This is your grandparents' supper club.
I was there for a private party. But this is a members only private supper club. I've driven by this place 100 times and never noticed it.
The inside has wood paneling and a dark interior bar section. It even had some weird wagon with fake ferns in the foyer greeting people.
The food was good but unremarkable. As a large party that took over the entire dining area, they did a very good job with serving and clearing.
Also, I'm allergic to nuts. And the salad had nuts on it. I'm used to that so I passed on the salad. Instead, the server insisted on having a proper salad made for me. That impressed me. Usually when there's this type of event, special needs are rarely considered and almost never met.
If I was hosting an event here and could decorate as I wished, I might (and I emphasize might) consider this place. But I can't imagine coming here for dinner, well, unless I was taking out someone's elderly parents.
I visited for the second time with my son.... I thought I would give the forge a second chance. Â Needless to say, it was as disappointing as the first time. Â We had our entire drink bill bought because of service on my first visit. Â The food was mediocre. Â The second time, just this last Wednesday, the service was deplorable, with many men waiter/busboys wandering around, not one picking up a plate or filling a drink order for which we waited 15 minutes. Â No excuse, terrible food -- the famous "walleye" was something that I personally could have made myself so much better.... just butter and almonds... no biggy. Â My son had the duck.... again no unique style, just roasted duck...not worth the price. Â On the whole, I was made to feel not served but an inconvience to the server.... never never never go there.
Review Source:We love this place. Â Old school dining experience with great service and excellent food. Â Have been here 3 or 4 times now. Â Excellent value when you buy one of their deals.
Salmon, crab cake & escargot appetizers are all top notch. Bread is yummy
Hubby loves the wedge salad while I really like the cesar. Â Had the warm spinach salad as well one time and it was good, not great. Â French onion soup is very tasty too.
Main courses have all been super. Â Scallops, steaks, and a fish special....The creamed spinach that comes with entree is out of this world!
Have not tried any deserts we are always too full
I have to say, this place kinda baffled me, so I'm not sure if my rating is even going to be accurate for my experience. Â I'm giving it three stars, but if pressed I'd give it 3 1/2 and say you should try it if you've never been there, especially if you can get a Groupon or something similar.
We've always wanted to go to this place, so when we found a Groupon for it, we were excited -- I really wanted to love it.
Starting with the atmosphere....it definitely IS funky, in a not-right supper-clubby kind of way. Â I'm no stranger to "funky" or "bizarre" or even "old school" since we spend so much time in Wisconsin (land of strange supper clubs), but something about certain parts of this place were just....off. Â I can't really explain it. Â The back wine room, where no one was sitting but where I wished we were sitting, was really cool. Â The greek columns on the bar back....notsomuch. Â The sleigh thing in the corner of the main dining room kinda freaked me out a little, and I have to chuckle when I read so many others sighting that as bothering them, too.
Food: The selections were plenty but mostly unimaginative (a common trait with supper clubs).  Fish, chops, steak.  We both had the exact same thing: A manhattan, filet mignon with creamed spinach on the side, french onion soup, caesar salad, and this marinara mushroom thing for an appetizer because my husband wanted to try it based on reviews here.  The manhattan was good but  a little over on the sweet vermouth.  However when we asked for extra cherry juice in them, the waiter brought us a small carafe of cherry juice which I thought was really cute.  The shroom was great, though a little over-priced. Salad, kinda sour-ish tasting....too much anchovy?  Not badly priced, though.  Soup, really good.  Great bread with dinner.  Steak, done PERFECTLY on both counts (rare for me, med rare for him.)  IMO no one offers a decent steak anymore even when it's expensive, and cooking it to order is a completely lost art, so I was really happy about my dinner.  Creamed spinach was really good but strangely, was spooned onto my plate by the waiter from a bowl -- ?
