Maxwell Street Grill – South Holland (IL)

• 745 W. 172nd Street
• South Holland, IL 60473
• (708) 333-5353
• No Known Website
• Menu

When J and I lived in Lansing, we would always drive back to Chicago late on Friday nights after she got off work.  We were really never in a hurry to get home and every now and then would look for a 24 hour restaurant along the way to pick up something to eat.

We haven’t done that much since we moved to Kalamazoo.  J is working a different shift and now we have a 2 year old who may or may not be asleep in the back seat.

This past weekend, J had an extended weekend and went to her parents house on Friday when she got off work.  I had to work until midnight on Saturday, so I stayed behind in Kalamazoo.  Once I got off work, I hit the road….but not before looking for a 24 hour restaurant along the way.

I was actually really close to heading to the Bridgeport Neighborhood of Chicago and eat at two different hot dog stand right next to each other.  As I was doing research on those restaurants, I stumbled across a different.  One that will now be really hard to pass any time we go home.

Maxwell Street Grill is part of the whole Maxwell Street family that is littered throughout the Chicagoland area.  Most of the Maxwell Streets focus on their famous polish sausage as well as their possibly even more famous pork chop sandwiches.

This location is located right off the Tri-State Tollway at the Halsted exit.  The restaurant’s address is on 172nd Street, but it actually faces Halsted.  Technically, it’s right on the corner of 172nd and Frontage Road just inside the South Holland city limits.

The location is much bigger than most Maxwell Street locations.  This location used to be a different 24 hour restaurant and Maxwell Street moved in and turned it in to their own 24 hour joint that serves breakfast all day every day.

I walked in to the Grill at about 1:30 AM central time after being on the road for a couple hours.  There were quite a few people picking up a late night snack in front of me, so I had time to look over the large menu…although that really wasn’t necessary.

When it was my turn, I stepped up to the counter and ordered the Italian beef combo.  Now, I made a rookie mistake even though I’m not a rookie.  I just wasn’t thinking this late at night and ordered something completely different than what I intended to order.

What I meant to order was the Italian beef combo meal which came with fries and a medium drink.  What I actually ordered was the Italian beef combo which is an combination of Italian beef sandwich and a polish sausage sandwich.  I asked for the sandwich dipped and with hot peppers on it.  Lucky for me, all sandwiches come with a free order of fries, but I didn’t get the drink.  No worries as I had a Pepsi in my car.

The lady taking my order seemed a little shocked that I wanted to eat in the restaurant, but there was no way I could while driving and by the time I’d get that sandwich home, it would have soaked through the bag and stained the car making it smell delicious (to me anyway…J probably wouldn’t agree).

It only took a couple of minutes for my sandwich to be put on a red tray and left on the counter for me to come claim.  I got up from the cheap, plastic booth I was sitting in to go grab.

I started out with the fries.  They were nothing special.  Just cheap, out-of-the-bag fries that work and good filler.

Once I polished off the paper boat full of fries, I started unwrapping the deliciousness that was was tightly wrapped in foil to keep all of the juice in.

Since I though I was ordering the Italian beef combo meal, I was surprised when I unwrapped the sandwich and found an Italin beef combo instead.  The flaky bun that had soaked up all of the gravy was stuffed with a Vienna Beef polish topped off with tender, juicy Italian beef and a spicy hot giardinera mix.  The sandwich was awesome.  Seriously…awesome.  The fact that I messed up the order didn’t bother me a bit.  I’ve never actually done a combo before and it’s a way to get the best of two different sandwiches.  I’m not sure it will become my new go-to, but it’s a new option.

Maxwell Street Grill isn’t anything fancy.  That’s ok though.  It’s not supposed to be.  It’s just a great 24 hour stop that serves up Chicago staples.

French Fries

Italian Beef Combo w/Hot Peppers