Bar Louie
My wife and our three girls went on a Labor Day shopping trip to the Shoppes at Grande Prairie where they decided to eat lunch at the nearby restaurant Bar Louie. When they got home, my wife told me that she had ‘lost it’ at the restaurant and her only saving grace was that I wasn’t there because I would’ve REALLY lost it.
I asked her to write it up, but she said just thinking about it made her blood boil. I was not there, but this is what she told me:
After they arrived and seated themselves (per the restaurant’s sign) it took a young woman who would later turn out to be their waitress several minutes to greet them and say she would be right back (foreshadowing future events). A male waiter took their drink order about five minutes later, when he had to be asked to supply children’s menus. Another ten minutes passed before someone came back to take their order and then they waited… and waited… and waited…
After roughly a half hour, the female waitress returned with three out of four plates. OK, the wait was a little excessive, but no biggie, the food was finally here and she just can’t carry all the plates, right? Sure enough, she returned after a couple of minutes, word unspoken, with another tray of food… for another table…
After delivering the neighboring table’s food, she took a request for a drink refill and headed to the bar. Again she returned to the neighboring table with their drinks and again turned and walked past my family’s table which was one meal short, making a conscious effort to avoid eye contact.
My wife shouted to her backside “hey”
“yes?” as the waitress turned around to acknowledge her page.
“We’re still missing one of our meals”
“It’s coming” was the curt reply, after which she turned back around and headed to the bar for seemingly no particular reason.
At this point it had been five minutes or more, my wife had watched three of four plates put down, a nearby table get served and their drinks refilled, and a short reply that the food was coming, only to watch the waitress return to the bar instead of the kitchen. So, she walked over to the waitress and asked what the holdup was…
“I’ve already told the cook, what more do you want me to do!?”
(thought but not said “maybe walk into the kitchen and see if it’s ready”)
“Can I please see the manager?”
The young manager mosied on over and asks what the trouble was; the story was told and he said “well, we had a lot of orders come in at the same time.”
Wrong answer… “We were only the third table seated! Besides, all she ordered was a grilled cheese sandwich! How long does that take to cook!?” she continued… “This is the 2nd time I’ve been to your restaurant and both times the service has been absolutely horrible. You can be certain that I will never return to this restaurant again and I promise you that I will tell everyone I know about my experience. Do you think maybe you can figure out a way to get my daughter’s food and to make this right?”
A few minutes later my daughter’s grilled cheese arrived; cheese un-melted, as if they stuck two slices of bread in a toaster and put cheese between it. To add insult to injury, the waitress shorty returned with the bill and asked if they would like a to-go box for the grilled cheese, as it was not entirely eaten at that point.
“…no… …she’s not done… …you just brought it out…”
The bill was chopped in half by the manager, but the damage was done. She concluded her story to me by saying “The food sucked, too. I ordered a cheeseburger medium-well and it was a bloody mess. How do you screw up a cheeseburger?”
(this post has been checked and edited by Mrs. PeoriaIllinoisan for factual errors)
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I am not the only person fed up with crappy service.
In fact, I’m as mad as Hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore.
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:51 pm
The other thing I don’t like about that restaurant is they wouldn’t know a healthy or low fat meal if it walked up and kicked them in the ass. Nothing but fried shit…. so unoriginal!
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I went there a year ago and haven’t been back.
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
It is a national chain. You should send this entry to the higher ups, clearly the manager didn’t get it. You will probably just get a coupon for a free entree that you will never use, but it couldn’t hurt.
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
The place just sucks, I went twice thinking hey, got them on a bad day. Never will set foot in the place again. You should write the owner of the Mall and tell them; “Smooth move bowels, you had a great place in Famous Dave’s and you ran them out for this crap hole?”
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:55 pm
The place is awful! Food isn’t good and it’s expensive for hamburgers. I’ll never go back.
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:07 pm
You know, it wasn’t even the bad food that was the problem…the river (now sewage) water for my girls, the most awful glass of diet coke I have ever tasted, the bad meals that even my 7 year old commented on (all of which I didn’t utter one complaint about!!!)- it was the smack to my face nasty attitude that almost sent me over the top.
