Stanley's is a fun spot in the Old Town/Lincoln Park area that is a mixed bag of entertainment. To give you a sense of the times I've been here: -Game 7 of the World Series when the Cubs won in 2016 and it was madness in the best way -Late nights in Saturdays with a rocking dance floor and great 80s, 90s, and 2000s hits -Sunday brunch -March Madness basketball game watches So, there's something for everyone. It's also a University of Texas game watch bar on football Saturdays in the fall. The crowd tends to be younger (20s mostly), but there's a dining room in the back with play space for young kids. There are plenty of tvs to screen sports games. The southern comfort food is consistently decent. The brunch menu offers a great spread of fried chicken, waffles, fruits, and bagels, plus an omelet station. For lunch and dinner, the pulled pork sandwiches and burgers are great too. Water comes in a mason jar, which adds a little authenticity to this city bar. Tonight I came for same late night grub. The kitchen is open until 11:00pm. I was pleased with the order and the server was quick and friendly. We started with corn dogs ($7.95), which came with six pieces of andouille sausage breaded in a hush puppy on a toothpick- a nice twist on a traditional corn dog on a stick. The fried pickles and okra ($6.95) were salty and greasy, but yummy with dipping sauce. The "God's Own" Mac and Cheese ($4.95) appetizer was a hunk of noodles and melted cheese, topped with crispy cheddar--it's heavy and filling and probably best for 3-4 to share! The Classic Chicken Caesar Salad ($8.95) was light and fresh, without overpowering anchovy or too much dressing. The helpings are plentiful and prices are fair, so there is lots to share and it won't cost a fortune. Stanley's has good eats and a no frills, casual atmosphere!

Comfort food so good you feel like you want to be a regular here! This is our first time to Stanley's and the friend chicken! Move over KFC, you've been out fried, spiced and finger licked~~~ Stanley's chicken are absolutely delicious! It is crispy on the outside while so succulent & juicy on the inside! I try to steer away from too much deep fried stuff as *achem* I a little too in shape... round shape :-p But this chicken, you make me lose my self control!!! The Stanburger is really good too. The first thing that struck me was the thickness of the burger and the beef pattie. Just the way I like my burgers. Don't give me those shrunken, flat and "I can't see you" patties! Stanburger shows them the way it should be! I've never had meat loaf before, as I am not American and "Meat Loaf" just doesn't sound appealing at all. Tonight my friend ordered it and it was actually decent! It taste like spaghetti sauce to me, but if this is their spaghetti sauce, I think I will have the spaghetti next time! Overall food experience, finger licking yummy goodness!! Can't wait to go back and get more of those fried chickens! Service: the service tonight was unfortunately pretty slow. There was a football game and the place was packed. I understand that the food were slow to be prepared, but the slow and lack of service is disappointing. What were the staff doing hiding in the kitchen? Atmosphere: I love how the place is into the seasons, beautifully decorating the place with a Christmas theme. The place itself is roomy and homey. very children friendly with a play corner too! Excellent!

Food is reliable, comfort food. Good kitchy dining room area and a good place to watch the games. I'm surprised I haven't reviewed Stanley's before. I have fond memories of Stanley's for their brunch and crafting my bloody Mary on many brunch occasions. Their fried chicken is definitely memorable and I think everyone that tries Stanley's for the first time needs to have their chicken. It's good. But I've been a bunch of times and I wanted to try the other items of food they list on the side of their building. Meatloaf this time. Shrimp and grits could wait for another jaunt to Lincoln Park. Meatloaf: My buddy Simon has actually never tried meatloaf before being from another country. He heard my description of what it was and he moved on to the chicken instead. But I was intrigued. I have good memories of meatloaf, and this one was pretty good. Tangy, well-seasoned, and a hint of spice. And enough sauce (yup kicked-up ketchup) The flavors were great. I'd say this is a reliable dish - it's worthy. My critique would be that I wanted the meat to hold together better. Fell apart when I cut into it. Gotta have mash with it as well. But the dish that it was presented on could have used a bit more dressing up or another element. Seemed small on the plate. Chicken fried tenders: I had to get something for the girls, and I didn't want to get the kids meal for them. Figured the small plates portion would be enough for the kids to share so opted for this. The pieces were good moist, good crispy breading. When you're a southern style restaurant, better know how to fry a bird. My girls devoured it...even my slow eater. Came with a side of ranch sauce. Tator tot poutine: Ok now...every time I see poutine on a menu...yes please. I'm not a Canadian, it's just one of those items that I have a fasination with. Tator tots are Superior to fries. Bacon is a good topping and melted Jack and cheddar cheese better than cheese curds. Figure it is chicken gravy since the color is lighter and Stanley's is know for their fried chicken. Grab me a beer, this poutine is perfect for me. (Tad salty with all the bacon, cheese and gravy, but chef knows how to season his food). It's suppose to be on salty side. I'd add in some green onions myself. If Stanley's did a poutine bar for brunch, count me in! Service a bit slow this evening...packed house for the big ten championship. Seemed like more of a Wisconsin crowd than OSU since there were several outbursts if disappointed fans when Wisconsin turned the ball over for pick six. We were in the neighborhood bc of zoo lights. We chose Stanley's because I knew it was reliable, and figured a good enough distance away from the zoo to not need to wait for a table. Check check check. Good times at Stanley's. Might have to be back for the AYCE brunch again for $14.95 or some of their daily specials. Parking is available by street, meters. Plenty of big TV's for the game.

