Billy Berk's - Skokie Old Orchard Shopping Center

Anyone have been to this place? I think it just opened recently in the old Houlihans space in Old Orchard. I was planing on going there tommorow for lunch if anyone has been to Billy Berk's, please recomend something good to try.

Billy Berk's
3 Old Orchard Shopping Center
Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center
Skokie 60077
847-763-4600

No reviews yet on metromix:
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/sear ... 9448.venue

We just so happened to stop in for a beer before the movies last night. Sorry, didn't order any food, so this is not an extremely valuable report.

In general, this didn't seem like a place I'd really want to patronize. In the bar area, there was a piano player/singer who was too loud for the space. (Not bad, but loud enough to interfere with conversation.) The appetizer menu looked like a pretty routine array of fried things, and the overall vibe seemed like a million other mildly-upscale-american places.

I didn't see the dinner menu, and again, I didn't eat anything. But I think I was skeptical as soon as I got to the front doors; lettered on the glass of the left door: "This is a bad place for a diet.", and on the right, "This is a good place for a diet."

I dunno. Not my style.

We've been there a few times and really liked it until the most recent visit.

I've had their burger a few times, and when it was cooked medium rare to my request, it was juicy and very good. Last time, they ignored my request and cooked it to their medium well norm, and it was not juicy and didn't even taste like the same grade of hamburger. Not good at all. The fries are typical frozen/crispy and they include a few string fried onion rings - pretty greasy taste/very little onion to them.

We've had the pork chop, which is quite good but depends on a very rich sauce. The corned beef sandwich is good. We had a salad with some kind of coated walnuts, tons of bacon, blue cheese and one or two cherry tomatoes. It tasted kind of "thrown together". The frozen calamari had a perfect breading but was pretty tough. The chocolate cake looks fantastic but was a real disappointment - think "perpetual".... They've already cut back on the bread basket placed on the table. The service is never bad, but you probably won't get a warm fuzzy feeling either. For me, the mediocre burger and salad on the last visit means I won't be back. Their music soundtrack is "piano lounge/billy joel" stuff that I always found very annoying. When the pianist is playing - it's straight piano lounge with a lounge crowd around the bar. Not to my taste, but maybe for others.

I have tried it on 3 or 4 occasions due to it being one of the few places at the mall you can just walk into without reservations.

The service is awful. Truly terrible... But the food isn't too bad. As the poster above mentioned, the corned beef/deli stuff is great. Also, their lamb burger is unique and worth trying.

Overall, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there, but if in the neighborhood and if you want a ruben, you could do much worse.

Billy Berk's is the first non-California outpost of the Bay Area Max's World Inc. (Max's Opera, Max's Diner etc.), owned by Dennis Berkowitz. The Max's restaurants (there are now 14 of them) mostly feature deli food (and singing waiters). Here is a link to an interesting article from last year about the Skokie venture.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n16440079

Tortfeasor wrote:if in the neighborhood and if you want a ruben, you could do much worse.

You could also do much better by going to The Bagel on the other side of the same mall.