Bacowka

Bacowka is part of a Polish driven suburban strip mall right on the border of (the towns of) Schaumburg and Roselle. I frequent this well-​kept strip mall often as Tribalance Yoga is just a few stores down. Like many other shops in this strip mall, Bacowka fairly bland exterior pales in comparison to what I found inside!
When you step inside, you’ll find a cozy spot with tons of light wood, a very long bar and a decent number of tables. There are three large flatscreens over the bar, too. I met a girlfriend of mine for dinner and while I sunk into my upholstered chair (I felt even shorter than my fun-​sized stature), the table was spacious and comfortable. Our server was helpful and direct, and popped in our drink order (wine list is limited, they have a full bar, and a decent beer list) while we waited for our pierogi appetizer.
The pierogis were nicely textured with bacon bits on top. I preferred the cheese to the meat, but that’s pretty standard for me anyway! Next time I’ll ask for sour cream on the side to add a little something extra to lovely little dumplings. For my meal, I went with the recommended goulash on potato pancakes — a hangover’s dream, IMO. The mountain of goulash topped the crispy potato pancakes and all was blanketed by a flavorful gravy. It was deliciously salty and ridiculously filling. I only ate a portion of it and my husband polished it off for dinner the following day.
Considering the portion and the, what I assume to be, classic polish menu, Bacowka has made a fan out of me!

I just found my most favorite place ever !! Polish food is so similar to Russian food and I love Russian food because I have lived In that beautiful country for many years ! From the yum salads to the amazing chicken and pork chops everything on the menu is fab ! Including the dessert !! It’s in a hidden strip mall but a must try ! The service is friendly and the lady serving there is a darling ! I am a regular customer now !!

Hands down best polish food outside Poland. Big portions for a great price. The service is very friendly and fast. Great atmosphere and it’s a very clean place. Definitely recommend for anyone wanting to try polish cuisine. You’ll be back I can guarantee that.

So I popped my Polish cherry and boy I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved every dish. 5 stars for fast and friendly service, value, cleanliness of the place, location, and fresh quality food.
Cheese & mushroom bread: $ 6 similar to bruschetta but with ketchup on top. Surprisingly delicious. The bread was perfectly chewy with all the right combination of flavors on top.
Sampler entrée: $ 15 polish sausage with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, stuffed cabbage, sample of 3 pierogies, and latkes. Woooowwww everything in this sampler plate was sofa king good! Must have!
Cheese blintz: $ 6 served warm with cookies and cream ice cream. Delicious!
I will be back to try their pork chops. I’m a total fan! Jankuya.

A little taste and piece of Poland located in Schaumburg! From the staff to the ambience to the delicious food and drink, everything about this restaurant is amazing! We have yet to order anything that wasn’t incredible.

My first time ordering from here was take out so this review is based solely off the food. I will say I do regret not actually eating at the restaurant cause it is such a beautiful restaurant inside! They have these cool animal hides for backing of the booths that looked really unique and cool. A lot of wood, which I tend to like, was an art form with beautiful pictures up on the walls. Now to the food! I ordered the sampler plate and I was not disappointed! The potato pancake was crispy and flavorful! The sausage had a nice snap to it with a spicy inside which was really nice along with the mashed potatoes with that lovely tomato sauce (very similar to Greek tomato sauce). Then of course the pierogis were delicious but my favorite things were the braised cabbage and cabbage rolls! Man were those good! Overall great start and I will defnilty be going there again!

This was my second visit to Bacowka. The food there is excellent. Perhaps some of the best Polish cuisine in the Chicago area. The first trip here I had their sampler plate and got to try many of their popular items. All were excellent and had to bring some home.
Last night my wife and I brought some friends. I had the pierogi. 10 pieces per order and they were great. One of my friends had the goulash over potato pancakes. I have to try that on my next visit.
This place is very popular and so you may have to wait for a table. We chose to sit at the bar and got seated right away. Lots of great Polish beer and a friendly waitstaff. We will definitely be back again.

