Rotisserie chicken creations shine at Lake Villa's Lake House

The Lake House in Lake Villa is a newer addition to the Khayat restaurant empire in Lake County. Having opened in 2012, it's largely identical to the family's Lake Bluff restaurant of the same name, just with a slightly smaller menu.

Lake House serves meat and seafood, plus sandwiches, salads, prime rib melts, pasta, brick-oven pizza and their specialty: rotisserie chicken. The restaurant has an extensive bar menu and a full bar inside, focusing on craft beers and cocktails. We didn't indulge but rather ordered a glass of soda water with lime. Beware if you do the same: For nothing other than sparkling water from the soda gun, we were charged nearly $3.

I have been to this restaurant before, and I will probably return, mainly for the atmosphere. We opted to eat on the patio where we could enjoy the breeze while listening to the live music drifting outside, augmenting the trickling of the fountain on the patio.

Once we were seated, crusty bread, olive oil and parmesan cheese was delivered to the table. The bread was delicious and soft — soft enough, in fact, that it looked like whoever cut it completely mashed it down onto our breadboard. But that's the risk you run when you get freshly baked bread, and it was worth it.

For appetizers, we had the pulled chicken nachos and stuffed green pepper soup. For the nachos, tortilla chips come topped with chipotle pulled chicken, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, nacho cheese, chives, shredded lettuce and roasted jalapeños.

We enjoyed the chicken's juiciness; it wasn't dry or chewy. The chipotle sauce was a little uneven — there was no spice in one bite, and then so much heat in another bite that I couldn't breathe. But it had a great robust sting to it that complemented the rest of the toppings.

We ordered the salsa, guacamole and jalapeños on the side, but that's not entirely what we got. The salsa was on the side, but the chef sprinkled tomatoes all over, which is what we were trying to avoid. And the jalapeños were missing from the dish altogether.

Although the flavors mixed nicely, the restaurant could improve on the chips. Perhaps the chef didn't use a slotted spoon to portion out the chicken and its juice because the chips were completely soaked through and nearly impossible to pick up.

The soup saved our appetizers. It came piping hot with big chunks of ground beef and green peppers, plenty of rice and a meaty tomato base. It was hearty and satisfying and helped stave off the chill creeping onto the patio.

For dinner, we had the maple bacon burger and the mushroom Alfredo. The burger comes on brioche, and was topped with bacon, arugula, cheddar, maple aioli and a sunny-side up egg. It tasted just like a breakfast sandwich and less like a gourmet burger. But, either way, it was a good flavor. I would have enjoyed more maple and crispier bacon that wasn't so hard to bite off. The egg was over-easy, but a little bit too over-easy with that goopy egg white standard to the cooking style. Parmesan garlic fries accompanied the burger, and they were fantastic. They crisped up nicely in the fryer, and we could really taste the seasoning.

The mushroom Alfredo is one of Lake House's “signature rotisserie creations” — it's exactly what you'd expect mushroom Alfredo to be (mushrooms, pasta, white sauce) but with half a rotisserie chicken on top. I didn't like the sauce — I thought it tasted too milky. But the chicken was divine. Crispy seasoned skin, soft juicy meat that easily came off the bone ... there's clearly a reason why rotisserie chicken is Lake House's signature dish.

The menu mentioned I would get a choice of potato, but that decision never came; instead I was served a large helping of oversteamed vegetables on the side.

Moving on to dessert, I've been obsessed with bread pudding lately, so that's what we ordered. It came served with ice cream, whipped cream and caramel sauce. The bread itself was delightful, thick and creamy, almost like custard. But if you're a raisin hater like me, beware. They weren't just sprinkled heavily on top; they were also baked in and tucked into every nook and cranny of the dessert. I ate around them.

Overall our dining experience was good, but with a little more attention to detail regarding the fundamental parts of each recipe, it will get even better.

• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.

Lake House

850 Tower Road, Lake Villa, (847) 838-2700, <a href="http://lakehouselv.com">lakehouselv.com</a>

<b>Cuisine:</b> American rotisserie

<b>Setting:</b> Contemporary and casual

<b>Entrees:</b> $11-$45

<b>Hours:</b> 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday