Dick’s Restaurant & Bar

My tip is not to come here for anything other than steaks & ribs. If you want chicken or fish, there are literally hundreds of other places to go. I find the most delicious is their prime rib (which is only available on Friday through Sunday). The free appetizers of kidney bean salad, and cole slaw are very tasty as is the garlic bread. Veggies are ho-​hum, but that’s not why I’m here. The icing on the cake so to speak are the prices. I feel they are extremely reasonable. If you want a real deal, get the prime rib off of their lunch menu! Lastly, if you have a need for your server to hover over you like you’re royalty, maybe another restaurant would be more to your liking. I choose my eating establishments on the quality & freshness of their food, not how long it takes to be handed the bill.

Man, this place has really gone downhill. I’ve been coming here once or twice a year for the past decade. It’s simply a shell of its former self. The only thing giving it 1 star is the friendly people that still work there.
The steaks we ordered were cheap, tough cuts of meat. The fish was overcooked. Any of the «pasta» on the menu was no more Italian than a Sbarro or Little Ceasar’s (just overcooked noodles pasted with over-​salted, mediocre sauce). The soups were cold and the sides were lacking. I’ve honestly never been this negative about one meal in my entire life.
Yuck. Sad to say, never again.

Had Chateaubriand on Sat it was awesome but the veggies with it not so much they were either boiled to death or worse yet Frozen. But the meat was great. And the Chocolate Cake was a nice ending. Very nice staff. But lets just steam/​sauté the veggies please.

Have been to Dick’s many times over the years, beginning when they were just a small obscure building on the side of the road. The lake perch and chicken used to be fantastic.
Had occasion to book a family gathering there a few months ago. I specifically called to make a reservation and had to call 5 times before someone bothered to answer the phone. I requested a table for my group in the windowed area of the dining room; the person on the phone took my name and time and said no problem with my request.
When I arrived that day, we stood at the hostess station for a few minutes before being acknowledged. When we were, I told the very-​young hostess the group name and reminded her that I had requested special seating. She looked at me like a deer in headlights and vanished into the dining room, only to return and tell me my seating request couldn’t be granted because there was a party in that area.
When I remonstrated that I had called and been assured that the reservation was all set, she informed me that she hadn’t talked to me and she couldn’t help what happened. Knowing that I had a family group due to arrive shortly, I asked what she could do for us in the way of other seating and was led to a round table jammed against the wall. We had little choice but to accept the table. (by the way, the party in the area I had requested left 5 minutes later)
Our waitress was horribly lacking; when my salad was served, the container of dressing from the side of the plate bounced onto the tabletop, splattering all over my granddaughter’s place setting. The waitress calmly picked up the container and put it back on my salad plate and served me. I had to ask for her to please clean the mess she had created; she did so by plopping a pile of napkins on the table for us to wipe up the salad dressing.
Dinners came out incorrectly with orders being given to the wrong parties and/​or incomplete. The food was less than stellar; the most appetizing thing on the menu was the bean salad relish. Drink reorders were slow if taken at all, and the server was pushing dessert service before some of our party had even completed their entrée.
I contacted the restaurant after this debacle, telling them of our experience and that for what our total bill had been we were sorely disappointed. I received an answer almost immediately and was told a gift card was in the mail to me. I received a gift card for an amount totaling less than ¼ of what our total bill had been.
Glutton for punishment that I am, we returned to Dick’s one night. The service was hideous, the prime rib not worth eating. We definitely will not be back.

Recently had my first time experience lunch at Dick’s. The bar area was clean and well lit. The waitress was prompt with our drinks and the bread basket. The navy bean soup was very good. It tasted homemade and was seasoned well… not too salty. The broasted chicken was crunchy, juicy and delicious! I don’t understand the point of serving only all white meat or all dark meat (no mix) but ok. The mashed potatoes were from a box and the corn was from a can.
I might stop if I’m in the area, but won’t go out of my way to return!

