This is our go to place for dinner celebration Classy and warm, food is outstanding, hospitality tremendous read more

Great place! I had the apricot chicken over rice and summer corn chowder. For dessert I had their peach bread pudding and it was delicious. The best I've had! Service was wonderful. Will definitely be back! read more

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We went on a Mother's Day, the week after the kids wanted to treat me and I chose this place because I had been wanting to try it. We had 4 appetizers lamb chops, mussels, crab cakes and quail. The lamb was delicious but we didn't like the mussels which are normally a favorite but they were too dry and chewy baked and some crumb topping and the little sauce underneath was not helping. Crab cakes were just ok again the sauce was just odd and didn't complement the dish. The quail we weren't a fan of. The Caesar salad was amazing and the pumpkin apple leek soup was delicious as were the flaky croissants. Some had the blackened sea bass and loved it. I had a steak with cognac cream sauce, again the sauce was off putting and over powered the filet. The other steak was topped with their version of an Oscar sauce that had Swiss cheese and crab meat with a tarragon cream sauce and it's offered on most this at an up charge of $15 or so. Honestly the place is lovely and the service was pretty good. I think we would go again armed with the knowledge of ordering everything without any sauce or getting it on the side so it wouldn't ruin anything. We're all fairly adventurous eaters and we all agreed on the sauces issue. We went early so it wasn't crowded and it was quiet and had nice decor of an older Victorian style house with a few too many stairs that again I think I would ask to be seated on the entry level so I only have to climb the stairs to the porch which is shady and nice. read more

My husband and I own this place, so naturally, we like it a LOT! Fine dining in a beautiful Victorian style home, situated in the middle of Herrin, IL, my hometown. Here on Yelp it says we deliver. (Mary's does not deliver) We do cater off-site, and offer Door Dash for local deliveries; if you order ahead of time, we are also happy to serve up anything you want to be picked up, hot and perfectly packaged for you to take home and enjoy. read more

As good as it gets. I live in Boston, and Mary's is better than anything here.wonderful food and amazing service.

Food is very average for the price. New Year's Eve dinner and while the steaks were very good, nothing else was remarkable for a $700+ meal for 6. Desserts tasted horrible. We all took it home, took one bite and into the trash. Lemon tart tasted metallic. What a disappointment. read more

Service was AMAZING and the food was delicious too. Such a cute date night place , super expensive! read more

Mary's Restaurant - Lemon tart - New American Near Me - Herrin, Illinois

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Excellent service, atmosphere & food! Will definitely return as we have always enjoyed Mary's!

My favorite lunch spot! Mary's is beautiful and quiet, you and your friends can have a leisurely lunch without feeling rushed or having to scream to hear each other. The food is excellent and so is the service. Nick and Trent are two of the best servers in the business! I've taken several friends to Mary's for lunch and every single one has loved it. They also have a great dinner menu, it's just more common for me to go out to lunch. read more

Mary's Restaurant - Apricot chicken over teriyaki rice, potato leek soup, cantaloupe wedge, croissant made in house - New American Near Me - Herrin, Illinois

We held my mothers 80th bday party with 50 people at Marys. There were many positives and negatives about the experience. I just think anyone considering a big event there may want to know our experience. The most important thing to me was that my mom loved it, and she did, so for that, Im grateful. The first good thing I can say is that all the planning with David, an owner, went flawlessly. He answered all questions promptly, with great detail and made whatever accommodations we needed. He offered options for menu based on different price brackets with alcohol and tip included which made us well aware of what to expect on the bill. I must also admit than any negatives we address here, seem mostly attributable to inadequate staffing for a party of this size. We feel they shouldve let us know they didnt have staff to pull it off at our expected standard. They had two servers for the entire group. Alcohol and any drinks were included yet most people were never even asked if they wanted a drink. There was no drink menu or wine list anywhere. I admit, There were a handful of people seated near the service door who had no problems with service; yet they were assertive. I personally never was offered a drink and never had my coffee refilled. The husband of the birthday girl said he was offered and never received a drink the entire party. I witnessed a few guests coming from the bar with handfuls of drinks but Im not sure if they paid out of pocket or were notified there was tab. I saw one server consistently re-filling water but thats all he had time to do. They had Alexa (music) but everyone kept complaining they couldnt hear it and it was never remedied. Im sure since they knew they were short staffed, most food was prepared long before we arrived. The appetizers in general were (ravioli and calamari, etc) cold and dry. I heard nothing but good things about the lamb chops though. In addition, to our surprise, the appetizers were set up buffet style. It was an 80th birthday party for her friends. Many of our guests had walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen, unsteady walking and they sat unserved. Everyone who ordered steak, to my knowledge, loved it as it was high quality and cooked to perfection. The people around me who ordered seafood pasta said it was cold, dry, not fresh pasta and "weird clumpy" sauce. There was at-least 15 minutes between when I received my entree and the person across from me received his. I heard complaints about the cold cheesy mashed potatoes served with every entree and was not made aware there was family style Asparagus further down the table until long after dinner plates were cleared. Lastly, they did make a special request bday for my mom and she loved it. However, they forgot to use the candles I gave them to sing Happy Birthday before they cut and distributed it. Upon my realization and prompt, the owner grabbed the piece that my mom was currently eating to put candles on. So anyway, its not the two servers fault, they did their best, but they probably needed more cooks to send the food out fresh and timely plus many more servers to keep everyone with a drink read more

