Kouri's Grill & Bar - Pekin, Illinois

Jenna P.

If you read none of this, here are the highlights
- Don’t have Tori as a server
- Sit in the back on Saturday evenings
- Don’t order beef tortellini
- Do order wings and hummus
- Don’t move your own tables around

All three stars go to our server in the back on a Saturday night, Carrie and the other sweet server (brunette with nice makeup, shorter)

Let’s start from the beginning. Knowing our party of 9 would arrive around 6:45p, we called at 6:00p and asked if they took reservations or had a wait list, the man said “no, but I think we should be able to make it work”
Cool, no worries

Five of us arrive first and the sign says “seat yourself”. All of us were hesitant to do so with such a big group. As we’re standing near the door, a man picking up a to-go order (presumably a regular) says “they usually let people pull tables together.”
His confidence led us to (still hesitantly) walk to the first two square 4-tops we see empty in the front area of the restaurant.

I had one hand on a table to my right, one hand on the table to my left, and not just half a second into pulling them together, a server (Tori) zooms toward us and pulls one of the chairs back that had, subsequently, moved with the table, and says something similar to “stop, you can’t pull tables together that are in two different sections!” Her tone was opposite of how I would have approached me. I stop immediately and back up and apologize. I then say “we called around 6 and a man said we’d be fine with nine people.” She looks at me, turns around to the make bartender, presumably asks about my call, and turns around to me and says “we don’t know anything about that”. I said “okay, are there two different tables available?” She said “I don’t know let me figure it out” My mother in law came almost immediately and was appalled by how Tori was speaking to me.
A guardian angel server, (brunette, really nice makeup) who saw the whole encounter, zooms from the server station with a huge smile and says she’ll find a place for us.

Didn’t see Tori again. The nice lady brings us to the back section where 1 server (Carrie) is hustling! We get sat and had our meal. Carrie was phenomenal and always had our drinks full. For nine people, the food came quick.
The beef tortellini was blah. The hummus was delicious! Family said the wings were good.

I was hoping Tori just wasn’t having a great day and was having a hard time. But, at the conclusion of our meal, we chatted with other staff who told us this isn’t the first time Tori has had complaints, but the manager can’t really fire her or anyone because there’s no one to replace her.

Eli

Great service and the Pastrami Sandwich is on point! Couldn't believe how affordable the meals were! Plenty of screens for watching your favorite team too! If you haven't gone to Kouri's yet don't beat yourself up, just go check it out!

Jon L.

First time in. We loved it.Lotsof food options .Can't wait to come back.

Robert S.

Tenderloin was thin and crisp and served on cold bun. Philly cheese steak was not made with shaved meat but had big chunks of meat. Neither sandwich was good. Very disappointing meal.

Dale G.

We love Pekin Kouris! We go every Sunday during football season and 3 to 4 times a month otherwise. You can always get a table, even when they're swamped and the parking lot is full. Food is great and reasonably priced and the service is excellent

Kristen K.

Can not recommend this place. If we weren’t meeting family we would have left before we ordered. We sat on the patio and asked for the shades to be lowered since the sun was right in our eyes, we’re told “no, because it will annoy the manager/ bartender?.” The sun set and the outdoor ceiling fans were going and we got cold - asked if fans could be turned off and were told “no, manager said no.” We got our food and everyone in our party was not happy with how meals tasted. Food got cold quickly because of the outdoor ceiling fans and open shades. People right around us were smoking ao that was unpleasant. Really wanted to have a good experience with the family but we all left pretty disappointed.

Deauna C.

A favorite go to place for us for many years. Great local, family owned restaurant. Kelly always takes great care of us!

Jackie

The restaurant looked like a really cool place at first. But the food was not the best. My French dip tasted like nothing and looked completely shredded. The Anjou looked like brown oiled water. No flavor. So when I asked for steak sauce my boyfriend caught the server giving me a disgusted side eye. Even the chicken tenders were not good. But the spicy bbq and ranch was decent. Don’t not recommend sorry.