Location: Chester
Top Restaurants in Chester
Where to Eat in Chester: The Best Restaurants and Bars
Chester is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, Illinois, United States, on a bluff above the Mississippi River. The population was 8,586 at the 2010 census. It lies 61 miles (98 km) south of St. Louis, Missouri.
Things to do in Chester
1. Reid's Harvest House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 62 reviews
Reviewed By Diana C - Abilene, Kansas
My husband and I had lunch here. The food was fantast! The salad selection was fresh and plentiful. The meatloaf, sausage, and fish was perfection. Potatoes were real fresh potatoes. I will go out of my way when I travel to eat here. What a fun town and an amazing experience!
2. Sweet Pea's Ice Cream
Overall Ratings
5 based on 14 reviews
We are a mom and pop ice cream shop in Chester Illinois that offers premium ice cream products. We focus on quality in everything we do and offer hard dipped and soft serve products along with ice cream cakes, novelty items, and much more. Come see us.
Reviewed By Leslie T - Steeleville, Illinois
Came here thinking it was both cool and hot food. Very friendly staff, the owner, I think it was the owner, understood my mistake and I told him we will be back after getting some other food. He let my kids have a free sample.
Came back after eating at a place runner by clowns, had a waffle cone, that had chocolate on bottom to prevent it from breaking through, but kids took a bite of bottom anyway.
The place has a Popeye theme to honor the towns theme, home of Popeye. I loaded a pic of town Popeye sign advertising sweet peas. Very good ice cream and cones and very friendly staff.
3. Ol' Farmhouse Cafe-Bakery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 20 reviews
Reviewed By Diane041 - Illinois
Every time we are in the area we eat here. Family oriented and great food. Loads of choices and we never know what to pick. I do love the fried chicken! Never disappointed. Homemade desserts are the best. Prices very reasonable. Service is excellent. Small area sectioned off with homemade crafts/merchandise. DO NOT MISS GOING TO THIS CAFE!
4. Asian Garden
Overall Ratings
5 based on 5 reviews
Reviewed By Hwolk
The outside appearance isn't too impressive but the inside is surprisingly nice. The Green Curry was great! Also, the staff said they are going to be serving sushi soon. Will definitely go back and try that.
5. Tequila Mexican Resturant
Overall Ratings
4 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By Dovernj
Tequila's is a typical out of the can Mexican Restaurant. The menu items are the same as any Mexican restaurant across the mid-west area.
Fajitas are your best bet here. Stick with chicken related dishes. Their ground beef they use is not very tasty. I was not impressed by their service. It was hard getting a refill, and took much longer than it should of to get the ticket so I could pay. The decor is nice, the place just needs better management.
6. Rough House Pizza
Overall Ratings
5 based on 4 reviews
Reviewed By Leslie T - Steeleville, Illinois
I am a local truck driver and got held up waiting for a factory worker to take his lunch break. It was a block from this pizza place. Pass by it every day and noticed that they have a lunch buffet for 6.50 including drink. Well I was short but they have pizza by the slice 2 slices for a dollar.
The taste and deals override the other 'uncomforts'
The cons
Chester is a tough town to get around, and this place is right in the center of it all. You have to parallel park if want in this place (I drive a dumpster truck so I was in place at a dumpster ready to load on so that is my ticket in there)
Inside is small and the looks are not very impressive either, but the food is worth it. I got the 4 slices for 2 dollars, and there was one odd shaped piece, I asked if that counted, and they said to keep it for no charge extra. They have both thin crust and buttery pan crust.
The pan crust is buttery and has a slight sweet taste, the sauce is above average tasting, actually has a flavor, rather than the average generic sauce. Thin crust is softer than the other thin crusts at other places, where the others are hard like a cracker, this is soft and chewy, and yes fully cooked, in a way it reminds me of a new York type texture.
Yes the slices are small but this is the best deal I have discovered anywhere. So if you are in the chester area and can squeeze in there, it is worth the effort, if you are one of the truck drivers, yes I know its a joke to try to find a spot, but fake a breakdown on a lesser traveled side street in between the factory buildings, yes it is worth it to give this place a try
7. Salty Dawg Bar & Grill
Overall Ratings
5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By malabarfly - Gravesend, United Kingdom
What a wonderful find. There is not much choice in Chester for restaurants or bars, but after a couple of unsuccessful visits to find food and drink we discovered this place. It does not look much from the outside – just a plain angular building - and we realised it was more a bar than a restaurant, but by the time we went in (which was only about 7.45) we had accepted that we were unlikely to get much to eat that night and hoped they might have some popcorn or snacks with the beer. How glad I am that we did go in.
This was the friendliest bar we had found during three weeks of touring. The owner came a spoke with us, the lady behind the bar (his wife) chatted amiably and we were introduced to a number of locals who came over to chat. We were made to feel really welcome.
And the bonus was that the lady behind the bar said she could offer us a pizza, which we gratefully accepted. The pizza was excellent – well filled and sizable that we couldn’t finish it so passed it round for others. And a second bonus was that it must rate of the least expensive bill for the food and drink we had come across (in fact, it was so remarkably reasonable that I queried whether she had included the pizza on the bill, but she had. Incredible value).
The final thing was that on leaving, many of the locals shook hands and even gave a cheer. What a wonderful and uplifting place, which changed what promised to be a bleak and hunger-filled evening into a memorable one. Our thanks go to all.
8. Barbs bounty
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 4 reviews
Reviewed By Leslie T - Steeleville, Illinois
I feel sorry about this one, we really did not have a bad experience, or anything to discredit their business; they just got too much other things involved to fully commit to full fledged restaurant. It is also a place that sells art and other collectibles, and a Lutheran braille outreach program. I have always wondered about this as I drive past this in my truck route daily.
You go to the counter to place your order, which is either chef's special or a'la carte items on a small menu selection, that consists of hamburger, ckicken strips, pulled pork, chicken salad sandwich, and few other items.
They weren't rude or anything, but did not have much enthusiasm in serving us as well. You must get your own sodas and lids are tricky to fit, as when we asked for help they only gave verbal instruction.
I had pulled pork, nothing special just basic taste, kids had chicken strips, again just very basic. We a. Hat fries, which had coating, but no flavor and tasteless.
You can tell they are sincere about the food service, but are a struggling establishment. In all honest and to give a good idea of what to expect for other TripAdvisor members, I must give it a 2. The place has too much diversity.
9. Casey's General Store
Overall Ratings
4 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By Hwolk
I stop in here a lot due to working in the area. The workers are always pleasant and the place is clean.
10. Caseys Carry Out Pizza
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Hwolk
You gotta love Casey's pizza. The pizza is really good and priced very reasonably. We use Casey's to get pizza most of the time.
