The Filling Station Pub & Grill — Restaurant in St. Charles

I’m leaving this review to spread awareness. I’ve been a loyal customer of this restaurant for the past two years, typically dining in once or twice a month. I’ve always enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, which is why I was particularly surprised and disappointed by the way a recent visit was handled. On Thursday night, I came in with a group (half of which had not been drinking that night) and had an upsetting experience with a bartender that I feel needs to be brought to everyone’s attention. After my group was seated, I went to the bar to order a drink and mozzarella sticks for myself. I paid for both plus tip, and was waiting at the bar the whole time for my food. When the bartender brought out my mozzarella sticks along with a separate plate of mac & cheese bites. She placed both items in front of me and said, "Here is your food." When I questioned the extra item, she told me the mac & cheese bites were ordered by my table. I assumed they had been ordered by someone in my group since I had not even sat down or been with them, and brought them over, as she instructed me to do. Roughly 10 minutes later, the bartender came over to our table and, in front of everyone, loudly/aggressively questioned me—asking why I would eat food I didn’t pay for and accusing me of taking someone else's order. I tried to explain that I was just following what she told me, but she cut me off, reached over me to grab the plate, and walked away abruptly. We remained at the restaurant for another 20 minutes, and no one approached us to clarify or request payment. If we had simply been told that there was a mistake and asked to cover the cost of the mac & cheese bites, I would have done so without hesitation. Instead, I later found out from a friend who returned to the bar while we were still there to order more food, yet an additional opportunity to request payment, that the bartender was telling others we had stolen food and speaking incredibly disrespectfully about us. Additionally, once my friend received her order from the bar, the same bar tender aggressively shoved the food toward her. To add to the confusion, someone from our group left a review about the experience and received a public response asking us to come back and pay for the $9 mac & cheese bites that i was confidently given by the staff. I’m genuinely puzzled and disappointed by the way this situation was handled. This was clearly a miscommunication on the part of the bartender (who I am assuming thought that I was with a different group of people), and instead of a respectful clarification, we were publicly shamed in person and via review and made to feel unwelcome. That’s not how I expect to be treated at an establishment I’ve supported for years.

I’d like to believe this was a one-off incident and not representative of how the staff has been trained to handle customer service. Unfortunately I do believe it is a common occurrence of which I have seen examples on multiple occasions, for your staff to be under the influence causing mistakes to be made and negative attitude, while serving and bartending. Perhaps this is due to the “$12 round of beers for the kitchen staff” item on the menus. I hope this situation can help bring some awareness to not only the staff but the future customers, and so that it can be addressed appropriately and the responsible people can be held accountable for their mistake and the way they are treating your loyal paying customers.

I got the chance to speak with the owner, Peter, over the phone who stated he was told a different story entirely by his staff. The story he was told simply does not reflect the truth that multiple people had witnessed.

I do sincerely appreciate the apology that I received, however, we will...

I have been to the Filling Station twice in the past several weeks - once in June and the other time was just yesterday (Sat, July 11). Both times were a disappointment. The time I was there in June the waitress accidentally knocked my sangria over which spilled all over the table as well as all over my shirt and jeans (it was a full glass). She apologized and brought me a new one, but that was all. No typical restaurant protocol was followed afterwards, such as a manager coming to personally check in and apologize or even comp my drink. Instead we got nickeled and dimed for everything, including the water! I was told by several people I should've complained at that time, but that's not what I typically do. I returned for another visit this past Sat, July 11th. I went at a time where it was slow which makes this even more of a no excuse kinda thing. I thought there were certain protocols that were supposed to be followed during the pandemic. That's great they're using paper menus, but they're supposed to be discarded after each use to avoid multiple peoples' hands touching them. This was not happening. Our menus were crinkled and even had grease stains on them, clearly from being overtouched by multiple people. The waitress took our paper menus after we ordered and placed them right back by the bar area. The waitress had a mask on, but it was pulled beneath her nose. The mask is to be worn to cover the mouth and nose. We witnessed several guests come and go, whether they were dining in or just sitting down to smoke, and none of those tables were cleaned. I even questioned the table we sat down at because it looked and felt dirty. There were two giant bottles of sanitizer sitting on the bar. Not once did I observe any staff use it and after everything I mentioned above, I highly doubt proper handwashing was happening. I first attempted to send this message directly to the establishment through a private message on Facebook. I got a response saying they got it and would get back to me shortly. Nobody did. My last two experiences are not okay. Despite the food being good, which is why I gave 2 stars instead of 1, the people I know and myself do not feel comfortable returning...

First time here! And LAST... unfortunately. So very disappointed but not for the reasons you would expect. We were a party of 6 and sat outside on the patio. Took a bit for our server to get to us but he was super kind and personable. We ordered shortly after and it was definitely a bit lengthy at about 40 minutes to get our food, no problem... but... my order was completely botched. Wrong burger and the server knew right away. He put in a replacement and I got the privilege of watching my party enjoy their meals until my order came out 15 minutes later. Server was polite and apologetic and said he'll make sure that either it's taken off or there'd be a discount. Well, after wolfing my burger because 'awkward' to have my party watch me eat... bill came and he said his manager took 25% off! I was impressed and thought that was a great gesture... well, I signed and tipped and was about to leave but the numbers just felt off... so I asked for the original receipt and turns out that for our mishap they actually only took off 25% of the single burger that was messed up... so a whopping 3% discount. I mentioned to the server that seems shady and I wasn't happy. Got an apology and that was it. So, thanks for a terrible experience and bad taste in my mouth for your poor response to a major mishap. Ironically, the burgers were good, but if that's how you address your customers mistakes... yikes. I mean, having worked my way through college as a server, I know mistakes happen, but the absolute minimum should have been comping my...