Lindy’s Chili & Gertie’s Ice Cream

I’m extremely surprised to see such low ratings. This place is old school, yes, but that’s part of the charm. The chili with the fixings is just right and their flavored sodas with ice cream are classic. Fresh whipped cream is NOT buttery as one reviewer suggested. Bottom line is that they are doing the greasy spoon diner classics really well and nailing their sundaes and phosphates. It’s too bad this place isn’t busier, but I think it’ll be hard for them to draw in the younger crowd without an interior update.
Also, the guys behind the counter are very nice. It’s a take-​a-​penny-​leave-​a-​penny kind of place that gives service with a smile despite the old ceiling tiles, bad lighting, and run-​down look of the place. I played the claw machine (25¢) and weighed myself & got a fortune (10¢) while waiting for a to-​go order– all in good fun! I’ll be back.

Their ice cream is OK:… DO NOT GET WIPPED CREAM!!! IT TASTES LIKE BUTTER!!! It smells really bad and they take FOREVER 2 make one dang milkshake!!! One time I went there with my friends and we didn’t get our ice cream 4 an hour and we were the only ones there!!! One employee started crying cuz she couldn’t keep up with the receipts! This place is slow and unorganized! The only close to good part about it is their food and ice cream. Chilly kinda gross. All in all I’d prefer Oberweis over Gerties.

Classic chili/​ice cream joint on the south side, the chili is great and so is the ice cream, not expensive either, it’s a must for those looking for classic establishments in Chicago

Was looking for some ice cream and the Burger King drive through was packed so stopped by this place. Asked to see an Ice Cream Menu and it was completely Unreadable. Looks liked they just made copies over and over. So i just ordered a Hot Fudge Sundae. Girl that took my order seem to not care what I ordered just wanted me to leave. Got home with the sundae and it was a bowl of ice cream with hot fudge on the side. Thought I ordered some cheese fries from White Castle. Next time I will just stop at Dominick’s and make it myself better.

Lindy’s and Gertie’s are well established Chicago institutions, each renowned in its own right. Lindy’s has the best Chili in Chicago, in my opinion; while Gertie’s, with its fantastic ice cream concoctions, is a throwback to the days of local soda shoppes. The pairing of these two has nearly unlimited potential. However, that potential goes mostly unrealized at this location. While their other locations, McKinnley Park in particular, have a certain charm, this location is in need of a rescue. The staff, in particular, needs a serious infusion of customer service skills. Fortunately, the food here is still reliably good. However, I won’t be dining in anytime soon.

Been going there for years. The last few times things have not been so nice but this last time it took the cake! Rude nasty waitress on Friday. 4÷26÷13. Short with me and the kids and we were the only ones there at this point. Placed order, ate then wanted ice cream and that was too much for her to handle nicely. She told us rudely they did not have a particular ice cream and then we changed order to something they had and then we got the original order with no explanation or apology. Then paid the bill and was suppose to get $ 9.40 change on a $ 30.60 bill. She tried to get a 30% tip by only giving me 40 cents after snapping the money down on the counter. I had to remind her to give me the money after she asked me «what?» when I did not get the full change. Needless to say, tip was very bad. Just called to see if I left my coat and woman who answered phone said to another person «this asshole wants to know if he left his coat» so I guess they have my coat as a tip now… owner of this location needs to do something …

So: they changed the prices, and not in a good way! We recently stopped here because we felt like having chili (and of course, a chocolate soda) on a cold winter’s night. The new menus listed prices that were bumped up by 20 to 30%.
Quality of the food is the same, but if you are less than a block away from a Burger King and another hamburger joint, Grant’s, why price yourself out of competition?
To add insult to injury, the old menus have been replaced by cheap photocopies with the edited prices. They couldn’t even bother with a decent computer-​generated update.
When prices increase, you expect something else to improve as well. This is just gouging with no real benefit to the customer.

I love their hot fudge sundaes and their food. Its all junk food done great!
I do have some issue with their customer service. I didn’t get the gross lady, but all the employees were bored or cranky last time, which goes perfectly with the ambiance. This place used to be such a treat, but as an adult it seems a bit sad and lacking the magic an ice cream shop should have. Especially a shop that is selling such a great product!
Smiles, cleaning, and sprucing up needed for a 5 star rating.

This place should be shut down due to health code. So disgusting inside. I even had to use the washroom and they had no lights. When told the staff they said i could use their flashlight! Everything about this place is gross and dirty.