Always delicious, always great service. A wonderful experience always. We are so lucky to have this in our area.

My first experience going to Mary's was when I was in junior high and our French Club got to go and experience a few fine dining items off of their menu. I remember thinking that escargot did not sound good at all, but I had to try it, right?! Now it's one of my favorite things to get there. :) I also went there over the years for special occasions and have never had a bad experience! The staff is kind and attentive. The food is incredible. The house it sits in is beautiful. Each time I'm there, it's a very personalized experience! I love that that the waiters recite the menu from memory - I know it helps for some people to look at a physical menu, and they do have them if you request it...but for one, it's impressive that they rattle off their menu with such ease and two, it sets the restaurant apart from every other restaurant in the area. I'm a sucker for my usuals...escargot or the shrimp/lobster ravioli appetizers, the potato leek soup (my ALL-TIME favorite! They also have a pumpkin-apple leek that is supposed to be delicious), and I tend to get the 8oz filet that comes with a mushroom/cognac sauce. And then, they have a nice selection of desserts. But I learned a long time ago that there is one dessert that they make that isn't on the menu and they don't always have it. It's a white chocolate soufflé that comes with this rich, tart raspberry sauce on the side. It's 'to die for'! You have to order it soon after you sit down because it takes awhile to bake...but it's well worth it! Anyway, I think Mary's is a wonderful establishment - a great dining experience and something that is nice to have in Southern IL. read more

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Service was great. Prices are what you'd expect. For lunch, two entree's, two soda's, and two desserts, our total was around $60 before tip. I ordered the blackened catfish with balsamic & honey glaze. Omg. So good. Husband ordered the seafood pasta. Also great. I had the blueberry/banana bread pudding with rum sauce. It was great. But next time I'm opting for the lemons almond tart. My husband had the cheesecake. I never enjoy cheesecake, but it was good for cheesecake. Really adored the decor of the place. I will be back for my birthday. Yum! read more

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First time at Mary's and was blown away. Appetizer selection and entree selections are amazing! Our waiter recited the menu and could not believe how he could list all from memory. Thank salmon and ahi tuna were perfect. I would highly recommend Mary's. read more

Meals are GREAT however be ready for a pricy bill. Service was EXCELLENT! Staff was very friendly and accommodating.

It is sooo annoying that this restaurant doesn't have a Menu! You have to listen carefully not to miss anything when the waiter is rehearsing the menu! The appetizers were fabulous, we loved the cheese plates, for the entree, we ordered chicken but it smelled like fish, I am not sure if it was a sauce, but the smell wasn't pleasant. Overall, drinks are good, appetizers are great, if you are okay not seeing the menu, you should try this restaurant. read more

Certainly the most beautiful place in town, BUT ... First off, not providing a physical menu shows a lack of caring for both the customer and the staff. I stopped being impressed with memorization in high school. Most people don't like to feel rushed when they are paying $150+ for a meal, without drinks. The food "sounded" good, but everything we ordered was flavorless and bland. We couldn't taste the garlic in the Escargot, the Brie was so bitter we couldn't finish it, the fish was over cooked and we've certainly had better rack of lamb, for less money. As others have said, certainly not worth the price paid. And finally, a very big no-no. After the server gave us our bill they came back within only a few minutes to see if we were ready to pay. Again, feeling rushed we gave them our card. Immediately after they returned with my card and receipt I signed it whereupon they scooped up the bill while we were still eating our dessert. The restaurant was nearly empty, so what's the rush? read more

What a hidden gem they have in Herrin. Tremendous food. My filet was perfect. Wine great. However the service was even better. A young man by the name of Trent was my server. There are NO menus. He recited the menu to me. What a treat this restaurant was. I highly recommend it. I will go back whenever I'm in town. read more

