Tommy Nevin's Pub & Restaurant

I grew up in Evanston and Nevin's was always a regular spot for my family and I to go eat.  The food has always been great and fairly consistent in quality at a fair price.  I would recommend eating here.

So I'm a little hung up about what kind of rating to give Nevin's.  Its a decent place to eat, but I have had some issues in recent years when I go there to have drinks.  It has made me think twice about going there on a few occasions.  For this, I would consider 2 stars, however, I don't believe in being a total jerk yelper when there is always room for improvement.  Today, Nevin's gets 3 stars.

I'll try keep my summary of my issues with Nevin's as brief as possible...

They have a tendency to hire some very inexperienced staff.  Most likely college students and younger folks.  (Nothing wrong with that.  Everyone needs a job).  There was one occasion where I was on the patio having drinks with friends when our waitress accidentally opened up another tab Identical to the one we currently had.  The check was twice as much and I spent about 15 minutes arguing with them about it until I finally just threw in the towel, paid the whole thing and left. Ugh!

Another time, I was out on the patio bar with a friend trying to grab a beer.  We were the only ones at the bar and the bar tender was seemingly staring off into space, looking in our general direction, while we had money in our hands ready to buy.  It took a few seconds for him to notice us but he was friendly after that.  I actually don't consider this a complaint.  Just a little odd and funny. :)

Overall, this is a good place to eat.  I like the food a little better than Prairie Moon which is right next door.  However, I think Prairie Moon is a better place to drink.  I will definitely be stopping by Nevin's to eat in the future for old time sake!

Never again!!!!

OK, I have to say, I am finally giving up on Tommy Nevin's ironically because of Tommy (or at least his namesake waiter) himself.  We used to dine here 1-2 times a week, but will be be moving on to other establishments due to issues with this particular waiter.

Here's a recap of our last two visits:

1) Tommy takes our order and disappears for most of the rest of our meal. Most of the staff actually congregates out front smoking while we are left to fend for ourselves inside. No follow-up, no recognition that we are regulars. Just the same ambivalent attitude.

2) On another recent visit, Tommy once again takes our order (why do we always seem to get stuck with this guy?)  and disappears. We later notice he is huddled behind the server station eating and literally see the guy licking his fingers. Glad he enjoyed the food so much, it seemed like he got his meal a lot faster than we did.. because we waited...and waited... and waited for him to return. No apology for the delay.. he plopped down the plates and went on his way.

I do have to say that the rest of the wait staff at Tommy Nevin's ranges from good to great, but 9 times out of 10 we seem to get this guy and it ends up being an unpleasant experience.

Sorry Tommy Nevin's ...we're done. There are other local restaurants that appreciate the business and employ wait staff that at least make an effort to be pleasant.

My husband and I were dining here at around 6:30pm on a Thursday last week. We sat in the back with all the televisions because there were several March Madness games on the televisions in that room. We were told at the door that the back room was the only place to watch those games. There were several families with little kids running around in that room and we were enjoying our evening out, having left our own 15-month old at home. Soon a "situation" ensued with drunk patrons and their pool game.We witnessed the entire showdown. Twice the balls flew off the table and one narrowly missed me. One actually hit our waitress. The players were using profanity, slurring their speech and acting like hooligans. They were clearly intoxicated and yet had pitchers of beer before them and kept returning with shots. When the manager (I suspect?) finally asked them to leave, chaos ensued. In that chaos, one of the intoxicated patrons went to put his cue stick back on the wall right next to where I was sitting. He did so with such force and anger that it bounced back and hit me hard in the arm. Had we brought our daughter with us that evening, she could have easily been smacked in the head or worse. I personally have a sore shoulder from the incident and was visibly disturbed. The waitress offered us a round of drinks but I had enough.

A few things have to be said about his entire debacle. First, it seems to me to be entirely nonsensical to mount a pool stick rack between patron tables. Any one of those sticks could become loose and fly off the wall--as it did here--and hit someone. I was this someone, this time. If God-forbid this happened to a child, the situation would be exponentially worse. If my daughter was sitting next to me and this happened to her, this would have turned into an epic problem. Second, these patrons were clearly over-served. When we arrived for dinner and a few drinks, it was around 6 p.m. or so. They were already obnoxious and clearly intoxicated. Nonetheless, they were served over and over again. Their pool playing was sloppy--balls flying everywhere--and their profanity was offensive. I am not a stainless maiden, but to have such vulgarities in a place where there were at least five little kids and entire families dining is in bad taste. It was even before 7 p.m. on a weeknight. Management should have stepped in earlier, at least to cut them off from drinking and offer them water.

This really should not have happened. I really hope this situation is a learning opportunity. First, those cue sticks should be removed from the wall where patrons are dining and potentially move the dining tables away from the proximity of the pool table. Further, cue sticks are dangerous weapons. Punches were being thrown. If any one of those patrons got a hold of the stick and decided to use it to hit someone it would have been a mounting problem causing a serious security issue--larger than the one that occurred. These are all issues you must consider--legally and on a common sense level. The safety of your patrons is key.  It is NOT acceptable to have a patron smacked with a cue stick.

By the way, I contacted the restaurant and they IGNORED me.