Dr Jazz Soda Fountain & Grille

Super cute restaurant, oldest soda fountain in the country, and the ice cream is delicious! My girls each had a scoop on a cone (the one scoop was plenty large enough). My husband and I shared a delicious brownie sundae, it was so good, but rich, and we ended up sharing with the kids. Overall it was a great experience, the place is clean, the staff is friendly, and we can’t wait to try out more food in the future.

I’ve eaten here before and the food is pretty good, which is the only reason for 2 stars on this review. That said, my wife will be the one of us to ever step foot back in the building.
We went into the place, which was packed as usual. We were next in line for the table but everyone had recently sat so it was going to be a while. One of the staff people came up and said that seating was available outside. I made it a point to ask if they come out and serve out there since no one was sitting outside yet. She said «yes, I’ll send someone out.» After baking in the direct sunlight for close to 15 minutes seeing no one, we decided to give up.
At least a couple of waters and a «hey it’ll be slow but we didn’t forget about you» would have been nice. Instead they lost a customer since by that time we had lost our place in line.

Driving thru and found the place. It’s worth the visit. Old fashion soda fountain is awesome.

I’m so excited to have found such a fun restaurant nearby. The décor is very 50’s diner/​soda jerk –which is a lot of fun. They play old fashioned piano tunes to complement the atmosphere. The bricked Lebanon street mixed with the old timely atmosphere of Dr. Jazz’s was a blast from the past.
The food is pretty good. I got the Italian beef with mild peppers. The peppers were so good (but hot) and the Italian beef was pretty good. The beef fell apart very easily and made it hard to eat but the soft, pillowy, perfect sandwich bun made up for that. The french fries were great and possibly made in house. It was worth the $ 10.99 to me.
The service was prompt and friendly. Definitely no complaints there.
The ice cream was awesome! I shared the chocolate ice cream with whipped cream and a huge brownie (forgot what it was called on the menu) for $ 6.99 with my boyfriend. It was plenty to share and we couldn’t finish it all.
I definitely recommend this place. I ate half my meal, boxed it up, and had room for ice cream. I ate the other half of my meal the next day. It was great! This place gets a solid 5 stars from me.

We were looking for a Bed and Breakfast in the area and found Dr. Jazz. The B and B is above a very nice old fashioned soda fountain. Two large bedrooms, living room, two bathrooms and kitchen area (no stove). Very clean and the owner is a great guy. Would definitely stay again!

Amazing place, great food, super nice staff and great dinner entertainment. All of the ice creams are great at the oldest functioning soda shop in America.

Old fashioned soda and ice cream fountain in historic downtown Lebanon. Good food and great ice cream, great for sharing with someone special.
Pros:
Great ice cream
Cute 1940s soda fountain feel
Nice ambiance
In historic Lebanon, IL
Cons
A little bit pricy for the hot dogs and hamburgers but the ice cream is a good price for what you get.

I was going to a dig site in Lebanon and I knew that I wanted to have lunch and ice cream at Dr Jazz’s. This is an old fashioned soda shoppe. They are famous for the old fashion hand dipped ice cream treats, but their sandwiches are delicious. I have the turkey club, you can select from four different types of bread. You can chose from French fries or coleslaw, it is the vinegar and old version. I am fan of the creamy coleslaw. The sandwich was brimming with turkey and bacon. Of course I left room for the ice cream. They have about seven different types of hard ice cream to choose from with ten different topping, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry. This place is a little pricey, my lunch cost me almost $ 20, but it worth it.

This is a neat old-​time eatery in an old building with friendly staff right in the heart of lovely downtown Lebanon. It has very good sandwiches, sundaes and fountain drinks, phosphates, etc. Everything we had was very good and the George Bailey Sundae was great. Hot Italian beef sandwich was really good, phosphates great.

Cedar crest ice cream snow flake white pistachio ice cream with white chocolate from Wisconsin. Very good but it’s seasonal!
This place is a little high priced for what you get. Good included. We ordered quite a few different things and it was not at all «great.» Edible would be a good word for it. Especially for the prices that we paid for this.
This is an old school type ice cream/​burger joint. Very home like feel. I would come back for ice cream but nothing else.

Not impressed by anything here. The restaurant was worn down. It was trying to be a throwback to the ol soda jerk days but all I got was a jerk waitress.
Over priced, under quality, not recommended.

