Pauline’s

The best thing about this place in being able to sit outside in a quaint neighborhood. Food was ok. Service very mediocre. They also had s stinky man with a big bird eating spaghetti next to tables. Kinda gross.

The diner is cute. BUT it’s not an excuse to serve canned biscuits with a country bfast. Make your own! The layered biscuits get soggy and are impossible to eat. We were ignored for a long time multiple times and no one asked how our meal was/​tasted. Not a fan.

Brunch, lunch? They have both.
The menu covers all taste buds and the décor is one to be photographed.
If you are only meeting one person or even ten people, Pauline’s can accommodate your need.
Enjoy!

Great food but the waiter was terrible I hope the owner of this place tells her something I had keep asking the the people who clean the tables for more coffee and our waiter didn’t Evan bother to ask if we needed anything else her name is Gloria I think

Blueberry pancakes were delicious. Coffee was constantly refilled. It was busy but we got a table for two quickly.

Overall: Great atmosphere, but just decent food and service. Nothing to write home about.
The good: The atmosphere was very interesting and fun. Lots of stuff going on throughout the restaurant. The outdoor seating looks plentiful and nice. The prices are pretty reasonable. Potatoes were good.
The bad: The food is just very average. The veggie omelet was on the colder side and just not great. The service, while friendly, was slow.
Atmosphere: ⁹⁄₁₀
Service: ⁷⁄₁₀
Food: ⁷⁄₁₀

This where I’d bring my grandmother from central Illinois if she could visit. A totally different kind of brunch/​lunch place than what I’m used to in Andersonville.

My experience was not the best. The waitress was very unpleasant, there was so many fruit flys that it was disgusting to eat. The food was good the service sucked! You need to know that customers can tell when you are not happy to be doing your job.

Kitschy cozy diner atmosphere in spades. The walls are a visual feast with all kinds of fun funky décor. Delicious simple breakfast that’s well made and generous in size. Lumberjack special really hit the spot since I was starving and it was nearing mid-​afternoon. Potatoes were well seasoned and mixed with roasted red peppers, steak and eggs were cooked perfectly. Coffee was very good. Nostalgia set in fast, it was like breakfast at Grandma’s house. If you want retro and unpretentious, Pauline’s is the place.
The hostess told us to sit wherever we wanted, and service was prompt and friendly. I’ve been wanting to try this place for a long time, and was really glad I finally did.
There are *a lot* of whiny, delusional, and/​or entitled reviews on here, which I recommend taking with a huge grain of salt or just ignoring altogether…

I’ve been coming here since I was 2. Love coming here especially in the summer to eat on the patio with my doggies. They are pet friendly in the patio. They bring a water bowl for your furry family members.
Breakfast is always good. French toast is the best I have ever had! It’s a must have. They don’t have a overwhelming menu, just the basics with few specialties, but the quality and ingredients are great. I really only go here for breakfast, lunch menu doesn’t seem that big.
I will probably keep coming here and maybe one day when I have kids will bring my kids here to. Its very family friendly and a tradition for me and my family on Sundays.

Service was fast, friendly and there’s outdoor seating in nice weather. The portion sizes were a good size. The hash browns very good ! Eggs were done just like I asked and bacon cooked perfectly. The orange juice came in a huge ball jar with handle with a slice of orange on the rim. Nice touch. The décor is really cute with all sorts of little knick knacks. You really feel like your in a little out of the way place and not in Chicago.

Had a basic breakfast before heading to the airport. Food was good, good prices and service was great.

Probably the most uncomfortable place I’ve ever been. As a Mexican lady with a Black/​Puerto Rican boyfriend who both attend DePaul University we’ve adopted color blindness as most of our classes are predominantly made up of white students.
Going into Pauline’s has been the only place to make me notice my nationality as my boyfriend and I entered and given the strangest look by the woman seating people: grey hair, bangs, sweaty eyeliner, and glasses. The place was busy so we didn’t think much of it. As she attended people who clearly arrived after us my boyfriend moved so that he could stand directly in front of her so she couldn’t miss us. STILL she refused to even make eye contact with us.
After about 10 minutes of waiting around we decided to leave. Pretty disappointed because we were pretty excited to try this place out.
Took our brunch to Home Slice on Webster and Bissell; literally the best food.

