A special occasion calls for a special location…and a special bathroom situation
My bathroom reviews have tended to follow certain trends. I might talk about a place where I host bar trivia, or I’ll talk about a place I visited during a special event. Today’s review falls in the latter category.
I recently went to Demitri’s, a Deerfield restaurant just outside of Northbrook (both northern suburbs in the Chicagoland area) for a very special occasion. My grandmother’s 100th birthday celebration.
While I have pictures of the event, as much as I am proud to be a member of Poopable, I cannot in good conscious post pictures of my immigrant grandmother who published five books in her third language on Poopable.
We decided to rent out an event space at this Greek restaurant close to my Grandmother’s condominium complex (yup, even at 100, she doesn’t need an assisted living home).
There were 26 family members at the event, sitting at a long table. I hosted “grandma trivia” and we even made a balloon arch that I crammed into the back of my car and set up in the room.
We had red snapper, chicken and artichoke heart, and Greek plates (and of course hummus and baba ganoush) and, most importantly, were able to celebrate 100 years of our matriarch’s life.
Of course, with such a large group, for an event that lasted over three hours, you know the bathroom had to be used by some. Outside of our event space, Demetri’s is a huge space that can easily sit hundreds.
So how does their bathroom size up?
Easily the most unusual aspect of Demetri’s bathroom is…it’s not their bathroom. I followed the sign inside the main lobby directing me towards the bathroom only to have a server stop me and point me in the opposite direction.
I could tell he had done that many times that evening.
Demetri’s shares a building space with a shared entrance with Scrambled, a breakfast and brunch destination. But since Scrambled is only open until the early afternoon, and Demetri’s opens later in the day, there isn’t any customer overlap to lead to a crowded environment.
Even on a Saturday with a relatively full restaurant and a private event, the bathroom was surprisingly empty when I entered, letting me enjoy the dark wood and clean, spacious commode all to myself.
The lovely marble double-sink maximizes space for the user with a waste bin in between – I’ll admit when I grabbed some paper towels from the VonDrehle dispenser (after responsibly using the San Jamar soap dispenser) it took me a moment to spot the hole I needed to drop the paper in.
There are four stalls with high, luxurious European-style doors that avoid the dreaded stall-gap, including an interestingly high toilet paper dispensor
But probably the most curious aspect of this bathroom is the urinal situation.
That’s right. The bathroom has four stalls and two urinals, and those two urinals…are completely different brands at completely different heights.
Now, usually when you see urinals positioned at different heights, you expect one to be set lower so it can be more easily used by children.
That is not the case at Demitri’s bathroom. The Kohler urinal is at a relatively standard height. The Gerber urinal, filled with ice when I took this photo, is about three inches higher on the wall. Arguably too high. I was worried I might…touch the surface, so I opted to use the Kohler when I took care of my business.
Is Demetri’s Poopable?
If you’re in the neighborhood and looking for brunch, or a Greek dinner, Demetri’s (and Scrambled) offers an uncrowded high-end bathroom experience. Even with the strange urinal situations, Demetri’s is indeed very Poopable, and a great way to spend a 100th birthday celebration.