Hint to waitress and manager - act like you care one teeny tiny little bit, and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Apologize and say yes ma’am, I will look into it right now, and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Look me in the face and say “what do you want me to do about it” and you are lucky I didn’t make a huge scene and walk out of the place screaming profanities.
Like I told the manager - I will never be back, and I will spread the word that this place is not worth going to.
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:28 pm
What did you expect? You’re not trendy martini drinkers. /end sarcasm/
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I hate the same experience at Alexander’s last night… My 8 year old niece ordered a kabob from kids menu. We asked at least twice where her food was. We cooked our steaks and were half done when her’s finally came out. By that time, her Mom was already sharing her food with my niece. The did knock her meal off the bill, but she didn’t eat any of it anyway. The service has always sucked in Peoria, but it seems to be worse now at this “fancy” places…
Believe it or not, I’ve always been impressed with Arby’s. Their staff is much nicer than most expensive places.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
It must be in the air. Went to Steak-n-Shake over by Target for lunch with my 4 year old. Big mistake! We were seated in the smallest booth which I ask if we could sit somewhere else so I could sit next to my daughter and was told since there was only two of us, no. Fine I guess I could deal with it as my daughter for some odd reason loves the place. Waitress takes our order and promptly comes out with our shakes and my daughter’s cottage cheese. So far so good.
My four year decides she needs to go to the restroom. No problem, tell the waitress our issue so she know we will be back. Come back from the restroom only to see the manager clearing the table. I say “sir, we were sitting there”. Response: Barks to the back, “Table 4 needs more shakes and cottage cheese. Thought you were a walkout.” No sorry ladies and avoids us the rest of the time. Guess who will not be returning guests.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Sounds like a lot like our lunch yesterday at Old Chicago on the riverfront. Three tables that came in and ordered after our family (me, my mom, my grandma and my 3 yr old daughter) were served all before we ever got our appitizer. When I asked about the hold up as my mom and grandma are both diabetic the waiter made a snide comment under his breath about our table thinking we deserved special treatment. It took another 20 mintes for the appitizer to arrive then about 5 minutes into the applitizer our meal arrives and the waiter takes the unfinished appitizer away. i asked him to please leave the appitizer as we weren’t finished with it and he tlkd me there wasn’t room on the table. I started to complain and my mom and grandma were like “just eat and lets get out of here - it’s not worth the fight.”
Upon leaving I asked to talk to the manager on duty and and was told that since it is a Sunday they did not have a manager on duty just a “Crew Chief”. When he comes out it is the same guy who waited on us!!! I explained that we were very unhappy with the service and at the very least would like the charge for the appitizer taken off our bill. He tells me he doesn’t have the authority to do that and that I should call on Tuesday between 11am - 3pm and talk directly to the manager.
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Wow. Quite a few trouble spots in town.
One thing that has always bothered me is when restaurants clearly do not have enough waiters/waitresses working and the service is slow and how the servers aren’t the ones at fault, but usually end up paying for it with lower tips.
If this happens and the servers are good I will still tip well and Mrs. P is right - showing some concern will go a long ways.
One other thing I’ve noticed is that many of these restaurants and servers might not see the same customers over and over again, so good tipping might be an individually moot point. And let’s not forget about employee turnover.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Never Fear-
My sources tell me that Bar Louie is closing very shortly. A good friend of ours was in management until he realized his paychecks weren’t being calculated correctly.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:32 am
OK, time for me to pipe up.
” clearly do not have enough waiters/waitresses working and the service is slow”
Take a look around you in a restaurant. If there are about 20 people to one waitperson (kind of the norm…it varies) running around and your food takes forever, it most likely isn’t a waitperson problem…it is a kitchen problem. Let me explain. I worked in a 140 seat restaurant. We had 6-8 servers at any given time…but three cooks during the week, 4 on the weekend. When you have apps, dinners, composite salads and even some desserts, guess what? You are so far in the weeds you are looking up at the roots. Who’s fault is that? Certainly not the people working.
Am I saying this is an excuse for any of the above posts? No, but it is an explanation to what happens in a lot of restaurants. How many of you have worked waiting tables or cooked in a commerical kitchen in the last five years? Once again, no excuse for snappy, rude comments, but until you have walked the walk, be careful of casting stones.
