Claim Jumper

The wheeling location is now a «Twin Peaks», my wife and I were headed to this restaurant this past Saturday night when we pulled into the parking lot, noticed that it had been changed to «Twin Peaks» Burgers, Beer with a view. Went past the entrance and noticed a group of waitresses just outside the main entrance, all dressed like the girls from Hooters and Tilted Kilt, another step backward for the woman’s movement… we continued on our way, WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!

Claim Jumper is a usually a great place to get a lot of mediocre food. Unfortunately on this occasion, the portions were scant. I ordered the BBQ baby back pork ribs but what I got instead was a bunch of ribblets with barely any meat and that had little smoked flavor. The ribs were on par with the pre-​packaged and reheatable ribs from the safeway.
You know what you will get when you come to Claim Jumpers, and after this experience, that may not be a good thing.

This Claim Jumper location has closed! Apparently it wasn’t making enough money.
I’d been here a few times and thought it was decent… a little expensive, but it offered generous portion sizes and fun décor.

This is another chain restaurant in the north suburbs that hits our usual lunch rotation every so often. I’d use the words unspectacular and consistent with regard to the food and service — you kinda know what you are going to get and they do a pretty good job service-​wise. Not a ringing endorsement, but also not a knock on what they do either.
As mentioned in most of the reviews, the portions here are large. Fortunately, for most dishes you can select a smaller portion — which is closer to a «normal» portion at most other place. So, I guess you can say that you get what you pay for. I usually go with one of the lunch combo’s — soup and sandwich, soup and salad, etc. and that end up being about the right amount of food for me.
Yesterday I had half of the clubhouse sandwich and a bowl of chili ($ 8.95). Each was prepared well and the chili actually had good flavor to it — not just a red tomato-​paste looking dish with some beans. It tasted like chili with some flavor — not tomato bean gu. The service was good, our waitress was attentive and made sure our orders were correct and kept our drinks refilled.

Been here a few times, usually in a large group.
What is good about this place is that the portions and sides are huge. It is also what’s bad because it drives up the price. Overall, the food is good. I’ve had a variety of dishes ranging from chicken and steaks to all sorts of appetizers.
Interior sort of reminds me of a huge log cabin. Large bar, pretty nice place. Come if you have a huge appetite. If you are merely looking for a regular sized meal, be prepared to pay a little more and have lots of leftovers.

I want to like Claim Jumpers, I really do. Everyone I know that has been here has loved it. Hell, I went this last time around with two little kids and even THEY liked their food.
Alas. I have given Claim Jumper two shots to impress, and then redeem (respectively) and cannot give them more than two stars.
The first time around I got the Jambalaya. I don’t usually like stuff like that, but I was feeling dangerously adventurous. As good/​weird as it looked, the two bites I took made me feel somewhat queasy, and the leftovers didn’t even make it back to my fridge.
The second time around I got the parmesan crusted chicken. It was OK. The flavor was a little bland /​canned tomato tasting, and after a few bites I began to suspect that my chicken had been breaded which was not what I had wanted, and it was just all right. I tried to sub their grilled asparagus for the cheese toast but they wouldn’t let me sub so I had to pay $ 2.75 for a small plate of asparagus on the side. I thought that was a little pricey for a side, especially since the asparagus seemed burnt, and really under-​ripe.
I also tried some of their spinach-​artichoke dip which was, again, just all right. They served the dip with tortilla chips and garlic toast which is a nice change from just chips. The dip itself was a little too heavy on the artichoke side, but in general wasn’t too bad.
All in all, if I ever visit Claim Jumper again I am ditching the idea of a new, delicious meal, and ordering a salad.
Although, one of the people I was there with got the salad, and it didn’t really look like anything to Unilocal about.

BIG appetite?
We came here for a Birthday Dinner and it was my first time. «Claim Jumper» is a weird name for a restaurant, but who’s not weird?
This place is MAGNIFICENT. We sat in a HUGE booth that sat 20 or so people. Though getting in and out to use the restroom was slightly difficult, you were still able to squeeze in and out. Though it was slightly pricey, it was worth the cost to experience Claim Jumper.
It’s been a while since the party, so I can’t fully remember what I had ordered but I just remember it being great!
We had a «weird» crowd of people dining there since there was a hotel with convention center nearby. There were animal lovers at some «save the animals» convention and they dressed up in animal gear. We saw men and women dressed in outfits of animals. I thought I was at a zoo at first.

