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    Tilley's Tavern

    4.3 (55 reviews)
    InexpensiveChicken Wings, Burgers, Bars
    Closed 11:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

    Tilley's Tavern Photos

    TILLEY'S TAVERN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Live music
    Casual
    Outdoor seating
    Good for groups

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    Beef horseshoe
    Jason V.

    I've heard a lot of great things about this smalltown place which is on Main Street in Mount Olive. It's a bar and grill or tavern, as one would expect in a little village as most (if not all) towns in southern Illinois have one. Everyone seemingly raves about the food and atmosphere here, so I had to check it out. The service was very slow, and it took the server 10 minutes to finally seat me. There were only two servers but the place was not busy. She later apologized, got my drink order and then my food which also took quite awhile. I got the beef horseshoe. It wasn't a large or small serving, but just right. The fries were very crispy, which I liked. The cheese? I wasn't sure how to put it. It didn't taste like queso, spicy or average cheese, but more sweet or something like it. Let's just say, it was different. But I had a full belly upon leaving. One of my friends from Mt. Olive told me the place was never the same after the original owner passed away a couple years ago, as some things slowly declined.

    a view of the inside of the restaurant
    Kathy F.

    Small Town charm with food that would beat out 5 star restaurants in a big city. Walked in and was greeted and made to feel at home with the smile of ou r server Hayden she returned to check and refill our drinks Our food came out quick and hot the portion size are generous beyond words. It is definitely your hometown bar that has stopped in time nothing modern sturdy woodwork pressed tin ceiling

    Burger and Puffalo Wings
    Sean P.

    This was definitely a hidden gem. A fantastically simple burger that was almost perfect. A group of wings that were a nice, vinegar base like a buffalo but with added red pepper flakes (Puffalo sauce). One of the better small-town taverns you will find, even if the menu is simple.. they do it very well.

    Western Burger
    Adam R.

    Worth the drive! One of the best burgers around. The 1/2lb Pattys are no joke! Service was fast and friendly.

    Dining Area

    Stopped at this little spot while on the road. About a mile or so off the main highway. TOTALLY WORTH IT!! The burgers are huge & delicious and the seasoned fries were great too! Very reasonable prices. HIGHLY recommend!! One side of location is a small town bar and the other side is a dining area. I attached a picture of the dining area. Had a pretty cool patio area as well but was to cold outside to take advantage of it. Guarantee it is worth your attention!!

    Ravioli's frozen and fried...leathery but good for soaking up alcohol.
    Elwood P. D.

    We are giving Tilley's an extra star simply for existing. Mt. Olive does not have a lot to offer and it was a real surprise to find Tilley's here. The first thing we noticed when we walked in was that is seems bigger on the inside than on the outside. The extra dining room and game room was unexpected. We happened to hit it on Monday (wing night) and the place was romping. Sitting at the bar we had a good view of the operation and had an opportunity to engage with the staff as well as other patrons. The universal advice was...get the wings. Tilley's was doing a great take out business while we were there. A steady stream of locals where hauling out large white plastic bags of styrofoam boxes with wings and extra sauce. Not wanting to look out of place we ordered the wings. And quietly ordered a salad and fried ravioli just to explore the menu. There are several choices of wing sauce. Following the bartenders suggestion I ordered a spicy sweet sauce. She warned me it was quite hot. When I received the wings I realized I had forgotten I was in the mid-west and their idea of spicy hot is different from much of the rest of the country. I've had spicier oatmeal than this. The fried raviolis were average at best. There were a lot of them in the basket which was nice but then I shouldn't expect much more than frozen and fried in Mt. Olive. The salad was iconic mid-west. Head lettuce with grated cheese. We ate it because it was green. Tilley's is a fun place to hang out and have a beer and we felt the place was very affordable. If you are looking for quality food then Mt. Olive may not be your best option. But Tilley's is your best option in Mt. Olive.

    Marionasie 1.

    After the fun trip to Branson, we were heading back home and we were pretty hungry and my dad found this place and since we were so hungry we decided to eat here. The staff was very friendly and the place had a good atmosphere. The wait for food wasn't that long and we got appetizers and we got the fried pickles and the raviolis. And then our entries came and we were more than impressed. All of our food was amazing and we would definitely be back

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    1 year ago

    Great service. Wings, burger and seasoned fries were delicious. Would highly recommend.

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    3 years ago

    Yeah. Great good food. Good time. Good beer in a bottle but not on tap. Cool place. They need to brag about their history more.

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    2 years ago

    Great food wings love there fish to sometimes they get a crowd but always great customer service

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    6 years ago

    GREAT Food and the Prices are awesome. Thank you for the best Mushroom Swiss Burger I have had in 50 years.

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    6 years ago

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    9 years ago

    I loved this place because of the atmosphere . It has the oldest original beer cooler for tap beer in the area . The food was great !

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    6 years ago

    that food was DE LISH US. So good and great service. Try the horseshoes. Hidden gem!!!

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    7 years ago

    Love coming for drinks and fried pickles. Have tried a couple things all so far are good. The games are always on!!

