Melrose Place-a "Melrose Cafe" guest restaurant review by Melanie

Reader Melanie of Joliet recently checked out Joliet's latest foray into family restaurants, the Melrose Cafe. I've been especially excited to learn about this establishment, as my dear departed Grandpa listed Family Table, aka "The Stable," which was located in the same building as Melrose, as his favorite local restaurant, even bringing in friends from sunny Florida to sample their Reuben sandwiches. My personal memories of the Stable include sampling their alcoholic beverages after a viewing of Zoolander, eating saganaki, and hearing Shannon's stories about getting violently ill after eating their mozzarella sticks. Let's hope Melanie's still feeling well after her first meal at the Melrose.

Do you remember the last time you craved fresh-squeezed orange juice or had free candy???Note from Emily: Yes, yesterday evening, when I got a Dum-Dum at my neighbors and had some fresh squeezed OJ from my fridge  Well, Melrose Restaurant (a.k.a. Melrose Place) is where you need to go.  Melrose is located in the former Family Table building.  But Melrose isn't just your usual family restaurant.  It has 'real' homemade soup---not Campbell's ABC soup, and a huge menu with about anything you'd want.  Note from Emily: Does it have Potato Mountain? This is quite an impressive generalization It's open 24 hrs, so you can go there for breakfast, swing by later for lunch,  stop by for a beer after a long day at work, and later stop by on the way home from the bars. Note from Emily: all in one day? I tried a veggie omelette. It was quite tasty. I even got to pick the type of cheese!  All breakfast meals come with a banana.  If you order coffee, the waitress leaves a coffee pot at your table, so be careful not to overdose.  The atmosphere's a little classier than Family Table.  I believe there were plants and fake granite table-tops.  On your wait out, be sure to grab some free candy, but PLEASE use a spoon for the jelly beans.

Unfortunately, I assume that Andrew Shue and the other Melrose Place regulars are not employed at the Melrose. However, I could be wrong. I also have a question: Does the Melrose cafe employ the same "the last customers didn't eat them, let's put them out for the next table" bread basket strategy that the "Stable" used? I'll do some research and let you know the results.