Broadway Food & Liquor

How do you rate a liquor joint? By their variety of options? Customer service? Well I bought sake and the cashier was super helpful in explaining the types of sake and the difference between soju and sake. During night time, they have a non-​asian worker next to the asian worker! That was just something interesting I observed. Overall, it looked like they had a wide range of liquor.

Supply and Demand. They supply the merchandise for a fee and we pay the fee. Simple.
Until some jaggoff like me shows up and is like «hey do you carry daisy cutter beer?» To which the cashier/​owner (whatever) pauses briefly, looks confused/​insulted by the stupidity of the question, and then firmly retorts «No!». As a matter of fact, they do carry daisy cutter. Which I quite easily found in the back.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that there was some confusion because of the language. Dude was obviously not American born (me neither). While I’ve more or less figured out the ins an outs of the English language (yay!), my parents suffer from these issues from time to time. So this does happen. But, even so, there’s no reason to be a dck and say «no, we don’t have it». How about, «pardon me, could you repeat the question». That would be a wonderful way to handle the situation.
Customer service clearly is not the focus here.
I should’ve taken a picture of this, but they’ve devised a quite amusing contraption to more efficiently place 6 packs in plastic bags. It’s a home made thing involving bungee cords that gently lifts the 6 pack up and then places in the bag. I get the feeling that they’re quite proud of how they’ve increased efficiency with this machine. Now if they could only get all the customers to shut up and pay faster they’d really be onto something.

I am pained whenever I walk into this place.
The workers do not speak. They are rude and impolite. They will not look at you and they will not address you as a human being. I’ve had more human interaction with the self checkout at CVS. I bought a bottle of wine there and handed a worker my ID and my AmEx card — he looks down and says «Visa.» Ummmm… Can you please speak to me in a normal way? How about, «I’m sorry, but we don’t take American Express, do you by chance have another card?» Nope. Nothing. As a result I begrudgingly threw my Visa on the counter.
I felt like I was a huge inconvenience when I asked him to take the price tag off of the wine bottle with a razor blade — I mean, heaven f’ing forbid.
Whoever wrote that this is another «sorry to bother you» place is 100% correct. If I didn’t live across the street from here I’d never set foot in there again.

Pretty good selection for a small store. The beer selection includes all the regular macrobrews, but also includes quite a few Midwestern craft brews. The Vodka selection is also excellent, with just about every flavored vodka you could ask for.
Yeah, the staff is watching you while you’re in the store. I’d expect that in a store right next to busy Broadway, especially when everyone’s wearing a bulky coat and/​or wearing a backpack.
They take credit cards and I’m not aware of a minimum. There’s an ATM inside as well.
Prices are the same as just about any Chicago store. $ 9.99 for a 6 pack of Goose Island or Great Lakes Brewing. Vodka $ 15 and up for anything drinkable.

This place is shady looking and and not kept up very well but they do stock a good load of everything one might need. All the regular beers plus a few mircobrews and imports. The prices are set pretty low as far as Chicago pricing goes except for the hard liquor which is just as much as anywhere else. Better than going to CVS for my liquor needs.

Blink, and you’ll miss walking by this place. It smells inside. It’s dingy. I got a couple bottles of super cheap-​ass Chard, and I was out of here for under $ 10. They now take credit cards (according to an earlier review they didn’t used to), but a self-​checkout machine would’ve been friendlier than the man sitting behind the counter who barely nodded or said anything.

Up: They now accept plastic for any price, because they must have gotten the idea that paying .25 cents to run your card is better than watching your business walk out.
Downs: They are not open on Thanksgiving and I wanted some beer to drink with my out-​of-​town brother. Either that, or they don’t answer the phone. Both unacceptable. Also, when you need limes for margaritas or garnish or just to squirt in your friends eyes for a good chuckle, I’m not convinced that the ones they have here haven’t been in the store for months.

I’m all about convenience, trust me. Especially when there are a billion inches of snow on the ground.
So, when my friend and I agreed on bringing wine to lunch, I volunteered on going to Binny’s. But, then I thought about how crowded it’d be and how much snow I’d have to schlep through. That’s when I quickly changed my mind and stopped into Broadway Food and Liquor, a mere two blocks from home.
I was actually scared they’d only have 3 types of wine available. To my surprise, they have a pretty big selection, considering the size of the store. We wanted Moscato, so I picked up a bottle of Barefoot for $ 6. Not chilled, but I could deal. Luckily, when I passed by the coolers, I saw a bottle of the same wine right in front! Plus one star! ;) This’ll be my default stop next time need wine, for sure.
Contrary to previous reviews, I don’t feel like the people working there are judging you. No dirty looks here!

Silent Judging. This is the vibe i get every time I set foot into this joint.
The owners (I can only assume, he and what I assume to be his wife and maybe mother are always there) seem to shoot dirty looks at anyone who comes in. Well, perhaps not *dirty*, but one of contempt. Maybe they just hate the influx of younger whitebread Lakeview residents who shop there. I would think if they hated us so much, they would take glee at us pissing our money and brain cells away on Grandpa’s cough syrup.
Unless, of course you bring someone of Asian persuasion with you which is the ONLY time they’ve said more than «ID Please» and «$ 12». I swear I saw a smirk.
It’s your basic liquor store, and has all of the staples. Cooler in back, junk food snackables and soda on one wall.
I will say that despite the judging (or my paranoia), they are always cool if you are short a few cents — they have no problem taking a handful from their «Take a Penny Leave a Penny» cup.
I swear I’m a sasquatch, as the floor squeaks like I’m about to bust through it. That makes me feel even more under the microscope. Silently judged.
No huge savings, prices are average. No plastic however, but an upcharging ATM as you enter the store.
If you have cash and want booze and be in and out, hit this place up. Want to be fluffed while you browse? Hit Binnys.