Excellent quality food at a reasonable price. Love their breakfasts and my husband says the liver…read moreand onions are 2nd only to his mom's! Friendly staff. Locally owned.

Good food, cooked to order but I thought it was a little pricey but I have to say it was a lot of…read morefood The service was great.

One of the best places to eat in town. I always recommend Backyard to friends visiting from out of…read morestate/town. I have never left disappointed or hungry.

I was in town visiting my family. They suggested the backyard grill. It's one of their favorite go…read moreto Restaurants. We popped in for lunch. At first, it wasn't busy when we arrived. But a large large group started piling in. There had to be close to 50 people. I will say because of all those people, it was kind of loud in there. But that's not a normal thing so we're not gonna count that against them. The problem we had was we all ordered my husband ordered a burger. I ordered a chicken wrap and the other two ordered other Menu items. It took a very long time to get our meals and this was lunch and we had placed our order before that Group got there, but I think what happened was the server was busy getting drinks for that group and no one picked up our food. By the time it got to our table, everything was either cold or barely lukewarm. All the fries, the onion rings and even my husband's burger had zero heat left in it. We did tell our server and he talked to the manager and they made it right.! I truly think everything would've been delicious. Had been warm. I'm going to still give kudos to them because they took care of it and made it right and the food tasted good but it just needed proper temperatures. We will definitely be back and give them another chance.!!

Maxson's Pride of Oregon, a paddle wheel boat, is truly a hidden gem. The friendly crew described…read moreits history--built in 1989 as a replica of the Rosie O'Shea paddlewheeler. A portion of its journey from the shipyard to the Rock River was actually made overland. The interior of the main deck is appointed with attractive woodwork, and there is a bar. The upper deck is open air. Ample seating is provided. This was a lunch cruise and our group was seated and served upon our 11 AM boarding. The quality of the food (catered by Maxson) and service exceeded our expectations. We began with rolls and a generous tossed salad with Italian dressing. Our entrée choices were beef bordelaise, fried catfish, and a vegetarian plate. The fork-tender beef was cloaked in a red wine sauce and the fish, though heavy on the crust, tasted fresh and was greaseless. Our sides were fresh steamed veggies and a twice-baked potato. Chocolate cake was served for dessert. There were pitchers of lemonade and water on the table, and coffee and tea were offered. Our leisurely cruise upriver lasted two hours and ended at 1:30. Travel is limited to a 7-mile-long navigable stretch of the Rock River. Narration was provided at various points of interest. We spotted at least two bald eagles onshore. Just delightful!

Horrible buffet never again! I can see now why only 4 people were there for lunch! Too bad nice…read morevenue

The service is always wonderful. They're friendly, inviting & family owned business. They've the…read morebest fried chicken I've ever had. Good thick fries & that sauce is what keeps me coming back. Thank you BBY for quality food.

My husband and his family are obsessed with this place. To be fair, they are from western Illinois…read moreno offense and far from the South (I am from Texas). Now, where I am from, fried chicken is sacred. They seem to use a wet batter (like the one long john silvers uses) a common batter used for fish, used for chicken. There is generally nothing wrong with this, but if you do not season your chicken or your batter you are in deep fry (water). When we were there I literally saw them opening up CANS of "chicken gravy" and taking frozen fries from the freezer. The sauce is too sweet for me and has an interesting dulce de leche consistency. So you have bland chicken breast, sugar sauce, and frozen or canned food you have BBY.

Went here last night w my bf for dinner pre-Jokoy show. Positive? GABBY OUR SERVER WAS AMAAAAAZING…read more Gorgeous layout. Negative: Reservations were for 08/07/26 5:30PM. Glad we made it that early. The food took a LONG TIME to come out. No apps. All ordered @once. Food came out over an hr later. Cooked great and to perfection. But a long wait

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

This is a family owned restaurant that has been established in Cherry Valley Illinois for over 30…read moreyears and everything on the menu is fantastic. I love this place and I love the people who run it. They are so charming and friendly. You just have to love them.

Finally tried this place Complimentary bread was warm & very…read moregood. Dish of whipped butter would be better than lil packaged plastic butters. Cheddar broccoli soup was very good with the bread dunked in it. Salads were fine, they could add a crouton, but tomato was good & I really liked their French dressing. I had the seafood diavolo which was a little spicy but not that great. It had 3 large scallops that were delicious but I didn't really like their sauce. Shrimp were large but tough. My portion was smallish with not much pasta. Load up the inexpensive pasta please. Wife & 1 son had seafood Alfredo & they both liked it. Other Son ordered penne with Alfredo & added a meatball ( which wasn't that big for $4). He liked his All 3 other pasta dishes were a larger portion than mine. Pizza looked decent, maybe I'll try it if we come back. Bill was $140 b4 tip for 4 meals with no alcohol, no apps or desserts.

The food was better than average for the type of venue. Nice ambiance. Clean, friendly and inviting.read more

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.

Best food ever and you actually get more food than what you pay for!!! Great staff and love the…read moredecor!! Go Cubs

Today was our second visit to Mr. C's, and it won't be our last! Our waitress remembered us from…read morethe last time and greeted us enthusiastically. The last time, my wife got biscuits smothered in sausage gravy and I got the liver and onions. Both were stellar. Today, I started with the fried chicken livers and gizzards, which were crunchy outside, yet juicy and tender inside. My wife got the fried chicken, which was tender and juicy inside, crispy outside as was my fried catfish. My fries were perfection as were my wife's home-made mashed potatoes. The chocolate cake and chocolate cream pies weren't bad either. We'll definitely be back!