I ate here last night and I was seated quickly, but the waitress wasn't particularly attentive. Â Granted, she had a lot of tables but she never responded to one of my requests. Â I had pasta and my friend had the pasta and with shrimp, which were new additions to the menu. Â 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. Â The waitress told us they had a new chef and were in the process of transitioning to a new menu. Â 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.
Review Source: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.
Review Source:We have been there twice for dinner and both times were disappointing. Â First time we made reservations well in advance. Â When we arrived we were told that the only seating available was in the bar which is terrible seating and next to the door. Â The restaurant was only 25% full. Â After much argument, we were seated in the dinning room -- I knew the owner's father. Â Service was very, very slow and the food was okay but not memorable. Â Waitress and hostess both had offensive attitudes. Â When leaving, we complained further but to no avail. Â Second time was Dec 2012 but 2 years later to meet with friends who wanted to eat there. Â We arrived without reservations. Â Again we were seated in the bar. Â The dinning room was 100% vacant on a Saturday evening and remained 100% empty during the 1 1/2 hours there. Â Food was terrible. Â I ordered a prime rib sandwich with carmelized onions. Â Onions were pure white, but steamed. Â Prime rib was almost pure grizzle. Â Others said food was so-so. Â Can not understand how they remain in business.
Review Source:A friend and I drove 30 minutes to have dinner here on a Sunday night. Â We arrived at 6:30 PM. Â Told the person at the front who was dressed in an untucked, dirty, wrinkly shirt and jeans that we would like a table for 2. Â He shook his head "no". Â To which I replied, "Are you fully booked?" Â To which he replied, "No, we are out of food. Â We are not seating any more. Â We've had a busy weekend." Â WHAT?? Â We asked him for recommendations, which he reluctantly told us about a fast food chicken place down the street. Â The bar was open and bustling, and at the very least for our troubles we could have been offered a gift certificate or a drink at the bar before we headed out in the cold. Â An employee came in as my friend and I were trying to decide where else to go (Joliet can be scary and dead at night), and she tried to be very helpful. Â The original person who we spoke to did not, and he appeared to be either the owner, the chef or both. Â We called a friend who was more familiar with the area for recommendations, and he said he went to the Department the previous weekend...FRIDAY and was told that this "steakhouse" was out of steak. Â Do NOT bother with this place. Â It will not last the year, which is too bad because under decent ownership with a passably good chef, this could be a great little place. Â The building is very nice.
Review Source:So I REALLY wanted to like this place. I live in the area and wanted to frequent a nice restaurant without having to go downtown. Let me say that the service was excellent and the wait staff was attentive and thoroughly explained our questions about the menu. The salad, soup and bread sticks were fabulous and I was expecting the dinner to match. It was disappointing to say the least. I had chicken breasts which were dry and chewy and my husband had the Prime Rib which arrived COLD. They manager although he came through to check on us prior to the dinner arriving, refused to come back and address our concerns about the main course. He did tell the waitress to give us a free dessert for our trouble. Serving cold Prime Rib deserved more than a free dessert, but the dessert was good. Go for a soup and salad and maybe dessert. SKIP the main course.
Review Source:We've been here twice. Both times very slow service, over cooked food, but at least the manager cared and both times we we're comped. That helped at least.
Last night we came at 6:20pm, waited about 3-4 min before anyone even greeted us! It wasn't busy. Waited for the apps until just before 7pm. Â Then dinner came at 7:20 pm. Â Food was very average. People behind us sent back both meals because of overlooked. I suggest order everything rare! Or stay home and cook.
