Bloomington Restaurant Guide

My boyfriend and I were looking for a nice place to go for Valentine's day dinner and we stumbled upon The Ozark House. The ambience was very conflicting. The wait staff is dressed in nice black clothing, while the decorations are more centered around fishing and hunting. Many other things about the decor contradicts itself as well. The service was not very good and the food was WAY too expensive for the quality. I ordered shrimp scampi and i am pretty sure i could have made it better at home for way less than $16. My boyfriend's steak looked like a hamburger. The overall experience was pretty horrible.

Just moved here from Chicago and I was disappointed in the selections of restaurants in the area. My husband chose the Ozark House to celebrate his 30th birthday. I'd never been there, but had heard about the famous barbecue. I ordered the special of the night, blue cheese crusted filet. Although is wasn't really "crusted" (more like slathered), it was delicious! I also had the French onion soup, which I order anywhere that's got it on the menu and it was great. I was pleasantly surprised to find a place (non-chain) with a good steak, bowl of soup, and awesome cocktail. I will be back!

When I come into town this is the first place I visit! I have lived all over and I crave the french onion soup, BBQ ribs (Chicken or pork loin), prime rib, and even the creamy garlic salad dressing.
I would suggest checking out this place, it beats all the chains in town and has a warm family feel when you enter. I can honestly say I have never had bad service or food here - it feels like my grandma's home cookin'. Check it and you won't be sorry...

I'm really puzzled by the reviews on this site for The Ozark House. While it is by no means perfect, I have been going there for over 10 years and can say it is truly a gem in the Bloomington-Peoria area.

The comments about the decor is true, it's a little outdated, but if you're talking about the food it's really great homestyle cooking.

For anybody considering The Ozark House, I'd say check it out for yourself. It really seems like somebody has something against it and is trying to smear it on this site. Every restaurant has its off nights, but this many awful reviews is sort of unbelievable for a place that's in the middle of nowhere and yet has still managed to stay in business for 35 years.

We waited for a hour and a half for our food. The place needs to be updated with modern decor, instead of the 70's. The owners did not act very nice to the wait staff.

I was very dissapointed in the service and was awed at paying extra for already overpriced drinks. The waitress was not friendly, and i would suppose that is the reason they automaticcally add the tip to the bill. I, nor my family will ever go back there,even steak and shake has friendlier waitresses and in my opinion, better food. certainly better value.I can remember way back when this was a superior place to eat. no more.

Service is EVERYTHING. I remember having lobster there once and they severely overcooked it. It was chewy. They said I could order any thing else from the menu EXCEPT lobster. I wanted the lobster..the right way. Then once I got a a carry out, took it home and had a bug in my salad. I drove all the way back to the Ozark. When they refused to refund my money. I got loud and the whole room erupted in applause! Then I left. I haven’t been back since 2000. Once we had a xmas party there with Mitsubishi. But when they saw that the entire dinner party was black they refused to put our tables together so we could sit in a group. Now, in all fairness, in the 90's there was a middle-aged woman waitress there that was Fantastic. We would go just to visit with her and have the Cod dinner which was excellent at the time. She moved to Florida.

It was our daughters 30th birthday, there were 22 of us. We received the wrong appetizer because the waitress misunderstood us, we would have let it go, but she brought my husband the wrong meal, they didn't have what he wanted and she misunderstood him again, also his crablegs were cold, they offered to reheat them, he can do that at home, he talked to the manager and his meal was compted, but they didn't put one of our daughters appetizer on our bill like we asked. I am a server and I did the worst, I refused to pay the gratuity on the bill, I will tip for good service (being a waitress I usually overtip), but I don't feel I should tip for bad service. Ozark house was one of our favorite restuarants but we will not be back

We met 2 other couples for dinner on a Saturday Evening. The place was full. We had reservations, and there was no wait. My wife had the barbequed ribs(1/2 slab), which she liked very much. I had the barbeque, which could have been better. It was dry, and had little taste. No drinks, except coffee. $36 for us both + $7 tip.

This was our first experience at the Ozark House and it was definately not a bad one. The service was fine (not sure why the other people are complaining about it, maybe just one bad server or a bad night), the food was good (I got the BBQ), and price was right. The only complaint I have was in the value section. They have a lot of little things that can nickle and dime you that they don't state very well. I noticed the extra table setting thing like one reviewer mentioned, and $.50 more for a sweet potato, extra for soup, etc. The one that I absolutely despise about any restaurant is not giving free refills on soda, that bugs me to no end. Soda is not expensive, I know, I buy it in bulk like the restauarnts do. If they are so tight on their dollar that they can't offer free refills then something else needs to change. The sodas are $1.50 each, they don't tell you about no free refills and them you have a $6.00 charge for your 4 cokes when the bill comes. I will not go back to the Ozark House for this reason alone. I am a thirsty guy and like to have a few cokes when I am eating abd when my soda tab approaches the same cost as my ribs, I am out of there. Anyway, not a bad place over all, lighting was good, clenliness was good, staff was nice, no problems exept what I mentioned. If you haven't been there before it is definately worth a try!!

Great chicken, pork!! Very cold beer. Never had anything bad here, I love their crab stuffed mushrooms. More of a "lodge" type atmosphere.

We were celebrating our 4th Anniversary and my wife wanted to go to the Ozark House because of all the reviews she was hearing. She came to this site to see other reviews and it took 15 minutes after we were seated to get water and another 5 to place our order, there were only 5 other couples seated at the time...5:30 on a Wednesday.

It was dark and I couldn't understand the $2.50 charge for additional table settings...it's in their menu.

My wife ordered the stuffed shrimp and I ordered the 24oz steak. The first shimp she cut into wasn't devained and was just full of crap...she lost her appetite. The waitress offered to have the cook staff make another dish for her, but she wasn't hungry.

The shrimp was taken off of the bill and we sat at the table for 5 minutes before we were informed that we take the bill to the front, not the wait staff.

Went to Ozark House for dinner last night. We had reservations, but had to seat ourselves. A waitress showed up to give us water after 20 minutes and left us there for another 20 minutes. We finally got to order our food and was not told that choosing soup instead of salad would cost an extra dollar. The waitress brought our soup and salads to the table and dumped them on my mother in law. The manager offered to pay the drycleaning and to get us a round of drinks or dessert, but when we asked for the drinks the waitress told us that now it wasn't an option and that we could have a choice the dryed up old desserts that had been sitting out all day. I almost forgot: They changed the price of their drinks but neglected to change the prices on menus or special board. Overall, a very unsaticfing experience.

We've been going to the Ozark House for several years now. It consistently has exceptionally good food, service and it's a great value. In our opinion it is one of the best resturants in town.

My family had dinner at the Ozark House tonight. We were charged 20% gratuity on a party of 5, because we met other people there for a birthday party and the number reached over 18, but we had seperate checks! Someone had spilled a drink (and broke the glass) prior to us arriving - other patrons told us to be careful, due to our young children. I had to clear my children's plates prior to the next course. No refills were given by the female waitress, except to my husband! We were charged $11 for a buffet that consisted on chicken wings & thigs, potatoes, 2 veggies, biscuits and salad - drinks, tax, gratuity, & dessert were not included!

GOOD VALUE FOR FOOD THAT IS BASIC AND GOOD.