Leghorn Cafe

Wow came back and the servers were quite rude to me. I wanted to sit at the bar and they made me get up to order at the register which was 5 feet away because they don’t have any menus and could not be bothered to write anything down. Not the customer service experience I appreciate. How hard is it to photocopy a piece of paper and call it a menu. No need to be rude about it though.

This would have been a 4-​star review a few weeks ago, but they recently changed their perfect, hand-​cut, real fries to gross CRINKLE-​CUT fries. WHYYYY?
So, yeah. Pretty expensive and the fries are awful now, but the chicken patties and strips are still the best around. Rancho Verde to dip. I might be back when I’m craving a little snack, but the lack of sides is disappointing.

Since we were in the area and pretty hungry this seemed like the best spot to try out. It was late afternoon, and still had to get seats at the bar. I ordered the spicy chicken sandwich, with the kale salad, chicken skins, and it took all of those items to get me full. The food was very tasty, but what might be considered a typical size meal wasn’t very filling for me and so lunch cost me a bit more than what I would typically spend. The staff was helpful with selecting options. If I wanted something to snack on this might be a good option, but fried food takes a bit longer to make so I’d order in advance and do take out.

Great place. Chicken sandwiches and sides are substantial and delicious. I’ve ordered twice and will continue to do so!

This place is great. Walked by about 2pm – place was empty – workers were all very engaged in what was going on – had the white meat on biscuit with kim chi barque. Fantastic food. Sandwich is $ 8 – huge portion. Great fries (plenty for 2). loved it.

The best breakfast biscuit I have ever had! You need to try this place! Don’t let the unassuming exterior fool you!

The chicken skin is sinfully good, especially if they make a fresh batch. I found my new guilty pleasure for a late afternoon snack. Service is great, thanks Rebecca!

After driving by this small seedy looking place (connected to an even seedier hotel) for over a year we decided to give it a shot. We’d heard from some neighbors that the food at Leghorn was legendary and after our lunch today I agree. I had the chicken breast on a biscuit and was totally wowed. We also had the fries (another crowd pleaser) and the hush puppies (a little dry and maybe not so fresh). Seating is limited, but we were lucky enough to score a seat at the counter and enjoyed talking with the sous chef.

I walk by this place all the time on my way home from work, but never stopped in. I decided to give it a try and it’s YUMMY! Only reason it didn’t get five stars is it’s too pricey. $ 8.25 for a chicken sandwich is a bit too much for me. It didn’t even come with sides or anything. I went with the chicken breast/​bun sandwich and it was delicious. To order you tell them bun or biscuit, Spicy or Mild, Extra ingredients, and then whatever sauce you like. I guess I should mention some of the ingredients are extra. Like to add lettuce and tomato it’s 50 cents. They sort of nickel and dime you here. Service was great though and the sandwich was quite tasty. I’ll probably come back again to give the biscuit chicken sandwich a try and maybe if I can afford it I’ll get a side of fries.

Fantastic location.
Awesomely simple menu that will not disappoint.
Who thought a chicken sandwich could be so good?!
Service was great and friendly.
I will definitely be back… this place is not to be missed.

I hate saying «vibe». That said this place has a crazy good vibe and amazing food. A little overpriced but I got a biscuit the size of my head and it was still light and fluffy and actually had a flavor to it. Breakfast sandwich was also just north of awesome. This might not be your everyday breakfast stop but if you are having a crap day this might just be the thing to pull you out of it.

Made it out of my office and finally tried Leghorn. Cute spot, and we made it just in time before the rush. Naturally I «built my own».
–chicken breast
–biscuit
–Honey Mustard
–Not spicy
–loaded it up with fixins
It was shmeh. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong… Just wasn’t all that I was expected. Would wanted more of a click, more flavor. Ideally there would be some contrast. The biscuit really does it though. Brings a warm home style feel to the sandwich. Tried it once… happy I went. Prolly won’t go back.

Great chicken biscuit. The biscuit was buttery and flaky and the chicken breast was moist and delicious. The piece of chicken was also quite large. I enjoyed their ranch sauce. My girlfriend got the honey mustard and liked it as well.
One thing to note, the spicy sandwich is legitimately spicy, not like lightly warm, like real hot spicy. I sort of wish I’d gotten the plain instead of the spicy but I enjoyed it all the same.
$ 8 is a bit much for a chicken biscuit but it was basically worth it.
This location takes credit cards, has free water and nice bathrooms

3.5 stars strikes me as about right. They’ve got all the right component parts but don’t seem to know how to use them. Let’s start with the chicken: the hot was deliciously spicy, although the breading started to fall off almost immediately. It was also about twice the size of the biscuit. So only half the time was I eating any bread with my chicken. The caramel blue cheese butter was delicious and should be had on everything. I would eat that stuff with a spoon. The biscuit was too small in every direction and a touch harder than I would have liked. All that said, I walked away mostly thinking «that was some tasty chicken».

