My wife and I had the grilled chicken dinners mine was fine hers was over cooked and dried out. Our…read moremashed potatoes were cold. Our waitress disappeared so we had to walk up front to get our check . They are in need of a manager on Sunday night's employees running around seemed lost no direction . Sad to see this happening we loved going to this place . We will try a different day of the week to see if it's better.....

Nice place and we have been here a few times. The service is good, our waitress was friendly and…read morepleasant. The food took a long time to come out today. And the food wasn't as good as in the past. Although the French onion soup was really good today.

Best burger,all homemade,none of that frozen reheat going on there!also the waitress is amazing and…read morekind

I am Sorry to say the owner of this restaurant is very rude.Her business may go down hill very fast…read moreif she doesn't change her ways. The restaurant is dirty. Take a close look at the bar stools and floor. Don't touch any Ketchup on another table or you will get yelled at. Do I need to go on . You look real good when you go in there to eat next time and you decide just how clean the place really is.

We were looking for dinner, and I suggested going here again. It had been a while…read more This is a place where you have pens and menus at the table, and you mark your table number and what food you want. We started with their cheese curds. I was so hungry and they were so tasty that I forgot to "feed" the camera first. We both got the same burger - a Single Knuckle Burger with pepperjack cheese, along with lettuce, tomato, onion. My wife ordered their loaded Bloody Mary, which was very good - it's a shoe-in to win the Best of Ogle County if people try it. The burgers were very good. They now have a draft beer, so I ordered one and it tasted fine. This is basically a side of the road bar and restaurant, ambiance wise. Nothing fancy, but not run down either. Just good food.

I came here for the third time but it hasn't changed. Great food, great service, and funny moose…read morename. They have a great friendly staff and regulars. Well I'm stuffed so I will end with this. If you want a new place to try go here!

This might be the best and coolest overall place in the greater Rockford area. I think it's been…read morethere since the 1940s. I love old historical places like this. We sat at the bar for a drink while we waited for a table. I had a white Russian and my wife had a specialty cocktail, I don't remember what it was. We both enjoyed our drinks. We were seated in some elevated booths that had a view of the bar area, which was absolutely fantastic!! There is tons of regular restaurant seating in the back dining room rooms... We had the pig candy, cheese, curds, and the waitress recommended the fresh bread. The pig candy was very rich. One piece was enough for me. The cheese curds were very large bigger than tater tots. They tasted good, but I prefer smaller cheese curds. The waitress was right, the bread stole the show! One of the butters that it came with was cinnamon, which was fantastic! Dinner salad was very good. Tasted like homemade dressing. My wife had the pig sandwich and I had the gnocchi. Both were great, including the accoutrements like the french fries and garlic bread. The hostess came around, giving the ladies coronations, which was a nice touch. Great service and just genuinely nice people! We eat out every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is now on our list.

Not sure why the reviews aren't great but this place exceeded my expectations. I loved the…read morefunkiness of the space and it was indeed tavern like with low lighting, old school bar and booths everywhere. Our server must have worked there for decades as she knew the entire menu back and forward including all of the current beer selections. We had the bison chili, Caesar's salad (great BTW), spinach artichoke dip and pretzel. All were very good. This was our favorite place to eat while we were in Rockford and the beer selection was great.

Came here for the first time. Reservations were booked but I sat at the bar. The bar has a "limited…read moremenus" compared to as if you sit in the restaurant. I think honestly that's stupid since they are right next to each other. The filet I ordered was actually very good. Cooked medium as I asked and had a wood fire oak taste to it. The Mac and cheese side was also very good. Not as warm as I would want it but still very good. I ordered the donuts for dessert. They were also very good and had no complaints about the food overall. The service was also great. They have a full bar. The only issue I have was h the e limited menu. Seems really dumb to me. The entertainment by the bar (live performance) was absolutely terrible.

Dear Council Oak Management,…read more My husband and I dined at Council Oak last night to celebrate three very special occasions: my retirement, my birthday, and his birthday. This was our fifth or sixth visit, and we've always enjoyed dining with you, which makes this experience even more disappointing. Our evening started off very well. The hostess asked if we were celebrating anything special, and we shared our celebrations. When our server, Amy, introduced herself, she also acknowledged my retirement and our birthdays and engaged us in a friendly conversation about our plans. Because your staff initiated these conversations, we naturally assumed there might be a small celebratory gesture at the end of the meal, as is customary at many fine dining restaurants. We weren't looking for anything extravagant, just a simple acknowledgment such as a small dessert or cookie. Instead, nothing was offered. In hindsight, it felt unnecessary to ask about our special occasions if there was no intention of recognizing them. The service also became inconsistent throughout the evening. Amy disappeared for a significant portion of our meal, and another gentleman stepped in to assist us before Amy returned and apologized. While we appreciated the apology, the overall pace of the meal was extremely slow. We arrived at five o'clock, were among the first guests seated, and did not leave until approximately seven forty-five. There were only two of us, yet we waited about forty-five minutes for our entrées, making the dinner far longer than it should have been. We have always enjoyed Council Oak, which is why this visit was so disappointing. I wanted to share this feedback because I hope future guests celebrating important milestones have a better experience than we did. Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. Sincerely, Sue O

It's small but decorated so cute! The food is always wonderful and reasonably priced. Cindy, Mike,…read moreand other employees, are always friendly and treat you like family. It's never a bad experience here!

Delicious, massive Smashburger served in a cool, cozy, homestyle space. The hand-dipped onion rings…read moreare a standout side.

Love this place. Did the haunted tour and it was very informative and the food was good. Love the…read morelittle slot room. Service was excellent.

I went for a ride on the motorcycle down Illinois 2 and got a wee bit hungry. Having passed the…read moreRoadhouse many times in the past I decided that is where I was going to stop. I'm glad I did! The interior of the building is decorated in a western style, stage coach stop theme. Mainly because if you read the local history on the menu, the building used to be a "Roadhouse" where the stage coach stopped. I found the atmosphere very different for the area and really relaxing. When I was there it wasn't too busy, so I sat at the bar. The owner was there and I was able to chat him up some. He has an interest in a local cold case from 1948 that I also follow. He was a great guy to chat up, extremely friendly. The food here is pretty good. I ordered The Blue Barrel. Basically a bacon cheese burger with hot bleu cheese on it. Per the menu it suggested I put A1 on it per the chef, so I ordered it that way. Man was that good. Huge patty too and it was cooked just right! I really enjoyed the burger. The service was a little off. The lady working the bar would disappear and I would have to ask for things or try to find her. Not a huge selling point especially when there were only a couple of people in the place at the time. I really have to say that I liked this place a lot. I loved the atmosphere, the servers, the owner, the food. It was great. I will definitely be back.

Stopped in with wife and daughter. I had the Lamb chops w yams and collard greens(greens flavored…read morewith smoked turkey chunks). Wife had fried pork chops w greens, Mac and yams. Daughter had shrimp Alfredo. All plates were exceptional in flavor. My lamb chops seems to be cooked on a charcoal or wood grill and were seared perfectly, juicy, tender and DELICIOUS. Collard greens were fantastic and had a big chunk of smoked turkey in it. The yams were tender and sweet. Maybe a little too sweet but still edible. The wife's pork chops must've been good cuz she refused to share w me and my daughter devoured her shrimp Alfredo.

GREAT food with a welcoming atmosphere. If you are looking for some really great food without the…read moreexpensive price you should REALLY consider stopping in for lunch to check them out. The 4 food item "Soul Cup" it top of my list to order.