Just had a wonderful old school dinner with the family. The owner chatted with us during the meal and it was a really nice, cozy experience. We had fish, chicken and ribs. All nicely done and some key lime pie for dessert. Old school supper club vibe. read more

Love this place. Always a treat. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is a hoot. Reminds me of the 1960s and you just can't find that anyplace else in this modern world. It gets crowded sometimes so you need reservation. read more

This evening we had dinner and what a huge change compared to a few years ago. The quality of the food was good but the portion's were tiny. No appetizers available and the drinks were very weak. Many of the items on the menu were not available. I realize January is a tough month for many restaurants but when you pull up and the parking lot had not plowed I think this is an indicator there's financial trauma. No people at the bar and just a few tables with customers, I'm afraid this place had had it. I would not recommend going to this place and I will never return. Peter H Nortbrook read more

If I could give this place a .5 star I would. I've been wanting to try this place out since moving to Skokie. I've been to Ej's place which looks similar to the ambiance of this place but boy is there a total different. First off, the place feels empty, Even though there were a few other tables. Second off. We were so hungry there. We smelled fresh bread immediately walking through the door. But they didn't bring us any out until til 30 mins after we sat?? No butter. We had to ask for some. No appetizer menu, we did have a shrimp cocktail after asking about apps. No drink menu. He just asked "well, what do ya want". Cocktails were very subpar for them to have it as an LED sign on top of the restaurant. The Oh, the best part. Peas, and corn, and potato chips. It was a complete MESS. read more

Stay far away from this business! They use subpar ingredients. The owner is very nasty. Worst attitude from all of their employees. Food was horrible. read more

We found the male host and female server to be rather rude. We ordered prime rib and Canadian baby back ribs for our entrees. The table behind us was offered a choice of potato, we were not. Our meals came to the table with peas/corn in a bowl to share and house made potato chips. When I asked if my wife could have a baked potato, we were told the table behind us preordered a baked potato, but we could wait 10 more minutes for her to microwave one....what place charges $48 for prime rib and served it with potato chips?? My wife also doesn't care for peas/corn, which to our surprise was the vegetable of the day....so, she had meat for dinner. It was a very odd dining experience and an utter disappointment. Don't waste your time or money....and if you want the baked potato chips....be sure to preorder! WT?!!! read more

I love this place! Vintage & quirky, I'm entertained by the decor and service. A room filled with memories is so welcoming. You can almost feel the past good times had by all. I love a good round booth. There are photos and trinkets everywhere. I LOVE a true supper club. The server (perhaps owner) is a no nonsense gal. At first she was brisk, but the more I chatted her up, the more warm and friendly she became. We had a great time with her. Our entrees were great. Nice portion size filled with beautiful tastes satisfied my friend and I. We split a fish dinner and added extra soup, salads and sides. We were plenty full but had room for fresh strawberry shortcake. was like having a home cooked meal. Parking is super easy. It's also so close to the Skokie Theater Performing Arts Center. I will definitely visit again the next time I go up for a show. read more

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I'm not sure why this place has a following. I visited this restaurant on a Saturday evening with my wife. The steak was overcooked as well as the sides. Service was meh. I will not be revisiting this establishment. read more

Stopped by here as it looked really great and the atmosphere was lovely. As a group, we were excited to try out a supper club while in the Skokie area. That's about where the one star comes in. Salads came half frozen with just a block of solid cold mayo as dressing with chunks of garlic in it. When it was time for our entrees, they gave our table one bowl of clearly steamed frozen vegetables to share and half raw potato skins. The ones that weren't raw were good which was so unfortunate. When our meals came, the proportions were almost laughable. Unfortunately, no one in our party enjoyed our food and in fact I had to even return mine as my lamb was so overdone I couldn't eat it. I think it's safe to say there's a clear reason why this restaurant is unable to maintain staff and not doing well. I would not recommend and would avoid if possible. read more

