The Rootbeer Stand — Restaurant in Oglesby

So much to unpack here. My wife and I decided to stop here for dinner, mostly because of the reviews -- it's rated one of the top places in Oglesby and so many of the recent reviews raved about the food and root beer, etc, etc. --- Our experience --- Food : We dined-in the restaurant and ordered a cheeseburger basket with fries, a hot dog with relish, ketchup, and onion, and an order of fried mushrooms, plus 2 "frosty mugs" of root beer. For made-to-order, we were surprised that the food items were all lukewarm at best. Everything -- the fries, the burger, mushrooms, hotdog -- all of it didn't really seem hot and fresh. The mugs weren't "frosty", they were, at best, chilled, so again, the root beer wasn't very cold. Our first serving of root beer had no ice, but the refill had some. All that being said, the root beer was just ok; certainly wasn't a "WOW" for us. Maybe it'd been better if it were cold vs near room temp. Per my wife, the hamburger was not very good. Again, probably in part because it was "just warm". The basket came with a small cup of shredded lettuce, but they forgot to provide the dressing (that was ordered "on the side"). And the hotdog tasted like a cheap hotdog from a discount grocery store. Other reviews had talked about how great the all-beef hotdogs were -- there's no way the hotdog I was served was "all-beef". If that was an "all-beef hotdog", it was of very poor quality; nowhere near the taste/quality of a Nathan's or Ballpark hotdog. And, the bun it was served on was stale/dry on one end letting me know that it had been sitting with the end of the bag open long enough to allow it to dry out and go stale. Although the food was less than "delicious", the prices were very reasonable -- for all that we had, it was $18.50. Atmosphere : This is an old drive-up type restaurant/rootbeer stand with dine-in available. It has a nostalgic, but also dirty feel. They only accept cash/check. For those that don't know that (me), they have an ATM inside. Locals probably know the routine there and don't pay attention to it, but the ATM was old and very dirty; I haven't seen such an old ATM for probably 20+ years. The doors leading to the bathrooms were the old swinging, "saloon-type" doors; they felt greasy. The bathroom door on the men's bathroom apparently doesn't lock, because despite being locked, while I was washing my hands, someone opened the door. The general motif seems to be 50s/60s with the last deep cleaning probably having been around the 90s. Service : Service was decent. It's not very big on the inside -- probably somewhere around 9 four-top booths and 4-5 two-top booths. It was pretty full on the Friday evening we were there. We seated ourselves at one of the few remaining tables and were waited on fairly promptly. There seemed to be one or two people working the dining room. Our waitress was nice and helpful in ordering. We sat where we had a pretty decent view of the front counter/kitchen areas, and I don't -think- our food sat for very long, but given that everything arrived "less than hot and fresh", I can't be certain. Overall : The food and drink were both big "misses" for us -- temp was poor and "frosty mugs" weren't frosty. Despite the decent prices, the cost vs quality is low. Not sure if we just hit an "off night", but I can't imagine we were the only people getting less than ideal food that night. This place seems to have a lot of potential, but could also use a little maintenance and a deep cleaning. The owners/employees need to take some time and do a walk-through with a customers eye and address the little maintenance items -- dirt, dust, and doors that don't lock. Then, maybe a sit down and try some of the food menu items that are being served. All that said, we tried it, but won't...

Service was decent. Warm and welcoming staff. French fries were great. Ice cream immaculate? The chicken tenders? C’mon guys. If you’re charging $10 per dinner figure out a better quality brand to buy. I had three chicken tenders and only one of them was edible. The chicken tenders were chicken PASTE. Full of grit, full of fat. Maybe 25% chicken. No over exaggeration here. I Quite literally had to spit my food out because I chomped into a bone. IN CHICKEN PASTE?!? Disgusting. There was even a hole on the back of one oozing white stuff, which signifies it wasn’t cooked all the way or they got stuck together while being in the fryer. Not supposed to be served like that, but I tried my best to pick around it because I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I’m typically not a complainer.. I’ve worked in the food industry for 8 years. I get it, But I woke up this morning with my stomach twisting & turning. I can feel that my body was rejecting their food. Moments later I confirmed that it was in fact rejecting because when I had vomited, it looked the same way it did 14 hours ago, when I consumed it. If you’re gonna feed your kid’s chicken anything in Oglesby, drive down the street to McDonald’s & get they’re “chicken paste”. It’s cheaper and apparently better quality. If my adult body couldn’t process it, imagine what it would do...

An article said this place has the best root beer in the state, so we decided to kill some time with a road trip today. It's not a bad little place, an easy detour off the highway. I wasn't happy that it's cash or check only, and it's kind of sketchy the ATM has the restaurant's branding on the screen. The root beer was pretty good, with a creamy flavor. I wouldn't call it the best in the state, but we did take a gallon home. The food was okay, and could really have benefited from some seasoning. For example, the steak sandwich was small and bland if not for the steak sauce. The pork tenderloin seems to be an actual pork chop flattened out, but it's darn near paper thin and, while it is breaded and fried, all you taste is the breading. Even the fries could have used a little salt, and the small fry portion is barely bigger than the ketchup cup. They have an old school drive-up option, but the indoor area is very small and the outdoor seating could really benefit from some picnic umbrellas. We'd probably stop and pick up more root beer next time we're traveling I-39, and I think the place could really shine if the owners would update...