September 4th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I’ve been to Bar Louie three, maybe four times and have had only good experiences. I’ve never had a problem with rude waiters and the food was always good. I’ll absolutely go back
September 4th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Here’s the Journal Star’s review:
http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/restaurants/barlouie083106.shtml
Food: ****
Atmosphere: ***1/2
Service: **1/2
(on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the highest)
September 4th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I “love” stars….
September 4th, 2007 at 10:41 am
I didn’t see stars on the menu…
September 4th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Since I have no interest in working at a restaurant to get a feel for the how tough it is, and I also have no interest in going out and spending money to be irritated and frustrated I guess the best answer would be just to blow off the eating out thing as much as possible and spend my discretionary entertainment money on other activities.
September 4th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I’ve had a similar experience at Bar Louie, and this was when several people working there were friends of mine. It’s the kitchen. They’re awful. This doesn’t excuse the waitress’ lack of courtesy, nor does it explain why the manager didn’t comp your whole meal.
I work about 10 minutes from Bar Louie. I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect to be able to get there, eat, and get back to my office within an hour. The one time I went for lunch, I was almost 15 minutes late getting back.
September 4th, 2007 at 11:37 am
that’s a shame too….the chicago one is awesome. of course, my family and i sat at the bar mostly. maybe that’s the key, it’s good for drinks only.
September 4th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I have been to Bar Louie a few times the service is a little slow but it depends on the waiter or waitress you get received ok service. The last time I was there was on a tuesday night to try the $1.00 burger but there is a catch to it, you have to pay for all toppings individually & also buy a drink if you just get water they will still charge you for a beverage. This is a sports kind of bar & the other problem is sometimes you go there & the music is SO LOUD you cant carry on a conversation. Remember this place caters to the north end of Peoria, Dunlap, etc so they dont care if you come back or not the money in that end of town keeps it there…..I know someone who probably should own the company for as many times as they go there.. The food isnt bad just depends on what you get, its better than Hooters.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I just always assume that our service won’t be that terrific at most places we go. So when we do receive good service, we are sure to tip well, tell the person how great they were, then if possible speak to the manager to tell them how great of an experience we had. You’d be surprised at some of the reactions you get.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Geez…this is getting almost as many comments as the Sponge Bob Death
http://peoriaillinoisan.blogpeoria.com/2007/05/30/the-death-of-an-idol/
You think SB ate at Bar Louis, and then went swimming?
September 4th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Maybe they just don’t want people like you in there fine eatery, ever think about that?
September 4th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Big Rog - the correct spelling for the word “there” in the context that you used it would be “their”. Its called grammar - try it .
September 4th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
A 30 something mother with a credit card and three girls ages 7-14 eating lunch at 11:30 wouldn’t be welcome in your fine eatery.
Hmm… no, haven’t thought of that.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:39 am
I agree PI. I watch the show Top Chev on Bravo each week. Yes, I know, I am a dork, but please allow me to continue. One of the challenges was entitled “Restaurant Wars” and when the judges came to judge this particular restaurant, one of the servers made a comment to the effect that there were VIP’s that were being seated. THe wise chef (and winning team, btw) said that they needed to treat all diners as if they were VIP’s. Unfortunately, all restaurants do not do this. I am not rolling in the dough by any means, but I like to dine out at nice restaurants and my 20% tip spends just like anybody elses. There is no excuse for rude behavior!
September 5th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I also had a bad experience at this restaurant. I have not been back. This was they first opened and the service was similarly horrible and slow.
Big Rog - Why would Bar Louie not want these customers in their establishment? What a not nice thing to post. Do you work there?
September 5th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Big Rog - Huh. I didn’t make the connection at first. He’s been messing around on Peoria.com lately.
http://www.peoria.com/member_info.php?member_id=779
Well, I still like most of the people at Peoria.com
September 5th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I heard something about super pricey drinks here, and that, combined with it being a chain, never tried it. My mom went three times and never had anything good to say. But, she went three times??
