The Whistle Sports Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Orland Township

We recently used The Whistle Events & Catering room to host my Father-in-law's funeral luncheon. The Event Center is a private, elegant event area next to the sports bar and restaurant, but not adjacent to it. They each have their own separate entrances, so guests from the bar can't just wander into your event. It is 100% private, which is extremely nice.

The owners, Mark and Stephanie, took care of everything, and I mean everything! There was no way for us to have a guest count, but Mark & Stephanie told us not to worry, it's what they do. And they did it beautifully! We could not have been anymore impressed, and many of our guests told us the same thing.

They served a wonderful family style dinner with bread, salad, chicken lemone, sausage, vodka rigatoni, mixed veggies, individual bundt cakes, brownies and cookies.

They have a gorgeous, fully stocked bar in the events room, so no one had to leave to go into the main restaurant for their drinks. Whatever anyone wanted, they had right there. There are private restrooms in the event center as well, which is nice because you don't have to go into the bar and main restaurant to use the restoom.

The servers and staff were professional, polite and on top of everything. The owners were there the entire time, overseeing everything, working along with the rest of their staff.

All of our guests commented about how beautiful the facility was and how impressed they were with every aspect from the decor, to the food, to the service, etc.

As I said, this was the first time we have used the Whistle Event Center, but I guarantee you, it won't be our last.

If you are hosting any event, I highly recommend The Whistle and their Event room ...it's THE PERFECT place for a wedding shower, baby shower, birthday party, funeral luncheon, ...

Superbowl Sunday people! Made reservations. Was told when we called to book, seating we requested would be guaranteed. Came in and they tried to put us in the worst spot in the whole place. Directly by the kitchen. Not at all what we were told over the phone. Upon walking in, we waiting 10 minutes for someone to help us. They all seemed confused as far as reservations went. Then we got to the bad seats. Requested a manager. Waited another 10 minutes only to be unkindly met with the Owner. He is super aggressive and abrasive. Proceeded to tell us how every seat needed to be filled and since we were a party of two with a possibility of 3 we couldn’t seat where we were told we could. He wanted to make sure we knew he was giving out $5,000 in free stuff today (like that makes any difference on the service he is providing). And that also anyone in the bar after 4 without a reservation would have to leave. He does not have a clue on how to make clientele happy. No idea how to retain patrons. And no clue how to run a successful business. He should has said yes you are correct, my staff should all be clear and on the same page as far as policys go. They then followed us outside to tell us there were bar seats. Then the older hostess tried to tell me how hard they worked on the seating for 3 days: also like that has anything to do with me. All the while we were waiting for our Uber to leave. They need to spend more than 3 days on Superbowl plans. He needs to learn how to be kind and accommodating. And they need to be all on the same page with polices and procedures. Will never be back. Watch out...

Our waitress, Samantha D - was great, very courteous and made sure numerous times we didn't need anything more. My girlfriend ordered fried shrimp, when she asked for cocktail sauce our waitress explained they were out, she said OK (she's very accommodating) and tried it without. Then the bill came, they charged $18 for 8 shrimp and fries, not jumbo or anything, just kind of average. I told our waitress, which I was well aware it was no fault of her own, that $18 for that was kind of an insult. She nicely said she would speak with the manager(s) - Stephanie or Mark. Now I didn't want anything for free and explained that to her, a simple apology would've done it, they had this poor waitress come back and have to tell me that the cocktail sauce wasn't listed on the menu, and therefore wouldn't do anything about it. I still tipped her well and didn't get upset with her, after all, she was just doing her job. But not offering so much as an apology, they definitely lost our business and anybody I know as well. The food and service there were good the couple times I went, I was actually impressed with their food.

Bottom line, they have a great waitress staff, but the management is horrible, and I guess if something petty or generally implied at any other place isn't listed on the menu, you're not going to get it. Best off going somewhere more reputable, and is a shame a newer establishment wouldn't treat their customers better, sure fire way to go out of business, especially in...