"Review Date: April 4th, 2016 Mehquet’s. The opening line to this post is very ‘meh’ but that’s how I felt about Maquet’s. A few people I know from Pekin raved about Maquet’s. When something pops up on my radar via suggestions or otherwise, I add it to my list and eventually get around to checking it out. On a particular day where my girlfriend and I felt like traveling but not driving 1+ hours to experience something new, Pekin was the perfect place to explore. We ended up only doing a few things and Maquet’s was our second of three stops. After parking in a small parking lot about half a block away, we entered and were greeted with probably the wood-iest bar I’ve ever been in. Top to bottom and wall to wall wood. It was well-worn wood so it had that worn in look that makes a place look snazzier rather than aged and old. In my opinion, at least. We snagged some seats at the bar and our bartender took our drink order while getting us menus. As we waited for our food, I couldn’t stop staring at the giant fridge of beers behind the bar. There were a million different beers to pick from that even the pickiest beer drinker wouldn’t have issues finding something to drink. After the beer fridge, my eyes wandered to the rest of the bar. The aesthetics of Maquet’s was perfect. It had that coziness of a coffeehouse with a mix of drunken debauchery hidden in the walls, waiting for the fun of the night to get here. There was a big dining area behind us but since we were at the bar, we didn’t go wandering. While my eyes were taking in the scene, my girlfriend’s eyes were on the food that was placed in front of us. I swiveled around and was shocked at the glorious meal placed in front of me. Now that’s what food should look like when served (see below for what I ate). We both got the Rail House Burger as we both love the kick of BBQ. Sadly, the looks were better than the bites. Yes, sadly, the food wasn’t all that great. For having bbq sauce, pepperjack cheese, haystack onions and other condiments, the burger lacked some pizzazz. So many potential ingredients for flavor and none of them worked. My shy girlfriend felt the same. All show and no wow. The french fries were decent though its hard to mess up those up. With all the praise that I heard about Maquet’s, its such a shame that it turned out to be meh. As always, I am willing to give a place a second try. I feel like maybe we just had an off day as there is no way that burger should’ve been as plain tasting as it was."
