The Flight Deck Bar and Grill

I’ve been a patron of The Flight Deck since they opened (I work here in town). Frequently, we will get a group of folks together and head over since The FD has a great environment with great food. Whenever we have visitors, we take them here and they’re always impressed with the atmosphere and quality of food.
Lately, however, (I’m assuming due to the new chef) I have been less than pleased with some of the changes made to the menu. Some of the changes have been positive, i.e. the soups are AMAZING (try the chicken & dumpling or shrimp bisque!), but I’ve been met with mostly negative changes — namely in the sauces:
For example, one of my coworkers frequently (several times/​week) orders the Tuna Tataki salad, which is normally served with a ginger soy dressing. This week, however, it came out with a thicker dressing (think the consistency of ketchup) that tasted like a barbecue sauce with a teriyaki flavor. The texture was all wrong for a salad dressing and the overall flavor was terrible. What really made pushed this experience over the negative edge, was that when the chef came out to our table (assumingly to elicit praise), we informed her that we liked the old dressing better (not knowing that the new one was her homemade recipe), she was indignant and, quite-​frankly, rude. Seriously, if looks could kill, I wouldn’t be able to write this post. I just don’t understand why she would come out looking for feedback and then not be able to take it if it wasn’t positive. Please bring back the original dressing — it was delicious!
My go-​to order is the buffalo wings. I like them hot and in the past they have been the perfect blend of zesty, tangy, heat I’ve come to love from traditional buffalo wings. The last time I was there, the sauce was sweet and was more of a barbecue-​like glaze. I was told that the chef ditched the old sauce for her own recipe. I would definitely consider her new sauce more of a barbecue and not a traditional wing sauce. It was OK, but after years of enjoying the traditional wing sauce, it was an unwelcome ketchup-​based surprise.
Another change that made me a little sad was that they no longer offer the barbecue chicken wrap or the filet sliders (now that I think of it, I don’t think they have the pulled pork sliders either). Those were some of my favorite items and I’m bummed they’re gone.
Even with all of the issues we have had as of late, Katlyn and Zack were really receptive to our complaints and did their best to make sure that we left happy. I will continue to visit FD as I really enjoy the restaurant and the service, but until the old sauces make a comeback, I think I’ll stick to the Jet Hots and pasta.

First trip and hope to go back soon; great meal at lunch with a group of co-​workers. We tried nachos which were mighty tasty and not too huge, left enough room for lunch which was good — I had a great chicken sandwich; others tried fish, burgers, and a stir fry and no one left any food on their plate so that’s a good sign. Our service was quick, Hannah was our waitress and she was great — frequent checking in to make sure we had what we needed and check on drinks, etc., overall great lunch experience! Lots of things looked good on the menu —

First of all I love the atmosphere of this place and the food usually, but the service is absolutely terrible. Ask for Katelyn at lunch and you will be just fine. Upon arrival we waited about 5 minutes for a seeming to be lost woman shuffling for menus to greet us. My wife asked for a booth. We were sat where we waited 15 minutes for the server to acknowledge us and get a drink order. We then waited another 10 minutes for our water, my wife had a root beer. She then asked if we would like to order an appetizer. My wife said let’s just put in our whole order now since we have already been waiting near 30 minutes to even get a soda. My wife ordered the wind propellers with sour cream, steak sauce, or honey mustard. We asked for all three on the side. The waitress Deena (whom was a complete train wreck.) said, «I wasn’t aware it came with those sauces.» Uh? Ok… I ordered tacos being taco Tuesday, my wife ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich as a wrap. (as stated in the menu it is hand Guinness battered and fried and any sandwich is available As a wrap.) As we were waiting we noticed all but one employee looked like they just rolled out of bed with wrinkled uniforms and hair a mess. The tables were filthy and just stayed piled with dirty dishes to look at. (more staff clearly is need to be on duty to maintain this restaurant?) another 20 minutes for the wind propellers that were just fried potatoes with shredded cheese, bacon, and green onion onion clearly not worth 10 bucks maybe $ 5.99. We finished our potatoes and waited and waited another 35 to 40 minutes when we noticed the party of ten getting all their food and we still had not gotten our simple wrap and tacos. We politely asked our server what was going on. She then told the bartender we were mad people got their food first. We were not mad at all Just curious to know where our food was. Finally, out comes my wife’s wrap grilled and not fried like she wanted and ordered with my tacos nowhere to be found. My wife pregnant and hungry said last straw, we got up and left. In my opinion, as well known as this restaurant is and being on Chicago’s best with people traveling great distances you would think after nearly 4 years of operation they would have gotten it together by now. Almost two hours and we had potatoes and a root beer. Amazing place but so unprofessional. The cook seating people? The bartender trying to resolve guest issues? I’m so confused… Also, there was a woman at a booth next to us seeming to be management loudly on the phone trying to book partys or something. Probably should be in an office for that. Just seemed particularly strange… Nobody wants to listen to your behind the scenes business while we are trying to have a nice lunch. Not to mention you are taking up a booth that a patron could be using?

