Civil Kitchen — Restaurant in Springfield

At about 6:30 on August 5 2025, I went with my mother for dinner, expecting a great meal. We sat down, and waited for about five minutes before our waiter brought us waters, then immediately darted off. Didn’t ask about drinks or appetizers, just left. Waited about ten minutes before a waiter from another table came by to check on us and refill waters, saying she would let our waiter know we are ready to order. Our waiter finally returned after another 5 minutes and took our orders. We ordered the seafood beignets as an appetizer and since we had time to decide on our meals, I ordered the prime rib sandwich with flash fried kale on the side while my mom ordered the fish tacos, roasted Brussels sprouts, and a margarita. After waiting another ten minutes we got our appetizer, the seafood beignets, which were phenomenal. Out of all the food we ate there those were the best. Must order, 9/10 appetizer. After eating those, we waited another 15 minutes before our waiter finally brought our food before leaving. In all that time he never once brought my mother her margarita. My mother’s fish tacos were amazing, a solid 8/10 as well as the kale salad. My sandwiches did not fare so well. The prime rib was dry and I could hardly taste the horseradish sauce. It was altogether “mid”. It gets a dismal 4/10. While eating we noticed our serviced another table with multiple drinks, including bringing samples out to them before bringing them full drinks, making multiple trips every few minutes to service them. All the while he never once brought my mother her margarita. We finished our food after about ten minutes and waited for the check to arrive, adding an additional five minutes to our wait. Our waiter finally arrived with the check, before promptly leaving to service another party. We waited some more time before my mother had to flag him down just to give him the check. He gave it back to us and my mother (who is far too generous) tipped him 15%. If I had been paying I would have tipped him not even a third of that. Luckily enough he didn’t charge us for the margarita, although that’s more of a sign that he didn’t even care enough about us to put the order in. Altogether our waiter stopped at our table less than 5 times. What could’ve been a great experience was soiled by horrible service. Had not our waiter been so uncaring, I would be glad to rate this up to...

Funny name—because there is nothing civil about this place. The hostess at this restaurant needs to be fired. She treated my husband and I like total garbage and for that reason we didn't stay to eat and ended up walking out after bringing the issue to our server who acted more dismissive about it instead of apologetic. I'm actually in amazement that a person like this has a job dealing with the public.

So it's pouring rain out and my husband and I walked in disoriented and just happy to be inside. We figured it was the type of place in which you pick your own spot to eat since NO ONE from the establishment greeted us or told us what to do—and it appeared that the hostess was busy flirting with some boy and didn’t even notice that we had walked in. So we picked a table since again—no one spoke to us or told us where to go. After we sat down, instead of being greeted by the hostess with a smile, a simple hello, and a "I can see that you guys likely have never been here before--welcome to civil kitchen"--without ANY of those things and just with total attitude written all over her face—she proceeds to SCOLD us for not "following instructions" by reading some invisible sign. She then walks away rolling her eyes and angrily grabbing menus or something back at the front. My husband and I were left speechless. Like what just happened? Instead of being grateful that 1. She has a job 2. Customers are present--she treats people who are more than twice her age with attitude and complete disrespect. My husband and I will never come back here and that's sad because we were interested in trying some of the unique menu options. But--it is more than obvious that the people that work here simply don’t care about you or their jobs, are blatantly rude and discriminatory for NO reason, and are ungrateful for their employment and instead seem to view their jobs as chores. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE and management needs to review and revisit who they are hiring otherwise they won’t exist for much longer. Go here if you’re looking for terrible service, nowhere to park, and just a horrible environment and ambiance. Thanks but no thanks. You aren’t the only restaurant in...

I must say I was excited about trying this place after viewing their menu and seeing the reviews and my experience did not disappoint...with one caveat. First off the staff was always available and extremely friendly which are always the first impressions leading to the meal. I liked the environment of this place too, different and local which were part of the allure. I started with the bacon date salad and was pleasantly surprised. Not to say I expected a horrible salad but the highlights were the chunks of bacon not just little ‘bits’ and the dressing was divine. Great first course, next I had the dry rubbed ribs with the honey habanero dipping sauce. To begin my wings were rubbed with what seemed light light brown sugar and although I was caught off guard, I found this rub to be perfect when paired with the sauce I chose. In fact the sweetness teaming up with the syrupy honey balanced the mild heat in the dipping sauce making this step in my journey very enjoyable. Now on to my main meal the glazed petite filets with Brussels sprouts. Now I have mentioned in other review I am a Brussels sprout fan and these appealed to my every desire in a sprout. Very delicious with a crisp, would order as just a side as I feel they could stand alone and draw attention on the menu. The filets on the other hand were just..ok. One of the three was a bit tough and I chalked that up to the cut of beef so no major demerits but honestly they were forgettable. The taste was good but didn’t linger on my mind after the meal which clearly means I wouldn’t get ‘em again. Overall great place enjoyed my meal with a few highlights but would recommend...