Lincoln Square

They brought out the cole slaw before the meal, as a first course, and it was creamy and very good. The bread on the Reuben was toasted nicely. The corned beef was thick and had a heavy beef flavor--it was cut into little strips and was pretty good. I really liked the sliced rye bread that they used--it tasted like it had been freshly cut from a long loaf. They'll let you order from many different side choices even though the menu only mentions fries. The place was a bit smoky, but not as smoky as it would have been if it were still a Sunshine Cafe. It's a quite adequate Reuben and a good value. The waitress that we had tried a little too hard to joke with us and interject herself into our conversation--she was nice enough, but it seemed a little awkward.

Well, since I'm the one who suggested the place, I felt bad that I couldn't meet the group to share the experience... so I had a Reuben Tuesday dinner break. I've eaten here several times and had the Reuben on a previous occasion and thought it was better than some of my prior experiences elsewhere. On this occasion I had my order placed in advance by a cohort, so I didn't know exactly what I was getting until I sat down other than the sandwich. Service was efficient once you get through the server's accent, which is common there and in great variety since the owners are Mediterranean. They always have raspberry tea (my favorite) which usually enhances any meal for me. The plate arrived with the Reuben, a side of 1000 Island Dressing, a mound of fries, and--no pickle. That was disappointing, however I don't recall if I was served one last time. The fries were flat on flavor as is they had been sitting around awhile. On the other hand, the sandwich was on a toasted light flavorful rye that never got soggy and when I added the dressing, it appeared to be unevenly assembled: bread-meat-kraut-meat-bread. I guess the cheese was there somewhere, but I don't recall seeing or really tasting it, although the flavor of the sandwich was good, just a little uneven. I enjoyed the sandwich and will have it again in the future. However, I may ask for a pickle. By the way, on Wednesdays they have excellent Italian Wedding Soup.

Aesthetically, this place is rather confusing. The layout is typical of a Sunshine Cafe (which I assume the place used to be at one time), but the decor is sort of neoclassical, with little columns and sculptures, and artificial greenery. Despite the name of the establishment, I saw no squares, nor any references to the 16th president. The menu is huge and varied, but a few items of Greek food stood out: perhaps for the same reason as the choice of classical motif. We pondered how one restaurant of this size could possibly stock all the ingredients required for such a varied menu, not to mention train their cooks in all the dishes to be prepared. The flatware was metal, plates were of china, but the cups were plastic. The tables are packed rather close together, so that I had to maneuver my chair around a bit to avoid running into the chair behind me, at the Skiles's table. The air was not noticeably smoky in the lefthand/non-smoking section, but there was a lot of smoke at the register when I went up to pay after the meal. The side of cole slaw was okay, but then, I'm not really a fan of the stuff. The fries, also on the side, were pretty good. Dressing came out on the side too. The sandwich was okay too. It could have used more kraut, and I didn't taste the cheese (as usual). There was no shortage of meat, but it was rather fatty. On the whole, Lincoln Square was okay, not on my list to recommend or to avoid.

The Reuben was above average. There was nothing that really stood out about it. The only thing that really stood out about the place was that they tried to cram way too many tables into the dining area.

The menu was large/Greek in nature with lots of different choices, but we were there on a Reuben mission. The server was friendly and actually got my side of ranch delivered with my fries, which I use as a heavily weighted metric to benchmark service performance. The meat was a little fatty and the portions were large--on the sandwich of course, not the server. Overall I'd say it was an average Reuben and I would not go out of my way to go and eat there just to eat a Reuben but I would go back to try some of the other menu items.

It was great being with the group again after a LONGGGG absence.