Mitch’s & Janina Delicatessen

Went there today, they are out of business. They were very nice people, going to miss them.

3.5???
Pretty typical polish deli w/​a Buffett dinner in back, total feel of grandmas place. I love my polish food and I basically just grabbed some kielbasa and some bread to go. The buffett is a typical buffett. Its an old mom and pop shop, so I like to support local but it wasnt anything to rave about and go weekly…
Will have to go back for the buffett and rereview…

Pretty good!

Absolutely loved it. $ 10 dinner buffet. Good Polish beer. Plenty of vegetarian options — periogies, beets, cabbage, blitz, barley soup. very very filling, hearty. plenty of meat too, of course. Everything is pretty by the book Polish goodness.
Don’t be put off by the somewhat dingy shop up front — the good stuff is there, for sure. When we arrived at about 730 the dining room lights were out, just the owners sitting chatting watching polish tv. They were very friendly, turned on the lights and helped us out.
Many Polish places, this included, seem to make it seem intimidating for non-​Polish speaking people. I wish they’d put up a few English signs to make it more inviting for the English crowd, but as I said, they speak fine English and were very friendly and helpful. Definitely going back.

Sunday mornings = stuffing my face with Polish food while Mitch sits at the mini-​bar watching the game and poor Janina runs around doing all the work. Sometimes they’re still in their Sunday best from church, other times they’ll have visitors. The whole thing is like being in the middle of a Polish sitcom. Plus you can eat buffet until you want to die. 5 stars without question.

I’m visiting the Ukrainian Village and read the great reviews about the place next door. Unfortunately, the Unilocal review about the place next door has the hours wrong, so it was already closed at 8:30 on a Saturday night. So, I wandered into Mitch & Janina’s right next door.
What a treat!
They were closing at 9:00, and I was their only customer. But still, they treated me like I was a guest in their home. In fact, dining alone, I really just felt like I was visiting an aunt I didn’t know very well, but to whom I was deeply indebted for keeping me warm and full.
She recommended the buffet to me. I’m not a big fan of buffets, especially at the end of the day, so I asked if I could just have an order of pieroghies. She shrugged and said «sure, what kind?» Then, an offering of soup (barley, vegetable, and bean) and a side dish of salad.
I’ve had cucumber/​sour cream salad before, but this was the best I’ve ever had. And the mountain of pieroghies she brought to me – warm, tender/​chewy, and delicious.
I loved everything about the place. It has a full bar, although I didn’t order anything from it. They had a baseball game playing on the TV. Normally, having a TV on is a drawback for me for a restaurant. But in this setting, it only reinforced that I was visiting family.
The deli up front was well stocked, as well.

My daughter and I had to check this place out when we were in the area. It didn’t look so inviting from the outside, appearing as some generic small deli, but once we stepped inside, we were greeted heartily in Polish by the proprietor who asked if we were hungry, and directed us to the tables towards the rear.
Once seated in the mish-​mash of booth and dining furniture, we were able to examine the décor of the dining room. I could tell that Mitch was a fan of Chicago sports, had a fondness for the American southwest (pictures of southwest scenes, a carved Indian, and wagon wheel chandeliers complete with horseshoes), and still appreciated Polish wooden carvings.
We were quickly approached by Janina who asked what type of soup we wanted. The choices that day were barley or chicken noodle. We settled on the barley soup, which was savory and had a smattering of dill, perfectly setting the stage for what was to follow.
We then were directed to the cold salad bar and hot buffet table. There was a variety of salad options, but I opted for the miseria (sliced cucumber in sour cream.) It was right on.
The next stop was the hot table, where I found cabbage rolls stuffed with meat and rice in a tomato-​based sauce (galabki), potato dumplings (pierogi, I was kind of disappointed that there was only one type as I’m really fond of the mushroom and kraut or dessert pierogi), chicken cutlets (breaded and fried), or ground beef cutlets (similar to hamburger patties, but better.) Besides the potato pierogi, they also had boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, and some potato pasta that were similar to extra long gnocchi (paluszki). And of course they had some bigos (cabbage and saurkraut stew with sausage.) I washed it all down with a Polish porter.
For an all you can eat buffet, I’m lucky that I don’t live nearby — I would be eating here all the time. They even offer dinner buffet by the week. This is Polish cooking the way it’s supposed to be — in someone’s house as their guest. Except Mitch and Janina have a deli with a buffet where you can come and drop in anytime.

I tried this place today because I saw it mentioned in an apartment for rent ad on Craig’s list as a benefit of living in that neighborhood. I can see why! It’s old Chicago in every good sense of the phrase. It’s all of the things the reviewers have already said (and, no, it’s not the best Polish food I’ve ever had but it’s plenty good enough) but I’m going back because I want to see places like this preserved in Chicago. I don’t want this town to turn into a yuppie theme park like Seattle, so I’m going to do my part one Polish deli and dive bar at a time.