Service: Weird at best.  The waiters are all foreign...not to say this is a bad thing or even something I'd normally notice or care about, but they all seemed to be playing it up and over the top for no particular reason.  We were the *very* first people in on a Thursday night, and our guy Paul was so large and jovial and sounded so much like Boris from "Secret Squirrel" that I was kind of overwhelmed by him.  He told us the specials, and the owner (or manager?) kept going by and saying "Tell them about this" or "Tell the about that." and our waiter would say, "Oh yes, I did."  I was wondering why the guy didn't just come tell us himself....  I felt slightly pushed to order more than we had (and we did order a lot anyway.)  The mushroom took forever to get to us, but then the rest of the food caught up.  Being the first people here, I thought we'd be out in an hour or 75 minutes but we didn't escape until almost 2 hours later, so I'd say err on the long side if you've got a babysitter, and order right away.  Paul/Boris did not bring my husband's glass of wine until after he'd finished his entree.  I'd seen him take other drink orders after ours and bring them out to our neighbors first, and we figured he forgot so we just didn't mention it.  When he brought it AFTER my husband's plate had been taken away, he tried to pass it off as a "great dessert wine" in his Boris voice and I swear he was hoping  we were going to accept that just because his accent was 'cute', lol.  My husband made him take it back. Other than that, everyone was very pleasant towards us.
I had been here once before for a business dinner so I decided to take my husband here to give it a try as well. Â After reading some of the reviews he wasn't expecting much but he was very pleasantly surprised. Â We both really liked the atmosphere, casual elegance...rustic decor with white linen and perfect lighting - Â lovely; a view from the front windows looking out to freshly fallen snow. Â Yes, it is "older" but that is part of its charm. Â It was a Saturday night and it was nicely full (we were amoung the first in at 5:30). Â We each had soup Tomato Basil (more of a minestrone, but quite tasty) and french onion, excellent! Â We both enjoyed the bread (but it came after the soup) and even the simple wedge salad. Â I had the Duck and he had a ribeye special --- both excellent and perfectly cooked. Â The waitstaff was attentive and they had a lovely pianist playing to add to this ambiance. Â Although it is pricey, it is not more pricey than any more upscale restaurant would be. We will definately return when we can.
Review Source:I had purchased a Living Social voucher - $40 for $80 of food and drinks. Â SO this past Tuesday, January 29th, around noon we called to make reservations (Living Social states you must make reservations) Â There was a recording stating their hours (closed Mondays - Bar opens at 4:30, etc) Â So my husband then called at 3PM assuming at least some one would answer the phone, no one did. Â So we left a message for our reservation at 5:30. Â (The recording was a man's voice) So we drive almost a hour to get there, and there are NO lights on and they are closed. Â We then call again and now the voice message is a women's voice stating they are closed fromJan 27th and reopening Wed, Jan 30th. Was the new recording because we had made reservations and they were trying to cover theirselves? Â What kind of old food and quality would this restaurant have even if we try to come again. Â NOT got a refund from Living Social, would not recommend even giving it a try!!! Â Not customer focused!!!
Review Source:Remarkable  food and the service was great, The Lobster Bisque was wonderful with huge hunks of lobster, The Filet was cooked just right with the right amount of bordulase sauce, the creamed spinish was a wonderful treat. The lamb chops were done medium and were great. This is a wonderful place for a romantic or special occasion. We had no wait with a reservation on a Friday night and were treated like royalty. I would go again. Price is like most good steak houses, Don't go if you are looking to get out in 1 hour. They do not rush you through dinner.
Review Source:My boyfriend took me there this past weekend, he had bought a groupon and we were excited to use it. However, we were very disappointed with our meal and our experience! The service was EXTREMELY slow and they were out of several things on there menu. I originally wanted to order the Alaskan Halibut, but they were out of that so I settled for the walleye almondine. It was very bland and didn't even taste fresh. It also didn't even have a decent side dish. It was served with a piece of broccoli, half a carrot and a small potato. My boyfriend had the scallops which were also rather bland, the only seasoning they seemed to put on the scallops was some salt. His scallops also didn't have a side dish. I was looking forward to having bananas foster for dessert only to find out that they were out of it! I wanted to skip dessert completely because of this but the waiter told us that we hadn't ordered enough in order to use our groupon. So we ended up ordering the flour less chocolate cake, which was absolutely terrible! It had a stale taste to it and the raspberry sauce was barely drizzled over it. Needless to say we will never be returning to the forge of vernon hills again and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else go there.