An old-​fashioned place like Dr. Jazz will never go out of style.
Decorated with coca-​cola and other soda-​shop memorabilia, you will immediately feel thrown back to a better, sweeter time (whether you remembered it or not!). It’s easy to let the big-​band jazz music in the background serenade you into childish bliss.
Obviously, the ice cream is where it’s at. They serve Cedar Crest ice cream, which comes in interesting and appetizing flavors that they can make into shakes or malts. They also serve phosphates, which are akin to Italian sodas. Marshmallow is my personal favorite.
Previous reviews have stated that the food is a little pricey, but you get what you pay for here. Their french fries are fresh-​cut, not frozen. Also, there are many different, tasty options if you’re looking for something other than a hamburger. But their hamburgers are good too.
Also, Dr. Jazz is the only place I’ve been to where I have witnessed a waiter clean the menus. CLEAN THE MENUS. Who does that anymore?
Just make sure to check the hours beforehand because they are only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the winter months (completely understandable), and are not open on Mondays during the spring and summer.
FINAL WORD: While the food is good, make a trip just for the ice cream. Then take a stroll down shop-​lined St. Louis Street to work it all off.

Their TEN DOLLAR chef salad had ONE slice of ham, rolled up and cut into 4 pieces. I kid you not. Never again! For $ 3 you get twice the lettuce and twice the meat at McDonalds. It came with a tiny cup of ranch (of course the salad was so small the tablespoon of dressing would have drowned it) and about 1 teaspoon of shredded cheese. I thought they had made a mistake and brought me a side salad that is generally given away with a meal. It was just like a side salad, only much smaller. For ten bucks I want a salad! This looked like there was a worldwide lettuce shortage– in France. I’ve got a hamster that could have put that salad away and asked for more. I think their food cost was about 3% on it. Damn.

The sandwiches were OK, but overpriced. I got maybe 2 ounces of turkey and a slice of bacon on the Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar sandwich. The flavor was good but I expected more for $ 9.
The ice cream desserts looked good, but we didn’t have time to stay for any.

We stopped into Dr Jazz for dessert tonight, and I decided that it might be worth a re-​review.
IN SHORT: Dr Jazz gets five stars from me. The ice cream is incredible, the atmosphere is memorable, and the owners are friendly and genuine.
DETAILS: My earlier review of Dr Jazz is still fairly spot-​on, but I found myself feeling a little bad about only giving this place a 4-​star review due to the prices. Yes, Dr Jazz is a little pricey for what it has to offer, but the quality is simply stellar. The ice cream, as it turns out, is brought down from a special supplier called Cedar Crest that’s based in Wisconsin, and it really is probably the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.
My wife ordered a cookie dough waffle cone, and I went with the George Bailey, an Almond Joy-​themed sundae that uses a special «Coconut Joy» flavor of ice cream. We were both very happy with what we ordered, and the $ 10 price tag wasn’t too far off what we would have paid at Cold Stone Creamery.
We also learned that Dr Jazz now offers a bed and breakfast suite. The owner was kind enough to give us a tour, and we were impressed. The suite costs $ 150 for one bedroom or $ 210 for two, and includes a commons area with a pool table and an HD-​TV. Staying in the suite also means you get a free «Soda Jerk» class where you get to use the restaurant’s antique soda fountain (the oldest still in existence, the owner said) to make yourself an ice cream creation. That’s pretty neat.
While there aren’t a lot of reasons for most people to go to Lebanon these days, Dr Jazz is certainly worth the trip. It’s got so much more character than a chain, and the quality can’t be beat.

Quaint, old-​fashioned ice-​cream/​burger joint. A fun place to visit.
Prices are a bit high for what we ordered — 1 salad, 1 burger, 1 small order of onion rings, and one soda– $ 20. Decent food, nothing to blow you away, but cooked properly and served hot.
We didn’t have the ice cream — their website says it is Cedar Crest brand; something I’m not familiar with. I could’ve sworn I saw a sign mentioning Blue Bunny when I was there — but maybe not. Anyway, they seemed to be doing a brisk ice cream business so I’ll try it next time.

The food at Dr. Jazz is good — typical old school soda shop fare. But it’s really all about the ice cream here. There are so many choices and I find even the smallest sizes to be big, and of course completely delicious. If you’re going to have both food and ice cream, I’d recommend either sharing something with a friend or going with something small because you’ll be so full. But you really can’t go here and not have any ice cream.
It can definitely get crowded during the summertime, so be prepared to wait a bit. Well worth the wait, though!