Review five-​hundy! Where has the time gone?
I wish we had tried this place sooner! You will be greeted in Polish but just start speaking English & they’ll change over. The menu lists items in Polish but the descriptions are in English so you’ll know what you are ordering.
This is not fast food. Yes, it’s a Polish bar & restaurant but the food is quite elevated from your typical bar food. Do not expect your food to arrive in 5 minutes. You will wait 20 minutes and, by golly, you will be rewarded for your patience. We decided to share 2 items. The Moskole, which is described as, «Traditional Highlander Pancake» (insert us doing a «HIGHLANDER» impression) does not do it justice. It was 3 of what I’m guessing were wheat pancakes, served with «Highlander» cheese (imo sheep’s milk cheese like a ricotta/​cream cheese texture with garlic — scrumptious!), cooked cabbage perfectly seasoned w/​smoked paprika and some dill-​sour cream on the side. This dish is one of THE best dishes I have ever had at a restaurant. Wowsers.
The second dish we shared was the Kotlet Baca which is a breaded & fried Pork Cutlet topped with mushrooms, cheese, green onions & fried eggs alongside potatoes & various salads. The cutlet was fried just right, not too greasy. The eggs on top were medium sunny-​side up & we would have preferred the yolks be runny but never having the dish before we didn’t know what to expect. The potatoes were perfectly sliced & cooked; just the right amount of crispy on the edges. The side salads were an assortment of coleslaw (somewhat bland), pickled cabbage, pickled beets, and dill/​sour cream cucumbers — yum! Be aware they don’t offer free refills on soda but they only charge $ 1.50 for it & since most places charge double that or more for soda we didn’t mind so much.
The food took about 20 minutes to come out, but I would expect that based on the menu. Since the location is a popular bar some people may expect faster food, but that is not the case with a better menu such as theirs. It did take a while for the server to take our order and then quite a bit of time to get our check so the speed of the service, outside of the food prep itself, is my only negative. They have plenty of staff and 3 different people checked on us. Had it not been for that I would have actually given them 5 stars.

Not bad for Polish food –ordered the sampler plate, everything was good. Didn’t care for the pierogis, the potato pancakes were good along with the Polish sausage. The sauerkraut had a nice flavor as well… the service was prompt once it started, there was only 1 girl working the tables & bar! Lucky us, it wasn’t too busy…

Great food. Great bar. Great people. This was my first polish dinning experience and it didn’t disappoint. I got the sampler platter with a beer and it was the antidote to my bottomless hole of a stomach.
Sampler included sausage on sauerkraut, cabbage roll, two potato pancakes, three pierogis and mashed potatoes. (With sauces and stuff, it was all very good) Enough for two people easily.
The restaurant and bar are decorated with wood, antlers and cow hide bench seating.

The wife and I were in the area looking for food. We consulted Unilocal as is our custom, and came across Bacowka. The restaurant was clean and had the feeling of a mountain hunting lodge. The food was beyond outstanding. After looking at the menu for quite some time, I gave up and ordered the sampler plate. Every item on the plate was delicious. I can’t wait for my second visit.

This place is AWESOME. We visit at least twice a month, the food is legit and inexpensive. Definitely get the borscht and potato pancakes — a must have!!! Great restaurant in the suburbs.

WOW! WOW! WOW! What a major surprise!!! Definitely a great Chicagoland Cultural Treat if you live in the Chicagoland area and a must visit!
My fiancée and I visited this place a few weeks ago (sorry it took this long to post, but it takes time to write long reviews) and it was amazing. Please read below…
1. From the outside… it might not seem that nice. It looks like it is a small restaurant in some plaza. However once you walk inside the «wow» factor jumps up. It actually is bigger then what you think from the outside. They remodeled it and it extends into another space. It’s super clean and it looks like you walked into a trendy new cabin.
2. This is your stereotypical Chicagoland Polish restaurant. The second you walk in they speak Polish to you. That’s awesome. Just say hello in English and they will speak English to you.
3. The food is AMAZING and it’s inexpensive. Pierogies, kielbasa, guompki. They got it.
4. Sports bar is huge and fantastic. Several T.V.‘s
5. Atmosphere is amazing.
If you like culture and believe in diversity and believe in good food then this is the place. Awesome service. Awesome everything. It clearly is the best Polish restaurant in the area.

The new place looks nice but theI ordered chicken and it was so greasy I and up spending about 45 minutes in the toilet because it gave me the runs food went downhill .They are serving smaller portions & more expensive also the soup was the best thing also I ordered mass potatoes with gravy The waitress said they only had tomato gravy so that’s fine unless you brought up fries so they don’t listen

ZERO STARS!!! Waited over 45mins for food!!! The staff never came and asked if we wanted a refill on drinks (when the staff walked by our table and looked at the empty glasses). I do not recommend this place, unless you have all day to wait for one meal.

Great little restaurant that has recently expanded. Unfortunately since the expansion they seem to be quite under staffed (we waited an hour for our food after we sat down) every time we have been in. If you would have asked me for a rating before the remodel I would have given 5 stars. They definately need more servers for the size now. Hoping next time the staffing improves and I can change my review to five stars. The food and friendly staff deserve it.

