My wife & I had a great meal, but more importantly our kids had a blast. Everything about this place met expectations. Owner was super nice and made sure the meal/experience was great. I'm really pulling for this place because I live in Chicago and it is a quick commute for a nice place with the kids. Restaurants like this provide a service to the community when adults can eat good food while entertaining children for an hour! read more

My three year old calls this the train store. Sit at the huge dinner counter (they even have high chairs that tall) and the train brings your food. We went twice in one week, 11 on a Saturday and noon on a regular Tuesday. Both times it was half full at the bussiest and the staff could handle it easily. Food. Yumm. Both the burger and the turkey wrap were great and the sweet potato fries were crispy and perfect. Kids loved the mac and cheese and grilled cheese, the yohgurt (which is brilliant as a kids side) and the fruit cup, which in January had real fruit you would want to eat in it. The staff were great about getting drinks right away and the food did not take long either. Trains. Thankfully have not thrown up on the place. Still a little sparse, but mine loved sitting on the two kids size trains, pressing buttons on the train table and playing on the floor with the trains set (and the play mat). It was easy for them to play while we waited for the food, and while I finished. Made my visit much more relaxing. read more

Great place to take the kids. Good food at reasonable prices. Friendly, attentive staff. I've been there numerous times and never had a bad experience. Lunch with children highly recommended. read more

Nice little place to take kids for a fun lunch. Food gets hauled out to you via choo choo train which is cool and kids love it. Burgers and fresh cut fries are yummy. Good food and free entertainment for kids, sounds good to me! read more

Found this place on Groupon. Love it! All the train fun blew my 3 year old away. Food is typical good diner chow, nothing fancy. I do wish there were more train-themed decorations in the restaurant, though. The walls, etc. are pretty bare. read more

My husband and I are expecting our first little one. We walked past this diner and noted it had a good pub food variety with a beer and wine list. We ventured in and were happy to notice a very child friendly environment with a play area, photo booth, train set delivering your food, oversized chalkboard to draw on, and wooden authentic changing tables in the restrooms. The place was full of families with the kids of all ages. Parents were mingling and enjoying their meals while children ate and found plenty to do while at the diner. The owner was super friendly and attentive even during a busy evening. He spoke of his family and made us feel welcome and ready to come back after our baby is born. The menu is perfect, has great things for adults and a kid friendly section with a variety of food and healthy alternatives (yogurt/veggies, etc). We will definitely return. read more

We want this restaurant to survive, since it is a nice addition to the neighborhood and my son loves trains so it is fun for the kids. BUT we had a pretty bad experience here this week. We arrived and the place was obviously swamped. The waitresses seemed unable to function they were so slammed. So we were never really told where to sit or how to order so we had to flag someone down finally for water and ordering food. We ordered simple burgers and it must have taken 45 minutes for the food to come. The waitress kept apologizing and everything but when you have starving kids, no apology is going to stop them from melting down. Either they ran out of food and had to go buy more or the chef walked out or something. Anyway, when the food did arrive, it was not even good. My burger was undercooked and the fried were soaked in grease. My stomach was not happy afterwards. As I said, we want new places to do well but this place needs to get their act together. It takes more than a train delivering your food to get people to want to return. We may try it again someday if we hear from others that they have had better experiences. I agree with another reviewer--get a hostess, more wait staff, and more cooks in the kitchen. read more

We've been there twice, it's awesome! We have three small kids five and under. They can play and we can eat! The owner is really a good guy and sounds like he is planning a bunch of great additions to the place. I highly recommend. We NEED places like this around this area! read more

My family and I finally made our way to The Junction. In less than a minute we were greeted by a nice smiling server. She asked if this was our first time and when we said, she wasted no time explaining the menu and the specials. As soon as we sat down my son ran off to play. As we sat waiting on our food, we got our first train sighting. I think we were more excited than our 9yr old. The adult beverages are a +. I had a glass of Riesling while waiting. I had the Burlington burger, hubby had spicy chicken wrap and son had pizza. We were all pleased with our food. My burger was a tad bit overcooked, but not too bad. The servers did a great job checking back with us on refills. The overall experience was great! Would definitely visit again. If you ever drop in, sit @ the bar if you can. It makes the experience much better! read more

Great for toddlers! I still think the food for adults could be better,but the kids meal options are great and yummy!

