Lisle Fox Restaurant

My husband and I go here for breakfast once in a while. Hands down best breakfast sausage, food is always good, the owner is very personable, everyone is friendly, professional experienced waitresses. The décor could use some updating, but that’s kind of part of the charm, feels like home.

We were looking for a ‘old fashioned’ breakfast spot. When we saw the filthy front windows with wilted condensation-​stained community advertisements we should have driven right past. Just as noted in other advertisements, the owner at the cash register and the waitstaff were pleasant but… but… but… where to even begin. The table was sticky with … hard to know what. Salt and pepper shakers were crusted with food on the outside and clouded on the inside from never being cleaned. In front on me was a stack of children’s booster seats that were caked with residual guests prior meals. The glass light over our table was decorated with tinsel but no one had bothered to clean the fixture in the past decade. This place should be shut down.

This is a great little place open for breakfast and lunch yes it is old and dated but still the food is good and so was the service

Like another reviewer, I’m giving 3 stars because service was good and owner is friendly!
But the inside is older, smells like my grandpa’s house and food was so-​so. Coffee is weak and typical breakfast offerings. I did really like that powder sugar and cinnamon came on the side to add to my french toast.
This is a great location, so if freshened up, I think would pull in more business.

This is three-​star review solely for the excellent service. Food was so-​so and the place is extremely dated (including exterior). It’s time to put some money into this place (looks like its been here forever) and elevating downtown Lisle.

Old, outdated, coffee tastes like mud, servers are all over 60. Food is crappy

Nice people — but, this is below average at every corner. It’s old, outdated, sticky and dirty. I question the cleanliness and care at every corner Nothing wonderful about it. Food is average at best. No love. Even the OJ isn’t fresh squeezed. I mean, I can get canned frozen concentrate at home. If you are going out to breakfast, cant you even give us real orange juice??? What is this? A VFW fundraiser? When you compare this to a Jam and Jelly (owned by Portillos) it’s simply night and day. J & J is top notch. Yes, the Fox will fill you up and you «probably» won’t get sick. But with Jam and Jelly down the road 2 miles — which is exceptional — why waste your time here?. Unless you don’t really care about what you put into your body. Personally… If you are going to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all. Avoid. Or, go to McDonalds and save the time and money. I hope they actually go out of business and something nice goes in there. It’s a great corner for a real family restaurant.

I’ve been to this place a few times for breakfast. There is nothing wrong with this place… it’s in itty bitty downtown Lisle on the corner of Ogden & Main Street. They are open for breakfast & lunch. What I like about this place is that it’s never overly crowded like other breakfast places in the Lisle/​Naperville area. The menu has a number of breakfast specials too! Parking is also never a problem at this place either — there is parking on Main Street as well as the lot behind the building.
I ate here for the third time yesterday and didn’t encounter any problems… service was good, fast, and the food was quality — I had a cinnamon french toast combo which included eggs and bacon. Also a plus — they have flavored coffee craemers on the table!

This is an old, beat up breakfast house that is neither bad or good. The same goes for the food, the service, the value. You know what your are getting walking through the door of some roadside diner with the name «Fox». You are stopping here to get some grease in the belly… that is it. I am not recommending this place and I am not saying «don’t go». I am saying, this is what it is. Wasn’t too happy when I was grilled for paying with a credit card for a $ 6.99 tab so I told the man rather bluntly, this is 2014, you pay the fees and if you don’t like it, find a better cc service. Walking out the arches, I felt bad for the owner/​manager because it looks as if he has a loyal following but they were all blitzing the age of 70, and he needs to hit the reset button and re-​rack the pins a bit because those 70 somethings will soon be in Florida and that breakfast legend will soon be empty!

I’ve been to the Fox many times. I am more of a during the week type of frequent. I love their Turkey Melt on toasted Rye and their breakfast skillet always please the belly. Unfortuately I ordered out of my usual comfort zone and went with the Pecan pancakes. The full stack were dry, really dry I had to drink water after. I hate to say this to such a small neighborhood gem. The server was an absolute sweetheart and this did not effect her tip. I just think the kitchen may have had a bad day.

