Victory Café

We wanted to try something new for lunch. We'd been to One Eleven before for lunch and loved it, but thought Victory Cafe would be good since it was packed. When we walked in, we were seated right away and our order was taken quickly. However, we waited nearly 30 mins. for our food - half the patrons had finished and left by the time we got our meal. My meatloaf sandwich and fries were lukewarm, so I asked to have them reheated, which the waitress did right away (microwave). However, reheated fries aren't as good as fresh fries, for sure. My mom's meal was prepared correctly and she enjoyed her food. My meal was good, but I have the feeling it had been sitting for awhile (due to it not being hot).

The waitress didn't come back to fill our drinks until near the very end of our stay. She took my mom's plate away without asking if she was done (she wasn't - she still had food left on her plate). The waitress never brought us our bill, and we'd been there long enough, so we just went up and paid.

I get the feeling that normally this place might be OK, but our experience was unpleasant and we won't be back. The man checking us out didn't ask how everything was, so I didn't bother telling him our experience was sub-par.

Good food, nothing fancy, always busy so expect for a wait

Let me start by saying I hope my experience does not happen to anyone else. I come to Galena all the time for vacations. This time I had a large group of friends with me and after being recommended this place by a multitude of people I figured today was the day to give it a try. That turned out to be a horrible idea. I called the restaurant prior to coming to ensure my group of 10 could be accommodated and a man answered the phone and advised they did not take reservations and that he couldn't tell me if there would be room for us as we were not there yet. I understand not taking reservations and decided to still come.

When we arrived the place was empty. Less than 5 patrons in the whole restaurant. I thought, perfect, we won't have any problems getting in. We were met by a gentleman wearing a beanie who we later found out was the owner. He sat us at a round table that only fit 6 people. We inquired about putting 2 tables together to accommodate our group of 10 and the owner was very weird about it. He stated "sure let's just move the whole place around for one group, that makes sense" assuming he was being sarcastic we continued. He made us push the tables together and said: "I hope the fire marshall doesn't come in today because he has already shut me down before." Being a career firefighter for 7 years and a fire investigator for the last 3 years I found this remark troubling. I was again unsure if he was joking as there were far greater concerns in regards to fire safety then pushing 2 tables together. First being the large stack of chairs blocking one of only two exits to Main Street.

As we all sat down the sun was beaming in our faces and we asked if the owner could lower the shades for us. The owner responded with "yeah, that makes sense, shut out the warm sun. Good idea, next we can turn the heat off for ya." He began to close one of the blinds and then just walked away. Now being apparent that the owner was just being rude and we could no longer chalk it up as sarcasm we finally left the restaurant. Although I was never close enough to him, multiple people in my group commented on the owner's odor of alcohol coming from his person. It was 10:40 am at the time of our visit. I hope for the sake of the employees that this man reevaluates his ability to run a restaurant effectively as I will be sure to never recommend this place to anyone. Over 95% of my reviews of other restaurants are 4 stars or higher. For me to write a one-star review should serve as a warning to others. This is one place in Galena to stay away from.

For what it's worth the average age of patrons in the restaurant when we arrived was around 70. My group's average age was around 28 which I believe, although still completely unprofessional, may have impacted the way we were treated.

I dont know how this restaurant has such good reviews. We found it dirty, the egg sandwich was meh, the buffalo chicken salad was made using iceberg lettace which I probably should have asked before ordering.

This is my go to place in town for breakfast. I tell everyone to eat here. Good, cheap, food. And good service. Highly recommend.

They’re taking waaaay too many people to be that understaffed. Waited over an hour for one egg and one pancake. My drink was good tho. We waited a while, and the lady squeezed a group of 10 people in before us…

Food was great, but the orange juice was REALLY sour. Also the waitress was not very good. She seemed new or young and when I was speaking to her she was already walking away.

Come for just the low budget-friendly prices. Ingredients they use are probably selected from the cheapest wholesale vendors. Coffee tastes like a hotel room's instant coffee. Staff was nice. Tables and condiment containers were sticky... I was a little worried about the cleanliness.

Great service, great breakfast, great coffee.

Be sure to read the fine print on the menu! When we finished our breakfast, we were informed by the waitress that they wouldn't separate our bill between the two couples and the two individuals in our party and even more surprised when an 18% gratuity was included in the bill!!
There's no incentive for the server to do a good job if they're going to get a tip anyway!!
Good food, terrible policy!!