UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[03282016]

[carrotcake]

I recently accepted an offer in grad housing. Can anyone recommend a reliable internet provider? I have AT&T right now where I live and it's pretty bad. Is Comcast the only other good option in HP?

[terrier27]

Hey everyone! Are there any better options than a cab to get from ORD to Hyde Park with a pet? I think I read earlier in this thread that the train/bus (can't remember which) is about a 2.5 hour trip and pretty sure my cat will not stand for that after a flight, but not sure if there is a shuttle or anything.

[beepboopbeep]

Terrier: with a pet I'd just cab it (or even w/ just a moderate amount of luggage). Unfortunately O'Hare and Hyde Park are just on the opposite sides of a pretty sprawled out city. AFAIK no cheaper options directly between the two.

And for Carrotcake: it's pretty much Comcast or bust here, sadly. AT&T is awful here as well; slow (like 3 Mpbs compared to 30-50) and just as expensive. I've only heard bad things about RCN, but that's another option (sometimes, depending where live) if you can't morally tolerate Comcast. Yay for competitive broadband markets!

[03282016]

[carrotcake]

I guess I will work on negotiating with Comcast then. Thank you both!

[sandwhich]

Anybody want to post their top 3 of restaurants both to eat and to avoid in Hyde Park?

Also, for booze is campus bar the best bet?

[03282016]

[beepboopbeep]

Anybody want to post their top 3 of restaurants both to eat and to avoid in Hyde Park?

Also, for booze is campus bar the best bet?

Eat:
Promontory
Sit-down
Med (up and down, but a HP staple)

Eat, but understand it's bad-good food:
Rajun
Cholie's
Valois

Avoid:
Mellow Yellow
Chant
Cedar's

For booze: the campus pub in the basement of Ida Noyes is the best bet for beer by a mile (go to trivia on Tuesdays!). An underrated option is Seven-Ten Lanes; most of the place isn't bowling, and has a decent beer list plus surprisingly tasty food. Jimmy's is a staple but everyone kinda acknowledges it's not very good. The Cove and Falcon Inn aren't bad bars, but they don't get much patronage from University folks for whatever reason. The bar scene is not a strength of Hyde Park; outside of the pub's beer list, if you're looking for an actual good bar I'd go elsewhere in the city.

[03282016]

[WheninLaw]

Anybody want to post their top 3 of restaurants both to eat and to avoid in Hyde Park?

Also, for booze is campus bar the best bet?

Eat:
Promontory
Sit-down
Med (up and down, but a HP staple)

Eat, but understand it's bad-good food:
Rajun
Cholie's
Valois

Avoid:
Mellow Yellow
Chant
Cedar's

For booze: the campus pub in the basement of Ida Noyes is the best bet for beer by a mile (go to trivia on Tuesdays!). An underrated option is Seven-Ten Lanes; most of the place isn't bowling, and has a decent beer list plus surprisingly tasty food. Jimmy's is a staple but everyone kinda acknowledges it's not very good. The Cove and Falcon Inn aren't bad bars, but they don't get much patronage from University folks for whatever reason. The bar scene is not a strength of Hyde Park; outside of the pub's beer list, if you're looking for an actual good bar I'd go elsewhere in the city.

Solid list, though a crime not to include Harold's.

[N.P.H.]

Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken is on my top 3.

And Chant isn't as awful as the other's mentioned.

[KMart]

I've only heard bad things about RCN, but that's another option

I just want to throw in I had RCN for the last 2.5 years in the South Loop and had no problems. Depending on the price, I'd choose it if it was cheaper than Comcast.

[elterrible78]

Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken is on my top 3.

And Chant isn't as awful as the other's mentioned.

The food at Uncle Slow's is great, but be prepared for an absurdly long wait, even if you're the only apparent customer in the place.

[skers]

I'm partial to Chipotle.

[beepboopbeep]

Anybody want to post their top 3 of restaurants both to eat and to avoid in Hyde Park?

Also, for booze is campus bar the best bet?

Eat:
Promontory
Sit-down
Med (up and down, but a HP staple)

Eat, but understand it's bad-good food:
Rajun
Cholie's
Valois

Avoid:
Mellow Yellow
Chant
Cedar's

For booze: the campus pub in the basement of Ida Noyes is the best bet for beer by a mile (go to trivia on Tuesdays!). An underrated option is Seven-Ten Lanes; most of the place isn't bowling, and has a decent beer list plus surprisingly tasty food. Jimmy's is a staple but everyone kinda acknowledges it's not very good. The Cove and Falcon Inn aren't bad bars, but they don't get much patronage from University folks for whatever reason. The bar scene is not a strength of Hyde Park; outside of the pub's beer list, if you're looking for an actual good bar I'd go elsewhere in the city.

