A great place to watch a game or to drink beer!
This Covington establishment has boat loads of beer! (50+ on tap and 125+ bottled beers). I can only imagine what their walk-in cooler looks like to store all their backup kegs and beer bottles :) Â If you are wanting to drink beer come to Chimes. If you want to learn about beer come to Chimes. I am a beer drinker at heart and really love coming here. Actually came here yesterday and the lady and I went there just to drink. We had 6 different beers during that hour we were there. We tried some new beers (can't remember what they were as we got recommendations from the bartender). All of the beers were fresh and delicious.
The service is typical for a restaurant that is more focused on sports and beer than food. The servers are all young which normally means not much experience. So from time to time you do get a server who is just not attentive enough or quite as efficient as you would like.
The food is the usual food offerings you would find at most restaurants in NOLA. Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Po-Boys, and Seafood Platters. The food is pretty good but nothing stellar.
Anyway, I am a fan of casual fun places that cater to sports and beer. So I will continue to come here. Plus the outdoor deck in back is awesome! Great views of the river.
I gave this two stars because the servers are adorable, the beer is good and the setting is quintessential Louisiana. Otherwise, I just wasted $ on the worst $70 lunch I have ever had. The oysters were not the worst I've had, but only because they weren't spoiled - just tasteless, warm and mealy. My date did not bother to finish her "fish like" po boy...my suggestion would be stick to beer and appetizers (if desperately hungry)
bleechh!
Good food, great beer. If crawfish are in season I highly recommend them, they do crawfish right. Not to mention the best atmosphere around and a total knock out bar. So many beers on tap it is so hard to pick one, so dont! Taste a few while walking around on the beautiful deck out back.
Review Source:Went to Chimes last night to catch up with some old friends. I chose to sit outside which my friends warned me, "watch out, service will take forever." It was true- We didn't get our drink order until 20 minutes in. We ordered the spinach dip as an appetizer and the pasta dippers were burnt. We were quick to put our order into the kitchen and I got the spinach salad with blackened shrimp- a $17 salad! All of the table's french fries were cold and there was plenty of food left over as no one was thrilled with their dish.
At the end of the day, it's pricey and the food is certainly nothing special.
Tried The Chimes on the recommendation of a neighbor. We'd noticed it before and wondered what it was, because of it's lovely location. Â It sits far back from the highway, nestled among mature trees and lots of other greenery, near the river's edge. Though this would be the perfect spot for a small, romantic restaurant, The Chimes is more a large sports bar/beer garden with TV's in every corner. Â It's patrons come to drink, have a good time, and watch the games together. Â The atmosphere is loud, friendly and gregarious. Â
As soon as we entered, it felt as if something wasn't right. Â We came face to face with three young, smiling women, all holding menus, who stared at us for quite a long time, but said...nothing. Â We eventually realized we had to ask to be seated. Â
We ordered several things to sample. Â Nothing was bad or inedible--it was all decent, just not stellar. It all seemed to be pretty simple and seasoned with Tony's or some other cajun spice blend. Â Everything tasted the same. Â For a nice restaurant, the food really missed the mark. Â However, The Chimes is not that and not trying to be that. Â It's all about the drinking. It's a bar that sells food. Â And for bar/game day food, it was pretty good! Â
Now that I know more about this place--that it's the second location of a beloved hang out near LSU's campus, where students loved to hang with friends, watch games, drink and party--it all makes perfect sense. Â Neither of us went to LSU, but this might be the perfect place to meet up with friends to watch Saints games.
The beer selection is the second best on the Northshore. The bar, when not busy, is a good place to get some work done (wifi is pretty reliable now if you access the right one). Oysters are fresh, and cheap on Tuesday. The rest of the menu is hit or miss, and the execution has been inconsistent for me. Great historic property. There's a walkway to the river, with goats. Kids dig it.
Review Source:I have some friends and family that live across the lake so I've had the pleasure of coming here a few times. First, this place is huge! Lots of places to sit inside and outside. If you are there for lunch and not on a time crunch take the time to walk outside down to the river. It's a nice relaxing view to take in for a moment. They also have goats that roam around on the property and let you pet them (at least the goats don't seem to mind) but they ask that you please don't feed them.
