The Rootbeer Stand

The food is good for a small time operation and the service is honestly among the better for a mom and pop stop. The root beer has a strange but intriguing taste. The prices are honestly really good for the amount of food.

I’m puzzled by the high reviews for this place. When it comes to food quality, I expect dishes to be thoughtfully and genuinely prepared. The grilled cheese was disappointing—it was just slices of bread with unmelted cheese, looking unfinished and hastily thrown together. I also ordered a salad, expecting it to be served on a plate or in a bowl, but instead, it came in a cup with shredded lettuce and a dollop of Thousand Island dressing. It wasn’t terrible, but it felt underwhelming. The cheeseburger was the one redeeming item on the menu—it was tasty, but after trying the other dishes, I couldn’t help but feel like ordering anything else was a gamble. This place has potential and deserves more attention to detail in its food preparation. The staff were friendly, and the atmosphere was charming, but the food fell short of what I hoped for. If the quality improves, I’d gladly revisit and even update my review. Thank you for the experience, and I’d love to see the food presented with a vintage 1950s flair—it would suit the ambiance perfectly.

Old style drive-in, something from pre-interstate days, even has a "big boy" out front. Pull in, order your food and out it comes to your car. I had a shake, wife had grilled cheese. She reported, "Yummy!" I recommend.

Jessica our server was very nice. I didn't care for the off-putting taste of the Root beer. Maybe because it is homemade? Anticipated more fizz. I will be a frequent customer so I can try their amazing menu choices. Very nostalgic vibe for a drive- in diner. Reasonable prices as well. Cheaper than McD's & way better quality.

Meh. Food was ok, root beer tasted a little funny. I love homemade root beer, so that was the main reason we picked this place. However, I found that it taste off. The bacon cheese burger was just ok. Waitress was nice.

Food was hot and tasted great. General all American fried foods and hamburgers. Chili cheese dog was good but smaller than expected. Fries could have used salt. Very friendly staff and service was timely.

This was a wonderful little place to grab food after a long hike! The staff was super friendly and welcoming, and the food came out fast and hot. Everything tasted great, and the root beer really hit the spot. I 100% recommend stopping here if you're in the area. It’s the perfect spot to relax and refuel!

I enjoyed making a pit stop here. The food is pretty simple, but it was good, and the price was right. They've got a good variety of options. I think it said their root beer was homemade. The staff were friendly and on top of things. Heads up...cash only, but they do have an ATM. You can either sit in your car or dine inside. Bathroom inside too. The best part of the whole experience for me was the vintage vibe!! Please don't change a thing!

The Food included the BEST burger I have EVER had . Amazing service. VERY CHARMING AMBIENCE! This place is worth the travel to enjoy. Incredibly affordable !

Just about everything the food was all greasy fake root beer soda, everything was just Blah and overpriced

Great food & service! Rootbeer in a frosty mug. Cute place! Not far from the interstate.

There for the first time 8/28. Service by Lauren was friendly and quick. Cheeseburger was good, beat the hell out of McDonald's,Bk, and the others. Root. Beer was excellent. I'll come back just for that. Old fashion drive in style drive in style. Really cool

Great place to stop by especially if you're coming from Starved Rock! Went with some friends and enjoyed the ice creams/ root beer float! Fries were on the soggy side but the Mac n cheese nuggets were good. Staff were super friendly and welcoming and the place was packed. Also cash only place! They do have an ATM though.

After waiting 45 minutes for our food it came out cold. Not just some of it, all of it- grilled cheese, burgers, fries, appetizers. When I told the food runner girl she rolled her eyes at me. None of this is acceptable for a business! Customer service is what keeps your business going, just remember that.

Updated to say that the food (fish basket with fries) was very good even though the rootbeer was not the style I enjoy.

Saw their Biography on PBS. I really want them to add a location to Phoenix. AZ. Trying to get in touch with the Owner. There are lots, and lots of Chicagoan's here. All the big Chicago Restaurants& fast Fiods have made the rtrio. I know, it would win Chandler. Any one of the be very successful here, to,they decide on the right location. I would open a franchise, in either, Scottsdal, Gilbert, or Olde' town Chandler. All three have eatery hotspots, and I would almost guarantee, success. I will try to get in touch tomorrow. I already tried yesterday, he wasn't in. I definitely would eat there, and take my friends, and Family there.

The place is full of nostalgia! I happened to catch this spot during my trip to Starved Rock State Park. I didn't know places like this still existed. Burgers, hot dogs, chilli, ice cream, and of course Rootbeer are on the menu. I got the bacon cheeseburger basket with rootbeer. The food is very yummy! Speedy service with an exceptional staff. The drive in style diner, retro colors, original signage and statue out front really make this a must stop spot. Cash only with an ATM inside. Will come back again on my next visit. Thank you!

