Jameson's Original Charhouse — Restaurant in Wheeling Township

So I learned tonight that each location has autonomy over itself and some do some things while others do not. Case in point, my wife wanted to get Baked French Onion soup instead of the regular French Onion soup. The difference is that the baked has cheese melted over top and is baked in an oven. The latter has a large crouton and some grated parmesan on top, they are not the same as the baked is better. This location would not do an up-charge, they just would charge you for the baked version as if it was a separate order.

I ordered the Chicken Lemon Basil and upgraded to a double baked potato. They gave me a loaded double baked (more of an up charge) and the sauce on my chicken was that of the chicken picante without the mushrooms. You may be asking yourself, "well, what's the difference?" The difference is that the Chicken Lemon Basil comes in a lemon basil sauce and the Picante comes in a white wine, lemon and mushroom sauce. There were no 'shrooms, but it tasted like white wine and lemon (and the former has no white wine and includes basil and there was no basil).

I flagged our server down and let her know that it was the wrong sauce on my chicken, but let her know I was fine with it, but wanted to let her know that her cooks/chef messed up the order with both the sauce and the potato. She said the main chef wasn't there and that it was a different person. You know, that doesn't really matter to me except that the guy leading the kitchen isn't following the recipes for the menu items...they may want to know that.

Lastly, when we arrived, we let them know we had a reservation. I forgot to mention that they have a host/hostess stand/cubicle with two people where you would normally announce your arrival. Instead, the two people working behind the cubicle are only dealing with to-go orders and food delivery app pick-ups.

There is a different person who stands outside the cubicle with an iPad like tablet who is there to check your party in. We did that and then she stood there and said, "he'll be back in a moment to seat you." What is her role exactly then? They just leave you standing there waiting while the floor manager does whatever the hell he is doing (in our case, he was checking to make sure the servers shirts were tucked into their pants) until he comes to seat you. Then why is there someone standing there with a tablet? This guy can't do both jobs? It doesn't seem like it's a job that requires two people to do. I'm not here to get someone fired, but if he's busy, maybe the person checking us in could seat us. You're just left standing there in the way of people coming and going from the restaurant and to/from the bathroom. It was quite ridiculous.

The other main difference between this location and other Jameson's is that they give you both soup and salad, potato and vegetable with your meal. The one in Vernon Hills gives you soup OR salad with potato and vegetable.

And I agree with another person's review regarding how much people love this place versus so many other steak places in the Chicagoland area. You get a lot of food for the price, but is it better than a true steakhouse? Nope. But if you're looking for value, then Jameson's is the...

Will NEVER be back. Disgraceful behavior by manager, George Leberis. Went there with family and some close family friends for Christmas dinner. Mind you this is CHRISTMAS DAY. The manager was completely aggressive and totally out of line TWICE. First, he complained that one of us moved our seat to the side of the table that was not in the walkway. Servers were bumping into the seat continuously so we moved it to be out of the way. He literally stomped over to the table and reprimanded us for moving it. Demanded that the elderly woman sitting in the seat get up. He moved it back to where he had it and we explained why we moved it. He ignored all of us and aggressively told her "sit" and she replied with "I will" when he then said "I am not leaving until you SIT." Really weird and aggressive, but I chalked it up to them being busy and he being frustrated. But then, the most appalling situation happened when our food arrived. My friend's steak was not cooked how she asked it to be cooked and it was way too well done. She could barely cut it. The entire table was shaking when she attempted to cut it. So, we called George, the manager over and told him. No sooner than she started to explain how she ordered the steak did he start to raise his voice and become completely belligerent. He raised his voice and said "I am NOT taking the steak back. YOU are the ONLY one who has complained today." He went on to raise his voice even further and said if she had trouble cutting the steak, he would cut it for her. Thanks, but no thanks. He continued with the reply that there was no possibility that the steak could have been cooked wrong and that SHE had the problem. He said not only steak had been cooked incorrectly all day. There was no chance that one of his cooks may have messed up the order. He complained that WE were rude when we backed her up and said, "I will only talk to one of you". He aggresively came next to her, grabbed her plate, and cut open the middle. Clearly overcooked, he did not apologize, did not acknowledge it was overcooked, but instead said, 'see it's fine, but you want something else, then fine.' At that point, we all lost our appetites. Actually, I felt like this was a joke, because no manager in his right mind would treat someone like this. It doesn't help that the woman this happened to is black. I hate to even think this was based on race. He was aggressive with us twice and both times were unacceptable. We will never be back to this Jameson's nor any other. George Leberis, you are a disgrace to the...

We find ourselves eating out most nights. We have gone to this restaurant a handful of times in the last few months and each experience has been OK...not great, but close enough to home with adequate food and prices to keep it in our repertoire. Since we had skipped lunch we got there early, around 4:30. We were seated in the bar and I was thinking how much I loved the darker ambiance. I ordered one of their signature drinks and it was not good. Still not a deal breaker for me since I often like to try new drinks and they aren't always my favorite. No big deal, I thought I'll just order something else. Except the waitress never came back to get another drink order. I asked a specific question about the Philly steak sandwich. It says it's an 8oz cut on the sandwich. I asked her if it was shaved up and was told rather condescendingly that yes, around the world that's what a Philly steak sandwich is. Okay, I ordered it. Imagine everyone's surprise, including the waitress when it came out and it was a slab of meat on a bun. Since that is not what I wanted I sent it back. Now my family is siting there eating and I have nothing. I'm aggravated because by the time i order something and it comes they will done eating. The manager came over and wanted to tell me how good the sandwich I sent back was. I told him that was not what I wanted and had asked the waitress about whether it was sliced up or not...he just kept telling me that it was described on the menu....He was not a listener. He said the waitress should have know better since she had been there a couple of month. Seriously, that was his stab at customer service. I let him brow beat me into ordering a roast beef sandwich. I don't know about you but the bread can make or break a sandwich in my book. This was on very soft,white bun that had been barely toasted. (Think a wonder bread bun-yuk!) The beef was lean, but bland. The sandwich needed a horseradish sauce or something. Anyway, the meat was also lukewarm and even though the cheese was melted on top it was also not hot.To be fair the coleslaw was good and the fries were hot. No one came back to check on us. Maybe i'm bend out of shape because I had to watch my family eat and then they had to watch me eat. I felt like this place totally dropped the ball and did nothing to make up for it. Maybe they have enough business that they don't feel compelled to really care if the customer has a positive experience or even likes the food they receive. Bottom line we won't be...