Great neighborhood bar!
They have a new food and drink special everyday. Very very friendly staff. Can't go wrong with their burgers, Mac n cheese, or Moscow mules. They probably have one of the best Moscow mules in the area.
A great go to neighborhood place when you want a quick lunch or not walk very far for drinks. Â
The food is always tasty and consistent. Â They are able to really turn out tickets in a hurry for such a small open kitchen. Â The menu has a wide range of options ( a good amount of them are without meat which is a delight for my vegetarian friends who usually struggle at pub grub places).
Be sure to have two - three beer choices in the hopper when ordering. Â The taps are constantly changing so beers fade in and out of stock at the quickest pace I've ever seen at a bar. Â This is great for me but if you're a person who likes to stick with old stand bys or likes to ask your server "what do you like?" (ugh) then this may not be a good place for you.
Really at the end of the day BOB is all about consistency. Â The food is always good, the beers are always quality and the service is always great.
I would definitely go back here. Fo Sho. I am a huge french frie connoiseur. I love french fries! These are probably the best french fries I have had in my lifetime. AMAZING FRENCH FRIES. The Bartenders were super awesome. One even gave me a free beer, because he made it on accident. That was really kind. I was with my friends, happy, drunk, and full. Keep up the good work BoB.
Review Source:Most neighborhoods have one great neighborhood bar. Buena Park is blessed with two. Michael's is one of them. Bar on Buena is the other. These two bars do scratch different itches, though...
Bar on Buena is for when you're like "hey, we have some money to blow, you want a beer, the name of which I can't pronounce, that tastes like lazily floating down the Danube in the autumn with wheat gently swaying in the wind on shore, even though it's miserable Chicago winter outside?"
The beer selection is top-notch and ever-changing, and the staff knows what's up. If you're a good-beer novice, just generally describe what you like and they'll bring you back something you love.
If you're a "scotch person," (you know who you are..) you will be in heaven. They have a massive selection, flights, and a knowledgeable staff.
The food's great, too. If you had to pick one thing to eat (and it wasn't Monday, with its incredible $4 burger deal), I would recommend the Jalapeño Cheese Wurst in the strongliest of terms. That thing haunts my dreams. Get it with the pasta salad, which often features a supporting role in those nighttime visitations. Or, if you're into sweet potato fries, the ones they serve up here will send you to the moon. Express.
A night here will set you back some dough... but never as much as you think it should, considering what you got.
This is fun neighborhood bar, and a good place to take friends or out of town guests. Â They have a huge beer list, with all sorts of craft beers and imports. Â The food's also surprisingly decent for bar food.
Although there's outside seating, I don't suggest it. Â The sidewalk area is kind of cramped, and you sometimes get bad smells from the nearby side alley. Â There's also not much of a view on this residential side street. Â You're much better off going inside and getting a pub table.
Here visiting from Miami!!!! The food was not well cooked and I ask myself how do you mess up a veggi burger! Could of been the grease because the sweet potato fries seemed overly cooked! I can go on and on but maybe I just ordered the wrong thing! We won't start with the two drinks I ordered!!! Stick to beer!
Review Source:This is one of my favorite neighborhood bars, and it does not help that is only a few block away from me. Honestly everything about it is good, the have a wicked beer list and every since I started brewing my own beer I have gotten really picky. They are always changing out there beer on tap and the bar tenders and servers are always really knowledgeable about the beers and can give great suggestions.
From what I have had of there food, it is delicious in every way. I would for sure go for the regular fries, my mouth is watering thinking about those two dipping sauces as I write this. My good friend swears by their pasta salad though and I am pretty sure she dreams about it nightly and wont shut up talking about it when we decided to go there, which I dont mind becuase I wont shut up about their fries so we end up just sounding like really fat foodies.
I must say, my favorite places are all about the beer selection and good ass food and since this place gets A+++ in both of those categories, not to mention is has great service, so I would say it is a must on your list of places to go to.
Fun story, last time I was in there late on a Sunday with one of my friends and there were not many people at the bar since they stop serving food at 10pm on Sundays, (which really does make me sad), anyway, the bartenders and some customers were playing card against humanity, and asked if we wanted to join and we had a great time. This just goes to show how welcoming and cool the staff is.
