Alley Dogs - side

Great staff at night! Good prices and always treated with respect!

Pizza was pretty bad. Boneless wings were alright though.

Great burger and hotdog, 1/3lb is the right size for lunch. The place is clean and friendly. Why not 5 stars? Saturday's morning is more for adults than families.

This hotdog joint is not located or named for any of the hundreds of alleys found in the city of Chicago, but is actually located inside the Waveland Bowling Alley on Western Avenue, hence the name Alley Dogs. The Waveland Bowl opened in 1959 and is the largest bowling alley in the city of Chicago. In addition to their 40 lanes of bowling, the Waveland Bowl also houses a billiards area, an arcade, two bars, a children's movie area, a pro shop, and the Alley Dogs Restaurant. There are no actual hours at Alley Dogs. According to the workers behind the counter they sort of go with the flow. If a group of people walk in and want food, then they will open. If people are only there to bowl then they will keep busy doing other things. If you want food and no one is there, just go to the bowling counter and tell them you would like to order food and they will send someone over there. At night they close whenever it slows down. If it's dead by 11 pm, then they will close. If it's busy they may stay open until 1 or 2 in the morning. The menu at Alley Dogs consists of hotdogs, hamburgers, Italian beef and Italian sausage, Polish sausage, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, and fingers, wings, pizza, nachos, poppers, pizza puffs, fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, mini tacos, breaded mushrooms, soft pretzels, tavern mix, and popcorn. Soft drinks include Pepsi products plus Dr. Pepper, Orange Crush, iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch, hot tea, hot chocolate, bottled water, and slushies. They claim to have unsweetened iced tea, but when I asked for plain unsweetened tea, it came with a slight amount of sugar in it plus lemon, so I don't know what's up with that. As for the hotdogs here they use Vienna brand 100% beef dogs in natural casing and top it Chicago style – sort of. Everything on it here gets you mustard, relish, onions, tomato slices, a pickle spear, sport peppers, and celery salt – and then one more ingredient that isn't usually found on a Chicago dog sauerkraut! I wouldn't have minded the sauerkraut if it was warm or hot, but it's kept refrigerated and put on cold, so it really cools down the hotdog which is not very hot to begin with. They also use plain, non steamed buns rather than steamed poppy seeded ones, so between the plain room temperature buns, the cold sauerkraut, and luke warm hotdogs, I really can't recommend the hotdogs here. I also tried their charred Polish, which they also get from Vienna, so the sausage is good but the Polish is served on a plain hotdog bun rather than French bread and the onions are raw rather than grilled, so that was a bit of a disappointment as well. On the plus side, the service is friendly, the area is really clean, and the prices are reasonable. There are a total of 10 tables inside and a couple of arcade games to play. They have their own parking lot (which is a luxury in the city), and they take credit cards. It's worth a trip just to see the entire complex. $1 a game bowling on weekdays before noon is quite the bargain as well.

Very few places left in the city that serve a classic Vienna hotdog. Let alone a perfect Chicago dog, they missed none of the fixings and we're generous with them! One of the very best Chicago dogs around.