Old-fashioned supper club. Nice family-oriented atmosphere. Warm hosts. Good standard American food. Low on veg. Don't bring your vegetarian friends here. Greek chicken is delicious. Flashback to the past. read more

Wow! I've been curious about this place for years, and finally stopped in tonight. I was blown away! The service, the Scampi - there are no words! read more

I will try to be kind since this is clearly run by the descendants of the original owner and they can't let it go, though they should close up shop and enjoy their retirement. Do not go here. The musty basement smell when we walked through the door should have turned us around. It was the worst restaurant meal I have ever had. read more

Driven by this place for years and knew about its sorted past so decided to try it. Ummmm, it's a hard pass. They literally served corn and peas that you get from the grocery store. Meat was unseasoned and not flavorful. The server was nice but slow service. Food was really sub par. Gave it two stars really for the old school vibe. read more

The twilight zone. Worth a peek in the bar; a time capsule - but not in a good way. Inhospitable, unsanitary, unappealing but amusing for a minute, If you are like me, you've passed this place a million times and wondered. Next time you pass it - now you know, read more

If you have kids do not go there I remember when I was a kid with my family me and my brother yeah butter noodles they did not have a kids menu. I don't know if that's changed but if you have a family with kids, I would avoid this restaurant. read more

Food was uneven. Greek chicken was very tasty. Service was friendly and warm. Very conversation friendly

Decor takes you back in time, service is unique and the food is fantastic. We had the Greek chicken and lamb chops, both amazingly delicious. Can't wait to go back. read more

Wanted to enjoy a nice "Greek style" meal with my family. And considering the prices I thought it would be decent food, service, ambiance.... So much to say about this place other than it was bland, half the menu was unavailable, extremely dusty atmosphere, and service was terrible. read more

terrible place, slow service. 30 minutes to get the salad, rolls served with no butte. dinned come in a plate with protein only nothing else. two side small plates with tasteless green beans and potato chips which the server/owner called it rustic fries!!!!! very disappointing and over priced for the quality if food and service, save your money, and go to a better place. read more

Order the fish - superb!! The hosts / owners are genuinely fantastic! We've lived in Skokie for 25 years, and this was our first visit. We will be back. read more

It is rare in this day and age to find a true authentic restaurant. Once you enter the Charcoal Oven, you are instantly taken back to a 1970's movie style restaurant. Something from Goodfella's! This place has a unique decor with a small bar. The menus are perfectly written in cursive by the owner of the restaurant. With a great selection of choices (Canadian walleye, whitefish, rack or lamb, baby back ribs and steaks) there is no going wrong. Each meal comes with soup, salad, fresh baked bread and oh did I mention everything is freshly made (including the salad dressings). The meal is accompanied with a vegetable and homemade potatoes chips (perfectly crisp and seasoned). I will definitely be back to try many more options on this menu. read more

Charcoal Oven Restaurant - New American Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

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I've driven past this restaurant many times over the years and finally recently gave them a try for dinner before a show at a nearby theater. We made a reservation because we had theater tickets but the reservation wasn't necessary as the restaurant was never full while we were there. To be fair some of that might have been due to a heavy snow fall that day. Charcoal Oven is an old fashioned supper club. We were greeted by a gentleman wearing a suit and fedora. We were seated at one of the many black leather C shaped booths. The menus were hand written which kept the options focused on what they do well. We started with salads and chose the creamy garlic dressing which was good and we were told was made in house. My boyfriend ordered the greek chicken and I ordered the shrimp scampi. Both were good. The restaurant provided us with greek bread, homemade potato chips and a medley of corn and zucchini to go with our meals. In addition we were given small servings of their pastitsio as a starter. All the food was good. The three stars is due to a dated interior. The prices run $20+ for entrees. It's hard to justify driving past Wildfire or other similar places to go to Charcoal Oven. That being said if you like supporting small businesses give them a try. read more

