Nelly’s Saloon

Best food I’ve ever had at a restaurant. No lie. And i rarely leave reviews. Tasted very home cooked. I’m giving 4 stars because the food took a very long time to get to us, about an hour however it was very fresh and very flavorful. And I’m also giving four stars because people were allowed to smoke and I smelled cigarette smoke while I was eating.
Will definitely go back and would highly recommend. Don’t be swayed by the lack of reviews for this place.

Food was good. Unpleasant surprise at the end of meal when we were told that only cash is accepted as payment. Mind you this is Chicago, the year 2015 and you own a restaurant without a credit card machine?!! What in the whole wide world?! This was a MAJOR TURN OFF. Staff didn’t even bother to mention this policy until they brought the check. Extremely unprofessional. But then again… its Romanian so I suppose it’s expected? First and last time I ate here. Not worth the trip or the hassle. I suggest you do the same. Unless you’d like to wash dishes in the back to pay off your food if you don’t have cash lol just kidding. But really though… what f someone doesn’t have anything but a credit card on them? Ugh

Best Romanian food in Illinois, I took my friend who is Asian who also owns a Chinese restaurant, to try out Romanian food he couldn’t stop eating the bread which is made daily and always fresh, the bean soup with smoked pork was very good, if you go to this place you have to have the house speciality, ROMANIAN MICI with Romanian fries mustard and bread.

First off, The place reeks of cigarette smoke. One day the City of Chicago is going to shut this place down for not observing the law.
We were told to sit anywhere we like in the dining room which had only (1) table of people dining, most of the patrons were by the bar area. The table was not properly set. There were cloth napkins on the other tables against the wall but all we received were a few cheap paper cocktail size napkins.
My beef vegetable soup was tepid. The bread was cold and heavy, it is fabulous when served warm. The Greek salad was abundant and very good. My mititei was good as was the goulash my friend had… … But we have had much better Romanian food before… So we know what expectional Romanian tastes like… It’s not found here.
Our main complaint was the poor service… Nelly the owner found it more important to fold cloth table napkins for tomorrow rather than making sure her guests at hand were well cared for and happy… Bad mistake! The place had no circulation and was stuffy with heat radiating from a wall board unit in April. Ceiling fans dead. The Romanian news was blarring on the TV or something there of, that was violent sounding throughout the establishment! … What about some nice Romanian music? Hello!
Very poor service, the waitress barely came by to check on us. Scatterbrained and virually forgot about us.
Sorry, We’re not going back to this glorified bathroom interior décor only to be treated like orphans in the corner of a room where cigarette butts are seen in the coffee cups after patrons have left. Apparently, smoking is allowed in here!

The food was decent enough, but nobody mentioned the «cash only» policy until we had already finished our meal. It’s 11° outside, so walking to an ATM and back was pretty annoying. My suggestion would be to put a sign indicating as much. It also took way too long to get our checks. Considering there were only two other tables occupied, I wasn’t expecting to get through two chapters of my book before it arrived.
I probably won’t be back; if I want Romanian, I’ll head to the restaurant down the street.

The food is really good and the service great! Has a large seating area and is good for large groups. The home-​made bread is excellent and plentiful. I have to admit, I got full on the bread and butter alone. Not that it stopped me from ordering additional food. My friends and I tried almost everything on the menu. I really liked the home-​made pickles, the eggplant salad and the sweet Romanian wine. The people working there were very friendly, attentive and kind. If you’ve never tried Romanian food or, if you’re just looking for some comfort food, I would highly recommend this place.

Such a great place. Feels very cozy, comfortable, like you are at someone’s house. I’ve been there few times with my Romanian friends, mostly on Sunday afternoons for a «Sunday dinner.» I’ve had the Ciorba De Burta (tripe soup) which I love and the Tocanita De Porc (goulash with pork), also very good. The bread is delicious and made daily and tastes great with the eggplant salad. Yesterday I was there for a baby shower so got to try couple more items. We had platters with salami, eggplant salad, meatballs, and veggies. Later we had a salad, greek style salad with olives, feta, etc. Also served were Mititei which were super flavorfull. We hung out for a long time, chilled, ate more, no one rushed us, it was great. Being Polish I am used to the «not in your face» service from the wait staff, I’m fine with it. I’m glad no one was smoking there yesterday, but it tends to happen. Eastern Eurpoeans like their ciggys.

