Cabalo

It’s closed. Just another in a string of failed bar/​restaurants in that location.

Is this place even still open anymore? Every time I’ve been past it, it has been closed.

I am giving one star after trying them out 3 times. All three visits we were the only table in the place. I was pregnant during one of the visits and asked if their cheese was pasteurized. The waitress/​hostess/​bartender/​manager laughed at me and after giggling about my question with her cook/​manager/​bus boy she informed me that the cheese was fine she thinks. It was an honest question and I didn’t appreciate being laughed at. All three visits were awkward and the food took a really long time. We were the only table in the place and service was very slow. Strange experience and I will never go back… ever. Food was so so.

For the past few weeks, I have been house-​sitting for my sister in Humboldt Park. The most troubling part for me, being a unadulterated cat person, is walking her dog. In general, this animal is a good bitch (and it gives me such pleasure to use that word correctly in a review) but she’s got a barking problem. She doesn’t bark at most things that come into her path — just other dogs and Ukrainians. Now, the second creates a problem as my sister lives on the stretch of Chicago which the Ukrainians forced out of their Village by rising prices now inhabit en masse. This limits where I can walk her. Were I to, say, walk her by Cabalo, her clarion call of «attention, Ukrainians» would be deafening to the entire neighborhood!
In fact, the first time I went into Cabalo, I was half asleep and actually thought it was a Ukrainian restaurant. It’s not. But the only other people in the bar, which gave me this impression, spoke with a familiar accent as they drank $ 6 beer (seriously, almost every beer on the menu — which has some impressive Eastern European imports — is $ 6) and listened to the metal songs they had chosen on the jukebox. It turns out it’s a German place but like short skirts (thankfully!) and blasting Euro pop from car windows (not so thankfully!), it’s just a thing that the Ukrainians are ahead of the game on in south Humboldt Park.
With the quality and price of the food, however, as soon as the weather warms up (they’re scheduled to open a patio) this place will be overrun with the accentless residents of the HP (and other people who don’t want to go all the way up to Lincoln Square for low maintenance, high quality German cuisine).
This cheap food would keep me coming back if I lived closer. The Cabalo Fries, smothered in onions, ketchup, and mayonnaise (it really is an authentically European place) were an unhealthy delight; and the flatbread (pizza?) with blue cheese and tomato was a teeth numbingly tasty steal at only $ 4.
As a vegetarian, there isn’t even that much for me to eat on the menu. For meat eaters, though, I can imagine this place would be the wurst (in a good way). They have all different kinds of Eastern European encased meats (including that word that I know is magical to some — cevapcici). One of the dishes I could eat (and probably my favorite), however, is the spaetzel. It’s simply noodles with spices and pepper, but it’s simply divine (and simply $ 3.00 for a meal sized portion)!
I want to go back at least one more time to try some of their deserts — especially the apple strudel — but I’m always full from the meal. This place isn’t much from the outside (and honestly, it looks half done on the inside too), but it’s a lot when it’s put inside a belly! Even my sister’s Ukrainian hating dog would have to give it that!

i noticed someone said there aren’t alot of reviews for this place. well, there was but for some reason Unilocal insists on slowly removing them one by one. the majority of them are good and it’s a good place with good food. i agree, the atmosphere needs some work and over time that will figure itself out once there is a core crowd but on a thursday night for a drink and some food after work this place can’t be beat. i’m never fighting crowds or volume. hey Unilocal,don’t delete this!

I get what they’re trying to go for here with the posh décor, homemade sausage and good selection of German beer, but I guess it’s just sort of a weird location and doesn’t make sense for the neighborhood. They also were playing WGCI or some related Top 40s pop-​schlock station, which was kind of tacky (don’t mind the music so much as having to talk to my friend over radio commercials). The sausage wasn’t bad, and I was grateful that the kitchen was open late (around 11PM), but it will take a lot more than what I experienced late last night to make me choose this place over, say, Resi’s Bierstuba. Still so strange to find a place like this existing in Humboldt Park…
I also just realized that the review below me was just written the day before mine. They’ve been open since «before Christmas,» the waitress pointed out. I hope they can find a way to bring in more business so that they get their fair share of reviews.

This place is pretty cool. I’ve only ever gone on the weekdays, but it’s never been crowded. The food is pretty tasty and the drinks are cheap. Plus, if you’re a gin fan, they have Hendrick’s!

Stopped into Cabalo tonight with the missus. At first I was a little taken aback by the décor (I’m kind of a blue collar dude on a limited budget, thought maybe I stumbled into an über-​expensive hoity-​toity gourmet resturaunt), then I noticed the euro-​techno-​dance-​music and wanted to turn tail and leave. But my girl is into trying new things (and had been eyeballing the place for weeks) so I gave the joint the benefit of the doubt. And I’m so glad I/​we did. The service was impeccable (turns out our server is the owner and quite friendly and informative with a patience for sausage newbies like myself). On to the food, Never in my life have I had such a variety of such fresh sausage! There were homemade knackwurst, and bratwurst, Hungarian sausage and some wicked good skinless sausage that I couldn’t for the life of me pronounce. Had some sauerkraut and German style potatoes as sides and really liked both (fresh real sauerkraut is righteous). A huge piece of some great German chocolate cake finished our meal on a rather high note.
Oh yeah, as for the techno, after a few minutes I tuned it out, and ended up making a comment to the effect of «I wish all bars played music at this volume, few and far between are the bars where you can hear yourself think over the music».
Cool place, nice experience. This place is now in our rotation of good neighborhood restaurants!