Par Bar & Grille

My Husband and I came here at the end of December 2012. Happy Hour here is AMAZING!!!!! So much yummy food for superb prices! Grab a Revolution Pale Ale or an Angry Orchard Cider and kick back! Truffle Fries with fresh Parmesan for $4, uh yes please! I loved my Chopped Salad with fresh huge chunks of chicken breast, (just skip the Crostini garnish-No Bueno.) Husband loved his sliders and said they were seasoned well. The music in the restaurant was current hits and lots of 20s and 30s somethings mulling about for a Thursday night.

I'm from out of town. Searched Yelp for cigar lounge and this place came up. The "under par cigar bar" is definitely in the works, but has HUGE potential. The space is top notch but no patrons unfortunately (upstairs was booming though). If your looking to enjoy a stick indoors stop by, but bring company.  Spread the word about this place. Highly recommend.

So is Par Bar up to par? Well, "par" means average, so yes, it is up to par and then some. And I think it is an improvement over Jimmy Figs, the name of the previous bar that had been in this location and closed.

I went to Par Bar after work on a Friday with some co-workers for happy hour, and this place was slammed. MAKE A RESERVATION! We got there at 5:15 and there were no tables left. There were tables with "reserved" signs on them, and we definitely wished we would have made a reservation for the 10 of us.

The manager (at least I think he was the manager) came over and told us there was standing room toward the back and that we could get drinks and congregate over there until a table opened up. We decided that was fine, and he guided us back to an open space near the kitchen. He used a flashlight as he walked us back there, which was kind of hilarious and awesome. This isn't a nightclub, dude! He was also super Italian and had a mustache, which added to the ridiculousness.  

So anyway, it kind of sucked not having a table since we couldn't put our coats, bags or drinks anywhere, but it was OK. It's not their fault they were super packed. And a table did eventually open up, and we moved to it and were able to sit down.

The drinks are priced pretty comparably to what you'd pay at other bars in the Loop. Although no one in our group ordered any food, I did watch as the servers brought food to other tables, and it looked and smelled really good.

The service was good. The manager (although he did seem like he was more cut out for nightclub work) was very friendly and accommodating. Both of the servers we had were nice and attentive.

I guess my only complaint was that the music was turned up super loud. It was loud in there to begin with since there were so many people, but even after a lot of the people left, it still seemed like they were cranking up the tunes. Hard to talk to anyone if they're not standing right next to you, but I could probably say that about any bar in the Loop during happy hour.

I'm giving this place a tentative four stars, and I will definitely be back for happy hour. This next time we'll make a reservation!