Village Vintner Winery, Brewery & Restaurant

Been here several times ! Always had great service ! Great food and friendly people, tonight we get seated and the hostess was very very rude ! I hate when they have young girls greeting ! We were in ear shot of them and these hostesses were talking about every customer that came in ! Very rude! Especially when we could hear ! We sat for about 20 minutes before anyone even greeted us ! So i asked this rude hostess when someone would greet us and she acted shocked ! Like hello we are sitting right next to you ! The waiter was great ! Food was good ! But the hostess needs to be replaced !
Update: removing 2 of my stars because i finally talked with a manager … Well lets just say he really didn’t seem to care at all of the awful service & food … Oh well ill spend my money else where !!! Thank you

I really love this place normally but our waitress really dropped the ball the last time we went. Our dinner took over 2 hours, mostly spent waiting for our food. When my husband’s manicotti finally made an appearance at our table, she offered him some fresh Parmesan cheese. What a treat! We waited a bit for her to bring some, and 20 minutes later she hurriedly dropped off one of those little shakers of the stuff you see at the pizza joints. Fresh Parmesan is definitely not essential, but don’t offer it if you don’t stock it.
Even without the Parmesan, the manicotti was salty. I ordered the chicken and ribs, which was fine. The waitress also brought us the wrong beer.
At the end of the meal, despite all the waiting, the Parmesan incident and the wrong beer, the waitress brought the check. At that point I asked for a little more ranch and bbq sauce and she promptly adjusted the check, making sure to charge us for both sauces. This was off– putting given all the mistakes and all the unnecessary waiting. If this keeps up, we’re cancelling our membership.

I’ve lived in LITH for a few years and tonight was my first time dining at this location. Upon entering, the hostess was pleasant and friendly as we inquired about the tasting room. We decided to give that a try before dinner and see what wines we enjoyed. Mistake! When we entered the room, what appeared to be a manager asked what we wanted. Not pleasant and not welcoming. We requested a tasting and he seemed put out. He set two menus on the bar, and when we didn’t want the «fixed» menu, he didn’t care. We accepted his disdain and went back to the hostess to get a table.
From there, Karli took over. She was very pleasant and accommodating. We flighted thru 4 mediocre wines and ordered the mozzarella roll. The appetizer was so-​so and way too much food for two people. We decided to take half home and still order meals. The white pizza and the ribs were very good. Karli also let us try the zin as a 5^th wine before we ordered wine with our meals.
Food is good, but some minor improvements would help. The staff was friendly and attentive. The manager, however, was cold to us, should have shown pride in wanting to showcase the wine, and actually spent over 30 minutes standing over the table and talking to a couple next to us who I can only assume are members.
We’ll likely try this place again, but we hope the wine bar is more welcoming and accommodating. All wines should be available for tasting (all are sold by the glass), and the wine flight should be 3 – 4 pours for $ 10, not $ 16! We’d have ordered 2 instead of 1.

I wish I could write about the food, service and all the other good this place has to offer… But unfortunately I can’t! To the owners/​managers of this establishment: if your front door reads your open till 10pm on a Monday night, be open till 10 pm! When I walk up and the door is locked at 8:30 expect a terrible review! Then I call and the waitress answered and says yes we’re closed because we weren’t busy due to the Hawks game! And I can hear the Hawks game playing in the background.
Sorry hopefully I can revise this review next time I come in… Providing there’s no Hawks have that night!

I don’t know why anyone would give this place anymore than a star. Unless you are one of the regular boozers there, or you are ready to join their wine club, forget about getting any service at all. We were first sat by the hostess at a table in a corner of the room where the lights were improperly directed straight into my eyes. I wasn’t sure if my husband and I were on a date of if I was there for an interrogation. After waiting more than 15 minutes for ANYONE to even acknowledge our presence, we decided to take some recently vacated spots at the bar to see if we might get some service there. I watched as the manager tended to some (very) obvious and well served regulars at the end of the bar, quite clearly ignoring my attempts to get her attention. I made our disappointment known to the bar server who seemed to care little about the fact that we had basically been shunned up to that point. She made not attempts to remedy the situation either. She did appear to make note of it to the manager, who simply looked at us and carried on yuck in’ it up with her Cliff Claven-​esque patrons.
So as for the food, I would love to say that it made up for the pitiful service. I would love to, but I can’t. My husband and I had decided to try this place after we heard a spot about it somewhere touting its fresh ingredients and made from scratch recipes. Yeah, no. The food was at best mediocre. That’s about all I can say.
So if you are looking to enjoy a nice evening on the town with your spouse or significant other, and prefer quality food and hospitable service, I would recommend you try some other place in Algonquin like Cucina Bella, Bonefish, or Cary Ale house. Unless of course you prefer to drink your dinner, then you might have a chance at a nice evening out. At least you might not remember if it wasn’t.

