Average food and an unusual amount of pesky flies at the bar while we're eating. This is such a beautiful place right on the lake, but no one was there during dinner time. I realize it's just after Labor Day weekend, but I feel if the food was right and maybe they had some music or some kind of action going on at the place it could do well. Just my opinion of course read more

The Cove Bar and Grill - The beautiful lake - New American Near Me - Apple River, Illinois

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Good fish fry - grilled or fried, 2 piece or 4. Stir fried vegetables are a great side.

Terrible! Avoid this place. Service was horrible. Very RUDE! I would not recommend. The view is not worth it! Horrible! read more

The service here is consistently disappointing. On multiple visits, my family and I have been treated rudely. I usually avoid leaving reviews--but after giving this place several chances, each experience has been unpleasant. Most recently, we were turned away at 7:20 PM on a Saturday because we were told the kitchen was closing, even though the posted hours state it closes at 9 PM. Very unprofessional and frustrating. read more

They were not friendly or accommodating. There are many nice restaurants around where they treat you better.

We have been to the Cove several times. The food was delicious and very good service. Thankfully they are open year round now. Best people to run the Cove in years. Hope it keeps going! read more

I asked to change to change tables because a member of my party was cold by an air vent. The server gave us plenty of attitude but we ultimately moved. Owner then made a very rude and passive aggressive post about us on the Facebook page and blocked anyone who came to our defense. Just unprofessional and inappropriate. Food was alright but certainly won't have us returning. Service was slow. It's faster to just drive to town and back. read more

The service was amazing, we were greeted as soon as we walked into the door. The food came out very quick. The cheese curds were way too chewy. The chicken was a little cold and it was obviously frozen in a freezer in the back of the kitchen, probably. Not many people there. Other wise it was cool and I don't really give a sh about how my food tastes, I was just hungry. read more

The Cove Bar and Grill - Pizza is good. - New American Near Me - Apple River, Illinois

Brought my friend to the Cove for her birthday yesterday. Our attentive server was Ivy. We chose the chicken with original coleslaw and had the poutin as an appetizer. Very tasty and crispy. Used the discount that came in the mail and had the lemon cake. We all agreed that it had a nice lemon flavor and spongy texture. Happy to see the quality is good with a decent limited menu. Way to go Kristine. read more

For the 2024 season there is new management and cooks. We've gone several times and overall the food has been very good. From burgers to pizza and their wings everything has been tasty and well priced. Service can be a little slow on busy nights; however, with the location where it is it's understandable that getting servers must be tough. Just relax and enjoy the views. read more

Was there a month and a half ago and left a review and I guess it wasn't posted because I used foul language. Ordered mine and crabcakes crabcakes came out and they did not look like crabcakes. Caught into it and found out it was an artificial crab meat inside server asked if we wanted some type of ranch dressing to put on it and we said no I'll take it back and take it off the bill . She came back five minutes later said they couldn't take it off the bill. I asked to speak to the manager and he came out and said no we're on the menu. Does it say homemade crabcakes and I said no we're on the menu does it say they're not this one? He told me to get the F off the property b---. That's when we exchanged words he followed me out to the parking lot like he wanted to fight. He's lucky that I didn't feel like going to jail. then his lovely daughter came out to the parking lot and started arguing with my wife told me they don't take anything off the bill. If you eat it we didn't need it. It was terrible never go back there again. Hopefully it changes owner soon because it is a nice atmosphere. read more

Terrible. Service was slow because they sat a 28 top that had not made a group booking in advance. The kitchen and staff were overwhelmed by it. That's just poor management by the new managers who took over this year. They also get REALLY upset at patrons who move tables and will shame you on social media for it. Food was ho-hum. I hope the ACL board takes a long look at the attitude of the managers and the way they treat property owners before renewing any contracts. They lost our business. read more