Review Source:Went here on a Saturday night with the girlfriend to use a Groupon. Thanks goodness for discounted meals! For an appetizer we ordered the coconut crusted jumbo shrimp which was mediocre at best. I loved the fact that they served three shrimps for TWO people. Really? They couldn't have just thrown in one more shrimp to make it even?? Â Next course offering was salad which was your standard salad of greens and your choice of dressing. Â They were edible. Â I ordered the seared jumbo sea scallops for my entree. It came with a side of a few peices of brocolli and half a stick of carrot. The scallops were cooked fairly well but could've used a touch of seasoning. Â The girlfriend ordered the sauteed walleye pike almondine which also came with a side of a few brocolli pieces. She didn't really like it so I had the pleasure of finishing it for her. Â The fish was okay. Â For the price of the entrees in relation to it's tastiness, I think there are several other eateries I would frequent first before I would go back to The Forge of Vernon Hills. Â As for service, the word SLOW just about sums it up for me. Â It took a long time to get our drink orders, which only consisted of iced tea. It took a long time to get our 3 piece shrimp appetizers. Â And it took a long time to get both our entrees. Also we tried ordering desert but they ran out of bananas foster. Really? You ran out of bananas?? Â We ended up ordering a flourless chocolate cake instead...to go. Â Also the cake in my opinion tasted like it was bought from a store and was not fresh at all. Â My first and probably last experience at this establishment was less than ideal. Thank goodness for discounted meals!
Review Source:An odd cast of characters in a bizarre place with unremarkable food.
Keep in mind that no matter what you order, whether it is fish, liver or lamb chops, Every single entree gets the same side. Never mind matching the food with its sides. And they don't tell you this, they just say they won't make anything else for you. Tonight was a single, small, roasted potato and overcooked, blend green beans. Food was good quality with zero seasoning and blend.
Service was off the wall bizarre, at times it seemed it was everyone's first night in the food service industry. We had one bus boy bring out a plate of spinach dip to serve to us as, what seemed to be, a side dish that we never ordered it, and we had absolutely nothing in front of us, not even empty plates. I asked him where he is going to put his spoon of spinach dip, and he pointed at a person next to me who had a garden salad. I told him to go there and ask if she would want spinach dip on her garden salad. Â This was just one of many odd things, along with odd jokes where at times we had no idea if they were serious or trying to be funny. Â Or, made comments about clothes we wore that were not polite at all (and not exactly accurate either) but I think they thought they were being communicative with us.
I understand that it was the busiest night for them, Saturday night and full house. They ran out of things, and service was terribly slow. If we didn't yank them each time we wanted to order or needed anything, we would've still been there into the following day. When we were one of 3 tables left, we still couldn't get anyone's attention. When I asked their GM not to leave our table after checking on us well after we ate our food and stared at our dirty plates for awhile, but to take our coffee order, he said I was pulling him away from funeral arrangements or something. We weren't sure if it was meant as a joke. He grudgingly stayed and took our dessert order.
They tantalized you with a nice Wine list by the bottle only. By the glass offerings were terrible. Â Cherry jubelie dessert was great, but they don't prepare it table side.
All in all, never again. Btw, the decor description from other reviewers of a sled thrown in one corner, and Greek columns on the other side, are all accurate. Just a funky, and not so charming place.
Based on the previous reviews I had really high hopes for this place. Â I was disappointed.
1. SERVICE: Not spectacular. Â So many have commented on how professional and superb the service was. Â This was not our experience. Â While we had a reservation we still had to wait for our table. Â Then once we were seated it was another twenty minutes before our waiter provided us menus. Â Another fifteen to order. Â The waiter wasn't particularly friendly, outgoing or informative. Â We had a 7:30 reservation and it was past 8:30 before we saw any food.
2. ATMOSPHERE: Strange. Â Kind of like a cut up banquet hall - with weird wood walls. Â There was a sleigh stored in the corner of the dining room. Â Then some Greek columns thrown in for some bizarre reason at the bar.
3. FOOD: Good but unremarkable.  Upscale dinning without much finesse.  By 8:30 we were very hungry so we started our evening with an order of  escargot and an order of butternut squash ravioli.  The escargot were good but not exceptional.  Better can be found consistently at that little bistro on Central in Highland Park.  The butternut squash ravioli was doused in a heavy cream sauce, thus drowning out the lovely sweet squash flavor.  Would have been better in something less overpowering. The salad that comes with the meal is a simple salad without any interest.  For our entrees we ordered the lamb and the duck.  Of the two, the duck was the better choice.  Perfect actually!  The lamb was cooked just the way I ordered it - medium rare.  The only problem again was the sauce, which was way to heavy for the delicate flavor of the meat.  Sauces are supposed to enhance flavor not hide it.  They are way too heavy handed in their saucing for my taste.  Finally we had bananas foster for dessert.  It was okay but not flambe'd table side.  All in in all kind of flat.
