Five Forks Market

Visited Five Forks yesterday for lunch and was so charmed by this cute Rockford find! I’m always scouring the restaurant scene when I’m in town visiting my family for new places and Five Forks didn’t disappoint.
I love that they offer a bread service to start your meal that is included. The bread service included three different fresh baked breads to choose from (1 per person) and olive oil /​balsamic /​parmesan cheese. A nice surprise and welcome addition to the lunch service.
The menu offers a diverse array of sandwiches, salads, and flatbread pizzas. I had a hard time choosing between all of the options because all of it sounded delicious! I ordered the turkey chipotle sandwich with a side of mixed greens and my companion ordered the ginger chicken salad. Both were delicious! The salad was a large portion with a good sized portion of chicken. It was light on the dressing, but the waitress happily accommodated a request for more dressing on the side. My sandwich was served on airy ciabatta, with a good portion of feta, avocado, chipotle cilantro aioli, and red onion. The side salad it came with was a little lackluster — I was given a choice of three dressings, but the side salad was literally just mixed greens. I could have chosen the Five Forks salad for $ 1 more, but I thought a simple salad would be fine. Couldn’t they add a few cherry tomatoes or slivers of onion to dress up the mixed greens a bit?
I was also impressed by their five options of homemade soda syrups — interesting flavors such as blackberry peppercorn, lavendar sea salt, lime and jalapeño, charred blood orange, ginger and honey — that are combined with soda water. I was disappointed that a few I was interested were sold out, but settled for the blackberry peppercorn. It was an interesting flavor, but not my cup of tea. It tasted a little bit too much like prune juice instead of blackberry. Hopefully I choose a better one next time!
Our dessert — homemade tiramisu — was just okay. It is made in house and was enough to share between two people. It didn’t impress me, but I still managed to eat it all anyway! I’d go with something else next time, maybe the gelato choices or flourless chocolate cake.

Perfect Road Trip stop!
What a great place. We stopped for lunch in the middle of our 8 hour drive, when we usually settle for fast food and then feel like crap. We had fresh salads, wonderful humus with fresh veggies for dipping. My husband’s panini sandwich (chipotle turkey) was amazing. The waitress was incredibly nice and helpful. A tasting of a wine I asked about was offered and she gave us a big bowl of ice to replenish our small travel cooler in the truck. The atmosphere was casual and funky cool. The wine selection was amazing, too. Had to get a bottle for when we get home! Definitely worth the extra half mile off the highway! We now have a new road trip lunch spot! Sorry Subway!

The steak and spinach salad was awesome and so was the crème Brûlée.
Th service was excellent as well.

Simply has to be one of the best steak salads I’ve ever had. The beef was perfectly cooked even as MW it was juicy and tender… Unreal!

Tried this place after reading Unilocal reviews. Ambiance and service are A++. Food is reasonably priced, but not the best I have had. I give the joint credit for creativity and not trying to serve more of the same old stuff, but the food we were served could have tasted better. Additionally, they could use a little more creativity on the beer selection they offer (especially because it is in bottles). The selection they have is mostly greatest hits from the region (e.g., Daisy Cutter, Supper Club, etc.). Our meal was not expensive, so if you are in the area, give the place a shot.
Note: This didn’t affect my star rating and not meant to be a negative at all (more of a data point). The place is not the most kid friendly joint around. The staff was very accommodating and friendly, but it was obvious it was not a place that has the infrastructure nor the experience catering to kids.

Just had a great dinner with the family. Restaurant had no open tables so we sat at the chef viewing bar. Made for a cool experience as we could watch our food being prepared. Favorites were the seared Tuna and the Napoleon desert. Service was great as well.

Had dinner here tonight. Even though the food and service was excellent, one problem, we were charged $ 3.00 for corking a bottle of wine. When I asked for the charge to be shown to me on the menu no one could find it on the menu, so we were asked repeatedly if we wanted it taken off the Bill. Yes, take it off, and don’t embarrass my friend by intimidation to pay the $ 3.00. They should of just taken it off the Bill. Look at your Bill here. Again food and service was excellent. Oh, we paid for the bottle of wine, no we did not bring it with us.

