Ellwood Steak and Fish House — Restaurant in DeKalb Township

First time at this restaurant and they were extremely busy so must be popular. We arrived an hour before our reservation as our activity elsewhere ended early. The person checking us in advised we could not be seated early, that wasn't a problem as we were happy to sit in the bar. Unfortunately the bar was just as packed. Despite that, the bartender did a great job keeping up with all the orders. We checked on our reservation and they told us we should leave the bar and wait in the lobby. We did so and waited another 25 minutes past our reservation time. The restaurant was so crowded we had difficulty making it to our table. Finally we were seated and ordered. I ordered the Wedge, theMediterranean chicken and mashed potatoes. The wedge was just ok, more like chopped than a wedge with some rust on the lettuce and sparse blue cheese, bacon or tomatoes. Too bad because it's typically my favorite. The waitress came to advise me that they were out of mashed potatoes. So I ordered something else. Then she returned to tell me they were out of Mediterranean chicken. She didn't bring a menu back so I remembered Chicken Marsala and chose that. Bad choice on my part, it was not good, and this is a dish I have all the time as I usually love it. I ate half and had to leave the rest as it was not worth bringing home, which is something I hate to do. It just tasted so inauthentic if that make sense. Kinda like cheap bar food. Here's the thing: if you are out of mashed potatoes but have roasted as my husband got; and you are out of Mediterranean chicken but have Chicken Marsala, this indicates to me the food is frozen not fresh made. It's just not my style as if I am going out I want to spend money on food prepared with skill and style. The prices are what I pay in the burbs so it should equate to that level as well, and unfortunately it didn't. Anyway, the waitress seemed to try her best but not having enough supplies also hurt the service she rendered because she seemed tense and frustrated. My friend got the wrong order but by that point, we didn't want to make a fuss so we ate and left. We still tipped well as we felt bad for our waitress and the situation with the food was not her fault. It is what it is. My suggestion is pare that menu down ---become experts at a few things so you can do them really well. Also remove a few tables and create a better more relaxed environment. I get the reason to crowd them in, but you also want repeat...

The service was horrible, we called ahead of time to check on hours and make reservations since it’s New Year’s Day. The hostess told us to come at the hour we were inquiring about. They seemed very bothered that we were there. The food took a long time for it to end up being cold. We had to ask the waitress multiple times for drinks etc. The worst part is that I went to the bathroom and as soon as I stepped on the tile floor I slipped and fell on my knee very hard, there was no wet floor signs and the floor was wet, I was able to get back up and walk towards the bathroom but not without slipping and sliding my way there. A worker came out of the bathroom and saw me sliding around, only then did they put a wet sign out. When I limped my way to the table I told the waitress what happened, she offered to talk to the manger about discounting my bill due to me falling, I never mentioned anything about my bill to her. When she came back she asked if I was ok I told her my knee hurt a lot and showed her where my jeans were wet and dirty from falling. She then told me that she spoke to the manager and that the staff said that no one saw me fall. (So since no one saw me fall then it must have not been true??) I explained to her that no one was around until after I got up and the worker came out of the bathroom. She spoke to the manager again and told me that I would get at 50% discount off my bill. Which I only got off my entree. The manager never came to talk to me to see if I was ok or apologize that their worker never put a wet floor sign up. I could have taken pictures, a video or something that would have helped me win a case in court but I didn’t. I can’t even stand on my leg due to this incident and the manager couldn’t even come over to my table to talk to...

Disappointing Lunch Experience at Ellwood Steak and Fish House

Our recent lunch at Ellwood Steak and Fish House was, unfortunately, a letdown. While we had high hopes based on the restaurant's reputation, the experience didn’t meet our expectations and this is not the first time, sadly.

We started with a salad, three baked French onion soups, and bruschetta. The soup was fairly decent with lots of cheese so that was a bonus. The bruschetta was okay but didn’t stand out.

For our main courses, we ordered the oysters Rockefeller, spicy penne pasta with scallops, Parmesan-crusted sea bass with asparagus, a four-piece New Zealand lamb chop with loaded mashed potatoes that tasted significantly like lemon and fairly large chunks of hard/undercooked potato. The biggest issue was timing—half of the dishes arrived, and we had to wait another 15 minutes for the rest. This disrupted the flow of our meal and made the dining experience disjointed.

As for the food quality, the spicy penne pasta was overwhelming in spice to the point of being un-enjoyable. Other dishes were passable but not remarkable.

Service was chaotic, with our server appearing flustered and the manager stepping in sporadically to help. We know it was not her fault since the manager said she was new. Another server was eventually brought in, but the confusion persisted. To top it off, our drink order took an excessively long time, and when it arrived, my “regular Coke” tasted suspiciously like it had Captain Morgan mixed in.

Overall, the combination of food , poorly coordinated service, and significant delays left us deeply disappointed. Sadly, we most likely will not be returning as it seems the quality has significantly gone down hill over the past...