HungryZ.com
What’s in a name? Can a place have both a silly name and quality food? To answer that question I visited “Zippy’s” restaurant. This isn’t a fancy restaurant, not even close, but rather a place that serves what I like to call “quality junk food”. Let me explain, regular junk food is your typical fast food place where you order food by combo meals, and “quality junk food” is like a mom and pop place serving burgers and other unhealthy favorites. In “Zippy’s” case their specialty is cheesy beef. I visited the Schaumburg location at 90 N Barrington Rd; they also have locations in Hoffman Estates, and Deerfield. The dining room is fairly small with fewer than twenty tables, while the walls are sparsely decorated with some makeshift graffiti. The menu here isn’t that large; dogs, burgers, gyros, pizza, salad, and of course Italian beef pretty much sum up the menu. But quality is more important than quantity, so the question is how’s the food? To really get a good idea I visited “Zippy’s” a few times this week to see how they stack up to some of my favorite neighborhood eateries. When ordering you first look at the menu board above and then place you order. A nice thing that sets this place apart from the huge fast food chains is the service. Each of the three times I visited I was greeted enthusiastically by the person at the register, actual eye contact was made, and they were genuinely friendly. During my first trip I decided on their famous cheesy beef with giardinera and a hot dog with everything. The beef is sliced paper thin and topped with melted mozzarella. The beef was tender, juicy, and very flavorful. Overall a very good beef sandwich, but surprisingly the only average part was the added mozzarella. It is melted on top and not underneath the beef, which gave it a little bit of a rubbery consistency. The dog was steamed nicely so there was a little “snap” in every bite. During my next visit I was more in the mood for a burger. All burgers are 1/3 lb and are either the basic burger, cheeseburger, or the Zip burger. I chose the Zip burger and the mini gyro. The Zip burger was a juicy beef patty topped with mozzarella, mushrooms, bacon, mayo, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and cheese. Slightly messy, but overall a pretty tasty burger. Next was the mini gyro, just like a regular gyro but smaller. This was a very neat idea and an affordable way to sample more of the menu, the mini gyro is just $1.49 compared to the full size at $4.39. The pita was fluffy and the sauce was tasty (although a little runny), and the meat was good but sliced maybe a little too thin. On my final trip I sampled the chicken club, fries, a slice of cheese pizza, and a chocolate brownie. The club was grilled chicken breast topped with American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo all on a warm croissant. The croissant was soft and flaky and the bacon had excellent flavor. The actual chicken breast was a little thin and a bit dry. Not a bad sandwich, but I’ve had better. The fries are of the waffle variety and have a nice potato flavor due to a slightly thicker cut. The pizza was also just $1.49 and had a good flavor but didn’t have my favorite consistency. The crust was like a thick piece of bread, similar to when you get a slice of “Connie’s” pizza at the ball game. Last off is the brownie, which is very moist, but tastes more like chocolate cake. Brownies are usually denser and have a more intense flavor, while this one was fluffy and had a milder chocolate flavor. Pricing here is very reasonable and their $1.49 “Zip Deals” really add to the value equation. Overall “Zippy’s” offers good food at good prices. If you’re in the neighborhood it’s worth a stop in. Rating ** and ½ out of ****. Locations 90 N. Barrington Rd                Schaumburg, IL 847-798-9797 830 N. Roselle Rd Hoffman Estates, IL 847-885-9797 663 Lake Cook Rd. Deer Field, IL 847-562-9797                                                                                      Home