Culver’s — Restaurant in Northfield Township

Over view A pretty good fast food restaurant although the price has creeped up since it first came to Northbrook a few years ago. For my family of 5 it costs about 40 dollars and considering that going to the nearby diners in Sanders court might be a healthier option. But at Culver’s for the amount of stuff you receive the kids meal at $6.70 is a steal. You get adult sized food with sides and a kid sized drink plus custard. Remember that with the custard you can choose between Chocolate, vanilla, or the flavor of the day PLUS a topping such as strawberry, Oreo, banana or something else. These toppings really add flavor and are included for free.

Seating There’s abundant seating anytime you go and it’s never hard to find a seat. It’s too easy! At times, even when the drive thru line stretches all the way to the street, the indoor and outdoor seating is virtually empty.

It is important to note that even though the indoor seating is clean and comfortable the outdoor seating is not. The outdoor seating is like an after thought with infrequent cleanings and few seats. The area serves more as a space for middle schoolers to congregate and drink their shakes before they bike to the park. Although the indoor seating is clean sometimes when they’re not so busy in the evenings they turn some of the lights off in the area giving off a shady look. This completely ruins the friendly and crisp atmosphere and gives a run down look to the place.

Drive Thru Even though the seating can be empty the drive thru is always buzzing and it explains the 8-10 people on staff. You’ll always find 2-3 cars in line at all time of operation and the line will stretch to the street with 6-7 cars near major meal times. But even being so busy the line is always speedy with you being to order in 3-4 minutes and the food being ready in 2-5 minutes depending on your order. It’s pretty fast with two drive through lanes. They have an innovative system where they will give you a number to place on your car and an employee will come to your everyone and give you the food. This really prevents congestion!

Staff It never seems to be understaffed like some other fast food places these days, maybe overstaffed considering how many people actually go inside the store.

As for the employees you interact with, they are incredibly kind and caring. You see many high schoolers from Glenbrook North and Spanish speakers working at Culver’s. Trust me you’ll hear their banter when the store gets busy. Although service inside the store can be a little slow they never seem to have employees tasked solely with taking orders at the counter. You often have to wait for someone to take your order and during busier times a line builds up and you can really tell that it isn’t really a dine in focused store.

Food As for the food it’s a higher end fast food chain with better, healthier, more diverse food options than say McDonalds while being about the same price as McDonalds. Butter burgers, cheese curds, and custard are their specialty items. Definitely dairy centered, wouldn’t be the place to go if you’re lactose intolerant. All the food is good, nothing is horrible all acceptable but you won’t be blown away. Standard American fast food. But I must say that these last few years the burger extras (lettuce, tomatoes, onions) quality has really taken a hit in quality and quantity. Now if you want “everything on it” you have to pay somewhere around $0.50.

Altogether a pretty good experience. Will continue to...

Ordered 2 concrete mixers about an hour before closing. Once we got there our carry out order was immediately brought out to us, which was very surprising because it was two ice cream items. While driving home, we realized both items were completely melted. Called the number on the email and we were told that the orders are made 5 minutes before we arrive. I can understand this for food items, but is it wise to prepare ice cream 5 minutes prior? If you're running an extra minute or two late, that is the difference between your ice cream being solid or liquid. The employee said we could come back and get them replaced, no problem since we live 2 minutes away. We went back and after two minutes she gave us the "new" items. One which had somewhat of a better consistency and the other remained like a soup. We had been assured by the employee that this is normal because I had gotten hot fudge in mine and that apparently makes the mixer into a full blown liquid. After this, I had asked for a refund for the one that was still soupy and was told that that is not possible because I ordered through an app... the Culver's app. Also, that if I wanted a refund I would have to come back tomorrow when there is a manager there to get a simple refund on my...

Always when you walk into a Culver's, you are greeted with a big welcome & a smile from the best associates at the register. I see special on the TV behind the counter & kinda always choose that deal. So that's what I did

While the food was being prepared. I took a seat next to the window after I got my root beer, which they suggested was a great combination with this meal. I think it was.

The person who brought me the food kind of just dropped the food off at my table but didn't say any other words and continued on her way. I understand bringing food to customers. But I have always had a short conversation with the associate who has brought me the food at other Culver's, and they are always kind enough to ask if I need anything like ketchup or napkins. It was odd not to have that at this location.

The food itself was delicious. Not exactly fresh off the grill steaming hot but more lukewarm but still delicious. The portion of the burger I was expecting to be much larger as when I hear pub burger I am thinking a 1/2 pound burger patty with a gourmet pretzel bun and a bunch of good toppings. This was more of a small size burger with small fries. Value wise, for what I paid for what I got. I wish the portion of the...