My cousin took us here the other day and I was really happy! It reminded me of the old supper clubs. Hey, if there are cocktails and frog legs on the menu, I say, yep Supper Club. Love the service, they provide relish dishes before dinner. The stand out for me? BROASTED CHICKEN! Absolutely yummy! The waitress we had was very nice and informed of us what was made in house, so that was a definite plus. The décor, well, you can see that someone tried to update it and probably shouldn’t have, sometimes you lose the character when updating a tradition. However, I can see beyond that, the food and service were great!

This is my first time here. And I won’t be back. Very disappointed. My salad was brown, the broasted potatoes had no flavor, and my steak was very undercooked. I expected more from this place, seeing as how I’ve heard really good things.

Last week eating here was a delight sitting in the lounge with warm bread. The order of coconut shrimp and orange sauce was flavorful to a zesty touch. The french fries were a nice side to a piece of medium well steak thicker than my forearm. It was tender and juicy the steak and it felt like it was sizzling ever so kindly in my mouth.
Loved the starter dishes of veggy sorts and sharing a plate is fun sometimes. The jumbo shrimps in shredded coconut lightly breaded was too much fun and a doggy bag was brought home lasting only till lunch the next day.
The ambiance is rustic, antique, with a flat screen or two so priority comes first. I thought the couches were nice and maybe I seen a fire place I’m not sure. The staff were family oriented and friendly. Bathrooms and entrance need remodeling so thank the real estate class I took for that last remark.

Décor is from 1987. You could smell stale cigarette smoke when the HVAC system kicked on.
Bread basket came with the bread touching the basket on all sides. Very unsanitary.
Both servers we saw did not smile.
All in all, Dick’s seems tired and outdated. No atmosphere. Nothing special about their menu.

My husband and I had dinner at Dick’s tonight for the first time and we won’t be going back. He ordered the special which was sirloin and lake perch and I had sautéed shrimp. We were both disappointed with our meals. The sirloin had some gristle and my husband had to use steak sauce which he never does. The lake perch was iffy, but as it was coated with so much breadcrumbs and deep fried, it was hard to tell what exactly lurked beneath. My entrée faired no better. My shrimp were coated in a mushy coating of something and over cooked and not what I was expecting for sautéed shrimp. The French fries were frozen and not crispy. The bread basket was good and they brought pickled cabbage and a bean salad to nibble on. My water glass was never refilled; the waitress never came back to the table to see if we needed anything. Perhaps it was an off night, but still for us anyway, there was nothing worth going back for.

This place never changes, always great food at an affordable price. Their broasted chicken, sauteed lake perch and deep fried shrimp are great.

Great family restaurant!

Hello, FOOD SNOB here.
If you are a big eater you will not come away from this place hungry. Dinners come with Bread Basket, Relish plate, Soup and Salad. Kind of an old fashion American. The quality of the food is pretty good.
Had the Seafood platter. Perch, Frog legs, Shrimp, and Scallops were good but they were fried with a batter that falls off when you cut it or bite into it. I should have asked how the fish was made not crazy about fried. Especially Scallops, you just don’t batter and fry scallops. The Fish did seem like it was fresh and good quality.
My wife’s ribs were a little dry and I was not too crazy about the sauce. Neither was she. The Clam Chowder we had before dinner was the best part of the meal. Tasted like fresh clams.
Lot of people compare this place to Tiebels in Shererville. But I would definitely prefer Tiebels.

I had to write a review because I think the only other review here is a bit biased. Keep in mind I live in Chicago these days, but grew up between Indiana and the South side. Let me start off with this, many people think Chicago’s restraunts are the pinnacle of greatness. I merely rate a place as if it were anywhere on earth and try to put your eyes, ears, nose and taste buds in my head.
Dick’s has been here ever since I moved to Indiana in the mid 80’s from Dolton, Il. It was the only thing down there besides the Virgin Mary staue per say. A restraunt holding steady business in the middle of nowhere for this long speaks for itself.
FOOD: The food prices are very cheap and the portions are hearty. They have all sorts of options from steak to seafood and there are only a handfew of entrees over $ 20. Those would be things like Filet Mingion and Lobster. Last time I came here with my parents, fiancé and future mother in law. Everyone enjoyed their meal and my dad is pretty picky. I had Dick’s steak. Fiancé had the sauteed perch which was delicious.
DRINK: Thats right. There is a coctail lounge. They have Killians on tap and they can serve you any beer in a tall frosty mug. That is how you make a customer happy. A frosty mug.
ATMOSPHERE: It gets pretty crazy from 3p. m-6p.m. when all the old folks come out to play. After they leave, you are pretty much the only people in there. I must say that after the «rush» they must send half of the staff home, because your service is going to suck. If two tables have people, you wont even see a server or hostess for 10 min at a time. The lighting is dim and the main room has high ceilings with wood rafters. A really warm feel.
We liked the food and the friendly staff so much, that my fiancé and I are having our wedding shower in the back room, which looks like the porch of a cottage.

