RUSTEAK AT THORNTON PARK

I had a very disappointing experience at RusTeak in Thornton Park. I arrived around 12:10 p.m. for lunch. By 12:40 12:45 p.m., the only thing I had been served was my soup. My mussels still hadn’t arrived, and I was on a lunch break with limited time. When I spoke with the manager, I was told the delay was caused by Uber Eats orders and that they were going to stop accepting Uber Eats during lunch because it was overwhelming the kitchen. While I appreciate the honesty, that’s an internal operational issue—not something customers dining in should have to pay the price for. After waiting more than 30 minutes without receiving my meal, I had no choice but to cancel the rest of my order and leave. My entire lunch break was wasted, and I went back to work hungry because my food never arrived. I understand restaurants get busy, but if your kitchen can’t handle both dine-in guests and delivery orders during lunch, the solution isn’t to let dine-in customers sit and wait without communication. It was a frustrating experience, and unfortunately it completely ruined my lunch. YOU MISSED THE POINT OF MY REVIEW!!! I arrived around 12:10 p.m. I ordered soup, mussels, a steak sandwich, a beer, and yes, a shot. I also asked the server about having an espresso after lunch. By approximately 12:40–12:45 p.m., I had only been served the soup and my drinks. Neither my mussels nor my steak sandwich had arrived. Because I was on my lunch break, I had no choice but to cancel the food and return to…

I hosted my wedding rehearsal dinner and welcome drinks in the private dining room at Rusteak, and it was the perfect venue for gathering family and friends. Jonathan, Jenny, and the management team were responsive and helpful throughout the planning process, from touring the space and selecting a fixed menu to coordinating the transition from dinner to welcome drinks. The food was excellent—highly recommend the mahi mahi—and the drinks were top-notch. Our event coordinator Melanie even created a custom menu for our event. To accommodate additional guests, they opened the sliding exterior doors to create more space for mingling. Corbin was a fantastic server during dinner, and the entire staff did a great job throughout the evening. Highly recommend.

The service here was terrible! On may 29th i celebrated my aunts 50th birthday and the staff was very rude and condescending. The owner also was so help with the situation which was very upsetting being we were paying guests and wanted to have a great time. Hopefully in the future they would see their wrong doings and fix their attitudes and guest service.

I was at this restaurant on May 29 to celebrate my aunt's 50th birthday, and I'm still disappointed by how our family was treated. The experience started going downhill because of the staff's attitude. Several of the bartenders were rude throughout the night, and when there was confusion about the remaining balance, the manager made the situation even worse. She didn't introduce herself or try to calmly figure out what was going on. Instead, she immediately approached our host and insisted that she had to pay. Our host repeatedly explained that the remaining balance would be paid—she just wasn't the person who was paying it. She stepped outside for a moment to put something in her car and was coming right back. There were still plenty of family members inside the restaurant, so it's not like everyone had disappeared or was trying to run out without paying. Instead of listening, the staff escalated the situation and even threatened to call the police. The bill was ultimately paid, which proves that no one was trying to leave without paying. What makes this even more disappointing is that the restaurant has continued to mishandle the situation by responding to reviews with claims that our family was trying to avoid paying. That is simply not what happened, and it's frustrating to see false statements being made publicly instead of taking accountability for how poorly the situation was handled. As someone who was there, I left feeling embarrassed for my family. Based on how…

We were here on May 29 to celebrate my sister's 50th birthday, and what should have been a beautiful family celebration turned into one of the most upsetting dining experiences I've ever had. Our family had a large party, and everyone paid for their own meals. When it came time to settle the remaining balance, there was confusion over who was responsible for paying it. At no point was anyone refusing to pay. The balance was paid, yet the situation was escalated to the point that the police were threatened. Watching that happen during my sister's milestone birthday was humiliating and completely unnecessary. What was even more disappointing was seeing the restaurant later respond to reviews by claiming our family was trying to avoid paying the bill. That is simply not true. The bill was paid in full. Instead of acknowledging how poorly the situation was handled, the restaurant chose to publicly misrepresent what happened. As my sister's family, we spent months planning this celebration, and it was heartbreaking to see such a special day overshadowed by the way we were treated. The entire experience left me feeling disrespected and unwelcome. I hope management reflects on how this situation was handled so that no other family celebrating a special occasion has to go through what we did.

Great local spot for dinner and a drink, Sydney and her team were attentive and polite. Location is also the best for later plans.

A super long time waiting for the food

Great service! Food was good. The drinks were delicious, but a lot of ice versus drink.

Pasta dish was delicious. However, for the price of $25, I expected a lot more portion, as it was very small -- both the amount of pasta and chicken.

I hosted my mother’s 50th birthday celebration here, and unfortunately, the experience ended on a very disappointing note. My issue is not with the contract or the bill being paid. The issue is with how management handled the situation. At the end of the event, the manager approached me in a confrontational manner and threatened to call the police. I repeatedly explained that I was not the person responsible for paying the tab and directed her to the individual who was handling payment. At no point did I say the tab would not be paid. There were still numerous guests inside the establishment, and there was never any attempt to leave without paying. Rather than taking a moment to understand the situation, the manager immediately escalated the interaction and treated me with a level of disrespect that was completely unnecessary, especially during what was supposed to be a special celebration for my mother. I reached out to management afterward to express my concerns and was disappointed by the response I received, which focused on defending staff actions rather than addressing the concerns about professionalism and customer treatment. The way this situation was handled left a lasting negative impression on my family and took away from what should have been a memorable milestone birthday celebration.

