Rosebud Steakhouse Wheeling IL — Restaurant in Wheeling Township

We ate at Rosebud Steak House at 502 West Dundee Road in Wheeling, IL to celebrate our sons graduation from Naval Station Great Lakes RTC. This place looked the part of elegance but could not quite deliver. The steak was awesome. Flavorful and cooked correctly. We also had a baked potato and mac and cheese along with brea and drinks. Not one complaint about the steak but that is as far as it goes. Our main server was nice and tried very hard to engage with us and be attentive but she had a helper. A very young and attractive young man who our main server named Rafael who clearly is in the wrong line of work because customer service was not very high on his priority list. He was unfriendly. Did not smile. Did not engage or make eye contact. We could tell that he wanted to be anywhere but there. The best word to describe his attitude towards my family was disdain. I don't know if it was the fact that we were underdressed or if it was my son's military uniform. All I know is we felt unwelcome. I love food. My husband and I have spent hundreds of dollars on meals for just the two of us. We are not rich but we are blessed to live a very comfortable life so dropping almost $500 on a meal was not that big a deal and we always tip well. Always! Rosebud's was the 1st time I didn't want to leave a tip. We did anyway but it was not our usual amount. We were already hurting and sad at having to say goodbye to our son who was shipping out in a few hours and the service and food and drink along with the horrible attitude of that young man left all of us feeling even more bereft than when we walked in the door. We paid almost $500 for a huge letdown. The best way to describe our experience at Rosebud's Steak House is this; my husband just bought a Dodge Charger with a Hemi V8 engine which I guess is a big deal for a car. Dining at Rosebud's was like driving a Dodge Charger with a 4-cylinder engine and no turbo. Do better Rosebud's Steak House. If you are going to charge those prices you should make sure the customer service is on par. And please take the baked mac and cheese off your menu. I grew up eating mac and cheese and was highly disappointed with the flavorless Velveeta Shells and cheese you served us. The one thing I liked other than the steak was the bread. There was only enough for our party of 5 to get one so we asked our main server and her lackluster helper for more bread multiple times throughout our meal for which she brought us plates for the bread but no...

We had a 7:15PM reservation. We arrived on time and were seated immediately. It was downhill from there. The waitress came to our table to take our drink order about 5-10 minutes after we were seated. She returned about 5 minutes later with the wrong drink for our birthday girl. She wanted a white wine, our server brought her a red wine. The birthday girl said it was okay and opted for a Sprite instead. Our server first told her they didn't carry Sprite only to come back to our table 10 minutes later with a warm bottle of Sprite. She said she found it in the back. What?? Then we waited another 20 minutes for her to finally take our order. At this point we were losing our patience. When she finally came to the table we asked her if we could have bread. She forgot the bread. We understood things weren't quite right when the manager had to come to our neighbor's table 3 times! Apparently we weren't the only people suffering from poor service that night. The weird part is that our server only had four tables to work with. The worst part was she forgot we were celebrating a birthday. Our waitress was very slow, non attentive, distant, and very forgetful. It was a birthday reservation. In the message to the restaurant, I made it clear that it was a birthday celebration. On a side note.. don't bother writing a message because no one reads them anyway.

PROS: Great atmosphere clean and inviting. Spaghetti and meatballs were pretty good. Great desert. (Gave the third star for the desert.)

CONS: Service, food mediocre at best. Our filet mignons were very dry.

Conclusion: The food wasn't great. It's definitely not a steakhouse. Maybe that's why the restaurant was only half full on a Saturday night. We had to ask for our own bread. We had to remind her it was a birthday celebration. She was only nice and smiling when she knew she was getting her tip.

I may go back...maybe not. Maybe it was just a bad night for the whole...

Price = above average | service = above average | cleanliness = above average | interior = upscale, high-end steakhouse vibes | parking = ample and plenty

Ordered the Original Chicago Cut Bone-In Ribeye which is a wet-aged $69 22 oz. monstrosity...I was going back and forth between this steak and the dry-aged counterpart Cowboy Cut Bone-In Ribeye (22 oz. monstrosity). For sides, I also ordered the truffle butter and brandy peppercorn enhancements, crispy brussel sprouts with Nueske's bacon...yes, I had a FEAST! The steak was cooked to medium perfection. Should it be medium-rare, maybe for some. However, my server Webster shared, the one step more in cooking to medium further breaks the fat and boy was that true. The steak was dripping juices all over and everywhere (let's keep it PG-13). The mix of wet-aged, prime beef, and being a ribeye was juices galore. I almost didn't drink water because the saliva was real. There was a bit of the usual charred exterior, slightly too much to my liking; however, that is expected with grilling meat. The crispy brussel sprouts was a bit doused in the sauce but absolutely delicious with the bites of chunky meaty BACON.

Webster was my server and he was absolutely amazing. As I like to understand the food experience when I visit such restaurants that are more than your average restaurant, he was very insightful in providing me a background of Rosebud and the wet and dry aged steak choices available at Rosebud Steakhouse. The date I visited was coincidentally the grand opening of this location at Wheeling.

I look forward to the continued expansion of this brand and possibly one day coming to...