We walked over to the Steak Pit from our hotel in the Oregon area after having read the reviews here on Yelp. The reviewers aren't exaggerating -- one of the best steaks you'll find anywhere. I had the ribeye and my partner had the filet mignon. Fine cuts, expertly cooked and nicely served. And I recommend the House bloody mary -- which comes with shrimp and bacon, among other items. read more

We had great service for our anniversary dinner. Our waitress Sarah was very attentive to us and came by frequently enough for drinks and food orders as well as during our meal. She asked if we were celebrating and came out at the end with some ice cream and sang with other staff. The steaks were pretty good for the price. I liked the log cabin feel and the fireplace. It was loud where we sat which was right across the hall from the kitchen and cooks were shouting out names for orders. That was unpleasant. Otherwise, good and relaxing experience. read more

I had two great meals in one night there. The one I ate in the restaurant and my wife's carry out that I finished driving north on RT 2. I'll never forget those pork chops, or my wife's reaction when I told her I ate her meal. read more

Food is always so yummy. Love the drinks too!! Steak pit did some updates and spruced up the place.

Tiffany and her dedicated team are putting out great steaks and a welcoming vibe. Jane the bartender starts you off with a well poured drink and great conversation and before you know it The owner Tiffany is welcoming you as we'll. Next stage Teresa our waitress could not have been more professional and accommating and our chef Roy, though only 20 is truly talented. Great steak joint on the Rock River. read more

We went here tonight as 3 couples to celebrate my retirement. We'd never been here before since we are new to the area but had heard good things. We had porterhouse steaks, filet mignonette, and rib eyes. Each one was cooked perfectly and was full of flavor. The salad bar was great and the side dishes were perfect. The server was very pleasant and efficient and the owner came to check on us often. Atmosphere was fine too. I don't know how it could have been any better. Superb! read more

Pretty good, the service is decent and the price isn't too bad. Calamari and porterhouse are the way to go.

This place is amazing. It's very warm and inviting inside. The staff is also very nice. They always cook their steak and chicken to perfection. Their garlic bread is the best. Highly recommend it. read more

Steak was cooked perfect!! Perfect flavor with the garlic balance. Could not have asked for a better place. It was a little chilly but seeing how it was -10 outside that was not their fault. Salad bar was a little small but I went there for steak and that is what was great. read more

What a great place to have a great meal. The food is tremendous! I would highly recommend the filet and the cold water lobster. There is something about their lobster that sets it apart from all other lobster that I have had at some very high end restaurants. I frequent the Steak Pit at least twice a month. It is not much more expensive then a chain steak house while having a superior product. When I dine the Steak Pit is always my first choice. The staff is always very attentive and friendly. From the bartender, to the wait staff, the bus boys and even the cook. The cook frequents the customers on occasion checking on their meals. How often does that happen? The owner is always both friendly and quite humorous. He provides an ambience that I have never seen anywhere else. read more

Maybe our expectations were too high but the rib eye I had was luke warm and dry. Server was polite but not very effective. Had to remind him to bring condiments and never did bring the iced tea refill. Alligator appetizer was tasteless, the salad bar was half empty. One plus was wife said her filet was good. When you spend $100 you should get a little more value. They say you need reservations but for a Saturday night there were plenty of seats available. Guess I know why. read more

Great food, good service and nice atmosphere. Tiffany has made this place much more enjoyable to go to. They even had a spot for the children to play a little put! My little one was getting a little wild and testy towards the end of night and the server brought her a putter and let the kids play for a few before we left. This restaurant isn't exactly the best place for kids and they made us feel very welcome and comfortable! read more

Excellent prime rib! Good service and nice atmosphere. Asphalt floor was kind of strange, though.

This is our default go to for a wonderful Saturday Evening dine. We drive down from Byron and never have to worry about a marginal experience at Blackhawk. The service is exceptional, the atmoshere is relaxed, the food is high quality and priced reasonably. Everything is grilled on a very large open flame raised grill in the center of the restaurant. The meat cuts are in glass display coolers near the grill. You can see your steak if you like before it goes to the grill. The wait staff are friendly and well trained to provide a proper customer experience. What brings me here is that I can get this customer experience and not spend anymore than I would at any of the other local places. If your a fan of the Rockford steak houses you will find this place exceeds your expectations. read more

Love a good Midwest steak! The filets were perfect and melted in your mouth and the salad bar was awesome!

The appetizers were never served, 3 of the 7 meals were wrong, drinks were refilled once during the meal only because we flagged down the staff, coffee we had to get our own. The only thing there was plenty of was attitude. Way over priced, even the substandard salad bar is $9.95. read more

