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    Ace Drive-In

    3.9 (42 reviews)
    InexpensiveFast Food
    Open 12:00 pm - 8:00 PM

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    a glass of beer and a plate of food
    Kendall C.

    Make sure to order the root beer!! So good. We like this place because of the old school touch. The waitresses bring your food to your car and they are always so nice. Portions are small so we typically go for a quick lunch.

    Old School car hop in Joliet. They have a cruise night on Thursday with a DJ.  Rootbeer floats called Black Cows that scream Summer!
    Phillip L.

    Ace's DriveIn is like going back in time to when i was a kid and most food places were Mom & Pop operations not corporation owned bland food mills! The staff was friendly. The food was great. And the Black Cows (Rootbeer Float) was perfect!

    a diner at night
    Johnny T.

    As much as I don't want to admit it, I wasn't too impressed with this place. I mean sure, its got nostalgic charm with the young girls bringing you the food to you while you're in the car but, I would of felt more comfortable walking 15-20 steps each way to get my own food then have someone else do that for me, but that's just me. Not to mention I wouldn't feel guilty to tip. I hope I don't sound too grouchy saying that. Got a double cheeseburger ($3.80) with fries ($1.50) which were just o.k.. The burger didn't taste any different from the one you grilled in your backyard. But, for the price, not too bad. They're supposedly known for making their own root beer so I got a half gallon ($4.50) of it, which came in a milk container. I was surprised how muted the flavor was. Since they supposedly make it there, I was expecting it to taste better than the ones from the store but, it tasted like I was drinking A&W instead. Their cash only policy didn't help either. In a nut shell, I was surprisingly disappointed but, I give them an OK rating since there prices were reasonable.

    Since 1949

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    24 days ago

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    Photo of Kevin W.
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    8 months ago

    Way too expensive for what you get. The root beer is good, but the sandwiches are small and expensive

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    2 years ago

    Had this back in the summer....and just love places like this! This place has been around for a long time....because it's awesome!

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    2 years ago

    Cash only so, bring your money with you. The root beer is fabulous. Hotdogs are great as well.

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    1 year ago

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    6 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Great place for a frost mug of root beer and a freshly made BBQ or burger...staff always attentive and cheerful...dinning "out" at its best!

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    4 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Been going here since I was a kid. I am 45. Great food and better Rootbeer amazing place highly recommend

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    3 years ago

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    18 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    16 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    13 years ago

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    6 years ago

    Love this place! Love the lemonade and poor boys. Would reccomend if ever in the area

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    6 years ago

    Great service! Very clean drive in. So nice to go to a locally owned Drive-In, those are hard to come by anymore. We will be back!

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    11 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    16 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    13 years ago

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    17 years ago

    I really like this place. The food quality is good and the root bear is amazing. It's nice to eat on a picnic bench every now and than, too.

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    12 years ago

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    10 years ago

    This place is a classic! Its not summer without Ace Drive-in. the service is fun and friendly and the food is tasty!

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    10 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    10 years ago

    Good drive in food. Waitresses nice. Clean. Only problem is they only take cash. Time to get updated on that. Otherwise fun experience.

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    13 years ago

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    Hamburgerseria

    Hamburgerseria

    4.3(620 reviews)
    2.6 mi
    $$

    Tons of interesting and very yummy burgers. I got the French burger which had Brie and…read morecranberries. So delicious. I also got the cheesecake shake that lets you pick the ice cream that goes with it. I picked strawberry. So yummy. Great service and clean environment.

    My husband and I stopped in today and the ambiance was nice. There's different seating arrangements…read moreto fit your comfortability whether it's a table, booth or single seat with a storefront view. Today we ordered a maple bacon milkshake, peanut butter milkshake, 1/4 pound grilled cheese burger on toast, 1/2 pound New Orleans burger and a shareable basket of parmesan truffle fries. Let's start with the positives, the shakes were well made and not overwhelmingly sweet and we liked that a lot. My husband's 1/2 pound burger seemed a little small and my grilled cheese burger said it would be on Texas toast but it seemed like it was sourdough bread and not really thick cut like Texas toast should be. I was looking forward to eating here because the pictures of the fries online looked long and thick cut, the basket of fries we got didn't look like that at all and lacked Parmesan cheese. The negative experience was the fact the water tasted weird. I took one sip and tasted a weird chemical taste but my husband and I didn't complain, we just paid and left. I don't know if it was the water or the cup but it definitely had a weird taste. Overall, the experience was ok. I think we had higher expectations seeing all the pictures online.

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    Merichka's Restaurant - Sweetest server ever. Perfectly cooked filet. garlic bread was to die for.

    Merichka's Restaurant

    3.8(413 reviews)
    0.9 mi
    $$

    I just came from my first visit Merichka's. Loved it. I…read morehad the single grilled pork chop. It was thick cut, perfectly seasoned and served a hot grill type platter. I got the twice baked potato with it. Large enough to be 2 potatoes. That came with applesauce plenty of butter, The salad was just the standard lettuce with croutons, but the blue cheese dressing made it special. If there was one small thing, I'd say they need to label their handicapped entrance better and maybe put another sign near the main entrance. I didn't know they had one until I was leaving. I'm old and find stairs difficult, but a few of them aren't impossible. I would have used the handicapped entrance if I had known it was there. But thank you for a great Sunday dinner! I'll be back. :)

    My husband found this old school restaurant that was established in 1933 with high Google ratings…read morethat was conveniently located on the way to the Rialto Theatre where we were headed for a concert. So we tried it. Merichka's serves good food with good service in a non-fancy kind of restaurant. It has various dining areas and a small bar. The room we sat in was nondescript with not one decoration on the walls. The multiple ceiling fans were running so I froze all throughout dinner. I didn't get our server's name, but she provided good service and was engaging. She always came back to check on us. The other staff we encountered was thorough in delivering food and removing dirty plates. We started with cocktails, a bourbon neat for him and an old-fashioned for me. My husband enjoyed his bourbon, however my old-fashioned was Wisconsin style which I didn't enjoy. We shared the mushrooms as a starter - I have to admit they were perfection! The portion was generous and the crust was perfectly crispy without being greasy. I think we missed the boat, though, because we didn't order the onion rings, which looked sensational. Dinners come with a relish tray and a couple sides. The relish tray had cottage cheese, a bean salad and a pasta salad. Again, generous in size. My hubby had a steak with fried shrimp for dinner and his sides were a salad and twice baked potato. He ordered the steak rare because he didn't trust that it would be cooked to medium rare. He was right to go rare because it came out a little pink. I opted for the baked cod for dinner with a salad and twice baked potato. My cod was 12oz and was moist and flaky. I didn't even put a dent in my dinner because I was full from the mushrooms and relish tray. We ended up bringing most of our entrees home. I'm glad we tried this restaurant out, but honestly even though the food was decent, I didn't enjoy the bare bones atmosphere and being uncomfortable throughout dinner because the fans were on. If you like a supper club without the frills, I think you would like this place.

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    Merichka's Restaurant - Steak poorboy

    Steak poorboy

    Merichka's Restaurant - Been here forever & still same great food

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    Been here forever & still same great food

    Ace Drive-In - hotdogs - Updated May 2026

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