I don't know what's going on with this place, but I'm SO disappointed and quite frankly, angry about our experience with The Charcoal Oven. My husband, parents and I ate here about a year ago and had such a wonderful experience that my husband and I decided we wanted to go back for our anniversary. My incredible mother-in-law, who lives in Arizona, said that she wanted to pay for our meal as a gift so she called the restaurant and asked if she could arrange a gift certificate. The first time she called, the man told her they were too busy to deal with it and that she should call the next day after 4pm. So she did... And they gave her the same answer every time she called for 4 DAYS STRAIGHT. So, I decided to call and see what was going on and the guy who answered the phone told me that she kept calling too late (remember, he told her to call after 4... Not AT 4) and that he was in the weeds because it was just him and the chef and he didn't have 15 minutes to put the gift certificate together. Now, I swear I'm a reasonable person. I have worked in restaurants before and fully understand how things can get crazy. But I have also worked in customer service, and I also know that if someone has called 4 TIMES over 4 days, trying to get the same, simple service, I would bend over backwards to make sure that person got what they needed, just for the effort this person is putting into it alone! And, to add insult to injury, not 20 minutes before calling, I had driven by their restaurant and there was ONE car in their parking lot! Doesn't seem like enough people to warrant his claim of being too busy to me.... Never going back again. I'll be sure to tell all of my friends in the neighborhood as well. read more

It was the worst meal I have had in my Chicago area stay. We each had the $30 lamb chops medium rare which came well done and really chewy. When we told them they were well done the owner said they didn't have anymore lambchops and offered to give us lamb shank, which was also over cooked and came on an ice cold plate. Then when the check came he charged us $39 for the lamb chops. So he evidently charged us for the lamb shank also. TERRIBLE! I do not recommend this place at all. read more

This place is a throwback to the 40's and 50's with the decor to match I used to come here often for lunch with clients in the early 90's for great steaks, lamb and chops. 28 years later my wife and i decided to try it and found that literally nothing had changed. The steaks are excellent and the fish is fresh. You order the protein and get soup, Greek rolls and a salad dinner comes with a vegetable and amazing potato chips. The wine list is well priced and they have some some excellent selections which sell for under $50 The only negatives are that the decor literally has not changed since the place opened and that they charged an extra $2.50 for blue cheese dressing which I thought was kind of chintzy when paying $150 for dinner for two I recommend this place for a retro experience read more

I had passed this restaurant for years, and it did not look promising from the outside. But there were so many positive reviews.. So, I made a reservation. When we showed up on time, upon entering the door, which looks like someone took a crowbar to it, in through doors that wouldn't close into a shabby entrance, and then a small entrance hall so crowded with coats that the 5 people waiting 5 minutes or so to get attention had little room to wait to be seated. Finally, a man from the bar came over with a frown and said, "whatta we got here?" Not a smile from this guy. He seated us in a booth with incredibly uncomfortable seats that slanted down and cracked between the back and the seat. We waited 10 minutes to get water with staff rushing by and not making eye contact. The grumpy guy from the bar came over without a word and poured us water. We waited some more hoping to get a menu and a drink. Finally, we decided to cut our loses. It was noisy, poorly lit, and very unfriendly. And less than half full so it was hard to see the reason for the poor service. I then received a "cancel" from my Open table so apparently they took some kind of notice! I have no idea if the food is good, but there are so many great restaurants with wonderful food in the same area where they make you feel welcome and have the courtesy to bring you menus and smile at you when you come in the door. read more

Asked bartender for a drink as he was cashing someone out since I hadn't seen him in a while. I went to the bathroom right by the cashier's station. while in the bathroom I heard the bartender (the owner Rich) bad mouthing me " why dont your ask your waitress for a drink!!?" ..."who is this guy!?"...well first rich, I was sitting at the bar and you were my bartender. I called him out when I went back to my seat. Why would he bad mouth a customer as I stood 5 feet away from him. It's a shame, I liked the place, but the owners an a$$hole. read more

