Lamplighter Inn

We had great expectations tonight. We arrived at 6:45, were sat right away. Our drinks were delivered within just a few minutes. We ordered our meal (2 burgers, 2 wraps and 2 kids meals) a few minutes before 7:00. At 8:04, when food still wasn’t delivered, we asked to just settle our tab for our drinks and leave. The server was apologetic and brought the manager over. He apologized through drunken breath. He offered to comp what we ate and didn’t understand that we never did eat! I most certainly will NOT rush back. What a disappointment.

Went here on a Friday to watch an outdoor band play outside on the patio downstairs. Stood outside by our tables for over 20 minutes before going inside to order a beer. The bartender did confirm we should have had a waitress outside (the bartender was super cool). Went back outside and finally spotted the waitress, Bethany. I acknowledged her to verify she was serving our table and she was so incredibly rude to me that I refused to order anything from her at all — she was downright nasty. I don’t quite understand why someone who works on tips would be so blatantly rude to their customers. I believe she knew she offended me because a different waitress came out a little while later and said she would be our server, her name was Angel. She insisted I close my tab at the bar if I wanted to order from her. I obliged and she brought me one beer. Angel never came back… ever. I had to go back to the bar to close my tab an hour later. The bartender was very apologetic and even paid for my beer. I’m giving this 3 stars only because both of the bartenders were absolutely fantastic. Bethany and Angel not so much, they were just awful to us. Real shame too, this was only my 3^rd time there so not really feeling it. Several people who were there commented that they are known for bad service on either the upper or lower patio and their wait staff has high turnover. The table next to us also had a significant issue with Bethany when they tried to close out their tab — they were overcharged for various items and it was a huge mess.

Wish I could have tasted their food or even a drink… to give them a true rating. It is also unfortunate that the management doesn’t staff their location adequately. With only one waitress who is also acting as the bartender… It does not give her a chance to get to anyone, unfair to her and no wonder why she appeared to be in a bad /​flustered mood. The entire place was packed and we waited 15min only to leave when she wouldn’t even acknowledge that we were there and waiting. If your the only place in palatine open at 9am… Staff accordingly.

A great place for a bite to eat or some drinks. One of the oldest historical buildings in town. The staff is Excellent! All of the bartenders are super nice. Security there does a great job on the weekends to deal with what they are handed. Also does a great breakfast early in the morning.

Miserable place, food horrible, service staff and manager all drunk or high. Manager actually tried to argue with the couple next to us when they complained about their appetizer coming out ½ hour after their dinner. Our food was not as ordered.

Hit or miss. It’s fun when there’s a good group of people in the lower bar and the jukebox is on. But the food is pretty gross and it takes FOREVER to get a drink. If you hadn’t been here before you wouldn’t know there isn’t a waitress. I really don’t understand why they don’t have a waitress in the bar area. You have to go to the actual bar and stand around and wait forever while the bartender usually is too busy or ignoring you to take care of the regular alcoholics drinking busch tall boys.

The bartender Lindsay was freaking awesome. Awesome nachos and she delivered some awesome nachos. Nachos are good the beats it was a very good surprise I didn’t leave you want me to grade the painters that you’re fucking awesome. Where is it was very nice presentable very personable we didn’t have a way with him in a group of 30 she was still nice and polite. couldn’t ask for better service and better beer at a better price.
Then we go upstairs. First off you have to up stairs to get to the live cover band and as soon as you leave some chick wants to charge you $ to get back into the bar area. Really? Already paid and you want me to pay again? So I left. I spoke to the manager and he supported the door manager. Terrible service.

Here are the pros and cons of Lamps:
Pros:
cheap beers
decent pub style food
great, fast, and friendly staff
Cons
not big enough for the weekends
Mixed:
the makeup of the bar on the weekends which include the people that are trying to relive their college years. Which can be annoying at times
There is also people who I swear are permanent on the bar stools. Lamps is a modern day Cheers

One of my favorite «go to» bars in palatine. All the staff is nice and get to know you. At times, this bar can get extremely crowded and sloppy but I try to avoid it when it gets bad. Drinks are priced decently and they make them strong too!

Screw this place! Terrible service. The bouncer will kick you out for anything. I was dancing and the DJ «table» fell on me and I got kicked out. Obviously they were embarrassed. My lawyer will be contacting them. Don’t go here. Besides everything it sucks.

The reason for only the 3 star rating is because the drinks were not very good but as far as a more upbeat and younger crowd of people, this is a great place to be on the weekend. I truly enjoyed the crowd and music. It was apparently karaōke night, but that was cool too. However if I came out to drink and you just don’t have good cocktails, I personally rather skip out on the crowd and have what I came out for!

I would say top 3 burgers in palatine for sure and half price on mondays. The bar itself can get pretty douchey but the food is good and they have some pretty good specials.
The manager was a complete dick. I was on the upper level and asked if i could order a burger to go or if i should go downstairs. His response was to cop an attitude and say he’s not going to go around looking for me when it’s ready. I said i am going to be right at the table and waiting. He took my order like it was a chore.
If i do decide to go back, it likely wont be on a weekend and i sure as shit wont be dealing with that guy.