We are new to the area and we found this place while searching on Unilocal for a date night spot. Definitely our new favorite place. The food was delicious. I have a soy allergy and the chef took very good care of me. Our waitress was awesome.
They have a sweet, crisp blackberry wine. I bought a bottle take home. Looking forward to our next date night there.

My wife and I rarely get a chance to go out with work and family life. So, after a movie, we were looking for a nice place to eat and have a drink. We are fairly new to the area, so wasnt too sure what was around. We came across this place by chance, tucked away off of randle. At first, I was a little hesitant. The initial contact with the staff was not pleasant, as they seemed lazy and actually tried sitting us at a common table with other people.
Once that was over though, it was all uphill. We sat next to the pizza oven and was able to see the fine gentleman at work.
Our server was friendly and down to earth, making the experience very good. We each had the personal pizza, along with some of their hand crafted brew. The Vanilla and Redhead are amazing. The regulars chatted with us and we really felt welcome.
At first, the crowd does seem stuffy, but very nice folks. If you are looking for a classy, welcoming atmosphere, I would recommend this place. If you are looking to be loud and obnoxious, namely if you are looking for a younger crowd, go somewhere else. Not your scene.

The Village Vintner has great food and they make their own wine/​beer. Their cheddar ale soup is outstanding and I’ve tried and loved many of their entrees. The cheese plate appetizer is a bit pricey but definitely worth it.
The service has always been above average and welcoming. I’ve had dinner at the restaurant 20+ times over the last 2 years and felt led to leave a good review.

I love the concept of a winery, brewery, AND restaurant. My friend and I stopped here the other day to try their beers and get some lunch. The atmosphere is casual, but nice. They have a open kitchen so you can see them making some of the food. It was a relatively busy Saturday, but we were able to find seats at the bar.
I was impressed with the number of beers and wines that they had. You can taste any of their beers (prices vary) or wines. They have a wine tasting room in the back. You have 2 different menus to choose from (sweet or dry). I wish they had a beer flight for a flat rate like the wine tastings. I didn’t try any of the wines (I’ll have to come back for that), but I did try the beers. I liked most of them. My favorite was the Dunkelweizen.
We ordered food as well. They had a lunch menu, along with another full menu. I ended up going with the brisket sandwich, and my friend ordered the mac and cheese with the brisket. The food tasted very good, but it did not come out very warm. It seemed like it had been sitting for a bit.
Our waitress/​bartender was very nice, and she was very busy. However, it seemed like she was tending to other customers more because they were regulars.
Overall it was a decent experience. I would come back to try the wines.

Very quaint spot off the beaten path. Bartenders know their wine & make great recommendations. Food is on the fancier side & quite delicious. We will definitely revisit.

The boyfriend and I loved our experience here! did the tasting… He did beer I did wine. The not sweet tasting … enjoyed all my wines! Boyfriend did not enjoy all his but 2 he really enjoyed!
The food was pretty tasty I got a garlic spinach pizza it was yummy. Boyfriend got the Mac and Cheese and said it was good.
Will come here again! want to become a member so I can take home some wine regularly and Build up a good collection at home.

Wow, I loved this place. Like, really loved.
My husband and I were to meet some friends at another establishment for dinner. We were early (were notorious for this) and saw this from Randall road. I saw winery and was totally pulled in.
We sat at the bar where I ordered an Octoberfest wine and the hubs ordered a couple of small beers. We split the cheese roll to hold our tummies over until dinner.
I very much enough the ambiance, the food, and the only mistake we made was leaving to go to another establishment for dinner. I wish I lived closer, I would be back often!

