Colonial Cafe & Ice Cream

Disappointing. My brother-​in-​law came in from the city with his two kids and thought this would be a good place for us to go. He wanted a fish fry and was serve something that looked like it was from Van de Kamp’s. Our fish tacos were lukewarm and not tasty. Cross that one off my list.

This place is ALWAYS amazing. My girl friend and I would come here still drunk from the Saturday before. Today was our first time being sober and they never fail. I have the jambalaya for the first time. Super spicy and full of flavor… def loved it. Thanks Tyler. u were dope bro. Service was a little… just a little off
. (⁸⁄₁₀) still not bad though.

I’ve eaten at 3 colonial cafes before. Naperville, st charles on main st and now the one in St charles on randall rd. I will say the naperville location and the Main St location are top notch and I eat at those ones on a regular enough basis. Went to the randall rd one for the first time this weekend.
First, it took the server 5 minutes to greet us. Then another two minutes to get our drinks ordered. Then he only checked on us once, we were there for 45 minutes. I considered it «less than decent service»
I will go back to the Naperville location and the St Charles Main St location. NOT the Randall Rd location.

Service was great. The waitress was nice and friendly. I ordered the baked French onion soup and it was delicious. Hit the spot! It came with a small side of garlic bread too. It was flavorful and not too oily.

I’m not happy about my last visit to the Café. My husband and I ordered food to pick up on our way home. I had my heart set on the fish and chips but it was quite disappointing. I got these little pieces of fish and a few lukewarm fries. I asked for multi vinegar which I did not receive. Mt husband enjoyed what he ordered but I didn’t even finish eating my disappointing meal. This is not worth over $ 10!

Have been here twice because my husband likes it. Not impressed. Worst coffee ever! Very watered down. Not sure how hard it is to mess up a cup of Joe. Hash browns were gross and not even fully cooked.

So, let me start by saying that I’ve never written a review before. However, I was so blown away by the upgrade in the freshness of everything here at Colonial. I’ve probably have eaten here at least a dozen times and it wasn’t ever as great as today’s meal. Additionally, our waiter was attentive but we witnessed Lisa training a server. She was so positive and complimentary. This made for a wonderful atmosphere of caring. Min, the general manager, is going to be an outstanding addition as well. We will now be open to trying other meals besides breakfast.

We were here on Sat morning, Mar 21. As we were being seated we were presented with a special Chef’s special menu. The manager seated us and encouraged us to try something on it. The first thing on it was my absolute favorite breakfast side dish — grits. Both my husband and I were excited to order them. For the rest of my order, I asked for Handmade Sausage and Eggs — eggs over medium. When the food finally came, the grits were runny and way undercooked as were my eggs. We sent the grits back and our server tried to microwave them hoping to cook them more. They boiled over — how do I know? The boil-​over was coating the side of my bowl. When she brought them back, she didn’t bother to wipe them out. When we asked her to take them off our bill, she said «Well, you know you are in Illinois, you can’t expect us to know how to cook grits!» Ummmm, hello, you all put them on the Chef’s special menu not us! Don’t make a big deal about it if your cooks don’t know how to make it!!! Check out the pictures I loaded on Saturday morning.
Disappointed…

Got an omelette here & it was okay. The toast was burnt to hell & the potatoes tasted greasy. Our waiter got our ice cream order completely wrong which was a bummer. Waited forever for the check. Not the greatest but then again it is colonial.

I try to visit whenever I’m in town — great breakfasts… Servers can be hit or miss in terms of how attentive they are but that can be like that anywhere. Great pancakes — blueberry and banana — my mom and I ordered one of each and split. Not sure which was better. Coffee very good too.

Stopped by on whim for breakfast on a weekend and were pleasantly surprised. We were seated right away and were overwhelmed by the menu. I decided on the blueberry pancakes 2+2 breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon. My son got the Jr. Mousing Around Chocolate Chip pancakes. When our food came, my pancakes did not have blueberries in them. The waitress was very apologetic and offered to fix it, but I declined because we were in a hurry. She did bring a side of blueberries as an apology. The eggs were good and the plain pancakes were decent. My son absolutely loved his chocolate chip pancakes to where he ate more than half of it… which if you knew my son would realize that is a lot for him.
Definitely will come back to try other items.

What can I say? Colonial is native to Saint Charles. If you grew up in Saint Charles, you went to Colonial for ice cream, a kitchen sink, or even just breakfast with your family. I’ve always loved Colonial. It’s close to my house, and they always make great food. I do miss the atmosphere of the old location on Route 38, but the new one is kind of fun as well. They’re always well staffed and make sure you have a great experience. I do love that Colonial is growing, I mean, hey, it’s made its way up to Crystal Lake! In conclusion, you know you love Colonial if you’re from Saint Charles; you grew up on it.

