Fast, friendly, filling! The food was just like grandma cooked it. When you walk in, you know that if you leave hungry, it's your own fault. Togo boxes were a necessity. read more

It was nice to go a breakfast spot where the prices are reasonable and your plate is actually full of food not empty space all while tasting delicious . The waitress was friendly and food out quick. What more can you ask for! read more

Emmy Lou's Cafe - Biscuits and gravy - Cafes Near Me - Galena, Illinois

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Was here last Saturday. Down home family style restaurant. Ordered a veggie skillet with toast. Arrived within a short wait. Eggs were cooked perfect and veggies were sautéed to perfection. My friends also enjoyed their breakfast dishes. Blueberry pancakes and meat filled omelet. Will definitely revisit next time up in Galena, IL. Highly recommend if you want a good meal without added unnecessary frills. Btw... Our waitress was very pleasant and attentive. read more

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American diner par excellence! Fast service, simple furnishings, unpretentious, coffee flowing, obviously where the locals go. We had a plate of eggs/bacon/hash and a blueberry pancake the size of a pizza. Clean restrooms, very clean restaurant. The food ain't gourmet--it's hot fast and YUMMY! Don't miss out. Places like this are a national treasure! read more

Emmy Lou's Cafe - Cafes Near Me - Galena, Illinois

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The service was very fast. I had the grilled ham and cheese sandwich with fries. The sandwich was very good. I would highly recommend it. The fries were not very good as far as I'm concerned. read more

Very friendly and clean. Wait staff really doesn't interact with customers much Takes order, brings food and bill read more

Planned on going to Culver's for lunch while visiting Galena for some Geocaching, but happened to see this right next to it. We were not disappointed in the small town feel and the service and food were great. This will be on our list when we go back to Galena again. read more

Was close to my hotel so walked over there. Unassuming restaurant, not much for decor. However the food was outstanding. And served at the temperature of the sun, And the service was just as good. The hotel lot was very busy, and since I had my jeep right next to my window, I didn't want to leave my space. Glad I tried this little place. read more

The food is great, really just that midwestern home town diner type experience. I had an omelette and also tried the biscuits and gravy my friend ordered. read more

Great food & service Reasonable prices Fresh food Food came out in a short amount of time read more

The staff here is pleasant and friendly. The space is a bit odd--looks like it may have been a busier restaurant or Hall at some point. There is a lot of space, dark green carpet and booths, and the decor is certainly outdated (which I'm ok with if the food is good). We ordered skillets. The veggie one with eggs and cheese. Keep in mind that this will be American cheese (classic in a midwest diner but this tasted like the cheap kind). The veggies weren't cooked through (and some were cold), the hashbrowns weren't crispy and really kind of sopping with the mediocre cheese. The eggs were fine, but not flavorful. The corned beef hash skillet was fine--the hash is from a can but overall edible. If you are in need of a quick stop on the way in or out of town, this will do just fine. Service was friendly and quick. read more

Do not let the 80s interior fool you, or the location by Stuffmart, this place is fast, friendly, and delish. Nothing better than a good old school breakfast and this place delivers. Good coffee, all the locals, and best service ever. read more

Emmy Lou's Cafe - Two scrambled, hash browns, bacon and wheat toast. - Cafes Near Me - Galena, Illinois

Stopped there for lunch. Great local diner. If your nose is so far up your butt, no need to stop here. This has a great variety of food, great coffee, great servers. I took someone's suggestion and ordered the French toast w blueberries. Enjoyed it. When I want local beast joint but not downtown Galena, this is where I will be. read more

I wish I could like this restaurant because it is more convenient to go out to eat somewhere in Galena other than Main Street (since the parking can be a problem downtown), but the ingredient quality at this restaurant is exceptionally poor. So that is unfortunate. It used to be a lot better, like a decade ago, but the quality has really gone downhill. It's a pretty nice building and could be a pleasant diner if the food quality were decent though. read more

My husband and I stopped here for breakfast after a weekend getaway in Galena. I got the veggie omelette and he got an all meat skillet, both were so good. Their coffee tasted fantastic and the service was speedy. The waitress we had wasn't super friendly which is the only reason I rated it four stars, but she did give us great service overall. I would definitely come back. read more

Stooped in for lunch on our way to a wedding in Iowa. We were looking for a fast bite and had planned to go to Culvers, but like to support the local businesses when we can. First off, I don't really understand the previous reviews of this place. Two stars? When you really didn't have anything bad to say? This is not haute cuisine - this is a local breakfast/lunch spot with homemade food and excellent prices. The positives. My husband had the soup with his lunch - homemade right down to homemade noodles. Really tasty and not the overly salty canned stuff so many small restaurants are serving today. He also had the meatloaf sandwich and asked for extra gravy. Again, everything was homemade and flavorful. My son loved his peanut butter pancake and my reuben was more than I could eat. Lots of sauerkraut and a good balance of meat/cheese/bread. Drink refills were very fast and service was fast and efficient. My only negative was a very messy bathroom. Not dirty - just an overflowing trash can and paper towels and toilet paper all over the floor. We came just after the lunch rush (the staff were eating their lunches when we arrived) and I expect they just had not gotten in to clean up after the busy time. This restaurant is an excellent example of a small town lunch/breakfast place and in no way deserves the two star ranking others have given it. Highly recommended for locals or for a family just passing through town. Great food, great sevice and an excellent value. read more

Even the 2 star is generous. I am allowing that this was an off day and a combination of a terrible server. Emmy Lou's came recommended by people we just met in Galena. We were attempting to go off-the-tourist path to find a place the locals frequent. Sometimes it is best to stick with tried and true. Emmy Lou's TRULY is for locals. We arrived and were seated promptly. It took them 5 nay 10 minutes to walk up to us. For servers, who read Yelp, a simple "...I'll be right with you..." goes a LONG way. Our server arrived and was engaging but as we were soon to learn clearly indifferent. We got out coffee which was hot, which is good. (I am trying, really!) Our orders were taken. Problem it turns out is the missus asked for water. Yes, good ol' fashioned two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. This proved to be too much to ask. What pained me the most was the fact that the same server spent a good amount of time talking to her friends who were seated right NEXT to us. It took me waving my hands to get her to bring us water and coffee refills. Lest you think there was something about me that deserved a cold shoulder we noticed others in the restaurant get ignored. There were other servers who seemed more involved and paid attention to customers but not ours. The food was actually decent. It is the diner type of breakfast and nothing spectacular. I enjoyed the eggs and ham sandwich and took stabs off the missus blueberry pancakes which were superb. So it is true Emmy Lou's is for the locals and your tourista dollars are not wanted. I doubt I will ever go there and if I do I WILL ask for a different server. read more

I went there a month ago, and I was shocked at their prices! It seemed that everything was priced at $8.95 or $9.95, or higher! I wanted to get 2 eggs and Corned Beef Hash, $8.95! I wanted two eggs with Bacon and Hash Browns, $8.95! Their dinners all started over $10, like $12.95! The ONE good thing was the Senior Dinners were ~$6.95 or around that value, but you had to be 62 to get them. These prices are worse than Chicago pricing! My bill, two sandwiches with a coke was 23.11 not including tip! read more

Emmy Lou's Cafe - How expensive this place is! - Cafes Near Me - Galena, Illinois

This is pretty much what I would have expected driving through a small tourist town in Illinois. The service was good enough considering that we were one of 2 couples in the place. The best thing that they have going for them is that they serve breakfast until 3 and the portions are pretty big. The food was decent but the waitress messed up the drink order. Maybe its a decent place if you're a local, but not worth going to unless you are hard up for some place to eat and passing through. read more

Skip it and go to Otto's. For the same price you'll get interesting homemade food with atmosphere. The food at Emmy Lou's is mediocre at best and there's no atmosphere. This looks like a defunct Denny's or Village Inn. Nothing special here and we both felt like we needed to run to the bathroom after we ate breakfast. Waitstaff was nice. Not so much anything else. read more