An old friend of mine graduated recently so his parents held a graduation party for him at Dick’s because it’s near their home. I’d seen it from the road many times over the years and it looks different than I remembered, as if they rebuilt and remodeled in the decade or more since I saw it regularly. I always got the impression that it was a somewhat nice, fancy restaurant. I feel as if at some point I overheard some older relatives of mine talk about how nice it was, so I always pictured it as this upscale place.
When I found out about the graduation lunch, I asked a friend of mine if she’d ever been there and she said she hadn’t. The only story she knew about the place went something like this:
***Yeah, I remember one time in high school Sean K. was talking about how he likes really good food and always took his girlfriend to great, fancy places. When I asked «yeah, like where?» he said condescendingly, «Oh, I’m sure you never heard of it. It’s in pretty far away in St. John. It’s called Dick’s Restaurant.» I told him I knew where it was and he seemed shocked.***
As if he were the only one who’d ever driven outside of Hammond before.
Aaaanyhow, as the onset of the party neared, I suddenly remembered that «nice» and «good» and «fancy» do not mean the same thing in NW Indiana as they do in Chicago. I called another guest who’d never been there either but who told me that the lunch would be «family style,» and I knew we were doomed. Foodwise anyhow. Now, I’m broke, so I don’t turn down free meals, and despite my hatred of the mediocrity that permeates nearly everything in the region, I attend events like these for an anthropological kick. Well, from the point of view of a less-​intellectual, elitist, bitchy, city-​dwelling anthropologist who loves mocking her hometown anyhow.
Given the information from friends, I prepared myself for something akin to or slightly better than Teibel’s or something, which isn’t that great either but somehow passes for a classy place as far as my older relatives are concerned. Oh, how I wish it were on par with Teibel’s!
When I saw the décor – mauve/​country blue patterned wallpaper and frilly valances and «art» in conflicting styles that didn’t match it – I suspected a C-​B-​S (chicken-​beef-​sausage) menu to be our fare, and Dick’s did not disappoint me with any new ideas. The food was more awful and bland and cold than I could have ever imagined. In all fairness, though, I didn’t try the chicken or beef because a) I’m trying to avoid deep-​fried foods and b) I’d never seen a platter full of such dry, overcooked meat in my life. Note to restaurants: The proper color for meat is slightly pinkish, not gray.
I must admit, however, that I was shocked to see that the iceberg salad actually did have a few stray baby greens thrown in for good measure. They were actually more of a garnish than part of the salad proper, but I appreciated the effort.
Despite a lack of tempting options, I ate well thanks to the corn and cottage cheese (separate, not together) side dishes. And regardless of the fact that it was accompanied by clammy, cold mostaccioli, the sausage wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t much hotter than room-​temperature though.
Basically, anything that was from a prefabricated package was okay-​ish. The vodka tonics and company of fabulous gay men helped. (And took the edge of having seen a million dead baby deer lying in the roads before we got there. Two is close to a million, right? Seriously, what is up with that?)
Afterward, I left shocked that the restaurant was packed with elderly women in sequined blouses all gussied up for a night (or late afternoon, more accurately) on the town. When I remarked to a fellow guest that I couldn’t believe Dick’s passes as a «good» restaurant, his response was, «Well, if this ISN’T the fanciest place in town, what is?» Touché!