If you are given the option of sitting inside or outside, I would definitely sit outside. Although the interior feels like you are sitting in an old diner, the outside is great especially during a nice summers day. I enjoyed seeing the train go by as well as enjoying the local air and scenery. If you check into Unilocal,you can get $ 2 off your bill of $ 15 or more. They have offerings for both breakfast and lunch, but had opted to eat lunch instead. I am a fan of their ham and bean soup. Also, I had their house salad which was a good sized portion. In addition, my friend’s breakfast dishes look quite appetizing as they were completely devoured at the end of our meal.
During our meal, the owners of this place decided to bring out their parrots for display. If you want an advance peek of these birds, someone else had posted pictures on their Unilocal page.

Pauline’s has a really great ambiance. It feels like you’re in a small town or at least not in Chicago. I came here for a friend’s birthday brunch.
The juice was delicious, but the food was just okay. I got an omelet, but nothing really stood out about it. The potatoes with the omelet were pretty good. I think the best thing Pauline’s has going for it is their ambiance. They have an interesting collection of things displayed.

We go to Pauline’s often since it’s the closest breakfast place near us. Let me break it down for you:
1. Atmosphere: Pauline’s has a very 50’s, kitschy, diner-​type feel to it. In my opinion, it is the most endearing quality about this place. It even comes with its very own regular who seems to be there almost everyday, sitting outside if the weather is nice, with his parrots. It’s a fun place to bring visitors from out-​of-​town because they always seem to be taken by this place, partly due to the cuteness factor and partly because it doesn’t seem like your typical tourist destination. I think it makes them feel like they are eating at a hole-​in-​the-​wall, although I’m pretty sure the secret has been out for quite some time now…
2. Food: Considering they are open until 3pm, they also have a lunch menu, but I haven’t been impressed with anything on it. If you’re going here, I would stick to breakfast. The fresh squeezed juices are nice. The pancakes and french toast are both very good. The omelettes are huge, but just okay, in my opinion. They come with a side of potatoes which are very good. Try them with the spicy ketchup!
3. Value: I’m not really sure how I feel about the prices. The portions are quite large, but I feel like this is the kind of place that you’d expect to be able to get cheap, standard breakfast fare and it’s definitely not cheap. The coffee is bottomless, but it’s nothing to write home about. Just your standard run-​of-​the-​mill diner coffee, but that’s all I can really ask for from a place like this.

I love it when I walk into a place and the nostalgia of a different time in history just hits you. This is the perfect place to go and feel like you’re sitting in a cute 1950’s diner.
The way it’s set up and decorated is enough to convert me into a regular customer.
Honestly, I’ve had better breakfast food elsewhere for the price. But at Pauline’s it has a great home cooked taste, and I’ll take the comfort of that experience over any industrially made food any day. And I haven’t tried much on the menu, so it’s not entirely enough to judge the food just yet. Can’t wait to go back for more.

The breakfast was great, simple and fresh. The only thing that really bugged me was the bug catchers. The entire time I couldn’t stop thinking of them, little disturbing, but nonetheless it wasn’t bad, the bug thing is the only thing that would keep me from going back.

Pauline’s is the only breakfast place within walking distance from where I live, so I frequent this restaurant often. Though sometimes I find myself driving or taking the train to somewhere else because frankly Pauline’s could be so much better. Even though this is a small no frills breakfast place, which I like, you really don’t get what you pay for. They charge $ 9 for a very BASIC eggs benedict that comes with NO sides. Their omelettes are quite good and come with a side of potatoes, which makes them reasonably priced. The potatoes, however, are a hit and miss. They’re usually too mushy and flavorless. Not a fan.
In other words, if you want a traditional no-​frills breakfast, you can go elsewhere for much more reasonable prices.

This place was a short walk from my old condo in Bowmanville. I frequented it occasionally when I was looking for a no frills, straight up breakfast place. Now I am not a breakfast person, I am a brunch person. I think these are two very different types of people.
I would classify this as a breakfast place. It has a cute diner meets grandma appeal. I’ve had the cheddar bacon waffle which I found to be the perfect salty-​sweet-​savory combination to satisfy this brunch fiend. Most of the other people I’ve been here with chose your more typical breakfast items: pancakes, eggs, etc. Everyone I’ve been here with has said they’ve enjoyed their food.
Pleasant waitstaff, affordable, and satisfying. .. even to a brunch person.