This review is not for the bar but for the waitress named Maggie. I have been to this place 5 time and love the food and drink menu. The vibe is great except for this one waitress. Her name is Maggie or at least that is was the receipt says. I have had her 3 of the 5 times and each time we had her, there was some sort of issue. She doesn't pay attention when you need refills. We asked for our check one and said we needed to get out of there and she took 20 minutes to run the card. There was only maybe 10 people in the bar. Last night she couldn't come to our table until it was time for her to go home. Now she comes to our table 3 times before we even looked at the bill. I told her we never asked for our check and she said she was leaving she needed to get paid. I asked her to transfer the check and she said she couldn't do this. Anyways Maggie is the worst waitress I have ever had not just once but three times.
This was not a review for the bar itself just one bad waitress. I will return to this bar because it is a great place but if I get Maggie again I will simply just ask for another server. I suggest you do the same.
Adriane: My friend said he heard they have awesome burgers and we live close so bopped over.
Adriane and Friend: Sweet, we can sit on this cozy couch to eat.
Adriane: We came for their main attraction so ordered burgers and drinks as soon as we saw our waitress. Oddly, my drink came out several minutes later than friendman's and my burger did too. I found that strange. That stuff is usually run together. The BOB burger comes with Red Dragon Cheddar, Pancetta, Fried Egg, and I added onions and mustard. I got it with a side of Mac n Cheese. Both were banal and greasy. I stated to my pal the service was bad.
Friend: Why does Adriane complain about stupid stuff? This is not the place to expect good service! I told her that.
Waitress: Do you guys need anything?
Friend: Yes, actually....
Waitress: *darts off* zoom, zoom, zoom
Adriane: *laughs inside at karma being a bizzle* (Verbally) Do you like your burger? It's a bit greasy. The margarita isn't that great either.*She still stuffs her face.*
Friend: *Eats silently*
Cow: Death be not proud.
Waitress: *when flagged and asked drops check* zoom, zoom, zoom. (Thinking) I wish I was a carhop who served wearing SKATES! Zoom!
Adriane: This wasn't as good as the hype.
Friend: Lake Michigan is 2 blocks away why don't you go and jump in!
Cow: Way harsh Thai! That's almost as bad as being covered with grease, cheese, pork, and a chickens egg and being buried in your stomachs!
Adriane and Friend: Did we just hear our stomachs rumble?
Let's make this short and simple... The tuna salad actually comes with a tuna steak and not canned crap. The B.O.B. burger... phenomenal (Big enough to feed two). The booze list.... outstanding. Or should I say, delicious. Let's just agree on deliciously outstanding. Bar on Buena is a definite repeat
Review Source:We visited on a Saturday afternoon around 4:30. Â The staff were pleasant and the fries were very good, but the beer was pretty sad. Â The first round was okay, with the beer of the month (Hirter Morschel) the standout. Â
The second round was a bit of a disaster. Â It took a while to get the Solemn Oath poured, and the eventual result was a foamy, half-full glass. Â The beer itself was fine, though. Â The real disappointment was the Leipziger Gose. Â It was flat and a bit warm. Â I've had this beer in a bottle before and had a hard time believing this was the same brew.
This disappointment plus the fact that the room was loud despite being half-full means that we are unlikely to return. Â There are too many good beer options in the city to give this place a second chance.
Here's an email I wrote the owners that still have yet to apply to.
Hi Aaron and Steve,
I came to your establishment a little after 9PM yesterday for all you could eat Mac and Cheese night.  I came with my friend  who is cc'd on this email.  After finishing our first bowl around 9:30 PM we requested a second. However, the waitress came back and told us the kitchen would not be cooking anymore mac and cheese.  My friend and I thought it was completely unacceptable for a kitchen that closes at 11PM.  The waitress went back to the kitchen, spoke with the staff, and then told us she would give us one order of fries.  Since we had no options, we agreed.  However, the fries were served on a tiny bread plate, rather than your typical cones.  Also, we were charged for the side sauce that always comes free with it.  We didn't want to argue with the waitress because she was swamped and trying her best.  However, this is the worse service I've received in the three years I've been coming there.  We are by no means "big "people and cutting us off at one plate is hardly all you can eat.  More so, I found being nickeled and dimed for side sauce was just bad taste. I'm not sure I'll be coming back anytime soon after this experience.  I live a block away and was shocked with the level of service I received.  I'd appreciate if you could look into this and see what happened with your kitchen.  Attached are photos of the receipt.
