Augie’s Front Burner

On the road again! This time to Springfield. I’m staying at the Doubletree downtown… no car… so I wanted someplace within walking distance. Augies fit the bill. I called at 7-​ish to see if I could get a reservation, but nothing was open. The bar was free, though, so I headed on down. Lucked out! A no-​show opened up a table for me.
I had the German-​inspired braised short ribs. Truly yummy. They had bacon in the braising liquid and it kicked it up a notch (as they say). Hey… bacon. Perfectly cooked spaetzel was mixed in. They did that right… a great dough, boiled, and then beautifully sizzled in brown butter. A small bowl of sweet/​sour red cabbage rounded out the dish. All in all… a great meal.

I just had one of the best meals I’ve had in a very long time at Augie’s. I’m just in town for one night, and happened upon this place while exploring downtown on foot. I sat at the bar and had great service. All of the day’s specials sounded so good, it was hard to decide. I had the salmon special: Salmon encrusted with pumpkin seeds, with a generous (too much) portion of sweet corn polenta, ribbons of grilled zucchini, and two delicious grilled shrimps. It was indescribably good. Others at the bar were enjoying the same dish, and they were also raving over the grilled asparagus appetizer which was also a daily special. It may be in the top 10 restaurant meals I’ve ever had — no kidding. It seems they have daily specials at the chef’s whim: Daily tacos, pasta, seafood, and lamb dishes. The lamb risotto sounded too good to pass up, but I’m glad I opted for the salmon.

This restaurant is awesome. They have a special list that includes incredible entrees along with a fabulous menu. I chose the Asian inspired duck which was fantastic, however I also wanted the specials. I’ll just have to come back. I highly recommend this place. It is as good as any of the trendy Chicago places without the high prices.

This place is really tiny and the restaurant gets loud easily. But the food has always been wonderful.

My family and I visited this restaurant on a recommendation of a friend to celebrate my graduation from UIS. At first all went decently. Our waiter was friendly and had a good sense of humor. The next few items were not the fault of the waiter but the kitchen staff themselves. My sisters burger was supposed to be rare but came out well done which we sent back and it came back out fine. My moms soup came out cold which had to be sent back twice to be heated. We had over a two hundred dollar tab and when presented with the bill, our waiter stated I heard you are a good tipper which was quite inappropriate. This restaurant was overpriced, had poor service and honestly the food wasn’t that great. There are other options that would be much better!

We ate here 5-​14-​2016 and our waiter was slow to bring our food. The soup was cold and sent back 2x. We ordered a rare burger and it came out well done. It was very noisy the entire time. The drinks and food are super overpriced. If this is a chef run business I did not see that in food prep. Then as the bill came out the waiter gave the bill to my husband and said «Someone told me you are a big tipper, I hope that’s true» there were 7 of us and our bill was almost 250.00 including tip. We also did not want to hear about this waiters girlfriend who is getting her degree as a dr. We will not go back to this establishment if in the Springfield area. This place came highly recommended by a person we know. I highly disagree with the recommendation.

Wife and I were in town for a weekend convention and needed to treat ourselves to at least one good meal so I made a reservation. We were seated promptly and our server immediately began to make our experience superb. She was attentive, knowledgable about the food and wine, and did an excellent job.
FOOD: We had the salmon and the lamb. Both were excellently prepared and the sauces were spot-​on.
WINE: They have a nice wine list with good vintages at several price points.
This was another delicious dinner at Augie’s which doesn’t happen as often as we would like. I would definitely recommend having a meal here whenever you get to Springfield.

Pretty good food, but man they charge crazy prices.
I had the lobster bisque (it was very watery and cold).
Several appetizers: all super small portions
Filet for dinner with shrimp was great!

I travel a bout 75% of the time and I have had good luck with Unilocal reviews. I never had the chance to review the food here.
Today I wanted to sit outside at this four star Unilocal rated restaurant and was immediately and rudely asked to leave my seat outside. Even before I sat down I asked the hostess if it was OK to sit outside and she said it would be fine. I got a conflicting stories and reasons for the move from the waitress as well as the manager. She was not very pleasant.
Apparently there’s a lack of communication with the hostess and manager. Makes me wonder about the food.
service gets half star in my opinion

Wow, you need to come here. The staff was great as we walked in, clearly knowledgeable of the menu and the food, she knew how to be interactive without be intruding — great job.
The food was a very eclectic offering of inventive items. It was hard to make a decision as everything on the menu sounded fantastic. I don’t think you can make a bad choice, but this is the kind of place you can come back to over and over just to explore the menu.
I opted for the steak burger with pub cheese and mustard. It was cooked perfectly with great flavor and nice texture to the meat. The fries were fries. Others had the steak gyro with a pita, tzatziki sauce, cucumber a tomato relish and french fries. Looked awesome, the eater declared it great.
Overall, fantastic!

They have a menu item called «shut up and eat» which is whatever the chef wants to make that day. Love the idea… and I was lucky enough to be there on a day that it was Mahi Mahi Bahn Mi. Delish!

