Back Door Lounge

Our server was nice, but obviously lacked experience. The fried ravioli appetizer was great, but the rest of our food was pretty disappointing. My husbands chicken sandwich was dry and I’m pretty sure my stuffed shrimp were just tiny cocktail shrimp with some canned crab meat and mayo rolled into a ball and fried, my side dish of rice was super sticky and I’m guessing had been in a warmer for hours. My biggest issue with the restaurant is that you would think that in a state park they would be a bit more earth conscious, but we were given our drinks in plastic cups and they used paper napkins. Very disappointed.

This place is about as uneven as it gets. Let me explain…
The view — we sat outside on the patio and overlooked Starved Rock and the river. Beautiful view. five stars​.no doubt about it.
The menu & service — Nose dive. Our waitress was a dingbat. Edith Bunker reincarnated. She couldn’t produce a beer menu, wasn’t aware of the sauces on several dishes, didn’t know if fries were available as a side, etc etc. The menu has all but about 9 items on it so I failed to sympathize with her lack of knowledge. She also took her sweet ass time doing just about everything. My buddy almost started gnawing on my arm while we waited and waited.
The food — Since the menu is short and sweet the options were limited. For one reason or another I went with the hot dog and chips. The dog was huge but there were maybe 8 chips in the small basket. Oh. the hot dog came plain even though I asked for the works. Dingbat waitress at work again.
Look, honestly, I’d recommend that you check out the place, especially if you’ve got a nice day on your hands. You can’t beat the view and it’s a great place to put your feet up after a hike. Hopefully you dodge Edith though.
Cheers.

Overall this place is great. We had the avocado fries, spicy side of sauce. They were excellent. Burgers above average as was the pastrami on rye. Peach cobbler was delish also. Great place.

After my hike, I just wanted meat. I went for the first hearty-​looking burger I could find, and the Signature Rock Burger sang to me from the menu. I got it with regular fries. I could have eaten two burgers! The burger arrived at my table and the only change I would have made to this tasty morsel would have been the bun. I am a huge fan of the pretzel bun. The flavored spicy-​raspberry mayo they use on the burger is amazing. I wanted a whole side of it with my fries. Had I known it would have been that good, I wouldn’t have ordered ranch dressing. I think they had a steak sandwich, and perhaps I should have asked which had more food. That will teach me to only eat a pear with bread and hummus before a five-​mile hike.
My hunger was even worse by the time my food arrived. I had downed a chocolate martini while I waited for my food. I needed the sugar to wake me up, and the booze to kill the pain. Otherwise I am not a huge flavored-​martini drinker. It tasted like a spiked chocolate milk. Not too sure if that makes a good martini or a bad one. It was heaven to me once I could feel it working! Back Door Lounge is cozy. The service was stellar. The lounge was crowded. We had 8 people at our table and our food was out in less than 15 minutes. I can’t wait to come back here as a guest. I want to spend the night and participate in the activities Starved Rock has to offer, along with the rest of Back Door’s menu!

From what I understand, the back door lounge is the bar and grill part of the larger restaurant Elements at Starved Rock Lodge. They both share the indoor seating, bar, and outdoor patio seating. They also have very similar menu items.
My husband and I ate here for lunch today. It was a very limited menu and a little pricy for sandwiches that come with a snack size bag of lays potato chips, but we were pleased with the taste of the food for the most part. My husband ordered the barbeque pulled pork sandwich ($ 9.95), which again, just comes with a small bag of chips. It was a pretty big sandwich, but nothing special. I actually think they said they use sweet baby rays bbq sauce on the pork. Not really all that unique. My margarita flatbread was awesome though. It was a 10″ pizza, very filling, fresh tomatoes and basil, delicious mozzarella… loved it!
The back door lounge is a great spot to hang out and drink because they have an awesome bar and patio seating that overlooks beautiful Starved Rock. Not sure what their dinner menu looks like (it might just be the same dinner menu that Elements uses) but they should really add more items to their lunch menu… maybe some wings, tater skins, mozzie sticks… or give people something other than a bag if chips with their sandwiches if they are going to charge 10 bucks. Just sayin’…

