Al's Italian Restaurant - Cicero

I rounded up some of the usual suspects on very short notice for dinner at Al's in Cicero. I'm a sucker for old-school red-sauce Italian places, so I was eager to try it. I'm a little sad, however, that I never made it to Al's before they renovated it a few months ago.

Drinks were well made and reasonably priced. Pleasant bar area.


A bounty of offerings from the salad "gondola."



Thin-crust pizza in the Chicago "tavern" style. Solid, but not exemplary. I gave it 7 out of 10. Saucy.


Fried Broccoli ($4.95 Cheap!) Some had already been taken from plate. Solid, but Jim & Pete's is better.



More to follow....

Calamar: not bad


Stuffed Clams: again, not bad


Some sort of "soup." Avoid at all costs


Whole Chicken Vesuvio. Probably the best entre we had IMO.


Veal Parmesan: Looks good. Was not good, unfortunately. I'd like to try the eggplant parmesan

Fettucine Alfredo: Absoulutely swimming in sauce. Tasted pretty good. Sad story of wasted potential.


Spaghetti in Al's "Special Sauce": Lots of parmesan mixed in. Not bad. Best pasta we had.


Second trip to the salad bar for desert! Such a deal.


So, in summary, Al's was a nice spot, nice people, decent food. The place was still pretty busy at 10:30 on a Monday night, so this may be a good spot for night-owls.

6050 W Cermak Rd
Cicero, IL 60804
(708) 656-1060
www.alsrestaurant.com

teatpuller wrote:

This was my biggest disappointment at the new Al's last night. Veal Parm has been my go to dish at Al's for at least 25 years. This version is not at all like what they have served in the past. I've got to say, I'm a little embarrassed by this showing after making such an emphatic endorsement. Hopefully, this is an anomaly and not a change for the worse as part of the new remodel.

That veal parm is way over cooked from just looking at it. I wouldn't have let that go out of the kitchen.
I was a good customer of Al's for over 30 years. Pretty well know it from top to bottom.
Good to hear they updated the interior. That was needed 20 years ago. Grandma passed away a year or two ago so, I'm not sure if the family hung onto the place. Now that it is the "New Al's", who knows. I haven't been there in 5 years, only because I moved out of Oak Park.
I'm glad to hear Al's is still around, and good to know they still have the salad gondola thing. The ribs were very good and I love saucy pizza, not smothered in it though. I've had many good meals there, alot of fun going later at night with a group, and the price is right!
I often run into the bartender that worked there for years. He has some stories! The servers were a fixture as much as Grandma was. Funny how they all aged. Not me!
Thanks for the update!

TooHot wrote:I often run into the bartender that worked there for years. He has some stories! The servers were a fixture as much as Grandma was.

The servers are still there (most of them, anyway), Grandma's little table next to the kitchen is gone and so is the bartender. There's a new Hispanic guy behind the bar.

Couple of other things I forgot to mention. Bread was fresh and very good...why do so many restaurants screw up such a simple thing? White and wheat:



Wine options were limited, but fairly priced. We had a couple bottles of Antinori Santa Cristina (86 points Wine Advocate!) $7.50/glass $26/bottle.

stevez wrote:

teatpuller wrote:

This was my biggest disappointment at the new Al's last night. Veal Parm has been my go to dish at Al's for at least 25 years. This version is not at all like what they have served in the past. I've got to say, I'm a little embarrassed by this showing after making such an emphatic endorsement. Hopefully, this is an anomaly and not a change for the worse as part of the new remodel.

Al's is one of my spots for red sauce as well. Haven't been in a while. Usually, I do the eggplant parm, and I'm curious as heck now.
What were the big differences?

Some more pics from the meal documented above by teatpuller . . .


Al's Restaurant - 6050 W Cermak Rd, Cicero, IL



The famous salad gondola



Not exactly a "don't eff with me" type of group

This was my first time at Al's and I thought the food was fine but nothing really wowed me. Like many of us in the Chicago area, I grew up on red sauce Italian but over the past year or so, I've been to a few of the most highly-regarded places in the category and really, none of them thrilled me. I don't know if I've changed, the quality of the genre has changed, or both. In any event, I'm beginning to think that this is a type of cuisine that simply doesn't appeal to me anymore. That said, it was a pleasant and inexpensive dinner with friendly service, and the company was great.

=R=

Well, it looks like I accidentally deleted my Al's photo set off Flickr. What a dope.

Since I moved out to this area, I've always thought of Al's as my replacement for Biasetti's from my old hood. Hearing that Al's has remodeled is giving me severe panic attacks. Why must these classic places feel a strange need to "update" to some 10 year more current style (mind you - still 25 years out of date)? I fear that this may be the end of the road for Al's , as it was when Biasetti's remodeled. Let's hope not.

n/m

Here are the pictures again.

I got note that I was headed to Al's Pizza on Cermak in Cicero last week and slowly began craving my go-to item on the menu. The best seats in the house are still at the bar.