Now onto the actual restaurant. The menu offers a vast variety of New Orleans fare burgers, seafood, salads and more. You can get boiled crawfish when in season and they were seasoned well, but were a little too soft. So far I've stuck to the salads and were not disappointed. The pecan bread pudding is ridiculously good and I don't even like pecans, but I guess I would eat cardboard if it was made with enough sugar and butter.
It's a nice addition to the area and If I lived on this side of the bridge I could see it being a  fun place to go for a drink and some apps in addition to a good lunch/dinner spot.
Last night on a whim, Vicky L and I sped over the causeway to hassle John LH in his home digs in Covington. Â Boy was this place backed for Valentine's Day. Â Luckily, John & his friends had secured seats at the bar which they turned over to us latecomers...who were starving.
We ordered 4 dishes: shrimp & grits, gumbo, fried crawfish salad, and mac-n-cheese. Â All were really delish. Â The remoulade dressing on my salad was nice & spicy; the crawfish were well cooked and the rest of the salad was fresh if a bit boring. Â But c'mon I ordered it for the fried crawfish. Â The mac-n-cheese side was a nice sized portion for $3.50 and would make a meal for a child. Â I snuck some of Vicky's shrimp & grits and they were tasty. Interestingly, the dish was served with a wedge of grit cake rather than the usual fresh grits. Â And interesting twist.
Lots of beers on tap of course, and I was impressed with the bourbon selection. Â The staff was lovely...even after some ass clownery (by our companions...never me & Vicky). Â Bonus points for the awesome mullet we witnessed further down the bar.
Can't be 1/2 half raw oyster tuesdays!! Â Went on Mardi Gras day and it was PACKED! The wait was about 45 minutes, but I'm pretty sure we only waited for about 25.
We had the charbroiled oysters, raw oysters, BBQ shrimp poboy - so yummy!! Â The bottom of the poboy was a tiny bit soggy..but only from the deliciousness of BBQ Shrimp butter "juice"! Â The Porkchops with Abita Root Beer glaze was really yummy too! Â Service was great and the pretty backyard of the cypress trees and bayou is at great plus!
We went here on Superbowl Sunday to watch the game. They have a great outdoor deck with plenty of TVs. When we first got there they had all the Pre-game stuff on the TV, but was blasting music. As it got closer to the game we asked our waitress if they were going to switch the audio over to the game. She disappeared and a couple of minutes later someone came and turned the sound up on the TV, but it took them a few minutes to turn the music down. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes later our waitress' shift ended and she was replaced by another waiter who was no where near as good. If not for him I probably would have given The Chimes five stars. The food was pretty good and they had a great beer selection. Not a bad place, but the service was a little inconsistent.
Review Source:I was in Covington for a funeral, and after the family invited my wife and i to join them here. It was my first time here, and when we pulled up we went down the wrong side of the entrance since it wasn't clearly marked, fortunately the person who came down the right way was patient enough to allow us threw. They have a large parking lot so lots of room, when we first got there we had 20 plus people so we had to wait till the tables were ready, not a big deal. I had to sit because of my knee and i notice there isn't much sitting area for people to wait for tables. We were seated upstairs, and i have a bad knee so the steps were hard for me, but i got up them ok. The waitress was nice, but you could tell she was annoyed at the large party. When the waitress got to my wife and i to take our order we said we wanted the seafood platter and asked for more shrimp instead of oysters, she told us no substitutions. I said um the oysters cost twice the amount of shrimp we would be saving you money, she said no substitutions, which i don't understand if your cooking all of my food fresh why would you rather give me something i will give or throw away vs give me what i want and save the oysters for someone else. Whatever so we moved on and i got a bowl of red beans and rice. It didn't take that long for our appetizers to get to the table and our salads, which was pretty good. Sometimes it did take awhile to get refills but she was busy i guess. Our food didn't take that long either, my bowl of beans was large, but very shallow, it looked like allot but it wasn't, it was very good but not enough for the price. The seafood platter looked good, but you could tell they used fries to make it look filled out, you could have put all the seafood on a 6 inch poboy not something costing $23. It tasted pretty good, we gave the oysters away to someone who liked them so they wouldn't get wasted. Over all the food was good, the staff was nice and we had a good time, They made it easy to pay with many separate checks. So i guess my only complaints would be the over priced food and not being able to substitute. I might go back if i am in the neighborhood
Review Source:Went here for the first time last night. What I liked, that some may not, is it had the feel of a club without the loud music. I ordered the spinach artichoke dip which would be incredible if they removed half the salt used to batter the bow-tie pasta. Other than that it's a great appetizer choice. I also had the raw oysters, which were perfect and reasonably priced.
