Cave-In-Rock State Park Restaurant — Restaurant in Illinois

I saw this place on the morning news a month or two before I visited and I was looking forward to trying it. We chose to sit outside since it is on the river. Let me just say the pictures of the patio are very misleading. The umbrellas are old, faded and ragged. The patio had not been swept, and there were two tables that had not been cleaned off the whole time we were there and that is disgusting! The specials of the day were wrote on a piece of paper and stapled around the umbrella pole. I thought I would have an angry orchard (one of the specials) and was informed they only had one left. We ordered two appetizers, fried green tomatoes and cheeze curds. The tomatoes had absolutely no flavor and the curds were not melted. We ordered catfish sandwiches (supposed to be famous for the catfish) it was almost paper thin but did have some flavor, the fries were cold! The girl who took our order never came back and the guy who replaced her walked around at a snails pace and if he smiled his face would have cracked. At this point another dirty table sat empty and we were about to make it number 4. It was a very hot day and nothing smells worse than ketchup in the heat not to mention the flies and bees. Went in to pay the bill and the girl who took out order turned and looked at me and continued to wrap silverware. Another lady came from the back to take care of me after 5 minutes. I would not recommend this place for nothing! Very dissapointing and...

Was there today for the first time a bus boy not a waitress finaly asked what we wanted we said we need menus as we have never been there. So he says you want menus! I said yes we dont know what you have!. He brings us them and finally a waitress asked what we wanted. Told her our order and when we got the food my Italian beef and fries had so much salt i only had 2 bites and 4 fries it was terrible!!! My wife tried mine and spit it out in her napkin. She has fish and it was okay but she couldn't eat her fries either. Not one person came by to ask how we were doing or hows the food. I went up to pay and the bus boy asked for our ticket i said we were waiting and again no one even brought us the bill he had to go get it!! Wasted $24.00 on 3 bites of a beef and 4 fries. Terrible food and Terrible service. NOT AT ANY TIME DID ANYONE ASK OR COME TO THE TABLE TO SEE HOW THINGS WERE. First and last time ever for that place. Will never suggest that place to anyone ever!!! Talked to the MGR that day said she would make it right just call before we come. Well called today she was mad at my review said it was harsh i guess terrible food and service you shouldn't give a bad review. Well look at the other bad one's theres a pattern and it starts with the manager and the training!!! Was willing to give it a 2nd chance and remove the review if things were better but i now see where the employees get...

My family and I have stayed at the cabins on this location and I promise we will again. That being said, we will be sure to utilize the kitchens in the cabin. We were passing through and when we stayed before the diner was closed, so we thought "Why not? There is no other restaurant in town" We arrived at 11:45 and waited at the door for about 10 minutes when one of the patrons let us know we could just have a seat wherever we wanted. Over the next half hour, we watched three other groups come in, get their orders taken and even get their food. All before we were even acknowledged. They finally greeted us and came to take our drink order. Another 15-20 minutes later, as we were about to leave, they brought our drinks over and took our food order. Food did come pretty quick, but it took another 10 minutes to get the servers attention so that I could have silverware. The food was not bad, even if it was room temperature as though it had been sitting out awaiting the staff to bring it out. All in all we waited over an hour to be able to eat and in these times we were waiting for orders to be taken, drinks to come and for flatware, the server was sitting and taking with the locals that came in. Lesson of the day is that if you are not one of the regulars, you will be ignored and left as though they are hoping you leave so they don't have to bother. 1/10 never...