Abe’s Hideout and Saloon

Went on Saturday evening with friends. BBQ ribs are fantastic! They smoke them outside. I had steak which was also very good. Our server was as nice as can be and the cook who smoked the ribs was very interested to know whether they met expectations.
Only setbacks were that we were seated by the door and had to shoo away flies. When a crowd came in, it got very noisy. And something went down the wall next to where my husband was sitting which was a little unnerving. I just got a glimpse, I hope it was just lint.
It is worth going for the food. I just recommend sitting towards the back

This place is a gem, I’m so glad it was brought to my attention by a friend. The lunch menus aren’t too impressive in my view, but we’ve gone for dinner several times and the kindness of the staff coupled with the talent and love of the chefs make this place a serious winner. Good soup, steak, sides, and the special pork ribs are particularly amazing.
Go out of your way and find this hole in the wall, you’ll be glad you did.
Update 4÷17÷2015:
My wife and I have been trying quite a few new restaurants around Central Illinois. some have been good, some have been absolutely horrible and disappointing. Well, last night we both had a craving for Abe’s Hideout. It was so, so, so good. We really needed a win and Abe’s came through with flying colors. The steak, Harold’s ribs, baked beans, au gratin potatoes, soup, it was all so good.
Thanks, Abe’s!

This place is simply ah-​maz-​ing!
Great hospitality, delicious food and cozy atmosphere. Harold is a magician of the kitchen… and smoker. Best ribs I’ve had I a very long time and the bone in ribeye seasoned perfectly and very juicy. Great first impression. We will be back!

Wow delicious food – the Thursday Ribs are Excellent… better than Memphis ribs (more meat and tangier)

I’d like to give Abe’s 5 stars. I’d also like to give them 2 or 3 stars. So they get 4.
I was in Springfield, teaching my one-​day Basic Hydraulics class. found Abe’s on the Internet, and made the 20 minute drive to Abe’s for dinner around 6 on a Saturday evening.
Entering Abe’s, we were thinking «this place is definitely worth the drive.» We were greeted by two or three smiling people and seated quickly. It isn’t a large place, but it was pretty doggone busy.
Our waitress came to our table promptly, and our drinks and fried green bean appetizer arrived quickly. This is looking like a 5 star experience.
One of of the evening’s specials was prime rib, cooked in a smoker out back. We both decided to order the small prime rib, and that’s when our experience started plummeting from that 5 star level.
As we finished our appetizers, we watched other folks near us receive their food. About the time we started to wonder where our food might be hiding, our waitress came to our table, apologized for the delay, and explained that their printer hadn’t printed our ticket.
With everyone else in the restaurant receiving their food in a timely manner, you have to figure there’s a real good chance the delay in our food’s arrival was not because of a faulty printer.
I would have been much happier if our waitress had smiled sheepishly, said «I’m sorry,» and then told us that she’d goofed and hadn’t submitted our ticket to the kitchen instead of implying the printer was at fault. Doing something like that might have actually increased her tip.
On the plus side, our waitress told us about the delay in our order at about the same time we began wondering where our food was hiding. Kudos to her for discovering the problem and coming to tell us about it before we had to ask where our food was.
As we waited for our food, I looked around the restaurant and saw a whole bunch of good looking food. It appeared that, no matter what we’d ordered, we’d have been happy with our meal.
As the wait for our food continued, we wondered what was involved in preparing our prime rib dinners, since it was taking so long. I guess I was expecting that our waitress would have asked the cooks to move our order to the front of the queue. I don’t think that happened, because our waitress didn’t appear with our food until after we’d once again started wondering where our food might be hiding.
And then we moved even further from that 5 star rating. Instead of two small orders of prime rib, we were presented with two large ribeye steaks. Our waitress apologized for the mixup and offered to replace the steaks with prime rib, but we both decided we’d be happy with the steaks.
The house salad with house dressing was good, as were the coleslaw and potatoes. I found the steak to be very good, and it was cooked just the way I like it. It was tender, juicy, flavorful, and so big that I didn’t eat it all. If we had ordered the steak, we would have been heading back to 5 star territory.
Unfortunately, when our bill arrived, we moved even further from that 5 star territory. We were charged $ 49.98 for the two entrees, which was more than we were expecting. When we asked what the charge would have been if we’d received the prime rib we’d ordered, our waitress said the prime rib was $ 2 less than the ribeye steak.
We’d eaten the ribeye steaks and the $ 4 difference didn’t seem like enough to fuss about on the bill, so we paid the bill and left.
And about half-​way back to Springfield, it occurred to us that we’d ordered the small prime rib and the waitress was probably comparing the prices of the large prime rib with the large ribeye steak.
As I write this, there is no prime rib shown on Abe’s web site and the only rib eye steak shown is priced at $ 18.99 ($ 6 per meal less than we paid). Our waitress referred to our steaks as «the big ones» several times, so I’m guessing ours were larger than the ones on the online menu.
Would I go back to Abe’s? Yeppers — our steaks were good and everyone around us seemed to be enjoying their meals. We like to support local businesses, Abe’s is certainly the kind of place we’d frequent if we lived nearby, and I’d really like to try their prime rib.
Would I be happy to have the same waitress again? Yeppers — she was friendly, attentive, and caught her mistake (the ticket not being submitted) in a timely manner. I would have been MUCH happier if we’d received our prime rib and if our bill had been $ 12 or $ 14 less.
Bottom line: If I’m in the Springfield area again, I’d be happy to eat at Abe’s.