About a 2-2.5: I was quite excited to try this place out since there was a similar one out in Galena - the whole retro-esque type of leather booths with a dimly-lit ambience and supposedly some good and hearty food. However, when we walked in, we were slightly greeted and were given the choice to choose our own seats. The menu was handwritten, which seemed like an added personal touch. The entrees of the Greek Chicken and their Canadian BBQ ribs were highly recommended. I went for the ribs, whereas my husband went for the Double Cut Pork Chops as part of their 'Specials.' Both came with a steaming hot cup of vegetable lentil soup, and it was quite tasty and well-seasoned. Their homemade bread seemed weird in texture and taste at first, but it was bizarre-ly addicting (like an unsweetened chewy donut). The salad was fresh (they didn't drain much since there was quite a big puddle of water at the bottom of the bowl), but their creamy garlic dressing was quite thick and tasty. The vinaigrette dressing that my husband had was quite refreshing and tangy as well. Their 'cottage fries' were basically a chewy version of kettle chips. It was alright, but they weren't salted; the steamed green beans were okay. The pork chops were quite tough and unflavorful. The bbq ribs were okay, and I appreciated the 'bones' plate. The service was not so great as our server never came to check up on us throughout our dining experience. With the check, we received their homegrown tomatoes, which I thought was cute. I'm glad I was able to finally try this restaurant out, but not sure if I'd come back again. +fresh salads with creamy garlic dressing +MIA service read more

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We used to love this place. But then everything went down hill. The owner/managers just stopped giving a crap. Ran out of merlot, topped it off with Cabernet. Stuff like that. Always out of several dishes in the menu. But honestly , the kicker isn't any of that... they steal from their employees. Someone very close to me worked their for several years. She ended up quitting because Maria, the owner, admitted to taking half of the tips. She felt that because she helped to serve the tables (like all managers do) that she was entitled to 50% of the tip share. Even tho it is 100% illegal for salary employees to split tips with tipped employees. When she was called out on it, she didn't see anything wrong with it and refused to make it right. What made matters even worse, is that the person I knew was involved in a car accident during the last few months of her employment and had to miss significant work. When her attorney asked for tax returns to prove that she lost wages for her claim, the tax return reflected $1500 for the entire year!!! Mind you, this should have been caught by my friend, but it wasn't and because it wasn't it cost her thousands in lost wages that she could not recoup without proof that she earned it. Rich and Maria have reached a point where they don't care about the restaurant, the employees, or what happens. We are appalled at their behavior and how they handled the situation. My advice to all is to stay far far away from these greedy people who steal from their employees and have no clue how to run a restaurant the right way. Plus, if you order Cabernet, you might get Pinot noir! Cuz you know, it's all the same! Haha I will never ever visit again and neither will anyone connected to our group. read more

Incredible 0ld school supper club. Great environment, service, and the food is awesome. Very good value,. Owners and staff really make you feel welcome and at home. We had whitefish and rack of lamb, both done perfectly. The appetizer, salad, and dinner rolls almost stole the show. Very good beer and wine list. Some new supper club venues spend millions for this ambience, but the Charcoal Oven is the real thing - since 1949. Not to be missed. read more

Charcoal Oven Restaurant - New American Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

What a gem! This 68 year old restaurant consistently delivers exceptional food quality, service, and value. The craft beer and wine offerings show depth and thoughtful consideration. The aged steaks, Greek chicken, lamb offerings, & fresh fish are all prepared to your specs. The original north shore supper club does not disappoint and is a great spot for family or business events. Very special! read more

Charcoal Oven Restaurant - New American Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

So, here's the deal, we have been going to the Charcoal Oven for more than 50 years, it was the goto place for business lunches and family celebrations Once Phil passed, we didn't go so much wrong. Phil 's daughter,Maria and her husband , have very successfully carried on the 70 year tradition, that would make Phil very proud If you are looking for a very traditional Greek style steakhouse, without having to drive to the city, you will be well served by the Charcoal Oven. Solid drinks, will start your dining experience, while you ponder a menu to satisfy all, featuring steaks, chops, seafood and other entree to satisfy all. Stay in our hood to enjoy a meal that will appreciate the 70;year tradition read more

