Crystal Lake Rib House
| Address: | 540 E Terra Cotta Ave, Crystal Lake, IL 60014, USA |
| Phone: | +1 815-477-3600 |
| Site: | crystallakeribhouse.com |
| Rating: | 3.5 |
| Working: | 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 89
Reviews 5
JO
Joie de vivre
Ordered ribs and they were unbelievably stringy with hardly any meat and not tender at all. Usually if you one thing isnt great, the rest of the meal is fine but here everything we tasted wasnt good. We had cole slaw, rolls with honey butter (supposedly), baked beans and a buffalo chicken salad with a seasoning that was horrible and couldnt eat it. Usually food is passable enough that if the server asks how everything is we just say fine, but this wasnt even edible. We ate about less than half and that was a struggle. She informed someone else that came over and she insisted that they make another slab of ribs for us. It takes a lot to get us in this place, but we were so over the place by then that we didnt want to wait for another slab of ribs to come out or wait for another bad food item to come out when nothing wed had so far was edible. We just wanted to leave. We were treated very curtly. We left thinking what a waste of money and they could have at least comped one meal if not both. I have never felt this way when Ive left a restaurant before. We had literally such a bad taste in our mouth but left still hungry, that the only thing that sounded good was a piece of pie, so we went somewhere else in disbelief and appalled at the experience we had at Rib House and wondered how they had been in business so long or gotten any good reviews. If youre in the mood for ribs close by that are fall off the bone, tender and meaty try Portillos or Texas Roadhouse or a little further Texan BBQ in Algonquin. Maybe they were having an off night or a pissed off chef on his last day but I wouldnt take my chances here and were dumbfounded at how the reviews can be one extreme or the other. In reading the other reviews was reminded of their sauces which sit on the table. My husband was scrambling to find anything he liked and tried them all. He thought they were all bad. To be fair, the server was fine, none of this was her fault, and we left her 20%. An added note: I go into a place Ive never been before looking for positive things to say. I dont like leaving a negative review at all, it has to be really, really bad for me to do this! If you decide to try it based on other good reviews, I sincerely wish you have a good experience!
RA
rararocket2
Monday 6/16/2014 ; 5PM Sit down. Have read menu at home to save time. Then the problems creep up. 1; Menu is takeout only, doesnt say that anywhere on the menu I picked up there earlier; Start over 2; Were going to get a whole chicken and a full slab, Sorry, out of ribs and other things ; This 5 PM on Monday!!! 3 There were 3 of us so we ordered 2 full BBQ chicken dinners; Waitress (very nice and did a great job) warned us, SHARING a meal is a $3.00 surcharge. Waitress said order a side to avoid surcharge, got a chili to go. Have never been to another local place that does this, must be his Michigan Ave.(or whatever street) store in Chicago rules here in CL. 4 Chicken white meat; I do not know what they do to it but it is like cotton. Made the mistake of taking a big bite.Took about 2 minutes to swallow that stuff, learned my lesson, other reviewers had the same reaction. Every time I go to this place there is some quirk. Be aware of strange rules with coupons and gift cards. Had gift card once and was informed they are one time use, must use all $ on card in one order, no balances carried. You know like all the other retailers out here. So if you get gift card get small denominations. That is also why one time they offered a free $25 gift card with a $100 gift card purchase. That is a guaranteed $100 tab. Groupon was $15 for a $30, but NOT on weekends, that was I think $18 but was sold out anyway when I bought. I am retired and local so not a big deal but did you ever come across that before? Maybe that is normal but not to me... I do not think you can use a Groupon or other like offer on the all you can eat specials either. I have not seen any of their coupons lately but if you have one read carefully or call first. I am not really a foodie but I really get annoyed by these type of business practices, have tried this place about 5 times and there was always something. Not likely to return
MA
Marcin Wisniewski
The food may have been good, but the service left a bad taste in my mouth. Lets start off by saying that we got seated pretty quick, but from then on service was horribly slow and rude. First, we got greeted by our server. We ordered a round of iced water and a 32oz pitcher of blue moon for $6 (or so we were told) because it was on special. We have received the water in about 5 minutes (not too bad), but we decided drinking it could cause violent diarrhea so we passed. The water smelled and tasted like it was taken directly from Fox River. After another 10 minutes we received our beer. WOW that was quick! We then ordered the food and waited another 30 minutes. Now it is worth mentioning this place was not packed. We ate our food and got the bill. Then we noticed the pitcher was $14 not $6. When we asked the server about this, she said that the pitcher is $14. However when we asked about the specials the server clearly said a 32oz pitcher of Blue Moon for $6. She then denied ever saying a 32oz pitcher, and claimed she said 32oz mug and basically called us liars (all four of us). In any case, if a 32oz mug is $6 then how in the world are you going to charge $14 for a 50oz pitcher?? Ridiculous. Stay away from this place.
IS
Isaac Starcher
Probably the most pathetic restaurant I have ever seen. Food was mediocre at best, not to mention their is no management at this place at all. We brought in a VAlLID groupon for 20$ off our purchase that expired on July 15th and were refused on the basis of "We were told not to accept these by the owner (This is St.Patricks day)" by the waitress. Immediately upon asking for the management to dispute the bill we were told "There is none present" as the owner glared at are table from behind the kitchen door. They immediately threatened to call the police. After disputing over the validity of the groupon we asked to speak to the owner who had his waitress lie and say was not there. He refused to come out and continued to hide in his rat hole. Greedy, rat of an owner. No fault on the waitress or staff, because they were simply following the orders of the scumbag hiding in the back. Will never return, and I hope to see this joke of a business shut down.
MA
Mark Dettlo
Just went in for a bloody mary. Not many options to choose from. There is the reg size the huge size and the enormous one that you have to call ahead for. I ordered the huge one. It was very good basic bar food hanging off it on a pretty unique skewer set up that makes it easy to take out of the drink and play it. The bloody its self was very good food was okay. I was really hoping there would be some of there BBQ stuff on there but no luck. I will be returning to try there BBQ food. Only thing I saw I didnt like was there was a 3 dollars charge to share a plate. I saw the plates they serve a large amount of food and I like to split a meal with my wife, kinda upsetting they charge you extra for that but Ill still go back to try there food.
