John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn's - 3 Stars: an interesting place on the corner of Belden and Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park, just a block or so south of the old Children's Memorial Hospital and hard by the DePaul campus. If you read all the reviews you'll see it pretty much gets panned - but that depends on when you visit and why you show up. Here's our take.

We have been going here for over 20 years - and have had the chance to watch it evolve. Used to be a sleepy little bar place that showed slides of art on the wall while you drank beer and ate decent pub food. Today it has expanded, and become part of a chain (e.g., there is one in Wrigleyville).

As you enter - nice big central room with a huge oval bar you can walk around ... has a hammered tin ceiling and a dozen large screen TVs around the walls. Off to the side is an outdoor patio/beer garden for use when the weather is nice. In the back is a large room with separate bar and dance floor. So they can accommodate a lot of peeps in here. Overall, generally nice music (gets louder later), and always some sports on the TVs.

John Barleycorn's opens around 5 pm each day - and we usually arrive for dinner between 5 and 6 - generally don't have a problem getting a seat or service, and usually can find a parking space nearby. The entire menu has been updated and the food is still decent, but just pub grub to accompany your beer - which is what Barleycorn's is here for. Nice selection of beer and many on tap ... reasonable prices too (e.g., $6 for a pint of Stella). This place is really one large DePaul student beer garden, but when you visit early you can still get in and out pretty quickly with a nice meal.

We go for a quick beer and burger before everything heats up - and at our time it is a neat little place where you can bring the family and kids (yes, young marrieds from the neighborhood bring their strollers too) and not worry about anything. When DePaul students' parents are visiting their best and brightest, this is the time slot when and the place where the kids will bring their parents to give them a feel for the neighborhood. Good food and service. If you come later, when it turns into a 20-something hangout that packs them in, there will be a line out the door with slow service and so-so food as everything slows down - read ten times the people and roughly the same staff.

So, when will you visit and why will you show up? We'll be back.

Do NOT trust the attendant in the woman's bathroom. She saw my iphone sitting out on the counter. Stole it. Denied taking it. Then when I voiced my concern with the management and they questioned her, THE ATTENDANT THREW MY IPHONE IN THE TOILET. Completely ruined my phone. When I told the management about this incident they said that they could put it "on her record" but there was nothing more they could do. I am a big Michigan State fan. Naturally, I consider John Barleycorn as the place to go to watch MSU football and basketball games. However, I was sorely disappointed with John Barleycorn on December 29, 2012. This place is a DUMP. The management should be more careful than to hire idiot girls to be attendants in the bathroom. I will never go to this bar again.

This place was the first stop for our company outing. This is also where we ate. The food was buffet staples- cheese quesadillas, some chicken bites,etc. I mostly ate the tacquitos. The salad was dressed way ahead of time, the croutons were very soggy. The atmosphere was nice, and they played some decent music, but I can't say I'd be heading back there anytime soon. It was truly, a-ok.