HORRIBLE. Â there was a groupon for this, $20 for $40 worth of food. Â i took my mother-in-law there for her birthday and was embarrassed. Â the entire experience from start to finish was a disaster. Â it took over 10 mins to get our first drink. Â wine list was so lame-cheap bottles you can get at the convenient store. friday night...out of scallop appetizer. Â the appetizers we did get were crab cakes and spinach dip. Â it was like eating spoonfulls of salt. Â the crab cakes were served on a bed of wild rice. Â weird. then there was this orange colored sauce on top. Â i decided to get a steak, ordered it medium and it was raw in the middle. Â the best was when the lights in the dining room were tured off, Â a disco light was turned on, and a lady gaga song started to blast on the speakers. Â servers came out with birthday cakes for a table, containing huge sparklers for candles. Â i couldn't believe it. Â it was so tacky!!! Â and of course there were several birthdays so our meal was interrupted throughout the night. Â DO NOT GO HERE. Â MCDONALDS WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
Review Source:My fiance and I came in last night after finding you guys on Groupon and we had our hopes up so high that we might have discovered a place great enough to not have to drive out to the city every weekend. The building is beautiful but the staff and the food left everything to be desired. First of all, our waitress seemed like she was more interested in socializing with her pals at the bar than taking care of us. We mentioned it was our first time at The Department and she just said, "Oh." Not, "Welcome" or any other warm remarks welcoming new customers. Right off the bat her lack of social skills was apparent. I had a hard time deciding on a meal because everything looked so good and she made me feel rushed, being sure to point out that the kitchen closes at 9pm.. our reservation was at 7:30pm. Again, lack of social skills and now rude as well. My fiance ordered the cajun ribeye and specified a warm pink center and after going back and forth on medium rare or medium, the waitress responded with "Well I will put medium rare and if it is too pink we will just throw it back on the grill." What?! That just proved the lack of standards of The Department. We don't pay $30 for a steak and then have it cut open to be thrown back on the grill. If the waitress knew anything about the restaurant world she would know that is a huge no-no in any respectable kitchen. My fiance wanted to leave right then but we ordered and enjoyed the atmosphere while we waited on our calamari appetizer and that is when things started going downhill fast. The calamari was undercooked, the breading tasted like flour and it was just completely terrible. The waitress stopped by to ask how it was and we expressed dissatisfaction and she awkwardly smiled and went about her way. She didn't care to stop and ask why we were not enjoying it, what is wrong with it, if we wanted something else. We are not the type to send food back so we would not have ordered something else but why bother asking diners how their food is if you don't care anyways? The rest of the food was just okay. The cajun ribeye was thin, most definitely not worth $30. The burger I ordered had no flavor and the fries were what we expected seeing how when we walked by your kitchen with a window out to Chicago Ave we saw the bag of frozen Ore-Ida's in the "chef's" hands. Our biggest issue was that in the middle of dinner the music was cut off from the overhead speakers and replaced with the Presidential Debate. Are you kidding me? We came out to enjoy a new restaurant and a nice meal and we are being forced to listen to the debate? If we wanted to watch the debate, we would have stayed home. We said this exact statement to the manager and his response was "there are customers who want to hear it." We told him we would like to leave then because we refuse to sit and have to listen to politics during dinner and he said sorry, like our business didn't matter. He ended up turning the speaker off that was closest to our booth but the music did not come back on and we were still left to listen to the debate. Needless to say we couldn't get out of their fast enough. Our entire experience with The Department was one let down following another and another and another. Just some suggestions, train your staff on their social skills, higher your kitchen standards and always care about every customer's experience. This restaurant is gorgeous to look at but not worth going in. You debuted on Groupon yesterday and we came in and you were out of 4 different menu items at 7:30pm. That, we were willing to look past and would not have been a deal breaker for a second try. More shocking though is a bar/restuarant is NO place for politics or religion NO matter what. Your lack of customer service blew any chance of even giving The Department a second thought. A definite let down.
Review Source:The atmosphere is great in this place, and the crowd seems good. There were three of us, me the one girl and 2 guys. There were two male bartenders behind the bar. They were steady busy. We were obviously together. My friend ordered a beer and a shot, and two of us ordered one a mixed drink and a shot. The bartenders were so busy flirting with each other they totally forgot both of our mixed drinks. Also, when he handed us the shots, they had their FINGERS IN IT! My friend mentioned it to him and his response was something like, "sorry we're busy I'm in a hurry". I don't care what you're doing -- we don't need your fingers in our beverages, that's disgusting. Our mixed drinks were WAY under the average size, and very very diluted, AND PRICEY! My friend is a great tipper, and we left without giving these guys anything but the bill. Totally bad experience; never going back. If I'm in Downtown JTown I'm heading to McBrody's.
Review Source:About 14 of us showed up w/o a reservation and within 10 minutes we were seated on the upstairs deck. They turned off the music as per our request and honored our request for seperate checks. Â That's great service right from the start. The food was also great. I had melt in your mouth tortellini.$15.50 seemed like a lot for pasta and a salad, but the pasta was fresh. Too much to eat so I enjoyed some the next day. House cab was also fine with me.
Review Source:So I'm not the best source of info on this restaurant, but we've gone here once in ea of the last 3 yrs. Â I'm happy to report on the consistent food quality and service. Â
Before I forget, someone in your party must order the maple glazed cinnamon apple stuffed pork chops. Â It's a decent portion, especially after soup and very attractive salad. Â Last time I took a side order of thin asparagus but loved the look of my wife's twice-baked potatoes...I'm sorry, are we still talking about food here??