Classic place for root beer. It also has basic food. The Rootbeer Stand is one of the more popular places to go in Oglesby. Has plenty of the drink, but also has things like slushies and some junk food that isn't impressive. Prices are thankfully good for the limited options because it's not like it's worth all that. A good place for a cold drink after a hike. It's not far from Matthiessen and Starved Rock. This was about the only place that wasn't a chain open in town. Came here and of course got root beer. Easy choice, because the only other drink they had available was water. Crappy but very easy choices. It's $3 for root beer in a frosty mug. They didn't charge us that much because of the limited options. Cool. We thought it was pretty good. Afterthought is how to describe the food. The only vegetarian option was the Lettuce Salad. It's about $2 for a small bowl. This was literally just iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. However the Italian dressing was good. This helped actually make it a pretty good salad for real. Certainly root beer is the main attraction. It can come just as it is in a mug or get it as a float. The food is pretty basic greasy fast food stuff like burgers but there's healthier options like salads.

when you have the classic Papa Burger welcoming you in ... it's going to be a good day pull up and take a step back in time. It's like time stood still here and in this Crazy World it's a Great feeling

One of the best experiences of a diner I've ever had. Food was 5000/10. Decor was so cute, LOVE the booths. But what really made it was the service. Service was what made the entire experience. The waitress went out of her way to take our picture with the big burger guy outside. She ran across the street so we could all fit in the picture. Will be coming back for sure!!

Try to stop here when I'm near Starved Rock. I think I may have had good here once, but what I brings me back is the root beer floats. Root beer is amongst my favorite types of pop, and floats are yummy! They put a lot of ice cream in, so it's not just a cup of root beer with a small scoop of ice cream. The root beer is good, and if I drank pop more often (I've had maybe 5 cans of pop in the last coupe years) I may have considered buying a half gallon, but didn't want it to go to waste. If you're around stop in and give it a taste.

Cute place! Expected it to be really good but sadly it wasn't. Fries were so soggy and they should be the easiest to make. Cheeseburger was all bun and no flavor. Pizza burger was like a very tiny pork tenderloin with pizza flavor. Weird. Coney dog was definitely not traditional in the sense that they put their bbq on it but it just didn't work. Two positives were the root beer was good and prices were cheap but unfortunately so was the quality.

My wife and I stopped in for a late lunch after a hike! We loved the ambience of this place! We did the car hop service. This place will take you back in time! We ordered 2 glass mugs of Rootbeer, 2 cheeseburgers, 1 corn nugget, and a 4 piece chicken strip basket which came with fries and a tiny bowl of shredded iceberg lettuce with French dressing. I liked the rootbeer and she did not! We both liked the burgers but wish we got doubles. The patties are thin. We both liked the chicken tenders too. The fries are krinkle cut and tasty. The salad is boring but the French dressing is good! The corn nuggets are great! We over heard other customers orders. We now know we need to try the tenderloins, flavor burst cones, and coney dogs! We will be back!

Awesome food, incredible prices, great atmosphere, cool place, friendly and welcoming staff. 10/10 the whole family loved it!

Food and price of the food is average. Root beer is definitely a good draw for us and it delivered. We ordered our food to got. They did messed up our order and not included one of the item we ordered. As they don't provide a detailed receipt for the order it is all guessing game if they packed all the items ordered or not. Next time I will stick to the basics, root beer and fries!

Woody the Root Beer Man makes the stop worth it. I would highly recommend you stick to one of the many ice cream menu items. The inside looks old and dirty. Friendly staff. I had the hot dog basket and regretted it... Root beer was good but they don't offer a diet root beer.

Good old style drive in restaurant. Service was a little slow but food was delicious. We went with the double cheeseburger and fries. We weren't disappointed. Step back in history and get a big mug of Rootbeer delivered right to your car window.

This place is great. Even when the power goes out Food and service was still outstanding We found this looking for another place. So glad we decided to try The Rootbeer Stand. If we can remember, we will definitely go here again!!!

Cute little place in Ogelsby, IL. We were traveling thru and stopped for dinner. The root beer was very good. I'm an old A&W employee and it taste really close to what I used to make. We had a fish sandwich, and fish and chips. We also had their sweet corn fritters. They are really good. I would suggest stopping if you're in the area.

Wow, this place gets hopping on a Sunday at lunchtime. The friendly staff runs a very efficient operation though, keeping their smiles on without missing a beat. It's table service inside and carhop service outside. Cash only. The food is pretty basic burgers and dogs type fare, but solid quality and good value. The onion rings were particularly satisfying. The ice cream side of the menu has everything you'd expect--shakes, sundaes, flurries (ice cream and candy mixed), frosties (ice cream and soda blended). We all enjoyed our desserts, but after reading the reviews it seems like I missed an opportunity by not getting a root beer float. Next time!

