I walked in on a Monday night to grab some dinner with friends, the place was pretty dead, but that didn't bother me. It was rainy and gross outside, so that may have impacted the crowd.
Happy hour goes from 3-7 and they offer half price small plate appetizers - chips and guacamole, hot wings, brushcetta, etc. We went the trio of chips and dips which included salsa, queso, and guacamole for $3.50. Not bad. I think $1 burgers were a special on Tuesdays too.
I was disappointed to hear there were no drink specials on a Monday. Boo. I think there are buckets of beer specials one night - maybe Wednesday? Beer, wine, cocktail list was extensive. I ended up with a glass of white wine, and one of my friends ordered a sangria.
In my group of 3 - 2 of us ordered the ham, turkey, and brie panini (for $9) and 1 ordered the tacos (I think $12?). One panini was ordered without ham, but it came with ham anyways. And the food took a really, really long time to come out. I mean, there were maybe 3 other tables in the whole restaurant. What gives?
The decor was nice and modern. I would guess that the restaurant got recently re-done. Very inviting, and I loved the huge booths. The temperature was pretty arctic though. Maybe we were sitting under a vent, but we were all pretty cold.
Out waitress was nice, and checked on us often. She was able to respond to our every request. She didn't try to rush us, it would have been surprising since the place wasn't busy, but we were there for quite a while - more than 2.5 hours.
We'll likely be back, maybe on $1 Burger Night.
You'd think a place called BAR LOUIE would live up to its name on alcoholic beverages but unfortunately on Tuesday nights they have incompetent female bartenders. I ordered a $9 dos suiza margarita with light ice and it tasted VERY watered down and wasn't strong at all. I'm not one to complain or send something back, but I told the waitress who gave us our food if the bartender can make another one because it just doesn't taste good at all. Our waiter than came back with the same drink that was first served to me saying that the inadequate bartender said it tastes like that because I ordered "light ice." Not once have I ever had this problem in all the times I ordered light ice for my margaritas or mixed drinks. And the last time I came I ordered the same thing and it tasted great. The waitress came back and asked if my drink was okay and I told her that the bartender sent it back because I had ordered light ice and even she told me that it shouldn't taste like that, that if anything it should taste stronger and apologized for having that happen to me. The fact that a waitress has better alcoholic knowledge then a bartender is pretty sad. I enjoyed coming here every week for the $1 burgers and $10 corona buckets but I will not be coming back.
Review Source:I have always been a fan of this place, just wasn't aware I had one so close to my home. I still love the place, shocked it was so slow on St. Patrick's Day because of the nature of Chicagoans.
The bartender was new and a little nervous but she was friendly. Hard to avoid her little cleavage as I didn't expect her to be hanging out of her shirt.
We did not eat here the day of my visit but the Woodchuck Cider on draft will keep me coming in!
Terrible service. Terrible management. My boyfriend and I had 2 complimentary drink coupons that they wouldn't honor because the server from another Bar Louie failed to have them initialed with an expiration date. (Um...as the paying customer who received those drink tickets as a "thank you" from our server...how is that my fault?) Management was BEYOND rude and insulting.
Review Source:Have visited a few times now so I thought I would finally get around to review. The remodeled space is very cozy and comfortable, especially the big booths on the wall.
The beer selection is very good with about 2 dozen interesting selections. However the beer seems to always come out without a head no matter what I order. I attribute this to poor pours or their delivery system. The servers are young but attentive and friendly.
The food has always been pretty good but nothing that leaves an impression. Some of the salads are very good and they usually have some kind of special during the week depending on the night.
My biggest gripe is the loud dance music that always seems to be playing. Being a restaurant in a hotel - the music certainly does not appeal to the majority of the customers so I would really like them to lose the 80s dance crap.
