Flame Bar and Grill

I wish we would have come here sooner!
I am big time into restaurants with a warm atmosphere. This had that in spades. The food itself was pretty great. I had the chicken Madeira, it was first time having this dish. From the description I was expecting it to be similar in taste to a Marsala. It really wasn’t at all though. It was still good, just not what my taste buds were expecting. The sauce was a very basic mushroom sauce that reminded me of a gravy more than a sauce. I should have tried adding salt to see if it brought the flavor up a notch. The chicken in the dish was fabulous though. It was very thin and tender and cut easily with a fork. It came with mashed potatoes and a few pieces of aspergus. None of it was especially noteworthy and if the chicken hadn’t have been cooked as perfect as it was I would have not enjoyed the entrée portion of the meal. The entrée was the only downfall to the experience though.
We started out with cocktails, I ordered the «give it to me» a d my boyfriend has the «bourbotini» both were mouth watering delicious. We ordered a lobster spinach dip app, and it was great. Had an interesting kick in the aftertaste, just a hint of spice. We had a bottle of wine with dinner, a white blend from the dry side of the menu. Which!!! They set up there wine list in a fabulous way. If you are unfamiliar with wines and what is dry and what is more sweet, their wine list t is tailored to you. Now. On to the best part of the evening.
Desert.
Holy crap. Oh my goodness. We had the ice-​cream brownie thing. It was crazy intense grand. The best desert I think I have EVER had. I was nervous because I don’t like nuts a lot if times in my brownies, but this… Wow. It had the brownie pieces in the ice-​cream, not just topped with ice cream. Carmel delicious sauce, creamy orgasm I’m your mouth ice cream. The perfect salty, sweet, creamy dreamy treat. It’s worth it to just grab the desert to go. I’ve never done take out desert before, but for sure will be placing a to go order of this sometime soon.

Had high expectations based on reviews — but would not reco nor would I go here again. Service was AWFUL — mostly slow (and it wasn’t crowded), but also incorrect. My patty melt and fries were decent for the price, but the others in the party who had pork cut and steak were disappointed in the over-​cooked meat — far too expensive for steak that isn’t good.

Went for my 21^st birthday! Amazing drinks, food and service! Highly recommend for date night or classy group event

Pretty darn delicious. Came to check them out for lunch with a co-​worker. Ordered the shrimp cobb avocado salad and it was wonderful. Flavorful, fresh, and tasty. The prices are not your typical lunch prices, expect minimum $ 10 for a sandwich, my salad was $ 14 bucks but worth it. I will say allow yourself a few extra minutes as it’s not a in and out restaurant.

We were visiting our daughter at SIU and decided to go out for a nicer dinner. We sat in the back dining room which was very nice, well decorated. Our waitress was somewhat of a goof, not sure she was new or just having an off night. She had a very hard time letting us know what was on special and taking our orders which were really quite simple, large ribeye, medium rare with salad, fries and ranch, side of lobster mac and cheese and a small ribeye medium with baked potato and salad. Anyways, the food came out rather quickly and seemingly looked correct. Although the two steaks did not resemble each other whatsoever, the larger portion looked more like a sirloin, but honestly I’m not that big of a meat eater. Regardless, the salads were great, the steaks were very tasty if not more on the rare end of the spectrum. The lobster mac was very good. The fries were not such a hit due to the overwhelming use of seasoning, I would definitely go back and perhaps choose to sit outside weather permitting.

Tom the bartender did a great job. Salmon was excellent. Here on business and felt right at home. Recommend.

Flame has really stepped up their game. I went for the Monday night all you can eat crab. The kept them coming fresh and hot. Service was great.

Ok, so I live in LA, which automatically makes me a food snob, so pay attention to what I’m about to say.
The Flame has to be the healthiest, tastiest restaurant in Carbondale. I say this because everywhere else is full of bread, cheese and buttery fried-​liciousness and here you can get VEGETABLES! Vegetables that didn’t come out of a can, are not fried, frozen, creamed or otherwise adulterated OR EVEN OVER-​COOKED! Dude, this is amazing for Carbondale.
We went for lunch last Friday when I was in town to watch my dad blow off a bunch of explosives in the backyard. My grandma, who moved to C’dale a few months ago, though my dad’s lived there 25+ years, loves the spinach salad and I think she was a bit chagrined when I ordered the Montego Bay instead but I HAD TO KNOW if I could get a good piece of fish that was not fried in Carbondale — AND I COULD!!!
Dude, I’m telling you — the asparagus was crunchy, the salmon was just a bit crispy on the outside and moist on the inside AND THERE WAS F#@KING GOAT CHEESE in the little lettuce-​olive-​balsamic vinaigrette accoutrement.
And it cost like $ 10 or something. That’s NOTHING, you spoiled land-​of-​affordable-​restaurant-​food brats! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD PAY FOR THAT IN LA??? $ 25, easy. More if you went somewhere fancy.
Keep it up, Flame! My grandma Arlene loves your spinach salad (do me a favor and give her a free spinach salad lunch next time she comes in since I wrote you such a stellar — albeit truthful — review! — it will tickle her pink!!).
My only complaint is that this SUPER WEIRD middle-​aged country-​bumpkin with a walking stick, who came in about halfway through our meal and was sitting in a booth with his family, would not stop STARING AT ME. Like to the point that I would stare straight back and give him the «come-​at-​me-​bro» and he would just keep staring and start stroking his walking stick. Dude, super creepy. On the way out, I wanted to tell him to take a picture, it would last longer, but I didn’t want to confuse my grandma. Maybe post «NO CREEPERS» on the front door and that might take care of it? ;)

