Rockford Corner Bar — Restaurant in Rockford

Me and my family have lived in Rockford for almost 30 years. We have eaten at the Corner Bar many times and I've even worked there for a short time. Over the past 10 years we have had nothing but bad experiences. Either the food is cooked wrong(usually WAY over done), or the order was taken down wrong, or the food just was plain unsatisfactory. The hot dogs that are boiled then put into buns directly from the water makes for extremely soggy buns, for starters. Then the chili sauce that they have is super watery and not tasty at all. My 10 year old daughter tonight said that the chili dogs I make are tons better(I use Meijer brand chili sauce...), and had ordered 2, but only ate a few bites from one. I have ALWAYS loved the onion rings from here, but over the past 10 years(we've only been there about 4 times in the past 10 years due to bad experiences...we keep trying and hoping for better, but tonight was our last time trying) the onion rings are SUPER battered and cakey, not crispy AT ALL.. That's if they even come to the table hot. I always ask for Med temp burgers, they always come super well done, but I don't send them back because I know they take a long time and everyone would be done before I even got my replacement. We also ordered a brownie skillet and when it was brought to the table the only thing that was said was to enjoy, nothing about the fact the skillet was SCALDING HOT! My 9 year old son burnt his finger pretty bad and had to have his finger on ice the while time he was trying to enjoy his dessert. I seriously do not know why this place is so famous for hot dogs. I know they were awesome back in the day, but they must have made some kind of changes over the years, because they are nasty now. If you want a great dog-go to Dam Dogs!! Now THAT is a good hot dog! If I would have saw they were open on Sundays, that is where we would have gone! Anyway, I honestly feel bad that it is always a bust, that is why we kept coming back and trying, but...

After visiting here many times before the rebuild, I've come to expect a standard of quality here. Unfortunately, it would seem post-rebuild, the quality hasn't quite matched what it once was.

First, why I'm taking 2 stars away... After a popular restaurant reopens, it's expected to be busy. So we wait around half an hour on a Saturday afternoon, totally acceptable. After we were sat at a table and during the length of our visit, we didn't get silverware, napkins and only received one straw for the two of us. Again, they're busy, so I can understand a couple of slip ups. It would seem they also tried to do a lot of modernization to the place as well. Frankly it doesn't fit my taste. It feels very industrial, with exposed ceiling and HVAC, but being in Rockford, it sticks out and doesn't fit the atmosphere/history. It also seems somewhat poorly laid out. The waiting area is disjointed, and they lost a lot of booths, so some smaller tables line the outside of part of the eating area. Maybe it was the lighting, but the color scheme also seemed off, maybe attributed to the "modern" look.

Finally, why I liked it. Well, you don't go to a restaurant to look at the walls and furniture, you go for the food. While I think they changed up some of their recipes/ ingredients, the food was still very good. They also restored some (maybe all?) of the wall of fame, which was cool.

I think things will get better with time. They already have the food and drinks down. I think when the staff gets a little more refined, maybe a couple different updates with the look and opening upstairs,...

Tiny Portions and Rude Wait Staff!

Been going to the Corner regularly for 30 years and never had an experience like I did the last time we went in....

Ordered the sweet potato fries for an up-charge and received literally 10 fries - see picture attached, that's not an exaggeration. When I noticed the distinct lack of fries upon delivery, I remarked that we will need a side of fries to get to a normal portion..... they brought over a normal sized portion on a side dish and everything was groovy until we got the bill.

I noticed there was an additional charge for the side of fries and I asked the waiter (Jai) to take the charge off since the kitchen did not give a normal portion with the sandwich. He gave me a displeased look and remarked, "that's the normal portion - I can bring my manager over to tell you the same thing I just told you" in a condescending tone..... I said yeah he better do that. The manager came over and told me that the kitchen pre-weighs every single serving to 5oz. I find that hard to believe, but nonetheless I figured I would write this review for my fellow sweet potato connoisseurs so they aren't let down when they receive their 10 fries for the $3 up-charge. The manager did end up taking the charge off, but we were treated very rudely and having worked in the service industry that is NOT the way to do business.

Also, be warned that bread sticks no longer accompany pasta dishes - we were given "covid" as the main reason why breadsticks are no longer served with (off...