Oak Terrace Grille — Restaurant in Palatine Township

I have only been here twice and the first time (weekend late lunch) was good enough to warrant a second visit. I recall having a steak salad that I enjoyed.

I made a reservation for a birthday dinner on a Monday night, requesting a table in the dinning room by the windows. Upon arrival it turned out that while they had the reservation they didn't take note to our requested seating. The hostess (a young lady) said she would move some empty tables together to place our party of 5 near our requested area but for some unexplained reason returned and said she was unable to do that.

Subsequently we ended up at a table near the bar area, on league night (full at the bar and spilling over into the seating area). It was so loud that you could not hear the person next to you, a phone app said it was 85 db (think subway train passing by).

To our surprise they have a limited menu on Mondays and Tuesdays (think sandwiches and a couple apps - no "entrees"), it really would have been nice if we were notified of the reduced menu options when making a (birthday) reservation. Not to mention they didn't have enough menus for our party and we shared. Menus were not the only thing they were short on, they only had 1 wait staff serving indoors and outdoors. With plenty of empty tables I didn't think it would be a problem, but it was. 15 - 20 minutes after being seated the bartender came to check on us and took our drink order (she was very friendly and apologetic). When the drinks arrived the bartender realized the waitress had not stopped by and took our order. IMHO, she did a great job considering how swamped she was at the bar.

The French onion soup was good, as were the pretzel bites but the cheese curds were under-cooked and and served near room temperature. The chicken panini was good, the steak sandwich ordered medium was served more towards rare, the bacon cheese burger came without the bacon and the 1/4 lb hotdog was, well a hotdog - cannot mess that up. This selection was a good representation on what to expect on their Monday / Tuesday menu.

I know we wont be returning on a...

This might have been an off day for everyone working. Paper printed menus were off center, and part of the menu was cut off. First impression, not very good. Ordered a margarita off their drink menu, it was undrinkable (I had 3 others in my party try it). came in a tiki glass which is not on theme for the drink. Another in our party ordered a glass of wine, and the bottle must have been old as it smelt like vinegar and tasted horrible. Ordered an appetizer - came out with our main entrees. Food was fine, nothing special at all.

I don't recommend...

My colleagues and I had lunch here on a Friday and received excellent service. The waiter was very skilled and highly attentive without being obtrusive. The calamari was so delicious I could have made a meal out of it alone. We all chose a different house wine and we all liked them very much. The ambiance in the restaurant overlooking the golf course was comfortable and very pleasant with a cozy, manor house feel. The quality of the food was excellent and the cost extremely reasonable. Wonderful find and I look forward...