Food & drink in Lake Forest, IL

We read 120 businesses across 6 trades — the businesses someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown — and recorded what their Google reviews look like.

Measured 2026-09-24 from public Google listings. Ranked on reply behaviour, never on star rating.

Among the coffee shops someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, not one of the 20 we read had answered any of its recent reviews. That is the plainest fact in this section. Across their whole listing history, the median review count for those coffee shops is 114.5 and the median rating is 4.65; the three most-reviewed carry 522, 365 and 352 reviews.

The restaurants we read look different at the top. Deer Path Inn answered 9 of its last 10 reviews, on a listing of 1,037, and Francesca's answered 9 of 10 on 879. The Lantern Of Lake Forest answered 3 of 10 on 766. Over the whole listing history, the median restaurant we read has 282.5 reviews and a median rating of 4.6.

A few names turn up in more than one search. The Lantern Of Lake Forest appears among the restaurants, cafés, bars and bakeries named here, at 3 of 10 each time. Deer Path Inn appears among both the restaurants and the bars, at 9 of 10. Sophia Steak Lake Forest appears among both the cafés and the bars, at 3 of 10. Among the cafés we read, Da Local Boy Cafe answered 1 of its last 10 on a listing of 489; among the bakeries, Donati's Pizza answered 1 of 10 on 540. The median review count is 118 for the cafés we read, 114 for the bars and 121 for the bakeries.

The food-truck search returned the largest listing among the food and drink businesses in this section, at 7,874 reviews, and a median of 466. Full Moon Family Restaurant answered 10 of its last 10 reviews on a listing of 2,501. For context, the benchmark measured here is 58%: that is the share of recent reviews a typical measured business answered, across 25 businesses.

What to do about it

If you run a coffee shop, the measured bar among the 20 we read is 0: none of them had answered a recent review. Start with the next 10 reviews that land on your listing and write a short reply to each one, the five-star ones as well as the complaints. Thank the person by what they mentioned, answer any question they asked, and keep it in your own words.

If you run a restaurant or a bar, the named figures show what a steady reply looks like: Deer Path Inn at 9 of its last 10, Francesca's at 9 of 10, Full Moon Family Restaurant at 10 of 10. Pick one person to read new reviews on a set day each week and answer them before the week closes. The reply is the one piece of that exchange that is yours to write.

Restaurants

20 read · median 282.5 reviews · median rating 4.6

#BusinessAnsweredReviewsRating
1Deer Path Inn9 of 1010374.7
2Francesca's9 of 108794.7
3The Lantern Of Lake Forest3 of 107664.3

Cafés

20 read · median 118 reviews · median rating 4.7

#BusinessAnsweredReviewsRating
1The Lantern Of Lake Forest3 of 107664.3
2Sophia Steak Lake Forest3 of 104154.7
3Da Local Boy Cafe1 of 104894.9

Coffee shops

20 read · median 114.5 reviews · median rating 4.65

We read 20 coffee shops businesses here and not one had answered a single one of its ten most recent reviews. The first owner here who replies is the only one doing it.

Bars

20 read · median 114 reviews · median rating 4.7

#BusinessAnsweredReviewsRating
1Deer Path Inn9 of 1010374.7
2The Lantern Of Lake Forest3 of 107664.3
3Sophia Steak Lake Forest3 of 104154.7

Bakeries

20 read · median 121 reviews · median rating 4.5

#BusinessAnsweredReviewsRating
1The Lantern Of Lake Forest3 of 107664.3
2Donati's Pizza1 of 105404.4

Food trucks

20 read · median 466 reviews · median rating 4.5

#BusinessAnsweredReviewsRating
1Full Moon Family Restaurant10 of 1025014.2
More in Lake Forest

The other groups we read in Lake Forest, IL

Same Lake Forest search, different trades — 100 more businesses read across 3 groups.

Hair, nails & barbering

40 businesses read across 2 trades · every trade had someone answering

Fitness & wellness

20 businesses read across 1 trade · every trade had someone answering

Dental & orthodontics

40 businesses read across 2 trades · every trade had someone answering

Every trade in Lake Forest →

How it works

  1. Run the free audit. We read your public Google reviews and replies and send you the numbers: reply rate, the reviews still waiting for an answer, and the oldest of them — with the table on this page to put them beside.
  2. Claim your page. Pick your listing, and your QR card and short link are ready to print — from your own phone, no onboarding call.
  3. Get the weekly email. Every new review with its reply drafted, private feedback that came in, and the short list of what to fix on your listing and site.
  4. Approve, and that’s it. You press approve on the replies you like. The rest — the card, the page, the measuring — runs on its own.

What you get

Your review page

A printed QR card and a short link that open every review option — Google, Tripadvisor, Facebook — capture the customer’s email, and give an unhappy customer a private word first. About four minutes to a printable QR.

Reviews handled

Every new review on your platforms, with the reply drafted in your voice, in one weekly email. Negative ones first. You approve, edit or skip; nothing posts without you.

Local standing

Where you rank around your shop, what competitors are doing, what changed on your listing — with the exact fix for each. Recommendations can lead to better rankings and more visibility; no tool can promise a position, including ours.

What food & drink businesses around Lake Forest, IL do with their reviews
TradeMedian reviewsBest answeredYou
Restaurants282.59 of 10the audit fills this in
Cafés1183 of 10the audit fills this in
Coffee shops114.5nobody answeredthe audit fills this in
Bars1149 of 10the audit fills this in
Bakeries1213 of 10the audit fills this in
Food trucks46610 of 10the audit fills this in
Get the free auditSee pricing

From $10/mo · Growth $29 · Pro $59 · cancel anytime · what you print is yours for life · Oh Local is not affiliated with Google.