Eckert's Country Restaurant — Restaurant in Belleville

I've been in the STL are pretty much my whole life and never made it over to Eckert's, so I was very excited to visit in Oct during apple season. I had planned to meet a friend there on a Saturday and we made reservations for the restaurant (our main draw).

As I was arriving I had to sit on the highway at a stop waiting for parking and that is when I began to realize it may be very crowded that day. I was right. Saturday was not a good choice to visit... Once I arrived and tried wandering around it was a bit rough. There were lots of people. Everywhere. You couldn't turn around without someone right on top of you... This was a bit much for me. There were signs pointing to a large event group that happened to be meeting right in the middle of all the attractions.

I did get the chance to walk through the country store and it was pretty neat. I enjoyed the home decor and crafty items. I also ventured into the grocery store (they may be the same store, I was a bit confused). I was really impressed that there were so many Eckerts specialty items and they even had gift sets. There were quite a few things I thought of purchasing but the lines were 20+ people deep and I decided to pass :/ There is also an apple cider sample station in the middle of the grocery that I thought was awesome! My friend and I each tried a lil cup and it was delicious!!!

Let's get to the restaurant. I'm very glad we made reservations. When we went to check in, they were quoting people 2+ hr long waits. As you all may know by now they no longer serve their legendary bread and apple butter. This is very sad. Our server took the time to let us know that they had to stop due to supplier inconsistency. I had already read about this online but my friend who comes here often hadn't. She was pretty irritated about it. She made a couple good points that resonated with me:

1. this is the equivalent of TX Roadhouse not serving their rolls and butter or Red Lobster not having cheddar biscuits or Olive Garden not having breadstick. Ok, I understood that.
2. They used this largely to advertise their made on site apple butter and we generate sales that way... so it may be time to think of another way to deliver the apple butter. Maybe simple bread or biscuits since the apple butter is really the star. That said I definitely felt bad for he wait staff as we could hear over and over again people asking about the bread and them having to explain it.

Now, I really came here for fried chicken! So you know I ordered the 2 piece and requested a leg and wing is possible as those are my faves. It took a LONG TIME to get our food. Easily 30-40 minutes... I just thought they were frying the chicken fresh and my excitement was building. But then they brought me the 2 smallest pieces of chicken I've ever seen... together they didn't equal one normal piece of fried chicken... and my disappointment set in. When you look at my photos just know - that is a regular size scoop of mashed potatoes next to my chicken, not a large one. On that note - the potatoes were TASTY! I really enjoyed them and the chicken was fried perfectly, crispy and delicious. The green beans were plain like they just came out of a can, no seasoning. Overall this meal is not what I expected from all the other rave reviews.... My friend ordered a pork power bowl and said it was good, not great. It was her first time having that item. She did really enjoy the lemonade they serve.

We left right after eating because the crowds were just too much... I will say it looked like there was a lot of other awesome stuff to do, but all we saw were long lines and big crowds. I'd like to get back here on a weekday sometime and try the...

I brought my friend here for his 22nd birthday hoping to have a nice time! When we sat down, I ordered our meals, drinks, and sauce choices at once. (I try not to make people run around if possible). Our meals arrived before our drinks, mind you this was after about 30 mins of waiting. We both ordered the same thing, fried chicken sandwiches, our bread was basically pulled out of the fridge and slapped on top of the chicken. (Ice cold). The mayo that is on the menu as part of the meal was not on the plate, nor the sauces I originally asked for. So I had to make the host who brought I plates double back to the kitchen for them. Our server did not check on us until she brought our checks. (No not once). Our drinks when they finally arrived, being the bourbon sweet teas, were made in short glasses. If you’ve worked in bars, been a server, or simply enjoy drinks, you know a drink like that should be made in a tall glass. Otherwise you’re drinking bourbon with a splash of tea. So neither did the drinks nor the food get finished. When the server had seen that I had stacked our dishes she finally arrived at the table. She commented on how we didn’t like the drinks, I told her no because it was basically just alcohol. She did not offer anything to reconcile, she did not apologize for not approaching our table, she did not apologize for the food coming out before our drinks, and she never brought bread to the table at any point, or waters which was always supposed to be served with alcohol much less bourbon. I did not say anything at the restaurant as I was trying to not embarrass my friend on his birthday, and quite honestly no one came up to me for the chance to! Overall a very disappointing experience, I have never left a review for a place. But this was simply too baffling not to. As someone who’s grown up in the industry, y’all don’t know a thing about southern hospitality. The only people that were willing to talk in the restaurant were the young hostesses. Servers were sour as well as the older...

Today was our first time eating at the restaurant. I felt like it was a waste of the money that we spent. It was a Saturday and very busy so it was great to have reservations. Our reservation was for 1pm and we were seated promptly. Our waitress brought our drinks and muffins but we did not receive any apple butter and our waitress was put out when we asked for it. Our food was served pretty fast to our 10 people party. One of the people in our party did not receive his food and it took 3 people to try to figure out what he ordered and to get his food. We were still ok with all of that until we tasted the food. It was not good. Tasteless and disappointing. I had chicken fried steak. The steak was overcooked as if it had been sitting for a while and was reheated. The gravy was like eating flour with no taste. The mashed potatoes had no flavor or spices and the green beans were the same. Everything was very bland. Not a single person in our party was satisfied with their meal. 6 of our party had ordered the all you can eat chicken dinner and the chicken pieces were very small. At the end of our meal, the waitress brought our checks and did not offer us dessert. Several of us wanted the bread pudding but never had a chance so I can't review the desserts. Overall, it was not a good experience in the restaurant and I would not return. As far as the country store, it is excellent! We purchased many things and really enjoyed shopping. The pumpkin and Fall displays are very nice and they put on a great Fall festival. I would rate the store and Fall festival as a 5-star but have to give my review a 2-star because the restaurant experience...