Ya know, for a place that could easily be a tourist trap, we left pleasantly surprised with the quality of our meal and service.
I guess I should make a special note that we came in the dead of winter during a snowstorm, so we were the only patrons in here for a good ½ hour, then 2 – 3 tables trickled in. I’d imagine if they were busier like I’ve heard it is at Starved Rock during milder months, that your experience could greatly vary from the one we had, but as far as today, January 1^st, 2014, at about 3pm goes, this place is better than A-​OK for a lounge in a state park lodge.
First off, our server was Nolan and Nolan was a damn gem. Attentive, suggestive when we needed to be swayed in a decent beverage selection, and just generally a whole hell of a lot friendlier than the average person who gets stuck working a customer service-​oriented shift on New Year’s Day. Big ups to Nolan. He deserves it.
Back Door Lounge, despite what you might think at first glance of the name, is not a gay bar. It’s just a regular old bar located inside Starved Rock Lodge that you can get to by walking through and across their restaurant, or by entering through the lodge’s back door. Clever, eh?
Inside it woodsy and casual lodge-​like. They had a pretty decent beer selection including a number of the craft variety. I got the Bell’s Winter White and my dining/​drinking companions got the Ranger IPA — both on tap, along with 10 or so other beer options. They carried a ton of hard alcohol and at one point I saw the bartender making what looked like a mini martini sampler.
Their food menu is limited with just a few pub items like burgers and nachos, but what we had, like I said, was surprisingly good. I mean, if it weren’t inside a state park with nothing else around it besides giant, jagged rock formations, I wouldn’t be rushing back, but for what it was it was excellent.
In addition to our beers we ordered a veggie burger with cheese and sweet potato waffle fries, a salmon burger with sweet potato waffle fries, and a side of regular fries with a side of their gorgonzola cheese sauce. The veggie burger was decent. It was still a pre-​made packaged burger, but it was a good one. No Garden Burger or Morningstar here. The salmon burger was also a pre-​packaged burger (it might even be the same kind they sell at Costco), but it was moist and delicious — not dry like every single time I’ve ever had or made one. The burgers run from $ 7.50-$ 9.99 and in some cases cheese will run you an extra dollar, and they have quite a few different cheese options to choose from. The burgers come with house-​made potato chips or you can sub for fries by adding an extra dollar. It’s a bit of a price gouge with the etxras and upgrade, but I have to say as a person who detests sweet potato fries, these were probably the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever had and my Dad, who’s apparently a connoisseur of the sweet potato variety, agreed.
If you’re at Starved Rock and it’s not the madhouse I’ve heard it to be in warmer weather months, this place is totally worth stopping by, at least for a beer.

Will never go back to this place. Rude staff at bar. And I really love starved rock. Its ashame.

Came here for drinks after a long day of hiking around the park. The bartender was friendly and prompt. They had a decent selection of beers on tap and the price wasn’t too bad. It was very relaxing to sit and enjoy the view at the end of the day.

Came here Friday night for live music… which never happened (front desk of Starved Rock’s fault) but decided to order a drink anyway. A male bartender and female where whispering and looking at my boyfriend and I with stupid smirks on their face… no one said hello no one was pleasant. After talking for a while the male came up to me and took the menu out of my hands saying dinner is over. I asked him for a drink menu and he handed it to me. I ordered a drink and it was basically juice. We went back a second night to see a live band and the jerk bartender was working again. He seriously looked at us… looked at his cell phone… looked at us again and then went back to texting before someone said something to him and he came and served us. My boyfriend went in again to get another drink and he saw him… ignored him. and another bartender served him. RUDE. Terrible service

My aunt suggested we visit Starved Rock and we were starved, so we came to the Backdoor Lounge for lunch. While you can sit either inside or outside, we chose inside since the weather has been finicky. Good thing we did since it started to sprinkle halfway through our meal. My dad ordered the Starved Rock Burger — well done with French fries. My aunt ordered the Strawberry Chicken Pecan Salad — it had chicken, glazed pecans, and poppy seed dressing. It looked really good and the pecans were delicious. I ordered the Illiniwek Chicken Sandwich — grilled chicken breast with Gruyère cheese, wrapped in bacon with BBQ sauce and sweet potato waffle fries. My sandwich was amazing. The chicken was super juicy, tender, and flavorful. The bacon could have been a little crispier, but the cheese and BBQ sauce more than made up for it. It was a delicious mess and I enjoyed it extremely. The waffle sweet potato fries were okay — they had both cinnamon and chipotle seasonings on them which I wasn’t a fan of. Overall, it was a great meal and we all enjoyed ourselves. The menu is pretty extensive and had a delicious looking dessert menu. I’d love to come back to Starved Rock and eat here again!