I have seen the best of the big city restaurants, and Mary's plays up in that league. Can you find things that aren't the best you have ever had? Sure, but that is true with every good restaurant. The complaints in the reviews here show a lack of experience in good restaurants. Every dish can't be the best you have ever had, in your opinion. I find the preparation at Mary's to be excellent, the service to be first rate, love their soups. It isn't a French restaurant, so the sauces are more fine Midwestern. I love their steaks, I have friends who love their fish. I'm amused by the complaints about a printed menu. It might be generational, but that is what you want to complain about? Check the chalk board in the hall if you want to see it written down. After you go a few times, you can do most of the menu yourself. In Southern Illinois, there are two "go to" fine restaurants. Mary's and Tom's Place. Special occasions, deal closing dates, and general fine dining happen at one or the other. They are a little different, but both are excellent and continue to thrive. read more

As far as Southern Illinois goes, this is a great option for fine dining. But once you compare it to the options you find in bigger cities, it's not all that great. Personally, I take issue with not having a printed menu. The memorization is impressive, but I want to be able to see my options in front of me. I find the service to be slow and my drink to spend a considerable amount of time empty. Also, for as expensive as the food is, I don't find the quality of the food to be particularly good, and it never seems to be cooked quite to perfection. The place is good, generally, but I think there are other and better options in Southern Illinois. read more

Consistently the nicest restaurant in Southern Illinois. I've been coming here for years with my family and have never been disappointed. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and graduations, all are best celebrated at Mary's! Lobster ravioli, the warm goat cheese appetizer, and POTATO SOUP (oh, it's 10am, and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it) are all must-haves. read more

Really nice place great food great staff. A really great place for special occasions birthdays, anniversaries etc. a little pricey plus gratuities are included in the bill. That can skyrocket a bill ours was $ $583.89 the tip was $90 so you need to be prepared for that. read more

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When my steak was brought to me it was cold. Croissant was cheap. Service was fast. Not worth the price remotely.

This was a very nice pleasant experience for my wife and me. The wild mushroom ravioli was a starting highlight. The entrees followed a very tasty corn soup for me and my wife was pleased with the spring mix salad. Our waiter Mike substituted a fresh croissant for a hard roll when my wife questioned the hard roll. They also did scallops special and added some sauce from the appetizer at her request without hesitation. My veal was more than enough, but we still split a bread pudding. No mention of price was made until we saw the bill which was very reasonable for what was offered. We will drive the 2 hours to dine again at this fine restaurant. read more

Mary's Restaurant - New American Near Me - Herrin, Illinois

What a delightful and charming restaurant. Delicious food and great service. There were six of us, three couples, all from the around the St. Louis, MO area. And every one in our party enjoys and treasures fine dining. The date of our visit was Friday, June 20th, 2014. Michael our waiter, couldn't have been more attentive and professional. A class act! Plus, his whit and laid back personality added to the enjoyment and fun of our dining evening. Before our food was brought out, a delightful young lady came and took a group pictures of all of us. Later, she came back and handed each couple a photo copy. And, it was FREE!! Where do you find free these days? This establishment warrants a five star rating. My only regret . . . , this restaurant isn't closer to St. Louis. read more

What an awesome spot. Mary's was so inviting and quaint . The atmosphere of this restaurant was so laid back. I haven't had such a leisure dinner in some while. We took our time and the staff was so knowledgeable about the menu items and were quite accommodating to any taste palate. I didn't even look at my phone once while eating here and that is so rare. Can't wait to come back and try different menu items! read more

First visit and it was fabulous. Meal was delicious and service was excellent. NY strip was made perfectly to order. The croissant was flaky and scrumptious. The asparagus spears were done perfectly and full of flavor. I shouldn't leave out that the appetizer we chose was the mushroom ravioli. Even that exceeded our expectations. read more

Mary's Restaurant - NY strip aged, asparagus, croissant. Amazing - New American Near Me - Herrin, Illinois

All the food is fabulous!! From the Brie appetizer, to the soups to the steaks & the desserts are divine. The decor needs to be updated. It's a little Golden Girls in there. Of course as most know, it is expensive. A good option, is to go for lunch. read more