Food is good service is terrible if you order a appetizer wait ten minutes to order food after you get appetizer or it all comes at once. Bartender doesn’t know how to pour a Guinness. Waitress very dull. And not enough.

Went in today and had the chicken pasta special. Their new chef is wonderful!
I couldn’t decide between the pasta and the full fried chicken dinner and halfway through my pasta was able to sample the fried chicken. IT WAS SO JUICY. The best fried chicken I’ve had in Rochelle!

The wings were burnt to a crisp. When they come out the fryer they looked hard. So why serve them? Waitress asked how the food was. Once she heard burnt wings, she just walked off looking foolish. Just fix it and be on with it. If you’re going to have $ 5 wing Sunday‘s, don’t burn them! Establish some type of standard practice for cooking wings. #EpicFail

Very disappointed table of 4. The soup was cold and only served to us upon our
took over an hr to get 1 burger one chicken sandwhich and tuna salad. When our food finally arrived my burger was burnt as we’re the sweet potato fries. Also it was missing the horseradish sauce that was on the menu. My friends tuna salad had no avacado when we brought this to our waitress attention she told us they were out of avacado. She said that she would tell her manager who never came to out table. She end up takin 10% off our bill. We were very disappointed in the quilaty and the over all experience. It a dirty shame because it is a cool place. Not woth the one star I am forced to give.

No tables. Waited 10 minutes for hostess to even acknowledge us. So we were given a pager and went outside. It was fun to watch the sky divers come in — BUT the outdoor bar ran out of soda and beer and we had to wait for 20 minutes to get drinks. We waited another 15 until we were seated. Appetizers — very good! Shrimp bisque soup was good flavor but needs actual chunks of shrimp. Steaks– cooked perfect but NO seasoning. Bland. Service was slow and inconsistent. My parents were with us and had a gift card given to them by my sister last Christmas. It wouldn’t ring up. It said it was blank. They even had the receipt. They weren’t going to take the amount off their bill until we had management come. Wow! Total of nearly 3 hours for a simple dinner. Not a great dining by experience but I’m willing to give them ONE more chance…

This was our third time visiting for dinner. The food has always been very good. In my opinion their signature mac & cheese and sliders are the two best items. This was the first time where the service was very slow. Our waiter was very personable and polite but it took entirely too long for everything. Starting with the drink order, the soup, dinner, check and payment it was frustratingly slow. Granted they were very busy but we were sitting next to another couple that was seated a few minutes before us. They had their meal and were gone a good 45 minutes before us. I like their food and atmosphere and we will be going back. Hopefully the service will be better.

Great atmosphere when the sky diving is in session. Good food. They make homemade chips which I’m normally a sucker for but sometimes theirs are chewy and not crisp. My hubby gets a burger every time with chopped brisket, Gouda and onion rings on it. I enjoy the turkey burger, the veggie wrap and the portobello sandwich in my rotation. Overall good experiences there and this is really the best restaurant you’ll find in Rochelle for lunch. The service is great during a weekday when they’re slow but look out when they get busy on a weekend; very slow service on weekends. My feedback to the ownership/​management: MORE SEASONAL BEERS ON TAP, PLEASE! Would’ve loved to have had a Leininkugal Shandy, a Dogfish Head or Sam Adams seasonal on tap. Also, PLEASE CRISP UP YOUR CHIPS. I’d give this a 3 ½ stars if possible. Better than average food. Great atmosphere in the summer and early fall. The best thing Rochelle has going.

Had dinner here on the last Wednesday of the month, so it was quite busy due to the trivia game. We did not play the trivia, but it looked like a lot of fun. Food was ok… And I found the Cobb salad a bit expensive… It only had spring lettuce, one egg, some tomatoes and bacon. More like a side salad. Wings and burgers were typical. Atmosphere was fun… So although the food was ok… Would return for a fun trivia night and cocktails.

