The Chuck Wagon — Restaurant in Fairview Heights

If you don't wear a mask when you walk up to their outside table they won't take your order they will make you go back to your truck and call in your order even though everybody that wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated and The mask mandate is over. And they will treat you differently than the other customers during your visit. (They ask you for your name and when your food is ready they call your name to let you know it's ready because you got to sit in your car but when my food was ready they wouldn't call my name they just stared at me. I asked him if it was my food and they wouldn't answer me until I got to the table then they whispered yes) Not to mention after I ate and after they treated me very poorly my stomach hurt very badly.. I messaged them about how they treated me on Facebook through messenger and I gave them a review and they blocked me to delete my review and didn't say a word back.. Come to find out if you give them a bad review they block you to delete it. I visited this place about a month ago and when I left I gave them a good review. However before I left a month ago I kind of asked them why they're not letting up on the restrictions and they said personally they don't believe it's going to go away. So basically they are just extremely liberal and they are treating people that disagree with them politically very poorly because we all know conservatives don't like to wear the mask and the mandate is over but they want to keep pushing it.. So don't let what happened to me happen to you. Because these people are unhinged. I don't know if they did something to the food but my stomach hasn't been that inflamed in a very long time. And they delete their bad reviews sooo... Now I'm not saying they did anything to the food but my stomach was pretty irritated after eating here however I will say if you don't wear a mask they treat you badly.. (I figured since we're outside the mask mandates over you can walk in Walmart without one it would be okay) however I came to this chuckwagon because I already know the chuckwagon in Collinsville is politically motivated and unhinged to a point where it's ridiculous they don't want you to eat there if you're conservative. I won't come to the chuckwagon in Fairview no more because they wanted me to know how they were treating me and you can feel it when these things happen... If you watch people have an experience getting their food and then yours comes out and it's a total difference experience and it's a negative one that's not okay. I know what some people are thinking reading this however I'm just telling you my...

My wife and I were traveling through with our younger children on our way to visit our oldest son in KC. We wanted something that was not a chain. Having looked at Yelp and Google we decided to give this place a try. When we arrived it was kind of busy which is a good sign. We noticed that the prices looked reasonable and the folks working the counter were friendly. After we ordered it took a while to get our food. I commented that perhaps that meant it would be good. I am sorry to say the food was not good. My kids ordered a “smiley” kids meal each. I believe it gets its name from the head shaped fries that come with the meal. They are smiley faces. I bought some of those for my kids at Wal-Mart in the frozen foods a couple of times and they wouldn’t eat them. They just aren’t very good. The kids did get a little duck toy, like those that folks hide and seek on cruise ships, along with a card to enter for a drawing to win a toy horse.

My wife and I, along with my son ordered from the Mexican menu. That was really disappointing. Quite frankly, it’s just not very good at all. The taco meat wasn’t good. After our visit I went back to the reviews quite puzzled because of the positive reviews. It seems local folks have a taste for this stuff. But, as I read in another review, Taco Bell has better tacos, I just couldn’t eat it.

So, I chalked it up as not a good decision to order Mexican at a diner style restaurant. I decided to make the best of it and order something else. So, I went back to the counter and ordered a cheeseburger with curly fries. Again, that took a good while to receive. Quite honestly, I’m still not sure what kind of burger patty I received. But, I could take the other end of the fork and rake the meat. It was like a potted meat formed into a patty. I’m not saying that’s what it was but what it was like. I literally made a trail through the center of the patty with the dull end of the fork and the gooey substance remained on the fork. It reminded me of some super cheap burgers I bought in an orange box at Wal-Mart once, the ones you can’t really cook on a grill because they fall apart as they thaw. You know, the ones that say 100% beef but you always wonder what it really is and promise yourself you will never buy those again. The curly fries and cherry coke were good.

I’m not trying to be mean. In fact, I wish nothing but the best for this place. I’m sure the folks that run it are all fine folks. If the locals like it, Praise the Lord. But, I just had to be honest about what I...

Updated 08/29/25 This location has new owners and it shows. I am leaving my initial review included so you can see how quickly a once thriving restaurant can be gutted. As previously mentioned, I have been eating here for many years. I always order carryout. I had a new employee take my order and she isn't ready to be left on her own yet. The first thing I noticed is the prices have increased AGAIN!! Enough is enough. An enchilada dinner is now $12.49 ($1.29 increase from 05/25) I get that food and supplies are costing more, but there is a difference between accounting for increased costs and robbery. This is the 3rd or 4th increase in 15 months. My food gets brought out to my car and the employee started asking me questions about what my order contained. It was apparently sent to the kitchen twice. My nachos were missing and my order was taken back inside. After waiting another 10 minutes my food is brought back out, and was accurate this time. I have NEVER waited 30 minutes for food here EVER!! I get the order home and the food is ice cold. I asked for taco sauce and was given their hot (hot) sauce. I have never been given this sauce before. It has always been the regular taco sauce. I only ask for two things at any place I go to... Good customer service and quality hot food. If you wouldn't feed it to your family, please don't expect me to feed it to my family.

Review under prior owners I am a regular takeout customer here and am happy to say they are pretty consistent. The owners should be proud of what they have created and maintained for all of these years. The employees are always courteous and polite. I don't worry about my order being correct. I have never had something missing or not prepared how it was asked for. Consistently serving quality food that is hot and giving great service drives repeat business. They are open on...