Docks Bar & Grill

Fun to be seated for lunch, watch the staff walk past and ignore the only table without food or drinks and wait on all the rest. They are chatting at the bar and walking past like you don’t exist and are upset when you leave. Weird philosophy for business! Would give Zero stars from this unhappy customer but the app won’t post without at least one! We stopped after a nice afternoon drive and loved watching people mill around trying to look busy.

Great, friendly staff. Awesome atmosphere. Live music. Really chill summer spot to grab drinks. Being from Chicago, I really enjoyed the fact that I can watch the sunset with a cold beer in the hand near a glistening body of water.
Unfortunately, other factors were too overwhelming to give the docks a good rating. We made a reservation and were seated right away but it took 15 mins to get a beer menu. After that another 15 to order that beer. I could have had multiple beers in the time it took to order.
Our two appetizers came out wrong. Giving us a longer wait. When they did come they were classic over greased, just been unfrozen bad bad food. We got the potato skins and spinach/​artichoke dip.
Our burgers came out raw. I order medium-​rare meat all the time and understand what pink meat looks like. This was runny. You could see the texture of the pink meat was still that of raw ground beef and not fully cooked. We sent it back to the kitchen (first time I ever did that at a restaurant) and we got burgers that were a little more acceptable. But they were burned on the outside and rare on the inside. We got the bill and we had no discounts or anything.
The only saving grace was our wonderful waiter, Joe. He was apologetic and even though the mistakes weren’t his fault, he tried to make up for them. He tried his hardest to tend to our table despite clearly being overworked. Really nice guy.
Overall, go to the docks to grab a cold beer. Avoid the food

Summertime deck review only. Docks is great for outdoor patio and bar setting on a nice day. On the banks of Bangs Lake, Docks outdoor patio is:
— Biker and dog friendly (we brought a pooch and workers were quick with a bowl of ice water)
(And plenty of parking reserved for cycles)
— Large menu to please everyone (my bison burger was alright)
— Friendly to the aging set (I’ve never seen so many older ladies w/​fake boobs all in one place, you go, Girl)
— Umbrellas and palms abound (most tables are shaded by umbrellas or festive fake palm trees)
— On the Lake (need I say more?)
— Live music friendly
— While not truly a «Tiki Bar», the covered bar is a nice oasis and place to hang out
Free Parking in the back, down by the Lake, or let the Valet park it on the hill for you. This was a great stop on Memorial Day weekend after some outdoor hiking, and I’ll be back in the summertime.

Went for lunch today @ noon Tuesday. Got seated right away by window overlooking lake. Food was great and inexpensive on lunch menu. I had chili & a salad. Husband had a burger. All looked homemade and was delicious. Only reason for 4 stars is a little slow but will def be back. Also, love that outdoor patio in summer!

Be prepared to wait. Also be prepared to find a waitress to take your order, if not, ask the hostess to take your order. You might have to get your own drinks from an understaffed bar. Don’t waste your time talking to the owner, he really doesn’t care, I’ve overheard him. You will probably see people leave because they never got a waitress take their order. Why 3 stars? The food is actually really good and if your willing to go through all of that, the location is awesome, the outside bar is great (usually service is better there). The staff is usually really nice and they do what they can, I think they just get over their heads and then just wing it, (per instruction by owner) sometimes it’s not that bad and service is ok, it can go either way. Good luck!

Just had dinner tonight for the first and last time here. The meatloaf was very dry and even after asking for extra gravy was still inedible. Told the server and hoped to get some consideration for the meal but the check was still full price. Drinks, & tip the meal for 2 was $ 95. Can think of a lot of places I’d rather give my money. Won’t be back.

Place doesn’t even deserve the one star I have to list. Incredibly rude staff and owner. Check out Lindys for nice staff, excellent food, and good view of the land with beach access for the kids!

Horrible restaurant… No seating/​serving for outside on Mother’s Day. Owner shut down outside food service and doesn’t give you a chance to speak. Yelled at my wife and told us to leave. Don’t come here. Don’t give this guy a dime of your money. He doesn’t know how to plan for holidays or busy days.

Ordered the Mega Nachos. looked like a regular plate of nachos with not much on it. They charged $ 18.95 for it!!! Oh and got a burger with fries that was almost $ 15. I cannot believe the prices at this place. The service is horrible also.

Just ate there tonight. The salad bar is pretty good. It comes with most of the entrees. The chili is the best. The chicken is only fair. Large pieces and the price is very good. They do have a large deck on the lake that seems to be a great place to be when the weather gets better.

Basically this is a place for bikers who smoke. To call the food average is generous. The view is decent from the deck.

Went to Docks on a Friday night recently with six other people. It was the dead of winter so we got a table near the windows looking over the lake which was nice. I have been there during the summer and it can get crowded.
Food was pretty good, I had the wings with mild sauce that was actually much hotter than I anticipated.
My chief complaint was that everything on the menu was unreasonably expensive. If I’m going to spend $ 20 something on a cheeseburger and a bowl of soup and drink, it should really be a mind blowing experience. Yes, it was better than a Burger King Whopper but was it four times better? I don’t think so.

Cool view overlooking a gravel parkng lot and a man made pond that makes Illinois so famous for its views. Honestly can’t think of anything good to say about this one other than the rare biker MILF at the outdoor bar and that chance happens 2 months a year!

