Was here a bit ago with a couple friends...had the pot roast sandwich, great lunch (could have used a bit more heat...thermal, not spice) but devoured none the less. Plus, even though the fries were the "spiced", bagged type...the addition of that gravy over the top of it all made them a joy to eat. At the table we also had chicken noodle soup...caught a taste at the end and thought it a perfectly respectable version, never a huge fan of chicken soup, but definately not Sysco-ized. There was a BLT and the pictures already posted tell the tale...a delicious composition of in-house roasted bird with all the right stuff, and was lucky to escape with all my digits intact when I tried to snag a bit. The other member of our party had roast turkey with mashed and all I can say is I'm grateful that I have small friends who can't eat...the downfall was we (especially me) were stuffed and couldn't get to dessert, but will definately rectify that so I can get to the donuts and bread pudding. Great lunch and with 3 Mexican Cokes and tip it was just north of $40...get there if you haven't!

Just wanted to warn everyone that The Depot now closes at 8pm daily. Still opens at 6am.

I'm not terribly surprised, as I can think of a number of times the wife and I have been the only people there after 8pm, or one of only two tables. Disappointed though, as I have appreciated every one of those visits and with my work hours it isn't always possible to make it out before 8:00.

All that said, had another fine meal tonight. The meatloaf sandwich was as good as ever, perhaps even better simply because we were sneaking out for only the second time since the baby was born, while his grandparents babysat. We have a couple of great looking slices of apple pie and pear pie waiting to be consumed shortly as well. I remain a big fan of The Depot, but be sure to get there before 8:00

Finally, a move that makes sense. I used to drive by around 9pm every night and the place would be dead. But they would beef about their long hours. Go figger.

Went with the family for dinner @ 6 PM this past Saturday, but they were out of Turkey! Made change-ups and everything was great.

POUT ... Went monday for Meatloaf

and they had closed early because of Columbus day

Darn Darn Darn and a couple foot stomps... (ala Herman Munster)

jazzman wrote:POUT ... Went monday for Meatloaf

and they had closed early because of Columbus day

Darn Darn Darn and a couple foot stomps... (ala Herman Munster)

That's rude of them. I have also been a victim of their random closings.

Bad News.

The Depot has been closed for a couple of weeks and I heard today that they need 10K to reopen.

Doesn't look good...

Panther in the Den wrote:Bad News.

The Depot has been closed for a couple of weeks and I heard today that they need 10K to reopen.

Doesn't look good...

I've seen sillier things raise more money than that on kickstarter.com.

I may be wrong, but didn't The Depot have a well publicized fund raising drive to keep open just a few years ago? Sorry to hear of their troubles as they always served me wonderful food.

thick wrote:I may be wrong, but didn't The Depot have a well publicized fund raising drive to keep open just a few years ago? Sorry to hear of their troubles as they always served me wonderful food.

From a few pages back: viewtopic.php?p=250159#p250159.

Bedford Falls this ain't. I wish them well.

Let's please keep speculation to a minimum for the moment, and hope for a public update.

Santander
for the moderators

Thanks, to Vitesse 98, for sending the following link:

Depot Diner temporarily closes after health inspection

at OakPark.com, Marty Stempniak wrote:Co-owner Anna Marie Nava said they've never had a problem passing a health inspection since opening in January 2007. But that all changed during the rush of the lunch hour March 15 when they got a visit from an "inspector from hell."

Workers were poking in and out of the cooler grabbing food items, and because of that, the fridge was off by 2 degrees, Nava said, earning a more-serious health violation. On top of that, the inspector hit The Depot for a series of minor violations that had never rose to the top before. Those ran from torn booth seats, to damaged floor tiles, to replacing burnt-out light bulbs and a hinge on the bathroom door.

All told, they ended up having to pay more than $4,000 in fines to the city, and have been forced to shut down the restaurant for about three weeks. They've since fixed the cooler and revamped the inside and expect to reopen by next week.

=R=

at OakPark.com, Marty Stempniak wrote:...a series of minor violations that had never rose to the top before.

Where's the City Inspector for Grammar when we need him?

riddlemay wrote:

at OakPark.com, Marty Stempniak wrote:...a series of minor violations that had never rose to the top before.

Where's the City Inspector for Grammar when we need him?

