Perry's Steakhouse & Grille - Vernon Hills — Restaurant in Vernon Hills

My spouse and I took a chance and went to this location, despite the negative reviews. And, we are elated that we did!

The service provided by Jorge and Mario was excellent. The restaurant was packed, but Mario still maintained a pleasant demeanor and followed it up with excellent conversation and scrumptious food recommendations! Joe, the manager on duty, was incredibly cordial. My spouse observed that he checked in on every table present, including ours. Lovely staff all around!

We ordered a couple appetizers: the escargot and the pork chop skewers. The roasted garlic and butter sauce were perfectly dressed with a puff pastry on top of each escargot. I am usually not a pork fan, but these beautifully glazed cubes of pork on tiny skewers were MASSIVE in terms of flavor. The steaks we ordered were the Bone-In Cowboy Ribeye and the Bone-In NY Strip Steak. Both Steaks were cooked to perfection and covered in a beautiful blanket of their signature butter and bleu cheese seasoning, which added a lovely salty umami depth to the flavors. While the steaks were delicious on their own, we wanted to try the sauces. We tried a small flight of all of the sauces offered and, by far, the best one is the Truffle Merlot. It marries beautifully with the flavors presented in the beef, without being overpowering. We tried the king crab mac & cheese and the asparagus for our sides. Both were delicious, but between both sides, the mac and cheese stole the show. The asparagus was perfectly cooked and seasoned. My only wish is that they were a bit more thorough when removing the woody stems as I had bitten into one and it was tough and I had to spit it out. There was only one tough one in the bunch, so maybe it just so happened to be one that was missed on accident during prep?

For dessert, we tried the tower of chocolate and, man is it DECADENT and DELICIOUS. The literal cubes of soft, smooth ganache were filled with a puffed rice and topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and peanut butter brittle. All of this sounds overwhelmingly rich, but it was a perfect way to end the meal and tasted lighter than one might think. A definite MUST TRY.

Overall, it was a lovely dining experience through and through! We will assuredly...

First, let me say that Perrys in Vernon Hills looks fabulous, as if we were in Palm Springs or Scottsdale, just gorgeous inside. The wait staff is extremely professional. We were seated along the glass wall for two and then it went downhill fast.

Being along the glass the noise from the packed restaurant was extremely high, I could hear the woman sitting next to me better than my wife sitting across the table for 2! That’s how close they seat people. It was designed to let customers see the cooking but it is an acoustic nightmare on a Saturday night.

We were shocked by the prices since we did not look at the menu before hand, my wife took me out for my birthday, but since it was special Japanese steaks we figured the $65 price was worth it. For starters I had the most fantastic French Onion Soup but my wife took one bite out of her beet salad and couldn’t eat any more, it was ruined with an overriding grapefruit taste.

Next, we decided to split the Symphony Kabob which has shrimp, chicken and steak, I ate the steak, my wife took the rest and we both thought it was heavily over salted and my beef was ruined by the over riding taste of peppercorn. They mention their PERRY'S SIGNATURE STEAK SEASONING, in the menu but it tasted like someone mistakenly sprinkled too much pepper on it. I mean ruined it. What's the point of paying for a great cut of beef to have it ruined with too much pepper? But we didn’t complain because the waiter already took the salad off the bill. We were afraid to order desert.

Another thing that I’ve never experienced is there were zero sides that come with it and the only way you can order any IS FOR 2!! I asked the waiter what if we both want something different, which is often the case, and he said, “Order two sides and take the leftovers home.”

Lastly, every dish came with a greasy ring with finger prints around the edges and having worked in the biz I know someone is suppose to wipe them off right before the plate is served. Their wine list is good though.

In sum, we patronize many of the other steakhouses in the area and we will never go back or recommend...

My wife and I were looking forward to eating at the new Perry’s Steakhouse at Hawthorn Mall Vernon Hills. We waited several months giving them time to master the challenges encountered when opening a new restaurant. After waiting, this is what we experienced.

Upon entering we were greeted by two hostesses that were not engaging and did not seem to care that we were there. After giving our name for the reservation one of the hostesses took two menus and motioned us to follow her. Neither hostess said hello, thanks for coming in or engaged us in any conversation.

Our server was timely and polite. She asked if we had ever been to Perry’s before and when we told her this was our first time she said, “Well let me explain the menu.” She then proceeded to go section-by- section telling us these are the appetizers, here are the soups and salads, here are the steaks, etc., etc. It was as if we couldn’t read. Service was efficient and drinks and food came in a timely manner.

Tables are very close so you can expect to rub shoulders with the folks sitting at adjacent tables. After our server explained the menu to us, I noticed a different server for the table next to us explain the menu and bring a tray of steaks to explain the different choices available. Our server never offered this or asked if we had any questions.

The food was OK but not great. My wife’s steak was over salted and over cooked. She ordered it medium rare, and it came out with no pink inside, it was more like medium plus. I had the pork chop which was very good. The server told us the sides were sharing portions. We ordered Asparagus. When it was served with the dinner there were 5 pieces, all of which I thought were overcooked.

Over-all our experience at Perry’s was lack luster. The hostesses were arrogant, the food was OK but not great, the tables are very close, the atmosphere loud. When paying this price point, I expected a better experience. Over-all Perry’s was just OK not great, which was disappointing. I've had much better experiences at Eddie Merlot, Fleming's or Wildfire all of which are not far...