Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe — Restaurant in Libertyville

Service is terrible. Went there over the weekend for a birthday celebration event. Yes, we were a large party. I called several times to make reservations. Was told you can only go on Yelp to make reservations. Yelp only allows you to make for 8 people. We were 10. Call back. Was told then you'll just have to come in and put your name on the waiting list. We all know how the wait is at Wildberry's on the weekend. This should of been my first indication to change venues. Called the morning of to be put on the waiting list - can't do that either. We get there and now they finally tell me that a party of 10 would have to be at 2 separate tables. After 4 times calling you would of thought someone might have mentioned that little fact on the phone. We continue to wait. Finally 55 minutes later we are seated. I'm told that the menus are on the QR code. I have children and a 80+ person with me. No. I need menus. The hostess never comes back. So retrieved myself. We are at 2 separate tables with 2 different servers. The kids' table order goes in first. Their food is served 10 minutes after the adult table. Mind you the kids range from 5 - 12. Server for them was awful. How do you wait on a table for children (you don't - you take their order and disappear). She cleared off their table before talking to their parents if perhaps they wanted their food wrapped up or not. When the bill came, they proceeded to add 20% tip on both separate checks. I told them I wanted the kid's tip removed. We are not at one table. We had 2 separate servers. At this point, we are no longer a party. But the hostess comes and talks to my daughter, not me, who is hosting this lovely event, and tells her that since we are a party, she can't remove. I'm sorry, for as good as your food is, your service and the way your day-to-day operations and your young hostess staff who have no desire to help or ambition to really work, is not worth me coming back.

UPDATE: I had originally posted this on Yelp - only to...

Oh this place is AWESOME!! You are looking at 20$ a plate plus 3-6$ basic drinks. With that said, you get your money's worth. The food is VERY high quality. I got the smoked beef brisket grilled cheese... The brisket is smoked in house. The mushrooms and onions were sauteed and the grilled cheese.... Well. To be fair it wasn't a grilled cheese. It was more a brisket sandwich with a lot of cheese, with sauteed mushrooms and onions. But it was incredible. I actually went back 3x more times in the 9 days we visited in Chicago and got the same brisket sandwich each time. Yeah, with a tea (6$ chai which was actually pretty good too!!) it was like 25$ but it was SO. GOOD!!!!!

We were lucky enough to get a good spot on the wait list all the times we went, but it's only open till 2, and so worth getting there. The people are amazingly nice. I'm used to having to interrupt the staff to get attention at the table, but these staffers didn't roll their eyes or suck their teeth at me like I would expect at home... They immediately asked how they could help and gave the impression they didn't mind being interrupted. That attitude is priceless when you go out to eat, especially in a place you've never been. I should also mention that even as a group of 10 they didn't make a single mistake on what we ordered... Or who ordered what. Their people are trained properly and actually seemed to want to be at work. The food is amazing and worth quite a bit to enjoy. The atmosphere was really pleasant every time... The building gives me rustic cabin in the mountains vibe, and might be a bit small considering the massive amounts of customers who want to enjoy them.

Just, go if you have one nearby. It's...

ordered the southern Benedict. Eggs were perfectly poached, not overcooked. Pancakes are always delicious and a great double espresso to top things off. less than 10 minute wait while using the app nowait to reserve our spot in line when we were 10 minutes away. Our server Rob was great and friendly. Never have I ever had a bad meal here.

Update 2024- seasonal specials have been lackluster for the past 5-7 years. There has been very little innovation when it comes to the seasonal specials. They used to be very fun and refreshing and often times they are recycled from previous years. There have been no gingerbread specials for over approximately 7 years now where as eggnog and peppermint specials have been returning annually. Specials used to also rotate on a seasonal basis with holidays having specials as well and you're lucky to see them change for the seasons anymore. Specials aren't announced when they do happen to change which may be several weeks or even months into the new season-post changes. There are very few reasons to return to wildberry because of the lack of innovative specials. Food specials keep customers returning and engaged with new menu items. I would only visit again with someone else who has never had wildberry before. I used to come monthly and there's no reason to anymore because of the lack of innovative and new menu items. Edit*: not sure what justifies a 38.46% increase in pancakes, I've been coming here for over 10 years, the place is as busy as it has ever been- especially on weekends. Even during the week it is jam packed with people and 18 dollars for pancakes makes a morning date exorbitantly expensive...