I hope management reads this because this server, Katy, needs to be FIRED. Â First, are you being paid to sit in a corner and eat, or serve? Â Our table sat here for over ten minutes staring and waiting for u to check on our table while u sat and ate while we didn't even get to order. Also, a server should not leave her table before the the table leaves and pawn it off to another sever. Clean your own tables and serve your tables before they leave. I've been to this establishment numerous times and never had any issues. This is the first problem I've ever had. It took us over ten minutes to get our first order in, over ten minutes to get our second order taken, and we had to approach u while u were eating to get our check. Just because you're guaranteed 18% tip doesn't mean u can ignore your table. If I return here and see Katy still works here , I will make another complaint and never return. That is how horrible of a server she was. Keep in mind, I've been a server and bartender so I know the proper etiquette of serving. This type of service is completely unacceptable.
Review Source:Isn't technology great that I can rip this place while at the restaurant we left it for? Â Lets see. Â 20 minutes to get our drink order... No joke. Â We actually ordered and finished an appetizer before they came. Â The waitress couldn't even bring us water in the mean time.... Wtf? Â When we tried to wave down a manager she made eye contact with us and took off.... Wtf again! Â Being from the upper class of the industry I don't expect top not h service at an entry level joint like this but come on! Â Ridiculous. Â If this were my place I'd fire the manager on the spot and suspend the waitress. Â For corporate reading this it was the night of this post this occurred. Â Half empty floor. Never going to this local place again.
Review Source:$1 Burgers on Tuesday consists of your choice of Beef, Turkey, Veggie or Chicken burger with lettuce and bun. All add-ons are 25-75 cents extra, mayo, cheese, bbq sauce, onions, tomato, bacon and so on. A basket of fries is $4 but it's enough for 2-3 ppl to share. Also appetizers are half price Mon-Fri til 7pm. Enjoy!
Review Source:For awhile my buddy had been telling me to check out this Bar Louie because of their burger special Tuesdays. Â From time to time he'd text or call to see if I'd join him and alike I would tell him of the many burger specials available all around Chicago with the same deals and a lot of the time offered as Angus. Â Still, without fail, there was DK to convince me to try out Bar Louie.
So, I did. Â Damn good burgers. Â The meat is tasty although it is not spiced. Â On Tuesdays it's offered for One dollar. Â You have the options of beef, chicken, turkey or portobello mushroom. Â Any toppings are an additional fifty cents. Â Fries or tots, $4 for a basket. Â How crazy right? Â Their standard burger is about $10 dollars, so this deal is a friggin' steal! Â
Often times you can find couples young and old as well as families with small children. Â A great spot to have a beer with the guys or have a decent meal / affordable date. Â The bar is lively, usually. Â Most often there is something happening, even on a Tuesday evening. Â A banquet of some kind, meetings of another kind or some sort of event drawing crowds to the hotel. Â The bar has got plenty of wide, flat screen TVs all showing every kind of sports programming and one boring news channel. Â Just today I noticed that they have got a few party games available for your group to enjoy. Â Party games like Apples to Apples, Jenga or trivia.
Pretty good menu & decent beer offering, just like all the other Bar Louie's. Â Better staff more often than not. Â Though I kind of prefer sitting at the bar. Â Bartenders are more likely to facilitate a second drink or refill in a timely manner, whereas waiters / waitresses are often busy. Â Since it's situated within a hotel it's a much nicer atmosphere and surrounding. Â All dark woods, comfortable chairs and pub style seating. Â Clean atmosphere. Â Good stuff.
Just came here for lunch today and was pleasantly surprised. Â They have a $7.99 lunch and drink combo, which didn't seem to be the best deal, so I just went off the menu.
I ordered the grilled shrimp po' boy and enjoyed it thoroughly! Â The bread was fresh and soft and shrimp were cooked perfectly. Â I will be craving this shortly! Â My colleagues all really liked their lunches too - glad that we have a new place close to work! Â
The restaurant was pretty dead for lunch, but we had EXCELLENT service. Â The waitress was seamless, but somehow all of our drinks were always filled and the crumbs/water drops were wiped off the table a minute after their creating.
