This Is It Eatery

Best ribs I’ve ever had.
I come all the way from Chicago for their Ribs and deep fried Oreos. I camp near by, but if it wasn’t for This Is It Eatery, I’d camp at staved rock.

Fried Oreos? Count me in! Cute little place, wonderful, personal service. Was disappointed in the lack of very many options for vegetarians, i feel they could do better. However they were open to making accommodations and we enjoyed our meal. As others have mentioned, they give free fried Oreos to first time customers which is a nice touch. I’d come back to try some of their burgers which they do sub for Morningstar garden burgers (the worst kind unfortunately). The personalities here won me over though so I’ll give it a go!

Food is OK. Service is a little slow. But the staff is always very, very friendly and make it an enjoyable experience.

This was out first time at This Is It. Based on previous Unilocal reviews decided to give a try. Good restaurants in Freeport pretty limited. Had heard mixed reviews from family on this destination but had to see for ourselves.
No wine list available but had glass of Cabernet and was pretty good. Beer list on wall. Had the breaded green bean appetizer and was really good. I had black and blue burger on the infamous pretzel bun and I have to say, was pretty exceptional. Husband had rib eye. Was good we tried the deep fried corn on the cob. Don’t bother. Incredibly chewy! Son had Alfredo. Have a feeling it came out of a bag. Was good but nothing to repeat.
I’d go back for hamburger. And am interested in trying the pulled pork we read about.
Have to admit the fried Oreos were AMAZING. who knew?
Was close to rating a 4-​star. Would need to try one more time. Restaurant a bit on the noisy side. A couple of flies a bit annoying. But we’d repeat!

Great fresh tasting salad! Great service. And even brought me something special because it was my first time here. Wish there were more places like this!

I’ve been there a few times and enjoyed the food every time. The pretzel bun, deep fried corn, and deep fried Oreos are unique and new to me and were delicious. The BBQ was great too.
Today the owner noticed I hadn’t had my order taken yet and I was waiting for a bit. He took my order and when I went to check out I noticed he charged me for a cheaper beer than what I had ordered. I thought that was a nice gesture for the minor inconvenience :)
Never any complaints here!

Let me start by saying the food here is consistently good. Located in «downtown» Freeport, Illinois, this fine little restaurant is a welcome surprise in a town sorely lacking in choices for dining out. If you’re the daring type and don’t count calories, you must try their Monte Cristo. It’s the best I have ever had. They also have an absolutely delicious Bubba’s Pizza, which is more like a flatbread covered in chicken, black beans, and more… yum! If you like burgers, you can’t go wrong here, and their pretzel buns are in keeping with the city’s local high school mascot, the Freeport Pretzels. Don’t forget to try the deep fried Oreos! The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that every single time I’ve visited here, the food takes for-​ev-​er to come out. Make sure you have allotted plenty of time to eat… a minimum of 60 – 90 minutes. Most visits for my family have been closer to the 2 hour mark by the time we get out of there. The food is worth the wait, but the amount of time it takes to get it keeps me from visiting more often. Enjoy!

Second time back and I wasn’t disappointed. Both times had the ½ rack rib dinner w/​fries and fried corn on the cob. lt’s a large portion for being called a ½ slab and probably the most reasonably priced rib dinner I’ve had in the area! Pork literally «fell off the bone» and the sauce was smoky sweet and «sticky tangy». Fries are seasoned well. Service was awesome! I’ll be back… Maybe even try a different entre.

Owner very friendly and an asset to the community.

It pays to check Unilocal!We were on the way back to Chicago from galena and got hungry. Wow were we surprised what a Freeport had to offer!
Pick the Generations local brew and get something BBQ!

I’ve been eating here since it opened at least once a month and never been disappointed. The ribs are some of the best around. If you really want to fill up go for the Monte Cristo which is awesome but definitely not something if your trying to watch what you eat. You can’t go wrong with a burger on a pretzel bun, but my wife swears by the blackened chicken sandwich. Great service and great food, great prices, you just can’t go wrong.

