Best Neighbourhood Gem Restaurants in Crystal Lake

This year our little family opted to forego the usual Thanksgiving traditions and decided to go out for a nice dinner. Wildfire was open and had reasonable accommodations and the prefixe menu looked great. We arrived early and were notified we’d be sat at our reservation time, which wasn’t too long after. Though the restaurant was filled, it wasn’t too loud and overall, it seemed everyone was happy. After being seated, we were treated to some breads and appetizers. Gabriel was our server and was fantastic. He was patient, friendly, receptive to needs, and timely. Give that young man a raise! Our meal was quite tasty! Reasonable accommodations were made. My only critique, do a separate pricing for kids under 5. We have a one year old, and they don’t eat that much on a good day, usually just sharing off our plates, but others than that, they ate pretty much everything put in front of them. We ended up taking our dessert home (equally as tasty. That Maple Pecan Pie was the bomb!). A great experience all around with none of the usual Thanksgiving hassle.

Being my first time ever not having a homecooked Thanksgiving dinner I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I may suggest no orange or much less orange in the cranberry sauce. And I believe as far as the sides for the turkey dinner, I would suggest gravy be on the table along with the other sides. Turkey was outstanding, gravy was outstanding the dressing, I might have seasoned more with sage and such but was certainly good. All and all a great experience. Everyone in our party enjoyed it! The only thing lacking was leftovers.

Absolutely delicious!! The beet agnolotti was amazing and the rigatoni was delicious too. Highly recommend the onion dip!!

This was a birthday celebration with my daughters. We started our evening with a cocktaill. I had the Old Fashion and one daughter had the Moscow Mule. The other daughter ordered the house Malbec. The drinks were expertly crafted. We continued by ordering two appetizers. We were a little disappointed that the saganaki was not flamed at the table. The bruschetta was served on a very tasty crostini. We then ordered our entrees. We each had the filet. The steaks were cooked to perfection and were so tender and moist. We shared a bottle of the Italian Cabarnet to accompany of meal. The chef treated us to the spinach filled phyllo. This was another perfectly prepared dish. For the birthday celebration one daughter had a piece of strawberry cheesecake and the other had the baklava cheesecake. Both were fantastic. The restaurant was busy but our service was good. The noise level from the bar area did increase noticeably as the evening progressed.

Love this restaurant it is a gem. The menu changes seasonally bring new amazing things try. The wine list is amazing