If you're looking for a romantic spot, I don't recommend this place, but if you're looking for a spot to hang out with good food and the potential to meet some people, this place is great.
I have been here a few times. I NEVER get greeted when I walk through the door. They usually just look at me like I'm lost and it takes ME informing THEM that I want to eat at their restaurant and need a table.
The bartenders are always pretty nice and have good customer service, but the bar is usually pretty packed anyway so I like to sit outside.
Don't go on a busy night, though, because you'll get horrible service.
The food is good, just like any chain.. Nothing special though.
This restaurant has potential if they could step it up a bit.
Will be VERY hesitant to go back again after the last time we went.
Best New Year Ever! Soul Revival was awesome!
Ok ya'll, I took off a star because I'm an LSU grad (graduate school and undergraduate and NO I won't tell you what year. Â Suffice it to say it was a LONG time ago). Â Anywho, I am reserving my five stars for the original Chimes in Baton Rouge off LSU's campus. Â I'm such a damned purist that I refused to even go to the other location in Baton Rouge because quite frankly, it wouldn't be the same.
Needless to say I was dragged to this location with very low expectations since I was around when the Chimes was just a hole in the wall that you had to go inside, pretend you were going to the bathroom, scope the joint, and pray that your friends were in there so you could snag a chair with them or else you were screwed. Â Yeah, it was THAT big of a deal! Â In fact, I even have my name on a plaque somewhere in the original onen that shows that I went "Around the World" and tried a plethora of different beers (which is quite an accomplishment since I'm not a beer drinker and used to order pints of cider on tap. Â Not only was there so many beers and ciders on tap, the food was damned good too!
Well, back to this review. Â Picture it, NYE and I'm at the Northshore with three other girlfriends and a girlfriend's Dad to hear Soul Revival. Â I'm skeptical because I know this will not measure up to my original Chimes experience. Â Plus it was night time so I didn't get to see the beautiful outdoor patio with the scenic woods around.
Well, somehow I got princess parking (parked in the to go area, worried a teeny bit that I may get towed but oh well, my girlfriends were determined and said they would pay me if it was towed!). Â Plus, we had a Dad holding our table and we were ready to have some fun!
We had all eaten but I had to try some of my favorite dishes. Â I had a side order of red beans and rice and a stuffed baked potato. Â Well, let me tell you, they were DELICIOUS! Â IOk, mea culpa, I was wrong, it is just as good as the original. Â Plus it's huge with two floors, a sweeping staircase. Â Wow, the Northshore does things big, I see! Â Plus the waitress, heaven forbid that I had forgotten her name but she was a doll! Â I think it was Emily but I told the manager Trent how amazing she was! Â She was attentive even though it was packed in there. Â She kept our drinks filled and the service was seamless. Â I was impressed. Â She even kept the drinks going when my beloved LSU lost the darned game. AUGH! Â
Fortunately the band started up and Soul Revival rocked! Â My girlfriends and I started the dancing and got on the dance floor! Â We stayed pretty much dancing the whole night and rang in the new year with the waitstaff handing out colorful plastic champagne glasses with champagne!! Â One of the best New Year's Eve I've spent in a really long time! Â Of course it helps it was with girlfriends that are dear to my heart, delicious food in my stomach, and melodious music around! Â
I'd go back in a heartbeat!