My husband and I have dined at Five Forks quite a few times, and each experience was just as good as the last. They have a fantastic food selection, and of course everything is tapas style, so its perfect for sharing. The service has always been outstanding, and the staff has a lot of knowledge about the food, beer and wine. The atmosphere is beautiful and very relaxing. A great place to dine in Rockford!

The place is a little hard to find (the hostess was nice enough to wave us from the street, seriously he did that for us… awesomeness). But if you are looking for a evening date spot in Rockford, this is the place.
I suggest getting a bottle of wine, the glasses go for $ 5 each, and the bottle is $ 15. We started with a Riesling, but ended with a bottle of Moscato.
We went on Tuesday night and the place was about half full. I don’t think they have TV’s (Good!) and the atmosphere was cozy and romantic.
We wanted to eat light (and go heavy on the wine) so we just had the Antipasto and the cheese platter to eat, but for two people it was perfect.

Nice little spot went for lunch had the Turkey crabapple panini, Pulled pork panini and Brussel sprouts lunch was amazing and the service was great

Yum!
This was nothing short of a phenomenal dining experience from the food, to the service and overall atmosphere.
My fiancé and I were in town visiting and thanks to some wonderful Unilocalers, we chose to check this spot out. It happened to be a wine tasting night in addition to offering their regular dinner as well. We couldn’t have been more lucky! For $ 10/​person, we each sampled 7 wines of both red and white blends. You could go at your own pace, and both owners were right there helping serve and explain all of the varietals.
We then sat down to dinner, which is served tapas style. Choosing which dishes to order proved our hardest work; everything sounded good. Here’s our rundown:
Bacon dates: I mean, this is a no brainer.
Curry lamb meatballs
Pepper crusted tuna
Risotto of the day: we had black beans with a great hint of spice in ours
Delicious; all of it!

I simply cannot come here often enough! The bacon wrapped dates and a lamb curry meatballs are some of my favorites here. And the wine selection is amazing!

Such a great place. Food was sublime. I had goat cheese, tomato jam and crostini and duck with sweet potato purée. Both soo good I wanted to lick plate. Great wine list. And if you don’t finish you, can get a winey bag (doggie bag) to take home. Oh and the tiramisu su was beyond.

I’ve been in Rockford on and off for the past month for work, and make sure to come here at least once a visit. Entrees are amazing. My favorite is the chipotle chicken. I usually try a soup with each meal and all have been great. I’ve yet to be disappointed here and plan on coming back.

We went on a Saturday around 5:30pm with no reservations and got right in. The place was filling up as soon as our food came out to the table. They do take reservations.
The overall menu had decent prices but were on the pricier side. I ordered the beef and bleu which was a steak with onions and a hunk of bleu cheese on top. They recommended the steak being medium to medium rare so I said medium… in the middle it ended up being on the rare side and it also had a burnt flavor to it. It was good but I wouldn’t order it again. My boyfriend got the 3 pork tacos and they had some sort of apple slaw on them, very good! The restaurant itself has a nice atmosphere in the town of Rockford. As soon as you walk in you’re greeted by a wall of bottles of wine and a large selection of alcohol on the bar. Maybe I’ll just go for drinks next time.

I will for sure be writting a much more in depth review with justifications for these claims, for right now suffice to say the following:
1) The all time best value for experience/​service/​food that the Mrs. and I have, arguably, EVER had.
2) If they make suggestions, take them… they got their sh*t on lock and know what is up!
3) Far be in from me to judge how anyone else chooses to live their life… but if A) You live within an hour drive of Five Forks and have NOT eaten here and B) You are old enough to read/​comprehend these words and have NOT eaten here. Then I can honestly say you have already wasted a shameful portion of your life and your mother would be ashamed!!!
PS: As the love of my life just called me out on… I’m probably not actually going to add more to this. For actaul details of what we ate/​drank as well as exactly why this place kicks ass, please direct your attention to Susanna F.‘s wonderfully detailed description…*cough cough…
Susanna F.‘s wonderful review…
…ok just trust me… it’s gonna be great!!!

