BIG & little’s Restaurant

Overpriced and overhyped.
I got the pork belly po-​boy (recommended by Guy Fieri) and Cajun fries. Sandwich was a mess to eat (not a big deal) and generally a lot of flavorless bites. From the ingredients it has you’d expect something great, falls flat and is generally bland but there is more than plenty of it for you to eat. The Cajun fries were standard, wasn’t expecting to be wowed and I wasn’t.
Also, I don’t know if it is the sauce they put on their sandwich or what but it kinda made me feel a little sick to my stomach the remainder of the day. Didn’t relate it to the food at first until I mentioned eating there earlier in the day to a friend. He mentioned that he thought the place was alright but it kinda makes him feel sick every time he has it.
Overall definitely a skip, especially for the price. If you want to have more flavor in your food, save money, and feel the same physically after you eat I’d recommend hitting up the Taco Bell down the street.

Burgers happen to be one of my favorite foods, so naturally I’ve tried dozens of burger places in Chicago. I haven’t really run into one that I’ve hated, but I also haven’t run into one that I could see myself being a regular at. Queue Big & Little’s.
My friend had mentioned wanting to take me there because he knew I’d love it, but I was skeptical. I hadn’t really heard of the place until then. Fortunately I like to try a place out before I pass judgment. This place is fantastic. Almost everything about it is superb.
Firstly, there’s a decent amount of burger options. I’m personally all about options since it gives me a chance to change it up and not get bored of the same thing. If burgers aren’t your thing, then they have numerous alternatives which I’ll get to. Secondly, the food is totally affordable. I’m tired of eating at burger places that charge $ 10 for a burger, and then don’t even include fries.
My favorite burger is hands down the Zeus. I’ve honestly never seen a burger that puts gyro meat on top of the hamburger patties, but my gosh is it delicious. The whole burger fits together perfectly. The feta and tzatziki sauce combine together to give the burger a unique flavor. It’s almost like you’re eating a gyro burger. I’ve also had the BBQ burger which tastes like a typical BBQ burger. There isn’t anything unique about it, but it’s still damn tasty.
The Big & Little’s burger was good, but it didn’t really stand out to me. I didn’t notice the special sauce. One thing I dislike about the burgers, however, is that they are a little dry. I wouldn’t by any means call these burgers juicy. The meat is more crumbly instead of staying together. While for me it’s not that big of a deal, it’s definitely something to take note of.
The fries here are great, but they don’t give you a whole lot of them. I noticed that the location on Belmont gives noticeably more fries than the Milwaukee location. The Cajun fries are so darn tasty. There’s loads of flavor in them. The truffle fries are more subtle in flavor, but still very good.
I’ve also tasted the soft shell crab sandwich. I personally wasn’t a fan of it because of how fishy and small it was. The bread to meat ratio was off, so that when you were at the end of the sandwich, it was just bread with no crab. I definitely recommend getting the fish and chips. The breading was crispy while still keeping the fish moist inside which is rare to find, it’s either one or the other. This place definitely has some of the best fish and chips that I’ve tried.
If you’re a burger junkie then you have to go try out Big & Little’s. You’ll probably see me there sometime. (P.S. make your burger a double if you have no shame like me.)

My favorite river north joins my new neighborhood, wicker park!
Quality tacos, excellent management and a very appropriate vibe for the hood makes this 5 stars!

Heard this place was the -«ish» for tacos, but lemme tell you about their burgers!
Burgers and Pizza are kinda my thing; notice the capital letters, that’s how important they are.
My boyfriend and I had them deliver us a Zeus and a BBQ burger with Cajun and Truffle fries.
The Zeus is the way to go. Trust me. Best burger EVER. Get it double patty (+$ 2) to feed the inner fat boy in you. It comes with feta and a fried egg inside. Yum to the max!
The BBQ was delicious. You can’t go wrong with bacon and bbq. I ordered it with extra fried egg (+$ 1), but realized I should’ve also double pattied it. Sigh.
Cajun fries were my favorite. Spicey and full of flavor.
Truffle fries were OK. They seemed a little bland in comparison to the cajun fries.
My only problem was that they didn’t give enough fries. Otherwise everything was superb. Cheap food. Fast delivery (not that it will say it will take longer on grubhub, but they’re rather fast).
Totally on my list of places to go. Also, they apparently have a Groupon!

One of our favorite spots in Wicker Park! Samurai tacos are a MUST — I have dreams about these tacos. Cajun fries and mango chutney pork tacos are also delicious.
Love the the funky neighborhood vibe and friendly staff. Perfect place for quick, flavorful comfort food.

Love love love me some big and littles! Wish the fish in their fish and chips was cut up in smaller pieces though but overall I have never had something I wouldn’t like over there.

Got a groupon for big and littles — totes worth it. Have you ever had an ahi tuna steak sandwich? Because I have now and I can’t look back. Boyfriends on a cleanse so he got some pinto bean tacos and Kimchee and looked pleased but now smells weird. Lovely BYOB and all the fish is fresh — you know because they are out of some options at the end of the week. Been here to get ahi tacos before (out today: () but tilapia, fish, and mango chutney tacos are sublime. Don’t judge this place just because gross guy fereri was here. Ambiance is chipotle minus ecoli and nice and friendly.

Great customer service! This was my family’s first time being there so they recommended the soft-​shell crab sandwich. We ordered 5 soft-​shell crab sandwiches and 5 regular fries. The sauce for the sandwich was really good. The soft shell crab was particularly good!
The guy took our name down, and he then called us up to retrieve our order. The order came out fairly fast. Which I was surprised due to the fact that we had five separate orders with 5 additional fries.
After we finished, the man that took our ordered remembered my name, and asked how did my parents like it. When people remember my name, always makes me feel appreciated. Anyways, we appreciated their service and hospitality!!!

This is 5 star fast food. Every bite was yum-​O. I had the fried shrimp bahn mi and truffle fries and they were both outstanding. Everything was made fresh and came out hot. Prices are really fair considering the quality of food. They have plenty of tables and a clean potty. I liked this place a lot.

Yikes.
I was thoroughly looking forward to trying out BIG & Little’s. I’ve heard a lot about it through friends. I ordered the Big and little taco and the shrimp taco with a side of fries. I took one bite of the big and little taco and spit it out. It was loaded with their tartar/​mayonnaise. It was about 80% sauce. Also the fries wreaked of stale oil, they left that burnt oil after taste in my mouth. I was so disappointed. The employees were super helpful and very pleasant. Maybe I ordered the wrong tacos? I can’t see myself stomaching going back though.

Big and littles brings together Mexican, Cajun, and Asian flavors in tasty little taco packages. The menu is quite large (burgers, fries, po-​boys, hot dogs with foie gras), but the tacos are standout.
Must have: blue crab taco. This taco is packed go the brim with fresh crab and a hint of lime and salt. Both of the raw seafood tacos are excellent and worth getting, but I particularly love those big bites of simple, clean crab.
Glad to see Big and littles added another location to its existing restaurants in Gold Coast and Lakeview! The Wicker Park location is not currently as popular as the other locations, so it is the same great food with less lines. Service was excellent.
B&l is also BYOB, so you can bring in booze (white wine and tacos? Yes please!). Makes an excellent casual dining night.
Also recommend the saumari taco (minus the egg– tasty, but too messy) and the soft shell crab po-​boy. Full soft shell crab fried and served on a hoagi with the simplest of spicy sauce twist on your traditional Cajun po-​boy.

It’s a great place for fast food that is tasty and saucy.
Note that their take on Asian fusion is using a sauce that tastes very similar to Worcestershire sauce.
I recommend the Big &Little taco and other sushi fusion type tacos.

Big are the delicious portions and Littles are the prices. The service could not be friendlier and the place is spotlessly clean. And it’s BYOB. Kimchee Fries and an Ahi banh mi ridiculously good and only $ 13 and change. Get. Here. Now!