I hate giving such a low star rating to a restaurant. Really hate it, however, that being said? Terrible experience. So disappointing. We went here as a group for a celebration and made a reservation earlier in the week. Part of the family had been here previously in the year and had a good meal, so this is why the restaurant was chosen. We also chose an early seating to avoid their busy time trying to be considerate and acknowledge the logistical problems of cooking for a group of 8. When we got there, we were seated promptly. Yay. But, they put down one less chair of our reservation number. It was then a game of musical chairs to find an extra one! Usually this isn't a big deal, however, given that this is a pricey restaurant, celebration, and they knew the numbers of guests up front, this was sort of a farce. Boo. Bread, pastitsio and salads with the creamy garlic dressing were good. Yay. However, that was the last of the good. When they brought out the meals, they brought all...except mine. I had everyone start eating the hot food as I waited. I waited patiently. I was sure that they saw that my setting was empty and the reason my dish wasn't out was because they didn't have enough hands. When longer that multiple trips to the kitchen went by, the others at my table started to feed me parts of their meal. How long does it take to make the Greek Chicken? It was a long 15-20 minutes and when the food didn't come out, I flagged a server to ask. Now normally, a server would've been by to check, especially as this was a group of 8, but oddly no. No visit til I flagged her down. Well, another 7- 10 minutes went by before the Greek Chicken arrived. During the time I was waiting for my food, one of the people at the group noticed that her $49 steak was not medium rare as she had wanted. It was well done. There was not a hint of pink at the center of the steak. We had her cut it in three different places to check. So once again, we needed to flag someone about it. That took another act of Congress before we got the server and had her steak back at the table. Given the staggering of the meals coming out of the kitchen, several of us were done and I was in the middle of the chicken before she stated eating. For an expensive restaurant, that's not acceptable. I wish I could say that was it, but sadly, no. When the check came out, we saw that they did take one entree off of it, the least expensive one. Not the $49 steak. Really? For a long standing established restaurant full of history, I really expected a whole lot more. The fact that they took off the entree shows that that they knew they were subpar. The fact that it wasn't even the dish they cooked improperly shows that they didn't care. No apologies. No verbal acknowledgements. The fact that they took off a less expensive one shows they are cheap. They obviously don't care for us to return. Hence, this honest review. Given my type of work and personality, I tend to only review positives, however, this experience has really stood out prominently as a horrible dining experience. Given the price range of the entrees, your money would be much better spent at Pete Miler's Steak and Seafood. We had a meal there recently with the same group of 8. The service was far more attentive. They had the table set with the proper number chairs reserved. The food was terrific. They even had jazz music. They didn't remove the cost of an entree there, but they didn't have to because the dining experience was excellent. Which reminds me, I need to write a review for them. read more

Been there only 3 time's met the owner the first time and got the paper bag of tomatoes from his garden, I so far and have never had a bad experience, old time supper club vibe, great flavored food, I don't care for faint or delicate flavored food so when I taste that lump wood charcoal flavor its game over and don't get me started on their dinner roll and their creamy garlic dressing both are over the top. Price point is where it needs to be for what you get. read more

