The pork tenderloin, also known as BPT (b is for breaded) is a popular sandwich in the Upper Midwest, particularly in Iowa and Indiana. And occasionally in Illinois. It's similar to Wienerschnitzel. A pork cutlet is cut and then smashed to make it larger and thinner, dipped in breading, sometimes cornmeal, panko, crushed saltines and deep-fried. It is usually served on a hamburger bun, garnished with any or all: tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, pickles, onions. Frequently accompanied by fries as a side. There's been a friendly competition among purveyors to lay claim to the title of "the largest," and certainly in Illinois the small town of Smitty's in Leonore, takes the title. Leonore is a booming locale south of Lasalle-Peru, 100 miles West of Chicago. Population 13o. I rolled down there on a Saturday, aiming to beat the lunch "crowd" so I called in my order (still, as of this date, curbside service only). Both I and the sandwich arrived at the same time, and like those who have gone before, I agree, this baby is YUGE. And delicious. Proper amount of breading, gently seasoned, good quality pork taste and texture. Excellent pickles and fresh cut onions. There are tables outdoor for diners to enjoy their BPT's or other items until the interior opens up again. Worth a drive. Iowa has an entire "Tenderloin Trail" you can try and conquer. Go on, go for it. You know you want to! read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Famous pork tenderloin sandwich - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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Went here for the all-you-can-eat Friday night fish fry. Ambiance is definitely small town bar and grill. Lots of locals, but staff was very friendly and we were served pretty promptly. The fish meal included a salad bar and fries. I rarely see a salad bar offered ANYWHERE anymore; it wasn't much, but it was good. The fish and fries were decent... you have the option on walleye, cod, or a mix. The initial serving is 4 pieces of fish. I opted to do the mix (2 of each). Definitely liked the walleye best. The cod was decent, but also a bit more chewy that the walleye. The fish wasn't quite as flaky as I would have liked, so not sure if it was the quality of the filets or how they were cooked. Nonetheless, the meal was good and reasonably priced for an all-you-can-eat. It was a bit out of the way for us, so not sure I would make the longer trip for the fish, but it was definitely worth the try. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

Great food and drinks. Service is excellent as well. Try the wings and the pork tenderloin. Plan on taking some home. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Entrance - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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Go. Just go. Cheap beer! Awesome food. Try the apps especially Italian crusted cheese curds. Wing ding!!!!! Biggest and best pork tenderloin in all the lands. Get the works. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Even 18 month olds love Smitty's - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

Huge wings and a great price on Wing Tuesday! We got a bucket for the bones and wet wipes were on the table. The Staff was friendly and attentive. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Sweet Heat and Hot - Yum! - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

Small town at its finest. The service was spot on very friendly and quick from the staff to the customers. The menu is nothing Fancy just good food had to try the Pork Tenderloin it didn't disappoint from what we had read all the reviews were true for $8.95 it was enough to feed at least 4 people. it was flavored just right thickness was perfect read more

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We rode our bikes over an hour to enjoy their Smitty Burger. All of their entrees are amazing and reasonable prices. Next visit will try the Italian crusted Cheddar Nuggets. The tenderloin sandwich is HUGE, would feed two people! It was super busy at lunchtime but our waitress was amazingly attentive. She also made time to help an elderly person to their car! Clapping! It's a typical bar & grill setup and not a big seating area inside. Great place! read more

Ate there today,Had they're special boneless homemade wings, they're not bad,but need to back off the salt,went for they're tenderloin, they didn't have them. read more

So after reading about this place in a Facebook group I follow, the opportunity arose where we were in the area, and thought we should give it a try. Must say, all of the good things we have heard, where on the mark! Walked in and grabbed a table and were greeted immediately and given menus and gave our drink orders. Within a few minutes our drinks were back and our orders placed. I came for their famous tenderloin and my wife ended up with the roast beef sandwich. The service was great! We also ordered wings, and they came out relatively quick. They were piping hot and very tasty! Before we good finish, our sandwich's came, and needless to say, both were amazing! The tenderloin was huge, and my wife kept saying how good her roast beef was! I have to say again, service was great, and the food was amazing, and definitely worth the drive. I would highly recommend if you're in the area, search this place out and go! read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Smitty's Famous Tenderloin - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

