Amazing food, friendly staff. Sometimes we eat there mainly to take in all of the buildings charm…read more One of my favorite places to eat!!!

Always wonderful and fully satisfying If you haven't tried…read moreit, you should. Best local burgers!

Good, small town stop. The menu is surprisingly full of options and specials abound. There's no…read morebeer tap here, but you can fill up and then stop be t door if you like. Or, order for takeout as we did. The chicken fried steak and breakfast bowls are good, but there are so many others too that you may have to try it more than once!

Everything was amazing! The waitress was very friendly. We ordered New York strip and it was cooked…read moreperfectly. Oh and don't forget to try their homemade chilli! I am so glad we decided to stop and try them out. I didn't get a picture because we ate it before I thought about it. Lol

We've been coming here for years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I say that all the time. What can I…read moresay? Wifey and I eat out A LOT. The goat gets you a few ways: 1.) unusual name 2.) cool building 3.) great food 4.) ver good prices 5.) really nice/fun staff I gave you lots of pictures and show the menu. Wifey will comment on our next visit. Have a fantastic day, and eat at The Gabby Goat.

Effingham was our first stop on a road trip to San Antonio. We pulled in medium late but full…read morehungry. Scanning the food places we picked this because it seemed to have decent ratings and a lot of reviews. Plus, you get go wrong with good ol' American cuisine. The first kind of hiccup is that they must have recently moved building. Though they moved right next to their existing building, there was no signage and we had to rely on our own eyeballs. Which almost led us into the wrong building. Not a bid deal, realistically, but it threw us for a loop. Getting inside, it was super clean. Long bar, plenty of tables, modern, many tvs for many sports. Plus, the building itself seemed rather large. A chonker of a building, if you ask me. Our hostess brought us into what seemed like the back 40 of the building and seated us next to a garage door that overlooked a cement pad that will one day be a cement pad with things on it. Not even mad. Saw a train. Here's the money shot. Have you ever been happy adjacent? Have you ever been right up to the edge, the precipice, the peak, then turn around and leave? That was kind of the ideal feeling here. The ambiance and service and general-ness of the entire place was spot on. The food itself looked top-tier. But it felt a click away from perfection. Let's look into it. As a hefty man (fat, not the garbage bag brand), I'm a man of appetizers. Also of wings. Therefore, sign me up for 12 bone in wings for an app. Split into three flavors: Carolina BBQ, Buffalo, and regular BBQ. They came out looking and smelling delicious. The sauce flavors hit hard. But I was a little let down with the dryness of the wings. I know sometimes it can be difficult to knock a wing out of the park because those damn things just want to get crispy. But I don't want to fight chewing the meat off the bone. It felt like a battle me and my mush mouth would lose. Now, from what I understood, all sides were a la cart. Color me fine with that, fatty will order anyways. Especially since I saw they offered street corn AND hushpuppies. So naturally, that's what I ordered. The hushpuppies came out and were the round kind. Which I am no stranger to. They had good flavor, good done-ness, but missed the mark on the size. If they were hush people, they would have been premies. A little sad they didn't get to experience their full potential. Now, for this part I will say I was forewarned. My server did mention the street corn came in a bowl and was served cold. I thought I was better than somebody who judged street corn by its temperature. I was wrong. It did come cold. And because of that, it was not tasty. Missed the mark completely. I did get a bonus side, your typical, run of the mill French fry. They came out and looked great. Meadiu

Don't leave without checking out the dessert tray! I thought the desserts were just for display,…read morebut when I picked one, the waitress handed it to me ready to eat. The presentation is beautiful, and everything tasted amazing.

Route 66 icon! If memory serves me it's been in operation since 1924. Inside the decor is…read moreauthentic to the 1950's, but this is obviously well cared for, which was very apparent when I saw the counter swivel stool-chairs: they look brand new! I was on a road trip up from Florida to Wisconsin with a friend. We were going through Springfield, Illinois, so we could visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum & Library. So that's how I ended up in this neck of the woods. Needed a spot for dinner and this popped up as an option and sure glad it did. My friend & I both opted for the Fried Chicken dinner and this place makes the best fried chicken I've had in decades! OMGOSH! The meat was fully cooked, but still so incredibly juicy. The crispy skin and coating was unreal, it was so good - it was truly "finger-lick in' good". While I'm borrowing that old slogan, The Ariston Cafe's fried chicken is like the fried chicken ideal of perfection. They have a classic salad bar and that hit the spot, especially on a road trip where you're not often getting enough veggies. I'm writing this review some weeks later after getting back home. If the place had been average, I wouldn't bother, but when a reminder to do a review popped up, I had to do this as the waitresses and cooks deserve it, as do the owners & all the staff. Waitresses were all nice as could be and helpful. It's like walking back in time when you go inside, and it reminded me of great restaurants in the area I grew up in. If I make it back up that way again, I'll plan my travels to include another stop in at The Artisan.

