Jolly Inn Restaurant & Banquet

Just finished eating here, this food is absolutely delicious! Definitely going to come back here! Nice employees, good food, what’s not to like?

This place blows my mind! So much food for such a low price and everything is fresh, top quality, and plentiful ! I liked the duck and roast beef the best as they were both super tender! Come with a large appetite as this is an all you can eat buffet! We will definetly be back! This place is worth every penny! If you like polish food or want to try polish food, then this is your place! Trust me, it’s very good!

This place is stuck in time, and the food is just old school awesome classic polish food. Buffet has so much it can make everyone happy, and it is so affordable. Try to duck. My absolute favorite in the buffet!

I later found out more about this incident from the serving staff at the banquet hall. It seemed like there were some communication problems between the family and the restaurant: the family made some some serious errors.
I am giving them 3 stars, because they seemed to try, and the food looked good.

Travel to the edge of the city to sample food that is far from cutting edge but quite delicious. This restaurant serves a fine Polish buffet all day at very reasonable prices, and the service is super friendly.
Beet borscht was a sweet & sour clear beet broth that comes with dumplings; I like to add sliced beets, boiled potatoes & sour cream from the buffet. After that it was on to assorted salads, potato pancakes, cheese blintzes, more dumplings, & fresh fruit until I didn’t have room for anything else. When I thought I was done the waitress pretty much insisted on bringing me ice cream for dessert.
The dining room is comfortable and the buffet tables are spotless and well organized. As a plus, everything is labeled in English. I’m sure I’ll be back.

What a pleasant surprise! If you have a desire to be «jolly» mentally and «heavy» physically, Jolly Inn offers all-​you-​can-​eat buffet (weekday: $ 9.95; weekend: $ 11.95).
Finding the actual «restaurant» isn’t straight forward. If you utilize their customer parking lot, DO NOT exit onto Irving Park Rd. Instead, proceed to the opposite direction, pass their back loading dock, and make a loop onto Natchez. The entrance is located on Natchez, across from Dunning Square shopping plaza.
Of course, a well-​equipped parking lot is much needed for a place that offers the AYCE option. Most citizens in the United States don’t have a complete grasp on moderation in food intakes. However, that issue isn’t going to be our center of discussion.
The actual dining room was old-​fashioned but clean, but the line to the buffet required slight meandering. It was kind of awkward to get the cheese blintz, potato pancakes, and pierogi RIGHT at the entry where customers were coming in, playing some lotteries, and waiting to pay. That portion of the restaurant might have to modify somehow.
The selections of buffet were eclectic, with 60% of choices being some kind of meat or poultry. Hubby, a vegetarian, was able to enjoy regardless since he spotted his all-​time favorite veggies: green beans and barley. I think I should re-​name him and call him «Jack» from now on.
I, on the other hand, sampled their cucumber salad with sour cream, cabbage rolls, fried fish, meat/​cheese/​potato pierogi, cheese blintz, chicken gizzards, Polish sausage, sauerkraut, kolaczki, and an assortment of fruit. I did four (4) rounds total; I was comfortably full.
I didn’t stop by the roast beef station, but it looked quite appetizing.
Their sources of entertainment for patrons were 1) radio with pop music; 2) international news channel, featuring Japan apologizing for what they did during WWII, North Pole rugby, and the legendary Baltimore riot (what a travesty if you ask me). Most folks were more interested in choice #2 for their entertainment, myself included as well.
That strange international news channel definitely was a great companion for pacing my buffet marathon. We didn’t spend an awful amount of time swallowing lots of food, but the ambiance was quite relaxing if you were a buffet conquerer.
Oh, by the way, the server did offer a choice of ice cream, but we kindly reclined due to the lack of volume in our stomaches.
Did I tell you the buffet price for a adult on a weekday is $ 9.95 (as of 04/​29/​2015)? Most dishes were flavored nicely and tasty, yet having the buffet hot plates and lamps on continuously reduced the moisture inside the food overtime. As the result, the fried fish was difficult to cut open and the cabbage leaf had some minor burn marks.
I still believe discovering Jolly Inn with their AYCE buffet was pretty exciting! I’m frequent customer at the nearby Montrose Deli. Hence, you would definitely see me around in Dunning/​Portage Park neighborhoods. After all, it’s not typical to see a petite Asian girl in various Polish neighborhoods, exploring and eating, in and around Chi-​town (hahaha).

My family and I have been coming here for years and it has never disappointed. We always have the buffet but you can order off the menu which we never did. Food in buffet is simply delicious and fresh and the soup is out of this world! Next door is a full restaurant/​banquet hall. Parking right outside the door & across the street in a well lit parking lot. Staff is friendly and helpful.

I love Jolly Inn! So many good things to eat here! It’s like going to grandma’s for Sunday dinner. Their soups are fantastic too. No low calorie stuff here… that’s why I love it!!!

