Fatty's Pub and Grill

I have been visiting Fatty's for years and I'm never disappointed by their food or the relaxed atmosphere.  

You have to order the pretzel nuggets appetizer, it comes with two dipping sauces, hot cheese and honey mustard.  I tend to skip the cheese sauce since it's generally flavorless but the honey mustard is great!  I had a salad with a fat-free strawberry vinaigrette on my latest visit, the dressing was great!  It was sweet and tasted almost like a jam.  (As a side note, I dipped some pretzel nuggets into the vinaigrette and it was a good combo).  They make most side items fresh and on-site so they tend to taste better than sore purchased sides and are fresh.  I usually get the a chicken sandwich on a pretzel roll or some kind of chicken wrap; all sandwiches and wraps have been good and I haven't regretted an order yet.  

The service however leaves something to be desired.  I've been here many times over the years and it is very hit or miss.  I try to remember that I'm in a college town and that most servers are kids who don't want to be there but it still bothers me.  I mean how hard would it be to ask a customer if they would like a refill of soda or check on them after the meal is delivered... drives me crazy!

I would recommend Fatty's for the unique and homemade food.  Just don't expect the service to be equally good.

Once every other month or so my friends and I take the hour and a half round trip to visit Fatty's. Why? Two words: POTATO SALAD.
My review could end here because that is all you need to know. I drive 80 miles (round trip) for potato salad. Life. Changing. Potato. Salad.

Other awesome shit:
in the summer, they have this special BBQ Parfait, it's layers upon layers of pulled pork, baked beans, corn bread and coleslaw in a HUGE jar. - this is not something I would ever normally order but after seeing my fiancé's reaction to this dish - I ordered it the next time we went there. And IT. WAS. EPIC.
I really REALLY love the chicken sandwich called "the heat" and my friends all seem to be fond of the burgers.

The service is perfectly mediocre. Nothing outstanding and nothing terrible.

The outdoor seating is GREAT - because every table has a huge umbrella.

The restrooms are clean and the drinks are average. The selection of craft beers could be better - it's worth mentioning that they have Angry Orchard on tap here.

That's all. Bye bye now.

I will always have fond memories of this place!

Many times me and a group of guys would end up here after or in between classes at NIU, or the week before fall semester would start, or the best would be to celebrate after finals the second week of May or thru our summer sessions.  I remember a few of these times just kicking back with a few beers and lunch and then cranking the music on the long drive home after my last final - playing loud rock n' roll in my car.  Okay back to the main subject!

The place always had good food, in my opinion. I didn't try everything on the menu, but the burgers and fries were always excellent.  Id recommend that if nothing more.

Sometimes there would be 'old man can days' where you could get cans of cold beer for $1.00.  This was several years back now so I don't know if they still do this, but it was just nostalgic and cool to be sipping a cold 'Old Style' or 'Busch' beer in a can with our food.

As I said, we ended up here a lot. Sometimes the service was slow, but we didn't mind.  The early 20's waitresses were always pretty cute (most were probably NIU students) and we would engage in conversation with them when possible!

There was a backroom with pool tables and that was cool too, sometimes we would play a few rounds of pool.  

The only downside that I remember vividly were the men's washrooms (especially the one by the main entrance right by the bar) were not the best, and smelled awful.  The kinda dirty smell with a lot of "old lead water" stench.  The restroom in the back area by the pool tables is a BIT better, but not by much!

Other than though, it was a cool little place to hang out and get a quick lunch after or between classes.  I miss Fatty's a LOT.

Easilly 4 out of 5 stars, at least for my experiences!