I’ve been here twice and it’s not too shabby (even though the price is a little steep). Food selection is good, and not to mention I came here with my family on Thanksgiving. They had a pretty decent special going on (three course thanksgiving dinner for 20 bucks/​person… not terrible).
Wait staff is pretty friendly and makes pretty good suggestions if you can’t make up your mind.

I tend to agree with others saying this is basically a «Western» Cheesecake Factory. The menu is extensive, the prices reasonable, and the beer in large glasses.
Service wasn’t awesome, but alot better than RAM across the street.
Food was decent, extremely large portions.

Claim Jumper really wasn’t the most unique restaurant I’ve had.
Don’t get me wrong. The food was pretty good and the portions were massive. I got the whiskey chicken– white chicken breast, potatoes with gravy, apple stuffing, and a biscuit. It was a huge gigantic portion (let alone, I got the «large size»). My other family members seemed to like their steaks, somewhat? Yet, they’ve all commented that they’ve «had better.» Additionally, I tried my cousin’s shrimp jambalaya. and it didn’t taste like jambalaya at all. It had a slight marinade to it? Oh, and the bread that came out before the meal was hard as a rock.
However, the overall décor of the restaurant is quite nice. Despite the massive antlers hanging from the ceiling, it’s an overall nice restaurant. Yet… just wasn’t unique. I felt like it was a nicer cheesecake factory or a glorified bennigans.
I rather have gone for a unique tasting place. If you want a place to go to that’s like an applebees or cheesecake factory food, just with better décor, Claim Jumper might be the place for you.

All I can say is bring your own salt shaker – because the food here is bland, bland, bland. The mashed potatoes seriously tasted like they didn’t have a grain of salt. The service was slow even though the restaurant was not busy and I did not care for the décor and theme of this place either. This place tries to be like Wildfire, but has none of the taste and service.

Ram upgraded and expensive. Good for a date or happy hour drinks. Some people like to think of them as a redefined version of Cheesecake factory, with the large servings of food, cost and extravagance.
Not the best place if you are flying solo for the evening. Milfs and attractive divorcee’s can be found. However, they’re not here for young meat. They’re here for old money. Young women looking for sugar daddies could make a killing.
With the hotel next door most nights the crowd is more family oriented and groupings of much much older people.

In retrospect, I should have gone to Tramonto’s right next door but a) I wasn’t sure if they served lunch, b) I didn’t feel like dropping some (potential?) serious coin on a quick lunch and c) they don’t have a website to ascertain such valuable info? Ahh well, maybe next time, Rick (website would be helpful, just fyis like).
So to the C Jump: it was not bad, not great either. Very predictable American fare type chain that comes in massive portions, naturally ! I asked the server b/​t the Tuna salad sandwich or the Chicken Pot Pie, immediately she said the pot pie. I probably would have gone w. it anyway as I had a terrible cold and needed some comfort food to cure my ale’s.
The pie was good sized and came out scorching hot (and remained that way t/​o meal). The chicken-​based crème sauce/​roux that makes up the interior was a little too thick for my liking but still tasted ok; actually consistency aside, it tasted pretty good. The other problems were the lack of carrots, potatoes, peas, and umm *chicken* ?! where art thou?
The actual pie crust was a little too thick on top… I look for a nice delicate flaky crust on top, this was more of your standard «cherry pie» type crust.
No mention of side w this entrée but it did come w a side of melon and honey dew that was equally impressive in size, as well as a whole apple! A bit strange but a nice healthy alternative to whatever else they could have paired this dish with.
They do have free wi-​fi which was a bonus. Would I go back? Probably not.

