I had heard Old Republic is very popular with some folks we know in Elgin and based on some reviews we saw online, we decided to have our Saturday night dinner there tonight. The server was a young, congenial college student and waited on our drinks and salads quite well, and in a friendly manner. Our pre-dinner salads were fine, but the entrees were another story. My husband was OK with his BBQ ribs, although they were cooled off when they arrived. My "Street Beef Brisket Tacos" listed on the summer specials menu were absolutely unacceptable however. Instead of beef brisket, it was either cubed pork or chicken, either of which had no flavor and weird texture, and they tried to cover them up with a heavy Korean BBQ sauce. The meat had absolutely no flavor, and were definitely NOT beef brisket as advertised on the summer menu. I was told by both the waiter, and restaurant manager that they looked like beef brisket, and I asked them if they have ever cooked brisket?? These were definitely NOT brisket, in appearance, texture or flavor. It looked like pre-frozen meat cubes (small), perhaps pork or chicken, that they warmed up and slathered with BBQ sauce then stuffed into a taco shell with a small amount of slaw at the bottom. Frankly, some dog food I've seen looks better... The 3 tacos did not have a uniform amount of meat either: One had a lot of meat cubes, and the other two had half as much in each taco shell. I was not happy at all with this meal and could not finish more than 1 of the 3 tacos. Totally a disappointment, and I felt even worse as they tried to make me believe this mystery meat was beef brisket. Really? To top it off, my husband requested a cup of coffee afterwards, and he was provided a very cool, tepid cup of coffee, which was not drinkable. To say the least, we will not be returning to Old Republic, and believe this place seems to do as well as it does because of the outdoor seating area, which looks like a fun atmosphere for families. However, I don't trust the food here at all, and certainly the prices were overpriced for what we got. A total disappointment all around!
Great Place for outside dining; Great Food included Shrimp Tacos, Burger on pretzel bun, cheese curds... and Service was phenomenal. Pictures says it all. Highly Recommended
The place looks great as your pulling in, nice and modern. We sat outside on a beautiful day it really was nice. But….. the service, although friendly it was terribly slow for no reason. My wife enjoyed the walleye even though she asked for tacos and we were served the fillet. I ordered the brisket sandwich and as an avid bbq’er and smoker I can tell you that the brisket was not fresh at all not even from the same day, they put bbq sauce on the sandwich which is wonderful but there was not nearly enough AND they don’t offer multiple types of bbq sauce which is insane if you ask me,and it needed a lot more sauce. not everyone likes generic bbq sauce especially for something as nice as brisket so you would think, but after receiving the brisket sandwich I could see that they do not take pride in their brisket at all. I think they slice it up and then cook it, I don’t think they smoke it because it was as red as corn beef inside with no bark at all and no smoke ring because the whole thing was pink and oh so fatty, I assume they don’t trim their point. It literally looked like a piece of bacon. Drinks are tasty but you can’t taste the booze which sucks, fries were cold. The only nice thing about this place was our waitress. We will not be back.
This was our first time and it will definitely not be our last. The nachos with carnitas were amazing and the unlimited chicken fingers were juicy and tender. My son had the bacon brave and I had the the Philly Cheese. Our waiter, Sam C was awesome and very attentive. Definitely a place worth visiting.
We decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and dine outside at Old Republic on their outdoor patio. It took us a while to be acknowledged by our waiter and to get our drink a d appetizer ordered. The Wisconsin cheese curds were freshly fried and crispy. We had to wait for long periods of time to get our soft drinks refilled and then to order our entrees. The hangover burger was cooked perfectly with the egg yolk running over the burger after the first bite. The Turkey club was hard to eat with the three slices of Texas toast so it had to be dissected to be consumed. Expect to wait a while to get your order taken and delivered during your stay.
My favorite nachos of all time! The chips are soo good. Burgers are yummy too. Like the place overall!
Tried this restaurant on a whim with a friend. I was amazed at how nice this place was! Up to date decore, just enough lighting during the day, and the food and service was great! I would very much come back to this place. The only issue I found was the driveway outside. Lots of pot holes.
This is a great place to host any event that you may have coming up. We just celebrated my wife 54 birthday here on April 19th 2022. We hosted a party of 25 and everyone was very pleased with our host Johnny he kept the drink's full and the food was good and hot. Job well done...
great food good prices great Bartender I think her name is Allie?? sorry if I got that wrong
Great pizza. 1/2 price pizza on Thursday. Brandon pizza was outstanding. Johnny, our server, did an unbelievable job. He was very attentive and friendly. Will be back again ?