Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Schatze's in Belleville: Nothing fancy but all you need for a good meal and a beer!

 Schatze's in Belleville is a super little bar and grill a little off the beaten path, but with really good food and unbeatable prices.  Similar in concept to Fast Eddie's and Cutter's, you can't get food to go and you have to have a drink to eat.  They need to upgrade their A/C because it's not keeping pace with the summer heat, but it's a friendly little place with cold beer and good service and food that's both delicious and VERY reasonably priced.  They have a band on weekends and their grill stays open late so you can get a decent meal that isn't breakfast after 9 p.m. which is something Illinois needs more of--good quality late dining!  Not all of use like to eat dinner at 6 p.m. and those that do, aren't dining here.  I haven't seen any signs advertising karaoke so I'm hoping that the fad of horrible singing by very inebriated people is falling by the wayside.  I haven't heard the bands here, but I'm willing to bet that they are at least decent if not pretty darn good.  The barmaids are friendly and the crowd consists of a lot of regulars which is always a good thing and they play a great game of trivia on the TV monitors.  I love NTN trivia and there are some very good players here--and they are seriously into the game.  The bratwurst here is the best--and grilled to perfection.  They also have giant shrimp sold by the piece, great burgers, pork steaks and pizza which I haven't tried. Their desserts are purchased rather than homemade, but they are good quality and fresh--you can't go wrong with Cheesecake Factory brand cheesecake for a LOT less than the CF charges for it!  Friday afternoon cocktails, late night dining, friendly crowd, good food, reasonably priced drinks and good service make a winning recipe at this little bar on Main Street!