The BEST Crème brûlée I have ever had was from this place… and trust me, I was on quite the quest to find it.
I ordered the sampler set of Crème brûlées which came with many mini ramekins in different flavors of the oh-​so-​delicious treat.
The rest of the food was typical American… same ol’, same ol’…

Okay so I must admit that I would not imagine myself going to a place called Claim Jumper. As someone in the insurance industry the irony would be just way to obvious.
Well I joined a coworker to the Claim Jumper in the North «burbs» and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I sat at the bar and discovered that they have a martini called the claimtini. This drink is very similar to a cosmo and it is just plain olé yummy. They also have a great happy hour. $ 5.95 martinis, bar specials, and $ 2.00 off regular size appetizer. THIS is my kinda place. I am sure that the back story of the place explains the cheesy sheriff star that the staff wear on their chest.
That being said I will definitely return to Claim Jumper.
I actually already have :-)

Honestly, the service here is much better than the food. What I sampled of the food was fairly standard fare. It was pretty good, but nothing to warrant five stars.
The service was A+! All of our huge party were well attended to and I felt as though our glasses never went empty. The wait staff was very talkative and enjoyable, blending right into our group conversation wise. It was a lot of fun to just sit there and hang out with them. I would give the service 5 stars.

The rules of Pac Man.
1. one quarter, one life– no exceptions.
2. pixelated dots are yummy, don’t ask questions.
3. Eating fruit randomly left on the street by strangers gives you super powers.
And… rule 4 is what claim jumper and Pac Man have in common.
4. Eat your way to victory.
Both Pac Man and Claim Jumper leave you satisfied. Claim jumper is essentially standard American fare with a little pizazz to make things interesting. Be ready to share these huge portions!

Fantastic quality, great menu. It was my first time at Claim Jumpers with 7 people in total, including myself. This restaurant is busy! The place was absolutely packed by the time we were leaving.
First thing to note is a wonderful selection of food. It’s certainly a bit pricey, but the portions are enormous (and thankfully you can do half portions). I can easily eat for two and certainly had more than enough from ordering a half portion of the Jambalaya, which was well made. It was unique in that it was made with spinach pasta (and regular pasta) — the flat thick kind of pasta.
Scenery wise Claim Jumpers has a nice layout with plenty of TVs with news and sports towards the middle of the restaurant. You pass all the deserts on the way in.
The meal itself was colorful, and very well made. It was quite unique to have a Jambalaya with a spicy sauce but no tomato. The garlic bread/​toast/​etc was also well made. My father ordered the meatloaf, which was surprisingly well prepared as well, and the brightest colored meatloaf I have ever seen. Although the wine and beer selection wasn’t extraordinary, it was a decent selection.
My personal experience was that it was excellent, but of course to each their own even with reviews.

I’ve seen Claim Jumpers in various locations the past few years on the road, but, since I tend to avoid chains, never stopped in. We went last night for an end-​of-​season crew dinner. We shared a couple of the appetizer sampler platters, which were very good. There were may fried items, as was to be expected, but also artichoke and wings and things.
For dinner I had the Malaysian Steak salad. The ingredients were fresh and included greens, mint, basil, pineapple, avocado, peanuts, udon noodles and a tasty dressing. The desserts were much to huge to consider.
Definitely a step up from your average casual chain.

Had dinner here last night with a friend. The atmosphere was really nice, not too loud. The staff was incredibly friendly and attentive.
I ordered the BBQ Chicken salad, which I have to say was good but not entirely what I was hoping for. Jicama was listed as being in the salad and about half way through I had to look for it… I love the stuff and couldn’t taste it, but it was there, in shavings. All in all, not bad at all.
My friend had the Oaxacan Style Sea Bass and the waitress had said it was spicy… well not too spicy, as it turns out, but tasty. The portion was rather big and sat on a bed of rice. My friend said it was really good and just spicy enough for someone who it’s all that into the hot and spicy side.
Presentation on the food was really good, the plates were beautiful when they hit the table.
I was disappointed in the fact that they have small and large desserts… while this might be great for groups, didn’t work for the two of us who would have loved some chocolate cake but it was a gigantic piece (like 9 layers of normal cake thickness). Our individual serving choices were really not all that appealing so we didn’t get to have dessert… oh well.
I would go again though, the food was pretty good and the atmosphere and service were great!