We give it five stars for the root beer floats. We decided to visit here after reading Yelp reviews. Our youngest (11) loves root beer and root beer floats. Figured we had to try this place seeing as they make their own root beer. The only thing we ordered was 3 large root beer floats and 1 Dr Pepper float (for our teenager who is not a fan of root beer - honestly I don't like root beer either, but wanted to try it since they make their own and I'm glad I did!!). My concern was that the floats wouldn't have enough ice cream, but quite the opposite, there was plenty of ice cream and I would have liked just a tad bit more soda. We came here after spending the morning hiking around Starved Rock State park. We pulled in to order and within seconds of pushing the button, a friendly voice asked for our order. I'd say we waited 5-10 minutes, didn't seem like we were there very long. A friendly lady brought our order out and we paid - make sure you have CASH. We don't always have cash and I think a lot of people are like us not carrying cash. I'm glad I read before that you need cash and I'm glad we had brought cash with us on our road trip because we always run into situations where we need cash while traveling. Highly recommend if you love root beer.

Food is good! Classic Rootbeer stand! Service was decent and the place was buzzing. Cash only and the atm is tied to the phone line, and so there was a line to pay because the calls kept interrupting the ATM service.

Great rootbeer but the staff really made it a fun experience! They were all sooo nice!

You want some nostalgia I recommend stopping here. Inside dining and it is very small but clean. Small town so everyone knows everyone. Server talk to everyone and was nice. Cheeseburger was very good and root beer was tasty.

A nice bit of nostalgia. I grew up with the A&W Rootbeer drive-ins and the frosty mugs of root beer, so I've decided to visit as many places as possible with their own brewed root beer. This was a good start. First, the drive-in experience is just as I remembered it in my youth - the menu with pushing the button to order and flipping the switch to pick up the tray. Of course, modern cars have windows without a level top, so it's a little trickier to balance the tray! But it works. The root beer came in a frosty mug (bonus points), and it was good. It didn't have foam (slight disappointment) and had a smooth flavor without some of the specific root beer "kick." But it was tasty. I got a tenderloin sandwich with fries and a small lettuce salad in a cole slaw container. The tenderloin and fries were well cooked but a bit bland - they could have used a little more seasoning... and grease (you want that fatty flavor - you're not eating here for healthy food). I'll be back.

Always the same, good food. Taco salad is really good. The chili is too thin for my taste but my husband loves it

This is an honest to goodness, old fashioned root beer stand! The root beer is home made and it's delicious! My husband and I got chili cheese dogs and chili fries. It was like a trip back in time, and the prices were very low! I finished with a turtle sundae, which was awesome. If you are hiking Starved Rock, It's worth finding this gem.

So mediocre. Waited almost 45 minutes just for a burger & 2 piece fish and chips. There were people that came 10, 15, 20 minutes after us and were getting their food right away. Burger came out lukewarm and the fish and chips were COLD. Not even the slightest bit of warmth. Place was a HUGE let down.

Great food, really fast! Wonderful and friendly service, delicious root beer. Lots of choices, good prices. I love that they've maintained the vintage ambiance.

Just like many others, we came here after some hiking at Starved Rock. Based upon Google reviews, this place sounded good on screen but was we were majorly disappointed. I should have been more skeptical after quickly looking at the Yelp reviews but I like trying and supporting local places. We had a party of 10 (2 adults and 6 kids under the age of 12) and ordered bacon cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers, a super deluxe cheeseburger, mini corn dogs, 2 large fries, 1 cheese fries and onion rings and 1 sm root beer, which came up to a little under $45. Make sure to bring CASH! We didn't eat at the drive in (nor indoors due to my kids not being vaccinated yet) and decided to picnic back by Starved Rock. After we waited over the suggested time of 25 minutes to get our food, the food temp was about lukewarm and that not so long ride back to the picnic area probably got rid of that fresh off the grill taste/feeling and may have skewed my views on the food. All of the burgers were dry and small and the buns just felt like they came right out of the bag. The large fries looked like a small fry order. My daughter thought the mini corn dogs were just ok. The onion rings were prob my fav out of all the food we ordered but it was a small quantity for us to share. It seemed like we ordered enough but I was completely wrong. We were all hangry and still hangry after scarfing down that food. Maybe we should have upgraded the orders to baskets (which means fries + salad) so that everyone would get fries vs. sharing but I'm glad I didn't because the kids nor I (I am a fry lover!) enjoyed the fries. TBH, we love eating salads (yep, the kids love salad) but we typically don't do salads when we have burgers/hot dogs and fries. The best thing out of this was that I did try the homemade root beer which was pretty good. It's $1.50 for a small and a good way to try their root beer. If you are a root beer fan, you def must try their's. I wanted to like this place because of the Google reviews but unfortunately we won't be going back next time we decide to hike in the area.