Came with a group of friends for our annual girls trip and this experience was terrible the second year in a row. We didn't see a server for the first 10 minutes sitting there; we found a hair in our appetizer, and my friend's drink was made incorrectly (after being forgotten) TWICE!! Also one members food was brought out and the rest of our table sat for another 15 minutes before the rest of the food arrived. Servers and bartenders were so incredibly rude and when we asked our server for an itemized receipt she acted like she didn't know what that was and then never gave it to us. read more

surprisingly pretty empty on memorial day weekend. Decent beer selection/cocktails/wine, nothing super fancy but the basics are all there. We had a big group and service was still fast on refills. Really good fried pickles and loved the fried mushrooms all nice and crispy. Salad was disappointing i would pass on that. Really good tenderloin sandwich that is a must, also the pizza here is not bad at all. Its pretty much one of the only places around but for what it is its pretty decent. read more

new operators this year, things are looking great. we ate there this past week, don't recall their name for it by I call it fish and chips and loved it. hope to be out on their deck next week, fantastic views and the sunset will be awesome. looks like they got lots of music lined up for us. HAPPY HAPPY read more

Terrible visit. Drove nearly two hours to enjoy the review I saw on their burgers. Witness two people entering the restaurant before us. When we entered and waited to be seated, the waitress told us they were not open (as we watched people dining ). We asked about those dining and was told the waitress was a volunteer and the people eating were for a special occasion. What was worse was before we decided to travel, we reviewed the place and it stated they were open on two different websites. I asked when they would be open and the waitress said to look on Facebook to find out. This insult affirmed we will never go to this place, if that is the way they treat customers. read more

I've been to the cove a few times, mainly because it's the only restaurant in Apple Canyon. The view is amazing, but the restaurant has gone down hill. We went memorial day weekend, which we expected a wait for. That's fine, I've worked in the service industry, so I am very understanding. When we were sat the hostess brought us to a table with no chairs. So we stood there next to the table for a good 5 minutes before we were given seats. Second, our waitress was very nice and aplogetic for the slow service and made sure our drinks were refilled. We waited over an hour for 2 salads and 2 burgers before we complained. They said it would be out soon. When we saw a large party that got seated over 20 minutes after us, we got up to leave. This was crazy. We went to the host stand and asked how much our drinks were so we could pay for what we did have. She went to the back to get our check from whoever and came out and said "don't worry about it. Sorry about everything." Now I'm not complaining about getting something for free but in ANY restaurant where you have people WALKING out, a member of management should be there to say something. The management is not only awful, they don't care. I heard another server talk about how we are not the first group to walk out that day. We then drove 25 minutes to Stockton to JJ & Freddie's and had no wait and amazing service. Only reason this review is 2 stars and not one is because of how nice the server was. I will never be returning to the cove until it is under better management. It was awful read more

Management has changed, once again, and still no improvement. We walked in and there was no one to greet us. Waited around for 5 minutes before a hostess, who seemed rather lost and disorganized, finally greeted us and showed us to a table. We were a party of six and she had only one menu for our table. Note that the restaurant was not even half full so it seemed very odd to not have only one menu. The menu itself was pitiful. Not just the selection, but the physical menu itself. I'm fairly confident my 9 year old nephew could do a better job designing and formatting a menu. It looked like it was put together using Microsoft Word 95 clip art and it was just 6 pages photocopied and stapled together. The service was pretty abysmal. Our server had a lot of energy and was very nice but got almost all of our orders wrong. Three of six drink orders were completely not what we asked for. Five of six dinner orders had something incorrect; mostly wrong side dishes (chips instead of fries, fries instead of cheese curds, that sort of thing). On the plus side, they did offer us three free drink chips at the end of the service for the earlier mix up. The food was mediocre at best. Most of us went with burgers because we figured that would be difficult to screw up. They were all a bit overcooked (though in fairness we all asked for medium or medium well because we weren't confident in getting a rare or med-rare burger) and rather bland. They weren't particularly bad but not good either. Just very "meh". One of our group got the buffalo wings and those were horrid. It tasted like a frozen boneless wing that was completely dry and had some kind of cajun spice on it which completely clashed with the buffalo sauce. Overall, a disappointing experience at The Cove. read more

