O'Donovan's — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Nice parking lot and cute ambiance. But the customer service from our server was not good at all. She was not friendly from the start, a little abrasive and made us wait a long time to get a menu, to get water, to take our order. Food came out quickly but we had no silverware or napkins, our server had disappeared, so we had to ask a different server who was super friendly, who I wish had been our server from the beginning… so I’m sure our experience would’ve been better had we gotten her as our server. I ordered a breakfast burrito and the meat options were ham, bacon or sausage. I asked if they had turkey sausage she said no I asked if they could substitute Chicken. She said “he’s not going to want to” (meaning the chef). I said “if you can ask him that would be great and if he’ll give the chicken then I’ll take the chicken if not, then I won’t take any meat”. Then all of a sudden she found it on her handheld ordering system and said “oh yeah I can add Chicken but it’s $8, do you still want it?” And I being familiar with restaurants and these type of systems said well it’s probably $8 if I’m just adding chicken but I’m substituting it instead of bacon which on the menu is $8 so if you can just substitute it that would be great. Then she said “I’ll go ask him - I’m not gonna put the rest of your order in until I come back” like she was reprimanding us or threatening us or making sure to tell the whole table they had to wait while she asked for my special order. Then she comes back and says he said he’ll add the chicken but it’s $8. And I said “who said that?” and she said the chef and I was very surprised that a chef would get involved in the cost of how much the chicken is or whatever which if he did then that’s weird because the bacon is $8 and they wouldn’t have been giving me bacon so they’d have saved the cost of the bacon…. They could’ve simply put a very small amount of chicken just to make me happy for customer service, but she said no. Food came out quickly, which was good, but then she disappeared. We couldn’t find her to get the check and they added a Restaurant surcharge fee to the check and when she was taking someone else’s order at our table, she asked if he wanted fries or tater tots he chose tater tots and on the bill it was $3 extra for tater tots which she should’ve mentioned when he ordered it. I looked later and it was in small print on the scannable QR code menu, but nobody looks at the top of the section on the menu. It’s very hard to read these things on your phone at all so when she offered the tots she should’ve said $3 extra. I think all the extra charges are kind of petty because the sandwich itself already was $18 and then he had to pay $3 extra for tots? I find it hard to believe that when they buy these frozen tots it’s really that much more per portion. They were somewhat busy inside about 75% full on a Sunday. People were probably there to watch sports on TV so they didn’t really care about the customer service in general. They probably figure they’re busy enough anyway and they make most of their money on alcohol not food so she acted like she...

So I have been trying to like this place over the past few times I have visited, but they sure don't make it easy...

Went for Bears season opener and expected it to be busy. Service seemed stretched a little thin and lagged at times, but mostly kept up with our needs. Did not feel any warmth or willingness to go above & beyond from the particular server, but was willing to give benefit of doubt given it was a busy game day.

But as mentioned in at least one other review, I thought it was very odd to have a magician roaming around making balloon designs for kids and I guess waiting around for someone to request his services? Like if there's a kid-oriented event happening, sure, but the fact that you had all these hardcore football fans around with this magician mulling about seemed mismatched vibe wise (nothing personal against the magician).

Okay, so now onto the game...well, they have these fake vine plants and disco ball planters hanging from the chandeliers, so depending on where you sit, you have a semi-obstructed view (in open window seating section). Also, I was surprised they didn't have Bears game on largest screen (which seemed to be off line for awhile), but I get you have different games on for different fans. However, one of the smaller screens showing the Patriots game seemed blurry. Not sure if that's something they can adjust for the future?

Other miscellaneous cons:

Where we were sitting, smelled an "old/wet rug smell from under the table, which was not super appetizing. In women's restroom, when hand dryer is used, restroom lights go dim. Not a big deal as a customer per se, but just hoping there is no electrical issue. On our final bill, we we charged for an $5 "environmental fee". I did not see anything on website indicating that this would be added, so no heads up provided. And if it is a necessary fee, fine, but being transparent about fees is important, so website and/or servers should state this. Same thing went for 20% gratuity. I know that is customary for larger groups, but that typically involves those 6+ & we were only 5 deep. Not a huge deal, but again, having that heads up is always an appreciated courtesy. -Note: If you order a Bloody Mary with a sidecar (small bottle of Miller's), you will be charged $2.50 extra for the sidecar. I had assumed it was included & would have declined it had I know about extra charge, but I noticed it doesn't mention it being included on menu afterwards, so that's my bad. Still, would have been nice if server could have said that in the beginning, just to be clear since some places do include it with the drink order.

Miscellaneous pros:

Decent vegan/vegetarian options Hummus + pita were pretty tasty Women's restroom was clean Walkable neighborhood parking available

I definitely won't go out of my way to go here again, especially for a game viewing, but if the above suggestions are taken into account, I may consider paying a...

Our waitress was TERRIBLE. Such an uncomfortable situation, to be honest. We were just all starting at each other around the table awkwardly as she left the table each time because she was very obviously cold to all of us but visibly cheery and warm to other tables and had plenty of time to chat about tattoos and other things with other patrons. We watched her ask her other tables if they needed anything and then i watched her make eye contact with us and then walk away. It was like Jekyll and Hyde. It was quite clear to us that she did not want anything to do with us from the moment we sat down. Our food took a while and others who came after us got their food long before we did. As someone who worked in food service for many years and has empathy for the server workload on a busy Sunday, there’s no excuse for this type of rudeness. There’s a difference between being busy and being a straight up b *h. And I say this confidently by comparing how we observed her demeanor change when dealing with others. Bottomless brunch drinks remained unfilled ($35 wasted) and she seemed annoyed when we asked for anything. There was no checking in to see if we needed anything and we sat there long after our food was finished. No follow ups- nothing. Lots of attitude and saying “what?” Instead of excuse me and zero interest in being our server. We are all quite disturbed and extremely shell shocked and disgusted by this experience.

• To add to my review in response to the manager’s odd reply to this review, his attempt to gaslight me and other customers in previous negative reviews is also quite gross, unprofessional, and delusional. I’m relieved that I didn’t ask for a manager while dining because based on this outrageous and moronic response, he probably would have still told me to my face that I was at a different restaurant. Thank you management for proving my point regarding this place’s lack of professionalism....