Countryside Saloon — Restaurant in Maine Township

I've been here many times and have always enjoyed the atmosphere, food, and service. Went on 8/19 with my wife and a friend. Had dinner and a couple beers, food and service were both good. The one star review is due to what happened after I got home.

It was about an hour after we left, around 8:30pm, my phone rang from an unknown number, and then I got an alert for a voicemail and shortly after, a text message. Both were from Roman at Countryside, who asked me by name to call him back but offered no other details. Very strange...my first thought was that i had left something, maybe my wallet, CC, etc.

I called back the number (it was not the phone number listed for Countryside online, I believe it was Roman's personal number) and Roman answered and explained that after we left, our server had accidentally voided the transaction instead of adding the gratuity and finalizing it properly. As a result, Roman was trying to contact me so I could provide my credit card information again and they can re-run the transaction. Fair enough, mistakes happen, but this raised more questions than answers, specifically how Roman had gotten my phone number when only my name and the last 4 of my credit card were on the receipt. He said that a Des Plaines police officer happened to be in the restaurant, so he asked the officer to run my name and look up my information, and apparently the officer complied (which I feel is a whole different issue). Roman even mentioned that he knew the town I live in (nearby, but not Des Plaines).

This all felt like a major privacy violation, and involving the police to look up someone's personal information when they did nothing wrong seems pretty unethical. I said as much to Roman and he said "ok I'll just tell the server that we couldn't get ahold of you and there's nothing I can do". I told him I wasn't trying to take money out of anyone's pocket, just trying to explain that this is not how you should handle this situation. I gave him the CC info so he could re-run the transaction, he thanked me, and that was that.

Overall, an incredibly strange situation that has left a bad taste in my mouth. Next time, it's probably a better idea to just chalk the mistake up to poor training of staff and eat the $75 tab rather than leave a customer feeling like their privacy was violated. This was in our regular rotation of bars/restaurants to visit, and I don't know that I'll be going...

So I recently moved to Des Plaines from northern lake county where these places are a dime a dozen but our bread and butter when it comes to good times and good beer.

I've passed by this place a thousand times and always saw it packed but never heard much about it. My wife decided to take me here on a while because she knows I love a good slice of carrot cake.

From the moment I walked in it was like I was back home. Just good old fashioned casual dining with excellent quality and tasty pub/saloon food. I've tried their chicken tenders, their fries, onion rings, blt pizza, and pepperoni pizza and everything was well above par and I wasn't feeling like I just downed a plate of grease and butter. Everything was incredibly fresh and had that made from scratch taste. Nothing was frozen and reheated.

This place takes the friendly nature of the northern pubs and combines it with the quality food and dining known in cook county. Service is great. Food gets to you fast but hot. Whoever the chef is here knows what a saloon ought to be.

I had the carrot cake and it was better than any cake I've had downtown but had the guilt-free cost.

Now comes the beer selection. I was quite impressed. Many beers are 16 oz glasses for solid prices. The selection is honest and not overwhelming. They know what's good and keep a healthy variety on the menu that I believe is phased through. I caught glimpse of a Sierra Nevada and while it was out of stock, I bet they'll get it back. The fact that that was on there even for a little while shows they are looking for the quality quantity approach. That's what I like. Just the best bang for your buck beers that I can down with wife on a solid date or with family when they come by.

Overall this place is my favorite in Des Plaines now. I'm glad I get a taste of the North only half a mile from where I live.

If I could recommended Michelin for this...

I've enjoyed this place many times over the years, but havent gone as much recently. My mom wanted to go. 4 of us arrive Sunday and are immediately scolded that we MUST talk to the host. Okay. We get sat. The waitress was nice but a little inexperienced. The light in her eyes dimmed as we didn't order drinks. After that she rarely came back, forgetting to give us waters. She did remember to give our dog water, which is very nice. Cheese curds, works chicken sandwich(my personal favorite), wings and a slice of carrot cake. The cheese curds were way too greasy. This should have been a red flag for me but I was hungry and pressed on. The sandwich I got was... smaller than I remembered. Still tasty, but smaller. The sweet potato fries I got with it tasted better than before but still very greasy. The wings were kind of bland, my wife was very unimpressed. "Costco cheap frozen wings taste better". We decided to get the carrot cake to go. Our waitress forgot to put it to go but a gentleman corrected that. After we got home I complained to my wife about stomach pain. I didn't eat much else Sunday (which is fairly normal for me) and it started almost immediately after the dinner. The next day (Monday) the pain was noticeably worse and made it incredibly hard for me to work the next day. I STILL have some stomach pain from my visit Sunday.

I primarily ate the works chicken sandwich but also some cheese curds. My two year old and wife had the wings, and some curds. My mother just wanted to take us out and didn't eat much cause of ozempic. I suspect something went wrong in the kitchen. I lived in China for 4 years, I know food poisoning (from contamination, unclean kitchens etc) very well. So please update your standards. I don't want anything other than the restaurant to just do...