Andrew’s Open Pit & Spirits

Come and try the calamari omg best I ever had. The food is allways fresh and well priced love this family joint. You won’t regret it.

asked for a carry-​out last week when I got it home the salad was completely brown like a weeks worth of brown. anyone who packed it would see this and not offer it.
I live far from this restaurant so i could not return it. went in the trash. plus the place is too dark and depressing.

I have been here many times, usually once or twice a month. The food is good and the portions are generous. I always have enough left for another meal. I especially like the bar-​b-​que ribs. They remind me of Carson’s ribs only meatier. I also like the grilled chicken sandwich. It is cooked to perfection and served on a generous bun with lettuce, tomato and mayo. The side salads are huge. Unfortunately the service is hit or miss. On our last visit we were seated quickly but ignored for 15 minutes before we asked the hostess to send a waitress. We ordered drinks and salads but we still did not have drinks by the time the salads arrived. We had to wait again for refills. After asking for the check we waited another 15 minutes before asking the hostess to find our waitress to bring us the check. If this had been our first visit, it most certainly would have been our last as well. To be fair, we have had excellent service from very attentive waitresses on other occasions.

The food here is good, not great, and the service is inconsistent.
I’ve been here several times for lunch, with my regular group. One of the guys swears it’s the best roast chicken around. I think he exaggerates, but, to each his own.
Depending on who the waitress is, and how busy the restaurant is, service can range from excellent to slow.
Chicken seems to be the specialty here, and most of it is slow roasted. You can order it with barbecue sauce, herbs, or home style with gravy and stuffing. You can get a half a bird, or a quarter. All white meat costs a bit more. The lunches come with soup or salad, and vegetables on the side. Corn and potatoes served mashed or fried are also included.
The portions and sides are big. The prices are reasonable. The dining room is a bit dark, no natural light. And if you’re seated near the wood burning rotisserie oven, it can be warm, not a bad thing on a cold winter day.
There’s ribs, burgers, roast pork, and salads on the menu too. I’ve had chicken during most of my visits, because that’s what they seem to specialize in, and that’s what’s cooking in their open fire pit oven.
For the price, the food is a good value. Service could use some improvement, sometimes… again, depends on the waitress and the size of the crowd.
G’head and give it a try.

Old and beat up but pretty solid value if you’re looking to fill the tummy like a Greek diner. Food wasn’t great but did a fine job making the hunger pains go away. Pretty sure this isn’t a destination restaurant but does ok for a fill-​up. Might go back. Might not. It was all middle of the road.

Huge portions and good food — especially the oregano chicken. Great prices, too!

I was pretty curious about the ribs but decided since I was in a chicken place, I’d better try the chicken. I ended up ordering the oregano chicken that came with choice of potatoes and another vegetable as well as a salad or soup. Everything tasted pretty fresh actually and I was surprised at the pretty big portion size for $ 10.99. The chicken was tender, mashed potatoes were buttery and even the broccoli and carrots tasted fresh and recently steamed. My only complaint was the service. Our waitress was very sweet but messed up constantly with our orders, forgetting some items and bringing the wrong sides and salad dressings, etc. She also didn’t fill up drinks unless asked. All in all though, I enjoyed the food and wouldn’t mind coming back.

Came here for Sunday lunch, wasn’t packed at all, was seated quickly. Started with fried calamari, it was good until we saw hair in it at the end. I had the wood roasted chicken oregano, very tasty, but the sides not so much. Sides I had were mashed potato, did not taste fresh at all, no flavor, and corn on the cob, not fresh either. I had a choice of the the cream of chicken soup which was good. My husband had the chicken brochette, I thought it was all overcooked. Wouldn’t care to come back here.

I writing this review based ONLY on our Thanksgiving experience. For all other meals, it is a our to-​go restaurant for chicken and ribs. We take all our out of town guests here and they LOVE it.
So, we had a 6 p.m. reservation on Thanksgiving evening. We had asked to be seated on the main level but the restaurant was jammed, so we took the first booth available on the upper level. There were four of us and we each ordered the «Thanksgiving Feast.» At $ 14.95, I thought it was a wonderful deal. No!
First, our server was stressed and unfriendly. I understand that it is very hard working on a holiday especially with clients being predominately elderly. Having said that, our salads were good as usual. On to the turkey dinner… since it was «late», we were served the dregs — I had nary a single white meat slice, only stringy, gristly pieces of dark and white meat. There was hardly any stuffing and the potatoes were meager. The pumpkin pie slice was teeny tiny and when asked if I could have apple pie instead, the server jumped all over me!
We ordered a turkey dinner to go for my son’s pregnant wife and were told they were out of stuffing! I can only imagine what her dinner looked like. The server didn’t ask if we wanted soup or salad in her to-​go dinner… I think it would have been better to TELL us they were out of turkey when down to the dregs rather than have us order it and be as disappointed as we were… it was barely edible!
Also, if you cannot get enough help on the holiday, do NOT offer a Thanksgiving meal and not have the manpower to back it up. We constantly had to wait for drink refills and extras that we asked for… like extra gravy.
We will be back but certainly NOT on a holiday.

LOVE Andrews. I’ll admit I’ve only had the wood roasted chicken there because I love it and get it every time. The chicken is delicious. I love to pair it with a Greek salad.