Anyway, others will prob say it's a good bar - I can believe that. Â They have a nice atmosphere and sensitive service staff that suits my sensitive nature. Â That said, make reservations for a weekend visit since they budget their limited space precisely. Â
Maybe I picked the right 3 days in the last 3 yrs, but methinks they're doing much more good than bad. Â I've tipped at 35% here ea time cuz my experiences warranted some extra.
My lunches at the dept are the best to be had in downtown joliet. Food is unique - not the usual and what is usual (a burger) is also very good. Also great choices for the lighter side with fresh fruit instead of fries and feel full but not fat afterwards. GREAT renovation work to the building makes it an outstanding venue
Review Source:all i can say is, the dirty martinis were perfectly chilled, strong and ample - just what we wanted.
this was our dinner destination post "nutcracker" and it was fantastic. we had the upstairs area pretty much to ourselves (until another large party arrived and sat at the only other large table up there).
it's a beautiful building with gorgeous exposed brick, old fire department photos and uniforms and such. super cool theme.
the food is pretty standard american fare with a few twists. i had the department chicken - basically two chicken breasts topped with a mixture of artichokes, olives, feta and tomatoes. pretty tasty. everyone else in my party ordered steaks, and they were quite pleased with them.
seems like a great place for big groups or small groups. check it out!
This place is pretty dang sweet. Â The lady friend and I went on a cold December night for dinner and drinks before a show at the Rialto. Â I couldn't agree more when she mentioned that she actually WOULDN'T mind it snowing. Â A very relaxed atmosphere that serves up Christmas pretty well. Â Quite the peaceful and fun dinner.
We had a very cool waitress who had a great personality. The servers all had parties of 6 or larger to deal with (as is Saturday nights with a big name show in town), and service was still pretty good despite the busy rush.
The main dining room is spacious and there are very large windows to look upon the nice small downtown feel of Joliet staring in at you. Â Prices were pretty fair for such great food. Â Recommend the Three Cheese, Spinach & Artichoke Dip., as will probably every server at the place. Â
We actually came back for drinks after the show. Â Seems like it had pretty good night life, except for the men having their 1999 Zamda Zamda Zamda reunion. ;)
Definitely a place worth checking out.
Wonderful time. Found this gem after theatre at Rialto Square. Didn't have a reservation but the manager Greg was so helpful. Sat us at the hightop chairs in the bar area. Our server Kitty was Great. She was very attentive on this busy night.  They made us feel like regular patrons  Bonus they set up a party next to us. One of the wonderful young men from The Midtown Men and his family. Everyone was great. Goal was for all the guest at this place to feel well taken care of. They did it.
Review Source:The place is gorgeous. The dinner salad was delicious with beautiful green spinach and fresh tomato romaine. The house dressing was delicious (red wine vinaigrette) with in 3-5 minutes of finishing our salad, our $21 new York strips came. I got the rice as a side. The steaks were lack luster flavor. The rice was cold and the chocolate mint martini was not worth it. My husband's steak was just as tough and unflavorful. I ordered rare steak, it was medium. He ordered medium and his was well.
Review Source:This is downtown Joliet so the rent can't be that bad. The atmosphere was great with the big windows and high celings. The guy who seated us needs a reality check. Maybe I missed his star quality in not recognizing him from that underwear commercial he did when he was 17. But again folks, we are in Joliet. Hello! The booth that we were seated in was nice with a perfect view from all sides. A sidekick who was obviously in a bad mood came with a carafe of water and dropped it on the table. Then she filled our glasses with a another one and she was just short enough that she stuck her sweaty armpit in the one on the table. Lovely! I ordered the California chicken salad with rotisserie chicken. Not! They were perfectly cubed with no color or taste. I am sure they were in a factory sealed bag not more that 2 minutes prior to hitting the microwave. The salad itself was not a big deal as the lettuce seemed a bit old. The shaved almonds and dried fruit were pretty good though. All the components are here to make this a great experience with very little effort. But all we got was very little effort.
Review Source:3 Strikes and You're Out.
Let's start with the positive. Â It's a nice looking facility in an old building with excessively high ceilings. Â Good atmosphere. Â But, that's all I can say that's positive.
We had a 5:45 reservation before the Sheryl Crow concert. Â The place was maybe 2/3rds full. Â Our server was straightforward. Â She said she has more tables than she could handle. Â We appreciated the honesty.
Sorry, strike one.
We placed our order with her at 6:15. Â There were four of us. Â Three salads, two soups, and a bruschetta. Â Nothing over the top and no requests a la Meg Ryan in the movie "When Harry Met Sally". Â The server knows we have a concert starting at 7:30. Â
6:30 pm  nothing
6:45 pm nothing (she did refill our waters upon us asking)
7:00 pm  nothing
7:05 Â Someone who looks like a busboy brings our meals. Â There's no place for him to place the tray. Â So, he balances the tray while we remove the food.
Strike 2.
The food quality? Â Fine. Â Nothing memorable.
Now, what would you expect a restaurant to do in this type of case? Â What would you expect a restaurant manager to do in this world of social media and word of mouth buzz?
You'd expect someone to come to our table, to apologize, to see what they could do for us, and at least offer us something complimentary. Â Nope. Â Strike 3.
I've eaten at The Department twice within the last year and a half. Â The first time, my fiance and I went for dinner before a concert. Â The drinks were delicious and we loved the atmosphere, but the service was slow, impersonal, and a bit on the brink of snobby. Â I ordered a chicken sandwich which was described to be "moist and juicy," but in actuality it was dry and flavorless. Â We loved the decor and really wanted to love the restaurant, but our experience was sub-par.
Recently, we went to The Department for lunch and had an absolutely horrible experience. Â Our server was apparently hard of hearing despite the quiet lunch crowd and we had to repeat our orders at least twice to him. Â The restaurant was not busy, but we rarely saw our server and were forced to order drinks through other servers, bartenders, and bus boys. Â It took roughly 40 minutes to get our soup and salads (which arrived at different times, mine being the last to arrive), and immediately after my salad was finally served our entrees arrived leaving me with two dishes in front of me. Â I ordered a Western BBQ Burger which was overcooked, cold, and with cold fries and my mom had a California Chicken Salad which arrived without any chicken on it. Â We had to wait another 30 minutes for anyone to clear our plates from the table and for our bill to be delivered. Â By the end of our lunch, we weren't even dealing with our initial server, the bartender and bus boy were our liasons. Â I too really want to see this restaurant succeed, I think it is a great addition to downtown Joliet and could be really successful, but if this type of service continues there is little hope for The Department.
I want to see this place succeed, I really do. Â Here's the reality: Â You have a great location with a great look inside and out. Â The problem is that you are just not trying hard enough. Â It's the small things like being seated at a dirty table. Â That is a huge turn off for me. Â Next, I ordered a drink and when it arrived the ice was mostly melted. Â That sucks. Â The food is okay but could be really solid with a bit more effort. Â Look, it's time to get your s*** together, rally the staff, fire the useless and make your restaurant better!
Review Source:We decided on the Department right away after seeing it after one of our venue visits. Number one, it was 1 1/2 blocks away so it made for an easy walk right after the ceremony reherasal. I created more of a reception style loungey event in one of their private rooms. The private room had a flat screen tv, ipod hook-up and just a really cool ambience. The walls were brick with contemporary chandeliers hanging throughout. We sampled the food for lunch and knew we would be happy with the quality on site. I had to ask the server to replenish some of the food one time and had to ask for more chair set-up just before guests arrived, but other than that, everyone really enjoyed themselves. They brought in furniture like couches, tables and high boys to give the room more of that loungy feel. The staff was very courteous and willing to make the party a success on-site. I really enjoyed the on-site manager, Greg. He really wanted to make sure we were happy. I would definitely book here again for another event. We were so lucky to have our private room filled with holiday decor and candles so it was just really impressive walking in!
Review Source:Wow, what an awesome place to have a wedding reception! We had ours back in June 2010, and the staff did such an awesome job putting everything together and making sure things ran smoothly throughout the night. When we first went to check out The Department on a Thursday night in January, we were so surprised to find such a cool place in downtown Joliet. All the nice wood throughout, the two-level layout that brought the floors together rather than separated them, and the very cool upper level balcony were all very impressive from the start. We walked upstairs to check everything out, and there were two staff members just cleaning up after a banquet. Greg and Denise were super willing to show us around and answer any questions we had, and probably spent a good 20 minutes with us that night. We hadn't even booked an event yet and they already seemed excited about the potential! After talking with Mandie (one of the event planners) about having our reception on a Sunday night (they are closed to the public Sundays so we got the entire space for our event), and realized the price was right, we went with this unique space and we're still so glad we did.
On the day of the reception, the staff and even the owner were helping our family set things up. Once our guests started to arrive, the staff was right on top of things...making sure people were served the drinks they needed quickly. They had even put together a few signature cocktails which were a BIG hit with several guests. During the dinner, they made sure all the food was hot and constantly refilled so that no one was waiting (we did a buffet). My husband and I had a sweetheart table so we had our own server and she always made sure we had everything we needed. Dancing was set up on the second floor, and it was the perfect sized space for our group. It was great, too, because there was another bar upstairs so serious dancers didn't have to go far for refills. Both the dinner and desserts were set up on both floors so that no one had to transfer between floors to fill their plates. There are a variety of seating options (booths, tables for 6, 8 or 10 people, high top tables) so we didn't even need to do a seating chart and it worked out great...so awesome in our opinion!