It appears that you're it.

Reopened this weekend! I had a lovely pot roast sandwich for breakfast...

Hooray! I was feeling a little sad and guilty about the fact that I never go there anymore, and now look, a second chance!

Yippee! I thought my egg cream and pot roast sandwich days were over!

Being in the neighborhood today and having recently read this thread, my husband mentioned being hungry coincidently right at the corner of Harlem and Roosevelt. I asked him to make a right turn and off to DAD we went.

We walked in and I have to be honest, several things were the source of mild irritation. I was in a huge biscuits and gravy mood so this was my prime reason for picking today of all days to go, especially since it was still morning. Upon asking the waitress why biscuits and gravy were not on the menu, she very politely informed me that it is only served on the weekend. Racking my brain, I could not remember whether it had ever been stated in this thread that biscuits and gravy are only a weekend delight. Needless to say I was highly disappointed and annoyed and started to work my way through grumpy puss mode. Next thing that irritated me was walking into a diner and not being asked not once if we wanted coffee. I am total diner coffee addict. I have to have my fix and while I drove from my house on Belmont and Kedzie at 7 am this morning to West River Café on Montrose and Kedzie just to get coffee because my coffeemaker was not working (Luckily the owners and employees know me and know my habit, they’d probably have a coffee IV hooked up to me if they could) , I still needed some friggin’ coffee! Not being asked not even during our order was just highly unusual for me. I asked for it and received it and at least I can say it was some damn good coffee. To top it off, my husband walked in a very skeptical man. He wanted breakfast but made a huge fuss over his lack of breakfast choices. Than he decided to get clam chowder but changed his order when he realized the eggs and sausages came with hash browns and toast. I honestly thought he didn’t want to be there and wanted to walk out but it didn’t come to that though I could tell he was just as disappointed as me. That is until we got our plates. He loved his food and my Swiss cheese and egg sandwich was actually pretty tasty. We walked in skeptical and annoyed and walked out happy and full.

I love diners, whether they be Nighthawks-esque or family style Greek diners and the latter ones have been disappointingly dull to me lately so I really wanted to love DAD not only for the décor but what it evokes: that feeling of the classic American diner. We’ll definitely be back, but next time it will be for lunch or dinner (want to try some of the sandwiches) , biscuits and gravy will have to be for the weekend.

HI,

Somewhere buried deep in this thread is information about biscuits and gravy on weekends only.

I'm glad the food changed your disposition, because they do glorious renditions of diner food. Their pot roast sandwich with heaps of fried onions is really quite lovely. They roast turkey fresh for their turkey sandwiches, which means occasionally the turkey isn't out of the oven yet.

Fortunately, you left happy after your initial disappointments.

Regards,

I love this place, and hadn't been for a while, but just about everything we had today was off, from the open-faced turkey (gravy was gross, bread was generic) to simple things like pancakes and eggs, which the Depot usual gets just right. Dunno what was going on. We even saw someone send a side of bacon back to the kitchen. Maybe just a bad day, I hope.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Somewhere buried deep in this thread is information about biscuits and gravy on weekends only.

I'm glad the food changed your disposition, because they do glorious renditions of diner food. Their pot roast sandwich with heaps of fried onions is really quite lovely. They roast turkey fresh for their turkey sandwiches, which means occasionally the turkey isn't out of the oven yet.

Fortunately, you left happy after your initial disappointments.

Regards,

I must have missed or directly put it out of my head when seeing those delectable pictures of biscuits and gravy. thanks for clarifying that, Cathy. i usually try to keep tabs on little details but somehow it flew out the window. I just don't recall reading that it is served weekends only.

Still have to go back but we definately will be since we pass by the Oak Park area every week or so. I am dying to try the soups and sandwiches.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Thanks, to Vitesse 98, for sending the following link:

Depot Diner temporarily closes after health inspection

at OakPark.com, Marty Stempniak wrote:Co-owner Anna Marie Nava said they've never had a problem passing a health inspection since opening in January 2007. But that all changed during the rush of the lunch hour March 15 when they got a visit from an "inspector from hell."

