Giordano's Cheese Sticks Make Kids Smile

I am thankful for many things: my family, my home, my friends and a whole bunch of other little things that happen every day. One of the things I am most thankful for is my husband’s ability to think of restaurants to review for my column.

This past weekend after a trip to the grocery store, his clever thinking took us to Giordano’s Famous Stuffed Pizza. I am fortunate to have him in my life because after a trip to the grocery store on a Sunday, I am usually too exhausted to think.

is located at 1505 South Randall Road in Algonquin.

We arrived at about 5:30 p.m. to a nearly-empty front restaurant and a fairly-hopping birthday party in the back room. We were seated next to a window without having to wait.

We ordered our drinks and a Cheese Stick appetizer and looked over our menus. Even though Giordano’s is famous for their stuffed pizza, I was not in the mood for pizza, stuffed or un-stuffed.

Our waitress returned quickly to take our orders. Tom and I ordered the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich and the kids both ordered the Kids Cheese Stick meal with fries.

After we placed our orders, we played our favorite waiting game—"Name Any Hockey Player on the Blackhawks." This is Logan’s all-time favorite waiting game. We take turns naming different players on the Chicago Blackhawks, if we name someone that someone else has already been named, or we get stuck and cannot think of a player, that person is out.

Well, while we waited at Giordano’s, our "Name Any Blackhawk Game" turned into "Name People From Logan’s Class" to "Name People in Piper’s Class" and finally, "Name Foods That Match Each Letter in the Alphabet"… twice. In other words, we waited a long time for our food. We waited quite a while for our appetizer and even longer for our entrees.

When the food finally arrived, it was hot and delicious. When I go out to dinner, I usually do not like to order meals I can make at home… but the Chicken Parm Sandwich sounded really good and it was very good. Much better than I make at home.

The kids really enjoyed their Cheese Stick meals. They were very pleased that they did not have to stick to the usual pasta, hot dog or chicken fingers that they usually get.

Will we go back to Giordano’s? Probably not. Not when there are so many other restaurants in the area that have fantastic food without having to wait four Logan Games between courses.