This restaurant has been around since 1987. How I come from the Illinois Valley and never once stumbled upon this hole in the wall gem is beyond me. I failed myself as much as many a foodie friend. This little restaurant is what great dreams are made of. They offer a very inviting atmosphere, with rich history. Despite the notorious bank that was robbed in the early 1900's, it was torn down - not leaving much history here to focus on outside this pub, this establishment has several deep fried reasons to return. The tenderloin isn't just as big as the images lead you to believe but it's a thick, tender selection that is making me salivate just writing about the memories I had here when I first visited two weeks ago. Their Mac n cheese bites had kick and were unique. It was te onion rings that stole the show. The real applause goes to the owner for serving such a wide variety of fried greatness and history from a native who grew up seeing the changes in this small town. You will end up knowing more about the place you'll love embracing and returning to. Tip well because this place deserves it and the world needs these restaurant gems surviving not falling to the shadows of McDonalds and other mediocre food options read more

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We were there Friday afternoon while out for a day of looking at the fall trees. We ordered a tenderloin and the pork fajita special plus a couple of gin and tonics. The food was excellent! My wife was shocked when she saw how big the tenderloin was. The service was excellent and friendly. We felt like we mattered to the server. We will definitely be back! read more

Great food at a decent price staff is hit and miss sometimes everybody has bad days though. Kind of loud at times when it's busy you can't hear yourself talk at your table overall good little mom and pops restaurant. read more

Smitty's was great. I had the tenderloin, and it was really delicious, affordable and more than anything MASSIVE. I wish I had split it, because I ended up taking way more than half home. We also had mozzarella sticks and chicken wings as an appetizer and both were great! read more

I came here two times in a week for lunch, once becasue I lost a bet and the other because my friend forgot his hat, so ha ha I broke even as he had to buy me lunch on the return trip. Both times great service and a nice atmosphere, the food was always good, the initial trip trip was to get the trade mark Smitty's tenderloin. Don't ask me how they make money off this thing it's huge bigger than your plate(see the photo). Just getting this thing will set you up with left overs for the next 2days. After recovering from or first dive into Gluttony, we came back to pick up my friends hat. They remember our out of town faces from days earlier and welcomed us back. This time we ordered smaller plate I order the special, while they did mess up my order they offered to fix it asap or I could keep what I had for free. I opted to keep what I had as it still looked good and the price was right ;-) read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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The best tenderloin I have had in a long time. The service was great and what a wonderful small town bar and restaurant. We will be back. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Pork fried tenderloin - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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When the service is good, the food is REALLY good. But unfortunately, like everywhere, that's not always the case. 1) tldr: COLD FOOD: The last two times we went there to get wings on their "wing night" they've been cold. I don't mean like the drive home was 10 minutes so they got a little cold on the way there. I mean.. ice. Cold. I wouldn't expect on their wing night for them to have had wings sitting around for a long time after they're cooked but these were. Twice. Two separate days. They had to have been cooked hours before we got there. Nothing like biting into a wing that feels like it just came out of the freezer. :/ 2) Another time before the last shenanigans, we ordered take out and when we got there to pick it up they said it would be a min. That's because they had given our food to the wrong people who happened to already be at home and were going to come back up and get their right order. Only problem, the employees didn't tell us this. (We over heard one employee telling another) They hid it from us because they didn't want to make us new food and were hoping we would be fine taking our order the other people brought back. N O. Gross. One, who knows what they did to it from the time they left Smittys to when they got home. Two, it would've been cold considering we were waiting at Smittys for 20+ min. Unbelievable. We got our money back and ate somewhere else. All that to say, when the food isn't cold, and they don't give your order to a random stranger to take home; it's REALLY good. But it's hard to go back after so many bad experiences. read more

I'll submit review #7! First of all, this place is alarming! I should say that the pork cutlet sandwich is alarmingly huge! It's delicious, too. Pickles are also tasty, must be homemade because they are unlike any pickles I've ever had from the grocery store. How can this sandwich only cost $6.75? Definitely something you've got to try just for the heck of it. My wife had the half-pound cheeseburger which was one of the juiciest and flavorful burgers around. My daughter had the roast beef with au jus, and she really enjoyed it. How do they sell these for about $5-6? read more

It's been a while since I was last at Smitty's. I ordered the pork tenderloin and it was not good! If you're going for quantity over quality; fine. It was so thick and chewy (also lacked any flavor) I could barely eat it and I did barely eat it. I am not sure if they just didn't feel like pounding it out or what... read more