We went with friends during a visit back to Chicagoland. Our 19 month old son LOVED it! The modified highchairs were great, very sturdy! The food was so so. I think for what is offered it's a little pricey. For 2 adults & 1 child our bill was close to $50. We had 1 app, 1 beer, 1 pop, 1 kids meal, & 2 sandwiches. The service could also use some help. It was slow. The only waiter was overwhelmed I feel like. So drinks never really got refilled. Our son loved all the train stuff to play with. So much so when our food came he didn't want to sit back down. The owner was amazing! He pulled out a top and a small train to soothe his howls. He also seemed to sense when all the kids were getting restless and would send the train by. We will return because our son now loves trains, but will wait for a groupon for a better deal on the food. read more

Great place! Very friendly and attentive staff. The food is very fairly priced and they have generous portions. The kids loved the experience. read more

Great place to bring the kids, and they have craft beer and good food for the adults as well! Their chili is exceptional and somewhat spicy if you like that kind of thing (i do). They have a great train setup with lots for the kids to do while you wait for the food. They even have a cool old vintage photo-booth machine. read more

I took my son here for a birthday dinner. It was very cute. The food was pretty good, I'd say better than most of the train restaurants we've been to. I agree with previous reviews that they could have more trains there but the place is fricken huge so I understand how hard it must be to fill such a large space. I think the thing that stands out the most is how friendly the wait staff and owners are. Even if the place was lame or the food sucked (which neither apply here) the people there made my son's birthday special and treated my family like their own. read more

Great place for the whole family. Just had the Tacos, they're better than any Mexican restaurant in the Forest Park area.

Waited about 40 min for food with three hungry boys. No one gave an update unless I asked.

Perfect for my son's 2nd birthday. Any child who loves trains will love this place. Any parent who enjoys watching their kids have fun, this is it! For the adults, they serve beer & wine and the casual atmosphere makes it easy for everyone to enjoy themselves. I thought the food was kid friendly but the adults also didn't seem to have a problem putting it down. Cute little street to wander around post dinner too. The owner was very accommodating and so was our waitress Betty! read more

We looked at a few of the train themed restaurants to take our two toddler boys and decided to try this new place. The space is very large and beautiful. We were greeted warmly and it was great because the kids loved the freedom of the space. The seats are ingenious! You can put a highchair right over a stool so a little one is right at the counter. The food is very good diner food. I had the turkey club which was large and all the items on it were very fresh. My husband's burger was delicious too. The kids enjoyed everything. I loved that there were healthy side options for the kid's meals. The best part was there was beer and wine available! One thing I would suggest is to add more train themed items and decor. A train table with trains that kids could play at would be a great addition. A commenter below criticized the place for it's concept that it is not novel for anyone over 10 years. No kidding. This is a FAMILY friendly place that is specifically looking to cater to families who want a good meal AND have fun with and for their kids. The website is very clear about the concept and even if you didn't look at the website before stepping in, it becomes pretty clear within a few seconds of entering the place. If someone wants to check out this place without kids, the food stands up and the space is quite charming. For families, this is a wonderful option. It was fun for all of us and a great value. read more

I've been here 5-6 times and now its time for a review. First of all, I really want this restaurant to succeed. I have two kids under 5 and its a great idea...a place for them to play and eat while the adults can actually talk to each other. However, there are some glaring issues. Every single time we have come someone in our group has not gotten their food. In an almost completely empty restaurant. The owner then proceeds to blame everyone except himself (the staff, the customer). The first couple times no remedy was offered and it took like 15 more minutes to get the food out. They were faster about it the last two times and did offer free food...which is appropriate and welcomed, but with a bunch of preschoolers it would have been far better to get the food in the first place. The last time we were there, the owner actually said he thought he was doing pretty well that he got 4 out of 5 orders right! Secondly, the food quality is inconsistent. Burgers are blah (especially in an area with some awesome burgers), salads are pretty bad, sweet potato fries actually inedible. I usually get the club sandwich which is decent, and the regular fries are actually pretty great. Also irritating: they use check books with the Amex logo on it but they don't take Amex. Fine, but at least put a sticker over it. This is a small thing but it shows a lack of attention that seems prevalent in the place. I notice that in previous reviews the owner has responded to the 5 star ones but not to the mediocre ones...evident of an unwillingness to admit problems. Bottom line: parents of young children will most likely have a good time as long as they don't expect good service and blah food. Although you might end up with a child screaming because everyone else to their food and they didn't! If you don't have kids, stay away. read more

We came out to meet up with friends for dinner and had a great experience. The food was great (pot roast sandwich and fries were excellent) and the service was friendly. The kids loved playing with all of the toys while we waited to be served. This is a great place for kids but the menu caters to adults as well. Such a great place to meet in between the city and the suburbs. We will be back! read more

