The Department

I ate here last night and I was seated quickly, but the waitress wasn't particularly attentive.  Granted, she had a lot of tables but she never responded to one of my requests.  I had pasta and my friend had the pasta and with shrimp, which were new additions to the menu.  Given the quality, the food was overpriced and not worth trying.

I originally tried to order a sandwich, but multiple items that were listed on the menu were no longer available from the kitchen.  The waitress told us they had a new chef and were in the process of transitioning to a new menu.  Given my experience last night, I'm not looking forward to what's ahead at The Department.

I took my partner here for his birthday and we had a good time. To start off, the restaurant itself reminds me of a restaurant found in Chicago...great job on that! I enjoyed the atmosphere, very urban in a suburb 40 plus miles away from Chicago. We sat in the dining area which only had maybe three other parties. The bar area was a bit busy b/c of a Bears game that was on (I guess they had specials whenever a game was on). We then ordered drinks to celebrate his birthday. The drinks were good but not great (but very strong). I had a birthday cake martini which was good going down but felt it later. I then switched over to bottled domestic beer. My partner had a few mixed drinks that were (again) very strong but it was his birthday so all was good. The food was ok but took a bit long to get to our table. We plan to go back but for drinks mostly...especially for their martinis.

Went here sometime in 2012 when I was in Joliet to see Bill Cosby at the Rialto Square theatre and I can't really remember what I ate or ordered because it really wasn't worth remebering. I didn't like the food at all and the drinks had a lot of ice and were very weak. The waitress was nice. Hostess was a little snobby.