Food service and convenient location was quick and a great spot for lunch and a frozen treat.

Food is... ok. They call small styrofoam cups of shredded lettuce salads. My burger was drowning in mustard. They DO NOT take cards. It's cash only. So they say this anywhere, like on the door? No. They wait until you've eaten and then direct to a little ATM machine to get cash out. Ridiculous. Won't be going back.

Food was good value and the desserts especially did not disappoint. I tried the tenderloin sandwich which I personally wouldn't try again (too dry) but the rest of our party said they enjoyed the food. Service was good but expect a wait - we went on Friday around 6 and had to wait about 25 minutes which is more than you'd expect for fast food. The nostalgic ambience is neat but could use some updating. The menus look tied and had to take my little one to the bathroom inside which was a bit gross.

Be ready for the wait. 35 min for a grilled cheese that was exactly what I'd make at home. Fries were over cooked. Was cute to sit and watch the old cars start parking in the lot but wouldn't venture out here again after hiking at starved rock. Too many other places to try.

This was a random stop on our road trip, but was such a good one! I had never experienced car hop service before and didn't know they still existed, but here we were, having our server walk out our parked car with homemade root beer and delicious burgers and dogs. I was a little disappointed in the chocolate shake and this is a cash only spot (there is an interesting ATM inside), but both the food and the price were on point! A great spot for classic service!

fantastic place to take the family. you can always rely on good food and even better root beer.

I love finding excuses to come here! Best rootbeer floats, hands down! They are an ideal business to visit during the time of COVID, but are great all the time. Their food is delicious and budget friendly. They are a gem of a place. We come down from the Chicago suburbs to enjoy the yummy food and nostalgic feel of the Rootbeer Stand.

Classic slice of early Americana, holding on in the 21st century. Great experience right out of 1972. Enjoy!

There was only 3 tables dining and we waited over 5 minutes for any acknowledgment. The woman owner and her waitress were too busy gossiping about other staff members to help the patrons seated. Even my grade school child noticed how unprofessional it is to openly talk about their staff when customers are seated. Food was mediocre. The only thing that they have going is the nostalgia.

Great spot to enjoy a root beer in a nostalgic drive in! Food was excellent, but make sure to plan time for crowds! It's not fast food. Worth the wait;)

Stopped after seeing the very faded highway sign of food at the exit and didn't want a chain so took a chance. It's so good and super affordable! Don't stop at a chain and go here!

Real, old-fashioned root beer float. Nuff said. The rest is frosting on the cake. And I'm with J. J. You must take a picture with cheeseburger man out front or you are dead to me.

Great little place to stop for some hotdogs and fries hamburgers group is very good and they also do cruise nights once in a while as well which is always fun

Had a delightful lunch at an iconic roadside diner near Illinois Valley Community College and Starved Rock State Park. Classic diner style setting and amusingly familial atmosphere (even though it appeared to be a combination of tourists and locals). Great home made root beer on tap in a frosty mug set the tone for me...I was sold from there. If you are in the area and want to eat a taste of Americana in the heartland, this is your place. You feel like you belong as soon as you walk in and if you leave hungry it is your own fault. Definitely worth a stop for anyone visiting IVCC or Starved Rock... or if you are just looking for a place to get a good burger when you're in the neighborhood.

Everything about this place screams small town restaurant nostalgia--the smell of old varnished wood, gossiping teenagers working the counter, cheap root beer floats, having to pay with cash (don't worry, there's an ATM). The place looks...older and a little run down, but that's just part of its charm. We went on a Friday afternoon, around 4PM. There were only 4 other customers seated inside the restaurant. No one was at the drive thru. The menu is mostly comprised of burger selections, ice cream, and and fast food appetizers. I got a root beer float, burger, fries; they were all very delicious. Especially after a long day of hiking. For two burger meals, one rootbeer float, and one rootbeer shake, it totaled to $17. You get up and pay at the register. Would definitely visit again if only to try all the ice creams on the menu.

This is a really divey place you definitely have to check out for yourself. We ordered the jumbo pork tenderloin, the double bacon cheeseburger, cheese fries, and a half gallon of root beer. All the food really hit the spot, but the pork tenderloin and burger were lacking seasoning. Otherwise, they were good sandwiches. The diameter of the pork tenderloin is really something. The fries were tasty, and the root beer was refreshing and tasted like cream soda.

Great atmosphere and the woman who brought us our food was so friendly. Great place for a root beer float and a burger. It is cash or check only, though, so there's an ATM inside.