Another important note is that any time we emailed Mandie with a question or concern before the reception, she was very prompt in getting back to us.
Toward the end of the reception some of the staff was even dancing with us. They were just so, so much fun. A couple of them walked some family members back to Harrah's where we were holding the after-party, which was very nice of them. We just can't say enough about this place! Months later we are still getting compliments on our reception and how nice the people were.
I liked this place for a business lunch. Â Vintage-feeling interior -- brick, wide-board floors, tin ceiling, you get the idea. Â They have a good assortment of sandwiches, wraps & fries. Â I had chicken salad on foccacia. Â The meat was fine; dressing needed a bit more tang and a bit less garlic for my taste, but it was ok. Â The bread was good and the fries (thin & crispy) were great.
Review Source:This was my first experience into the Joliet bar scene, and I was impressed. Â The music selection was great and loud, but not overbearing (espcially since we were sitting right in front of the DJ). Â The bartenders are great, and are quick to refill any soon to be empty drinks. Â
You can tell this place has some hardcore regulars, as everybody seemed to know each other (including the people I was with). Â The place was clean, and I like the fact that it didn't ever get too crowded. Â I will have to try the food next time I'm here.
I Â am always skeptical of dining out on New Years Eve, given past experiences of slow service and poor quality food. Our dinner at The Dept. last night couldn't have been further from those less than stellar experiences.
The Dept. scores with ambience as soon as you walk in the door. It's in a renovated store and features beautiful exposed brick walls, high celings and was glowing with the beautiful holiday decor of white trees and lights; very well done. We had a 9:00 p.m. reservation and were seating immediately in the dining area. (There are also a number of booths in the bar as well.) Our waitress Danielle was excellent; very prompt and courteous (and didn't seem mad to be working on New Years Eve as I've seen previous years.)
We had a restaurant coupon and she was kind enough to verify with the manager that we could use it, so that was a nice savings! Even without the savings, I would qualify this restaurant as a good value.
We started with the calamari app, which was served very quickly and was perfectly cooked. Crisp but not greasy at all, and served with a marinara sauce. We next had salads (came with entrees) - a nice mix of romaine and field greens served with a herb breadstick and a very tasty sweet-sour house dressing. Even DH, who is not a big salad fan, cleaned his plate!
I opted for the lamb chops, being a huge lamb fan, and was very happy with the choice - and the value. I was served FIVE generous sized chops which were cooked as ordered. Very tasty, with nice grill flavor. DH had the 12 oz  prime rib which he also enjoyed. His smashed red potato side was very creamy and delish and actually better than the twice baked potato that was a bit heavy (but not so much so that I couldn't eat it). Even though we didn't need it, we shared a dessert - the carrot cake. It was ok, but had an odd orange/fruit cake vibe that I didn't care for. Coffee was very good - served hot!
The portions at The Dept. are quite large. A nearby table ordered a variety of appetizers and each was plenty for a table to share.
All in all, this was an excellent dinining experience - without having to travel all the way to Chicago and it avoided the chain restaurants. Try it out and support a local business.
First of all: Half Priced Wednesdays. Â That's right. Well, not the whole menu, but some of the burgers, a few things of pasta, and about 6 bottles of wine. Â It was more than enough to feed our table of 5 (some very picky) girls. Â
Wine wise: snap dragon reisling was good. Â Food wise: we got the "hearty queso" which, though tasty, was basically like a souped up over salted tub of kaukana cheese spread. Â I love salt, and it was too salty for me. Â Also... a mound of cold queso? None of us were expecting that. Â My friend and I each went half on the bacon burger and the penne-- the bacon cheddar burger was delish, as were the fries. Â We got garlic feta sauce on the penne, and it was... meh. Â A companion got the marinara, and though a little bit on the sweet side, it was much better than ours. Â
I personally found their beer selection to be sub par... but let's  be honest, I'm the kind of person who always wants something new and exciting.  If it weren't for the half priced, it probably would have gotten 3 stars. Also, if you have <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurants.com&s=8b83bf0ff8b716aae84527dc95577a310f201b166dcca25c8ca3824b15703869" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurants.com</a> certificates, they can not be used on any of the half priced items (we didn't, just figured I'd throw it in there to try and be useful.)
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