Reflections on Deep Lake — Restaurant in Illinois

Reflections serves the tastiest Polish food in Chicago. My wife, our two youngest (adult) children, and I went there for the first time yesterday (Sun, Sept 1). Best Polish cuisine since Babcia's house many years ago.

We all opted for the Polish Platter. Our daughter could not stop raving about the rye bread in the bread basket. We all wanted more of it. The ladies got salad. I opted for the Rosół (chicken soup). Our son got the Ogórkowa (dill pickle soup). We both thought they were excellent. Only change I would have made would have been homemade kluski (noodles).

The sausage was excellent. Slightly crispy casing and cooked to perfection. My wife liked the sauerkraut the way it was served. She has a German background. My 100% Polish taste buds would have liked a slightly sweeter kapusta. Like Babcia's (go figure). Despite my personal preference... delicious!

The pierogi were the best I've ever tasted. Ever. Better than Przybylo's (White Eagle in Niles, IL). Better than homemade. EVER.

The Gołąbki (stuffed cabbage) was also excellent. My wife would have like a larger layer of cabbage and more sauce. I appreciated the denseness of the filling and the taste was outstanding.

The mashed potatoes were perfect. So dense. So nicely seasoned. So tasty.

And then, dessert. We all had the kremówka. Reflections calls it a Napoleon (Napoleonka). We call it Pope's Cake. Whatever, it was the absolute best I've ever tasted. The crust was fantastically crispy. The filling light and delicious. Not too sweet. Excellent with a cup of coffee. And the serving size was huge.

The atmosphere is a perfect combination of old world, supper club, and resort style dining. It is comfortable. Our service was top notch. Rosie couldn't have been any nicer or more efficient.

We joked while sitting at the table that we should call and make another reservation and just ask if we could keep sitting at the table until we were ready to eat again.

But we were stuffed. Portions were generous. We had many leftovers, which were just as delicious at home as at the restaurant.

We will be back! Soon! Thank you for a wonderful meal and...

Was looking forward to dinner since the last experience we had here was worthy of another experience. I wanted to try the prime rib. It took about 10 minutes to get acknowledged standing at the host stand and then once we were brought out on the deck it took another 10 minutes to get greeted by the waitress and another 15 minutes to get a glass of wine. Our waitress forgot to bring my wine and when she came back 15 minutes later she mentioned they were out of it. I then asked for a sample of wine, she brought me the wine sample in a shot glass. Bread basket was delayed and once it came the bread seemed practically frozen, very cold and dry. I ordered a side salad with the dressing on the side, the waitress promised it would be on the side and my salad came out drenched in bleu cheese dressing. I said the dressing was to be on the side and she showed me her tray of salads and said well take your pick I have a few maybe this one doesn't have that much dressing on it and then finally asked if I would like a new one. When I ordered my second glass of wine, the waitress asked me if i was going to finish the rest of mine as she was about to take it away ( quarter of a glass of wine left). The water tasted like iron and lake water so we requested bottled sparkling water which they do not have. You should not be allowed to serve water that is not filtered and taste that bad, someone is bound to get sick from it. I ordered the Prime Rib rare, it came out Med/MR and tasted like old over cooked pickled meat. Incredibly disappointed since we came there for the view and Prime Rib "Special". Our first experience months back okay, no complaints on service, however, the only enjoyable aspect of dinner this time was the view...

Attended Reflections yesterday evening with my two daughters. The old lady who works the phone and seating was utterly rude. I hadn’t made a reservation and was made to feel unbelievably unwelcome by her and her alone, how dare I turn up to Reflections Restaurant without a reservation!!! The place had maybe 4-5 family’s seated including the deck. I was told we could only sit in the bar, with an abrupt and totally unfelt, Enjoy ya Dinner! The server, Stefanie then came to our table and I told her how rude the woman was and how I was still about to walk out. Stefanie apologised and said, I’ll sort this and seated us on the deck as there was loads of tables available. The old lady then comes out and was again aggressive and attacking Stephanie talking about how we didn’t have a reservation and this is totally unacceptable. This was all said in front of us and the other guests! We were clearly not welcome and this was totally unacceptable just because we hadn’t made a reservation, and spoken as if we were not even sat there. I have never experienced service so poor and insulting. My Daughters convinced me to stay and I will say the food was very nice with a great view over Deep lake. This horrific experience ruined the meal for me but Stefanie saved the experience somewhat by showing compassion. And did a great job. Don’t think I’ll be going back though. I don’t feel that I want to spend my money in business that treats you like you aren’t welcome just because you don’t call ahead. Appalling welcome, good food and...