Went here for dinner and drinks with friends on Friday. We sat on the roof because it was so nice out. There was a guy playing acoustic guitar downstairs and no seats were available. When we went in there was a sign that said to let waitstaff know before you went upstairs.
When I told one of the waitresses, she was pretty rude. I just assumed she was really busy. Our waitress upstairs was friendly and helpful. We ordered drinks, a pretzel, and nachos to start. $ 3 bud and bud light 23 oz draughts on Friday is a pretty good deal. The pretzel was pretty good but oily or buttery? The cheese was ice cold though which wasn’t ideal. The nachos were inedible. Like what you would expect if you were getting nachos in elementary school but the chips were leftovers and there was no way to heat up any ingredients.
I had a burger. It was pretty good. I also ordered a side of bottle caps (deep fried jalapeños). The bottle caps were probably the highlight of the meal. They are unbelievably spicy though.
This is a great place to grab drinks, but the food isn’t the best. I will definitely go back for drinks or maybe to see some live music at their upstairs stage.

This place has a lot of cool beers on tap. I was there on a Wednesday. It was a bit crowded and the Cubs were playing. I didn’t eat the food but everyone who I was with seems to enjoy their meals. The bar tender was quick and me and my date spent little time waiting for her drinks. I didn’t pay that much attention to detail in this place, which is something unusual for me … It may be a good thing???
Parking was fine for a week day. I have a feeling it is awful during the week.
Anyway I enjoyed my beer, my date, and his friends. This seems like a good place to hang out and catch up with people.

This place is good for one thing… Getting drunk on a Saturday night. The frustrating thing is that some of the food is actually pretty good. The burgers are probably the best thing on the menu, everything else is just okay. The issue is the staff and service. Again, on a Saturday night, the staff (bar staff) are good and fun. The dining staff on the other hand is a joke. We came here on a Sunday for lunch with a group and had a confusing and upsetting experience. Needless to stay, if you’re going to serve food you need to have teeth. Both servers had missing teeth, were slow, confused about our order and standard 101-​food service questions. See you on Saturday for a cold beer only.

We had a family of 5 in and ordered gyros, for our daughter who can’t do milk.
The waiter told us the tzatziki sauce had no milk in it. We found out later that it does.
I wrote an email to the restaurant and got a reply from the owner (THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE) who said you have a «dairy» issue, not milk, right?“
You’re in the food business and don’t know that dairy = milk? Amazing! Yogurt, sour cream and milk all come from milk. So hopefully the owner has learned something about one of the most basic foods on the planet.
This situation was also called «questionable.» REALLY? The waiter didn’t know the answer, so he LIED? He couldn’t ask the cook? Couldn’t Google «tzatziki sauce.» Couldn’t do the right then when a health issue was at risk?
I was disgusted to get a dumb, defensive email in response to my bad experience. I hate when people say something stupid like «Thank you for pointing this out, it’ll help us better train our staff in the future.» Hey, that makes me feel better, I helped you out. But, you didn’t care to see us back.
So we tried a new restaurant, for us. We experienced slow service, lackluster, uncaring staff — when the place was virtually empty (2 other parties were there). And a story we’ve already shared and will continue to.
Lamplighter’s? BIG TIME, WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. We’ll skip this and go somewhere else. There are always plenty of choices and sometimes bad business people make it easier by helping eliminate themselves from the mix.

This was my first time dining here and all I can say is «WOW!» This is a burger, wrap, sandwich and pizza joint which also happens to serve breakfast with many choices to choose from. But let’s talk about their Specialty Burger’s. I had the «Comfort & Easy Street» burger. a ½lb burger topped with bacon, cheddar cheese sauce, lettuce and tomato placed BETWEN 2 grilled cheese sandwiches! OMG was it good! Messy, but worth it! My wife had the «Railroad Station» burger. I can’t wait to go back to try the «P-​Town» burger which has peanut butter and bacon on it and others. Waitress was extremely friendly and made many suggestions and knew the menu well. If you’re looking for a unique burger you’ve got to try this place!

Picked this place from random on a spontaneous Friday night meet. There are two parts, the bar, and the restaurant. I set up shop in the bar. The crowd is salty and gets younger as the night progresses. A decent spread menu with some variety to it and some featured specials. I went for the house burger and it did not disappoint. The pizza I sampled was just OK. A shout out needs to go out to the order of onion rings and that spicy spanky sauce they serve with them. Totally liked that, had a nice little kick to it that demanded I order more beer. Speaking of drinks, vendors do a great job with signage so you can get a feel for the day of the week deal. Plenty of inexpensive tall boy options that will stretch your twenty spot. The bar tenders are friendly enough, but they are not there to make small talk, so you will need to turn to your neighbors for that. Very conducive to having some beverages with friends or making new ones.
Easy to get in and out of, and I did not have an issue with parking.

I was in the area one Saturday afternoon and my husband and I were hungry. We’re always hungry.
Lamplighter Inn was the the only place that looked «alive» in Palatine’s mini downtown area. When I say mini — I mean mini. I think there were two other places to eat within walking distance (an Irish Pub and an ice cream shop) so we stepped inside the bar through a bunch of drunks (it was only 2pm!) and into the dining area. We each ordered a burger. Quentin Road Burger and Clayson Burger which were both pretty good. I also tried their amazing mac-​n-​cheese wedges which came on top of the Clayson Burger.
Overall, a pleasant experience. If you happen to be in the area and are looking for a place with good grub and drinks, this place hits the spot.
The dining area and menu is also kid-​friendly.

So I have only been here to consume in some drinking… guess that is the college kid in me, but apparently I need to check out the food. I will say, that Fish Fry looks pretty tasty.
Always a good time here, especially during Christmas. I love all the over-​the-​top decorations and everyone seems to be having a great time. Drinks aren’t overpriced, at least for the area, and the bartenders are always super sweet.