Elgin restaurant a diamond in the rough

The Wing Park Restaurant is a lot of things.

It's a family owned eatery, headed by an immigrant couple who have been married for 28 years and in the restaurant business for 25 years.

The Elgin restaurant specializes in homemade soups and other quality foods at reasonable prices -- you'll be hard-pressed to find anything there more than $13.

Prices range from $1.75 for a cup of soup to $12.95 for New York strip steak.

But there's one thing about the restaurant that's frustrating to owners Mary and Ray Useini.

It's very easy to miss.

Not only is it located at the far end of the Wing Plaza, but it's also tucked behind the Little Caesar's restaurant.

"That's why we don't have too much business," said Mary Useini, 49.

The Useinis hail from Albania and met when they were both in middle school there.

Twenty years ago, the Elgin residents opened Sammy Ray's Restaurant on the city's east side.

Then, hoping to replicate the success they've experienced there, they opened Wing Park Restaurant on the city's west side almost two years ago -- in the same location that once housed the Manor Restaurant.

"Now we want to take it to where it should be and give them good service and good food like we did on the other side of town," said Ray Useini, 51.

The couple says business is most robust in the morning, where you can eat a hearty breakfast for less than $4.

The most popular item is something called "three deuces," which features two pancakes, two eggs and two pieces of bacon.

And according to the couple, those not aware of the Wing Park Restaurant just don't know what they're missing.

"A lot of people say, 'You have the best food, I don't know why you don't have a lot of business,' " Mary Useini said.