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Polk (Pink, Blue Cermak)
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If you are worried about:
- cholesterol
- sodium
- staying healthy
- transfats
stay away from this bar.
These are the best chicken fingers I have ever had; and if you know me, you'll know thats saying something.
The waitstaff is attentive as they can be when they are the waitresses, bartenders, and cooks.
Hawkeyes has nothing on this place and its about 1/3 of the price as well.
The food is OK here, that's about it. I don't like it here because every time we've ordered, they can't seem to produce a decent receipt for us and we somehow manage to pay way too much for a burger or appetizers. This place is expensive and not worth your money.
Went there on Sunday, and it's well and truly boarded up. Let me repeat: Illinois Bar and Grill on Taylor is (to the best of my knowledge) CLOSED.
Well, for starters, the phone number is easy to remember.
Nice, laid back bar that's got great beer specials. The buckets seemed to come with one extra every single time, not sure if that's normal or if we just had a really cool waitress/bartender. The burger is HUGE and the person at our table who ate it looked satisfied and greasy when he was done. Regardless if you are man or women, one cannot go here without experiencing the urinal in the men's bathroom. Ladies, just do it...you don't even have to go into the bathroom, just stand at the doorway and marvel at the amount of thought put into the design of something men pee into. It's HUGE and looks like it should be in some 1984 max headroom apartment as a work of waterfalling art. It's not really something you'd expect to find at a comfy, smokey rustic neighborhood bar.
First of all, friends & yelp staff: HOW MANY PHOTOS DO YOU THINK WE NEED OF THE OUTSIDE OF THIS PLACE?
I was way impressed with the size of their burger. I cant wait to drop in there for lunch today.
The corned beef I had was super lean and tasty.
I put some pix of the FOOD in this profile. Be forewarned - the FOOD is greasy but its served at a BAR what would you expect?
I really like something about this bar. Part of it is likely the fact that in the year I lived in the neighborhood and frequented this bar, I maybe encountered a crowd here... oh... let's say twice. Seriously, that's it.
I loved that I could go into this bar (which I believe to be far superior to the more popular Hawkeye's up the street), order some food and some beers and not struggle to find a seat. I never had to strain to hear my friends speaking here, and was usually able to get a spot on the pool table without effort.
The bartenders were friendly and the food is phenomenal. The burgers are heart-attack inducing huge, and equally as tasty. The chicken strips are in the same vain, huge and delicious.
I would definitely recommend stopping here for some cold beers and tasty eats.
EDIT: Well, after writing this review yesterday, I decided to return for some chicken strips today and bring along a friend to enjoy the huge Illinois burger. In short, the service was terrible and the food quality was sub-par with my undercooked chicken strips. The strips were still good, but not as good as they have been in the past.
Thusly, I have dropped them a star due mainly to the over 10 minute wait for a server and the near 2 minutes I spent standing and waiting at the bar to get a refill on my ice tea. For both of these, the same server saw me and walked past me at least 3 times. Boo on you, Illinois.
My beau and I were riding bikes around the city and stopped here on a whim to grab a drink and catch some of the ballgame.
Well, "a drink" turned into three or four buckets of beer - I blame it on the torrential downpour - we were stranded.
It was fun because aside from a few guys watching the game, and people coming and going, the bar was all ours. Our experience probably would've been different had the bar been full of loud, drunk Sox fans.
The food was decent, too. In case you're wondering.
Where is everyone? There's a freakin' Bears game on, all the local bars are packed but this place is nearly empty. Maybe it's because there are no big TVs to be found. Maybe it's because the food is so freakin' greasy. Or because the men's room is nasty. Or because it's smoky. On second thought - why was I there? Oh...because everywhere else was packed.
All negatives aside, it's an ok place to chill with some cheap beers. Unless they run out. Plenty of TVs, though none over maybe 19 inches?
Seems like a big cop hangout - though I wish they'd not hang out here for 2+ hours and instead go answer some 911 calls. Seriously.
Decent, but very greasy, bar food at ok prices.
Brought here by a weekend work associate: nice laid back place for a Saturday afternoon. Limited menu but basic bar food, complete with large portions of greasy cheesy things....for very cheap! (Nothing is really over 6$, most 4-5$). Waitress was out of some bad comedy of how much of an un-people person could you be and still wait tables??? but this provided needed entertainment. Poor attention once we got our stuff...not even an offer of refills on drinks. I agree the urinal is a hoot...piss waterfall in an arctic cave is an apt description. Nuttin special.
