Big O's Sports Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Highland

We were super excited to have Schlafly choose Highland to land. We frequent the STL locations often, and have been to the Highland location about a half dozen times. The food is good, but not inexpensive. Cheese curds, pork rinds, french fries, and the Rueben are some of my favorites. My low-mid rating is purely rated on the service provided. There has to be a reason that the bartender, Sally, is so incredibly rude? We had a run in with her twice and I can't understand why the owners would allow her to treat customers so sharply. I had given her the Schlafly app to redeem a free beer, her response was I don't know what you want me to do with that? It is not what she said, its how she said it. She called upon a helpful coworker named Chris who redeemed the beer. Wouldn't all of the employees know about the app rewards? Again, this was our 2nd run in with her. (different issue before) On both occasions we still tipped her well, chalking it up to a bad night. It is a service industry job and I think the Highland location is doing themselves a disservice by the quality being provided by one or two employees. We also wanted a to-go order of cheese curds. They are open till 9 (weekdays unsure of weekends) and they close the kitchen at 8:30. They mean 8:30. At 8:33 we were denied. Not a huge deal, but you need to know for planning purposes that 8:30 is a real cutoff. At least that information was conveyed in a respectful manner. I understand that finding quality workers these days is a challenge as well. We love Schlafly and want to support them, and the improvements/additions to our beautiful square. I just don't want an icky feeling going in and pay for...

This is a very clean place. The service is good, the menu is simple, and if I liked beer, I know I'd enjoy the offerings. However, I came here as a fan of German food. I decided to try the Jagerschnitzel. The potatoes were bland, the breading on the schnitzel did not taste seasoned, and, after comparing my food with photos of others plates online, I determined that I was severely skimped on the mushroom gravy, which was also just missing something. I will say that the pork was cooked perfectly - it was tender and not dry at all. My wife got the Shepherd's Pie. We came to the same general conclusion - it was bland and lacking in "wow" factor, but it was cooked well and had great texture - the flavor was just missing. We both enjoyed my cup of Beer Cheese Soup (easily the best thing we had), which was loaded with flavor and topped with a delicious piece of crispy toasted bread. I speak as someone with a formal culinary education, and as someone that lived in Germany for a few years. I had high hopes for this place, and was definitely disappointed. If we come back, we will probably stick with soups and appetizers, because the entrees were definitely not worth the price you pay for them (about $18 for each entree - these are St. Louis prices...not Highland, Illinois prices.) I understand that there are razor thin margins in the food service industry, but $17.25 for some thin, breaded, fried pork, a mushroom & bacon demi, and mashed red potatoes is a little...excessive. All in all, good service, good atmosphere, but if you come here, stick to the soups and appetizers (unless you plan on drinking enough to make the entrees...

Dining room is noisy and drafty. Was served quickly, and ordered the Italian sandwich. Waitress told me she had eaten one the previous day and it was good. She should have warned me that the sandwich contents did not even come close to fitting on the bun, and would squish out if an attempt was made to raise it to eat. Seems to me she would have remembered that, making me doubt she had actually had one the day before. Had to finally cut it up with a table knife, which was not easy, but it still all squished out onto the plate. It was messy at best. Taste was ok but not exceptional. Sandwich contents looked cheap, but the sandwich wasn’t. The salad was served in a cramped bowl and piled up over the rim of the bowl. The radicchio lettuce resisted being pulled from the bowl using a fork without dragging the rest of the lettuce with it. Loosely piled nuts and cheese spilled out with the radicchio. Had to unceremoneously dump the bowl contents onto my dinner plate in order to eat it in a civilized manner. Tasted good, though, one dumped and accessible by a fork. Use a small plate to serve the salad, and not that cutesy designer bowl, I thought at the time. You don’t want your customers fighting their food. Tried their 5-ounce stout, which was delicious. Tipped 20% anyway. Probably won’t be...