Delicious new American cuisine with a constantly changing menu. The wide selection of wine options that support charities were great! For food we ordered the baked goat cheese which was AMAZING as well as the Brussel sprouts. For entrée I had the pepper crusted Tuna which is one of the freshest well seasoned pieces of tuna I’ve had in a very long time! I ate every single bite. My only complaint for this place is the tap water! It had a very weird taste.

Kicking off with the Five Forks salad was a good start. Then the special — Jerk Spicy Tuna on the bed of mango apple couscous, was very delightful. Since I was still under my calorie allowance, I splurged with the guilty pleasure of the Mascarpone Napolean with a double espresso. Again, I wanted to lick my plate but Mom’s words still echoe in my head to «act civilized», so I refrained

My co-​conspirator has raved about this place SO. MUCH. He often works in the area and for meals, always looks for non-​chain hidden gems. This place has not disappointed him. So, for Valentine’s Day & our 9 Year Anniversary, we drove the 90 minutes to Rockford for dinner. I was EXCITED ALL WEEK for this.
And let me tell you, Five Forks lived up to his hype. They are also a wine store, so you’re able to choose a bottle from their sales wall, bring it to your table, and drink it! No restaurant up-​charge, just a $ 3 cork fee! Awesomeness. They also have wine tastings once a month (third Thursday) and I get the vibe that while they know a lot about wine, they don’t want to be snobs, they want to share that love with the masses. Great philosophy.
Now, onto fooooooodz.
We ordered the Risotto of the Day (pancetta, brocolli, & parm) and the Marinated Artichoke Hearts. Both lovely. The risotto was a tad salty, but not inedible, and I realize that may have been the pancetta. Artichoke hearts were tender but still had a bite, and the cheese over top was perfectly browned. Even the crostini with it was perfectly crusty outside, soft inside. Yummo.
For dinner, he chose Steak & Eggs (dinner feature menu) and I went with the Beef & Bleu. His choice was not what he expected, but NOT in a bad way — different, adventurous and tasty. The poblano cream on top of it was oh-​so-​good, just the right hint of heat. My Beef & Bleu was cooked perfectly, and the potatoes were crispy. The best part was the circle of bleu cheese, with a light char, instead of crumbles.
For dessert, we had gelato — cappuccino for him, salted caramel for me.
Overall, a fantastic dinner. A great place to stop in Rockford, you will NOT be let down. When I left, I said, «let’s have our rehearsal dinner here.» (I am not engaged. ha)

This place is amazing. My boyfriend and I visited this place tonight because we found out that the restaurant we were intending on going to is closed on Mondays (whoops!). But I am so glad it is closed on Mondays because we might not have gotten around to this place for a while – a while is too long to wait to try this place out!
We decided to start off with a couple of cocktails. My favorite was called «I want you to want me» which had vodka, basil, and lemon in it (among other things that I can no longer recall), but oh my goodness it was fantastic! My boyfriend chose a more «manly drink» which I actually loved as well – though it was quite strong (which is good – they don’t skimp on alcohol!) I can’t remember what it was called… «prairie”-something, I think. They had a great wine selection that they sell by the bottle at retail price as well with only a $ 3 corking fee to enjoy the wine with your meal!
Tapas are my favorite way to eat because I am a huge fan of trying many different things. We started with a few small plates including their famous bacon wrapped, almond stuffed, dates. These are simply amazing. The brussels sprouts? DROOL. I could eat them for every meal until I die. And who can go wrong with baked goat cheese? Nobody. Nobody can possibly go wrong with baked goat cheese.
For our «main course» (medium sized plates – which were actually quite large!), we each chose a medium plate. I got the beef and bleu which was really good because… I mean, steak and blue cheese. My boyfriend got the pepper crusted tuna and… oh. my. yum. Need I say more?
Dessert. Flour-​less chocolate cake. Yup.
The service was fantastic! Our server, Kellie, was very informative and friendly. She really knew her stuff and made wonderful recommendations. The food all came out quickly and consecutively. A+++…+++
I’m definitely adding this to the list of places in Rockford I will be frequenting when I want a nice night out for delicious food and good service. Oh! and the atmosphere is charming too!