I took my girlfriend here for her birthday and what a great night it was. Â When we first pulled up in front I was a bit worried as it looked like an old barn. Â However, my fears were immediately put to rest once we entered and I quickly fell in love with the old rustic charm inside. We were greeted by Walter who doubled as the bartender. A very pleasant, charming and funny man. Â Our waiter was Paul and he was terriffic. Â We were treated as royalty and everyone was so nice to us. Â The view onto a field facing Milwaukee was pleasant and calming. Â Now the food. Â It was fabulous. I had a pork chop that was bursting with flavor. Â My girlfriend had blackened catfish that also was great. Â We enjoyed an after dinner drink in the unusual bar with Walter. Â Thank you all for a great night with great food and tremendous service. Â Many people have commented about being the youngest customers in the place. Â We were that evening BUT who really cares. Â I dont frequent a restaurant because young people go there. Â If I was worried about that, McDonalds would be my dining choice!!!!
Review Source:Meh. I am giving it three stars only AFTER we changed our waiter otherwise they would have gotten 1 star or maybe 2 because the manager was nice and the food wasn't bad. The wait was unacceptable. 20 minutes sitting there waiting for a menu and a drink order. More than 30 minutes passed before the first waiter even came back after just giving us water and we were starving/thirsty. We were finally fed up from being neglected/ignored and asked for a new waiter and he really tried to take care of us but still, the damage was done. The food was not bad, the temperature was a bit cold tho, could have been warmer for my taste but all in all it was ok. I think it's overpriced for the quality. You get the same food you'd eat in like a regular restaurant i.e. apple bees except its plated differently. BTW please get rid of those tacky plates and someone tell the chef STOP using CANNED mushrooms smh the crab cakes were good tho
Review Source:Always a treat to come to this place. They really do treat you like you are someone special. And the food - YUMM. The restaurant does feel like a step back in time and the ambiance is awesome. Like Tim J., we also had the server, Paul, and he has a way of taking your dining experience to the next level.
Review Source:This place used to be a supper club, and it still retains much of that out-of-its-time atmosphere. It's difficult to describe ... woodsy, clearly outdated, a picture window out to Milwaukee Avenue ... somehow it seems stuck in the 60s. Early Sixties. Stodgy 60s.
DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY THAT. It is a time-trip, and it was fun.
We had a lovely time. The waitstaff were very professional in that old-world almost teasing kind of way. We loved the back and forth banter ... some other reviewers didn't like that. Too bad. One complained because dinner took over 2 hours. That, my friend, is how long a dining experience should take. We didn't stop by for a quick bite after all. It's not that we had to wait for anything ... the dinner was leisurely paced.
In general the food was quite good. The Groupon dinner came with appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. A glass of wine was included, but we had a cocktail before dinner, and they were flexible enough to consider this to be the included drink. Lovely Wife enjoyed her sea bass, my duck was prepared correctly and I enjoyed it very much. The plated veggies and the starch were not outstanding. The escargot appetizer was very good but my Oysters Rockefeller were mezzo mezzo. The mixed salad was refreshing and my Bananas Foster was a fine end to the meal, enjoyed with my coffee.
With the Groupon deal, it was a very cheap dinner, but we had a lot of fun there as well as a good meal, and I can easily see going back there with friends. Oh, note on the background music: quiet standards with a mix of bossa nova. Loved that!
I've always had an enjoyable experience here in the past, but I think this last visit will, quite literally, be my last. Â They are in the process of changing ownership, so perhaps that had something to do with our experience, but... Â Really, the main problem we had was with our waiter, although my salmon was also just luke warm. Â We had a really irritable waiter with red hair who told us not to use the Groupon we had brought because he argued that it would be "awkward" (It was for 2 four-course meals, and we were an immediate family of 8), disagreed with what we chose for wine, and then snapped at us when we questioned the bill. Â He also disappeared for part of the meal, and never brought more water after we asked several times. Â To top it off, the bartender made a comment to us as we were leaving about "Ladies!" and "Call Charlie Sheen!". Â I am sure he was trying to be cute, but it didn't come off well after the stressful situation with our waiter. Â To be fair, we have had a good experience in the past with a different waiter, and the new owner seems like a kind soul. Â The atmosphere is definitely an old super club feel, which can be charming. Â So, enjoy the charm, but be prepared to pay a lot for it, and suit up in armor if you have the same waiter we did!