My husband and I flew here from just outside Chicago, just to take a short flight on a nice day and have some dinner. He’d been here before, but it was my first visit. He had the mini burgers with a lemonade (he’s the pilot, I’m the passenger) and I had the Cobb salad and a gin and tonic.
We sat outside and it was really nice. Food, drinks and service were all good, and we are looking forward to coming back again.

The food is ok to good, when you can actually get it!
I waited for a second trip to the Flight Deck bar and grill before writing this review because I was afraid the first experience was an exception and not the rule. But the 2^nd experience was worse than the first. It is obvious that this place only is still open due to the lack of other options at the skydiving center. We flew in both times specifically to eat here. This time there were 4 tables open, but we still had to wait almost 20 minutes for the hostess to get around to seating us. She was doing everything but to make sure the tables were filled. Once seated it took about 5 minutes for the watiress to finally find us. We were right at the end of the lunch rush so she was busy dealing with everyone’s check. We finally flaged her down, ordered drinks, that took another 5 – 8 minutes for the waters to arrive. Then before we had a chance to order she ran off. We finished our drinks and she still had not returned. I had to flag her down again. We ordered, asked for refills on our drinks and the long wati started. After 15 minutes I flagged her down once more to remind her we were still waiting for drinks. We finally got them. 30 more minutes passed and that is when she finally told us they could not make what we ordered because they ran out of wraps. SIGH! We left. This experience pretty much mirrored our first one, but at least then we got our salads. It is obvious that there is little to no organization in the place with staff that is not all that good. We will not be back and will pass on to the pilot community to also give this place a pass for other fly-​in/​eat destinations.

Great food, great service, and great atmosphere! We even got to see some skydivers jumping. Our group had the steak sliders, the Cobb salad, and the canopy wrap and all the dishes were awesome!

The food is fantastic! The servers are friendly. You can’t beat the location, BUT! It needs better managing. The kitchen is under-​staffed and too small for the crowds that this place draws. The wait staff is assigned all over the place. The same waitress has customers outside, inside — just all over the restaurant. It took far too long to get waited on and way too long for my food. Some extra kitchen help and assigning the wait staff to a specific area would be a great improvement. — More umbrella tables outside would be nice too.

It’s worth a trip to Rochelle! The food was really good. We had the Special of the day, Chicken Pico de gallo on a Pita & my husband has the Western MAC. Both were full of flavor and made with fresh ingredients. They were served quickly and hot even though we arrived at lunch time. Full bar and the most friendly efficient people ever. Katelyn and Emily were on it! They gave us some terrific recommendations for «fun in Rochelle on a cloudy day». Obviously we’re here to skydive at CSC. If you find yourself in Rochelle or close make the effort to visit.

For my first time having breakfast at the Flight Deck, the service was not as good as before. The server didn’t get more hot water for my tea or enough regular sugar packets. They did check on us, but they weren’t attentive enough and the place wasn’t packed so I’m not sure what happened.
If you are either a tea or churro snob like me, you should look elsewhere to appease your cravings. However, the view is still nice, the tables with USB ports and the free wifi are still cool, the chicken tenders and sweet potato fries from their regular menu are still recommended, and despite the food being a bit pricey and under seasoned, I still think they use quality ingredients.

Good was great and the service was excellent! Fast friendly and delicious! I would definitely recommend this place!

We had to make a few trips to the skydive center because of the weather. So while waiting a few times and when our ladies finally jumped, we hung out here at the Flight Deck.
Now these were all early morning or noon visits. So that does have an effect on any bar and grill.
We did eat there once and the food was great. The service was good and friendly too. During one visit, I tried a beer and didn’t like it much. The waitress noticed it and took it off the bill without asking. That is great service.
The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because i felt the breakfast menu could be a little bit more on the options side.

It was more A-​OK than being a fan but it was better than only three stars. That make sense? I don’t like labeling starts. I can do that in my review
OK enough of my being a curmudgeon. I was on my own so no lovely bride food to discuss only mine which was the D. B. Cooper burger and it was tasty. Had the signature chips and they too were tasty.
Not much more you can say about food when it is OK. The service was good. It was perhaps to attentive as I was asked no less than four times how everything was, but I had two servers one being a trainee. Being called ‘honey’ buy a young attractive 20 something was a bit annoying but I guess it was better than curmudgeon :-)
The view was nice, the place was way clean including restrooms.
The going out the door is if I was more local to the Flight Deck I’d be a semi frequent customer but it is a half hour plus away, so I will probably return for taking my lovely bride for something different or a nice drive thing