You Geaux Chimes!
Been to Chimes twice and I love it! Â The atmosphere is awesome and laid back. Â The patio at this location is so cool and relaxing. Â Gotta love Louisiana! Â You can sit on a deck with a beer and oysters while observing pure nature and wildlife. Â Not to mention, the food is GOOOODDD!! Â I had the roast beef po-boy on my last visit and had to stop myself from devouring the entire sandwich for fear of a fullness stomach ache.
My co-workers and I are visiting the BR location in a few weeks and I can't wait. Â Cross the lake and get to Chimes ASAP!
First time there. I thought our meals were great. I know spinach artichoke has been done and done again, you have to try this one. Spinach salad topped with blacken salmon was very good. Louis was our server. This is the man you want to ask for. The best service I have had in a very long while. Thanks Louis!
Review Source:I thought the Chimes was just OK.
The food's good, but I was expecting a little more after reading some Yelp reviews. I had the shrimp/seafood pasta, which was OK but a little too heavy & creamy.
I do want to give them some props for their Crab & Corn Bisque - phenomenal! Also, the outdoor area is a nice place to wait if you have to - they've got goats and all kinds of wildlife. Service was also good + it's a great place to bring your family.
Oysters on the half shell and a delicious selection of beers, combined with a lovely view, great service (at 2pm on a Thursday) and some amazing macaroni & cheese, are the wining combination that would make me want to drive over the Causeway bridge to return to this place.
We stopped in for a late lunch while running around in Covington and now I look forward to the next time I have the need to nosh on this side of the lake!
Our highlights included:
$10 dozens of oysters!!
Extensive and varied beer selections. (Arrogant Bastard for $6 a pint!)
Club Salad which was big enough to split.
Macaroni & Cheese which included cheddar, pepper jack & smoked gouda! YUM!!
I can only imagine that it would be a good place to watch sporting events because from my seat I could see 15 flat screens all around, but we just stopped in for lunch and really enjoyed the whole experience.
I've been here a few times with my family and every experience has been fantastic. Â I went again for lunch today and surprise....it was great again. The roast beef poboy, the grilled salmon, grilled chicken, cheese fries, strawberry pina coladas. all fantastic. I wish i would have remembered to get my waitresses name because she was super nice and I would love her boss to know, but as I said a second ago...strawberry pina colada. Its not cheap but its not terribly expensive either, the atmosphere the food and the service make it a good deal if you ask me.
Review Source:A great stop for lunch on our brewery  tour of the north shore, because of their beer selection.
When I visited in Baton Rouge, I remember being unimpressed by the menu. Â Well, the menu appears to be the same, but the burgers/sandwiches we ordered sure hit the spot, so I'm not sure what I was looking for in the past.
This place is really not that good. I am sure the put a lot of money in the building and the property buttttttt. Â The dining experience in Louisiana can be a great because there are so many good places to eat in this state. The place reminded me of an Applebees. The booths are cramped. The rooms is very noisy. The food is overpriced. The worst thing is that they only have one brand of hot sauce on the table. Any one from Louisiana knows that this is not good. If you have money to burn and need to feed a large noisy family that likes to sit close together, this place may be the place to go.
Review Source:The late night menu sucks!!! At 10:30, I want a burger and fries ($11) while enjoying a drink or two. The late night burger sliders ($9) and cheese fries ($9) take the same effort to prepare but cost more and taste terrible! Is it so difficult to offer the entire menu, which is decent, compared to the crappy late night menu? I don't know when this changed but I do not like it. Great beer selection, horrible overpriced food. Chimes, you are off my late night list.
Review Source:Wait for a table was 1 hour 15 minutes. Â My irritation, was that once table was cleared, it was still 15 minutes before we were seated. Â They had 4 staff working the greeting desk, none seemed to have a clue. Wait staff pleasant, but all very new. Â Drinks excellent- they have that down pat and beer selection awesome. Â Food was decent, if somewhat over priced.
Review Source:This place is great if you want beer. If you are looking for anything other than beer, or in addition to beer, I recommend seeking it elsewhere.