Really nice small bar/restaurant with great beer garden across street with dining area! We shared a tenderloin...it was good but once it cooled I realized how much breading was on it...WAY more than meat! Also had wings since it was wing night. Wings were good but not the best I've had. They are large but several I had consisted of A LOT of waste like skin. They were busy and had 2 servers. The newer bartender wasn't on it and didn't act like she had any desire to. At one point as I was talking to the waitress placing an order the young newer bartender came up and interrupted me without hesitation talking about her orders with the waitress. Wow-Really?! Unfortunately all of this left the one friendly bartender carrying it all! After food was delivered we had to go to bar for drinks never being checked on. Prices are reasonable and food is served quick and hot. It was good...just can't say I would go out of my way again to go. Skoogs in Utica is THE BEST wings Ive ever had after stopping here to compare them. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Sweet heat and garlic parm wings-they were okay - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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Fantastic tenderloin! Couldn't believe the size and for just over $7! Very accommodating during coronavirus. Took our orders outside and provided everything needed for picnicking across the street. Well worth the trip. read more

Holy cow! The pork tenderloin could feed an army! It was incredible and the price was unbeatable!! Absolutely wonderful service and food! Go and be amazed by the size of the sandwich you receive. read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - The breaded pork tenderloin is insane! - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

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One of the best bar and grills. Always meet someone I know. Food great, works friendly and helpful. Help stays their and always says good things about where they work. read more

This is an isolated rural bar&grill. I found it odd they have no draught beer just bottles/cans. The tenderloin sandwich is ridiculously huge, although it lacked much flavor. The wings are delicious. Staff and patrons are mostly friendly farm people. Prices are great, it's worth a stop if your lost or wandering around north central Illinois.... read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - The "Tenderlion Sandwich" - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

A group of us rode our bikes out to Smitty's, during the shelter-in-place time. They were able to take our orders, and we sat outside on picnic tables. As always, great pork tenderloin sandwich. And I like the fried pickles. A really friendly place. read more

Great service and food. We were looking forward to having the tenderloin, we were not disappointed! We are from Los Angeles visiting family , so this was awesome to finally have a good tenderloin,since we don't have these out there! Definitely a must stop! read more

OMG! I drove from culver to eat here because it's so worth the drive! The sandwiches the salads homemade curly fries was a delicious and never disappointing experience! read more

This place has some of the best chicken wings around. The service is fast and the staff are friendly. It's a bit of a drive for me yet totally worth it! read more

I have driven by here quite a few times over the past 4 years and the name Smitty's and in Leonore, just intrigued me. Then I saw a review in the south side rag that showed the pork loin sandwich. So I finally made it at 2 on Tuesday. I was told by the bartender that the lunch rush was a madhouse. I was also told that lunch is served from 11 til 1. Ooops, didn't know? But I was told that she would have to cook it herself in between servicing the other customers. Aces to this chic! When I was presented with the skillet that held Porky. I immediately thought that the picture had nothing on this bad boy! Well, I better get started as I only had 20 minutes of my lunch left. It was juicy, and incredibly crispy. I smeared 5 packets of mayo on this thing and it didn't even come close to covering it. The pickles were thick cut and raw onions were falling all over. I ate the whole thing except for the top bun. When I was 1/3 the way through I started to get delusional as it looked like it was growing. I also ordered fries. They were delicious, but I would advise against it if you are tackling this alone. This was an epic dining experience and I will bring friends with me next time. All this came out to just over ten bucks with a soda. Outrageous! Dinner is from 4:30 to 8. And don't forget it. I had to take an energy shot to finish my journey. Otherwise I'd still be in a cornfield somewhere sleeping it off! read more

Smitty's Bar & Grill - Yes! I ate the whole thing. - Bars Near Me - Leonore, Illinois

Smitty's catered a party for 50 people at my work. We had bacon cheeseburgers, wings, steak sandwiches and pork tenderloins as big as a wheel cover. I had a little taste of everything and loved it all. Very good quality pub food. Wings came with several sauces which was a treat. read more

Omg not enough room to say all the great things about this place. Owner is friendly wait staff is amazing and apparently love their jobs... It shows... Clean enough for an old school tavern turned restaurant. The tenderloins feed an army and the wings ate the best around. Beer prices are great and it's usually packed... Good for them... They deserve the business.... If they treat everyone the way they treated my party....... You won't be disappointed. Worth three times the drive we've made from peru... We, our party members and other friends MOST DEFINITELY will return. Great job!!!!!! read more

I love Smittys!!! The service is always amazing, the food is even better, prices are very reasonable! The pork tenderloin is enough to feed my whole family for under $10! The sweet heat sauce is the main reason I go there lbs! I highly recommended this place! I just wish they were open more often lol! read more