Tony's Cafe — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

Overall Impression is good service, good pricing, and acceptable food. For approx. 4 years, we've eaten at Tony's when in town for work. Food portions aren't huge but are fulfilling. If you're looking for high volume eating or fancier items, then you need to go to Syrup or Brunch Cafe and also pay the higher price tag. This place has typically been consistent. Once in awhile something comes out wrong or not hot but they have always been willing to correct, so I'm fine with that. Gotta speak up though; they don't read sour faces or body language.

Bring a sweater or sweatshirt. The dining room windows are not insulated very well and the staff might be wearing shorts in the middle of Winter, so they obviously like it cold. There are many occasions our group would've eaten at Tony's but opt against it especially on a cold day.

Second tip for dining in: I don't want to say this but if an older, portly guy is present, he's the Owner and will likely go-off on a political rant if he hears questions if something is meatless because he equates that to a specific political stance. This logic makes zero sense because my friend merely has some horrible allergies and is neither left nor right. Sadly, if we see the owner is there we don't bother getting out of our cars. Or call and ask meatless options via phone in anonymity. Maybe 2...

We ate at Tony's regularly pre-covid. My boyfriend had a standard order that included potato pancakes, grits, eggs, & sausage or bacon. I rotated between their Popeye Benedict, Eggs with half order of Biscuits and Gravy, or their crepes. Their food has always been delicious and was very reasonably priced pre-covid.

Since covid, we have ventured back to dine in a couple of times and even tried take-out. They have changed their menu a bit so my boyfriend has to recreate his #4 by ordering the items ala carte, and the prices have gone up a bit to help offset the difficulty of surviving covid as a small business, but the food is still fantastic. I recently tried their tuna melt with fries for the first time and it was delicious. Their coffee is always perfect.

They utilized the time they had to shut down to remodel and be more covid-safe. They have installed plexiglass dividers between the booths and have fewer tables spaced out farther to promote social distancing. Staff and servers wear masks.

Pre-covid, we typically spent $27-30 on our meal (2 people) not including the tip. After their menu change and price increase, we spend roughly $37-40 before the tip. We still love the food and will continue to go to Tony's, but now we just won't be...

Decent food, most of it was bland. Would have been happy to give 3 stars for food but oh my god the service! Extremely poor service! Waitress took 10 minutes just to bring requested straws. She glanced over us several times when we were trying to get her attention as if she didn't see us. We were served one plate at a time, first my sons, 5 min later my husbands, then a few minutes later half of my food, and then finally a few minutes later the rest of mine. There was at least ten minutes between the first plate and the last! Don't bring the food until the whole table can eat! Waitress offered alternative sides for kids meal without informing us of an extra charge. When we asked about it after waiting forever to get our check, the manager got snippy said that it says it ALL over the menu that there is an extra charge so we should have know. Well, it DOES NOT say it on the kids menu section, so no, we did not assume and did not read the fine print on the rest of the menu. Could not believe the snippy attitude of the manager. Overall, very poor service and sub par food. We would have considered revisiting to try other menu items and giving it another chance, but will not after the service...