Other than hosting UFC PPV's this place serves up complete GARBAGE, teeeeerrible food and service with FLAT beer, considering that this place can accomodate a good deal of people with no problem, its a bit of a dissapointment that its food so lousy, I mean come on, if you can't even get chicken wings right you KNOW you have a hell of a problem......AVOID
Review Source:This is a good hangout to catch up with a friend and watch a game, especially if you live close by. The bar food is alright, and the drinks are really good, if a little overpriced. No complaints about the service, always attentive and polite. Clean, nice place to stick around for a while. Never too crowded, which means it's quiet enough to talk, but there are always some people there, so it doesn't feel totally vacated. They have board games too. Lots of parking as well.
Review Source:If you want to be discrimintated against, this is your place.  You wonder why service is bad? Look at the manager. He only hires men of his culture. So ladies...don't bother coming in or trying to get employment.  Company <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FBarlouieAmerica.com&s=b24edeabffee5caefff3c5c9f41caf05046180b11ff0f0369869a8ce159fec87" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://BarlouieAmerica.c…</a> stood behind the management and doesn't care about discrimination laws.
Review Source:Met up at Bar Louie with a few co-workers for a late-ish (7pm) self-proclaimed happy hour last week (I'm a little hyphen-happy today!)
The entire restaurant was pretty dead at 7pm, which was a little surprising. Â Maybe because everyone is winding down from the holidays? Â We had two servers, our first got cut halfway through our time there, which I'm never too keen on. Â It's a pain to close out with one server and have to re-open a tab with another, but both were friendly.
The draft beer list is extensive, which I enjoy. Â The menu was okay, nothing really struck my eye, and our first server recommended the "amazing" mac and cheese. Â When I asked what made it amazing, she said "it has FOUR CHEESES!" So I said, great, what types of cheese? Â She couldn't tell me, only that it was really REALLY good. Â After consulting with another server to make sure that there was no ricotta cheese (I'm severely adverse!) I ordered it. Â It was okay... not life-changing as she had made it out to be.
If I make it back to Bar Louie, it will probably be for drinks only, skip the food.
Doing a little post-Christmas return to the Best Buy out this way really stirred up out appetites! As we both complained of our hunger and discussed how we never think to look at my Yelp bookmarks before we leave the house, we approached Bar Louie. My husband said " I've never been to Bar Louie." Knowing they have a number of vegetarian options, I agreed & we went to the Bar Louie in the Holiday Inn.
Atmosphere is pretty typical of a bar/restaurant, in particular of the chain variety. Since neither of us cares to watch sports, we sought a table away from TVs. Our server was nice, though as I ordered one of their special hot chocolate drinks, the bartender yelled from 10 feet away that they were out of hot chocolate. He went on to add that they were out of all the special drinks. Really? Anyway, I ordered my dessert first in the form of an indulgent S'mores martini. It was awesome.
We started with truffle oil popcorn, which was delicious. However, when I ordered a flatbread as my entree, I found they were also out of flatbread. Again I ask, really? I asked what else she was out of and as she started to tell me I stopped her, said I didn't really want to know, and ordered the portabella burger. It was okay--a little small. One small mushroom cap wasn't really enough. Most places will give 2 if they're of that size. Decent tasting. Hubby had a burger & said it was pretty good. The side of broccoli was just steamed (or parboiled), no seasoning.
I'd go back for another s'more martini & some popcorn if I were in the neighborhood.
Been to the two downtown many times and I must admit that the quality is pretty much the same between them all which is a good sign. Service is always friendly, interactive and accommodating. And . . . the best part is that I consider their steak sandwich called the "Luigi" to be one of if not the best in the Chicagoland area. I have had many great steak sandwiches around the country but this one gets my clear vote as one you can depend on for a last minute "what should we do for lunch honey?" lunch. Today it was Bar Louie on Touhy. Hey . . . that rhymes!!!