I am not sure what anyone find «tasty» about the food. From what I read (and that is why we went there…) it sounded great. BUT, what we ate was terrible. The Barley soup was watered down, my Mom had the tomato soup that she said was not great, the buffet had meat (yuck) pierogis, chicken legs, meatballs in a very watered down sour cream dill sauce (I think), breaded pork chops that my Mom could not cut, mashed potatoes and rice. Stuffed cabbage rolls also. The cold salads were really not good and the two deserts were only poppy seed varieties that were DRY.
I love Polish food! I have never found a pierogi I didn’t like. I could have made a meal on any one item if it had been good.
Yes, they were really nice people. Maybe because it was a Wednesday afternoon… My Mom spoke in Polish to both of them but I could understand her in English.
My personal opinion is don’t waste your time. My Mom who is 80 yrs old wanted to go back to the «Ukrainian Village» to visit. I think she was a bit disenchanted with the area, but really wanted to like the place.
We live in the western suburbs and I am happy to say there are many good Polish Deli’s to find that the food is so much better. We should have saved our gas and gone to one of them instead.
The photo was how I found it so that was a big help. But, we really wanted the food to be good…

Good Food. Some of the best soup I’ve ever had, especially the tomato. Base price for the buffet is a good value. When you enter, you will be seated and given your choice of 2 – 3 great soups plus some fresh bread. Great start for a bread to soup dunker like me.
Be careful though, the first two times I went I ended up paying more than I thought I should. Drinks other than water are not included in price, and are pretty expensive. $ 2 for a can of pop. Also, each bowl of soup beyond your first is $ 3 even though the soup is located on the buffet table (Yes, they watch you get your food). Also a sign reads that you will be charged for wasting food. I eat my food, but I can see them enforcing it on some picky eaters with bad buffet etiquette.
The $ 3 soup fiasco almost made me quit going, but I have been going back as there are so many positives to this place. I crave polish food fortnightly, and this is my legal joint of choice.

The front is a Polish grocery
The middle section is a Polish buffet.
The back is a very small Polish bar.
The place looks Pollacky inside, excuse my French but it does. Western wagon wheels for ceiling lights, odd array of décor of which nothing goes and seat cushions that makes one stink half foot down.
Kinda dingy and dim but the food wasn’t all that remarkable either for a Polish place. The food is mediocre for a Polish joint and I have been to many of them.
Not worth a second try.

HUGE potato pancakes, and so tasty, too — I sound like Lucy’s ‘Vitametavegemin’ commercial — but I wish they’d been a little thicker. Janina’s a sweetheart, and I’ll be back for their pierogies and the cheese blintzes that J C. mentioned. (Also wanna sit and drink in that small back bar; looks so out of place after the front market and buffet seating area.)

The first time I went inside I was a little unsure. It is definitely a store in the front, but what is in the back? A bar, a restaurant, a «backroom» for the Polish mafia??? I have been here from time to time mostly to pick up some bread. The buffet however, is amazing. It is more expensive to get it to go so I suggest eating there. There is also a decent deli case in front. The cheese blitzes on the weekends aren’t bad. But back to the buffet… Yums!

Another place that will remind you of your Polish grandma’s bungalow basement. It’s a store, restaurant, buffet and bar. I usually will pop in and get carry outs. The buffet consists of about a dozen hot dishes, two soups and a cold salad bar area. Great soups — my favorite is the mushroom. Even something as mundane as potato soup is a treat. I think they are open to 8:00 but sometimes they put away the buffet earlier. Very congenial owners. I walked in once and the place was smokey. They make their own smoked Polish sausages here.
Thank goodness for the poor economy, maybe gentrification will continue to skip over these few blocks of Western Avenue with their culinary vestiges of the neighborhood as it used to be.
…if only they were open late, I really could use this place after an Empty Bottle show…

This is a review of the Buffet.
When you walk by, you might think this place is merely a deli-​grocery, but if you take a look inside, there is a restaurant with full Polish buffet in the back.
All of the following for only $ 8:
Salad Bar: cucumber salad, 2 types of closelaw, potato. corn salad, ground beet salad
Hot Food: polish sausage in sauerkraut, ground chicken cutlet, rib tips, mashed potatoes, some kind of sticky dumpling, egg noodle dish, white beans in red sauce, chicken thighs, 2 or 3 great tasting savory soups.
It so friggin good! Don’t be afraid to try this place out! Owners are really friendly too.

Walked into a deli at 6:30PM, seeing a few tables tucked away in a small, dark dining room, we wondered if we were in the right place. A woman in an apron came out and told us she’d closed, but has food. «Sit,» she said. We chose one of the five tables in the dining room.
She offered us soup: white borscht or sauerkraut. Both were delicious & so home made.
Then she told us she had mashed potatoes, meatballs, ribs, vegetables and meatloaf tonight. She offered to just give us a bit of each. Again… very good stuff.
This place is small and the hours seem to be pretty fluid, depending on weather, day of the week, whatever. But, the owner is happy to serve up her food whenever you may stumble in. There is no menu; you get whatever is cooked for that day. There is also a small bar in the tiny dining room: beer, wine, & liquor served.
The deli in front looks good, too. They smoke their own meats & make their own sausages.
Not the typical restaurant experience… but that’s not bad now, is it? The food is great; as good as gramma’s, had she been Polish. And the price at $ 6.99 for the meal, can’t be beat.