Our server was... well, horrible, actually. And since I was also bad at waitressing, normally I'm very understanding. But she was pretty terrible even for my low standards.
The food is not on par with other restaurants around Covington, but they sure charge like it is. There are definitely better restaurants in this area.
I'll say it again... only if you want beer.
I came here with several friends for lunch. Â We split several appetizers plates so I got to try the hush puppies (OK), crab fingers (OK), the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms (which I really liked) and the boudin balls (which were interesting).
Chimes was offering a luncheon steak special. Â I wasn't hungry enough for a steak so I followed the advice from some Yelp reviews and ordered the Chimes club with grilled chicken. Â I didn't catch the part about the chicken breast when I ordered. Â So when the waitress asked me if I wanted it grilled, fried, or blackened, I had no idea what she was talking about... Â How do you "blacken" a club sandwich? Â Oh, OK, I'll have the chicken grilled. Â Several friends ordered the steak special. Â I was glad I had skipped as I wasn't too impressed with it. Â For a lunch and the price, it was acceptable. Â Another friend had the Boca burger which is a meatless patty. Â She said she's had better but at least they offered the option and didn't have to settle for a salad.
We were upstairs and I could look out the windows and see the woods in the background. Â Nice view. Â The restaurant was busy for lunch and noisy as a result. Â I wonder what it would be like for a Saints or LSU game? Â There were 3 TVs and you could see 2 from about any vantage point in the room.
Their beer selection looked great. Â I settled on a Dark Side of the Moon (Guinness and Blue Moon). Â Not quite a Black and Tan, but good.
Service was good.
This place gets 5 starts for their beer, prices (especially happy hour), and appetizers and some of the bar type food (burgers and such).
It gets 2 stars for the fancier entrees which have mostly been mediocre and an environment that quickly becomes overwhelming with sound and motion to the point I can't talk across the table or have the waitress understand my order which often leads to miscommunication especially since for such a beer selection the staff seems woefully under educated on their beers.
Since we love to go to happy hour and get the hell out before it's busy and stay away on Friday and Sat I'll average it to four stars.
Very nice, new, impressive deck for sure.
When you have such an impressive setup, you expect impressive food right? Well I left a little underwhelmed.
The food was not bad, but nothing as grand Chimes deck. Marginally above average, can't even remember what I had to be honest.
I'm sure this place will get better with time, but perhaps it should be a little white before you try.
Stopped for lunch here based on a recommendations from friends on our way into New Orleans. Â
Nice looking place. Â Clean, busy, friendly people. Â
Sitting at the bar, they had a very nice, reasonably impressive, Â broad in style if smaller in number,selection of beers on tap, along with some additional brands in bottles. Â I'm of the opinion that quantity does not equal quality. Â Far better to have fewer, but higher quality beers, than an endless glut of taps in which the beers will sit for days while waiting to win the list lottery. Â
Besides a true gastro pub would naturally want to have a selection of beers which naturally pair well with their menu. Â Although in truth I saw no evidence that this was in fact the case, nor was I guided by the bartenders in a particular direction. Â
Instead I order a margarita... because it was hot, and where I come from in Southern California, hot weather plus vacation = margaritas. Â
Besides having had more than my fair share of beer the night before, I wanted something a little different.
Note to self - Â Places that don't have large hispanic populations seem to lack a proper understanding of tequila, and what to do with it. Â
To me if you say you have a full bar, you best have a full selection of common types of liquor. Â Apparently outside of the Southwest, tequila means Quervo or Patron. Â
When I asked for alternatives this place did come up with Don Julio, which is very respectable, but when the margarita arrived it came with Orange Juice, which is not a margarita. Â
Food, the wife was craving some hush-puppies, which when they arrived where as good as any I've had. Â She order the roast beef po boy, and I had the shrimp poor boy. Â Hers was classic. Â Mine came with Ketchup.