Review Source:While staying at the Holiday Inn, I visited Bar Louie on a Friday night. Â I had a burger which was very good. Â The only issue I had was that the bottom bun of my burger was so soggy when I got it, I actually ended up eating the burger with a fork and knife, since picking it up was so messy and the bun was falling apart. Â Other than that, the burger I had (something with bleu cheese and worcestershire sauce) was good. Â Their draft beer comes as a 14 or 20 oz, which is nice when you want more than one but not quite two beers. Â There were several tvs to watch and they played good music, which made the atmosphere enjoyable.
Review Source:the only downside is parking sucks. it may be tough to find a spot because its attached to a holidae inn. extensive food and drink menu and daily specials. $2 pbr and $3 red stripe on saturdays and $2 burgers on tuesdays, cant go wrong with that. the buffalo chicken pizza is so good, also the philly burger and their fish and chips is deliciious! u can taste the freshness of the fish and its not salty at all unlike other places! will definitely be back!
Review Source:I stayed at the Holiday Inn for three days for work and ate at Bar Louie for pretty much every meal. Â They have a pretty extensive menu and everything I had was good, with the exception of a mandarin chicken salad. Â On Tuesday nights they have $1 burgers which seems to draw a big crowd. Â I went down that night hoping to catch the Bruins game, which I couldn't get in my room, and they wouldn't put it on.
Review Source:Pretty great hotel sports bar located in the Holiday Inn in Skokie. Â I stayed at the Holiday Inn, so I naturally had to check out the scene at Bar Louie.
I sat at the bar and ordered a couple of great beers. Â They serve draught beers in both 14 and 20 ounze glasses. Â
Good service, great beer selection (over 50 to choose from) and ok bar food. Â
I ordered the "4 Tacos" plate and chose the fish tacos. Â They were actually legit and with good salsa -- the tortillas were a little on the stale side, however, but it wasn't serious.
All in all a pretty decent place with friendly service.
This is a difficult place to evaluate. Â I've been here at least 5 times and the results have been mixed. Â
I've been here in the evenings during the week and the food has been pretty good. Â The boneless wings, burgers, bacon cheeseburger sliders and philly sliders are all solid. Â Not great, but certainly good enough to enjoy with a few beers and the game on. The beer selection is expansive and the female bartender who tends bar during the week is friendly.
Here's the problem: Â came here with the kids on a Saturday for lunch and the food was horrible. Â It's clear they must have different kitchen staff on the weekends. Â We ordered the Fried Louie Burger which comes with a fried egg, bacon and cheese. Â The burger came out with a RAW egg. Â Yes, a raw egg with a translucent white and uncooked yolk. Â To make matters worse, the burger was raw in the middle. Â Listen folks, I like my steak rare but this was completely uncooked in the middle. Outraged at how they could send out something so poorly prepared, I sent it back. Â In the meantime, our sliders came out...and they were burned to a crisp. Â I'm talking extremely charred, unrecognizable meat product on a roll. Â Sent that back too. Â
My son's Louie burger came back with the egg fried properly but it appears that while they were cooking the egg, they left the fries under a heat lamp as the fries were burned to the point where they tasted like plywood...hard, dry and not tasting anything like a fry. Unacceptable that they would send food out with such low standards. Â No manager would come out and talk to us and to make matters worse, they did not give us replacement fries for the lincoln log-like ones they had burned for us.
Parking can be tricky as the lot tends to fill up with both hotel guests and people attending meetings/events that are going on. Â
Bottom line: Come to this Bar Louie in the evenings but proceed at your own risk if you come during the day on the weekends.
I was a BarLouie junkie when we were working on Taylor Street. Â This location is way nicer, new, and huge. Â You can eat inside or outside in the hotel lobby. Â As far as that goes - i never knew that hotel was so pretty inside... Â Buffalo calamari, luigi, burgers yum.
Happy hour specials.
1/2 price app deals.
A new location coming to OHare I'm told!
I Love Bar Louie in Skokie!
This is the first time I am giving a Five Star Rating and it is
well deserved to the Folks at Bar Louie in Skokie.
Where to Begin, Okay, it is located in a Holiday Inn for Starters-
A nice enough looking Holiday Inn, an even better looking
Bar Louie.
