The Pine Room — Restaurant in Saint Charles

Man. I soooo wanted to love this place. Great Google reviews, friends talk about it as being great, been around forever. Had been for drinks in the past, but never ate there. Instead of going to Texas Roadhouse or Tubby's, we decided to get take out from the Pine Room. Kid's grilled cheese, kid's cheeseburger, my wife got a ribeye cooked rare, I got a ribeye cooked mediuim rare. The people in the restaurant are what got it 3 stars. Super friendly and nice, seemed appreciative of my business and seemed genuine. Brought the meal home and passed out the meals to the kids. Grilled cheese/fries = check. Kid's cheeseburger = was a slider. Not horrible, but wasn't expecting that. Salad - bagged iceberg, about 10 shreds of cheese, 2 grape tomatoes, a couple red onion slices and a small dressing. The ranch was very runny but delicious. Salad was meh overall. My steak - could've used maybe 2 more minutes per side. No real sear, no rendered fat, and it was chewy, especially for a ribeye. Baked potato - very good, but they serve margarine with it. C'mon, now. Wife's steak - rare, she liked it. Lots of parts of both steaks stayed on the plate because it they were inedible: gristle, un-rendered fat, connective tissue. I'm thinking maybe a ribeye is best ordered medium going forward so the stuff I mentioned has a couple more minutes to melt. Overall unhappy with my $70 dinner for 2 steaks and 2 kid's meals. I did tip the girl at the bar 6 and change, the bill for everytand hing was $63. We'll try one more time in case...

Attn: Owner & Servers

SLOW service, it's a hole'n' pub but drink refills took way too long. And took way too long to get our check. You need to be flipping tables faster to make more for staff and owner's overhead etc.

Server took an assertive aggressive tone when I raised concerns about "steak burger" but I was cut off. He didn't want to hear it so I didn't press him. But it was A) rude B) Disrespect to tell me "That's exactly what you ordered."

"Steak burger" on menu says NOTHING about being covered in GRAVY. I've been to +50 steak houses in my life never seen "Steak Soup" No one at my table knew that either. Thanks that non sense OFF the menu.

It's a Cardinal *SIN' to cover ANY good cut of beef let alone steak with ketchup or A1 sauce. Drowning it in GRAVY is something Chef Ramsey would rearrange your shirt and pepper you insults for serving such nonsense. And the gravy was terrible, loaded with salt clearly from a jar/can! Yuck!

Put a clear description in the menu and people can avoid "Steak Soup" or put black piece of tape through it. It's Cardinal sin to put anything on good cut of beef let...

This place used to be a go-to for great quality and inexpensive steaks and other grill food but my recent experiences have led me to question my loyalty. In two of the last five instances the bartender/cook was visibly drunk, forgetting most of the orders taken and serving food/steaks that were immediately returned for being made without regard to doneness. To be fair, in both cases this would have been a somewhat challenging affair, having to juggle the bar and grill, so when my food came out cold, I let it slide. In all of these visits, even when the place was well staffed, the food was served with seemingly no seasoning whatsoever and was extremely bland. This was noted by others that I was with. All were disappointed.

If the owners or management do ever read this, what used to set this place apart from other bars in the area was the great, well-prepared and served food along with cold, cheap beer. Currently, this place is just another dive-bar with a menu. In the menu, a lot is done, but nothing...