Yesterday afternoon my daughter and I decided to take my wife out to lunch. In an effort to de stress from work we opted to avoid fast food, and instead visit “Max & Erma’s.” We visited the Deer Park location which is located at 20506 N. Rand Road inside the Deer park shopping center. They have 5 additional Chicagoland locations including Arlington Heights, Gurnee, Hoffman Estates, Vernon Hills, and Warrenville. Parking is free and plentiful since of course this is the suburbs.
Once inside it’s tough to pin down a theme for the décor. The walls are adorned with everything from a wooden Indian Chief to high school memorabilia. I guess the best way to describe it would be relaxed and casual. The menu on the other hand can be summed up in one word, “big”. They have burgers, salads, steaks, fish, and much more.
Today we’re focusing on lunch type food. Our waitress arrives promptly with our drink order and gives us a minute to look over the menu. For our appetizer we decide on the fried cheese skewers. My wife also orders the tortilla soup and the fried chicken salad as her entrée. I decide on the O-O-O burger. What the heck is that you ask? It’s a 10oz burger topped with red onion, grilled onion, and onion rings. How can that be bad?
The cheese skewers come out and let me tell you, these are fun to eat. Four skewers each with four cubes of lightly coated mozzarella cheese, accompanied by both honey mustard and marinara sauce. The cheese was soft and gooey in the middle and the coating was a nice change of pace from the usual breading. Next was the tortilla soup which was an excellent blend of smoked cheddar, jalapeño’s, and crunchy tortilla strips on top.
The main course is next. My wife’s salad arrives and its strips of fried chicken breast on top of mixed greens. While I did enjoy the crispiness of the chicken, I couldn’t help but think that this defeats the purpose for a salad. Fried chicken on a salad? Sounds good, tastes good, but not so good for you. I on the other hand was not trying to be healthy at all. My burger comes and it is a big greasy beast! The burger was big and juicy, but a bit under seasoned. The trio of onions works well on the burger and the size should satisfy most appetites. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the onion rings that accompanied the burger. Now I like things greasy, but these things were really greasy. My arteries were clogging with each consecutive bite.
Last off is dessert and we get there signature chocolate chip cookies. One thing to note is that they bake them fresh, so you need to order them at the beginning of your meal. They arrive warm on a cookie sheet, and are sooo good. They are warm, soft, and the chocolate is nice and gooey. Definitely a must have.
With tip the final bill came out to $45. Maybe a bit much for lunch, but it was a darn good lunch. Overall “Max & Erma’s” delivers good food (and fun) and a reasonable price. Rating *** out of ****.
Locations
2475 West Higgins Rd.
Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
(847)885-8811
20506 North Rand Rd.
Deer Park, IL 60010
(847)550-6484
306 East Rand Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
North Point Shopping Ctr.
(847)590-9400
28254 Diehl Rd.
Warrenville, IL 60555
(630)836-1500
447 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
(847)816-6700
6420 Grand Ave.
Gurnee, IL 60031
(847)855-1122
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