Review Source:We went here on a Groupon and were treated like royalty! On the Tuesday night we dined, the service at this restaurant was spectacular. All of the staff have vibrant personalities and are very welcoming to new guests. Additionally, their training is superb- these are career servers who have developed their skills over years and likely many, many upscale establishments. Paul the Czech is hilarious, effusive and charming (and he looks like Brendan Gleeson!). The food was spectacular. They have a great selection of fish, but also cover the bases with traditional items cooked in various European styles (mostly French).
Highlights included the creamed spinach sides, the desserts, esp. the cherries jubilee. Their selection of wine by the glass was very strong and I really enjoyed the Russian sparkling wine.
It is true that we were the youngest diners in the restaurant, but usually I take that as a good sign as far as the food goes. This might not be the coolest new hot spot, but neither is Le Vichyssoise in Lakemoor, but it has the best food for miles. The same is true here. The Forge is not the place to see and be seen, but rather the place for a expertly cooked meal served in an atmosphere that admittedly holds the restaurant back- but you wouldn't want this place to get cool all of a sudden, would you?
The Forge Club looks the part of an OLD-time dinner club, which it was.
Notice I emphasized "OLD". Â It is very dated and the ambiance is lacking.
However I give it 4 stars for the food and the service. Â They have some
food items on this menu that you don't see at many restaurants, such as terrific calves liver with bacon and onions, and Dover Sole, prepared table-side. A good array of seafood, salmon, scallops, tilapia, walleye, lobster. Extensive appetizer menu but a little pricey, such as 3 oysters for $9.50. Â I said THREE oysters, not 6 or 12. Â Flaming deserts finish off the meal, whether you want Bananas Foster or Cherries Jubilee, all prepared table-side. Â Service was excellent throughout the meal.
Excellent place for a special occasion. It definitely has an old school supper club atmosphere to it, and the staff goes to great lengths to make you feel special. We were greeted by the host at the front door, and escorted back out to the valet stand and wished a good night (by name) as we were leaving. Â Small touches like that really add to the experience.
I found the food to be above average - I've had better steaks in New York, but for the area this would be hard to beat. Everything was well-prepared as ordered, arrived promptly (and hot), and the portion sizes were reasonable.
The service was what really set Forge Club apart from other nearby restaurants, though. The waiter was friendly, gracious, and very attentive, without being intrusive. It seems that the waitstaff here are genuinely professionals, and it made our experience a very pleasant one. For Mother's Day, they also had live piano and a magician, which added some fun to the evening.
All in all, while Forge Club might not be the ideal choice for everyday after-work dinner, it will certainly be among my select few go-to places for special occasions close to home. I have yet to find a comparable spot in the local area for an elegant night out, so there is no question I will go back.
This place is so yesterday in a bad way. It is crying out for a renovation and reminds me of my grandma's house circa 1950's. It had been a private club and recently went public. I was in a party of six  at 7:30 on a Wednesday; only two other tables were occupied. Service was brusque and aggressive. The busser ordered me to remove my drink from the plate so he could take the plate away. Orders were mixed up and one was an item never ordered.When told of this, the servers argued with the
diner rather than simply bringing her what she wanted. Once these problems were corrected, food was presented in umimaginative style
with boring green salads, heavy soups, and store bought desserts.
Saving grace was pretty good salmon cooked well but longing for
more than the paucity of potatoes served with it. Nice selection of
spirits at reasonable prices. People used to rave about the exclusivity
of this private dining venue. I can yell you to skip it and head to
any of several fine dining options in the north burbs.
An upscale private supper club that is completely old school. Similar to the Pump room. Â Crab Cakes, Caesar's Salad, Steak Diane, Whitefish. Â The food and the clientele definitely skew older. Â The venison was tender and succulent. Â The beer selection was very good as well. Â When I asked for a Stella Artois and they were out he recommended a very good German Beer (that I don't remember). Â This was all topped off with Baked Alaska, the perfect complement to the old school dinner and one of my grandfather's favorites ( we went to the Forge for my GP's 66 anniversary). Â This might not be the place for everyone, but I would recommend for a special occasion and if you want a traditional meal.
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