Starved Rock Lodge Restaurant — Restaurant in LaSalle

We ate dinner at the lodge twice during our recent stay 8-10 June. The atmosphere is superb and if you listen closely you can almost hear the clanging of coffee cups and the conversations of the men from the CCC as they take a much deserved break from their arduous work! Another very positive aspect of eating at the lodge was that the servers were always very friendly and conscientious during their service!

Although we had 7 different items from the menu, I will comment on the most noteworthy. Shortly after ordering we were brought a basket of fresh rolls with butter. We also sampled several cocktails to include the candied pecan which had a wonderful taste of bourbon at the end of each sip, the banana split which tasted just like a melted banana split and the blackberry lemonade which was very tart and I would strongly recommend for those who are looking for a cocktail with a strong, bourbon forward taste.

First and foremost the ale battered walleye was absolutely outstanding! The entree consisted of two large fillets which appeared to be the entire fish, deboned and split. The fish was moist, tender and perfectly spiced. The batter was crisp and kept the fish succulent! This was by far the best thing we had on the menu. It was a very large portion and realistically could feed two adults.

The next best entree was the chicken Florentine which was a very tender and moist chicken breast cooked nicely with flour, butter and spinach. Unlike your normal chicken breast which is often tough and dry, this breast was cooked perfectly so it was moist and able to be cut with just a fork.

Lastly, I would highlight the chicken fried steak. This entree included two nice portions with an appropriate amount of white gravy. It was not overly smoothed in gravy! Although not the healthiest item on the menu, it was properly seasoned and delicious after a long, 4 mile long hike.

The sides with each entree included fresh green beans which was the vegetable of the day, mashed Yukon potatoes, rice pilaf, or a small salad.

The ONLY reason this restaurant is not awarded five stars is the menu is somewhat limited and in our stays at Starved Rock over the last 5 years, I don’t believe there have ever been any changes to the menu. While staying with entrees that are a guaranteed success is a technique, it would be nice to at least offer a couple of nightly specials to change things up just a tad!

You can’t beat the atmosphere or the value, as all of the entrees are very reasonably priced. If you are dining around sunset, I would recommend asking for a seat by the windows in order to view the sunset...

Horrendous service! To be honest one star is far too good of a rating. Last night 12/03/16, we joined a couple good friends for dinner at the lodge. We had reservations for 4 at 6:30. We were very much looking forward to spending the evening in a festive setting, enjoying our company and having a fine meal. We were a little early so we decided to go into the bar for a drink. Service was great there, and friendly. After a bit we went to the dining room and were shown to our table, given menus and........ well that was it. We were never greeted by our waitress, we got no water, our drinks were empty, and still no waitress! We all had decided what we would order. But we needed a waitress....... Now while this was occurring two separate tables of people arrived after us and were served. Us.....we were still waiting for a waitress. After about 25 minutes we got up and left. No one seemed to even notice! We drove into Utica and went into Canal Port Restaurant. We were immediately given a table near the fireplace, served drinks and had a very good waiter that served us all fabulous meals! We had a wonderful time in spite of our earlier misadventure at the Lodge. Well that won't happen again. So if you want a great meal with great service, go to Canal Port in Utica.....you can thank...

Honestly, I don't understand all the 4 and five star reviews for the Lodge Restaurant. On our latest visit, we had both dinner and breakfast in the restaurant. At dinner, we ordered a cup of the french onion soup, the pot roast, and the salmon. The soup was essentially beef stock with onion slices. The onions were nor caramelized, there was neither bread nor cheese topping it, which made me wonder if the chef understands what french onion soup actually is. The pot roast had ZERO aromatic vegetables in it, resulting in a much less flavorful dish The meat was tender, so that's something, I guess. My partner's salmon was prepared well though the pecan topping was basically pecans rolled in sugar. Both entrees came with green beans, which seemed as though they had been boiled, then sauteed. They were not trimmed, and several even had the vine stems attached! Breakfast - scrambled eggs are not intended to appear as a plain omelette, but that's what we got. Other breakfast items were decent. On a positive note, service is attentive and friendly. Perhaps IDNR needs to have a talk with the capital group that runs the Lodge and related services. We love the park and hate to see so little attention paid to the...