Nobody who knows me can dispute my love for Lindy’s, but I’d never ventured to another location outside the one in McKinley Park, so perfect for its after ice skating relief.
Now, I still love Lindy’s and I (obviously) loved their chili at this location, and will certainly return because I am at the Beverly Art Center for various activities such as art, but there were some little things that just l couldn’t help compare.
Our server was was a rather listless teen, which is fine, but everyone working in there seemed really depressed for some reason. Not just «my job’s not that awesome» depressed but «Tom Waits is the soundtrack to my life» depressed. Maybe I’m being dramatic. I also know it’s a franchise so it’s not necessarily super consistent, but my favorite sundae, the Sweet 16, was listed as having «fruit salad» on it where strawberries should have been and the sundae we did order didn’t come on a little plate to catch the overflow, nor did it come with the advertised Nabisco wafer which I enjoy.
Like I said, I’ll be back, but it’s the little things.

We stumbled upon this location yesterday evening, while looking for a place to grab a quick bite. I have been a fan of Gerties since I was a kid and used to frequent one of the original locations, on Archer Ave in Brighton Park. Most recently, I have been going to the Ford City location on Pulaski. I was happy to see this location so close to our new neighborhood
Anywhoo.. Lindy’s and Gertie’s combined to make an excellent match, chili, burgers, hot dogs & sandwiches, meet ice cream, shakes, sundaes and flavored old fashioned sodas. A perfect match for a big guy like me!
I ordered a ¼ pound cheeseburger (which was handmade), fresh cut fries w/​skin, and a cup of their famous chili. I gotta say, everything was delicious. The burger was nicely seasoned, and went well with the grilled onions i requested. The fries with thick cuts of fresh potatoes and were fried to perfection. The chili was pretty good, very meaty and flavorful. I was able to taste my wife’s banna shake, but it was so good that she refused to give me anymore than a quick taste. Next time i will have to order my own.
I will definitely be back. I left with a butter pecan scoop on a plain cone and it was very good. I will have to try some other flavor on my next trip.

Where do I begin.
Although likable at first, our waitress was extremely unsanitary and quite frankly, gross. I was there about an hour ago, and even though I didn’t finish my TINY b.l.t. I’m still kind of queezy.
Initially our waitress was charming, fairly entertaining and quirky. She took our orders and was helpful with suggestions. We were having fun and laughing with the waitress a lot at first.
After delivering our delicious bowl of chili, get this, she TASTED the condiments with her FINGER! After closing the cap of the hot sauce with her masticated finger she placed next to the chili and walked away babbling about something.
We still hadn’t received our drinks.
Like I said above, the chili was great. However my b.l.t. was baby-​sized and the ranch I ordered on the side was almost solid and tasted like French Onion dip. The fries were practically raw potatoes; soggy on the outside and raw on the inside. Yuck.
My boyfriend ordered the chili cheese burger and said he would have been satisfied if the portion wasn’t minuscule.
Mid-​meal our waitress informed us she would be taking a smoke break. I’m not opposed to smokers, but that’s disgusting for a server to do while her table is eating. We were the only customers in there!
She came back in sniffling and wiping snot onto her arm right at our table. I mean come ON.
She asked if we wanted to box the fries and we assumed it was so that we could finish cooking them at home. We politely declined.
For the grand finale, we walked up to pay the bill as she was hocking a loog into a paper cup!
Who are these people?! What happened to the place?

Much better the second time around. I ordered my cup of chili with NO beans, and a side of macaroni, and it was wonderful. Also ordered the burger again with grilled onions.
This place never seems busy. I’m kinda surprised they still keep it open. Hopefully the other Lindy’s locations make up for the slack at this one. Service here could be a little friendlier, seeing as we’ve been the only customers both the times I’ve came here. They sure can’t blame it on being too busy.

Seriously — Why don’t I just eat here every damn day?
Probably because eating chili cheese topped things every single day would wreak further havoc on my digestive system, however…
I got a decent sized quarter pound cheeseburger with grilled onions on a toasted bun, a generous order of real potato fries topped with Lindy’s delicious chili, a huge, impressive, and deliciously slightly bitter chocolate phosphate in an old fashioned large float glass and a small chocolate milk here for… NINE DOLLARS!
Nevermind the fact that that is quite possibly the fattest order anybody ever ordered in a restaurant, still — $ 9. For all of that delicious grub? Yessssss!

chili — great :)
milkshake — garbage :(
service — unfriendly, not welcoming :(