The Village Squire (South Elgin) — Restaurant in South Elgin

Honestly last nights dinner service was by far my worst dining experience of my life. We were a large party coming in from a funeral. We did our do diligence and called ahead. The hostess for me was what set the tone for the entire night. We went from a party of 12 to a party of 14. Again we came from a funeral and the comfort of having family around we didn’t want to exclude anyone. You would have thought we spat in her face. Her response was “well that’s not 12 but whatever” and proceeded to tell us we needed to wait while she made arrangements for our “poor planning”. Our food took well over an hour, and when our food did come (that is the food that was correct and or not forgotten about) it was either ice cold or rock hard from sitting under a heat lamp for so long. One of our guests couldn’t wait any longer because they needed to go to work so unfortunately he had to leave with an empty stomach. He only ordered potato skins so my thought is that they were growing the potatoes first? Two of our guests got the completely wrong order and had to wait additional time for their correct food to be made. One of our guests ordered a bowl of soup and received a cup. When we corrected the waiter he dropped off the cup and said “it’s ok” and never came back with the proper order. We never even received waters until one of the women in our group asked to speak to a manager. Because honestly this isn’t about money off, free anything. It was about making it right. We had a guest show up a little late but he ordered two drinks and an entree. To find out the entree had never even been cooked! Meanwhile I ordered another round of drinks for my family while we waited for his food that we thought was coming out. The pen they gave me had exploded everywhere and although not to the fault of the staff but was the cherry on top of a horrific experience. I have engagement photos coming next week and now have to spend an additional $60 for a brand new manicure and pray to the powers that be that my stained hands will finally go back to not being covered in dulled out ink. The managers response to our hell-ish experience was a $25 gift card for our next trip back in regards to the entree that had never been ordered. We left it at the table because like hell will we be back there. And it’s a shame too because we always want to be able to provide businesses with actual business. This is someone’s livelihood and in this climate we all should do our part to pitch in and help restaurants. But they must so doing great because they did not care about any of us at our table. If you absolutely must go to the Village Squire perhaps go to Crystal Lake. We’ve always had excellent service there and the staff is always friendly with fresh hot food...

My whole family loves this restaurant and it’s a great place to go - kid-friendly without being kids-only. Quotes below come from my kids (8yo & 3yo). From the “nice people working there” (Carlos, Rocko, Ashley, to name a few) to the quirky decor and “interesting artifacts” on display. My kids won’t taste the saganaki, but they love yelling “Opa!” whenever the flames go up near someone else’s table. They stick with Mac & cheese (Kraft), mini corn dogs and sliders, that can come with fresh fruit, apple sauce or fries. Plus, the complimentary popcorn we get when we are seated (we have to get 2 bowls so they don’t fight!).

But for us parents, we love the fish and chips, bbq brisket Mac, gyro plate, French onion soup, calamari appetizer (try dipping in Buffalo sauce and ranch!), the berry nut salad and the BBQ chicken salad. For me, it’s not really fall until the Oktoberfest menu comes out and I can enjoy the Sausage Platter, with three types of wurst, spaetzel, red cabbage, sauerkraut and good mustard!

They’ve really invested in their beautiful patio space, with fans for hot summer days and fire pits for cool fall evenings. They have frequent live music (varying quality and tastes) in the bar area, which can sometimes make it hard to have a conversation if you’re sitting in there, but it doesn’t carry to the other...

Not the worst but definitely needs improvement. This restaurant needs help in the kitchen with food preparation. I have been here on several occasions and disappointed more often than not. The baked/broiled fish is $5 more than other restaurants in the area and the quality is poor - very greasy barely any breading. The pork chops are very greasy and gave me a stomach ache. They have a chicken schnitzel sandwich that is simply a breaded chicken breast with no seasoning and deep fried. The pork schnitzel is the one thing done right - pounded thin and seasoned with good mushroom sauce. Pizza is very thick and doughy with too much sauce. Mozzarella sticks are very good and so are the brats. The drinks are made well and the cider fall drinks are warm. I hope the next time I return things have changed.

This restaurant is part of the Karas restaurant group which I would rate a 2 - solely for poor food preparation quality and menu inconsistency, they need better oversight on their restaurants and better quality control and...