Our family met here the day after my daughter's wedding. We had a party of approximately 30 people I called 2 hours before we showed up just to make sure that they could accommodate our group. I was amazed. The waitress was awesome. She got everyone's orders correct, the food came out very quickly and was very good. I am sure the size of our group was overwhelming on such short notice, but we were met with smiles, great service and great food. read more

I love the Texas French Toast so much that I don't order anything else. Three slices (6 pieces) of toast $4.95 and add a side order of strawberries for​ $1.00. read more

My family owns a house in Eagle Ridge, and we've been to all the Cafès and Diners on Main Street (Golden Hen Cafè, Victory Cafè, Etc.). My grandparents wanted to give this place a try, so we all figured it wasn't that bad of an idea to try something new. The restaurant is located almost in a corner, by the Walmart & Country Inn in Galena, which is only about 5 mins. away from downtown, but still in somewhat of a hidden location. When we came, it was clear the building, decor, and just overall look was pretty old and almost a bit rundown. The tables looked old and felt dirty, as well as the chairs which look like you'd fine in an 80s banquet hall. It was a Saturday morning (around 10:30) and the place was truthfully pretty empty. We came late for breakfast, but there were still only around 3-4 tables full, which were all empty by the time we finished our meal. I ordered eggs over-medium, white toast, hash browns, and sausage links. All were average for your typical diner but still pretty good, especially under my first impression of this place. The rest of my family were seemingly okay with their meal, but not even close to impressed. The pricing is extremely reasonable and worth it in my opinion. Our waitress was pretty lazy to be honest. Not rude at all, but not exactly very nice. She never checked on us or cleared our dishes when we were finished. Just mediocre service. Although this place has decent enough food for a decent value, I would never recommend it to anyone, especially considering all of the great options Downtown. read more

The server was kind. Lots of food. The hash browns were awful, you could taste the freezer burn. The All meat omelet was tasty

Went for fish fry because it was close to the campground. The breading is thick and the cod is tasteless. I actually got sick--up all night-- and I only ate a small piece of cod and salad. Salad bar was okay. Plain iceberg lettuce no mixed greens. Servers were pleasant. I'll skip it next time. Update: was sick for two days. You be the judge. read more

This is a restaurant that can easily be missed. It "hides" next to the Country Inn & Suites in Galena and behind a Culver's. Tired of paying too-high prices at the resort we were staying at, we thought we would come here for breakfast on a day of touring the area. I ordered the "Big Pancake" and my wife ordered an omelet. Her omelet was good and my pancake was, indeed, big. Sadly, I didn't much care for it. There was nothing wrong with the pancake itself, I just prefer buttermilk pancakes. The service was friendly, the coffee cup was continually refilled, and there were a fair amount of locals in the restaurant. I view that as a good thing since locals usually know a good place to eat. And, the price was right! read more

Had a yummy breakfast. The big pancake is huge but delicious! I ordered scrambled eggs and they almost looked to be missing the yolk- I didn't eat them after a couple bites because they were chewy. Coffee is good! read more

hash browns made of old potatoes, half of gray color, half undercook .. dirty room .. one star only for a nice stuff

If you're looking for good old fashion home cooking this is the place. We stayed at the hotel next door and my kids wanted something other than the hotel breakfast after the first day so we decided to try Emmy Lou's and were "NOT" disappointed! Food was great and service was great too! Waitress was all alone and shortly after we arrived the place filled up with all the locals and I must say this waitress hustled and never complained. One of our 2 favorite places we ate this week in Galena. In fact it was so good we made a point of stopping in the next day for lunch. This was the only place we ate twice during the week. read more

We live in the Territory 1/4 of the year and want just a booth, good coffee and half decent eggs for breakfast. This was the place. And not expensive. Normal tab for 2 is $20. Eggs and sausage were cooked well and not greasy. My fav is the Denver Omelette. Pancakes are good as well. Looks like they got good cook now, 'cause I've been there before. And there's plenty of parking. Can't speak for the lunch. Haven't tried yet. read more