Big portions, decent good, friendly service and Polish being spoken all around me. It feels like Poland in Schaumburg and is a fun experience.

Great food, worth the drive :)
Has to be the best polish restaurant we had been to in a while

Bacowka has everything going for it. Lovely and inviting interior, super friendly and welcoming staff– and the food is out of this world! This is authentic Polish home cooking at its very finest. VERY hearty portions, and very reasonably priced. I’ve never had such soft and flavorful pierogi: I suggest sharing a their sampler if you’re dining with others. You can’t find this goodness just anywhere. How I wish we had food like this where I live!

Bigger and just as good. Just expanded. Huge servings and triple the nutrition than a typical place. You will not leave hungry. Great soup and sampler. Now beer on tap. Rustic interior. Very clean.

You’re looking for for Polish food in the western suburbs this place is indeed a fine. Good selection of polish classics, very well done.
My only complaint is a very slow service. From sitting down to follow up afterwards service was friendly but horribly slow.
However, given the quality of the food, I will return.

Delicious Polish food. Generous portions of beet salad, cucumber salad, coleslaw, and roasted potato slices came with my chicken roll dinner. It was very flavorful and delicious and a fantastic deal for $ 13!

I don’t want to admit how good the food is because it will just mean my little gem in my neighborhood will be crowded when I want to go. However it is only fair to share. Excellent food, simple, good quality. The hard part is choosing what not to get, so I usually order extra and take some home some for the next day. Sorry Mom, this stuff is as good as yours.

I am very impressed with this place. Clean and the atmosphere really reflects Polish culture. I was hungry for pierogis but when I saw their menu and the selection, I totally forgot what I came in there for :)
Will definitely bring friends and family back for sure!

Fantastic Pierogies and Cabage rolls great atmosphere. Easy to get to all kinds of Polish food great Polish sausage

I looked up resturants near a friends house and saw a Polish one nearby. Since its part of my heritage, and impossible to find in SC, I figured we should stop by for some quick pierogies.
What an amazing find.
Best food ever and the service was best in the business. Authentic Polish people here… Klaudia and Kinga were awesome with their reccomendations of food and drinks.
They are expanding to a full service bar as well… a MUST stop!

A small, quiet yet high quality place. The food is traditional, made with the sort of quality ingredients & care that you would expect from your Baba. Definitely family friendly & unpretentious. Made for an interesting date location though, considering he wasn’t Polish!

Being a polish highlander, I had high expectations for Bacowka. Unfortunately, I’m ashamed this place even exists.
If this is your first time eating Polish food, then maybe you will enjoy it. However, I’m surprised at how many Polish people came here for food, especially when it is not fresh at all. I came in with 4 other people for some Sunday dinner. The place is pretty small and it was packed.
From what we ordered, the kompot, rosol, and zapiekanka were good. The zapiekanka was toasted too much, as in it was a deep brown color. Would have been better if it was toasted properly. Besides this, everything else was a serious disappointment. They serve you the food on large plates, and the meat will take up most of the plate. What they do is pound out the meat so much that it becomes wide and flat, hence making it seem like you are getting a lot of food. Newsflash «Bacowka» owners, we can tell you do this. And it seriously ruins the quality of the meat.
My grilled chicken was chewy and didn’t have any seasoning. The kotlety were deep fried to a crisp, or more like a damn crunch. This is something I’ve never experienced while eating polish food made by my parents, relatives, friends, in Poland, and in Polish restaurants in Chicago. The fries were not fully cooked, for both of the two plates that they came with. Like raw potatoes with you dinner? And how can you even mess up coleslaw? I had a few bites and couldn’t eat it, plus I’m not a picky eater. The person in our group who ordered the potato pancakes with gulasz ate only ¼ of it, and didn’t take the rest home. Oh, and the grilled oscypek with zurawina. yeah the cheese had a «gummy» texture and the jam came straight from a jar.
I’m suprised this place has such a high rating, which is the only reason we came here. My advice is to go to the nearest Polish deli and order some hot meals from behind the counter. Would probably taste better than this food which is not fresh at all. Or drive 15 minutes from here and go to «U Gazdy» where you can get properly cooked, and flavorful food. Your chicken or kotlet won’t be pounded out like theres no tomorrow. 1/​5, the prices are pretty cheap, but you get what you pay for. Oh well, lesson learned.