Not impressed at all. Food was nothing special, and the service was terrible. We had a long wait, and there were only two other customers there. The waitress seemed really disinterested, as though she dreaded being there. With Louie's (which has excellent food and service) being right across the street, there is really no reason for my wife and I to go back there. read more

Food is probably 2.5 - 3 stars but an extra star for having a kiddie play area! Taco basket was decent- only $1 each! Kids at least had a choice of fresh fruit and beer/wine was available. My husband ordered a pot roast sandwich on a pretzel bun which was pretty huge and tasty. I'd recommend that over the tacos. Our family enjoyed it there and service was friendly. read more

This was a fun experience. The restaurant is very family friendly and interesting to partake in the dining experience. This is a good meet up spot to talk with your friends, while having children playing in a closed safe environment, while you eat. Who could ask for anything more. The prices were not bad and the food was yummy. The train comes out and brings you your food, staff is friendly, just never touch the moving train while its bringing out food, children are very prone to touching it. read more

Oh my goodness .that was a great mushroom burger I originally bought the groupon for the granny men but the lazy daughter was gonna let it expire,so me and my hubby carried out and I have no complaints read more

Initially i expected trains to be all in my face but when i got there it looked pretty empty just a train that delivers your food and a small wooden set for toddlers. I got the juicy lucy.. wasn't all that juicy actually kind of dry. I had to drown my burger in ketchup and hot sauce to get it down but maybe it was just my meal because my roommate seemed to really enjoy their mushroom burger. read more

I feel it's only fair to update my review once more to reflect our recent experiences. They seem to have worked through some staffing issues and now have both enough staff to cover busier times AND friendly servers who are kind to children and families. I've also managed to find several new menu items that I enjoy, and my son still loves this place, so we will continue to return. The owner is a genuinely nice guy who seems to be working hard to make this a fun option for families in the area. read more

We went for the first time last night and loved it. It's such a great concept, and the kids loved the play area (although, if I'm going to be picky, I'll say the train table could use some more trains & tracks) and the train on which the food was delivered was really cool. The food actually exceeded my expectations, too! It was really fresh and all homemade. The soup & veggie burger and handcut fries were delicious! A few more vegetarian options on the menu would be nice, though. It's also nice that they serve beer & wine for the adults. The servers were all super-friendly and the owner came and spoke with us, too, and was so nice. We will definitely be back. read more

The concept is good, the wait staff is friendly enough, but the food is mediocre. My husband and I lament that they just don't care about the food because they seem to have hit upon a successful concept- adults can eat and enjoy a drink while their kids play. read more

The food is good, but that's not why you come here. Its for the kids, and they love it. The food comes out on trains, and there's no much for kids to do. Chalk board wall, ride on trains, play train sets. It's great read more

The food and menu is mediocre, but I do not care that much. I come to this place because my toddler can play happily while my husband and I dine and enjoy a beer. Staff is always accommodating and courteous. My only real issue is the owners need to put more effort into maintaining and updating the play equipment. There is always a ton of dust on the model train set and one or more of the buttons are broken. Kids must have run off with the trains and tracks at the train table over the years because toys are sparse. The last time we were there the sidewalk chalk bucket was practically empty with a few nubs. And maybe it's just me, but the gum ball machine should go and be replaced with something else. As I said, my kid plays happily but I'm put off by it. To me, it reflects dwindled pride in a great concept for a restaurant. Small tweaks and we would definitely go way more often! read more

This place is great. It is nicer then your typical train restaurant. Not so much junk that annoys the adults, but still enough to entertain the kids. I would say it is a train restaurant with a little class. The food is very good. Way better then I expected! Great burgers and great homemade thick cut chips! The kids food is very good too. They have expanded their menu to add vegetarian options but have not tried any of them yet. The staff is very friendly but I think they are still getting the hang of things a little. Had great service when I was there and it was slow, but was very average service when we were there when they were busy. (have had worse other places though!) Could have just been the particular waitress having a rough day too! - you never know! Overall very fun time for both myself and the kids and would definitely go back. I would love to see this place stick around! read more

The food was excellent. The homemade chicken rice soup was amazing and everything else was very good. My two grandchildren thoroughly enjoyed the giant chalk board, train table and train set. The waitress was extremely attentive and helpful. I appreciated that the high chairs were counter height. Very nice and very clean décor. read more