Regards,
I should have reviewed this place long ago, as I have been coming here since I moved to Chicago 8 years ago and lived on Buena Ave. I dont live in that neighborhood anymore, but keep coming back! I LOVE this place! Everything is fairly priced! Amazing burgers and sweet potato fries and the beer selection is great. I dont even mind they dont update the beer menu enough. And they always have good drink specials! Â Great outdoor seating area and never had bad service there!
Review Source:Dear Bar on Buena, you are one of the only  good bar/restaurants in the area and we really really love you but it seems like every time we go there, we are starting to have problems with service. What's going on? I hope it doesn't get any worse! But forgetting to put orders in, not stopping by for half an hour...it's no bueno!
Review Source:I live a couple blocks from The BOB and I love it!
It is the ideal neighborhood bar. low-key, come as you are, basically Buena Park's version of the Cheers bar.
The beer selection is one of the best in the city (I recommend the beer flights to try a few) and a 2-page scotch menu; which is great for people like me.
The food menu is great! seriously, there are no flaws.
This place is one of the best in Chicago
Why haven't I written a review about my favorite neighborhood spot? Probably because I'm drinking too much to remember to write one. Just kidding. I really have no clue why this place hasn't popped up on my yelp review radar.
Bar on Buena has a wide range of whiskeys and beers. Though lately I prefer just beer, I have had some of the whisky flights a few times and love trying something new. The only issue I have about the place is when I want to order another beer the waitress is always there but when we want to get our check, the waitress is no where, I mean, no where to be found. Maybe I have just stumbled on bad luck lately, but that just doesn't seem right.
Moving on. Their Monday night burger deal is what I usually hit up. Cheap burgers with fries or tots. But the burger doesn't taste cheap at all, it's a really well made burger. Wednesdays are their Mac 'n Cheese nights, with different types of Mac 'n Cheeses each week. Definitely worth stopping in for.
This is always my go to place for dinner and drinks, or just drinks, if I'm not wanting to leave the neighborhood.
I've been in Chicago for 72 hours and have already managed to have two dinners at Bar on Buena, this place is a huge draw to the Uptown neighborhood. The kind of place that makes you want to own a bar and grill one day. An awesome beer selection, only outdone by their whiskey selection, delicious food, good service, and an overall vibe that allows for as eclectic of a crowd that it attracts.
This past Sunday I tried the rosemary chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries, paired with a Celebrator Doppelbock, the darkest beer in the building, according to our waitress. The sandwich has quite a bit going on, with green apple, smokey cheese, prosciutto, and the rosemary grilled chicken all mixing together with a spicy mustard on a ciabatta roll. Tonight, I tried the Burger on Buena (BoB) which was a special for only $4, once again paired with the sweet potato fries. A large grilled burger served with Boston lettuce, red onion, a large slice of tomato, and a few pickle slices. The burger was cooked exactly as ordered, and seasoned nicely. The sweet potato fries were not incredible, but definitely good enough to order twice.
Bar on Buena is a great place to start the night, watch the game, go on a date, or just have a reliably delicious meal and a craft on draft. Very happy to have found this place.
We happened upon this joint after running a 5k. We needed beer and carbs stat!!
The building and location is awesome. The outside patio is great. The beer menu is huge and will leave you reading 3 chapters of the menu before deciding.
The food was... Ok.
Me and the fiancé both ordered the black bean burg. The menu said some shit like it was made of quinoa, beans, rice, veggies. Sounds awesome right?!? Yeah!
Well the menu left out that it is spicy as fucking hell. Like coated in cayenne pepper. Fucking burned my throat. My nose was running. If it's gonna be that fuckin spicy, please warn a brother. So the burger was not what I expected. My Fiance enjoyed it thoroughly, on the other hand.
The regular fries were par. The sweet potato fries seemed to be fresh cut and righteous. Hit those up!
I'll be back tho. The beer and atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable. And the grilled cheese looked super cheesy and delicious.
Plus there's tons of crazies walking around Uptown.
This neighborhood spot is the best in the area for a chill night with a good assortment of beers and a decent food menu. Â Service is normally great, every once in awhile, I'll get a surly server, but everyone has their off days. Â It's definitely rare. Â The sandwiches are tasty, and Mondays are $4 burgers. Â On nice days, sitting out on the sidewalk or inside near the open windows makes for a perfect relaxing atmosphere. Â Definitely one of my top bar picks for the area.
Review Source:Let me break this down a bit. The beer selection is definitely five star worthy. They know how to find some great local brew as well as popular craft beers from all over. The menu changes often but the staff is knowledgable about the menu. They also have fun cocktails.