Not what we expected. While the staff was friendly, the overall experience was disappointing. The restaurant was so loud that we could barely hear each other speak. The acoustics made it difficult to enjoy the meal or conversation. For appetizers, we ordered the arancini, cheese plate, and crab cakes, but all three lacked flavor. The salmon in the salmon salad tasted low-quality and seemed like low budget farm-raised salmon. The Calabrian rigatoni with wine butter sauce was watery, likely because the pasta was overcooked and was not drained properly. The one bright spot was the bread pudding, which was delicious.

Sid was great! Food was amazing. Very accommodating for celiac disease.

Soooooo good!!

I tried Rusteak burger and it was very enjoyable. I also had Sangria, which was good.

We weren't here for a special event, my son's graduation. My daughter's food was not served until after everybody had actually finished eating their meals. When it did arrive it was so salty she couldn't eat it. They did comp that meal. Parking sucked but the atmosphere in the place was terrific. It was the Thursday afternoon and it was still packed. The people whose food was delivered really enjoyed their meals. The manager never came out to talk to us about my daughter's meal not being delivered until everyone was done, which I thought was wrong. I would go back again with a small party but never with a large party.

Everything was fantastic but Sydney B ….you’re the best!!

Thanks to Syd, she gave me the amazing service and I was part of the graduation party, the pecan chicken was veryyyyy great and I loved it! Thank you Syd for your service!!

Mike was awesome great server and food.

Renee was really awesome and gave us very kind quick and efficient service. Rusteak after coming twice now can also say is great food too. We will definitely be back!

Rusteak is WOW! Located in Thornton Park this tasty gastro restaurant is amazing. There’s a few sections to the place. Main area is open area with a bar (generally louder), they have a large private room in the middle and then hidden room in the back is the speakeasy vibe location. Ambiance is cozy and the staff is very nice! Our server/bartender, Gigi handled both jobs with ease. She was friendly, knowledgeable and great to chat with - you won’t be disappointed if you’re lucky to have her. Now to the food. Let’s say we’ll be back because everything looks amazing and the price point was very good (especially for now!). We started with the wedge salad and mushroom Brie bisque soup. Both were fantastic and each was elevated from what you may have had at other restaurants. I highly recommend both items! The salad had petite size cranberries and the bacon was in med/small chunks with yummy blue cheese 😋 We also had the mussels and crab cake. The mussels is a LARGE portion, perfect the mussel lover in you. The crab cake was delicious with great flavor and the crab was very prominent in the cake! Lastly we also got the keto keto dish- which is salmon, asparagus and cheddar and pancetta cauliflower casserole. chef kiss!😘 Fabulous place, go check them out. See you soon GiGi

The food and ambiance was absolutely amazing, and so was our waitress, Michelle. Being someone who resides in the vegan to pescatarian diets (Mediterranean diet essentially), there are sometimes misunderstandings because I have not eaten or been exposed to certain types of meat. Michelle helped me better understand the menu and assisted me without hesitation when one of those misunderstandings occurred, and I am so grateful for her grace, help and patience.

Genuinely beyond words for how disappointed and overall horrible of an experience dining here was. Even worse was that this was not the first time that we had a negative experience here and were trying to give it a try for the second time given the food was actually good the first time. Dined here about a year or two ago and the food was fantastic, drinks were great and overall fantastic experience if not for the metal grill brush bristle found cooked into the burger that my girlfriend ate. The manager came out and spoke to us and ultimately we understand that accidents happen. We should have taken the broken LED sign outside as an omen. Tonight the only redeeming quality was the food runner that was nicer and more attentive than the actual server. Sydney (our server) was genuinely terrible, with every wrong thing that came to the table we assumed it may have just been issues with the kitchen but after neglect, standing around talking to anyone but her tables (see the table that sat ungreeted for 15 minutes) and passive aggressive comments I cannot even try to come up with an excuse for how bad of service she gave. The first one after messing up the order, second was what seemed annoyance over asking for water refills and last was a closing shot which was a remark about our patience after claiming to be the only server in an almost dead restaurant when we clearly saw the runners host and two other girls in similar uniforms as hers assisting outside tables. My steak frites…

Came here for dinner with my wife tonight and it was amazing! The steak was cooked to perfection, and the fish of the day was great. Our server Khadeja was so sweet and so attentive, she took great care of us. Will be coming back asking for her! Great local spot

Will not be visiting again. The food was just ok. We waited at least 10 min before our waitress came to our table. We were told by 3 different waiters that they would be our waiter and theyd be right with us. We placed a kids meal in with appetizers and our appetizer came out first. Charcuterie board brought 4 pieces of crispy toast points for the whole board. It wasn't until we tracked down our waitress to ask where the kids meal was. Our food took so long to come out as well. A manager happened to walk by and ask how everything was tasting and I let her know we had been waiting. She apologized and discounted our drink and app. The waitress barely checked on us, and we our water wasn't filled but once. I dont know what the issue was but it was not good customer service. When we left there was no one at the front....we just left after paying. Its a shame!