Workers were poking in and out of the cooler grabbing food items, and because of that, the fridge was off by 2 degrees, Nava said, earning a more-serious health violation. On top of that, the inspector hit The Depot for a series of minor violations that had never rose to the top before. Those ran from torn booth seats, to damaged floor tiles, to replacing burnt-out light bulbs and a hinge on the bathroom door.

All told, they ended up having to pay more than $4,000 in fines to the city, and have been forced to shut down the restaurant for about three weeks. They've since fixed the cooler and revamped the inside and expect to reopen by next week.

=R=

Torn booth seats? Really? I can't imagine what public interest is served by having the city fret over a freckin' torn booth seat or a burned-out light bulb.

Back to the food:

We went on something of a hamburger kick this weekend, starting with Depot Diner, then progressing to Top Notch and some grilled burgers at the Forest Park Farmers Market. All were good, but I want to give a special shout-out to the burgers at the Depot Diner. Definitely the best of the bunch. Cooked to order, good beef, and the cheddar cheese added just the right touch.

Concerned that at 6:00 on a Thursday night there were only two tables occupied and only one or two more came in in the hour we were there. The cook said it may be that they serve more cold weather comfort food and people don't think of them in the summer. Whatever. Make a trip. Try the burger.

Went to the Depot for the first time on the strength of the comments here. I mightily resisted the urge to get biscuits and gravy (next time), instead opting for the pot roast sandwich and the donuts. Both were excellent. The fries, as expected, were lacking any sort of crispness, but the gravy on top made up for it to some extent.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QxztuzsllSJkHjae8NXGp4IpFQpmFFHfZ6Wzji4HJgQ?feat=directlink
The excellent Pot Roast Sandwich

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MYwQ4ExAv5n_pleGxSfF1YIpFQpmFFHfZ6Wzji4HJgQ?feat=directlink
I couldn't finish my order of donuts made to order.

I arrived before 8 AM on a Saturday, and the place was empty. Service was friendly and attentive without being too "hovery." I'll definitely be back and will tell my friends about the quality food offered here. It wasn't exactly cheap, but for the quality of product I received, I consider the prices more than fair.

Ann Fisher wrote:.

Concerned that at 6:00 on a Thursday night there were only two tables occupied and only one or two more came in in the hour we were there. The cook said it may be that they serve more cold weather comfort food and people don't think of them in the summer. Whatever. Make a trip. Try the burger.

This is precisely the reason I have yet to return. Pot roast, clam chowder soup and other such things are not often craved by me when it is so damn hot outside. I am dying to try their dinners but I need a cold or even just a nice rainy day to do so.

KajmacJohnson wrote:

Ann Fisher wrote:.

Concerned that at 6:00 on a Thursday night there were only two tables occupied and only one or two more came in in the hour we were there. The cook said it may be that they serve more cold weather comfort food and people don't think of them in the summer. Whatever. Make a trip. Try the burger.

This is precisely the reason I have yet to return. Pot roast, clam chowder soup and other such things are not often craved by me when it is so damn hot outside. I am dying to try their dinners but I need a cold or even just a nice rainy day to do so.

Their fried chicken's pretty good, too, if you want another summer option.

Depot had me suspicious earlier this week. They didn't want to take an order over the phone for pickup ("just come here to order"), were out of chocolate syrup for the egg cream, and the place was in extremely tired shape, hot, with no moving air, and unengaged staff. Fortunately, the pot roast, fried onions, seasoned-salt fries, and slaw were the same as ever, and hit the spot. A few booths were occupied at dinnertime. With atmosphere retreating towards standard diner operation, I'm glad the food was still a standout.

I was sorely disappointed when I went to Depot a couple weekends back. Pre-fried onion rings that they warmed on the griddle (not fried) were disgusting on top of the pot roast, which was served in a relatively small portion compared to what we saw on TV. Mashed potatoes were laden with water, with absolutely no seasoning and very large chunks of unmashed potato (at least you could tell they were homemade...). Both brown and white gravy was no good either, also unseasoned, although the sausage gravy, which they were kind enough to let me try, could bring me back in. The cranberry sauce absolutely came out of a can.

Was a bit bummed to head out that way and have as poor of an experience as we did.

I just called Depot Diner to see what the special was for today and their phone is disconnected. Has anyone who lives in the area driven by there lately and noticed if they are open?

Drove by last night about 7 and the place was dark. No signs in the windows.