This place has the best food in the entire area, and most underrated. Very authentic Romanian food, feels like you’re in your moms kitchen. Nelly is always there wearing jazzy outfits, hair coiffed, and cigarette in hand. Chicken schnitzel, mititei, and navy bean soup are solid choices. Bread is to die for.

What I really appreciate about this place is that it doesn’t try to be anything its not. There’s no tango night, overpriced entrees or tomato sauce on their cabbage rolls or anything else that doesn’t belong in Romanian culture. Its a Romanian purists delight for home style cooking. I ate eggplant salad with fresh baked bread, chicken schnitzel, little Romanian sausages and mashed potatoes and everything tasted great! My only regret is that I didn’t order pickles to go with my meal. Important thing to know is that they are cash only. If you like hearty eastern euro food this place will not disappoint.

This place is AWESOME! My first time there was tonight and I ‘m amazed at how fresh the food was. friendly service and very clean. The soups were hot and tasty .The Bread was out of this world !!! Fresh baked !! I highly recommend this place !! I will be back !!

Can’t speak highly enough of Nelly’s Saloon in Chicago. My first experience here was 6 or 7 years ago while passing through Chicago. Since I had a couple days in Chicago with colleagues, this was certainly on the top of the list of places to take them to eat/​visit.
The ciorba de fasole (bean soup) was excellent, as was the ciorba de vita (beef veggie soup).
Salata de vinete (eggplant spread) was phenomenal — my friends which are new to Romanian cuisine liked the spread and the bread especially.
The mici were yummy.
The sarmale were fantastic and brought me back to my time in Romania … the mamaliga was also wonderful.
Top it off with Borsec mineral water and a bottle of Socata soda, we were in heaven.
True, there is a bit of cigarette smoke; however, it was pretty much contained in the bar half of the room. We had the dining room to ourselves. Wonderful people run the place (Nelly is always friendly, both on the phone and in person) and our waitress was great. One of my favorite places to eat in Chicago, worth a trip here just to experience real Romanian cuisine!

One of the best Eastern European restaurants. It is like you are in Romania and your friend brought you to his grandmother’s house for dinner. The food is rich and outstanding. I always eat Goulash. The bread is made fresh and excellent for dipping in the goulash. The garden salad is exactly like the Eastern European way. The place is clean and has a full bar. I am one of the only non Romanians to eat there usually. Nelly is always there and she is very friendly. Marianna is the waitress usually and she treats you like you are a family member. I always like to enjoy the large Romanian beer Timisoreana.
Most customers are Romanian so that says alot. The layout of the place is very similar to what I see when traveling to Eastern Europe. I love it and I go there every week.

The food was average, so I would have been willing to go 3 stars, but the staff were smoking in the restaurant! For that reason alone, I will not be back. There are no smoking signs all around the place, which is a joke. If the smoke doesn’t bother you, their prices are cheap and the food is decent. I had the Mititie and my date had the chicken, both were average. The best part of the food was the Nutella crepes, these were awesomely good.

Never had Romanian before, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. But walking into Nelly’s made me feel like I was in a small European town. Romanian news on TV, kids running around, Cold War décor. I loved it! The service was a little slow, but having been to small Eastern European towns, this did not bother me. You will not find fast-​paced, in your face American hospitality here. And for that I am thankful. My friend and I sat uninterrupted, enjoying our food and drink. Only downside was that we totally would have ordered more wine if someone stopped by!
The food here is amazing. Home cooked, European comfort food. Filling, hearty, simple, yet delicious. The kind of food my grandmother once made. I had the pork goulash. A huge serving for $ 10. I just barely ate it all. The meat was tender and lean. The sauce was incredible. And the giant basket of bread on the table was perfect for dipping.
This place is clearly run by a family. The young boys even came over to chat with us after their mom (?) served our wine. And it is the family style charm that makes this place worth going to. I will definitely return. I really want to try the schnitzel!