I was ready to be wowed by Mary's. But it simply wasn't worth the price. My partner and I ate there on Valentine's Day, which, granted, is their busiest day of the year, from what I've heard. Still, the experience was bad enough to compel me to write a long-winded review about why they're awful. Spoiler alert: I'm going to sound like a total snob, but after spending $150 on a sub-par meal, haven't I earned it? Our reservation was for 8:30 p.m., the only time slot they had left. We were pretty peckish when we arrived. The hostess barely acknowledged us as we stood in the cramped lobby, shoulder-to-shoulder with six other couples. We wound up waiting for 15 minutes to be seated, and other couples who arrived after us were seated first. (At the end of the night, our waiter confessed that this was because couples request specific tables months in advance, which makes the seating system horribly convoluted.) So it's coming up on 9 p.m., and we're seated by an extremely stressed manager in the "Library" (it sounds cozy, but there were no books to be had, just gauche decor items on shelves). By this point, I'm pretty hangry. My partner is trying to make me laugh by pointing out how miserable all the straight couples look. Our waiter is working all the tables in the room, and very inefficiently, I'm sad to say. He also runs (SPRINTS) from place to place, which doesn't save him much time and gets irritating fast. There are no menus at Mary's. The waiter recites each course to you and then sprints off before you can answer. Look, you get the point. He was a bad waiter. By 10 p.m., we still don't have our meals. We eat some overcooked escargot. Then some okay soups. Then our main courses, which are...fine, but not mind-blowing. Not worth $40 each by any stretch of the imagination. We didn't get out of there until 11 p.m. By then I had forgiven our waiter and decided he was a lovable goof. I tipped respectably--I'm not a monster. But I have to tell you, from start to finish, the experience did not resemble anything like fine dining. read more

We did not enjoy our experience here. It is a higher end menu that is harder to find in the Marion area. If I was just comparing Marion restaurants it could be four but I'm comparing it to other restaurants in general. The house is old but in a charming way, that might not appeal to everyone. The downsides were the service, water tasted like dirt, and undercooked steaks. I had to chase down the guy to get appetizers. Pretty classic dishes, it's not a huge menu but it's enough. read more

Mary's is the total package for fine dining in southern Illinois. The food is always amazing and the atmosphere is perfect for all occasions. I keep it a tradition to treat my office staff for secretary's day each year. The service was also outstanding this year for my first Valentine's Day with my fiancé. read more

This was my first time at Mary's. In an area with mainly chain restaurants, it's nice to have an alternative. I really liked that they have a fireplace inside. I was thinking the whole time I was there how nice it would be to have dinner sitting there while the snow fell gently outside. I had the pumpkin soup, creole catfish, polenta, and lemon tart. All of it was very tasty. My mother who is gluten-free was given a special dessert since they didn't have an GF desserts on the menu that day. I thought that was really nice of our waiter Trent to do that. Most places wouldn't have even cared. That's excellent customer service! read more

I have been here multiple times so far and have not been even slightly disappointed. Even when I went to the southern Illinoisan open house where they just had hors d'oeuvres they had goat cheese and roasted red pepper on the cheese platter along with homemade cheese ball. Very classy and old world. Plan to spend a decent amount of time for a real meal read more

Nice nice very nice. Best fancy restaurant in Herrin Illinois. Good service good food good service relaxing atmosphere. My wife had chicken piccata I had seafood pasta. It was all very good. We will return read more

While visiting friends in the area we decided on a nice night out to celebrate a birthday. There were only two higher end places in the vicinity-Mary's and Tom's. We had been to Tom's years ago and enjoyed it so we decided to try Mary's on this trip. I made reservations and mentioned it being a birthday when the person on the phone asked if it was a special occasion. The restaurant doesn't have a sign so it was good we were using gps. After being seated in a dark, slightly dreary back room, the waiter came and recited the long, LONG menu. By the time he finished I didn't recall the first few items he mentioned. One of the things he didn't recite was the price. He stood and waited while we tried to recall all he had said. It may be a novel idea to not have a printed menu, but it left us no time to study or review items--nor to compare prices. My filet was average and the lobster tail was the size of a large shrimp. It was served with cool drawn butter. After the meal no mention of a celebration was mentioned, though the table next to us was greeted by a "Happy Anniversary" and a decorated table. The waiter brought the check--hand written with just the total. As we left, no thank you or goodbye from either the waiter or hostess. Overall it was just an odd, slightly unsettling experience with average food and below average service. Even had the food been better, the lack of a menu and the less than friendly staff would keep us away. read more

