The Saddle Room — Restaurant in Barrington Township

UPDATE (9/4/21): both my husband and I had to go to Urgent care because of the mosquito problem this restaurant has! We wanted a nice night out instead we are covered in welts and RX grade topical steroid cream

First off I would like to preface this post by saying that we (my husband and I) USE to love the Saddle room. It was absolutely our go to for date night away from our kids. That being said I feel I have been forced to write a terribly negative review due to the horrific encounter I had with the manager, Andrew.

My husband and I booked a reservation which we were seated outside on the patio. We typically have our go to appetizers which included the tuna tartare. For some reason this time around it was completely unsavory for it smells extremely fishy and I questioned the freshness of the tuna. The waiter did ask me if there was an issue and I did honestly answer that it tasted “uncomfortably fishy“. As assumed most waiters or waitresses don’t know how to respond to a honest negative feedback. In no way shape or form do we expect any type of financial compensation for this appetizer this is not the main reason for me writing a review.

We cut our dinner short due to the bombardment of mosquitoes. Which is completely natural for being outside on a patio. This is a concept I completely understand.

I decided to call and talk to the manager, Andrew to tell him that there was more than just your typical mosquito issue on their patio. I asked Andrew if he was aware that there was in fact a mosquito issue and if there was anything done to address it such as investing in mosquito repellent lights chemicals or other technology. He literally laughed in my face and said “ha, yes I know…..we address the mosquito issue by not addressing the mosquito issue“. The tone of his voice and this remark was holy inappropriate and INTENDED to be contemptuous. I felt completely mocked by sharing our poor experience.

When I tried to tell him I felt belittled by him for minimizing our issue he kept interrupting and speak over me by sarcastically stating “IT’s MOTHER NATURE! You can’t do anything about Mother Nature”

I beg to differ Andrew. A good establishment, who values their customers and their experiences (while also staying professional while listening to negative feedback) will take all necessary means to make their customers encounter as pleasurable as possible.

When management admits that there is a mosquito problem, the establishment should invest in attempting to minimize or correct the mosquito issue.

Andrew was in such poor form with how he handled our communication that I hope this was due to him having a bad day. At no point did I blame the establishment and I can’t rationalize your defensive position.

The restaurant has forever lost our business for no female should ever have to experience management who “man-splain” Mother Nature. There was never an expectation to rid the mosquitoes by 100% but come on man, look at the photos!

I will be actively telling my friends, family, co-workers not to go to this...

Me and my girlfriend are usually regulars over at the Hampton Social club! At the Barrington Arboretum. But after you go to the Hampton social couple dozen times. You come to find out that the drink menu is quite limited, don't get me wrong they have a full bar. But if you're looking for something unique!! Hampton social specialty drink selection sucks!! Their dinner menu isn't the greatest either!! So one evening we went exploring. Me and my girlfriend we ended up at the Saddle Room!! You got to understand go into Hampton social it's like starring in an episode of Dynasty!! The place is bright! wide open beautiful! Huge outside Dinning! Time to get your drink on!! Big Time party spot. Where the Saddle Room! It's more laid back, much more romantic! The bar is a little smaller, but they do have three huge televisions. The dining room is large enough, it's definitely not as big as the Hampton social! But if you're looking for a dark romantic hideaway! For date night. That has a vast drink selection! They have an top notch dinner menu. The quality of the food was insanely awesome!! So kudos to the Chef!! I had a cheeseburger that you could build your own. I never had a cheeseburger that was so delicious in a very very long time. The quality of the meat was melt in your mouth to die for!! My girlfriend had the Duck!! Let me repeat that she had the duck with brussel sprouts. I've been dating this girl for 5 years she never ever! Finished her dinner in one sitting!!! Until I brought her there and she had the Duck Dinner.. The couple next to us at the bar. The gentleman ordered the New York strip steak!! Even though my cheeseburger was delicious. Watching him devour the New York strip steak with the fixings that he's got!! I was so jealous! And regretted not ordering the New York strip it looked amazing. The bartenders were top notch top quality very friendly! The people that we were enjoying the bar with we're very nice, good Americans. The Saddle Room!! Is now our number one fine dining and drinking establishment. If you live anywhere near the Cabela's, Barrington arboretum! You have to go to the Saddle Room at least just to check it out... By the way did I mention that they have off track betting also!!!! Yeah they do!!! One more tidbit!! I think they have eight individual private bathroom stalls. They're built like a horse 🐎 den. The place is awesome... Plenty of...

I have mixed feelings about the place, on one hand, the food can be absolutely fantastic, and the service wonderful, and on the other, the food is alright, but still expensive, and then the service extremely slow. I really feel bad giving the place a 3/5, considering my friend works there, but it just has been inconsistent for no obvious reason.

Let me explain:

When there was almost no one else seated, it took my family around an hour and a half to two hours to finish a 5 pm dinner. The food was really tasty, I will admit. And their chef went out of his way to accommodate an allergy my mom had, going far and above what was required to make sure she got a great dish.

On the other had, we have gotten fairly quick service on an extremely busy night, but the food was a little messy and over seasoned, even by Staddle Room standards. It really wasn't bad, it just felt a little sloppy. When the restaurant already deconstructs their food a bit, a little sloppy can be eye roll inducing.

Is it a bad restaurant? By no means! They've made some the of the best food I've had around here, but they've also had some of the slowiest service, and have made some of the most expensive "alright" dishes I've had. It really just seems like that some chefs and some restaurant managers do a far better job then other. I may be being a little overly critical, but I've been eating there for years.

All of these comments really wouldn't be fair if they didn't charge as much as they did for their food, which isn't horrible, but it's probably one of the most expensive around, outside of something like a steakhouse, and I've gotten far better consistency from far less expensive restaurants.

So what would lil ole me change if I could? Faster service, but more attention put into the dishes. I'm fine waiting thirty minutes for a great meal. I don't want to want thirty minutes to get a check. They may seem like small gripes, but I don't want to spend $70 for a dinner for two adults and a kid and be bored and pick through a dish to see how much more sodium I could take in.

The final thing I'll say is that the outdoor seating rarely feels very family friendly, which isn't a fault of the restaurant, considering they can tailor their restaurant to whatever crowd they want, so if you're going there with kids, inside seating has a better...