Hidden Lake Winery and Banquet Center

I can’t say enough great things about this winery and it’s staff. Amy, our coordinator, was personable, easy going, and eager to please. Our picture reel we created wasn’t working on their projector at the rehearsal, so she took it home and messed with it until 2am to make it ready for our day. When that didn’t work, she sent someone from her staff home to bring in their 72″ TV to use it. The chef, Wes, let us customize our menu to suit us. We told him our style, and he ran with it. We love beer, so he marinated the beef in a vanilla porter and then encrusted it in a cocoa and coffee mixture. Meats were tender and so flavorful, he let me add bacon to whatever I wanted, and he checked in with me at the rehearsal dinner to make sure everything was to our standards and to see if we were happy. Our guests are still talking about how perfect and organized everything was, how the food was the best wedding food they have ever had, how gorgeous the setting was, and how nice the bartenders were. I would recommend this location to anyone having an event or wedding. Wes and Amy made our day easy, fun, and unforgettable. We will be coming back for wing nights, lazy winery Saturdays, and anniversary dinners! Thank you everyone involved in our day, we couldn’t have asked for anything better.

We attended a banquet in April. The food was pretty standard, dry season less banquet food. We arrived in time to taste one dry red wine. It was decent so we stuck with it for the evening. I wouldn’t make the trip back for the food and while the dry wine was good it wasn’t outstanding.

I have been to this winery a few times now. Each time is a unique experience. All GREAT! They have a wide selection of wines you can taste to find your choice when purchasing a bottle and sitting outside to enjoy it while overlooking a beautiful lake. They have a wide variety of seating arrangements outside. Under a pergola, down by the lake, or on their concrete patio. Most tables have umbrellas to protect you from the sun.
They have a wonderful gift shop as well as a wonderful full sit down restaurant if you wanted to enjoy your wine indoors with a nice meal.
They have great banquet facilities. The property is not just a winery. They also have a great waterfall area weddings and special events, Awesome cabins to stay in and get a way for a night or two and plenty of room to stroll around the property with your wine and just have a nice talk with a friend.
This is a great place to go and spend a day and sit back, relax and enjoy life!

This place is beautiful. The wines are so so. It can be a bit hard to find if you are not familiar with the area. Once you arrive, you know that is was worth the drive. A huge two story building sit on a lake with a fountain. I took a group that had never been to the winery, They were delighted. We sampled about seven wines and ended up with semi sweet white wine. We were hungry, and we made our way around the appetizer menu and ordered a pizza. We had the toasted ravioli, the dipping sauce tasted like ragu. We had the mushroom bruschetta, this was very tasty and crispy. We only got three slices which made it hard to share. We had the philly steak flatbreads, very tasty. Finally the pizza, it was thin crust with just so so toppings. Again, we were more about the atmosphere.

If you are looking for a very nice quiet a secluded place to relax on a Sunday day then I would recommend this place. We went with a few friends on a Sunday ride and the ride there was awesome. When you pull up to the place the lake is a beautiful sight. Parking was okay kind of limited, not any parking for motorcycles btw. Walking in the actual bar area nothing really too impressive. The décor was simple and nothing exciting. We tried two sweet wines, one was called buck wild crazy I think and we were pretty impressed. What I was not impressed with was the interaction between us and the worker behind the bar. He didn’t really go into too much detail to tell us about the wines, he just poured. I particularly thought the prices of the wines were a little high compared to other wineries. My favorite thing about this place was the scenery and the trail that they have on property. If the prices were cheaper and the staff were a little more interactive I would give this place a 4 star.

75 $ for two adults an three children for Easter brunch. Reservation for 1030. Breakfast food only. Good food but no lunch items available. Told they would be put out at 1130. It hasn’t happened yet. It was a lot better managed in years past. I will update.
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At about 1140 they brought out a tray of baked chicken, steamed vegetables, and steak pieces. I asked The young man working the buffet if anything else was coming out. He said they had some potatoes coming out later. They never did materialize when we were there. No dinner rolls or breads, no salad dressing. In all not a very well-​managed buffet. My basis for comparison was going there in years past. The food was always excellent before. I don’t eat buffets very often, and I’m not some fat guy wanting to be stuffed on everything. This was my third time eating at their Easter buffet. At the winery you sit in one large banquet room where I find the tables a little to close together for my taste. You sort of have to weave in and out of other diners to get to the things. They have an excellent guitarist entertaining during the buffet. The food line is in a separate room that you have to go down a narrow hallway to get to. The bathrooms are in that narrow hallway. Moving through this hallway with plates of food is a little cumbersome when you have people going both ways. If the line is long and you were standing in the hallway you get a very clear view of people standing at the urinal in the men’s room when the door opens. Not a biggie to me but not well designed. They really should have the buffet in the banquet room with the diners. The grounds of the winery are beautiful lake is very stunning views. I will go back for the Easter buffet once I hear that they have things straightened out. I was just left that we didn’t get our money’s worth. We ate our breakfast and sat around the table for 30 minutes before they put out any different food.

Every visit of many visits over the years has been good one. Upscale in rural Illinois.