Meh. Being raised in a Polish immigrant home, I will say the food does not have a home cooked style or taste. It’s like Polish fast food. However, I will say they do have excellent service!

Was my kid’s school the only one in Chicago that was off for Pulaski Day?
Good for him because we made it a theme day – he is part Polish after all. And yeah, I’m that kind of mom. Just ask my husband about the Germany/​Austria Day outing we had.
My friend Angela P raves about this place so I’m glad I finally got a chance to check it out. The place is much bigger inside than I thought it would be. While we were there, I overheard them say that they could gladly take a party of 16 for lunch. Yes, lots of space.
And lots of food! We visited for the lunch buffet. The staples are all represented.3 kinds of pierogi, kapusta (braised sauerkraut with sausage), galumpki (stuffed cabbage rolls), roast pork, meatballs, cucumber salad, beet salad, potato pancakes… and lots other good choices like roast chicken, fried chicken, fish, pork shanks… pasta, veggies… so much food! The dessert station had cakes, kolacky, meringue cookies. Everything I tried was good. The galumpki rivaled my MIL’s – that’s saying a lot since she’s been making that dish forever. The biggest standout though was the roast beef. There is a small carving station and the servers will carve it for you. This was the BEST roast beef I have ever had. it didn’t need the au jus either, very flavorful and tender. My favorite for sure.
The price is right. I don’t know at what age the buffet is free, but for me, my husband and son, our bill came out to $ 27. That’s with soup and coffee which is extra. A great deal for all of us eating well and having friendly attentive service.

Every once in awhile I pass through here. It’s a pretty good Polish buffet!
The buffet is plentiful, the food is good, the staff friendly and the prices are low.
What more can you ask for?
P. S. … They need to replace some of their bench cushions as you sink way down into your seat… Time for some new springs, folks!

The food here is delicious. Very flavorful. very CLEAN and always hot! I love the potato pancakes and the coffee. Random, but true.

Received exceptional service from the momemt 8 walked in food was fresh, excellent, will definitely come back.

For a polish buffet this IS as good as it gets! I haven’t had any others (YET) but that’s because I’m willing to drive all the way from Uptown to Natchez and Irving Park for some Jolly Inn!
The meat pierogi are delicious, I dream about the dill potatoes, the potato pancakes are crunchy and flavorful and perfect with some sour cream, their golabki are unmatched, my husband and my mom love the apple fritters.
I want to go there all the time.

As good as it is — pierogi, placki …
I love it. Fast service and very polite
Missing some polish veggie salads
Nice place. Been here many times.

Jolly Inn has been a part of our family for many years — we keep coming back! Very much like home-​cooking, kinda like Grandma used to make, traditional Polish food. Pierogis, potatoe pancakes, blintzes, dumplings, stuffed cabbage, roasted chicken, sausage with kraut — mouth watering yet? The salad bar is good too — plenty of choices which includes fresh fruit. So nice to be able to take whatever you want from the buffet and even go back for seconds. The restaurant, which is quiet and comfortable, is the perfect place to enjoy real comfort food! We have always enjoyed this place as a family and I’m sure you and your kids will too — especially Grandma and Grandpa! A family tradition waiting to happen!

My husband and I just moved into the area so we decided to try this place out.
I’m usually hesitant to go to buffets because I always try a little bit and never really get my money’s worth but not at this place. The food at Jolly Inn is amazing! I think the owners want to ask me to leave when I visit. #Jk
It really is that good though. The restaurant is super clean, the staff is friendly and the food is delicious. Make sure to check out it. You’ll be surprised at how good it really is.
P. S. You can’t go wrong with the Perogi’s, potato pancakes, and stroganoff.

I live a block away but won’t walk here because there’s no way you can walk home afterwards. It’s the most delicious, hearty, filling food I’ve ever had! I love Polish food and there’s a ton of it in this neighborhood, but you cannot beat this buffet. $ 12.95 per person for homemade everything? Hell yeah. This ain’t OCB garbage.
There is a reason this place has been here for a million years… and hopefully they will be here for a million more!

This is my favorite place for Polish food. It is a buffet and the food is always plentiful and fresh. My favorite foods include the dill potatoes, polish sausage, beef with mushroom sauce and the apple pancakes! The potato pancakes and cheese blitzes are amazing. The coffee they serve is my absolute favorite. I could sit there all day and drink the coffee!
Most of the waitresses are very nice, there is one older waitress that’s not very friendly but it’s a buffet so you don’t really need the waitress very much.
The prices are reasonable as well.

Eh — my dad raves about this place. My BF loves this place. So we went and I was underwhelmed… everything was a bit tasteless. The servers were AWESOME but I just wasn’t impressed with the food and I sampled just about everything.