We stopped in for breakfast while in town visiting our family. There were 10 of us in all and we…read morewere greeted and accommodated quickly by the staff. The menus had many choices for breakfast lunch and dinner. The waitress was friendly and helpful. Some of our group had breakfast while others chose lunch. My "mama's special" was delicious. It included 2 sizable pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage. My daughter ordered biscuits and gravy with eggs which were also very tasty. (I had a nibble). All of the others seemed pleased with their choices as well. The portions are generous, the food is really good, and the service was great. I would like to return and try the fried chicken before our trip is over! I noticed this establishment was not yet listed on Yelp, so i decided to add it for the benefit of others who might enjoy it too ;)

A nice quaint small town restaurant with an upscale menu and good food. The decor is old and dated…read morebut it's clean and nice. There is a separate bar area and small dining room. We were seated promptly and the service was great, our food came out in a pretty short time and was hot and fresh. They feature daily specials and have a nice variety on the menu. They also offer pizzas.

Pretty darn good, I had the rattlesnake and I was impressed. A great small town restaurant with…read moregood food!

Great dinner for all three of us on a business trip to Shelby! Great food and service! Salmon,…read moreRibeye and Chicken tender meals were all fantastic and two coworkers LOVED the Smores Cheesecake! Certainly recommend you try on a visit to Shelby!

Great lunch stop! I had the loaded potato with buffalo chicken. $12. The chicken was not too…read morespicy, which I liked. My husband had the walleye sandwich with fries, $13. The fish was lightly breaded and had a good flavor. The wait staff was friendly and checked on us to make sure everything was okay. The restaurant is super clean and has seating at tables, booths and a small bar area. There's a children's menu as well.

OMG! I just happened to visit the Wooden Duck for my first time, during Blackburn Colleges…read moreHomecoming. The restaurant was packed and the staff hustled to provide good service. Lucky for me, I was able to get a seat at the bar. My adult beverage was a draft Flight by Yuengling. For lunch, I went with a Pork Tenderloin Sandwich with a side of Fries. The tenderloin was crisp and had good flavor. However, it had a perfect shape, so I could tell it came from a bag and was not done in house. I enjoyed the thin crisp fries. A roll of Paper Towels served as your napkin. Typically I prefer linen, but for a dive bar, paper towels do the trick. I also liked that the Wooden Duck has hooks under the bar. Hooks provide a safe place for purses and jackets. I got a giggle when I used the mens room and the owner showed his political views by having a caricature of the governor in the urinal. They even had a witty disclaimer, so you shouldn't be offended. I got a second giggle when I looked around the bar and realized, about 60% of the guest were an alternative lifestyle. So everyone is welcome at the Wooden Duck.

How did I get here. We retired to a small town that doesn't have a DMV office. So we drove the 20…read moremiles to the thriving metropolis of Carlinville (not really,charming for sure, but just big enough to have cheap plaza office space for a state govt. office). So of course although my wife had done extensive research on all the documentation we would need to pay a state to drive our car...we had missed one. So we went to the Wood Duck for lunch while we waited for our credit union to send us a lien release form. We had talked to the kind soul at the DMV and she was "all-in" on this place. She was so right. It is an intimate space, with a small bar out front, and then a few more tables in a back area. We took a booth right in front of the kitchen. It is a very "locals" place. There were some police having lunch (likely the entire force, at least by weight)...and one of them stared me down as if he had never seen a veteran, former DoD executive, in a collared shirt, and khakis in a public restaurant before. [Yes I was the only pepper in the salt]. The actual restaurant staff was excellent, and welcoming. Our server was a whirlwind of effecient hospitality. I got a pork tenderloin sandwich (and later the same day was invited to join a pork tenderloin sandwich group on FB)... ordered the fries, not clear if that came with them, didn't keep the reciept. My wife got a cheesburger that she was very happy with. My tenderloin was crispy, juicy and a bit too salty in a good way. This place is a definite keeper on the list of places we will be willing to travel to over time. Perhaps if I come back often enough, Barney will get used to "others" visiting his little fiefdom.

The food is good service is great the beer is cold and there open on Monday now . The atmosphere is…read morevery cool all the old signs is the icing on the cake

Food was delicious. Not a real big fish fan, but their walleye is the best I have ever eaten.read more