We went to a wedding here of roughly 100 people last weekend. They booked the pavilion out close to the water that you cannot get to without chains on your tires if it has been raining. Parking is limited to roughly 10 cars by the pavilion on the water.
It is obvious that this pavilion used to be open and have a firepit in the center as the «dance floor» had chunks of old concrete still attached to the floor. Major tripping hazard.
The bartenders were supposed to come back down with wine, tea, etc. It was a cash bar, with ONLY «sweet and semi sweet» wines… that were Welch’s grape juice’esque. The boys headed up the muddy pathway to get a Chambourcin. There was nothing less sweet. Though the Chambourcin is indeed very good. I bought a bottle of the Silent Forest Reserve — dry — and I have yet to open it. The crew was going back and forth in a large truck, running wires… at 1:55 when the wedding was set to walk down the «aisle» at 2. The wedding planner was stressed, furious, and very upset. She was trying to hide her disgust so that the bride and wedding party didn’t get frustrated. I understood completely.
My big concern was the wedding… the «aisle» was a very uneven rocky stairwell that the girls were really concerned about falling. It had rained earlier that day and instead of using large brooms or squeegee’s of some kind, to clear and potentially dry the stone walkway. They left it covered in mud and water. Chairs were literally sitting, on the right side closest to the pavilion door, in mud. They had been placed into said mud and water hastily.
We arrived early to watch this fiasco as we were responsible for bringing the wedding cake, setting up, and decorating the cake table with the wedding planner.
We are very aware that this particular spot was chosen as it was the cheapest option on the grounds of Hidden Lake, but it still means something to these people to have something beautiful… not a mud covered «aisle» and bartenders literally RUSHING moments before the wedding and scurrying about inside to make up for lost time due to their poor planning. They brought tea, but no sugar — had to send someone back in the truck (Yes…it was on a muddy rock covered one way wooded driveway) to get sugar.
When the food arrived, we were really excited about the artichoke spinach goat cheese dip. Smelled great and it was the only hot food that was served. Leave it. Everyone at my table who ate it was violently ill later that evening. Not sure if it was puddle of grease it was sitting in or if it was the greasy chips… but it was simply the worst bought of food-​related stomach distress that I have ever had.
The tasting room is quite lovely though, the service was very friendly, and the bartender was over the top about my desire to try the more dry reds and had some great suggestions. I was pleased enough with that little space to be willing to give it a chance, however, I won’t ever have an event here or attend an event in which I will be eating the food. I will eat before hand and show my face — but no cash bar «sweet and semi sweet only» and NO food.
Hidden Lake, please refocus your care on your grounds and your service team. This was a wedding. One of the most important days of someone’s life… Don’t let your service crew, or your food and poor grounds maintenance, ruin that…

A beautiful setting for a wedding I attended. They do need however to do a better job picking up trash from an earlier wedding and cleaning the restrooms. Also seem to be under staffed.

While the location is beautiful, the winery itself leaves a lot to be desired. My husband and I recently went to the winery for lunch and to have some wine. Turns out all they had available was a brunch with a very limited selection of mediocre food. Neither of us ate much of anything as a result. Imagine our shock when we were charged $ 30 for that «meal». I’m not sure if the staff there is actually supposed to wait on you, as one girl brough us water when we arrived but we never had any other service besides that.
We decided to head over to the wine-​tasting room after paying for brunch. Come to find out, it was closed. We had no desire to huddle around the tiny bar in the restaurant and were already very annoyed, so we left.
I emailed the winery to express my disappointment with our experience and received a response full of excuses. I guess attempting to defend the high price of their food is more important that making customers happy. We won’t be returning to this winery. A shame since we live so close to it.

Had lunch with a colleague here. I had the grinder sandwich as did he with a side salad. Salad was fresh, but nothing spectacular as it was mostly iceberg lettuce with the commonalities.
Grinder sandwich was very good and was presented so-​so on the plate with simple tortilla chips. Service was initially a bit slow at first but the waitress is also the hostess and maybe even the cook. Very nice gal and very attentive when on the dining room floor.
I would give this place a solid 3 ½ stars. I would definitely come back if in the area. I wish I could have sampled some wine but I’m working so I couldn’t!

Okay, it’s been close to a year since I’ve been here, but a 2.5 star review average is just unfair. This is, however, a review of it as an event venue.
I went to a wedding here and it was awesome. The venue was absolutely beautiful, inside and out. I loved the loft feel, with the second floor overlooking the ground floor. A big, stunning, open space. Great acoustics. Clean bathrooms. A nice dance floor. Sizeable bar.
The catered food was actually really good. So much that I went back for seconds. Also enjoyed the coffee bar — it was nothing fancy, but it hit the spot.
Outside was also beautiful. There was a big gazebo with an acoustic guitarist performing, and plenty of tables with people enjoying the ambience by the lake. The waterfall across from the lake was lovely to see. It’s a really nice space.
Four stars because there wasn’t anything OMG above and beyond that stands out, but I definitely enjoyed myself and had no complaints. I would totally go back if I had the opportunity.