We got here at 6:30 this evening. Ordered cheese curds & dinner shortly thereafter - cheese curds came out at 7:00, dinner came out at 7:45. Steak was drastically undercooked, chicken strips were drastically overcooked. The chicken was so bad, we've ordered a pasta entree to take home with us. It's 8:40 - it's not out yet. Eight. Forty. The best part? While people are waiting 45-60 minutes for food, both bartenders, a server, and a person who appears to be a cook are doing shots behind the bar. Nope. Not okay. Our carryout & bill (full bill, without even a mention of possible compensation for ridiculously slow service & poorly prepared food) are finally here - 8:45. I will say, our waitress was apologetic the whole time, though there wasn't much she could do to rectify the situation. We heard her apologizing to every table around us for similar issues. I've been coming here since I was a little kid. (Man oh man, do I miss the old Cove...) We won't be back. It's right down the road from the house, but convenience & location don't matter when the service & food are this bad. Worst experience I've ever had at The Cove. Update: the pasta entree we took home is *horrible*. The chicken is undercooked, & beyond that it's literally just butter, WAY too much garlic, and noodles. read more

I went back again last year... The experience of sitting out on the deck overlooking the lake made it worth a second shot. I'm happy to say the sandwich-level items on the menu are a much better option. Nothing spectacular or even that good, but a decent sandwich and beer on the deck is a nice experience. I'm still going to stay away from the dinner options. Now that the 2017 season is starting up, I'm looking forward to trying it out again and hoping for some better food. read more

Sad, beautiful location, but food not so. Like Cajun Jack's, but not this. 2 different meals with friends, not 1 was pleased. We didn't order anything but typical bar food that was un-typically poor. A taco salad with no Mexican flavor. Hockey puck burger, the worst wings I've ever had, couldn't finish. Etc. Etc. The menu also lacks food (such as a a Italian beef or French dip) that you would expect at a place like this. It also seemed a little heavy on wraps, what most guys want with a beer coming off of a lake. (Wife had a flavorless one). The positive was our server. She was nice, polite, always there when needed. Would love to like this place. read more

Oh this place lol they need new management immediately and preferably someone that knows what is going on. All of their food comes from frozen ore made food. And we waited 3HOURS FOR IT. Do not give this place your money. They do not know what they are doing. Also in the three hours I was there I went to the bathroom twice and each time I went it was the same dirtiness as before. I saw some of their staff just "hanging out" standing around. The motto at my work is if there is time to lean there is time to clean. The wait staff is nice and that is why they get one extra star. Food was mediocre at best. Do not come here save your time and money. read more

New season, same great view, but.... there's a new limited menu with high prices. Overpriced with mediocre food. My husband says maybe it was our fault, that we should have gone there a week earlier when the bun was fresh on his burger.The food sure doesn't match up with the view. read more

Service was horrendeous! My husband was bringing us dinner to our camper and it took 2 hours. Intead of Fries we got nasty potato, never seen anything like that. It was all brown and really old. Do not recommend. read more

Our first visit to The Cove this year was weird to say the least. When we arrived at the restaurant at 6 pm and requested a table for 3, the hostess asked us if we could vacate the table before 7pm. Being the smart ass that I am, I replied "it all depends on your service!". Needless to say, I was put off by the hostess staff within the first 5 minutes of our arrival. I don't like being rushed especially since the restaurant wasn't close to being full. I almost wanted to ask if we smelled or something. Someone needs to be re-trained in proper etiquette. Our waiter was excellent and the food was good. read more

I had high hopes for this places but left feeling a little disappointed. We sat on the deck while we ordered some lunch. The view was beautiful and it was nice to watch the boats go by while we ate our food. The food was good but not great. I had a pineapple chicken sandwich and my boyfriend had some jalapeno burger. I was not impressed with the service. The waiter was nice but didn't really stop by to refill our drinks or check on us. It also took quite a bit for us to get our food even though they weren't crowded. The bathrooms were a little strange too. Both the soap dispenser and paper towel holder were ripped off the wall and left sitting on the sink. Strange. I also found it annoying that they had wifi but you needed a password to use it. Normally that wouldn't bother me but since we were kind of in the middle of nowhere I had no signal. How was I supposed to check in on yelp!? read more

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Enjoying a nice weekend in Apple Canyon with the family and decided to eat here one night. We were worried about if any other restaurant would be able to accommodate or group of 12. About the only think The Cove has going for it is location and scenery. Not one person in our group thought their food was good. I had the chicken fingers and they were very bland. The pizza was dry and also bland. That being said the view of the sunset over the lake is rather nice. I think next time we will eat elsewhere and come here just for drinks in the patio if at all. read more

New management, great staff, best lakeside view in the area. Stop in, great area to ride.