Rarely, nowadays, do I walk into a restaurant and meet a person at a counter who is genuinely excited about their job. Especially in Wicker Park, a neighborhood that is so saturated with tight-​jean self-​entitled servers. I started going to Big&Littles roughly 2 months ago and have been a fan of this specific location ever since. From the food, to the friendly employees — this is the type of business Milwaukee Avenue needed!
My hands down favorite thing to order here is the White-​Fish & Chips. You get served two monster size pieces of white fish and deliciously fresh fries. They offer cajun, truffle and traditional fries (DEF GO CAJUN!) — none of which will disappoint however.
I’ve also tried the Mexican short rib tacos and bbq burger with bacon. The Mexican short rib tastes a lot like the slow cooked pulled beef my mom used to make growing up. It’s very tender and garnished with just the right amount of cilantro and onions. A very classic taste. The BBQ burger is a must for every heavy meat lover. Served with a healthy portion of grilled onions on top and smothered in what I believe was sweet baby ray bbq sauce, I savored every bit of that thing.
Key points to remember:
1) If you’re gonna go on a Saturday evening expect a long line. This place is super good and neighbors are definitely catching on. Last time I went on a Saturday evening I believe I spent roughly 20 minutes in line — however it was worth every minute.
2) They open at 8:30 AM so if you’re in the neighborhood (like me) and running to the blue line — you can def stop in and grab a quick sausage, egg & cheese sandwich!
3) Parking is sometimes rough, you know how Milwaukee Avenue gets.

This location is easiest to get to for me. Food is good. I like all the different options. My favorite is the poke ahi tuna taco. I had the pork belly po’boy as well-​good breakfast! Lol. I also had a grilled shrimp taco-​super overdressed, next time light dressing. Best part is they are open early for breakfast and serve the whole menu at that time, plus BYOB! Mimosas and tacos anyone???

So I wasn’t too thrilled when this place opened in a blank space on Milwaukee Ave. More tacos??? Oyyyy.
But I’ve been pleasantly surprised and I really like this place. The crab and ahi poke tacos are so super good. The amount of ahi and crab that goes into these things is absurd. And for the price, it’s ridiculously good.
The other tacos on the menu are also seriously tasty
There’s probably 10 other things I want to try. The truffle fries for $ 2.59…you can’t beat em.
I did have the soft shell crab sandwich and was really disappointed. It was good but I was still pretty hungry after the $ 8 sandwich. Too much sauce… not enough crab.
Next time is burgers and bahn mi’s.

I have been trying to get to the other location for months now and just found out they opening up this location in my hood! YAAAY.
I asked the cashier which burger she liked best. She said the Al Pastor, so that’s what I got (beef patty, fried pork belly, pineapple, jalapenos, special sauce) and the truffle fries. I was skeptical because sometimes things like pineapple and jalapenos just overpower burgers and make them less burger-​y, you know what I mean? Totally not the case here. All the ingredients were PERFECT and the beef itself was savory and moist and melted in my mouth and sort of all over my face and hands too (messy food for sure). Truffle fries were awesome too.
The only downside is that the food took awhile to come out, but I think that’s just because they only opened a couple weeks ago and are ironing out the kinks. I have no doubt they will be a well-​oiled happiness-​delivery factory very soon.
Also, I was watching the the dude expo-​ing — he seems to really care about whether you like the food, as he was constantly interacting with people and asking them what they thought and his face would just light up when people told him it was great.
I’ll be back next week!

Food is as good as the other locations but the prices are actually cheaper here. Yet another reason to not live in River North.
If you go with two other people, I don’t recommend you get nine tacos, two orders of fries and a hot dog… but that’s what we did. No regrets. We touched god that night.

I was in the area and I was so excited to finally eat at Big and Littles. However, the experience was disappointing.
When we walked in, the manager or owner was yelling at his employees and yelling out the names of the customers. It wasn’t a welcoming environment.
The soft shell crab poboy was lackluster. The crab was smaller than I expected and I felt like I was eating mostly bread. The Cajun fries were dry and cold.
I wouldn’t eat here again. The Wicker Park restaurant just opened and I would suggest eating at the other locations.

We’re not there yet… but we’re close. Period point blank: the world-​famous cod is NOT on the menu at Wicker Park, but it will be, hopefully sooner than later. B&L makes great fried foods for reasonable prices, and it’s BYO, and the folks here are friendly and move quickly to fulfill orders. The space here is nice (I’ve been to the original location but not the Lakeview one), and playing most of a Digable Planets album last weekend over the loud speakers made me very happy. There are also large tables to spread out with a group if you so choose.
But the food was only good this first time out. We had the mahi and chips, the shrimp and chips, and a whitefish taco. The fish was good but the fries were not on point. I don’t think a single thing on the menu was more than $ 8, so you can do alright here from a value proposition perspective, at least right now.
I’m ready to spend $ 15 for the cod and chips when you are, B&L…in the meantime, I’ll give this another month or two to smooth out the kinks, because when the weather gets cold, I will be counting on you for big-​time amounts of take-​out.