What does The Fox say??? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. –But the fox would dance up a storm and say «Yum» at how fast and good this place is. This is a cute little place. Totally old school, «typical» family restaurant. The owner is as cute as a button. He reminded me of the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding! I walked in and just needed to grab a quick breakfast to go and get back to the city. I ordered, he said, «5 minutes.» I went to the restroom and came back and BAM my breakfast to go was ready. I am not even kidding. It was deee-​lish. I always stop at this place on the way to get my hair done. I really do like the breakfast here! It’s my little treat as part of my «day of glamour». As a matter of fact –I’m due again for my hair this weekend. I’m totally looking forward to stopping here. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY??? beee beeee beee bee beee beee (LOL)

This restaurant has been in its location for ages and ages and it shows. The parking is tight and disorganized, hardly any room to open a door with all the vans and trucks in the parking lot. Most of these belong to the many tradespeople that patronize the restaurant … with a decent smattering of white-​collar and retirees. At least that’s the way it was on a mid-​Thursday morning when I stopped in for breakfast.
I was seated quickly, got my order ordered quickly and the food came out in just the right time. 3 eggs over medium, 3 large sausage links, a hardy helping of potatoes, Greek toast, OJ and coffee was my order.
The food was quite good, but it is hard to wreck this kind of meal.
The restaurant is beat up and tired looking. It feels the same as it did 30 years or so ago. The utensils are worn, and should be replaced. I thought a cup was dirty, but it wasn’t; it was just past its age. Doing a better job cleaning the tables would be a good idea. Some around me looked to have some stains, but I’m not sure if they were old or new. My table was clean to a bit sticky on the far end.
The food — 3 stars
The décor — 1 stars
Cleanliness — overall 2 stars
The fact it still exists — 4 stars

Besides my many reviews of hot dog stands throughout Chicagoland, the second most common type of place I’ve reviewed here on Unilocal are diners and pancake houses. I greatly enjoy driving through the area and finding new spots for good breakfast. After running out of options nearby one morning I decided to give Lisle Fox Restaurant a try.
Having passed by this place on many occasions while driving down Ogden avenue I knew exactly where it was. I stepped in and the smell of the restaurant reminded me more of an old house than an eatery. I was greeted and seated and soon took some time to look over the menu and decide what I wanted to order. I honed in on the skillet section of the menu, and found one that looked to be to my liking, summoned the waitress with a hand gesture (no, not the impolite kind) and placed my order.
The food was ready fairly quickly and I dug in. The skillet I received was piping hot with a good amount of egg, meats and cheese on it. It was also about 80% bland and unseasoned potato at the bottom. They also don’t offer pancakes as an extra with their skillet instead offering toast as options. I settled on an English muffin here, and assembled a small sandwich from the contents of the skillet to eat on the muffin.
Service was friendly enough and quick, but my food was a bit on the bland side. While not terrible, my breakfast here fell well below average. I wouldn’t recommend stopping here for breakfast, but perhaps lunch items here are better. I’ll give it two stars.

Ordered an omelette special. I regret I wasted nearly $ 7 on it because I ended up throwing it out. Too many green peppers in it, too little broccoli, sparse use of cheese. Eggs were burnt (brown sides) and well, there was no «yum» after first hungry bite. So disappointed!

Terrible cheap greasy diner; avoid if you possibly can!

I’m not sure if this place is old-​school, or just plain old. Don’t let the worn out façade and extremely dated interior scare you away from what is the best family-​style diner in the area. They truly don’t make places like this anymore.
We came in for lunch on a weekday, and it was somewhat busy in the dining room, and they seemed to be doing a great carryout business as well. The booths are rather small, and beneath the smells of cooking food, you can detect a faint but very attic-​like odor. I’m not saying the place is dirty, just old, with pictures, statues, and plastic planters all depicting the place’s namesake fox everywhere you turn.
The menu was populated with enough burger and sandwich choices to keep even the most discernible diner-​goer happy. I had a French dip sandwich with cheese. It came with a cup of pipping hit but unremarkable chicken noodle soup. The sandwich was great! Piled high with sliced roast beef, and the Au jus was slightly salty but flavorful. It comes with a pile of regular-​cut commercial french fries, which were deep-​fried perfectly. (I despise mushy fries.) I had to take half of it home, so the portion to price ratio here is outstanding (read: cheap.) Our server was a real sweetheart, as was the host/​owner who greeted and seated us!