We came in on a Sunday and were greeted right away in the front. The hostess walked us to a corner spot booth. While on the way, I couldn’t help but notice the floor and tables. Filthy. Every other table but one in the area we sat wasn’t cleared. (See photo)
The good about the server? Didn’t mess up our orders. We got everything we asked for. The not so good? Very mopey. Seemed to be in a bad mood. Also, he needs to learn to stop at a few tables before going back to the ticket area or pos computer or whatever. He would take a tables order, go place it, come back, stop at the next table, go back to bring the table what they wanted then move down the line. Table by table. All we wanted was more napkins. Something that he could’ve grabbed on the way back from getting something from the waiter area took way longer than expected. This happened several times. 10 mins just to order ice cream too.
How was the food? Excellent. No complaints there. Oh, and they did eventually start to clear the tables after about 20 minutes there. Then two kids who worked there started to vacuuming the floors right next to us. The whole time shouting over the vacuum noise talking about how they couldn’t wait to get off work and also discussed school. My friends fork was also dirty when she unwrapped it. I tried to take a photo but I didn’t want to be obvious so my camera couldn’t focus.
Again, great food. I hate to give the poor review.

I had the best omelet the egg white omelet seriously the best omelet ever! Service fantastic! Polite folks and thankful for my business!

It was my first a d definitely last time here. I ordered nachos thinking it’s pretty hard to screw up. .or so I thought. I asked for jalapeños and they brought roasted and when I asked for the other kind they brought me fresh chopped. When I sent that back they informed me that they no longer carry the marinated ones. Oy! Then, the actual nachos are apparently doused with chili fajita seasoning.. it was awful. The beans were nasty too! I sent my food back. The server wouldn’t take it back. He instead sent the manager over, who took my plate and didn’t even ask me if I wanted to order anything else.. Instead I sat there while everyone else ate. After which I just went to subway.

We came for lunch knowing this place is known for their ice cream. We got the appetizer (quesadilla, cheese curds, chicken tenders and onion rings, all of which. Was really good). Hubs got the 1966 patty melt (was ⁴⁄₅) and I had the French onion soup (returned it, which is very rare, was way too sweet) and the Mac n cheese (pretty ordinary, Kraft is better). We created our own sundae that was good. What I found upsetting is out of the 5 tables within our view, there was only 1 comment card and it was really dirty. Not worth the $ 43. No. Not coming back.

Colonial is a tried and true staple of the fox valley area — and this location is similar to the rest. I’ve always had great service and decent food whether I am present for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I’m giving this location one more star than I would give the other locations because I find this location cleaner and to have more attentive service than others. I recently ate here and enjoyed soup and a sandwich, but I really love their paninis and chicken Caesar salad for lunch, and their fresh fruit crepes or sunshine special for breakfast. On my most recent visit my friend had trouble with his meal — and the staff handled it excellently. I know he would dine here again too. Is the food fantastic — no, but it is definitely good and reliable and fairly priced. Don’t forget to check out their wonderful ice cream selections.

Great service and really good food.
Had the Pot Roast French Dip sandwich, the meat was tender and flavorful.
My nephew had the Bacon Cheddar burger, he said it was the best burger he’s ever had. The portions are plentiful we went home with left overs.

Love the peanut butter chocolate ice cream, veg head skillet, turkey pot pie, banana foster pancakes, CA Turkey grill and vesuvio melt. Food is great quality and the ice cream is even better. Give this place a chance. You won’t be disappointed!

Okay. I went here the other night as part of a special event our community put on. Sort of a social event and introduction to the restaurant. Some people had been here before and some hadn’t. I was one of the latter.
Parking: amble. it’s part of a larger shopping complex with another restaurant and a large supermarket.
Restaurant Appearance: kind of a boxy 60’s retro look. The booths seemed to be quiet and separated from other customers. Not exactly a 60’s diner set up or family style but no different than most other restaurants of this type at this time. would call this average.
Appetizers: I had some of the Hand Battered Chicken Fingers and the Macho Nachos. Chicken fingers are either good or very bad (cooked too long). These were good. The Macho Nachos had me hooked. I kept coming back to them while there were still some left on the plate. Very good. Others in the group had the Chicken Quesadillas and the Bruschetta Bread. They seemed to go down quickly.
Entrée: Had a portion of the Tuscan Turkey (roasted turkey, smoked bacon, caramelized red onions, a little avocado, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and a mayo pesto. It had a lot of different flavors going down. Some sweet, some tangy. I wouldn’t say it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had but up there as a main entrée. 4 stars here.
I also was able to pinch a hamburger slider which had some thin onions on top, some cheese and was about average to good.
Service: Service was good and timely, but this was a large group (25) and the restaurant was aiming to please. All in all, I saw a lot of activity at other tables, smiles, and some high energy. Judging from some of the other reviews I’ve seen, they may have taken notice.
We will return here next month when our granddaughter is visiting and update this review if I feel something is either better or worse.
(Oh, by the way, if you like ice cream, I’m told this is a good place to buy it. And, if you’re having dessert, the «kitchen sink» was getting a lot of attention.