Had a bunch of options right there- Irish food, fancy McDonald's type place, etc.- but opted to drive a little further to South Elgin. There's a restaurant that I would drive by all the time when heading up to visit my brothers in Pingree Grove, IL. I'm going to guess that 98% have no clue where that is and that's okay cause it might as well be called Middle of Nowhere. I apologize to the residents of Pingree Grove but there's no real reason for you to live there outside of cheap rent I suppose. Digression aside- I couldn't even remember the name of the place and kept calling it The Red Squire or Red Lion. The actual name is The Village Squire (http://www.thevillagesquire.com/index.html)
Now seeing the outside and based on the name The Village Squire- a safe assumption would be that it is an English themed pub. Per their website it also indicates"English pub-style casual dining". The menu and I would beg to differ based on the variety of food they offer which included a bunch of Greek food. The atmosphere and offering of popcorn as you first settle down- definitely Pub like for sure though.
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| Can't go wrong with popcorn |
For an appetizer we ended up getting Saganaki. Karen loves her some Saganaki but only if the waiter/waitress yells "OPA!!!" to the best of their ability. In case you are unfamiliar- Saganaki consists of cheese fried up/melted in a frying pan, flambeed (or as I call like to call it lit on fire) tableside, and then put out with lemon juice. As they light up your cheese- not a euphemism, they yell OPA!!!. Karen gets very judgmental with this part but luckily the waitress did her part well and disaster was avoided.
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| Saganaki with Pita |
Karen ordered the California Chicken Panini and a side of the soup of the day Avgolemeno. Avgolemeno is a Greek chicken soup with egg-lemon type sauce to it. So far menu wise we went with two Greek items if you're keeping count. I personally never had or even knew that type of soup existed but Karen did. She loved having it at a local restaurant by her growing up. I tried a little bit of it and it was pretty good- I would say the lemon is the strongest flavor in it. Definitely will look into making it at home. Karen loved it both cause it was good and the nostalgia.
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| Avgolemeno aka Greek Lemon Chicken Soup |
The California Chicken Panini didn't seem to fit the English style at all I would say. That included: chicken breast, tomatoes, hummus, avocado, Pepper jack cheese (which Karen subbed with Swiss), and two pickle slices. At first it was a little dry per Karen's satisfaction, so she asked for mayo and then it hit the spot for her. I don't think she let me try or I'd give a better account of it. She apparently forgot that sharing was caring. SMH.
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| California Chicken Panini |
I ended up being all fancy pants and got a Filet Mignon sandwich. Here's what it should have included: broiled sliced beef tenderloin, grilled onions, and Pepper Jack cheese on an garlic bread. Somehow instead of Pepper jack cheese I ended up with blue cheese on my sandwich. Now I hadn't read the description or at least remembered it saying blue cheese but Karen was all "you forgot to say no blue cheese". Looking at their online menu now, it wasn't suppose to have blue cheese. Had I know it wasn't suppose to include blue cheese I probably would have sent it back. At the time I thought it was my mistake and growing up the way I did in addition to being of the mindset "I paid for this", I still ate it. I know a lot of folks wouldn't but some reason I can disassociate my dislike of things and continue on.
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| Filet Mignon Sandwich w/ Sweet Potato Fries |
The Filet Mignon sandwich was actually pretty good even with blue cheese on it. I have to imagine that this probably was a mix up with someone else's order who loves blue cheese. Not really sure how else you mix up Pepper Jack and Blue cheese. That being said I had Karen try it, who loves blue cheese herself, and she said it was very strong/overkill on the blue cheese. She said after trying it "Why don't you scrape off the blue cheese" to which I replied "I paid good money for this".
Lily was trying to sell us on the idea of eating Pizza Hut all day. Not really sure why she loves Pizza Hut so much as really don't go or order from there. At the most we might go there once a year and that might be overestimating that. With that being said she got the pizza bread that was off the kid's menu.
Needless to say Lily high enjoyed the pizza bread. Have I met a kid that doesn't like pizza? I didn't get to try it but Karen did and said it was really good. Per her words, "It tasted like french bread pizza. It was good and I liked it." So needless to say if you have little ones you can't really screw up with cheese pizza or cheesy bread.
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| Cheese Pizza Bread w/ side of fruit |
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| Plain ol' water w/ a lemon wedge |
I'm not a drinker so didn't try anything drink wise outside of water with lemon in it. I know folks kind of are iffy if you should have lemon/fruit in your drinks because of sanitary concerns. I am of the #YOLO mindset and just go with it. I think it was cool that they used mason jars for glasses but not sure if that's "pub style" or not. Someone will have to fill me in on the rules of this.
Overall the place was very good and got the thumbs up from both Karen and Lily. The service was very excellent. Literally the waitress was on point with checking up on us as well as suggestions. She made sure Lily's food came out first, got us boxes, and got us to go cups with fresh water in it. Pretty crazy as I don't think I've come across a family oriented server like that. Kudos to you Beth! Definitely check them out if you're in South Elgin or looking at their website they have 3 other locations- Crystal Lake, Dundee, or McHenry.
#FoodieAdventure,
-Reef-
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