The Reel Club: A Blight On Oak Brook (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 50)

Usually we love everything about Oak Brook Center. We like the outdoor shopping (at least for the six or seven days the weather is good), the Wildfire is our favorite restaurant of all, and we have liked other restaurants we've tried there. The Reel, which we were surprised to find is part of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant chain, is like the black sheep who drags the whole family down.

We actually couldn't believe how bad we felt this restaurant was. The evening started inauspiciously when, on a cold Tuesday night, with no one around the host stand, the maitre d' claimed there was not a single table available in the dining room for an hour. Lisa found this more credible, as she did see most of the dining area filled when she passed to visit the Women's Room. Steve was not convinced. We were seated immediately, though, in the bar area, which had nice high top tables. Plus, with the smoking ban, it can actually now be pleasant to sit in a bar.

We started with an Oregon Domaine Pinot Noir, which was far too tart for both of us. It tasted like green apples. It did grow a little on Lisa, but Steve never warmed up to it, and neither of us would order it again. Steve was confused about the food from the outset. The place is called "The Reel," but the first thing the waiter mentioned as a specialty was the steak. Perhaps that should have been our first clue, but we did not pick up on it. We started with tuna tartare, which we expected to be good since we still thought we were at a seafood restaurant. It was okay, but the sauce obscured the tuna taste. The service intruded at this point, because the salads were brought before we'd even come close to finishing the appetizer. Lisa's ceasar was okay, but bland. Steve's baby iceberg came with brown lettuce, but the blue cheese made it at least edible. To call the service uneven would be an understatement. After having the salad come right on top of the appetizer, we waited for what seemed like an eternity between finishing the salad and getting the main course. Also, no one cleared the appetizer or salad plates, which made our small table very crowded.

The entrees were almost laughable, except we were hungry and would have liked to have something to eat rather than laugh about. The salmon Steve ordered was the worst either of us had ever tasted. Lisa compared it to the cafeteria salmon where she works. Lisa's crab cakes were also miserable. Sometimes she does not like crab cakes because many restaurants prepare the breading with Southwestern spices. There were no worries about that here. Instead, the breading and the crab tasted like frozen fish sticks by Mrs. Paul. Our advice -- save some money and just visit the frozen seafood aisle in your local supermarket (not even Jewel quality -- more like Aldi's).

Desserts were uneven. Steve had butterscotch creme brulee, which had the potential to be fantastic but which instead tasted sort of like old Brach's butterscotch candy. Lisa really liked her dessert, which was homemade chocolate ice cream topped with a scoop of orange sherbet and served with chocolate sauce that was fairly dark. This did not save the meal, but at least saved the place from our worst rating ever.

The bathrooms had very interesting sinks. The water cascaded onto a flat white surface with gutter-type borders to catch the overflow. It worked fine, though Lisa felt nervous that the water would splash on her or the floor. Still, it was kind of neat, and Lisa otherwise would have rated the women's bathroom fairly high, but it was quite chilly. Steve thought the men's room was acceptable but nothing special other than the sink (and he did manage to slop some water over the gutter and onto himself).

Dinner for two with a bottle of wine was $220 and would have been about $145 with wine by the glass. Not terribly expensive had the food been even reasonably good, but definitely too much for the actual quality.

Our ratings for The Reel Club, 272 Oak Brook Center Dr., Oak Brook, IL:

4 of 10 Fish Hooks; 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes