Our friends suggested going out for dessert after the Getty’s concert, we were agreeable. We drove south through the Loop to the South Side, to the corner of Canal and Roosevelt where White Palace Grill is located. There’s no parking, and the towing companies apparently enjoy removing cars parked on the street, so we parked in the parking garage of Southgate Market Mall. We walked through the mall and down the street a block to the grill.
The grill has two claims to fame and it proclaims both of them loudly.
- It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- It was featured on Diners, Drive Ins & Dives.
We walked by signs stating that they wouldn’t split checks, that booths were reserved for parties of two or more, and that you couldn’t stay longer than two hours.
We found a booth in the back room under the mural of famous Chicagoans.
Our waitress walked by three times, each time telling us that she’d be with us shortly. She finally paused to say that the bus boy would bring us four waters. A few minutes later, she came by again and said that the bus boy would bring us four waters. Then she brought us napkins and silverware and said, “He’s not going to get around to the water. I’ll bring it.”
Five minutes later, the bus boy came by with four waters. One of the glasses had something brown and crusty on the rim and a dead fly sticking to the side. The waitress showed up again and took our order. My wife ordered carrot cake and an iced tea. One friend ordered chocolate cake and an iced tea. The other friend ordered strawberry cheesecake and a pink lemonade (the waitress told him that a lot of guys aren’t comfortable with pink). I ordered a hot fudge sundae with raspberries. They don’t have raspberries or hot fudge, so I was informed that I was getting a chocolate sundae.
After a short wait, the waitress brought two pieces of carrot cake. We explained that we wanted a piece chocolate. The waitress said she’d just leave the extra piece of carrot in case somebody wanted it, but we said no. She left and came back with a piece of chocolate cake and one iced tea. We told her we’d ordered two, so she left and came back with two more. My friend got his cheesecake, but no lemonade. My sundae finally came.
We ate — the food wasn’t bad, but I’m not a fan of plain chocolate sundaes. We were thinking about leaving when the waitress came back with two iced teas and a pink lemonade. We now had eleven glasses on the table. My wife was thirsty, so we settled back in while she sipped her tea.
Then the waitress walked up and gave me glass twelve — a chocolate malt. I hadn’t ordered one — none of us did. When I told her, she said she’d leave it in case somebody wanted it. We said none of us did, so she walked around the room looking for someone who did. We laughing out loud by this time. My friend’s wife said she wished she’d ordered soup and my friend said, “Hold on, you might get some at any moment. If we hang around here long enough, who knows what we might end up with.”
To be fair, we didn’t order the food White Palace Grill is famous for, but I have to say I wasn’t impressed — although I did enjoy myself tremendously. I looked at Yelp and saw that reviews are pretty evenly divided between people who love it and those who think Guy Fieri struck out on this place.
It was a bit after 10:30 when we left. We walked up the street to the mall and discovered that the doors were locked. That meant that we had to walk all the way around the outside of the mall and up the car ramp. There were no other people around anywhere, and it was a bit creepy, but it did give us a good view of the Chicago skyline.