Food was great we had Reuben's with seasoned fries both were awesome. The kids menu could be more extensive and the burger patty was chancy, but we liked that it came with apple sauce or fries. The view is amazing and service was good. We will be back. read more

Mother's Day brunch was a joke. Expensive! Was suppose to have prime rib but they were out. 1 hour wait. No mention of any kind of comp. Many unhappy people! If you are having a special brunch, you'd think you'd be more prepared! read more

It's good, I Come here once a year for the past 20 or so years due to a annual trip to the area I am basing this off my visit today , : service was good , food was good , not great but good I had the beef sandwich with Au ju. It was good the drink menu was sticky and needs to be washed or we'd down. I had to go wash my hands after reading it. Other Han that o would give then another star , as for he view ? It's really nice . read more

To be fair - we were there for dinner on their first night open. With that being said, they shouldn't have opened that day. We arrived at 6:30pm and it was only 1/3 full, therefore food and service should be great. We were not served our food for another hour and 1/2 and each of our meals had an issue. The burger my husband ordered was over cooked but they never asked how he wanted it prepared, my daughters wrap had a tortilla that flaked and fell apart and then all three of the sandwiches came with chips - not homemade chips but an actual bag of Lay's. We witnessed multiple tables have service or food issues. This is a restaurant that definitely has very slow times and very busy times because it is on the lake. I understand that this makes it difficult to staff but if they can't handle running it when it is barely full there is no way it will work when every table is full on a summer night. I want them to succeed since it is the only restaurant on the lake and I will give it another chance but there are so many improvements that need to be made. read more

Went to the Cove Restaurant today for the 1st time since these ppl leased the business. Got seated; even though there were not many customers, except for flies and wasps, not one waitress or waiter asked if i'd like a glass of water. I patiently sat there for 15 minutes in total awe as to what has become of the Cove in comparison to years ago. It's a downright shame. Needless to say, I calmly left without complaining because even the hostess had disappeared. read more

Our first official visit of the year was on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Our family has had a house on the lake for over 40 years so we try to do our best to support the Cove during the summer months. We had a larger group of around 12 people and they were nice enough to move our reservation inside due to the heat (and lack of umbrellas on the outdoor patio). We were fine with the limited menu but at 6PM they were already out of chicken which was a bit disappointing. The majority of the group ordered either a burger or the pulled pork sandwiches along with 2 orders of cheese curds for the table. The cheese curds were really good and I'd definitely recommend. The entrees on the other hand took over an hour and half and were rather mehh. My Rowdy Burger was requested medium rare and came back burnt on the outside and very well done on the inside. The fries tasted like those old Jays potato chip sticks, just thin, dry, and hard. We understand that the restaurant is just opening up for the season with new staff and management and do really hope things will turn around. Would love if the Cove could go back to the basics of a great cheese burger, hot fries, and ice cold beer. That million dollar view of beautiful apple canyon lake will take care of the rest and is the reason why we'll be coming back. read more

DJ the chef is unreal. Kids meal chicken tenders were off the hook the man knows how to cook. Hannah had excellent service and tended to all of our needs. read more

Came in and had a good lunch. (I was worried at first because no one was at the desk). We just walked in and was greeted by a smiling Katelin (our waitress was great). She came to the table several times to check on us. Served us in a timely manner. Fresh, crisp wraps. (Good choices in wrap) Chef salad was also beautifully plated, fresh and good. read more

Not a fan. Service is bad. They act like they don't even want customers there. We have been there a number of times as we live on the lake and the food is either burnt or poorly made. It is very disappointing. I pray they get better management and fix this place up. It used to be better years ago. I don't know what happened. read more

Nope. Waited 20 minutes for a table while 8-10 tables sat empty. Freezing cold. Tappers broken, so no draft beer. Asked for a red (amber beer), and the server brought a Reds Apple Ale. Waited 45 for mediocre food. Ugh. read more

We frequent the cove having a cabin at Apple Canyon Lake. I find the service good, waitstaff friendly. The potato chips are homemade and great! Burgers are large and cooked well. The menu offers a variety of foods. read more