LakeHouse Restaurant — Restaurant in Lake Villa

This was a five star review that has automatically turned into a one star review after our experience last night. We arrived for dinner promptly at 6 PM put our drink orders in at 6:15 didn’t get our drinks until 6:45. Between putting our drink order in we also put our food order in. My father-in-law asked for sweet tea the server said they did not have sweet tea so he asked if he could make some simple syrup with the tea they did have. The server stated that they did not have simple syrup and that they used a lime mix for drinks . I find that hard to believe that a bar doesn’t have simple syrup, I ordered a rusty nail which is a pretty obscure and a little old-fashioned as well. The bartender/server said he knew what it was But when I asked him to make it 50-50 he had no clue what I meant. When the drinks finally came and they brought me my rusty nail not only was it overly sweet it had a lemon in it when I asked him why he had a lemon in it he said because that’s what Google said. How do we go from yes I know what that is to google said this. Fast-forward to 7:45 PM when we got our salad everybody salad orders were mixed up and two minutes after we got our salad the main course was out. I will not speak for anyone else’s meal other than when I say the meatloaf tasted like shoe leather and the vegetables were cool to the touch the mashed potatoes tasted like they were instant mashed potatoes as well. On the menu it states The meatloaf should’ve came with a barbecue sauce topping there was no barbecue sauce topping on anyone’s meatloaf three people ordered it again I will not talk about or speak for anyone else’s taste but for me it was like heating up something from the microwave. About 20 minutes after dumping what seems like half a bottle of ketchup onto said meatloaf my wife said I should just probably give up. When asking for the checks we had a couple with us that had a baby that needed to get home we asked for the checks and waited for 20 minutes before I had to get up and speak with the host. When the server finally was running our cards he ran my card for the young couples went up to them and said that the card was declined. Now usually that is a very embarrassing thing to hear let alone when it is told to the wrong person. I admittedly got frustrated asked him to try again for my bill and watched him put my card in the wrong way I’m not sure how a card says declined when it’s put in the wrong way but as soon as you put it in the correct way it went through. Over two hours for a party of 12 with no appetizers and only three people had drinks with a restaurant that was just about empty. This place was our go to place before in fact this is where my wife wanted to have her birthday party so I would just like to think whoever our server was and for whoever the kitchen staff was for absolutely ruining my...

This review is based on the delivery service we received on 7/15/21. My review started pretty high and while the food was good, my review ended up being 3 stars. I hate to give this rating as we try to continue supporting local restaurants. I would hope a restaurant would want this honest feedback to find ways to improve, even in these difficult times.

Customer Service: The manager (Susan?) was able to answer my questions if the restaurant could deliver to us. Samantha is friendly and very thorough, ensuring she entered the order accurately, which she did.

Delivery: Order was delivered within the hour, hot, and as promised. Driver was courteous.

Food: Here is where the rating goes down. This order was for different people, some who have dietary restrictions. I hope the restaurant is not making assumptions that orders with some cheese related items means the it’s okay to pick out cheese. If an order calls for no cheese, then there should not be a drop of cheese or at least be honest and state that you cannot do so. Here are the details:

1. Potato Skins - great and as described. No alterations were requested and food received was as expected.

2. Chopped Chicken Salad - It is tasty, according to others who could consume it. At least they accomodated giving balsamic dressing instead of ranch. This salad was ordered with no bleu cheese for someone who cannot have dairy. It was clear that the restaurant pre-makes the salad and is apparently unable or too lazy to make a quick chopped salad without cheese. This should have been communicated that they are unable to make the salad without cheese. The restaurant simply tried to pick out all the cheese they could and then filled the container to be delivered. Unsatisfactory because there was still bleu cheese in it.

3. Cuban Sandwich - Overall pretty good. If you can’t have dairy, they will omit the cheese. Ham was a bit salty, but the sandwich was pretty darn good. Bread didn’t seem to be a ciabatta…more like an Italian roll that was lightly buttered/oiled on the inside, which was kind of off putting (might have been better if grilled and/or even pressed like a panini). Appreciated that they actually can make a Cuban sandwich correctly with the pork and ham, mustard, etc.

4. Reuben Sandwich - Very good and probably one of the best in the area. Perfectly thin sliced with perfect ration of corned beef to sauerkraut. The only thing missing was the Thousand Island dressing, which was supposed to be served on the side. Dressing was missing and would have made the sandwich perfect.

5. Fries with both sandwiches were rated very good.

I've never had problems with this restaurant until this delivery order. We'll be back for dine-in again and to try this restaurant again...

TERRIBLE!! This was by far the worst experience myself or my family ever had. They literally ruined Mother's Day for all of us!!

My mother-in-law recently passed in December, so we all decided to have Mother's Day brunch @ the Lake House in her honor because this is where she decided to go last year. We originally had 11:00am reservations, which got changed on us by the restaurant to 1:00pm at the last minute due to a scheduling mix-up we were told. I myself called the restaurant the week before & spoke with the Manager, Manny Pulido, to confirm that they could accommodate us in the main dining room. He said that it was "not a problem", and we were "all set". My brother-in-laws wife, the one who made the initial reservation, was called during the week again & was asked to put a $50 deposit down. We later found out that deposits are only required if you have a party of 10 or more. We had only 8.

Mother's Day arrives, & we show up to the Lake House @ 1pm dressed in our best. We were asked to stand in a long line outside even though we had a reservation. Finally we make it to the front desk & we were told that the restaurant was at capacity, & the only seats left were outside! Mind you, it was a very chilly afternoon & we had small children with us. This was unacceptable! The woman at the front desk was extremely rude to us & said "it is what it is". The manager Manny came by & said that he didn't commit to anything, & there was nothing he could do.

Needless to say, we left pissed, hungry, & disappointed on what was supposed to be a very special day. Ruined!!

I wished I could have left zero stars, but Google requires you to put in something in order to...