Stopped by today after several coworkers raved about the chicken sandwiches and I gotta say they were right.
The main choices are pretty straightforward chicken breast or thigh, bun or biscuit, hot or not, the biggest decision lies with the sauces.
I went with pickle brined breast on a buttermilk biscuit, with buttermilk rancho verde sauce and it was really good.
The café itself is small but I ate there choosing to sit at the counter. There’s seats along the front window and two booths. They do offer breakfast until 10:30 am so I will have to go back and try that.
The food was prepared quick and the staff were nice. It’s nothing fancy just quick delicious chicken sandwiches.

I love a good biscuit. Biscuit + fried chicken even better. Biscuit + fried chicken w/​o antibiotics sounds like a winner. But after 2 attempts (both to-​go), I’m not impressed. Breast/​brined/​biscuit w/​kimchi bbq & lettuce/​tomato. The condiments made the chicken soggy, there was barely any bbq so I couldn’t taste it. The chicken barely had flavor and the biscuit hardened quickly. On top of that, the biscuit was falling apart and the shape of the chicken pieces not conducive to sandwich form so it wasn’t possible to eat without deconstructing/​fork/​knife.
The slaw tastes likes something from a less-​than-​thrilling Rosh Hashanah dinner.
I want to love this place, absolutely rooting for a sustainably sourced quick meal and gourmet sides, so I’ll go back for the chicken bowl with a biscuit on the side, but third strike and it’s out.

I’m hooked.
I got a pickle brined fried chicken thigh on a homemade biscuit with buttermilk rancho verde sauce.
BAM!
((mouth explosion))
I got one for M too and we’re both hooked.
Sure. There’s more to the menu than that awesomeness but we found it. We found the sweet sweet honey crack pot and we are stuck.
We reward ourselves with this awesomeness on Sundays after a 1.5 hour workout to gain back our calories. And then our crying fat cells gasp «yussss!» because they are restored! «Honey badger don’t give a shit. If it’s hungry it’s hungry.»
That’s right. We go on hallelujah Sundays. Chick-​fil-​A loves church more than my gay ass but you know what? I bet you anything that JC woulda loved him some Leghorn and he would’ve loved it right next to me because his homies were prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners.
It’s not like Leghorn Café is perfect but they definitely have some things right (besides their perfect chicken sammie). For example, this location takes plastic. Furthermore, they will deliver aforementioned perfect sammie to my home until 10:00 PM for $ 6.
BUT: here’s the tough love. My Leghorn lovers need to put the price of their chicken sandwich on their menu. It’s $ 8 folks. Don’t hide it. It’s easy to taste the value when your stomach is tripping out rainbows and unicorns because it’s so freakin’ happy!
Also. Bring back the homemade sodas. You hate corporate –ish? Then don’t serve corporate pop. The homemade sodas were a smash and I loved them but now I just drink Lake Michigan water like the rest of Chicago.

Third visit in the past six weeks, and I have to say the third trip was the charm — we received two perfectly fried, juicy and mammoth «hot chicken» breasts, just spicy enough to leave us a fiery, yet comfortable, mouth burn. I’m not sure why the biscuits on my previous visits had been so disappointing, so I opted for the soft rolls on the most recent lunch. They were super soft, but sturdy enough to support the huge breast, tomato slice, trio of pickle slices and wilted lettuce. Sadly, the French fries haven’t gotten any better — still limp and under cooked. Leghorn will certainly be a Saturday mid-​morning stop since we’re right around the corner.

My friend was raving about Leghorn so I decided to give it a try and I was not impressed in the least bit. My chicken was overlooked, dry and old tasting. I think they gave me chicken that had been sitting out for god knows how long. I don’t recommend it. The only good thing about the place is the décor and the 90’s r&b music.

The politicization of everything can be a problem, but if it means more places like Leghorn Café… I’d vote for that.
Today is a rather momentous day in the neighborhood. Shake Shack’s opening day is *also* today, but in spite of the 45+ minute wait there, there was still a 10 minute wait for chicken here. After tasting it, I understand why.
I ordered umami fries and fried chicken tenders, with organic ketchup and rancho verde sauce. Umami means flavor, and the fries had it in spades; savory, sweet and salty in just the right balance. They were also just a tad crunchy.
The fries are served with organic ketchup, which has a little more vinegar punch than regular ketchup. Great accompaniment to the fries.
The chicken tenders are covered with a reasonably thin batter and fried, then covered with more savory spices (a pinch of cayenne here, a lot of smoky paprika). The tenders themselves were very moist. This is the perfect chicken tender.
The verde sauce was cool and a bit spicy, like a more interesting ranch sauce. It went great with the fries as well.
Leghorn Café makes no bones about its social policy (donating 2% of profits to pro-​gay organizations), its religious policy (there is none) or its corporate policy («We abhor corporate bullshit»), or its overall F*ck Chick-​Fil-​A policy («We are open all day Sunday»). I don’t really care about any of that, but I do care about great food, and Leghorn Café has great food. The best fried chicken I’ve had in Chicago… so far!