Allright. This is a weird one. I've driven past this restaurant much of my adult life, and never stepped foot inside. It always appeared like an "old people" place, a little supper-clubby, with no real windows to see inside, sitting all alone along Golf Road. Of course, now, that I'm officially one of the "older people" we decided to try it. Knowing that the large parking lot was often empty, we just decided to give it a try one Friday night, and walked-in. The hostess (and I use the term loosely) greeted us and asked if we had a reservation. Long pause. I looked past her into the largely empty dining room, and said "uh... no." She, then turned and looked at the room, hopefully seeing the same thing I saw and turned back and said "I'll see if I can fit you in". She then went off somewhere (maybe to take her past-due Geritol®), and she came back to say "you're in luck, we've just had a cancellation"... and led us through the empty dining room to a table. They delivered some pastichio to the table as we sat and I asked "What's this?" as we hadn't ordered anything yet. The geriatric waitress said with a little bit of attitude "It's Pastichio!"... okay, okay.... sorry. We waited a good long time for the menus to arrive, and an even longer time for the Senior Citizen brigade of waitresses to take our order. The menu was totally old school. Rat pack drinks... martini's, manhattans and the like... the meals were the same... Chicken Vesuvio, (good... but practically the whole freakin' chicken)... Sauteed Chicken Livers (those are hard to find)... but ohmigod... an entire plateful... must have been a pound! but they were good, good, good! At one point, while delivering one of the dishes, grandma... er, I meant the waitress stood on my foot while delivering it. I think she must have neuritis and can't feel her feet... I COULD! I can't really recommend this place, except in a way old-school-Ed-Debevic's-let-the-wait-staff-abuse-you kinda way. The food is good, and if you've got some time, and are ready for a laugh... sure why not? read more

Um, I love this place. How can anyone ignore the fact that Charcoal Oven has such charm and personality? As soon as you walk in, you are transported back in time. The booths, chandeliers, dim lighting and the old school music? I was intrigued. The menu (written in some great cursive font) offered a variety of proteins, from pork chops to Greek chicken to salmon to liver. The entrees ranged from like $20 - $30, so it was cool to see that all the dinners came with soup, salad, bread and 2 family style sides. All inclusive - I'm in. (I don't think you actually get to choose your sides, though, as theyre already set for the day.) My mom invited me to join her and my dad pretty last minute, so I had already eaten and just ordered some soup. It was delicious (like a black bean lentil?) and perfect for the cold night. (BTW - If you decide on getting a BOWL of soup, just be warned that it is a pretty effin' large bowl of soup). Although really not hungry, I couldn't resist trying a little bit of everything that came out. The sides of green beans and potato chip things were delish as were the ribs. My Dad enjoyed the bbq sauce, which actually rarely happens. My Mom was not so into her shish kabob, but it tasted good to me! The highlights? The BREAD and the oh-so-comforting apple pie ala mode. Heavenly. Our waiter (who was incredibly nice and also the owner) informed us that the chef was also the one who was bringing out the food. Cool, right? The owner was so friendly and really made this experience enjoyable. Such a nice change of pace for dinner. read more

Okay, so me and some friends were driving by this place on Golf Road. It looked like a small house with the old neon lights that said "luncheons" & "cocktails". My friend David said, "Ya' know I've been driving by this place for twenty years and have never stopped in." So after a drive into Evanston for a quick haircut appointment and a cocktail, we mobile googled it and read some reviews. We found out that it has been around for over fifty years, and the original owners are still running the place. And people said the food was good. We like kitsch, so what the hell. Four of us walk in on a Friday night near 10 pm. We were greeted by Phil and his wife, who are the owners. David says to her, "I've been driving by this place for twenty years and finally decided to stop in." This woman in her near 70's states, "If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that...I'd be rich and I could finally close this place!" Friggin' funny. So she sat us down at a table in the middle of the restaurant. Decor...not so much. Cool half rounded booths with tuft black leather. I think the music was on a radio station that was playing something from the seventies. Then our waitress, Sonia walks up. She is about in her 60's, and come to find out, she has been there for thirty-two years and she even makes all the dressings and the soups every day! Impressive. We order some classic cocktails like martini's and manhattans. I must say, they were pretty good. They're a Greek restaurant, but the food on the menu ranged from Rack of Lamb to BBQ Ribs to Veal Parmesan and lots of steaks and seafood in between. Ask Sonia what is good. She won't be afraid to turn her nose up at something and then say, "Try the Dover Sole. You won't regret it." The prices, I thought were great. Dinners ranged from about $12 to $30, but the $30 meal is rack of lamb. All dinners include salad and homemade soup, too. So that is like only paying $20 for the lamb! This is my new favorite place. Sonia had made lentil soup that day. Awesome! And when you order the salad, get the bleu cheese dressing. There is a pound of bleu cheese in every helping. Phil even came up and told us that he had a tray of ribs just coming out of the oven. And their daughter, who helps out with everything, even became a good friend by the end of the night. After a few hours, two cocktails each and two bottles of wine, not to mention four full meals. The tab was about $180. Not bad! Check it out. It is definitely worth it if you like kitsch and good food at a reasonable price. read more

