Catering by Max’s

If I could give this place 0 stars… I would.
Catering by Max’s catered my recent wedding, and if there was one thing I could change about the entire day-​it would be that. My problem is not the food or the service that the wait staff provided. In fact, both were wonderful. My problem lies therein with the owner-​Larry Estes.
When I first met Larry he came off as extremely male chauvinistic, but was unfortunately the only caterer willing to work within my husband and I’s fairly small budget. He would not take direction or have any direct contact with myself-​he would only take direction from my husband. Even though, we had explained that I would be in charge of most, if not ALL of the wedding plans. He ignored my emails, and talked down to me in person. He would only receive direction from my husband-​who really did not have time to be dealing with him. I personally, could get past all that, but that was only just the beginning.
Larry lied. He tact on around $ 2500 in extra charges, TWO WEEKS before our wedding. He made up these ridiculous excuses, and claimed that we didn’t notify him of certain things in the beginning. He charged us $ 3.50 per person for a «cake plating» charge, and we had cupcakes. (that he did not make, and said that this was to offset what he could have made for a desert table) He had originally quoted us $ 1.00, but changed in 2 weeks before. He added on $ 4.50 per person for soda, which he did not include in our initial contract. When confronted about these issues, he chose to not respond to my emails or phone calls. We had to pay up, since we did not have time to replace him. When we added this all up, our final bill was in line with the initial quotes we received from competing catering companies. Looking back, at least they were honest about what there charges were going to entail.
On the day of the wedding, I found that he had not listened to a word I had said. He placed the bars in different locations than I had initially requested (completely blocking off the area where we were supposed to do our first dance), and distributed our mini-​cake (that was meant for the sole purpose of cutting the cake, and I requested to have boxed up for my husband and I) to our guests. I had told Larry where I wanted my guests to go after the ceremony, and he directed them elsewhere (forcing them to stand in a cramped and awkward stairwell for 20+minutes). We had planned on having a bridal party dinner right before the ceremony (since we were only having and appetizers and cocktail reception), and he took it upon himself to tell our entire bridal party they were not allowed to drink, even though we had discussed this plan with him before. He stated that he «didn’t want [us] to be drunk during the ceremony.» As the bride-shouldn’t that have been my decision? These were just a few of the situations we were forced to deal with during what should have been a «stress-​free» day-​at least on the catering side of things.
All in all, Larry was awful. If you are considering him catering your event-​RUN. You do not want to deal with this man for such important events. I would say that «you get what you pay for”-except we ended up paying just as much as more quality catering companies would have charged us.

Ok, I was drawn in by the sign «Home of the Ghetto Fries». They look like a disaster, but they are rather quite tasty. Fries, with cheese, barbecue sauce and giardiniera, what can go wrong… well probably nothing. They were good and actually the best part of my meal.
In a city where you can get an Italian Beef almost anywhere, they can be easily judged. I have to say that Max’s was just ok. Not bad, but just ok. Nothing spectacular, just ok. I ordered a cheezy beef, and they forgot the cheese, which I’m sure made a big difference. Maybe I’ll give them a second try.
The food was served up quick and with a friendly smile. Nice experience, just ok, so-​so Italian Beef. **They give you shitload of napkins, because you’ll need them, trust me.

I’m noticing all these reviews are reviews of Max’s restaurant, not Catering by Max’s Restaurant. Max’s has been a favorite in my family for a long time, but this isn’t the right place to rate the restaurant itself.
For my graduation party, we wanted a hot dog cart, which is something that Max’s (also the owners of former Fluky’s) provides. We’d done this before, and it was a great time. The food is delicious, they were on time, took care of everything, and provided people to dress and serve hot dogs.
We called the owner a month before the party, and asked what the minimum was for catering. He told us guaranteed 50 people was the minimum. We told him we could guaranteee him twice that. He said he’d call us back with an estimate and to get things rolling. We called back several times over the next couple weeks, but either did not get through or were told he’d have to call us back. We finally got an estimate out of him, and he said he’d «have to find someone» to work that day, and would let us know when it was all set up.
Four days before the party, we heard from him again. He told us that because we weren’t ordering any sides or anything from them, just the hot dogs, that none of his employees wanted to work the party because they «prefer to work the bigger parties» where they can «expect more gratuity.»
«You understand,» he told us. No, we said, we don’t understand. You’re running a business, you tell your employees what their assignments are, and they do them. Then they get paid. No, he said, their business works differently. The employees get all the info on catering jobs and decide whether or not it’s worth it. So, we said, we’re paying these guys $ 20/​hr plus 18% gratuity for food for 100 people, and it’s not enough? Are you kidding?
If you want more money per party, you should put a higher minimum on catering. It’s not okay to turn down business because your *employees* don’t think it’s going to be worth their while when the event will guarantee you double your minimum. What a shitty way to run a business.
Finally, he said he had someone who «owed him a favor» and he’d get back to us.
Apparently it was so much of a hardship for him to get business in a recession and take our money that he had to call in a favor to do it. He made it clear that the entire event was just an annoyance for him and that our money wasn’t good enough for his employees.
We found someone else to cater the party, after an absolute panic state since it’s pretty impossible to set up a catering job only four days in advance.
Max’s owner called us back three days before the party to tell us that he’d called in a favor and we were all set.
We told him where to get off.
In other news, the lady with the hot dog cart from Welles Park provided fantastic service, delicious food, and was actually happy to get the business. She was a blessing, and we’d work with her a hundred times over.
The bottom line: Catering by Max’s doesn’t want your money, the owner lets his employees call the shots, and they will screw you over at the very last minute. Don’t even bother. Not worth the hassle.

For years I’ve been intrigued by this place– they used to have a sign advising to try their «ghetto fries» and my fiancé and I would always say that one day we had to try the fries. That day came and perhaps I was expecting too much, but the food was bland and the ghetto fries were just ok-​cheese gloop with sweet chili sauce and other toppings was not tasty. I’m glad my curiousity has been satisfied but I feel no need to return.

Best Italian Beef in Chicago, hands down. I live in San Francisco, and they don’t have italian beef’s out here. No, I’m not kidding. If you look up «italian beef», THERE ARE NO PLACES. Lordy I’m jonesing for a fix. I come here whenever I’m home.

Max’s has amazing Italian beef sandwiches — which has a special hot pepper giardinara mix. Max has buckets of it on the counter so you can add your own.

This has to be one of Roger’s Park most famous beef joint. They have had consistently good business going for well over 20 years. They do have other items such as hamburgers, chilli, hot dogs, etc., but if you are coming here to Max’s, you got to get the beef. My personal favorite is the beef with sweet peppers.