I would love to give this restaurant more stars but I can’t do that until it is fully accessible for people with disabilities!

Great BBQ pork on pretzel bun. Fried Oreos are orgasmic! We live 90 miles away from here, but can’t wait to find a reason to come back and eat here again.

Pretzel burger was well worth the wait. They recently expanded to the next building with a hallway to connect. I really like the look and feel of the place. Now back to the food: burgers on a pretzel roll is fantastic. These are ¹⁄₃ pound burgers plenty meaty. Topped it off with deep fried Oreos. I didn’t evens know such a thing existed!

Stop here, EAT… and wear an elastic waist band.
Driving on 20, we were headed from Chicagoland for a fun weekend in Galena. We realized suddenly, we are starving and cannot make it to Galena without eating. Luckily I was able to located This Is It Eatery on my Unilocal mobile, and I’m so glad I did!
I cannot say enough good things about this place. We had no trouble finding close parking. We were seated right away. I knew I wanted the pulled-​pork sandwich from the reviews on Unilocal,and that’s what I got. The hubby got the same with fries. I subbed onion rings (best cooked onion rings I’ve ever had!). The husband got the corn and I got veggies… would get the corn instead next time. The pulled-​pork sammies came out fast. BUT not before my $ 1 Miller Lite draft beer came out. :) My pretzel buns was heaping with the tastiest pulled pork. I couldn’t even eat it all. And it was $ 7.99– what a fabulous deal. Oh my gawd this place rocks!
AND for every patron’s first visit you get a free dessert. We got the deep fried Oreos… there really was no competition for that selection. They were bomb! I don’t know what I was expecting but they surpassed those expectations. And our waitress was funny as all git out.
The only thing I’d pass on would be the mozzarella sticks. I’d pass on those and save more room for the BBQ and the other fried stuff ;).

If you’re in Freeport. Go here. When I mentioned this place to some locals they all gushed over it. The food was very good (not health food mind you). Onion rings were the best I’ve ever had. The onion doesn’t all come out in a string on the first bite. Magic. And the batter is different and better. The pretzel buns were perfectly warm and buttery. The deep fried corn was a good idea, but it was cold in the middle so I didn’t eat it. Everyone enjoyed their meal. There wasn’t a good drink/​beer selection but I didn’t expect one. The service was also pretty slow so don’t come if you’re in a hurry.

Hands down the best restaurant in Freeport. they specialize in burgers and BBQ. I’d recommend the ribs, pulled pork or burger on your first visit. They serve burgers only on pretzel buns, given Freeports history as «pretzel town USA». Some other stand out items include:
–The biggest and tastiest deep fried onion rings. Like eating an onion donut.
–deep fried oreos. enough said
–deep fried corn. Try it
excellent service, fair prices, and down home cooking make this a 5 star joint in my book.

I was in town with my immediate family for a visitation and funeral. We live about 100 miles away. At the visitation, someone local recommended this place to us. He said they have great ribs. We were hungry, so we decided to give it a try.
We were seated and served promptly. The owner was there, and told us that the ribs are fresh meat, and that he guaranteed that they would be the best we’d ever had. I got the pulled pork sandwich, my parents got the ribs, and my sister got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Everything was DELICIOUS. My parents (who are in their 60’s) agreed that the ribs were quite probably the best ribs they have ever had – lots of very tender meat that was falling off the bones, with very tasty sauce (just the right balance of sweet and spicy). Both my and my sister’s sandwiches also had very generous servings of tender meat. I asked for extra barbecue sauce with my pulled pork, but I am a sauce fiend. I got onion rings, which were yummy and HUGE, maybe the biggest I’ve ever had. I was also impressed by the cole slaw, which was nice and creamy.
We were too full to get the famous fried Oreos for dessert! I am definitely going to come back the next time I’m in town, but I still might not have room for dessert! It’s too bad that the best ribs I’ve had are 100 miles away from home, and I discovered them during a sad time. But the food here provided us with a welcome bit of happiness.
We heard from other family members the next day that they also got dinner here, and also loved it.

