hilltop restaurant

great place for family dining. the hilltop is a great place for familystyledining. this has been one of our family favorites over the years and wtih 5 generations. the chicken is crispy and juicy, and the accompanying vegetable platters are always hot and tasty. we love the tomato juice, beets and salad. you can't beat the biscuits and orange marmalade. the prices are very affordable and reasonable.

let's get some seasoning!. i used to frequent the place ten years ago and stopped by last week. my salmon was tasty but overcooked. the familystyleveggies were obviously out of a can with no butter or seasoning. potatoes could have been from instant flakes! the biscuits were very tasty and the tomato juice and veggie appetizers acceptable. salad and dressings were from a bag and bottle and a non-event. my husband's steak was acceptable, but not remarkable. there are not a lot of choices in spencer we do not plan to return in the near future. even frozen seasoned veggies or real mashed pototoes would have improved the scenario----it was disappointing and definitely not "country home cooking." i imagine the salmon came from gordon's or some other supplier.

great food, great service. we went there on father's day 2014 without making reservations (it was between lunch & dinner about 3pm) with a group of 15. with what i'm sure was a big crowd for lunch they were welcoming, the food was great & service the best. even tho because it was a holiday & you could not order off the normal menu they offered a variety of main courses & the familystylesides were the best, they even accommodated a few of us that had special request. will go back again and again. oh, the only thing that is missing is more than a one toilet restroom. for as large as the place is on special occasions w/large crowds it is inconvenient to wait so long.

went there on a whim tonight with the fam because i didn't feel like cooking dinner. i'm sure glad we did! it was our first time. i had the 1/4 white meat chicken. hubby had 1/2 slab ribs and son had chicken fingers. my chicken was cooked perfectly, super moist on the inside crispy on the outside. my 5 yr old finished his fingers and then ate my wing! hubby's ribs were a hit too. everbody cleaned their plate and was satisfied. i liked the familystyleveggies n mash, no worrying about what sides to choose. wish i had room for dessert!
service was friendly and somewhat fast. decor was old fashioned but it was clean, cute. i would definitely drive the 20min to go again. it was overall a pleasant family dining experience!

oh dear. we arrived at this place on saturday july 6th and found the door locked in spite of arriving at 8:20am when the posted opening time was 8am. someone did unlock the door after we stood around a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on. apparently this place has changed hands again and we had no idea when we headed down from plainfield intent upon having the familystylebreakfast we had rather enjoyed from our last visit to the place. the big attraction for me was the brown countystyledeep fried biscuits which had been served with the breakfast by the previous owners. new owners don't serve those and when i learned this i actually wanted to leave. my husband wanted to stay and try it and after being assured several times by the hostess and the waitress that i would not be disappointed i relented and ordered from the menu. i asked for a combo item on the menu that consisted of eggs 1/2 order of biscuits and gravy, homestylepotatoes and breakfast meat of which i chose bacon and requested it served crisp. i asked for scrambled eggs. husband ordered the same except for ham rather than bacon. they also served us a basket of deep fried biscuits served with powdered sugar and cinnamon. it was complimentary and was served to us because i had whined and lamented the lack of them initially. it was a very nice gesture indeed which makes it all the more difficult to offer the following criticism of the food. the bacon was not remotely crisp. it was cold and limp and not to my taste. it was a good quality had it been served to taste i think it would have been quite acceptable. the biscuits and gravy were very bland and blah: edible but not remembered fondly. the potatoes were cold and greasy. the scrambled eggs were absolutely awful, so bad in fact that i could not eat them. i could not decide if they were powdered eggs or just fresh eggs with too much milk stirred in. each bit had a mouthful of liquid of some sort. i gave up and did not eat them.

ironically the absolute best thing on the table was the complimentary deep fried biscuits. they were actually made from homemade dough and did not really resemble brown county biscuits which are made from canned dough. instead they were a unique creation and quite delicious served with marmalade and apple butter. i thanked the hostess as we left and suggested that they add those biscuits to the menu. her response was something along the lines of oh no we wouldn't want to do that.

too bad because they might put your name on the map as a place to go instead of a place to avoid at all costs.

their hearts are in the right place and i hope they figure things out so the business will not disappoint them.

charmed by the old timey ways. myself i love the tomato juice, beets and veggies as an appetizer. pay no attention to the whiney reviews, there is no pleasing some people. get the fried chicken, eat familystyleand enjoy a meal with your family.

we always leave full after dining at the hilltop. though the food is abit outdated and random (beets, tomato juice, orange jelly) it works. familystylewith good service.

stop on in!. i have driven buy this place for years, mostly in the morning. we happenen to be in the area around dinner and decided to stop in. from the road you have no idea what you are getting into but what we found was a pleasent surprise. the building has a lot of charater and is decorated like i would amagine a bed and breakfast would be. they had a all you could eat special on fried fish so we selected that and where glad we did. they serve all their meals with familystylesides that are as good as anything i have tried. the fish was great! they said the chicken is what most people come for so we will be back to give that a try.