Reasonably priced. Large portions. Great service. Delicious meats. I prefer my vegetables cooked a bit longer, but overall a very pleasant dining experience. I’ll be back!

Went to Andrews last evening and had the lamb chops. The three chops were fatty and mostly bone. It was very disappointing for a $ 14.99 dinner. I’m usually not disappointed there but this was not a good experience.

We have been coming here for years. Huge portions, reasonable prices, and family owned all make for my favorite combinations. The three styles of half chicken entrees are always moist, hot, and fresh off the rotisserie. The ribs are good solid baby backs, tangy sauce (not home made but it’s fine), generous cut, and tender out of the smoker in the dining room. Great place for a winter night to sit by the ovens and enjoy a large meal. Salmon is always well prepared and large enough for two servings. Order your burger just a little rare so it will be moist. Skirt steak dinner is also good. I I never leave empty handed. The home made rice pudding is a must!

We went to Andrew’s Open Pit yesterday for an early dinner. I ordered a ½ slab of BBQ ribs which came with salad and rice (potato, fries also options). The ribs were tasty but it seemed that they were just about done! They were chewy and I seem to prefer the almost fall off the bone style. My boyfriend ordered the Patty Melt which was very juicy and tasty. Because you walk into the bar and see the menu with the specials there, he assumed that those were the prices since we got there before 4pm, When the bill came, he was told that those were bar prices and did not include the fries. I found it OK but I was a bit disappointed due to all the rave reviews on Unilocal!
This is a very large restaurant and is in a small strip mall so there is plenty of off street parking. It is rather interesting that the BBQ oven and the rotisserie for the chicken is right in the dining room.
I think I would like to try Andrew’s again to give it another try.

Random lunch choice while out running errands. What a great find. Really reasonable lunch deals between 11 and 4, even on the weekend! $ 5.95 and $ 6.95 plates, and you can get select rail drinks for under $ 6.
Popular with the blue hairs but that’s alright, they have good taste and know a deal when they see one.
I got the ¼ chicken plate and my wife had the patty melt, both were good. The mai tai my wife had was a tall 16oz beverage that was a good deal and a good drink. I opted for the rail manhattan under $ 6.
Need a suggestion for date night? Check them out, we’ll be back!

I have frequented Andrews I cannot name how many times it was my mother’s favorite restaurant! Yes it’s filled with seniors it’s inexpensive but if you get there specials I have never had a bad meal. Who can get three porkchops mashed potatoes real vegetable salad and bread for $ 7.95
You guys are goofy!
And to Ronald K no I don’t count who goes there how stupid are you where did that come from? Your review is not accurate PERIOD

Been here many times — most of them years ago. I used to work in Park Ridge and Andrew’s is where performance reviews were given (eating that meal was no fun!). Guess it prevents crying or other uncomfortable outbursts. My favorite lunch dish is the sloppy salad — salad with chicken tenders and BBQ sauce.
Went here again last Saturday for dinner with a group of friends. They all liked it and wanted to come back the next day to try something else. Among the entrees we had were pork chops (3 good-​sized ones per portion), steak, steak and shrimp, chicken kabobs. Each dinner came with soup or salad, warm bread to start with, and potatoes or rice. Potatoes came as baked, mashed or french fries. Most of us took part of the meal home because the portion was so large. We requested a bunch of separate checks, and the waitress accommodated without complaint. Steaks were done as was requested. One friend said that the $ 5.95 mai tai was well worth it. Another said that her baked potato wasn’t completely baked. All other comments were positive.
I have learned that if you want a decent meal priced reasonably, look for seniors. If they eat there, it’s probably good. True in this case as well. I guess people avoid Park Ridge thinking it would be too expensive, but Andrew’s is a place to get a good meal at a reasonable price. Since it’s in a strip mall, there is plenty of parking.

It’s still good, but the prices have gone up over the years and it doesn’t feel like such a good deal anymore. It is still a good place to go for traditional American fare.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ANDREW’S
1) It’s in a strip mall.
2) It’s customers are very old.
3) It’s owners are very Greek.
4) It’s freaking awesome.
I’ve been coming here with my family since it opened and, while the prices have perhaps outpaced the inflation rate, it’s still a tremendous deal for a metric ton of delicious food. If you like barbecue and meat, you’ll feel at home at Andrew’s. The biggest challenge of eating at Andrew’s is getting a table at dinner time on a Friday or Saturday evening (the elderly clientele takes all the tables at 5 p.m. and everyone else has to wait at 6 p.m. and beyond). Another challenge is not filling up completely on the delicious bread before you even get to the soup or salad and the main event (for me, that’s usually a healthy dose of pork chops or their highly touted wood-​roasted chicken).
If you’re too cool to eat among senior citizens, stay away. If that’s the case, stay away from me, too. For the rest of you, enjoy a financially feasible feast.
Also great for takeout!

I had bookmarked this a while back and was happy to finally have a chance to give it a try.
The open pit is in the dining area and where they cook the rotisserie chickens. Don’t know what I was expecting. Anyway, soup was very good and my chef salad was too much to finish. Burgers are juicy, portions are large, I didn’t see the «older» side of the patrons until my second visit, I found them quite entertaining.
It feels a little dark, but fills your tummy with good food and that’s why it is there :)