This is a real, adult restaurant. They are going to make it, the place is full of adults eating dinner every night. The food is good, high quality and priced as such. There are table clothes, quality wait staff, and nice décor. It isn’t quite as good at Mary’s in Herrin, or Tom’s Place, but it isn’t quite as expensive either. Best place to have an outdoor meal in this town. Not a student place, not low end, not cheap, not running a chemistry set in the kitchen either.
If you like Salmon, it is good here. They get real wild salmon, and it tastes better (and is better for you) then farm raised. At it’s heart, The Flame is a steak house, and the steaks are quality meat, properly prepared, and well seasoned. I think any sweet sauce I’ve tried on the steak has been too sweet, but that could just be me? I like their assorted other sauces.
Know going in the door that the cheapest thing on the menu is $ 13, without drink, before tip. The steaks at dinner are in the $ 20+ range. You get a salad and bread with most dishes included.
It is the best place to take a date for a high end meal in Carbondale. The new restaurant training issues have been ironed out. Best steak house in Carbondale? Certainly. Expensive compared to Chili’s? Yes, that too. Worth it? Depends on who you are.

The food was excellent, with very good service. The staff was friendly and checked on our table frequently will be back.

Came on Mother’s Day with our whole family and 8 plus kids under 10. Unfortunately there was not a kids menu. Otherwise service and food were great. I highly recommend some simple low cost items for kids like macaroni and cheese and milk to encourage more young families to come out to eat at the flame. Thanks!

Terrific meal to celebrate Mother’s Day. I had the grilled salmon and mushroom soup. Hubby had Captain’s Plate and cheesecake. All was delicious and very nicely presented.

Love the Sunday all you can eat catfish! The chicken is okay, but the fish is the best! You also get Philadelphia corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and homemade biscuits!!! Everyone should try it. Perfect place for after church!

Decent food and drinks. Very nice outdoor patio. Gambling machines inside are very tacky for a restaurant.

Great food, great service, great all around experience. Had the bacon wrapped meatloaf, wife had the creole seasoned tilapia, everything was really really good. Great place for a couple to enjoy a much needed date night!!!

Hadn’t been back since Murphy’s closed. Decided to try it today. Very limited menu at 3pm. The bruschetta was good. Onion rings were very tasty. Burger was fair. We were seated right by video poker, so it was a bit noisy. Will definitely try it again in the evening to try a steak.

This beautiful, quiet restaurant had, hands-​down, the best tomato basil soup I have ever tasted. It was absolutely fantastic. The salmon n’orleans was delicous and cooked to perfection. The meat portions were large, but the vegetable sides were skimpy (three stalks of asparagus, eight pieces of red potato). We had the crab cake appetizer and nachos. I enjoyed the crab cakes but the cheese on the nachos was the tasteless carnival cheese. I did expect better than that. The steak was okay. If we were to go back I would definitely order fish.

Good atmosphere — as mentioned in other reviews. This isn’t gourmet dining by «big city» standards; but it is darn good for Carbondale. Recognize that out here you get «student fare» or «fast food» usually. We used this as a last dinner before subjecting, uhh… sending our daughter to college for 3 months of dorm food. I’m glad we did. For a reasonable price, we had a very good dinner.
Beware… the desserts are BIG!!!
BTW, the service was top notch. The server even helped our 18-​year old understand what was in store for her at SIU– Carbondale. He came back several times to ensure we were doing OK and our needs were met.

I don’t know what to say about Flame. Well, actually, I do (when have I ever not known what to say on Unilocal). First, I should say that I have been a fan of Dan and Shaun’s restaurants. They make good food, or hire people that cook good food. The food at flame was fine and you get a lot of it (at lest we did). I had the shaved stake sandwich and my mother had the chicken sandwich. We shared. We both left food on our plate because we got so much. The onion rings were super yummy and crispy. The truffle fries were ok. But I need to learn that just because truffle oil is supposed to be great, I don’t like it very much. I didn’t care for the décor. I don’t know why I have a meh feeling about it, but I do. I think I am comparing to the other places Dan and Shaun have had. Maybe that isn’t fair, but for those of you who know Carbondale, you probably have been to one of their other places and understand this comparison.

Had a business meeting here. Staff was very friendly yet respectful of our ability to get business done. Had a shrimp appetizer that I enjoyed. Ordered the bacon wrapped petite fillet medium rare, without the bacon on it. Was served very rare (sides still red) I ate it anyway as I don’t send food back during business. The steak was ok. $ 80 for three drinks 1 appetizer and 2 steaks.