. read more

A throw back to the early 70's late 60's Polish Bar/Rest... Don't expect anything fancy, if your looking to eat something healthy, this is not a place for you.. We were there on a Sat. afternoon and had some of the most amazing polish food.. We had fresh and smoked polish sausage along with a little dumpling called (Kopitka) which was out of this world served with sauerkraut and a fabulous cucumber salad... Great food, old school bar/rest., good service and overall enjoyable experience. read more

True neighborhood place. I must confess that i have known Wally the host since we were in grade school together(St.Cas). However the food and personality of this place cannot be beat.Everything here is home made. I should know in Polish. The Mushroom soup is the best i ever had.My server did a great job and i left very satisfied.Cavalier Inn has the personality that the chain restaurants lack.Dont change a thing Wally! SMACZNEGO! read more

Best food in a Diner/Dive in the region. Forget ambiance, this is an old school neighborhood bar with a dining room that looks unaltered since the '60's. Not much to look at but the food is terrific. I think the fact that it is a dive adds to the charm of the place. (Except for the bathrooms- wish they would remodel the bathrooms) The polish food is top notch. Tell them how you want your pierogis, sautéed or pan fried. The stuffed cabbage and stuffed peppers are great and the kraut is the best anywhere. They also have great sandwiches; pan fried perch and other comfort food favorites. The place is family run and the workers wait tables and help in the kitchen. Service can be slow but they will get you what you ask for. The proprietors treat costumers like family and greet you as though they have known you for years. read more

I ordered takeout pierogis for my work crew and they went over big. You could tell that three different people assembled them. Today however I stopped for lunch and was so disappointed. I ordered the Polish platter and found that they did not have the potato pancakes. A stuffed cabbage was substituted. They arrived warm but not hot and I sent them back. The cook seemed upset. The rest of the dish was poorly seasoned and rather tasteless and overcooked. The service was abysmal and that seems to be a problem with any of the restaurants in this area. I will probably only order pierogis to take out from now on and not stop for a sit down meal. read more

I highly recommend this place to eat. It is the real deal as far as Polish food is concern. Nice big Pierogis they taste delicious have to try all the varieties. The service is excellent and they make you feel like home. All in for a good old fashioned meal come here to eat! Be prepared to take home left overs as you sure will need your doggie bag. read more

The perch dinner was fantastic, can't remember when I had one so delicious. I would recommend this place for dinner oh yea the polish plate is to die for I hear that is my next meal :) read more

Very easy to give the Cav 5 stars because it IS as good as it gets for what it does: home-cooking Polish food par excellence! Great selection of Polish and global beers and vodkas in the bar, where you can also enjoy a meal in one of the cozy booths. In back, lunch and dinner are served at the tables in generous portions. All the Polish dishes are perfectly prepared, and the quality of ingredients is high; e.g. very lean kielbasa. Stuffed cabbage, pirogi, and lake perch are my favorites, and fried chicken and pork chops are among my friends'. In the bar, Wally, who played football while at Northwestern, is a friendly barkeep who knows his trade - and a lot more; smart boy, he! - and makes everyone feel welcome. In all, a unique place that I'm happy to visit every time I'm in the Region. read more

Someone recommended this place for perch dinner. I almost killed myself with the bones they left in the perch filet they served. I had to dig around in my mouth to pull out one bone that got caught betewenn my tooth and gum. Pass this place by. read more

Great, authentic polish food! I got the platter and it was more than I could handle. I tried to finish it because it was so good, but my stomach could hold no more. Great polish beer on tap. Be sure to get a shot of the 'ox grass' vodka,the smoothest vodka ever to touch my lips. The help is friendly and I swear a baba actually made the meal. My co-worker had a polish grandmother and he had not had a halupki since she passed on. He literally inhaled it while ate it! Kept saying, 'just like my grandmothers'. It is also a classic corner bar. I can't say enough good about it. Don't be misled by appearances. This place has great food. read more

One of the worst places I've ever eaten. Very greasy food, terrible service, didn't even have the kraut that was on the menu. Bread was inedible because it was so, so,so stale. I was charged incorrect prices and the waitress threw the bill at me after I mentioned it to her and she checked it., and corrected it. Not the cleanest, either. I got sick when I got back home. read more

My Girlfriend and I placed an order for dinner to go. We ordered the Salmon Cakes, Potatoe Cakes and the Polish Platter. EVERYTHING WAS EXTREMELY GREASY. Potatoe Cakes were so greasy that they needed to be ringed out. I could have done an oil change on my car. The Salmon Cakes were over cooked and dry. The Sausages were deep fried and so way over cooked they were more like Polish Sausage Jerky. They didnt have any Stuffed Cabbages so they substituted Pork Chops which was fine. They were very moist and tender but also very greasy. The Sauerkraut was saughy and flavorless. But the three Pierogi's that came with the Platter were missing. The Chicken Soup had an 1/8th inch of chicken grease on top, we put it in the fridge so it coagulates and we'll scrape it off tomorrow. Being that this was our 1st experience going there, it definitely will be our last. My Great Grandmother was from Poland and I grew up eating homemade Polish food. Being new to this area, originally from Chicago, I was so excited to hear of the Cavalier Inn and the great reviews on yelp. Major disappointment. I am willing to try them one more try after talking to the waitress and she even offered to pay for our dinner so to give them another chance. I won't take her up on her offer but it was a sweet and sincere apology. We will try them again and I will definitely post a new review afterwards and maybe delete this posting. read more

Went again last night. Still wonderfull. What laks in service is made up in the great homemade food.Very old school, give it a try.

I had heard of Cavalier Inn but never ate there before. I went there for my birthday and really like the place. Very old school place! Great service and BEST FOOD!!! I cant wait to back soon. Polish platter is enough food for 2 people! read more

The food was great. Every meal starts off with a bean salad, coleslaw, and cottage cheese relish dish. I ordered the lake perch which exceeded my expectations, however the customer service was a deal breaker. We went on ash wednesday waited 10 minutes for a waitress to bring our menus. They apparently ran out of menus so we had to share one. We ordered our meals, and an HOUR later they came out. All we got was fried perch. The waitress was semi rude. I only left a 10% tip, because of the customer service. I look at my credit card statement and see that the waitress added an additional $2 to her tip. I am calling the owner to see what he can do. I have no intentions of going back. Avoid at all costs! read more

The food at this restaurant is average. My reason for the one star rating is terrible service. Our party had six people, and it took the waitreses over a half hour to serve us drinks and to get menu. Once we placed our orders, it took another hour and a half to get our food. To add insult to injury, my baked potato was stone cold once I finally got my meal. In between all this there were at least three parties of people that had issues getting their check. Definately will NOT go back. read more