Mystery Diner in Ladd: Softails Bar and Grill goes beyond standard pub fare

When going out to eat, I don’t expect to taste mom’s home cooking, but a recent visit to Softails Bar and Grill in Ladd delivered an unexpected flavor of childhood.

The two-page dinner menu isn’t what I predicted during an impromptu weeknight visit, when a friend suggested we go there after a hike at Starved Rock State Park. When he mentioned it’s a bar and grill, I imagined burgers and pub fare.

The restaurant offers some conventional bar food, such as a Thursday night wings special and walleye, but other options are more akin to a supper club menu, such as shrimp scampi and steak. The opportunity to order a hearty plate of chicken Oscar – a grilled chicken breast on a bed of rice, topped with velvety sauce, asparagus and crab meat – was a pleasant surprise.

Each regular meal (some nightly specials not included) allows guests to sample the salad bar, which led to my dose of nostalgia. While my companion and I awaited our entrees, we explored the salad bar options. That’s when I spotted pickled beets.

It’s been 20-plus years since I’ve enjoyed this bulbous root vegetable. While I was growing up, they were a summertime favorite in our household, where mom would pluck beets from her garden, and serve them in a tangy-sweet brine later in the week.

The pickled beets at Softails tasted exactly as I remember, transporting me back to family dinners and lazy summer evenings. They’re not an item I regularly see on local menus or salad bars, so finding them at Softails made a regular social outing feel special.

Most diners won’t be escorted down memory lane at the salad bar, but the selections add a lot to the meal even without sentimental attachment. The salad bar serves a range of side options, such as a leafy green salad with dressings, a variety of pasta salads, bread and cottage cheese.

Both my companion and I ordered an appetizer of an Illinois Valley staple: tortellini in broth. Softails gets a thumbs-up for having one of the more seasoned and flavorful tortellini fillings in the area.

Then came the entrees: a full plate of chicken Oscar and a broad filet of fried walleye. The kitchen doesn’t skimp on ingredients. My plate had a large bed of rice and plenty of sauce to swipe onto both the chicken and crab chunks. The four asparagus spears were ample, although they were so well seasoned I eagerly would have said yes to more. I’m a fan of any restaurant that invests time into making its side vegetables as tasty as the main course.

The standout element of the walleye was its light breading, according to my companion, who added the seafood was well prepared to be flaky and tender. “You can tell how good the rest of their fried food will be based on this,” he said.

The atmosphere at Softails is flexible – it can be a casual social outing or a special occasion for small parties. A lively group socialized at the bar, while our table of two enjoyed a comfortably private meal a few tables away.

Softails is easily accessible when traveling across the region on Interstate 80. The restaurant is less than a mile north of Exit 70, sitting at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets in Ladd.

• The Mystery Diner is an employee at Shaw Media. The diner’s identity is not revealed to the restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a different restaurant and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a story.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Softails Bar and Grill

WHERE: 246 N. Main St., Ladd

PHONE: 815-894-2221

INFORMATION: Facebook at tinyurl.com/3fj3ze7a