Ned Flanders, the sanitized next-​door neighbor from «The Simpsons,» once said that his favorite flavor was not vanilla but «plain.»
Ned would feel right at home at Fox Restaurant.
Fox sits at the apron of downtown Lisle, which is less boring than it looks from Ogden Avenue. Situated next to a tarot card reader, Fox sticks to its theme, with fox statues at tables and fox artwork on the walls. Our waitress wasn’t a fox, though. S’alright. Too early for cheesecake.
The menu was big, like any other Greek restaurant. As we came during brunchtime, pancakes (for my wife) and a skillet (for me) sounded right. But they didn’t necessarily taste right. They weren’t as off-​putting as the smell that grabbed my nose in the front half of the establishment, but they weren’t that appealing either.
My wife’s peach pancakes were expectedly large, but the peaches were diced and from a can, lacking in flavor, and unsatisfactory. They were «peach pancakes,» just as the menu promised, but there was no love there. A very reductionistic meal from a literal menu.
My skillet had chicken in it, along with fewer-​than-​expected veggies, potatoes and a combination of cheeses, or so I was told. I’ve never seen such a bland-​looking skillet before. It was monochrome. Some green pepper or tomato on top of the seas of cheese would’ve livened up the dish. Or maybe I should’ve shook hands with beef instead of chicken. (Or had a pork soda? Ugh. I’m out of Primus references. But that’s way too exciting a band to mention here. Know any good Bread songs?)
The accompanying English muffin was overtoasted, taking away any chewy quality. But hey, at least this way, it was a different color than the skillet.
I guess it was okay, but nothing grabbed me enough to bring me back. It was just there. It was just blah, but not cheap enough to be allowed that level of blahness.
When I’m much older and don’t want «too much flavor» in my food, this place may offer comfort to me. But they better upgrade to vanilla by then.

What is this? I not only went out on a limb and ignored the 3 stars here on Unilocal,but I completely disagree with it? That’s right. Unilocal IS WRONG. Completely wrong. Sorry Unilocal,don’t mean to call you out. You know I still love you!
Lisle Fox needs to be looked at for what it is. Its a greasy spoon breakfast place. And its great. Service is just so friendly but not annoying as it so easily could be. Pancakes are made with a special flour that makes them just dense enough to soak up the syrup and keep the flavor of the cake. The skillets are so so good (try the greek with tzatziki sauce or the meat lovers!)! I can’t stop getting them. I’ve had bites of their omelets — cooked perfectly. All are packed with flavor and fresh ingredients. I’m so glad this is just outside my doorstep. Yes — its nothing too inventive. You won’t find me taking pictures of my food because its not art in the sense of beautiful to look at… but it is art in my tummy, for sure! :) Its a perfect Sunday morning greasy spoon breakfast though, so don’t overlook this great family owned place.

Why did we go there?
Because it was open.
We attempted to hit up Eyes to the Skies and they literally closed the whole festival down. We found ourselves stranded and were hungry. And not only that, but a storm was imminent. We headed down Main Street for lunch on that Sunday and attempted John Dough. Closed. Yerbabuena. Closed. Finally, as the clouds literally started to roll in and we were left with nothing but ourselves and our 4-​month old in his stroller, we walked into Fox.
It only had a slight scent of cigarette smoke from way back when. Despite being a frosted-​glass and puke pink decorated joint, the meal wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t good from my standpoint, but anyway. It’s a diner.
My husband said, «Good news! You have another place to Unilocal about! And you better give this place at least 3 stars.» Hahahha.
So here we are. Three stars. My grilled cheese was none other than the obvious Kraft single you peel from the plastic and lucky me! It came with some creamy chicken and rice soup that was bigger than my sandwich. My husband was a fan, but he’s known to have low standards for such things.
No changing station in the bathroom. I notice things like that…

The Fox has pretty good food. I always go in for breakfast and it’s always hot and fast. The prices are also decent, so you won’t drop a paycheck for bacon and eggs. In other words, it’s a typical family-​run diner. Don’t go in and expect anything fancy. The décor is little dated with fox theme knickknacks everywhere. But the service and food make up for it. By the way, who is really looking around when you are shoveling food into your mouth at 9am?
The menu is pretty diverse and you can find practically anything to satisfy your tum-​tum. Definitely a great place to indulge in a little comfort food. One bad side is the parking lot can be cramped with all the old man Cadillac’s filling it up. I nearly took out their sign by backing up my car. So be aware of that.