Not a very big Bar/ Restaurant but the whole Bar Louie Experience tonight definitely top notch.
Comfortable and Casual, Jeans are Welcome Here!
Some Booths(limited), tables, A Truly Beautiful Bar, Classic and Elegant
at the same time-
My Son Nick and I were seated at a table, tonight the U.F.C. fights
were going on so the Bar was pretty crowded-
Bar Louie has a Menu like none I have seen before, so many different
Menu choices that I had never seen before..
And Drinks, they have this drink menu that of course I Loved, I had a Wonderful Concoction called a Strawberry Fizz which was ful of potent wonders, and then I had a Torched Cherry Lemonade which was really so good....(Okay, I will admit to 1 Miller Lite as well!.)
My Son Nick had 2 Long Islands, usually my drink of choice but tonight I just had to try 2 new drinks off the Menu..
I was happy I did, I was Feeling Groovy!
The Food at Bar Louie, just Excellent!
Nick had a Baked Mac and Cheese Dish and I had the "Blue Moon"
Fish and Chips Dinner, had to be the best ever!
Menu prices for Food are Reasonable, Nothing too Extreme...
But , Drinks can be pricey...,$9.00 per drink for Long Islands and for my "specialty cocktails" $9.00 per drink as well.
Okay,so the Tab for 2 of us tonight was $91,00 before the Tip...
I will Blame this on those Magical Cocktails that Bar Louie Serves...
We had a great server named Creisse, she was so Sweet and gave us
perfect Customer Service! I liked her so much, we exchanged names on our way out
Okay, just had to have dessert as well, Nick had Mama's Banana Pudding and I had this Heavenly Campfire Crunch Delight with my Favorite Marshmallows!
One of the best Evenings/Restaurant Experiences I've ever had!
Bar Louie in Skokie, I applaud You!
I came here tonight with my boyfriend and I absolutely loved it. I am not quite sure where these bad reviews are coming from to be honest. We sat at the bar and were immediately helped by the bartender, Maria, who was super attentive and talkative the entire night. I ordered the "revive" while my boyfriend got a margarita and we were both more than happy about our selections. For an appetizer we got the hummus plate which was huge and delicious and for a main course I got the Hong Kong Salad or something like that with a perfectly cooked steak on top. My boyfriend got a delicious fish po'boy and loved it (the fries were amazing). All in all, we left super full, super happy, and wanting to return tomorrow. Way to go Skokie/Holiday Inn... you have yourself a regular.
Update - my boyfriend went here yesterday night and one of the bartenders was SUPER rude to him (yelled at him!) and refused to play the bulls game over the music system even though everyone there was watching the game... knocking you guys down a star
The server was great, she was nice, on top of things and all. However, I believe the owners are stingy. It is a chain place, but I still like their food over all. I love their calamari. But I went in for $1 burgers and I don't eat all meats, only some seafood. Well I was told that they charge $1 extra if I want to substitute for the Veggie burger. I was like they don't charge $1 extra at the Bar Louie in Evanston. The server says the Veggie patties are more expensive and this Bar Louie is owned by the hotel owners it is a franchise location. I was like WTF, seriously, so it seems they must be using some really crappy meat is the veggie patty is costing more than the meaty burger. It's not about the extra $1 its the principle of the matter, even in america not everyone eats meat!!! Some people want to choose a healthier life style.
Well either way I will try to avoid this Bar Louie as much as possible. I would not recommend going to a place with stingy owners, especially when it comes to food because who knows if they are cutting back on sanitation to save money.
I came here for two separate occasions. I went with my bf for the $1 burgers on a Tuesday. Our waitress was nice. Food came out in a reasonable amount of time. The food tasted great. I really love is the sweet potato fries too.
For the second time, I came with a large group. There was a table big enough in a corner, but not enough chairs. None of the waitresses helped us as we grabbed chairs from random tables. It took forever for them to come back with our drinks too. As for food, they totally trick ya with the calamari. The bottom half is filled with lettuce, which makes it seem there's a lot of calamari in there. There wasn't; esp not enough for $8-$9.
