Grumpy Goat Tavern — Restaurant in Elgin

For some reason, although my first experience at Grumpy Goat Tavern was not great, I decided to give it a second chance. This time, my wife and I came for lunch. In terms of the service, it was what we expected. The waiter was attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. The problem is that the food was not what we expected. First, we wanted to have the jalapeno poppers as appetizers and the waiter informed us that because of an activity from the previous day, they didn’t have jalapenos. Then, we decided to have the shrimp wontons as an appetizer, unfortunately, they were out of them as well.

As we did not have any appetizer options that we liked (and we didn’t want to keep torturing the server with requests of food that they did not have), we ordered our lunch entries. I ordered a Cuban sandwich with fries and my wife ordered grilled chicken mac and cheese. Usually, these are food items that are difficult to ruin, but whoever was the chef, he was capable of making a bland and dry Cuban sandwich and forget to season my wife’s chicken. The chef was also able to burn the chicken, when I say burn, I mean that the charred crust tasted like charcoal and the chicken was rubbery.

I would say that stating that we will not give this place another chance is an understatement! We ordered a “doggy bag” for all the food that was left; unfortunately, this time, the leftovers will really be...

Grumpy Goat is great, especially if you are a fan of delicious flavor.

It is unique for the area (cajun, creole, and other food styles associated with Louisiana), and is great. I had the Louisiana fried chicken (which is smothered in alfredo sauce and corn, and is served with various cooked vegetables, fried polenta, and jalapeno cornbread with delicious honey butter) and the bread pudding (which I'm pretty sure was peach bread pudding). All this plus a beer ran me $30, so the price is reasonable - not cheap, but reasonable.

I'm straining to think of "who wouldn't I bring here" because really this place is for all occasions. Your parents are in town? Bring them here. Drinks with friends after work? Sure. First date? Absolutely. Junior's first home run? As long as Junior likes delicious food. 6 months sober? Maybe...but maybe don't sit at the bar.

The place was very busy, but the service was still notably good.

When I feel a restaurant deserves "x and a half stars," I always round up. So 4.5 becomes 5. This is not the case with grumpy goat. This is a solid, and well...

The food is good, the service is not! We went into the restaurant around 6:30 on Saturday and were greeted by the host only after she was done playing on her phone.

Our server was Owen and to say we were frustrated would be an understatement. We ordered drinks and were told there is no sangria wine, he's never had someone ask him for a Moscow Mule, there was no mango flavoring but then there was some found. We asked for more pita chips for the skillet appetizer we ordered and waited 10-15 minutes for them to come out. Our waters were not refilled. He was more interested in the other staff on duty than our table.

I ordered the chicken saltimbocca and asked for the yukon gold mashed potatoes instead of the garlic potatoes that came with the entre. I was told that on the menu yukon gold mashed is short for garlic mashed potatoes....Why not put what exactly the side is on the menu? How are we the customer supposed to know Yukon gold mashed is garlic mashed potatoes? Is this even true?

No complaints about the food, it all was very good. The service is what really brings...