When we were looking for a site for a graduation celebration I thought of the Charcoal Oven even though I haven't been there for over 15 years and couldn't remember my last experience. It is still exactly the same 1950's supper club ambiance that I remember. You wouldn't be surprised to see Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart sitting in one of the black booths. There were seven people in our party, including a nine year old girl. We were seated promptly and sat for a while looking over the handwritten menu. Since our nine year old was very hungry, I asked for some bread. Instead we received a plate of beniegts, savory brushed with butter, rolls from heaven (these are bread, not the powdered sugar New Orleans version). These quickly disappeared as we made our selections from the menu. A word of caution .... not all the items on the menu are available nor are all the items available on the menu. Instead there is a great selection of entrees which turn out to be a mix of menu items and specials. Even though a few of a party chose entrees that were not on hand, they had no trouble deciding on an alternate choice. Dinners include the homemade beniegts, soup, salad and, of course, the entrée. Our party's main courses included fat, meaty soft shell crabs, tasty, pan fried Walleye Pike, perfectly done rack of lamb, a very large rib eye steak, steel head salmon and fall off the bone baby back ribs. Platters of home made potato chips (more like home fries) and asparagus, served family style, accompanied the entrées. Without exception, everyone in our party was extremely satisfied with their dinner. The nine year old summed it up ... "I feel like I'm on an airplane ... in first class". It's no wonder the Charcoal Oven has been around for over sixty years. The service was great, the ambiance funky, and the food over the top. As you leave you get a small bag of homegrown tomatoes or home made bread. ... you can be sure we will be back soon. read more

Like many reviewers we had been passing by the Charcoal Oven for years before we finally went it. I have to say it was excellent... up until the end. Yes, the decor is old fashioned, much like the clientele. But what do you expect? It's a supper club! That's part of the charm. The place is smaller than it looks from the outside. Most but not all the tables were occupied on a Friday night. The husband and wife owners were doing the serving. The first course salad was very good, especially the homemade dressing. The rolls were piping hot, though for some odd reason they don't bring you any butter. (We looked around -- none of the other tables had it either.) My wife ordered the lobster tail. She said it was the best she ever tasted. I had the trout -- it was very fresh, with just the right amount of seasoning. All the meals come with green beans and homemade potato chips. The beans were nicely done, the chips were, well, chips. I would have loved them with a deli sandwich. They didn't really go with the rest of the meal. After our meal was finished and our dishes were cleared, my wife was excited to try one of their desserts. We waited for someone to bring us a dessert menu... and waited... and waited... and waited. I finally stopped one of the owners who was passing our table. She barely slowed down long enough to say she'd be right with us. A few minutes later I saw her chatting with another table. She never returned. It wasn't like the place was so busy they couldn't take a minute to bring us menus. If this were a less expensive place I might have been more forgiving, but when I'm spending $100 on dinner for two I expect good service from start to finish. We finally had to get up and pay at the bar, and the Charcoal Oven went from a "must return" restaurant to one I might give another chance to sometime in the future. read more

I had been driving past this place my entire life and never went inside. And when I'd go back to visit, my wife would always see that awesome neon cocktails sign and say, "We gotta try that place sometime." So one time we went with my dad, before he died, my old buddy Chip R., and were served by the longtime owner Phil (Evanston graduate), before he died. I mean, we were literally the only table being served, and you'd think they'd be off their game ... they were so on it, I remember him bringing out the fish and showing us that you could see its freshness by looking at its eyes. The food was great, and the experience was so old school. I'm glad to know this place is still clicking along. read more