I’ve been visiting Lake Summerset for the past three weeks and my hosts have been talking for most of that time about the fried Oreos dessert served here at the This Is It Eatery and promising to bring me here, a plan of which I wholeheartedly approved. Unfortunately for me, a wrench was thrown into the works when we drove all the way into Freeport on a Monday evening only to discover that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays. I was disappointed, but decided to consider this little setback just a bump in the road and vowed to make a return before I headed back to California. I was warned that you need to arrive early in order to secure a table, and they weren’t kidding. The dining room is small (for now) and fills up quickly causing a line to form outside.
The dining room is pretty small, but they’ll soon be expanding into the space next door which is much larger and the current dining room area will become a bar. The lovely hardwood floors will make a beautiful dance floor once the change is complete. It is attractively decorated with clay red walls and campy paintings and signs throughout. They’ve packed as many tables into the space as they can without making the customers feel like they’ve been packed into a can of sardines.
Ron decided to order off the breakfast menu for dinner, ordering the sirloin steak (medium rare) and eggs (fried) with hash browns and toast. Unfortunately for him, the steak arrived medium WELL, and both the hash browns and the toast were very dry. He only ate half of it and said he wouldn’t order it again, but the waitress never made it back to ask us how our meal was so he wasn’t able to share the problem with her. We told the lady who checked us out and she was VERY APOLOGETIC. His order was the ONLY reason this place didn’t get the full five stars, but they both LOVE this restaurant so it won’t keep them from returning.
Tyoni and I fared MUCH better with our choices. We couldn’t come to a decision, so we decided to both order different things and then split them. She ordered the Smoked Apple Wood Bacon and Cheese Burger which comes with a side of their double battered french fries and slaw. The burger comes on a pretzel bun with your choice of Swiss, American, or cheddar cheeses (we went with the cheddar). For those who’ve never had a burger on a pretzel bun, you are missing out. The bun has the texture of those warm soft pretzels that I love so much and stands up well to the cheese, lettuce, tomato, and toppings better than a regular bun.
The burger was very good. It was my second experience with sandwiches served on a pretzel bun and This Is It Eatery brought it to a whole different level than the other place at which I tried one. The double battered french fries were sinfully good. I’m not a big fan of slaw, but this version wasn’t bad.
I ordered Bubba’s Smoked Pork Ribs which consists of a ½ rack of ribs, hardwood smoked for hours with a spicy barbecue sauce. The meat fell cleanly off the bone, yet still had a little chew to it. They were pretty dang good and the thick and spicy barbecue sauce was a pleasant surprise. I almost regretted having agreed to split meals with Tyoni, wanting to keep this all to myself; she’s lucky I care about her so much! The deep fried corn on the cob was a little confusing. It didn’t have any breading on it so visually it looks like regular corn on the cob. My onion rings had a light and airy breading and were a perfect golden hue.
The waitress asked if any of us had been there before. My two friends told her they have been here quite often but that it was my first time. She brought us an order of their deep fried Oreos on the house. They were beyond amazing. The breading was similar to that on the onion rings, light and airy and only slightly sweet. They were steaming hot and had a caramel (butterscotch?) drizzle on them and a minimal dusting of powdered sugar. They were simply divine, the cream in the middle melting in your mouth. I could try all day to describe them without being able to do them justice. This is not some tacky hillbilly dessert, but deserves some serious respect!
If you’re in the area and haven’t tried them, you really owe yourself a visit!

We found this place meandering through Freeport. Didn’t realize until checking the reviews that we had lucked into «the best place in Freeport»!! The title is well deserved. Owner (Randy) is committed to good food and quality service. If you’re lucky enough to get Mandy as a server don’t forget to ask her about their «signature dessert»! Spectacular!