Service was good. Food was just OK. Too salty and nothing special. Had I gotten what the people sitting next to me at the bar had I feel I would have the same impression.

The food is fantastic! The wait staff is very friendly and accommodating. I ordered a well done steak and they cooked it to perfection.

Had dinner here last night. The food and wine took a long time to get to the table. Elk was delicious but it was not served very warm, rib steak was overpriced and way under cooked. Some patrons were very rowdy, drunk, and cussing. They obviously knew the staff, yet nothing was said to ask them to tone down their behavior. This was our second iffy experience here, considering the price, we will not return.

The joint looks pretty tiny from the outside, but it’s actually narrow an longggg! I love the quirky deco and the paintings on the wall.
My coworker and I hit up the joint on a Monday before legislation convened. We were lucky to find an open restaurant — when the politicians aren’t in Springfield, the town is dead.
The special that night was a Bellini-​tini. Very very deliciously made by our bartender.
The calamari appetizer is pretty good. I don’t know what kind of seasoning was on it, but it complemented the squid quite well.
I had the pork chop entrée. I was surprised at how big the portion was when it came out! It had a light breading around it, and was served on a bed of caramelized carrots & other veggies (which paired well with the chop). The pork was nicely cooked — very juicy & tender.
Slightly pricey, but great service! Don’t go when congress is in town… you probably won’t get a seat. A must visit while in Springfield! Right across the street from the Old Capitol.

I almost hating writing a positive review thinking I’d like to keep this place a secret. But, since I don’t live in Springfield or any where close, I have to say this was a fantastic find while I was working in the city. There were 7 of us and we were all very pleased with the food and service. I had the pork chop and it was thick and juicy. Two had the pasta with short ribs and they raved about it. The salmon was the best they had ever had. I travel a lot for business and I can’t say I’ve had a better meal anywhere else. Most folks went back the next evening, I opted put to watch football, but they all raved again.

Wonderful choice for a special occasion. Great array of choices on the menu. So hard to decide what I wanted. Full wine list. Very professional waitstaff.

This place impressed the pants off of me. I ordered the mussels and a salmon steak, which happened to be the special for the night. Both dishes were exceptionally flavorful. The mussels came in a curry sauce that had just the right amount of kick for someone like myself with low spice tolerance to enjoy. The salmon came with a great rub that I couldn’t quite pinpoint except for the paprika. Throwing in a scoop of gelato for dessert was an unnecessary but thoughtful and delicious gesture on the part of Kim behind the bar.
You can tell pretty easily that this place is run by a chef that painstakingly cultivates his craft. The menu here changes fairly often so I’ll plan to return every time I’m in town to see what additions they’ve made.

Visited Augies during a visit to Springfield in May 2015.
Beautiful night so I choose to sit outside.
Nice view over looking the old Capital building.
Big mistake! Numerous guests who were eating inside continually come outside to smoke cigarettes roughly 10 feet from my table.
They should set a minimum of 50 feet from front door. Gross.
Food was ok.
Had lobster bisque which tasted good but had Zero pieces of lobster in it. My catfish entrée tasted pretty good.
Service was ok. The waiter seemed truly excited by each and every menu choice I made. I’m like take it easy, it’s just a Bass Beer.
Choices in Springfield are limited but I would try another spot next time.

Came here after finding a link to them on a Springfield-​related website.
The wife and I really liked this place. Good food (more on this later), our 6 and 10 year olds enjoyed their kid’s meals, and the services was excellent (more on this later, too).
Re: the food:
— I got the Lobster Bisque and Dena got the Butternut Squash Bisque to start. My Lobster was good, not great. Didn’t have any lobster chunks in it, but flavor was good. Dena’s Butternut Squash was great, though. Good flavor, good heat at the end.
— I got a Butter salad next, and Dena got the Crispy Goat cheese salad. Both were good and adequately (e.g. not overly massive and wasteful) sized. The bacon on both was fab.
— We rounded out with a series of appetizers. There was so much goodness on the menu, that we wanted to go with variety in smaller chunks than a single big entrée. I got the Bean Cakes and Wontons, Dena got Meatball Skewers.
All in all, the prices were a bit higher for smaller portions, but I’d rather get good food at a higher price point than a buttload of average food at cheaper prices.
Would I come back? Absolutely. I might want to experiment a bit more in town just to see what else is out there, but I would (and will) recommend them to anyone I know who is visiting Springfield.
Re: Service — Gabe was AWESOME. Did I mention awesome? He was attentive, knowledgeable, was great with our kids, checked in on us enough but not too much, gave good recommendations, all good. Really… he enhanced the entire experience. I hope management reads this so they can see it.
This is a classic case of where a 4.5 would be appropriate. In the absence of that, I gave them a 4 rather than a 5 because:
— The décor was a bit dated, or just off a bit. Not bad, but just felt a bit disjointed.
— The Lobster Bisque could have benefited from some chunks of lobster.
Yes. I’m being picky, but I’m trying to be more diligent in who I give 5 stars out to. I probably would have given them 5 stars 12 months ago.
Did I mention Gabe was awesome?