Solid list, though a crime not to include Harold's.

Have always found it a bit overrated personally. Like, it is fried chicken. Fried chicken is good. But it's not good fried chicken compared to, like, all fried chicken in the world, if that makes any sense.

I also should've included a category for sandwich above and put Med Bakery, Z&H, and Morry's on the list. The first two are good, slight edge to med bakery IMO; Morry's is a straight deli if you are a deli kind of person. Teh gf would be mad at me for not putting Windy's on that list but I think it's affirmatively pretty terrible.

[elterrible78]

Have always found it a bit overrated personally. Like, it is fried chicken. Fried chicken is good. But it's not good fried chicken compared to, like, all fried chicken in the world, if that makes any sense.

Agreed. Harold's is okay, but absolutely nothing to write home about, and I don't understand the hype.

[sandwhich]

Thanks for all the responses guys! Now the wife and I have some places to try while we get settled.

Moving on: Should I make it a point to go to Wine Mess? It totally seems like my scene because alcohol.

[terrier27]

Terrier: with a pet I'd just cab it (or even w/ just a moderate amount of luggage). Unfortunately O'Hare and Hyde Park are just on the opposite sides of a pretty sprawled out city. AFAIK no cheaper options directly between the two.

Thank you!

[UnicornHunter]

Z and H is great, but they switched their donut supplier from Glazed and Infused, which is borderline tragic.

[WheninLaw]

Thanks for all the responses guys! Now the wife and I have some places to try while we get settled.

Moving on: Should I make it a point to go to Wine Mess? It totally seems like my scene because alcohol.

Wine Mess is pretty informal and a good time. Not something you need to "plan" on going to or anything.

[DontStopBeliebin]

Terrier: with a pet I'd just cab it (or even w/ just a moderate amount of luggage). Unfortunately O'Hare and Hyde Park are just on the opposite sides of a pretty sprawled out city. AFAIK no cheaper options directly between the two.

Thank you!

Would also recommend cabbing since it's about a $50 cab and would save you the stress of traveling with a cat.

For other times, if you don't want the 2.5 hour public transit trip but also don't want to pay $50, I'd recommend you cab down to Clark & Lake and then take the Blue Line up to O'Hare. Blue Line from Clark & Lake is a consistent 45 minutes into the O'Hare stop (having taken this trip probably 20-30 times) whereas cabbing can take between 30 minutes to 90 minutes from downtown to O'Hare if the traffic is fickle (especially with how bad I-94 is recently). Half the public transit time is because getting from Hyde Park to the Blue Line can be a huge headache on the bus, so if you cab to Clark & Lake it'll be like a $15 cab plus cheap fare for the Blue Line for a total time of just over an hour.

[zhenders]

Terrier: with a pet I'd just cab it (or even w/ just a moderate amount of luggage). Unfortunately O'Hare and Hyde Park are just on the opposite sides of a pretty sprawled out city. AFAIK no cheaper options directly between the two.

Thank you!

Would also recommend cabbing since it's about a $50 cab and would save you the stress of traveling with a cat.

For other times, if you don't want the 2.5 hour public transit trip but also don't want to pay $50, I'd recommend you cab down to Clark & Lake and then take the Blue Line up to O'Hare. Blue Line from Clark & Lake is a consistent 45 minutes into the O'Hare stop (having taken this trip probably 20-30 times) whereas cabbing can take between 30 minutes to 90 minutes from downtown to O'Hare if the traffic is fickle (especially with how bad I-94 is recently). Half the public transit time is because getting from Hyde Park to the Blue Line can be a huge headache on the bus, so if you cab to Clark & Lake it'll be like a $15 cab plus cheap fare for the Blue Line for a total time of just over an hour.

If you happen to live closer to the LS, the Cottage Grove & 63rd green line is pretty easy stuff, and you can transfer from it to blue at clark & lake as well (and vice versa of course). It's also considerably faster than bussing; Cottage Grove to Clark/Lake is no more than 25 minutes most days. I take green multiple times a day and have never had any issues.

[beepboopbeep]

I know it's better than it once was, but I'd never recommend that as someone's first hyde park/southside experience (i realize it's closer to being woodlawn) or as a thing to do with a pet and a bunch of luggage

Try the green line after you've been here for a bit

[skers]

yeah, i would never recommend that stop to someone who is new to chicago.