Humphrey’s Market

Editor’s note: Read more restaurant reviews at bit.ly/SJReats.

Address: 1821 South 15th Street

Phone: 544-7445

Websites: humphreysmarket.com; facebook.com/HumphreysMarket

Credit/debit cards accepted? Yes

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Hours: Hot lunch 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Store hours: Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

Entrée price range: lunch specials $5.99, combo meals $6.29-$7.99, à la carte $3.99-$5.49.

Is there a children’s menu? No, but the cook is willing to customize kid-friendly meals.

What I ordered: We ordered the daily lunch special (corned beef with boiled potatoes and cabbage), ribeye steak sandwich with mashed potatoes and slaw, and blackberry pie.

Likes? The food was just plain good — well-prepared (the skin-on mashed potatoes were definitely homemade), served quickly, and there were several items and sides to choose from (daily specials, breaded pork tenderloin and chicken, chicken livers and gizzards, Italian beef, barbecue pork, a variety of hot potatoes made from scratch, etc.).

It was nice to see that this 80-year old, east-side, family owned and operated business is still thriving. The idea of the one-stop-shop for groceries and a home-style meal (one I don’t have to cook) is appealing.

Dislikes? The small dine-in area is a tight squeeze, but most customers appeared to be on lunch hour, taking food to go. I was a little confused about when and where to pay for the meal, but I discovered that I can have lunch, shop and pay for everything at once in the grocery check-out line.

Would I return? Yes — especially to check out more of the specialty deli meats, butcher counter items and Illinois products.