Bar Louie

I very rarely head to Evanston these days, but had a party to attend and thought I'd check out the scene. When I heard it was at Bar Louie my first thought was, "Those are still around?" as per my experience with every other Bar Louie I know closing down in multiple cities. But I'd been before, oddly enough kind of missed the place, and thought it might be kind of a blast from the past to order up some old favorites.

The scene there wasn't too bad - just a handful of locals hanging out enjoying the weekly specials - but I can't even articulate how awful the service was. I joined the group after the party started so they already had drinks and apps in front of them, but right when I sat down I was warned to "order everything I needed, because they rarely come back to check in."

That was already alarming, but when the waitress didn't even come to say as much as a "hi" after a half hour, I was already not enjoying my experience.  When the waitress finally came over, I wanted to place an order for a 1/2 price app (the special of the day) only to be told that I had missed the cut-off by, you guessed it, a half hour. Very clever waitress. You won that round.

I finally got a tall draft and was never asked if I wanted another THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS THERE. The sad thing is, the food actually wasn't that bad. The pretzel stick appetizer was pretty tasty, and I had no complaints about the sliders.  I just grew a beard waiting for it. I mean, I look pretty good in a beard, but I'd rather grow it on my own terms.

If you want a place that has some decent weekly specials after a hard day of work, feel free to stop by. Just know that the term "happy hour" here should actually be plural.

Food is good (well, except for fish and chips that I had last time I was there); cajun items usually quite tasty. Service has been lacking here for the last 12 years that I have been coming. But even more disappointing is there beer pricing: if you order beer with your food, they tax the beer. But, if you just have a drink, it is tax free. Why should the beer cost more if you have it with a meal?

This place is real "Eh" ... I love bar food. I mean nothing beats a good burger and some 1/2 off appetizers. It's a beautiful thing. This Bar Louie isn't really doing the trick for me though. The burger was pretty good, especially with the base model having a sticker price of  $1 on Tuesdays (5pm until close).  Add a plethora of trimmings like crumbled blue cheese and good ol' American bacon for 50 cent a pop each and 4 bucks later you've got a personalized artery clogging meal. The appetizers is where they dropped the ball though. It just pretty much sucked. Calamari. Chewy and stale. Boneless Wings. Bland. Artichoke Dip. Plenty of choke. I won't rush back to this Bar Louie for Happy Hour.