This is a cute little place. We just found them and have been there twice. First time the waiter asked us if we had been there before and when we said no, offered some recommendations for us. Decor is simple, but they have a train table with buttons that my daughter just loved. Service staff are all friendly and don't rush you. When it was quiet they ran the train a bunch of times for my daughter. Second time was way busier, but we still had decent service. Burgers were great both times. My daughter loved the macaroni and hummus. read more

Waited 25 minutes for scrambled eggs and a cheeseburger, although the place was nearly empty. When the food arrived, the eggs were cold. They made me another plate, but the eggs tasted very strange and the toast had so much butter a huge pool soaked through the center of both pieces of toast. Dirty plates sat all around, and the place looked messy overall. I like the concept and the train around the counter, and I hope they do well, but the food, service, and cleanliness all were a problem. read more

Very busy on Friday nights between 5-7pm when it becomes overloaded with children and their families. Very nice play area for children to play while the food is being prepared. I had a Burlington bacon burger with fries and my son had the kiddie pancakes with a side of fruit. My only criticism is the pancakes had a slight weird taste to them. I'm not quite sure why or what it was but I didn't let me son finish eating them because of that factor. The waiter stays very busy so very little time to get refills of water or juice and also I didn't want to hassle him with the weird taste of the pancakes. We've came to the diner since they first opened and not much has changed with service and their love for what they do. Overall, great place. read more

This place was not great whatsoever. I get it's a place for kids. But the food was cold. Lemonade was watered down. Definitely not going back. read more

The high (mainly) blank walls make the place seem cavernous. My kids (esp. my young son) appreciated the train decor, but we won't be back in a hurry for several reasons. 1) The order took too long to get out and they got it wrong Seriously, when we came in, we were the only people in the place and our order wasn't complicated, but my daughter's soup was forgotten when the rest of our food finally arrived. 2) The food wasn't that great My "Juicy Lucy" could've been returned on the grounds of false advertising as it was not what I would call "juicy." I appreciate the concept of using Chihuahua cheese and giardiniera, but there was hardly any cheese. The burger was good sized and had decent flavor in spots, but it better be for $9.50! More problematic was the baffling combination of undercooking (if I ask for a medium-rare, you can serve me one, but if you don't even ask, I don't expect to see any pink!) and springiness. Try using a grind with more fat! That said my wife really liked her burger. The aforementioned late soup was salty enough for my daughter to remark about it, and she isn't noted for her refined palate. I tried it and agree that it was pretty stunningly salty. My sweet potato fries were just passable, but not crisp. I'm jealous of the other reviewers who received good fries! For a 75 cent upcharge on top of my $9.50 burger, I expected better. 3) The prices weren't in line with the quality I don't mind paying for quality, but did I mention that my underwhelming burger and fries was $10.25? The Junction is "kid-friendly" in its decor, but not so much on the prices: $5.99 kids meals, including a hot dog and a cheese quesadilla. That's a pretty high profit margin, although I did appreciate the option of fruit. It's not quite tourist trap pricing, but it is a bit irksome for a large family. 4) Dirty bathroom The bathroom has a nice changing table with a soft pad. I was impressed, until I saw a yellow stain on the pad of unknown (but not unfortunately not unimaginable) provenance. Now I know why I have never seen a soft changing pad in any other restroom! Luckily we didn't need to change any diapers. Keep it clean, or get one of the Koala changing tables! read more

Cute little place to at with the kids. The food is average, but seeing the train chugging along with your burger on the back is really darling. Try it at least once. You'll be charmed. read more

I was in the mood for a Bacon Cheeseburger and a Beer yesterday after the Bears loss and I decided to check this place out. I was initially hesitant since I knew it was geared towards families but my neighbors had really hyped up the food and said the chef used to own Briejo in Oak Park. I was pleasantly surprised. I would say this was one of the best Cheeseburgers I've had and rivals the food of any place on Madison St. The fries were also great and the waitstaff was polite, courteous, and attentive. Although I'm adult, I was also amused to have my food brought out on the train. I can see how this place would appeal to kids (who love trains and being around other kids) and adults and I hope they do well. read more

I was shocked at how good the food was. We took my daughter here on her birthday for dinner during the week, as we thought it would be more fun for her than a normal restaurant. She had fun, and my wife and I were very pleasantly surprised to be eating great food. No offense to this place, but I think most parents will agree that when you go somewhere "kid-centric" you don't have high culinary expectations. Homemade fries and chips, and a pot roast sandwich on a pretzel roll. Great stuff. read more