Nick's Pizza & Pub (Carryout & Dining Separate hours) — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

Ever have a bad restaurant experience that just keeps getting worse, in a "this would be comical if I wasn't stuck here by the obligation to pay the check and I still have to live through it" kind of way? That's what I experienced today.

Came up to visit my mom for the weekend, we decided to stop in for a burger, since she had some coupons for a BOGO $15 or less one item. Cool beans, sounds good. We were seated, it was a little cold, okay, seats by the window tend to be that way, it's the luck of the draw. Our server came, greeted, asked for drink orders, and I said I wanted a minute to look at the bar menu, but we were ready to order food right away, which we did.

Now when I order a burger or a steak, what I want is "blue," but I'll settle for rare. I always do a silly little routine for the server, "take a match, run it under the cow, call it done!" Making it very, very clear (but in a funny way of course) that I don't want my meat overcooked. I order a burger, rare, and my mom orders a chicken parm sandwich--both under the $15 per entree limit for the coupon.

Then our server walks away and I look at the bar menu. I decide what I want within 2-3 minutes. And then wait another good 15 minutes. He didn't come back to take my drink order until he was ready to bring out the food. I'd understand if the restaurant was busy, but there were 5 servers and 8 tables. I order an apple martini. He brings it to me, it tastes like someone dissolved a good quarter cup of brown sugar in it trying to make apple simple syrup instead of a drink. Tooth-rottingly sweet and undrinkable. It sits on the table, untouched, a chip in the glass

My mother's sandwich is so dry it is inedible. Her onion rings have, contrary to all known culinary laws, been cooked in such a manner as to rid them of all onion flavor, a feat I did not know was possible until today. My burger is medium well. An hour after our arrival we are desperately trying to flag down our server in an attempt to get our check and just go. He has not checked on us even once, we are cold, irritated, and need to go home and supplement the meals with snack food.

Finally he appears, I give him the coupon immediately when we ask for the check, and he notes that I haven't consumed my drink. I comment on the extreme sweetness, inconsistent with the flavor of the drink I ordered.

When he arrives with the check, my $5.75 drink has been removed from the check, but neither of the entrees. He has used the coupon to comp my un-drank drink. Had I ordered a Pepsi, would they have tried to use the coupon on that? I check with the hostess. She sends the server to the manager, and me back to my table. I sit and shiver for a further 20 minutes. Finally our corrected check comes back out. One entree, one un-drinkable drink.

We pay, tip (I'm not a monster) and leave as quickly as possible. An hour and a half is too long to sit in a restaurant with 8 tables, 5 servers, dreadful food, and insufferably bad alcohol. I doubt...

This review relates mostly to their carry out & delivery. Great thin crust pizza but a little expensive and if its hot I would give it four and a half stars... Don't get delivery because it takes an hour-and-a-half to get to your door and the pizza won't be hot. Also, be leery of picking up your pizzas as well because quite often when ordering more than one pizza at a time, the staff is not good at making sure they are done at the same time. I'll arrive to pick them up & one pizza is literally done ten minutes before the other... So by the time you get home you have 1 hot pizza & 1 cold. Also, I would stay away from the double decker pizza… I grew up on double decker pizza from Bills pub in Mundelein... Nicks has the same décor as Bills but their double decker isn't half as good... they just don’t know how to make it. Go to "village Pub" if you want good double decker in Carpentersville and Algonquin (I think the owner is related to Nick)... order Nicks for thin… it is really good. Finally, they have a "rewards" type program so if you order from them frequently they will give you a free pizza. The problem is they make it a pain in the butt to make your order count on the program (e.g. they won't add it to your program when ordering the pizza on the phone when they have all your info up on their screen, instead they'll tell you to remind them later when picking up your pizza, and then they have to get your info again.) Sound simple but the cashiers' always take a couple of times to get your info correct and it’s a pain in the butt. And if you forget, they won't let you call back & put it on later. This has happened a few times (especially when one family member is ordering and another is picking it up) & on one particular occasion it was a $120 order for a family party that my brother-in law-picked up & when we realized he didn't ask to have it added to our rewards program, we called later in the evening & they said they couldn't add it. All in all, the product is excellent if you stick with the thin crust… really good if you can figure out a way to eat it...

One of the worst experiences of my life not only was I told that it's not their policy to give sodas that were paid for it to their customers but that I should have known that the cooler was right behind me and that I should have grabbed myself. It was my first experience with Nick's Pizza and Pub. And it will be my last. I've heard mixed reviews about this establishment and I heard about their struggling business I wanted to help them out and give them my business but now I know why they're failing. I called to correct the situation and never in my life have I gotten the kind of attitude that I received today from Mary. I guess that's the price you pay when all of your employees are 16 years old you need to get it together this is ridiculous as someone who's been in the service for over 15 years I'm absolutely disgusted by the way I was treated. 1 star because 0 was not an option.

Edit-- the response to my review is disturbing. Why would you ever think this is acceptable. My FIRST time visiting your establishment and you have such little respect? I cannot believe your response. Not only are you defending poor behavior by your employees but you aren't trying to correct a bad situation. Poor business ethic. I normally wouldn't throw a 16 year old under the bus, but this is ridiculous. I just moved to town and so many told me not to order from Nicks. But like a lover of an underdog I did. NEVER AGAIN. COLD FOOD. HORRIBLE WINGS. ...