Lucky's 13 Pub — Restaurant in Mendota

Usually I love this location of Lucky 13s, and have always had a positive experience. Unfortunately on Sat Feb. 19th, it was subpar. We understand that it was a Saturday and busy, but there was a few things that could have been better. When we arrived at about 6:30pm, we were put on the waitlist, and the hostess took my phone number to text us when the table would be ready. She ensured us it would be about 20 minutes. So my husband and I and the other two members in our party took at seat at the bar and ordered drinks while we waited.

About 40 minutes later, certainly longer than the estimated time we were supposed to be seated, I went up to the host stand to ask about the estimated time when our table would be ready for our name. She looked at the list and said, "whoops we accidentally already sat your name, but no worries we can get you in, one moment."

She walked away, and I remained at the host stand. She didn't come back, but a few minutes later, another host came up and asked if I've been helped yet. I explained to her the situation, and she said she'd get us seated. She sat us at a table close to the entrance.

My party and I sat down, and waited for a server to come to our table. It was about 20 minutes later, and we still hadn't been greeted yet. We flagged down another server to see if we could get a server, and the staff said they would get one. Finally we did get a server and they took our order. Our drinks came out, and they were all great, but my sparkling wine tasted more like a rosé. I was off put by it, but I didn't complain at the moment, since we already had about the table.

We got our appetizers, which were the bull bites, and were delicious, but then when it came time to get our dinner, my husband and my dish came out right away, but the couple we were with got their dishes 20 minutes later! It made for an awkward situation for us to eat first, but then the couple we were with did end up getting their meals comped. Our meals, were delicious again, but then when we were ready, it again took quite some time to get our bills, and they accidentally mixed up mine and my husbands bill with the couple we were with (they charged the wrong cards)

When they brought back the correct charges on the correct cards, we noticed that there was an incorrect drink order on our. Turns out, for the sparking wine I ordered, they did indeed give me a Rosé, but when they did, they did not tell me upon giving it to me at the table that they were out of the sparkling wine I wanted. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but the Rosé was a higher priced item than the sparking wine, and with the other mishaps we had dealt with earlier in the evening, it was an unfortunate experience. They ended up comping the drink, which we thanked the staff for.

We did also enjoy our time in the Mudd Room after dinner, with great music and drinks. However, I do hope that our future experiences at Lucky 13s in Mendota will be better, as we do really enjoy the menu and atmosphere, but this night was not enjoyable for dinner with it being one thing...

My friend & I have met for lunch at Lucky 13, Mendota for years. Our experience has always been just great. Today my friend was immediately led to the bar area toward a 2 person booth. She asked if the other side was closed & said she's always been seated in the dining area. The restaurant was nearly empty other than people at the bar. The hostess said we like to reserve that side for larger groups but if you MUST ...! I came in a couple minutes later & the server brought me a soft drink. She came back a minute later & asked if we were ready to order. We had barely said hello to each other, picked up our menus & started looking. We quickly agreed to a starter plate so we could have a few minutes to look at lunch choices. She asked for our lunch orders as soon as the appetizer was served. We had gone thru the menu as quickly as possible & agreed to split a Reuben sandwich. It was delivered to our table with luke warm french fries & barely warmed bread. No ketchup was provided on the table or on the plates for fries & she hurried off while we asked if she could bring ketchup. I tried to eat my fries quickly before they were cold. My friend took a couple bites of her sandwich & was surprised that the corned beef was ground up! There was no thousand island dressing which I then requested. The server quickly brought a tiny dab of that not even asking if my friend would like any. Truthfully the sandwich was so mediocre I can't remember if it even had cheese on it. Their Reubens used to be very good. So was their service. The restaurant was relatively empty the 75 minutes we were there. The server was very curt, rushed & not friendly. The rude hostess paced by our table slowly a few times looking right at us, just felt very present, almost glaring. We would have liked to have requested drink refills & visit for a bit but decided to go to a second restaurant for that where we had beverages, dessert & a friendly server. We both usually tip generously as our kids have worked in restaurants as servers. We tipped the server minimally & added the rest to our tip at the 2nd restaurant where we had a pleasant accommodating server. The women's bathroom was dirty. When I walked back up the aisle toward our booth, 4 separate staff crossed right in front of me crossing the aisle. They weren't carrying anything - everyone was moving quickly. It was a slower day there than we have ever seen there & now we know why. We agreed we need to look for another good restaurant in that area...

I was in town visiting relatives, and we had some time to kill before my flight left, so we stopped in at Lucky's 13 Pub to grab a few beers & sandwiches. It's obviously a popular local spot because finding parking was a real challenge. Had to drive through a couple of their lots to locate an empty parking spot. It was a very promising start. When I do a review, I'm usually considering 4 things, in order of importance: 1) Food, 2) Service, 3) Ambiance/Decor, and 4) Cost/Value. For food, it was nothing spectacular. I had a corned beef reuben, and the person I was with had their Chivito (prime rib, ham, egg, bacon, & more). My reuben was okay. They did not skimp on the corned beef as other places some times can, but it was not great. I've had much better corned beef elsewhere. I'm guessing that they used a cheaper cut (i.e. point cut) which has more fat/gristle to it because it was not good corned beef like I've had in delis and other restaurants. My friend said the Chivito was okay (liked the prime rib, ham & bacon), but the egg was overcooked. So for food, it's a "meh" at best, at least for what we had. As to service, we sat at the bar, and the woman behind the bar was very attentive to us. She refilled beers, checked in on us often, and took good care of us. Service was a definite plus here, at least at the bar. Ambiance is very cool - it feels like an historic old pub, and for the crowd, I was amazed at how manageable the sound level was. They were definitely busy, and lots of people in the place, but could easily have a conversation, and the decor was very inviting. Another plus for them. As to cost/value, the sandwiches seemed very highly priced to me ($13.50 to $15.00 each). They are just sandwiches, and they were definitely not worth that. Our first couple of beers were at happy hour pricing, which turned out to be pretty good. So, overall, I ended up giving it a middle of the road 3 star review. It had some strengths, but several weaknesses as well, so it's one of those places that you try at your own risk. You may order something completely different (burger or different sandwich) and feel like it was the best you've ever had. Or it may end up more like mine (a disappointment). But I'll definitely keep it in mind for...