Friends raved about this place and had to take my husband and I there for the "biggest, greasiest, cheapest" burgers in town. I'm not a burger fan but can definitely find something on a bar menu and my husband is never one to pass up an amazing burger ... so we made the trek from Wrigleyville. Honestly, I don't see myself being a return customer. The service was witty, but slow - very slow. My husband ordered his 2nd beer before the server's tray was even clear of the first round. It really took that long to get our first round. I ordered the chicken strips and fries. It tasted just okay, and left me not feeling so well until even the next morning. Perhaps it was all the grease - and I'm not one to normally complain about that because I usually love good bar food and good bar food is normally greasy.
I'm sure this place is great for local college students that want to get a good beer special and some cheap greasy grub at the end of a late night, but next time I'm in the area I'll probably opt for one of the other fine establishments on Taylor St.
This is an RIP to Illinois Bar also known as I-Bar. The burgers at this place were really something. I would go with the Illinois burger and a basket of fries. You basically could not move after pounding this burger. The nice thing about this place was the non-crowded atmosphere. That, in retrospect, was probably the downfall of this place. I remember this one time a regular they called "Doc" did not like how his grilled chicken sandwich tasted. He tried to hail the waitress about 5 times and after the 6th time he took a stance, wound up, and threw the sandwich back into the kitchen area. After we all told him what an arm he had he proceeded to tell us that he used to pitch for the farm leagues back in the day.
I Bar is a mostly low key sports bar, with a great location near the other bars on Taylor St. and UIC campus. The bartenders are always very cool, and friendly! The food is good, I usually just snack on the fries or a burger if I'm hungry. The drinks and food are reasonably priced. They have a pool table, darts, and jukebox in the back area, with plenty of seating in the front. During the summer months they open the front windows, which does lead to homeless walking right in to pan handle you. This is never a fun experience when that happens, but the bartender always gets the homeless out quickly. It is a great bar to sit down with a few friends and have a few drinks over a good conversation. I really like that it's quite and low key so you don't have to yell to hear each other!
The burgers are hand made and perfectly seasoned! The place lacks in the atmosphere, but at three on a friday, i'm not that picky. Check this place out for the burgers! Among the best in the city for eight bucks!
What to say about I-Bar...The food is average for a bar but the cook time is FOREVER (in that sandlot voice)! They have good bucket specials (occasionally?) but have not had a reason to step foot inside for a year or so...When I was last there, I was burned by an obnoxious/loud bar patron who apparently was a VIP regular or something so I have not returned...good luck! (the two stars were for the pool table/dart board set-up and the 21 shots i was forced to do on my 21st!)
Used to come here when I was taking accounting classes at UIC - they always have great drink specials. Burgers are 3/4lb and huge - very greasy and delish. Get the Chicago burger.
Since its right near UIC, they always have great drink specials! The burgers are reeeally good too, they are huge and cheap! Definitely a good happy hour spot if you work down here by UIC... or even if you dont' and want to get away from the city! They've always got sports on as well
Cheap because it's near a college campus! I love the specials that they have, which they even have on weekends! Amazing! The burger I had was good, and the fries were pretty tastey as well!
Good location, decent prices. Bartenders like Simona and Jocelyn make it a great place to get a quiet drink. They could use a door guy though, as homeless people sometimes do wander in, and try to pander. Unfortunately the 95 lb bartenders don't look too threatening even if they serve great drinks...Burgers are great, beer is cheap...a casual night out.
This place definitely belongs right on Taylor street. Strange mix of UIC students and old Italian men. I only go there out of necessity. The food is pretty good if a) the waitress happens to stop by your table (we once waited 20 minutes without a single look) and b) they dont have to hunt the animal down before they serve it to you. The bartenders can't even hook their regulars up since all the liquor bottles have the little shot counters on them. The only redeeming thing about this place is the chicken sandwich and the reasonably priced buckets ... I'd definitely find an alternative place to go if I were you.
Not a bad place to have a drink, but I prefer hawkeye's. More of a sports bar type, and the staff wasn't too friendly the times I've been.
An okay bar for the area, but I don't enjoy coming here that often. The atmosphere is more like a seedy sports bar. The specials aren't that great either.
i used to be a regular at his place when i lived on Bishop. the burgers are great. i also recommend the fish sandwich. a bucket of 6 lite's for $12 IS a good deal. now when i'm back in the area i try and stop by. EDIT: forgot to mention breakfast. they have a breakfast sandwich that is huge. my personal favorite is the "pilsen omlette". i stop by for one when i go to a sunday Sox game
I love the drink specials at this place. I enkoy coming here after a hard day at class since, it's right down the street.
A very chill bar to hang out at. Their drink specials are cheap. It is in the UIC area, so the crowd is mainly college students. It gets kind of crowded on big game days, but other wise it's not bad.
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