I live in south Texas and was in town visiting a friend. He said "let's go to dinner and I'll pick the spot," sure it's your town, this can't go wrong. I walk in and it's almost divey inside which I'm totally cool with. Then I notice the Texas Longhorns crap everywhere! I played football at a rival school, actually tore my Achilles in a game at UT, I basically hate everything UT. Now I know why my prick friend picked this place. Touche, well played. We sat outside. The waitress was on point, quick, brought out drinks right on time, we ordered and I had the fried chicken. I accused them of stealing my mother's recipe. It was perfect! Shaken in a bag, cooked in cast iron with Crisco type of perfect. I have to say drinks, whiskeys, and dinner and the tab came out very reasonable. Highly recommend, unless you are not a UT fan, then just sit outside.

We made sure to visit Stanley's when in Chicago recently after I had read about it when one of the owners passed away. We are really glad we stopped in! In fact, we ended up going there twice! The first time we went it was just me and my husband. We sat at the bar during trivia night so there were some drink specials that we took advantage of. We also ate dinner there - salad for me, sliders for my husband. We also shared a side of their "famous" mac 'n cheese" (a generous portion, very rich and delicious comfort food). The second time we took our teens and sat at a table. My daughter had a cinnamon shake that she liked so much there was nothing left for me to taste! My husband and I just had a couple beers. The staff both times were very friendly and accommodating. If we get back to Chicago, we will definitely make another stop at Stanley's.

Love love love The Sunday Brunch, I don't think there is a better deal in Chicago or anywhere else for that matter! Less than 15 bucks for all you can eat. The best fried chicken and waffles just for starters...there is an omelette station, a make your own Bloody Mary bar, great fruit selection, mac and cheese, cheese grits, gravy and biscuits, bacon or sausage, even mashed potatoes and gravy....all the food I ate was great... Our waitress was beyond wonderful, her name is Rachel, here for the summer from Cork, Ireland.... The one drawback was the number of small infant sized children...which wouldn't really be bad, had they not been having minor crying fits....just bad timing for my group on that I suppose. I will be back, sooner rather than later.

Definitely the bang for your buck here! It's only $14.99 for a brunch buffet, I repeat, **BUFFET**!! Most dishes at a brunch restaurant are already over $12 so the fact that you can eat endlessly here for under $20 is amazing. Beverages are not included in this price! I must've been dreaming too large thinking that bottomless mimosas were part of this deal... This place has a very home-y feel. It's definitely not what I expected it to be because it's also a bar! I think also we have a tendency to imagine buffet places to look some type of way, but this completely throws that image out the window. I don't mind though because it has a very mom-n-pop shop type of feel! It was a very casual atmosphere. There are different stations set up so you don't have to wait in one long line for the food. You can customize your own omelette and have it made right before your eyes. They have AMAZING fried chicken and mac and cheese here! They also make the waffles as people come in, so it's very fresh and crunchy! There's also a bagel bar, cereal, fruits, and other baked goods. The service is really great here. They put a pitcher of water at our table. They were also very quick to take away our plates and provide us with new ones. They are not greedy on their napkins (which are of high quality by the way). They also allowed us to split the check with 5 different cards, which is something that I definitely appreciated. Parking was easy to find around the neighborhood too! I can't wait to come back to this place. I definitely got hit with food coma after this.

The perfect spot to get a little bit of Texas in Chicago during football season. Come early to snag a spot during Texas games and take advantage of the great drink specials! Service was actually great even though it was such a busy night. Our waitress was spectacular and super nice, and I can't say that I would have handled such a crowd in the same way. After a few shiners, I had the southern chopped chicken salad. It wasn't bad, but not the freshest of produce used in the salad. It was a nice filling meal though to go along with all the beers we were having during this particular game. Make sure to get a free shot if you have a Texas Id also! Will be coming back for all other games!

Stanley's won me over by giving me really good food, and LOTS OF IT. The food is very good and is around 4 stars but the portion size easily bumped my rating to 5 stars. We got surprisingly excellent fried chicken (the breast was really juicy, the hallmark of any good fried chicken of course), must try poutine in the morning (tots with generous amounts of pulled pork, jack cheese, fried eggs), mashed potatoes, mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was only okay so I would skip that. Otherwise I was so happy with the rest of my meal. Highlights were the chicken and the poutine for sure. They gave us so much food that my friends had to force me to eat the last drumstick--I've never thought there would be a time when I would need someone to force me to eat fried chicken! Stanley's also has an all-you-can-eat brunch on Sundays for a more than reasonable price, too! I can imagine how wonderfully full I would be after that brunch....

My fiancé and I took our guests from England to Stanley's to show them how an all-you-can-eat-buffet truly works. I had to be careful not to overeat, and I almost couldn't help myself. The buffet itself is very robust! As other folks have mentioned, the biscuits/gravy, fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, and waffles are amazing. I posted a picture of my first place. As you can see, I tried to shoehorn a little bit of everything onto my plate! My favorite item was probably the biscuits/gravy combination. One thing I'd like to mention is the Bloody Mary DIY bar. You won't be lacking in options! Their Bloody Mary bar is worth a try. It's a perfect "next morning," compliment to a long night. Our waiter was kind and attentive. Most importantly, he kept the coffee flowing! The bill was very reasonable, and I had an enjoyable experience! I recommend this place, and I will return in the future.