Bartenders dont really know how to make a drink. Iv been here 3 times and asked for cocktails with the young bartender going huh? They were basic classic cocktails every bartender should know also a lot of horny older people. Atmosphere is awesome though nice lakeside outdoor view, But thats about it

This is an awesome place to come to especially if it is during the summer. The outside patio area is enormous. It is a giant deck with a bar & plenty of tables to sit all of the customers in the summer. It is a great place to come for lunch or at night as well.
As far as the food goes I was surprised at how good it was. The appetizers were good but the entrée was the real winner. I ordered the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich & it was the first Philly Cheese Steak I have ever had. For the cheese they used Velveeta. It was ridiculously good. It was covered in cheese & the portion size was huge. My wife had fish & it was good but not great. I was a huge fan of my meal though.
The service here was very friendly & fairly quick for how busy it was. The place was clean as well & they did a good job of clearing tables quickly once the occupants left.
Overall it was a fun atmosphere & the sitting on the patio looking at the lake while eating made the atmosphere fun. The service was good & the place was clean. The Philly Cheese Steak was amazing & I would definitely eat here again.

I came here on a busy summer Saturday night with a group of my lady friends. When I say busy, I mean PACKED. Every seat was taken outside at the bar and surrounding the bar, and inside was crowded as well. At first we were getting fed up with the service (we waited and waited for the bartender to serve us outside), and we almost left. However, as the dinner rush started to clear out, service got much better.
There is complimentary valet (not a lot of room to park when it is crowded), live music, and a beautiful view of the lake. The bar is like a tiki hut, so you kind of feel like you are on vacation. We didn’t have any of the food, but there was a nice drink selection. Drinks were pretty reasonably priced.
I would definitely come back. Just know that you may need to be patient with service on a crowded night. Also, wear bug spray. The mosquitoes will eat you alive outside at night.

My husband & I live in Wauconda and Dock’s is a local place. We make every attempt to support local businesses, and live only about 1.5 miles away around Bang’s Lake.
We took my dad here on Father’s Day and had a truly disappointing experience. They were very busy when we arrived and I had to wait for the hostess to acknowledge me, but that was OK, I understood it was Father’s Day. However, I felt badly for the poor girl who was attempting to deal with seating people AND taking food orders over the phone at the same time — I felt like the owner should have planned better and had more people working.
There was no room on the outdoor deck, OK, we figured as much, that’s why I had made a reservation. The hostess started taking us to an interior table when my dad asked if we could sit at an open table right by one of the windows. The hostess said no, the table was saved for a larger party. We had 5 people in our group and the table in question seated 6. OK then.
Our server came over in a decent amount of time and took our beverage orders. We then ordered food. After we put our food order in, we proceeded to wait for approximately an hour to get our food. We ordered 3 salads (so that takes no cooking time), a veggie wrap, and my dad ordered walleye. How long can fish take to cook?
Our server seemed embarrassed but didn’t know what to do when we asked for the 2^nd time if our food was going to be coming soon. She brought us a small plate of bread with 4 slices on it – as I mentioned, there were 5 of us… so one of us couldn’t even have a piece!
To top it off, I ordered a salad that normally had chicken on it – because I don’t eat chicken, I asked to substitute with salmon. There WAS an extra fee for adding salmon printed in the menu — but it was a fee for ADDING salmon to the salad with chicken, not subbing it. Our server said there wouldn’t be an extra charge since I was foregoing the chicken. When we got our bill, they had added $ 10 to the price of the salad. I mean, it was a decent salad, but I don’t think a salad is worth $ 25!
My husband sent the restaurant an email detailing our experience — the response received was, «Sorry, we were very busy that day. The charge for adding salmon is clearly printed on the menu.» That was it. Wow. Very disappointing, and I guess they don’t really care about keeping loyal customers!

Food was incredibly average. Service atrocious. Waitress totally forgot my wife’s fish tacos (and on her birthday/Mother’s Day). Their attempt at resolution. Free dessert.
My Turkey Club had a half a head of lettuce on it, which I had to remove to fit my mouth on it.
In Wauconda to eat? Go to Slyce or Bulldogs. Avoid this place like the plague.

As always dinner was awesum, filets melt in your mouth. My girl had the chicken pot pie, it was very good. It’s huge! Pumpkin cheesecake & French Silk pie is awesum.
Staff is always great & personable.

If you’re looking for a place to party and enjoy a descent meal, this is the place…
They are located off Route 176 in downtown Wauconda on Bangs Lake. They have an indoor updated restaurant as well as an outdoor dining area on their deck. The deck is very large and has a pretty large tiki bar located on it. There are plenty of tables with umbrellas which gives you a feeling of being on your patio or deck at home.
We came here on a warm sunny Sunday afternoon. We were seated on the deck which overlooks Bangs Lake. The day that we came was pretty packed and there was a band playing some 80’s music. I ordered a vodka lemon-​aid which was refreshing. We then ordered our meal which was pretty good. My only issue was that I had finished my drink and wasn’t asked until our server brought out our bill if I wanted another drink. Don’t get me wrong, the staff is pretty friendly, but it just seamed that there may not have been enough people to handle the large crowded place.
One last thing… The parking lot is small and because a lot of bikers come here they will need to valet your car. Everyone appears to get along with each other so it’s all good.