Ok I find myself in north central Illinois, under the threat of extreme weather (check local listings for 4/9/15). If you care, my specific location is Oregon, Ogle County, IL. I won't bore you with the job details, because I know you are wanting the juice; where did he eat, and was it crap or not. I think I will do this one a little different, in that the name of the eatery won't be mentioned until the end. Of course some or most will skip to the end to find out. But hey, it's your loss. Let's get to it; I am booked at the Paddle Wheel Inn (insert joke here). I have a single room, that means you and your cat are fully accommodated as long as neither of you have luggage. It is quite small. Also it is quite clean and quiet. So on to the eats. As it happens and unbeknownst to me there is a "steak house" less than walking distance from the mighty Paddle Wheel Hotel. How convenient. Honestly, when I arrived I had just come off of an eight hour drive and it looked quite inviting. The first thing on my mind, was making sure I checked before 8:00 PM (Front Desk Closes at 8:00 must be trying to conserve energy). It appears the penalty for arriving at 8:01 PM is you don't get a room key, and we all know what that means, you sleep in the car or under someone's porch, and you still get charged for a room. Sorry Sorry I am getting off track. I am so excited to finally talk about an experience that I'm not bitching about it. Ok, I have calmed down, really. On to the "steak house" as I mentioned, I needed to check in, accomplished, now and still hungry. Schlep myself to Subway or the short walk to the steak house? What do think? Never mind, I will not insult your intelligence again. Ok, here it is, the first encounter. Arrived 30 minutes before closing. I noticed immediately the closing preparations in progress. No big deal though, was greeted promptly and shown to a table towards the back. Personally my preference being a single traveler. There was what I believed to be the final throws of a party going on in the far corner of the building. The only reason I mention it, is because the staff was helping them on their way with to go boxes and candy. That's just cool. The atmosphere; low light, cozy, calming, Sinatra playing in the background. You know I may have heard some Bennett too. My server Theresa, was prompt, made me feel welcome without over doing it. (You know what I mean) She took my drink order, returned and left me alone to contemplate my food order. Seconds after placing the menu closed on the table she returned for the food order. How cool is that? The menu is short and to the point, beef, lamb, pork and honestly I don't recall any seafood. You want to know why? I'm from Nebraska. On my second trip I did find a great selection of seafood. Also the "salad bar", comes with the main course. I don't have much of an opinion here. The mainstays were there, lettuce (a single serving, hey it was 30 minutes before closing), olives, cottage cheese, radishes, you know the standard fare. All looked fresh and inviting. I had some cottage cheese, radishes and of course individually wrapped saltines. For the main course I selected a rib eye wild rice, with no extras, cooked medium. A note about cooked medium. Without getting sappy, I have had beefsteak literally from Portland, OR to Myrtle Beach, SC and everything in between, including my home state of Nebraska. In all honesty the rib eye I had cooked on an open pit grill is in the very top 3 best I have had to date. It was large, cooked to order, brought to the table by the chef, tender, flavorful and modestly priced. In fact it has been awhile since I have ordered a steak and could not finish it. Had to take the left overs to the cat. Remember? Total Bill 26.25 less tax and drinks. A bargain to say the least. Still waiting for the name? Standby. My return trip I had a truly good experience again. A few details changed this time I ordered a porter house, and you guessed it, super. My server Jeremiah attentive and to the point. I think thought more importantly, on this visit I had the opportunity to talk with the chef at the time. And turns out to be the owner. Her name is Tiffany Cravatta (hope to Jesus I spelled right). During our brief talk I learned that Tiffany is a lifelong resident of Oregon, IL. She began as a server at the Blackhawk Steakpit at the wee age of 18. While employed with them she worked for and received a real estate license. She purchased the business approximately two years ago, and is continuing to be successful. My personal opinions: I found the dining experience top notch. 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5 My talk with the owner/proprietor Tiffany 5 Stars out of 5 I found her to be personable, caring and a definite drive to succeed. She in my opinion, even from the short visit, knows the path to success. Through customer service. So I am formally endorsing the Blackhawk Steak Pit!! Go out of your way to stop there, you will thank yourself. read more

A classic steak house, dark, leather, senior clientele. They were open on Easter which was great for us. Very friendly service. The owner, Peter, came by to great us. read more

The place has changed since the new owners have taken over. The atmosphere, which was a big reason for driving to this place, has been lit up with cheap fan lights and the service has really gone down. The prime rib that I ordered was done fair. I ordered well done and it came out medium. Still not a bad place but I don't need to drive all the way out to Oregon to get " pretty good" read more

Had dinner here on the recommendation of the inn keeper. The steak was one of the best we've had. The flight of wine was a nice touch. Can't wait to go back. Would also recommend desert. Just yummy! read more

I wanted to like this place, but I would give it a miss the next time I was in the area. While our steaks were done to our preferred temp, all else for the meal was below average. We had the alligator tail apps - fried chunks with a lemon wedge, could have used a sauce - just so-so. The salad bar that comes with entrée is very limited in items. If the restaurant wants to save money then just give diners a prepared side salad. Bread served with meal is garlic texas toast (basically puffed up tissue) and only toasted on one side - did not care for this at all. I upgraded to the baked sweet potato - mistake! It was cooked down to complete runny mush and served with some sort of cinnamon snot (I guess it was a syrup) - vile stuff. We were also turned off by the music playing too loudly in our ears (75 minutes of Frank Sinatra). read more

Not sure if we just caught them on a bad night or what. Went in right at opening so the place wasn't packed yet, table was so wobbly that my wife's wine glass got knocked over, no offer to refill it or to take it off the bill. Salad bar was good but some of the spinach was wilted and turning. I believe our steaks were some of the first on the grill we requested medium well and both came out bloody rare. I had high hopes after the glowing reviews from friends, and the fall colors along the river were beautiful, but I was not at all impressed with my first trip to Blackhawk. read more

Went to the Steak Pit for our Anniversary. Wonderful, Peter had a charity outing was a little quiet. But the food was still awesome. My husband had the surf n turf special we could have both happily ate off that. I had the shish kabobs, other than green pepper that I personally don't like on anything( and I forgot to ask them if they could take it off). The food was wonderful, the waiter was very accomodating on the couple requests we had no attitude. Would go back again in an instant. Execpt they are an hours drive. The only downfall they had with me. read more

My wife and I have enjoyed the steak pit over the years but.... The place has been sold and the new owners are not up to snuff. The food was average at best and overpriced to say the least. The drinks were again way over priced and you may be served rail beverage when you order premium. The service was below par. Of course Peter and his brother are no longer there. Dont know what else to say except that this is an experience that we will not repeat. Sad. The Steak Pit was a unique and pleasant experience, not so much now. read more