Oh Nelly, your mamaliga is devine…
Go here, tip well. A real gem.

Very good tripe soup («Ciorba de Burta»)! I took two canisters «to go» last week and it was unbelievable!

Headed over here for drinks when we were waiting in the ridiculously long line for «Heavy Metal» burgers at Kuma’s Corner. Even though we had just stumbled in off the street these people took great care of us and made our night an even more exciting adventure.
Check this place out if you get a chance, it’s a lot more fun that waiting outside Kumas for your table.

I’ve passed this place a hundred times over the years, and always wondered about it. I wish I’d kept wondering. This was one of the worst meals out in recent memory. I’m truly sorry to say this, as past experience with Romanian cuisine has been enjoyable. Not so much here.
First strike upon walking in was the strong smell of cigarette smoke. First, that’s against the law in Illinois last I checked. Second, I can’t deal with smoke while eating, but there was no choice here. I couldn’t see who was smoking. I was assuming it was coming from the kitchen, which was a little unsettling.
The menu is rather small. It would be cute and charming, if the food were good. The bread is awesome. But what’s up with the sour cream that comes with it? I love sour cream, but on bread??? Must be a Romanian thing. Greek salad was ok. Generous, actually. Enough for 4 people I’m guessing. For an entrée I went with the pork schnitzel. They also have a chicken version. If seated near the kitchen, you can hear the cook pounding the schnitzel which is kind of cool. It was ok. The breading was good. Tasted like Mom would make. The mashed potatoes were awful. I’m fairly certain they were instant potatoes. If not, they were an excellent impostor. This dish was served with no sauce or gravy, so it was unpleasantly dry. I tasted the sausage dish. It was ok, although the sausage was a little rubbery. Their homemade fries are actually good, even when undercooked as they were.
Another pisser is the lack of choice in alcoholic beverages, unless our server didn’t tell us about everything. She rattled off a few bottled beers, Romanian wine, and half a dozen or so liquors. That’s it. Kind of strange considering «saloon» is in their name.
Never again for Nelly’s.

A Romanian friend and I were trying to find somewhere to watch the Romania vs Serbia soccer match. We heard that Nelly’s would be a fun, rowdy place to watch the game, so we headed over. I may have been the only non-​Romanian in the place, so I didn’t understand much of the conversation (my friend A informed me that each man in the place believed he knew how to improve the soccer team; they played a terrible game). There was lots of yelling and it was a lot of fun.
We ordered some sausages w/​o casings, which is apparently a traditional dish. They were flavorful and delicious. I would go back to this place if I lived nearby!

My tranquil dining experience was interrupted by a shriek («AHW!») from across the room which at first I thought was the sound of someone getting punched in the stomach. It was just one of the patrons leaping to the center of the floor to protest a goal just scored on an intra-​Romanian soccer game. The games are popular here; there are three screens including one giant projector screen about 5′ across displaying Romanian TV via satellite. Apart from the charm of the occasional soccer-​related outbursts (there were several), the hardwood floors and peach-​colored walls create a tranquil environment. Supposedly there’s occasionally live music; a band will be coming in from Romania later in November.
The menu favors white meat (pork and chicken), though there are some vegetarian options (eggplant salad, fasolka (navy bean soup)). My waiter recommended the pork schnitzel so that’s just what I got. This tasty dish was served with a tomato-​cucumber salad, *very* good homemade fries, and about half a loaf of fluffy white bread which was more than I could possibly handle. I’m no wine snob but the dry Romanian white was as tasty as any.
Given that so many Unilocalsters love to travel abroad and that Kuma’s just a block away is packed to the gills– I’m surprised more Unilocalsters don’t make their way to neighborhood joints like this Romanian place, which has been around for quite a while. I learned my very first word of Romanian today: Mulumesc (MOOLT-​se-​MESK) = thank you.