Atmosphere is good. I personally love the patio when the weather is right, and pups are welcome. Service is always great inside or out. Never too crowded either, rarely do I have to wait for a table.
The food is where BoB looses it for me. There is a limited menu and I've yet to feel that anything is really mouth watering. I've tried a lot of different items, and many seem close, but are not quite hitting the mark. Â
All in all I say give it a go!
As I tell everyone I bring here:
"The burgers are awesome, the wrap is great, pulled pork is meh.  Sweet potato fries all the way! Have two or three beers in mind when ordering drinks, their beer list changes  hourly (seems that way) and might not have first or second choice.  Service is terrible.  Friendly, yes, but extremely slow and forgetful." Â
I seriously give this speech to anyone i bring here so they know of these things in advance, they then can enjoy their time at B.O.B. as I do.
Unassumingly great beer menu. Lots of outdoor sidewalk dining space, spacious and generous, set beneath mature trees. Excellent place to kick back with brew, order the nachos with pulled pork, and hang out with friends after the work day. I'd happily come back here on any sunny day and spend a few hours outside. Note: if you want food, the kitchen doesn't open until 5pm.
Server was knowledgeable about the beer menu, said all the right things to appease the beer snob-ish, and turned someone in our party that wanted summer shandy onto something a bit classier, with grapefruit. Nice! They got at least 10 taps, maybe more, and a great selection of Belgian, Trappist, and British beers. Well of 50 beers available in bottles.
The atmosphere and neighborhood vibe is why I like this place so much.
BoB has a great beer and whiskey selection also, but more often than not, they are out of a lot of beers on the menu.
The food is ok. Half the time I can't see it because it's so dark inside.
Like many other reviews, it's true! The service is not good.
Let me first start off by saying this place USE to be my favorite bar. Â Due to horrible service by the bitchy waitresses I no longer go there.
Pro's
- Great beer list
- Tons of different Whiskeys
- Very Publike feel
- Nice location, across the street from the library with a neighborhood feel
Con's
- Horrible Service
- Bitchy Waitresses
Hmm, why 3 stars, you can see that the Pro's outweigh the Con's but they really don't. Â When you are sitting around waiting for a drink for a long time in an empty bar and look over only to see the waitresses sitting there talking like its social hour you can't help but want to just leave. Â Bar on Buena needs to fire the entire waitress/cocktail staff and rehire (especially the short haired blonde who is flat out unfriendly). Â The bartenders are good at their jobs though. Â
If you like Bar on Buena start going to FOUNTAINHEAD, I repeat, start going to FOUNTAINHEAD. Â Larger beer list, whiskey list, better food, better staff. Â
Bar on Buena I'll come back when you rehire new staff.
Let me start off by saying that this is my first review. I state this because I for one use yelp to mostly read reviews and two I cant believe how horrible the customer service at this place.
After deciding that I would check this place out with four friend, we went. We arrived at  11pm. The patio had three open tables and we asked if it would be ok to sit outside. The manager didn't seem to want to sit any more people outside. Telling us that if we decide to sit outside and it starts raining that we wouldn't be promised a seat inside. Any Chicagoan knows that we only get a good three months of nice weather so we decided that we would take are chances. After the waitress came to use and asked if we needed menus in a not so friendly way, I changed my mind. Lets sit inside and hope for better service. Boy was I wrong....
After finding a table that allowed 4.5 people to sit in our new, even more horrible waitress came to our table.Let me state that all of us have or still are servers. I no longer am but still know what good service is. " What do you want to drink"? Im sorry but am I the only person that hates not being greeted properly with a Hi, How are you? I mean if I was still waiting table I Â most likely be saying Hows it going? I mean the customer is paying your cell phone bill and rent some how, no? We all asked for water to start with while we looked over the 2 menus that we had and asked for 3 more. She went and threw them on the table. I seriously start thinking that all the girls that work her like to throw things on the tables.She came back and we all order cocktails.
I have been best of friends with Captain Morgan Rum for over 15years. I know the taste and smell with out even taking a sip. This was not Captain. I asked her if this was Captain or Sailor Jerry. She said it was Captain and that they don't even have another spice rum. I couldn't even finish this drink. If it was really Captain Morgan then they must use some kind of crappy soda. Sometime that throws off the taste. It was so gross. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I just broke up with my best friend.
My friend and I ordered the burger and nacho. This is the only reason that I give this place two stars. It was very good. Spicy on the nachos and burger was a little over cooked but had awesome flavor.