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    Miners Family Restrauant

    Miners Family Restrauant

    (4 reviews)

    $$

    Miners is a basic small town diner with booths and tables and a room for large groups. Breakfasts…read moreare very good with the usual items, egg combos, pancakes and waffles, skillets, biscuits and gravy, all the usual fare done very well. Unlimited coffee. Lunches again have the usual cafe fare of burgers and fries, hot and cold sandwiches, salads, gyros, soups and chili, and some specials Suppers consist of fried chicken meat loaf, some steaks, salads, some Italian dishes like spaghetti and mosticholi, as well as open faced turkey and beef, stir fry oriental dishes, and all you can eat specials, like pork chops, chicken, pasta. They also have daily specials to augment their regular menu or to offer a lower price on thier regular fare The service is usually good but there is a turnover in staff mainly because waitressing is not considered as a full time job for most people But it is not crowded so two waitresses can usually handle the amount of people there. The ambience is basically a friendly neighborhood cafe with mainly middle aged and older people there in the morning for breakfast and business people for lunch. with familes and older couples for dinner The owners are wonderful people who have raised their childen here in Gillespie from grade school through to college. The kids could sometimes be seen working there and were popular and well liked in the community. I give it a four star only because the turnover of cooks sometimes makes for inconsistency on some items. Breakfast and lunch are your best bets though.

    Food was pretty good but the service was slow from the server and kitchen to how long we had to…read morewait for our food to how long it took the server to come to the table had to get up and track down server for refills.

    Kretzer's Grill & Bar - Salad bar is amazing and they allow you to choose it as a side without an up charge.

    Kretzer's Grill & Bar

    (105 reviews)

    $$

    Awesome! Had a large reservation of 17 on a Saturday night…read more They texted to remind me. Got to restaurant and had a great waiting area with peanuts (husband's favorite)! Got sat at table and we were lucky enough to get Shannon, the BEST server ever! She is sweet, courteous and patient! Very organized with a group this big!! Thank you very much Shannon for doing such a great job--you are TOP NOTCH! Food was great , salad bar was amazing, good time!! Kretzer's is our "to go" place for lunch or dinner.

    We come here every so often and have always liked the food. Today we get here early about 4 pm to…read morebeat the rush. The dinning room wasn't very full but when they seated us they took us to what used to be a patio. Now it's enclosed and there is a bar a stage and plenty of seating. My problem was the fans that were blowing made it difficult to have a conversation with my wife across the table. I told the server it was almost too noisy and was having a hard time hearing him talk. He said he'd talk louder. That didn't really fix the problem. Not real sure why we were seated in this area because the dinning room had plenty of space. We had a little trouble communicating our order because of the noise. As I stated a couple times to our server. I communicated I have trouble hearing in areas like this and he just kept talking louder. Anyway we finally got our food ordered and went for a salad in the next room. My wife even commented on the empty tables and asked my why I thought they put us in that big room. Idk? So we get our salad and it was good. Kretzers had a decent salad bar. One of the reasons we like the place. I ordered a 12oz ribeye rare with a baked potato. Wife got chicken strips with gravy and mashed potatoes and gravy. When the food arrived everything looked good and the server said some things that I have no idea what. Even the wife didn't know. I go to open the butter for my pita and it's not butter. It's an oil whip. I do not eat fake butter. It's harmful. To find out they have no butter in the place. So I tell my server of the situation and looks at me like he has no idea what to do. Turns and walks away. So I eat my steak and stare at the baked potato. I am a recent cancer survivor and have no ability to make saliva. So I needed the butter to make the potato edible. Or even gravy or something. I told the server but I don't think he heard me correctly or didn't know what to do. It was so loud with the stupid fans. So while I do recommend Kretzers and like their steaks and crab legs and salad bar. I don't recommend their new addition to dine in. And if you want real butter bring your own. I was a little disappointed with our experience this time around.

    Wood Duck Bar & Grill - Pork Tenderloin, salty and juicy

    Wood Duck Bar & Grill

    (25 reviews)

    $$

    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.

    Bamboo Garden

    Bamboo Garden

    (26 reviews)

    $

    Amazing sushi, sweet and attentive server, and great prices! The egg drop soup is super tasty…read more Highly recommend Bamboo Garden!

    I just moved to town this June. This place is walking distance from my home. I want it to be good,…read moreI need it to be good. I do not want to have to drive to another town to get, what my wife calls "strip mall Chinese". This initial review is for my lunch time visit on 2 JUL 2025. I got carry out Hunan Pork, and Hot & Sour soup, as a combo,so it came with fried rice and an egg roll. I notice that the most recent reviews (glowing) were from 2023. Things can change, they can change overnight with a change of cook/staff or ownership. Someone local with more insight will eventually be able to fill me in. It is a nice enough place, overall. A bit run down, and a little bit cliche in terms of the decorating. With some light maintenance and a bit of editing on the decor, it could be a charming little spot, in a small Midwestern town. I am trying to be kind, becuase I have been fortunate enough to have travelled the world, and have gone to many different levels of restuarants. I like "simple" americanized Chinese food sometimes, it is something I actually look for when I got o different towns. The good; hot & sour soup was very nice, just tangy enough from the vinegar and just spicy enough from pepper (didn't detect any hot sauce flavors) to be good. There were mushrooms, bamboo, and a bit of tofu. I missed the drizzled egg that I have had in others versions. The could have been better; the Hunan pork was very one note, salt, was tender and good portion in the dish, but that just salt flavoring made it a bit hard to enjoy. The sauce was okay, and the vegetables were well prepared and balanced. The egg roll was an egg roll, if not mass produced, it just wasn't made with real attention, it was a bit hollow. The bad: fried rice, the texture was just plain wrong from anything I have had over many years and came to believe was correctly made. There were no "chunks" of anything, just vaguely browned rice (soy sauce perhaps). I will come back, I will try other things. I will order from the high end of the menu and see if perhaps they simply , for complex reasons I'm sure, decided to mail it in on the weekday lunch combos (places do that). I want Bamboo Garden to be better. I want it to be a reliable place for me to get good "strip mall Chinese."

    Tilley's Tavern - chicken_wings - Updated May 2026

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