Sauk Trail on 17

One of my favorite restaurants.  This place is a gem.  Very cool atmosphere.  The wait staff is always super friendly and top notch.  The food is excellent and very reasonable.  My family loves to come here for birthdays and special occasions.  The pulled pork nachos are a threesome with a latino girl and chubby grain fed southern girl rolled in liquid smoke.  The wings are like a headlock from big bird on fire.  They are big, meaty, and smoky.  They have a nice craft beer selection.  I love the rib tips.  Just the right amount of smokiness and not too fatty.  The sauces are great!  I always have a hard time deciding which one to put on my food.  I wished they made martinis with their barbeque sauce.  I would give them another half a star for that.

The brisket is to die for! Also love the variety of BBQ sauces.

Sauk Trail has the potential to be great, but at this point it's a bit less than mediocre.  I understand this restaurant used to be more high-end under a different concept.  The interior doesn't match nor does the staff wearing jeans with no type of uniform to be found.  The revolving door was out out service and the carpet looks like something out of a world war.  The silverware was spotty and looked not dirty, but not clean either.

Pluses:
Black Eyed Pea Salad served as a side.  Very tasty and fresh.

Negatives:
- Untrained servers.  I overheard another server tell a table that they used to give an additional side with dishes, but don't anymore.  (makes you feel like you're getting ripped off)

- Ribs:  Tough, don't fall apart.  Hard to believe they're smoked on site.

- $5 Margarita: Do you put any tequila in them?!

- Cornbread:  Their cornbread muffin is a sorry excuse for cornbread at a BBQ restaurant.  Served with a little butter packet.  Unimpressive.

- Playing top 20 music at a weird volume level

- Decor doesn't match the menu

Restaurant Impossible/ Kitchen Nightmares... Sauk Trail on 17 Needs your help!