Back to our nasty personality waitress. I don't think she even smiled once. I now work for an airlines and let me tell you, when dealing with people in customer service a smile goes a long way. She looked like she was on her way to cry. Not once did I feel like she wanted us to be there. I was like how can you be so miserable? I know, I hated waiting tables at times but it still was my job and I needed the money to make rent. So I tried my best. We got check on only once it felt like. My drink sat there in front of me for the whole hour and thirty minutes I was there, but my water wasn't even refilled. When asking for a slice of cheese cake she looked at the TV and say " Hmm I don't know if I can"? Sure enough after me being so disappointed I was like " Go Check, its 2 minutes after midnight and the cheese cake comes out of a box".
Needless to say the service sucks here! From Management all the way to The Servers. I would just do take out. If you do go to dine in. I recommend just throwing your money in the street!!!
I have way to many favorite burger places. Â This place being one of them. Â The cost is great, to top it off, you have the option of Sweet Potato Fries that come with your burger.
They have a very nice wide selection of Imported Draft Beers. Â They always are changing the beer menu, which is great. Â I'm a big fan of the beers they get from Belgium or Germany. Â
I recommend the Buena Burger, medium-well, with cheddar cheese and grilled onions. Â Simply delicious.
Nothing to complain about this place cause they have a very nice ambiance and good selection of music on their player, when it's working of course.
I have visited twice and both times been wow'ed by the food and the beers recommended to me. Â Â Both times the place was pretty crowded but since I was alone I was able to quickly find a single spot at the bar or a small table.
On both visits when I was struggling with a beer selection the manager came over and asked me what I liked, what I was eating and then suggested a great beer to go with my meal. Â On one occasion I was also offered a smaller sample glass of a new beer they had just tapped and asked my opinion. Â
I had burgers both times I was there and they were both really good. Â I also had the sweet potato fries which were also excellent.
Haven't been here since 2008, so when I heard my buddy Craig was leaving Chicago it gave me an excuse to check this joint out one more time. I wasn't able to stay long because I had another party to go to.
I noticed most of the people in the place was having a beer, so I opted to be different and got a Makers & diet. My friend who comes here everyday showed up and recommended that I get a Steiger (hope i spelled it right) which came in a Steiger mug....pretty good! I noticed that most of the beer that was being drank came with its corresponding glass/mug...I like that!
Again, I wasn't able to stay long but I have a new found likeness for this place
The Good... Beer and whiskey list! Place is sort of cute, super dark which makes it hard to read the menu.
I am all for give local business my money. However, this place lacks of service if you can even call it that. "What do you want" "Enjoy" does not get you a 20% tip. The food... its okay, nothing special.
Given its proximity to my apartment, i would love for this place to be "our spot" for my friends and I. The menu is fairly small, but the food is great. They seem to be going for slightly ambitious bar food, and they do a fine job. The beer list is great, and they have rotating flights for those who can't commit.
So, why only three stars? The service seems to range from tolerable to absolutely horrible. Offenses have included specials being incorrectly explained, ordered items forgotten, gratuity included when it shouldn't be, and just overall poor demeanor.
Hopefully this will change eventually, as we would love to gather here more often. Forgot to mention, they have a pretty solid analog jukebox. Last time we were there, I laid the Joel on pretty heavy, but they have a nice variety.
Solid local establishment. Bartenders are friendly and know a LOT about the whiskey/scotch that they serve. Regulars are all friendly too!
Only thing keeping this from a 4-star is my chicken wrap was watery and the tortilla totally fell apart. Pasta salad was good though.
As a bar - 4 stars, restaurant 3-stars
Not a bad little place to grab an awesome burger and big beer!
I went there the other night with a few friends and they not only accommodated our party of 8 in a packed bar but gave us great service. Â I am a resident of the area and I can't wait to bring my friends over every Monday night for their specials or even Sunday for the wing special!!
I'm missing something here. I must be missing something, because some of my favorite people in world love Bar on Buena and I just can't figure out why.
They have a great beer list, so there's that...but I'm not much of a beer drinker. The Original Sin cider was nothing special. I had the jalapeno and cheddar sausage with sweet potato fries that were half burnt. Again, nothing special. The service was decent, but overall I thought everything was pretty disappointing.
My friend says that this is a nice place in the winter because it's really cozy to watch the snow falling outside of the glass garage doors. So, I guess I'll be giving BoB another try then.
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