Juicy-O
It all begins with an idea.
This week we hit up Juicy-O in Downers Grove. Remember that each week, the person selecting the restaurant prepares a conversation-starter question. This week's question was: if you could make one thing illegal, what would it be? It felt good to surface pet peeves (gum cracking for example *you know who you are*), but after some thought, we landed on outlawing negative self-talk. What if, the next time the bully in our heads chimes in, we put him in the penalty box. NOT ALLOWED.
(PS we recognize that critique is paramount to our existence here at SSBC, but any feedback we offer is done with love and comes from a constructive place. We hope it's taken in the spirit in which it's offered.)
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QUICK STATS
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ [3/5]
Price Range: $$
Best For: fun-loving folks with an appetite, lovers of free donuts (which is another way of saying everyone)
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BEHIND OUR RATINGS
Food Quality: ⭐⭐⭐ [3/5]*
Now hear this: Juicy-O serves FREE DONUT APPETIZERS tableside, and we simply cannot applaud this effort any more than we do. They’re the traditional, fried-dough kinda greasy donuts. I wouldn’t say they’re the most remarkable donuts we've ever enjoyed. But nor do we look a gift horse in the mouth. We’re A-OK with free table donuts!!
The bigger issue: while everything was good, none of us had a standout item. It may be the big menu trap where a place spreads themselves too thin and becomes mediocre at everything. Example: I was enticed to try the fried green tomatoes but they were not good (mushy, lacking in flavor). This was entirely avoidable; novel menu items should be approached exceptionally or not at all.
Coffee was pretty good quality: breakfast-y with a bite in a good way. That said, our cups continuously runneth dry 😬
Note: we realized afterward that none of us tried a juice drink, which is in the name after all—so we are putting an asterisk on the rating. We’re contemplating a redo, outside of our regular Sunday rotation.
Service: ⭐⭐⭐ [3/5]
Very friendly, pleasant server (she didn’t offer her name) though coffee refills were noticeably slow.
And we also noticed kind of a weird vibe when we took pictures, and when we declined boxes for our leftovers. The manager(?) that came over to check on us was not the warmest, and kind of just stared at us when we left. For a place with such a casual, no-pretense atmosphere, you'd expect some warmth / friendliness to match.
Atmosphere: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ [4/5]
The walls are plastered with funny quips, one-liners, clever photos and sayings. It's genuinely entertaining, and we celebrate that spirit—the humility of not taking themselves too seriously counts for something in our book.
Shout-out to whomever hung those several hundred frames straight and evenly spaced: I see you, picture hanger, and I appreciate your handiwork! I share your love of precision.
We were unfortunately seated beneath a flickering ceiling light, which if I’m not mistaken is listed as a means of torture vis-a-vis the Geneva principles. The women’s restroom is also suffering from major strobe-itis. Please fix those lights.
Noise Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ [4/5]
It's a pretty big place. And noise was actually better than we expected.
Value for Money: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ [4/5]
It was a few bucks more expensive than our usual Sunday breakfasts…our thought was that the free donuts aren’t really “free.” Portions were very healthy though.
Wait Time: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ [5/5]
Walked right in, no issues.
Kid-Friendly: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ [5/5]
We liked the clever names on the kids menu.
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WHAT WE ORDERED
Court went with the hot chocolate peppermint french toast (a seasonal item). He thought it was good—although he didn’t get a full sense of the peppermint. He also thought it could have some crunchiness / crushed candy topped goodness to it but it was more of a garnish.
Kay ordered the blueberry lemon ricotta pancakes. The ricotta was dolloped on top, leaving the lower pancakes a little dry. The pancakes are big, thick, and fluffy. She found them to be nice and tasty, but didn't finish by quite a lot (it was a very large serving). Her side of crispy bacon was good.
As for me (Bridget), I ordered the Victory Skillet (plus one for cool names!) with havarti cheese. The potatoes were flavored pretty nicely, eggs over medium were cooked as expected, and I would order it again. I chose pancakes as my side, and I liked them. FYI, they’re on the sweet, denser side. I also had the fried green tomatoes which I mentioned earlier were a definite miss.
Sunny started with a strawberry banana smoothie which comes with strawberry sauce drizzled on the glass. For his meal, he chose the kids’ chicken fingers and fries. The fries were crinkle cut (always a win), and the chicken fingers are thin white meat seasoned with what I thought to be a nice spice blend. They were not his favorite style, but I did think they were well-prepared.
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THE BOTTOM LINE
Our Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ [3/5]
What Made Us Smile:
The quirky, fun atmosphere and the free donuts as an appetizer.
What Could Be Better:
Maybe serve the donuts with different dipping sauces to dress them up a bit (we know you have strawberry based on the smoothie), even as an optional upcharge. Take a hard look at the menu —it's okay to prune it a bit and keep only the strongest items.
Will the SSBC Be Back?
We actually have a nostalgic connection to one of the Juicy-O’s that closed, so we want to give them our business. That said, they have some areas of improvement and we hope they focus on those.
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Well, that's a wrap from your SSBC! Thanks for reading and please endeavor to be as gracious a guest as you expect of your establishment. Mind your manners, tip well, and if you linger during peak times (as we sometimes do), order lots and tip even better.
If you'd like to recommend a place for us to visit, drop us a line on our contact page.