Great place with great food, drinks and service! We come here often for lunch and sometimes for dinner. We have tried pretty much everything on their menu and have never disliked what they have to over. Great variety of wine and beer!
We love this place so much we became wine and beer members.
I personally love the Princess Red Wine, semi sweet. My husband is into IPA’s and heavy beers, he likes their variety in beers.
If you live in McHenry County try this place!

Had a late dinner here with my daughter last night. Got seated right away, no wait! Food was good! We started off with the cheddar ale soup. It was good, but very cheesy. We then ordered a pizza which was very good. I ordered a Sangria, which was delicious. Nice and cozy inside too!

We went there tonight for a rehearsal dinner, party of 17.
They were outstanding. Great food served on time, excellent wine, and everything hot and delicious! The staff was extremely gracious and helpful to work with ahead of time and our severs were top notch. I cannot say enough about the entire experience. Cannot wait to go vack again!

I’d give 5 stars but their sampling process (flights for beer or wine) is very complicated. I like that each beer or wine is labeled, but there has to be a better way to label them then to have to find each type of sample’s label and affix it to the glass or under the glass for the beer. I wonder how they do this when the bar is packed?
The bartender was friendly and accommodating. I wish I was hungry because the wood fired oven intrigued me!
I love that there’s beer and wine available for sampling, since I’m not a huge beer lover, I felt that I could sample wine I like while my husband could sample the beer he likes!

I went to their Sip and Spa today and everything was fabulous. I left with a very nice manicure and 2 bottles 1 of wine and 1 of their vanilla ale. My friend and I shared their baked goat cheese appetizer yum from start to finish. The service was excellent and our bartender (I didn’t catch her name) was awesome. A great afternoon of pampering and drinking.

The service is great! Nice people!
The wine selection is fantastic!
The food is great! I ordered the pretzel, I’m full but it’s so good, I can’t stop eating it!
I will definitely come back here again!

Village Vintner… you had me at «winery, brewery AND restaurant.» A triple threat you are!
I had a great time here with my husband and our friends. We came for dinner and drinks on a Friday night around 7:30. There was about a 30 – 40 minute wait, but we were able to snag a couple seats up at the bar where we ordered some drinks and an appetizer.
As a wine-​o-​holic, I mean, wine enthusiast… I had to dive into their house options. There are so many different types of wine to choose from, including a whole list of fruity blends. I went with a glass of their Barbera which I highly suggest! At $ 8 a glass, this wine is smooth, medium bodied with fruity notes and a touch of sweet oak. Perfection if you ask me. So much so that I stuck with this drink of choice for the remainder of the night.
To tide us over until our table was ready we placed an order for pretzel bites. These fried, soft, delicious little nuggets were heavily (and gratefully) tossed with fresh garlic and Parmesan cheese… Yum! Our drinks and app came out quickly despite the busy crowd, and the bartender was super nice. We even happened to make some new friends while sitting up at the bar!
Time went by fast, but my guess it was because of the company. We were seated at a table towards the back end of the bar. Our waitress was great and definitely a good sport for humoring my ridiculous husband.
I’ve been on a pesto kick lately, so the pesto asparagus pizza sounded right up my alley. Grilled asparagus, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh mozzarella and goat cheese (also my fave). Such a delicious combo! It cured my pizza craving but also felt light and healthy. I took half of the pizza home, but I have to say it wasn’t the best as leftovers (and pizza usually always is). I think it’s because the spinach got soggy.
I’m not in the Algonquin area often, but when I am I’ll gladly be back to Village Vintner!

Remarkable dinner experience. Wines were decent so we signed up for the membership (we’ve since cancelled-​we sampled so many wines we thought they were great on a buzz, but sober are just ok). Service was on point, near perfection actually. The food hit every taste bud in my mouth. Meat was succulent, tender, mouth-​watering. And the garlic parmesan pretzel bites may be one of the most amazing things I’ve ever eaten. Everything we could have asked for. I think we’ve discovered our new diamond in the rough.
I’ve recently docked a star. We’ve ordered «to go» a few times & we wait forever for service at the bar. And both times, food wasn’t up to the same quality as at the restaurants. The garlic parmesan pretzel bites I mentioned, burnt flavor & literally dripping with grease. They were inedible the last time & I was sorely disappointed-​our diamond chipped.