Oak Parker — Restaurant in Oak Park

When we arrived at the restaurant, there was no one at the hostess stand to greet us. After an awkward amount of time, a waitress in the middle of the dining room stopped taking an order and hollered ‘seat yourselves’. We chose a small table out on their patio and waited for our server to approach us. And waited. Eventually, (after I considered suggesting that we leave) our frazzled-looking waiter stopped by to take our drink order and ask if we needed a menu. Oh, boy, here we go… “yes sir, we’d like a menu.”

A few minutes later he brought our drinks and was ready to take our order. Unfortunately, we were not ready and asked him to give us a minute. MANY minutes passed before he returned. When he finally came back, I quickly ordered the Navy Bean Soup and their Pastrami sandwich on an onion roll and my friend ordered the Sausage and Eggs brunch plate.

It seemed like eons until our food finally arrived but it was probably closer to 20 minutes. Their navy bean soup was very good. I wish it would have been served before my sandwich, but whatever, I was glad to have it! It was slightly brothy with itty, bitty bits of veggies and chunks of smoky ham. The navy beans were cooked but pleasantly firm. I will admit….it was a very good soup. A hunk of bread or a couple saltine crackers would have been a nice accompaniment but I still enjoyed it.

The pastrami sandwich was very good too! The mini onion roll was loaded with slabs of tender, juicy pastrami. The onion roll was super moist, sweet, dense and loaded with poppyseeds and onion flakes! DELICIOUS! The house-made kettle chips were soggy and under-seasoned. Unfortunately, the waiter didn’t come back to check on us so I had to flag down a random, grumpy waitress to bring a bottle of yellow mustard … but man, I ain’t gonna lie, that sandwich was good!

While I was devouring my tasty meal, my friend's breakfast turned out to be a REAL DEBACLE! She was served the wrong dish. She didn’t realize it but kept saying things like, “I thought the menu said the sausage was a link...” It turned out that her plate had been switched with another diner and the waiter didn’t realize it until the other man complained. OMG. Our waiter said to her, “Oh my gosh, I accidentally dropped off the Sunny-side Pastrami Hash to you and gave another man your Sausage and Eggs! Would you like me to have the kitchen replace your meal with the proper item?” Um, yes, sir. That would be great... (wth?) and how about some salt and pepper shakers while you’re at it?

After she got the proper meal, we finished up. As we were walking out, I noticed a LOT of new staff had arrived and were ready to serve new customers. There were THREE fellows standing at the hostess (host) stand as we walked out. All of them had a sour look on their face and when I said, “Thank you…” not one spoke! They just stood there….staring and frowning! UGH! I don't like to penalize an overwhelmed waiter because being in the weeds is often out of their control but seriously, this was some of the worst service I’ve had in a long time and the grouchy hosts were the icing on the cake!

There were a couple things I liked about the Oak Parker. It did seem modern and hip. It’s probably a good place to meet friends because they have lots of great cocktails! They even have a nice selection of brunch cocktails! The soup and sandwich I ordered were very tasty. ($19) However, the place is small, their food menu is limited and it was grossly understaffed when we were there. The staff (everyone we encountered) was extremely grumpy! I’ll spend my...

2nd time being here, the first time was really good but this last time was totally different. Not sure if they are letting things slip or not caring in the kitchen. The pork schnitzel was a disappointment the 2nd time being here. It wasnt trimmed properly and had a ton of gristle on it that I had to spit it out a few times. I asked for the mushroom sauce which wasnt really a sauce, when it came out initially there was just this wet spot in the middle of the chop with a few little skimpy pieces of mushrooms sitting there in a damp chop. I asked the waitress if I could have more sauce since there wasnt hardly anything there. She came with with this bowl and i could tell the sauce was still not right, it was WATERY and had no body or even much taste to it at all. It wasnt reduced down and thickened up like it was the first time I was here. I put some on my pork but it still didnt help much. Even the warm potato salad was overcooked, the potatoes were too mushy, feels like they were overcooked this time around. I think part of the problem was, when we left to go home, the kitchen was too busy watching football instead of actually cooking food or making a sauce correctly. I didnt say anything before leaving but maybe I should have. I hope the restaurant manager can keep the cooks in line, since bad quality food will make people not want to come back.

Follow up - spoke with someone from the restaurant and let me know they will be speaking to the staff about this. I will wait a while before coming back to try again since I want to make sure things are straightened out. I post on multiple sites since I think it's important for people to know the truth about things. Good, bad or indifferent. I'm glad that I heard something back in regards to this since most restaurants don't care it seems when you review something in not a positive light. I'm leaving the star rating as is until my next visit, whenever that might be and hoping that...

I am rewriting my previous review as it's clear to me that issue I had was simply one individual that was , for sure not exhibiting the values and attitude this restaurant exemplifies. We wanted to take my Brother in law out for dinner and he wanted to go somewhere that had a "good vibe" and with the exception of one visit , my wife and I have enjoyed the Oak Parker and, as one of the owners, Steve had invited me back, I took him up on the ask to give them another chance. The only thing better that Abby's service was the food! we were really wanting a variety so we ordered, the White fish Pate & Olives, Tuna Tostadas and Pastrami Chimi's for apps and they were all delicious. If you like a little heat, you will love the Chimi's and Tostadas as they have a nice little kick. for entrees, we went with the Chicken Schnitzel and Woodsman Mushroom Sauce that comes with house made pickles and a really nice , crisp texture as well as a Schnitzel sandwich and the Fish Fry that was done to perfection. Since my daughter was working late, we picked up a fabulous Rueben sandwich to go, which she very much enjoyed as well. EVERYTHING was outstanding. Even though it was busy as usual, Abby took amazing care of us ( we didn't even give her trouble for being a Sparty) and in the rare case we needed anything while she pulled double duty running the hostess station there was a ton of teamwork in action to make sure we had water, or an extra plate while we all shared the bounty we ordered. Steve even offered us all complementarity desserts but since we were so full we just shared a slice of the grilled marble cake. I should also mention they have great bartenders and a really nice selection of drinks and spirits. Parking can be a challenge and I for sure recommend you joint eh waitlist on line when you plan on going at busier times but I suggest you do plan on going. There is also a VERY hip Vinyl Room lounge in the basement Thursday-...