After the winery tour, our group was looking for a place that was different. Saw the restaurant on Unilocal and gave it a try. The perogies and kielbasa were excellent. I had the breaded pork cutlet, with mushrooms. The menu is in both English and Polish, and had several polish families.
The five of us with 2 beers and two white wines, the total bill came to $ 77.00.
Must be doing well there are expanding to include the space next door.

This was the first polish restaurant we’ve ever eaten at and we were very impressed. It’s in a strip mall in Schaumburg but was easy to find. We walked in and were immediately greeted by one of two employees. She told us to have a seat anywhere, there was only one other patron at the restaurant when we arrived (Sunday around 3:30). It isn’t a big place, there are probably 6 tables and 3 bar stools. Their tables and chairs are so awesome, they are made of really hardy, heavy wood. We ordered 5 cheese pierogi and 5 meat pierogi to start. They came out about 10 minutes later piping hot. We all preferred the meat but they were both excellent! I ordered the Goulash which I would highly recommend. It had so much flavor and they give you so much! I took at least ½ home. My daughter ordered the meat dumplings over cabbage, they brought out 3 of them, they were about the size of a baseball. My son ordered potato pancakes with applesauce, also fantastic. My hubby got the pork cutlet with mushrooms and a bunch of different salads. Most were really tasty and the pork was super tender. By the time we left the place was packed and there were about 15 people waiting for a table. Since we’d never been to a polish restaurant before it’s hard for me to say how authentic it was but the fact that we were the only patrons that didn’t speak polish definitely says something!

I love this place.
it is a super tiny location. I think there are maybe 7 tables and a small counter that 3 – 4 people can sit at. They aimed for a rustic décor-​wood tables and chairs, that is successful and homey.
But it’s the food that is a standout. It’s a typical menu for poland or germany, but isn’t necessarily common here. I can’t say I’ve been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered. I don’t normally eat polish sausage in restaurants-​there is a polish grocery that shares the parking lot, and if you have good quality polish sausage available it’s the simplest possible dish to make at home, yet this place makes it better then I can. The tenderloin and pancakes are standouts, as are the Pierogi.
The Pierogi. Oh my god. The combinations of textures and flavors is superb. The chewy firmness of the dough, instantly replaced with the explosion of meat coupled with the cold crunch of cabbage, with just a drizzle of olive oil for a liquid feel.
Every dish here is an event to savor.
European cuisine can be criticized as being focused on the meat component but here every dish is very well balanced out, being matched with a vegetable component. you are not having a meat or veg dish, you are having a MEAL, complete with both. the balancing of the portions is well, exquisite.
Regional polish beer, herbal tea, and upon occasion grzaniec (mulled wine) are available as drinks, and can make delightful pairings with the food. If you chose a soda it will be a bottle or can-​there is no soda fountain.
Parking is unlimited-​this is sizable strip mall with a huge parking lot Since the resturant so small the service is perfect. If the waitress isn’t within line of sight, it’s because she’s in the kitchen helping the cook and/​or getting your order. Even when all the tables are occupied, it still manages to feel cozy rather then crowded.

Excellent homemade traditional Polish food.
It is fantastic. Great soup and potato pancakes.

A hole-​in-​the-​wall that lives up to expectations.
Bacowka is a tiny little restaurant that doesn’t get nearly as much traffic as it should. Wedged into a tiny corner of the strip mall on Roselle, Bacowka is hard to spot but keep at it until you find it, because it’s a small gem.
Having eaten meals in a Polish household, I can only imagine that the kitchen is essentially someone’s home. At times you can even hear the chef pounding out the chicken as it’s made for your meal. All the food here seems to harken back to the experience-​trained cooking of generations. In a number of trips, the Gołąbki (cabbage rolls), pork goulash, pierogi, and everything else have all been cooked perfectly.
For vegetarians, while meat-​heavy Eastern Europe can be daunting (and definitely is on display here) there are actually quite a few choices that easily fit the bill from the potato pancakes, to pierogi (make sure to request no bacon — that was somewhat painful to type) and great sides including coleslaw, amazing dill potatoes, and cucumber or beet salads.
The interior complements the home cooked feeling with a mountain cabin feel. The tables and chairs have been crafted from slabs of wood which match the rustic log walls bear skin rug. Even the mismatched silverware here doesn’t detract but just continues to add to the feeling that you might just be in someone’s home.
The prices here are really a steal. A filling meal can be had for $ 6 – 8 and if you’re feeling exceptionally hungry, the combination plate with a little of almost everything checks in at nearly $ 15.
As pretty much the only Polish restaurant in Schaumburg, this one is a unique but definite winner.