Bar Louie is located in the Holiday Inn at the north east corner of Touhy and Carpenter. Its space formerly housed a hotel bar and an Indian restaurant. There's plenty of off-street parking.
As you walk in you're greeted by female wait staff dressed in black short shorts (not that there's anything wrong with that) and a black t-shirt. There's a large bar with a number of tables and booths. The lighting is subdued, but not too dark. We sat in a semi-circular booth. Large flat screen TVs are everywhere.
Our waitress (Liz) was polite, friendly, welcoming and did a great job of promoting Bar Louie without being aggressive. We went on a Tuesday evening for their dollar burgers. The burgers are their regular 8 oz hamburgers, however they charge for everything else (e.g. lettuce, mayo, cheese, onions, etc.) By 6 PM the place was hopping.
The burgers were OK--cooked well-done to ensure safety (no choice here). They were served on a nice bakery-style bun. I ordered mine with cheddar cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms. Not bad. The fries are frozen--not fresh-cut, but were also OK, albeit a bit over salted.
The Tuesday night burger special is a great deal. I'm not sure I would be as pleased if I had to pay $9 for the same burger on a different night. Still, it was a nice experience and I'll probably come back--possibly on a Sunday to watch the Bears--Da Bears.
I came for the UFC fight and it wasn't that good. The audio wasn't on for the prelims like most places. However when it was on, the volume was good. Better than Village Inn (worst place for UFC). The service could be better, sometimes it was slow to get the drinks. The food was actually good. Atmosphere sucked thought for the fights. One thing I didn't like was, they didn't stretch out the whole screen like most places do.
Avoid this place for UFC fights.
I've been coming here with friends the past few Mondays for Trivia Night at 8pm. Trivia is a blast and I get to flaunt my vast and completely useless knowledge of sports/tv/movie/music/pop-culture/literature/Âhistory/etc.
I've been to other Bar Louie's and the decor is pretty much the same: urban pub trying to be up-scale but really is not. Which is fine. Plenty of booths, tables, and seats around the bar, lots of big LCD TVs to watch the Cubs suck (this coming from an avid Cubs fan).
Service here is excellent. The waitresses are very nice and friendly and come by often to check on us (and root for us during trivia).
They have your usual deals every night, and there is also a "beer of the month" which is reasonably priced. Everything else is priced like any other average pub in the city. One thing I will say is that I got an Old Fashioned here and did not enjoy it very much (not strong enough, and too much soda water to top it off -- would've preffered w/o soda but I didn't ask).
Food here is okay. I ordered the Chicken Penne and one of my friends described it as "something she's seen at Baker's Square." Pasta was okay, nothing to write home about. Menu is a bit pricey for the food they serve IMO.
In all, this is another nice new locale if you're stuck in the suburbs and want to take some friends to trivia night and have a beer or two.
This place is exactly what we needed in Skokie! It has an up scale feel but once we got settled in it was like our own corner tavern. Food was great (awesome pretzels). Service was great as well. I think we had 3 different managers make sure we were happy. Check it out it is a great change from the local chain joints in the neighborhood.
Review Source:Eh, it's a chain bar/restaurant. Thus, the food was alright, dare I say bland? Nothing to be excited about.
The staff, on the other hand, was super nice. Very attentive and helpful. I guess a little thing that irked was that they were eager -- eager to clear our plates quickly, make sure we ordered everything we wanted, got our check, etc. But nothing is wrong with that, I may just have issues.
And! Monday nights they have pub trivia from 830 to 1030. Although it was fun, 2 hours is a lot..and drags. And it would have been even better if the staff was regulating because for sure the winning team cheated. This is starting to sound more like an angry rant due to bitterness than a review. Definitely go to pub trivia. It's fun, the host is awesome, and the prize is a free night's stay at Holiday Inn. Wooot!!
I feel like there aren't many bar/restaurants in Skokie area, so this is really nice to have around.
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