Family owned and operated for over half a century

I've been here a handful of times over the years and most everything I've sampled over time has been tasty. But the "Uncle Bobby's" pizza special is where it's at. He knows what's up.


Uncle Bobby's Pizza Special

Pizza is served tavern style thin although it's not as thin as some others are. What's on Bobby's? Double sausage, Bacon, Peperoni, Onions, Green Olives and fresh sliced Jalapeno Peppers served well done. All that adds up to make this a special pie. It's without a doubt an indulging meal that will leave you feeling full and if you eat enough of it, not hungry at all the next day. I've always wanted to try their taco pizza but Bobby's always wins. Still worth the go.


For the food porn freaks

Al's Italian Restaurant
6050 West Cermak Road
Cicero, IL 60804
(708) 656-1060

Man, this thread is worth a bump for a couple of reasons. First of all, not to brag (too much), but that's a hell of a "before" pic for the current state of my mid-riff. Second, this place needs a bit more love. My family and I went on a Fri night recently. We were not alone in the place, but we could have used a lot more company. Nothing about the meal shouted neglect or passed by or anything like that. It was a highly satisfying meal. One you all should mimic.

Speaking of passed by, if I would have one complaint with Al's, it's that they updated the interior. Pre-remodel, this place ranked up there with Orange Garden or Klas as one of the most preserved, ideal, exact decors in Chicagoland. Why could they not realize what they had. It's like all those Chicago 2 flat owners in the who thought their places would look better if all the trim was painted over white. Maybe someday, someone will do a gut rehab of Al's and scrap off the re-do and uncover the glorious darkness that it was.

Nothing else suffered. In re-reading this thread, I really do not think enough justice was done for this place. The salad gondola is, like a lot of this place, rather idiosyncratic, with its mix of pickled beets, cheap pepperoni, and zig-zag sliced mozzarella (the old school kind, not no fior di latte nobody sent). Yet, within this weirdo mess is a seafood salad, that at about any other place, would cost more than the $3.99 gondola; there's a homemade eggplant salad that I bet is the same recipe used back in the old country; roasted peppers were expertly done, then enhanced with way too much oregano and, new but cool, huge slices of jalepenos. Even the dried herb heavy salad dressing is exemplary. Who said unique is not delicious. Of course, we have fried calamari too, because they know how to fry at this place. The portion is huge, and sure, a little Open Pit sauce goes well. As R Fox noted above, bread service is way above normal standards, with the Sicilian mafalda leading. All this means that you can take home as much food as you eat.

Our haul back to the Bungalow included pizza leaning on that Chicago school of a very short crust, eggplant parm, a mess of sausage, potatoes, onions and peppers called giambotta, pasta with Al's creamy sauce and more pasta with plain marinara. These are all perfect examples of the fusion of Italian recipes with new world zeal. The hidden dollops of butter in the pasta sauce really show the move to a new world cuisine. The only food that deserves a little quibble was the sausage in the giambotta. I've had lot better in the Near West suburbs.

Before heading home, there's one last trip to the gondola for the fluffiest, sickest, oddly pleasurable desserts. Lime green pistachio, classic ambrosia; a thick, nearly cheesy tasting rice pudding. It's a good place to go after getting your wisdom teeth pulled.

Listen, I'm a huge sucker for these kinda places, and my grade may be affected. In recent weeks, I've had just as satisfying meals at Jim & Petes and Jimmy's. Still, there's something about all the quirks that maybe puts Al's a little, teensy bit higher in my rankings. Of the three, it also seems the most in danger. Not the kinda meal you want every day, but someplace you need to get to more often.

Right you are, VI. Al's is still in my rotation and should be getting more love.

The disappointment I expressed upthread regarding the veal parm has been replaced with happiness because whatever the issue was on the day the OPBC had dinner, it wasn't a permanent change. The veal parm is once again up to its old standards, as are the rest of the red sauce items on the menu.

I also miss the old decor, but at least the food has rebounded. I also noticed on a recent visit that the salad gondola has fewer items than it used to have (in particular, I missed the creamed herring), but what remains is still as good as ever.

I made a reservation on OpenTable one recent Friday night and was surprised to find that we were one of only a few parties in the restaurant when we arrived. The staff was whispering among themselves when we showed up for our reservation, and I later came to find out that no one had ever made an OpenTable reservation at Al's before. Most people just show up. The waitress couldn't believe that we were able to do such a thing using our smart phone.

Closed for months after a fire...

https://alscicero.com/

Our last few visits were less than stellar. Used to be one of our favorites.

Phone disconnected

Panther in the Den wrote:Closed for months after a fire...

https://alscicero.com/

Our last few visits were less than stellar. Used to be one of our favorites.

Phone disconnected

To me it doesn’t look good.

Big dumpster outside. Empty

Yellow tape across the entrance to the carryout door

Absolutely no activity in the middle of the day

Peeked inside, tables set

Banquet hall in a bit of disarray

Stopped at a business across the street and talked to a gal...

There was a small kitchen fire in October, supposed to be reopening in April

I don’t know, not holding my breath.