I guess anyone can call themselves a winery. The wine was undrinkable in my opinion. The hidden lake was more like a hidden swamp. The food was terrible and the servers, as others have noted, were rude. Oh and there were kids everywhere… at a winery??? Save your gas, time and money and go elsewhere.

I need to whine about wine for a second. It terrifies me. Seriously. It seems like something fancy people drink, and it also seems super pretentious to me. Have you ever seen a poor person drinking wine? No, you haven’t. Even boxed wine is out of our price range. So yeah, wine. It makes me uncomfortable. I once took a wine-​tasting class and we were glared at for actually drinking the wine they poured us. Everybody else tasted it and spit it into a bucket. Yeah. I rest my case.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wanted to get out of town and forget our troubles, so we chose Hidden Lake. It was far, but not too far. In the middle of BFE. As we pulled onto the side road and whiffed in manure, arguing about whether or not it reminded us of Wisconsin, it suddenly dawned on us… Is the winery closed? No other cars for miles. It felt like a bad horror movie. Okay, just a horror movie. «Bad horror movie» is kind of redundant.
But nope. They were open. It’s just REALLY hidden. Like you keep driving into the winery past the winery signs and STILL don’t see a car or a soul. But they’re there. Trust. (Their hours are a little wonky, though, so call ahead).
Finally found it and it was DELIGHTFUL. Gorgeous lodge with a wine bar. They weren’t serving food, which was a complaint of mine. I don’t understand wineries. People are driving a billion miles to drink a LOT. And then driving home? And no food to damper the effects of alcohol? I know I’m a newb to all of this, but it seems… odd. Anyway, the woman working told me they usually have food, but not when it isn’t crowded. There were only a handful of other people there when we were there. In fact, we had to ring a doorbell to get the woman to come pour us wine.
The service wasn’t fantastic. The woman did not smile. She let us taste wine, but didn’t tell us anything about it. They poured our tastes into what looked like Nyquil medicine cups. We bought a bottle of Old Fart, which was delish and super sweet, and it was $ 12.95. We had to pay 2 bucks for each wine glass, too, as a deposit. Which I get, but also, really?
The best part was zoning out on the chairs next to the «lake» (they’re a little overconfident calling this pond a lake…). Super chill. Mmmmmmm. «Nature».
Walked/​stumbled around the «lake». It was nice. They have a «waterfall», which is also super nice. You can even walk behind it, unless you’re scared of snakes and there is a snake in there, which there was when we were there yesterday. A very picturesque stroll, minus snakes and bees.
All in all, we had an amazing time. I will definitely return. An easy way to get away from my first world problems, and breathtakingly gorgeous enough to make me stick my pinky in the area and pretend to know what I’m doing as I stick my nose in a glass. Swiiiiiirl it, giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl.

Great little country winery in Illinois that is a great venue or small outside weddings. They offer a great area for staging the wedding in front of a beautiful waterfall cascading over a stone wall. The waterfall is man made, so once the service has begun the water can be turned off so the guest may hear the service more clearly. The beauty of natural nature and the man made waterfall provide endless opportunities for beautiful photographs.
They also offer a banquet center that is close enough to the waterfall that guest can stroll down a gravel road to the reception. If the bridal couple wants, they also have private cabins and one of them in a Honeymoon cabin with a heart shaped whirlpool tub.
If you are looking for a unique venue for a small outdoor wedding — check out Hidden Lake.

Beautiful, beautiful location. Stopped in with my family on a saturday afternoon. There were at least 2 wedding parties there and the place was crowded. A beautiful location set up right along the lake for a wedding ceremony. Another wedding party was getting wedding pics taken by the pond and the walk behind waterfall. Great outdoor seating at the restaurant. A few rental cabins for a fun weekend away. They looked new and nice.
Plenty of delicious wines to choose from. $ 3.50 for a glass and bottles start at $ 12.95.
I can’t wait to go back and maybe spend a night or two in a cabin and explore the trails they have on the property. Perfect for a cute fun date weekend getaway or a gals weekend!

Hidden Lake Winery in Aviston, IL is a cool new destination winery that opened 4 years ago. This wooded haven is nestled lakeside on acres of beautiful hills and forest and is less than an hour from St. Louis! They have a restaurant, a waterfall, several banquet halls, a lake fountain, cabins, and a beautiful outdoor area that is lit up with special lights at night.
On nice weather weekends they have live music on the patio and they are open until midnight. They have quite a large following. I would have never expected such a crowd to be enjoying the patio and nightlife in the middle of farm country!
In addition to wine, they have a full bar with beer and spirits. Even though they have a restaurant on premises, they do allow food to be brought in to enjoy on the patio.
This is a truly spectacular hideaway that St. Louis peeps need to tap into. I was very impressed by the beauty and atmosphere.
I have not had the food, but I hear it is wonderful and they do have a Sunday brunch for only $ 12.95 ($ 6.50 for kids 12 and under). Drinks are pretty reasonable too ($ 3.50 for Bacardi & diet). Definitely worth a short drive to rural Illinois!!! And definitely worth considering as a wedding location!!!