My wife and I decided to try Mary's because we couldn't get into Tom's in Desoto; we made our reservation too close to Valentine's Day. My wife heard Mary's was comparable to Tom's, so we figured it would be ok since that's our favorite restaurant on pretty much the entire face of the Earth. Our reservation was at 9:30 that night, which was kind of late, but we were glad they could accommodate us. When we got there, things immediately started to deteriorate...rapidly. We arrived a bit early, so we had the pleasure of witnessing the staff try to brainstorm for 20 minutes on how they could get us to a table, and they did, right in time for our reservation. All of the waitstaff were very young, and clearly inexperienced, so we figured things wouldn't be great, but boy were we in for a treat. We were given the worst possible table in the place, tucked into a corner of one of the dungeon rooms, and we waited about 20 more minutes to be given the chance to order appetizers, which we did. Unfortunately, our young waiter decided he didn't want to be there any longer than he had to, so he opted to recite tonight's appetizers to us and the table next to us at the same time. That was odd, but made more annoying by the fact we were seated a good 15 minutes before those people, but I digress...We had both the mushroom and the crab ravioli while we sipped on a nice Pinot noir, it was lovely actually. That brief moment of tranquility was shattered once again by our waiters decision to keep with the double table service theme while telling us about the entrees, he even stuck with it through dessert...yay. My wife and I shared a New York strip and double lobster tail dinner. It came to us cold, and our new friends at the table next to us were served before us, again. Though my wife and I were both eager to leave by this point, we decided to stay for a lemon and almond tart and cheese cake (whatever, we love food). Dessert was good, but the highlight was overhearing the waiter and young blonde hostess discussing what sexual favors would need to be exchanged in order to convince her to help clear tables. I believe the exact quote was "do you want rough sex, normal sex, or safe sex." I'm pretty sure he yelled it loud enough for just about everyone to hear. Keeping it classy, obviously. He and the blonde girl then proceeded to clear every table around us (seriously?) and we noticed our table neighbors had the good sense to get out of dodge before they got caught up in these kid's fifty shades of grey reenactment in the dining room. My wife was noticeably pissed at this point, so she said something along the lines of "they obviously want us to leave, so let's take our time finishing dessert...assholes." Ah, romance...anyway, getting back to the waiter. He brought our check, and we were absolutely shocked to see that he, or someone, had already given themselves 18% gratuity. Are you kidding me? In addition to be completely insulting, and in the quest to not get shafted for what he must have known was the worst performance of his young career, this little prick ended up stiffing himself, as my wife and I are serial over-tippers and would have probably given him more even though he was a total joke. He probably should be working at Chili's, not Mary's. When we decided to leave, my wife passed by the young blonde who smiled and said the required niceties. My wife stopped, looked her dead in the eye, and said "good luck with that waiter." The hostess's face quickly turned to horror as she realized we were in on her plans for the evening. I was dying laughing and it was the highlight of my night. High five honey. So in closing, the food was decent, the service was atrocious, and if you ever start telling anyone Mary's is comparable to Tom's, I beseech you to punch yourself in the throat before you finish spreading such vile untruth. read more

Mary's Restaurant - Our receipt, with gratuity included. Thanks guys. - New American Near Me - Herrin, Illinois

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I'm thankful that a restaurant of this caliber is in Herrin. It's not often that I get to go here, so it's generally been reserved for a select few special occasions. Each of those times, however, have been excellent. The food is great, service has been outstanding (Trent has taken care of me numerous times and does a wonderful job), the atmosphere is unique - although the building can get a bit stuffy during the summer months. You pay a premium to eat here, but I think it almost hits the mark of getting what you pay for. read more

For the price, the old style of cooking and heavy butter use is just not quite up to par with expectations. Wonderfully helpful staff and a nice dining experience. It is definitely a little hard to memorize the menu (which is verbal only) and it did result in a misorder despite trying to get the dish list repeated. read more

LOVE this Place!! The food is always "Outstanding!" Service is second to none! We always feel like we are very special when we arrive. Truly a gourmet experience in Southern Illinois. Bed and Breakfast is an extra special treat for those wanting a destination/dining/touring of Southern Illinois. "Stay-Cation" My favorite soup is Pumpkin Leak! When available. I also love the goat cheese..um..Yummy and one of a kind!! A MUST to Experience!! I can't wait to go again. This is my "Show Place" for my out of town guests..I know the food will be fantastic as well as the service. FIVE STARS always! read more

One of the best restaurants in the area. The food and service trump any others who come close. The waiters know the menu, which changes frequently, by heart and are quick to service your every need. The swordfish is by far one of the best I have had. I've also had the crab legs, mussels, crab cakes, filet, lobster ravioli and the goat cheese. All are fantastic. Whether your celebrating a special occasion or just want a nice dinner Mary's will not disappoint. read more