Kethcup?! WTF?! Â Who the hell puts ketchup on any kind of po boy let alone a fried shrimp po boy. Â
While it wasn't inedible, it was not anywhere near the level of the roast beef, and not at all the bad-for-me sinful experience that leaves you with a satisfied, guilty grin and your pants undone. Â Instead it was more McDonald's fillet-o-fish friday in the middle of lent. Â Not good.
Â
When I asked if this was a common treatment of their seafood po boys, one bartender said they'd been doing it from the beginning but other patrons who'd been there before and other servers said they'd never heard of such a thing, nor had one. Â
While again, the sandwich wasn't inedible, it clearly wasn't what I expected or wanted, however there was no offer to correct, remake, bring something else. Â
Sooo... nice looking place, clean place, and while the service wasn't bad, Â I expected more. Â I expected, a gastro-pub with booze and food trained servers, who knew not only how a drink should be made, but what they were serving and be able to steer newcomers and regulars down the path of culinary happiness, and if they fail, they recognize the failure is theirs and make it right. Â
If your kitchen does some stupid and weird stuff to a traditional dish that people will expect to come in the traditional fashion, make sure to mention of that. Â
If weird is good, sell a shirt to go with it. Â If not tell the people who will be tipping you that the chef has been smoking way too much weed and the munchies are his muse. Â
Given the proximity to New Orleans, I'm sure that there are better similar places.
Visited here this weekend and let's just say it was very underwhelming. Â Food was not very good, service was ok but our server was very young and didn't have a solid grasp of the menu. Â We asked for a few modifications to our meals (all minor) and we were told she couldn't do it. Â In fairness to the restaurant it's our only visit and some food going to other tables looked good (burgers especially) but for the price we were disappointed. Â It's not overly expensive but it's not cheap either and there are other choices nearby that are better.
We'll try them one more time to give the restaurant a fair chance but very disappointed after our first visit.
After my second trip I am lowering my rating. The restaurant is too new and the staff is not that great.
This trip was a Friday for dinner and the place was packed. We were quoted a 30-35 minute wait and given a vibrating lobster. We headed to the bar to wait and have some drinks. The bar is spectacular. It is truly a beer lovers heaven. There are taps surrounding the bar and close to 100 different bottled beers available. The bartenders were friendly, but the place was packed so service was slow.
Our lobster vibrated and we returned to the host stand. The hostess looked perplexed. When she went to lead me to a table she got lost and had to return to the host stand. After conferring with the other hostesses she seated us upstairs. The room was nice and had a view of the wooded area behind the restaurant.
Our server came and was very friendly. I asked about the "Drink Around the World" promotion and she had no clue what I was talking about. Why advertise a promotion without educating your staff? She said she would find out, but never did.
Our food was OK, but service left a lot to be desired. The service probably has a lot to do with it being a new place, with a new staff and the fact that it is constantly jam packed.
If it weren't for the incredible views and stellar beer selection, I would probably rate two stars, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Hopefully they will get their head on straight in the next few months so that I can become a regular customer. Hopefully I will be able to participate in the drink around the world competition if the staff ever learns what it is.
The legendary LSU restaurant/bar has opened a North Shore location and it's as awesome as the original! It also just happens to be one of the nicer pubs in Covington.
As this is the Chimes I'll start with the beer. Excellent selection of drafts from around the world. In fact, you can go Around the World. How does one do this you ask? Well, if you drink 60 different beers from at least 20 different countries within a 6 month time frame, not to exceed 5 beers within any one 24 hour period, you, my friend, have been around the world! What does one get for this? A tee shirt AND your name will appear on a plaque inside the restaurant for all eternity. Yes, something your mother can be proud of.
While I am at it the food here isn't bad at all. Excellent burgers. The blackened salmon Cesare salad rocks. The barbecued shrimp poboy is excellent. The gumbo can hold its own against any other casual restaurant around. Oh, and the boudin balls are among the best out there. Seriously folks, those boudin balls rock!
Of course the North Shore location will never have the full charm of the original but it does have the best deck in Covington (if the weather is nice go for it). Also, as this place is still quite new there are a few service issues to be worked out but they are minor.
Bottom line: welcome to the North Shore, Chimes!