As far as the newspaper restaurant reviews, I’m sure they have to walk a fine line between being honest and angering a potential advertiser, so I take the reviews with a grain of salt.
September 5th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
PI: Only if they argree with you point of view?
September 5th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Noooooo…
Only if they’re jackasses who don’t know me and say things like:
“Maybe they just don’t want people like you in there fine eatery, ever think about that?”
I’m not big on people who slam my wife’s parenting abilities either, just so you know.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Jeep,
Bar Louie charges $8 for a mojito, but next to the Oyster Bar, it’s the best in town. I wouldn’t suggest any other mixed drinks there, as they ARE overpriced, but $8 for a good mojito is fair.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Oh, I LOVE a good mojito! Most places don’t keep the mint on hand.
I swear my mom said something about $10 or $12 margaritas at Bar Louie, and the first time the bartender made it, she screwed it up. But, this was also RIGHT after the place opened.
Bar Louie also took over the spot of a BBQ restaurant in Milwaukee. At first we were shocked and dismayed (I mean, come ON, we could go to Bar Louie in Peoria), but then we realized the BBQ joint had moved to a new location.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
There really is a simple solution to all of this. If you don’t like a place, don’t go there. YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE VOTE OF WHAT BUSINESSES EXIST IN PEORIA!!! If you spend your money at a business, it will remain here. If you do not spend your money here, they will close and move on. Don’t continue to go to Bar Louie, spend too much money to get crappy service (like the one girl (katearch) said ‘I just always assume that our service won’t be that terrific at most places we go.’ HELLO!!! Why would you want to spend your money and not get good service in a SERVICE industry? Tell you what, come to my house, I will cook you dinner, screw it up, make you wait, snap at you, charge you too much, and complain if you don’t leave me a big tip. Since you expect lousy service anyway, we should get along great!
Don’t spend the money at places where you aren’t satisfied. One of two things will happen. Either these restaurants will start to expect more of their employees (and pay them more for their better service), and you will enjoy your experience, or these restaurants will close, and we won’t have to deal with them in town.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:58 am
And that’s exactly what we will do, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to give a restaurant a second chance.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
You guys are losers…..find something else to do with your lives rather than bash on other people and places. get a life!
September 7th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
hey all of Dawn’s friend’s your e-mail’s didn’t work+ we know she had you e-mail these so give it up
September 7th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
you people who obviously didn’t get free meals right away discuss me!!
can you cook a well done 8 ounce burger without squishing it at hoime in less than 10 minutes??? if you can hahahahhahahahaha no you can’t!!!!
and do you realize that these stupid ” i didn’t get anything for free” BAD11 e-mails to company’s, cost hard working people with children to feed, cilco to keep on for their children, and a roof over their children’s heads , their job’s???? if you don’t like it don’t go back!! why get a poor mother of 3 kids she is working to support, FIRED???? MAYBE YOU WOULD RATHER HAVE THE GOVERNMENT UP YOUR TAXES SO SHE CAN GO ON WELFARE THEN MAYBE YOU COULD NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO GO OUT TO EAT AT ALL????
COME ON PEOPLE HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF YOUR DAUGHTER, MOTHER, BEST FRIEND ANYONE YOU CARED ABOUT GOT FIRED BECAUSE YOU JUST HAD TO THROW A FIT!!!!!!!! LIFE IS TOOOOOO SHORT WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOSE YOUR JOB NO I DON’T THINK SO
September 8th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
[...] a bit hard to decipher, but here is a comment on my post about Bar Louie. you people who obviously didn’t get free meals right away discuss me!! can you cook a well done [...]
September 8th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
“can you cook a well done 8 ounce burger without squishing it at hoime in less than 10 minutes??? if you can hahahahhahahahaha no you can’t!!!!”
I can’t? And how much do you want to lose on this bet?
September 9th, 2007 at 6:19 am
lushybelle, you might want to consider going back to highschool and learning to spell. Then maybe you can get a REAL job!
September 10th, 2007 at 9:59 am
What, no takers on my bet? What I thought. Oh, well, gotta look for a new way to finance new tires
October 15th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
[...] light of recent accusations of poor service [link] [link] [link] at Bar Louie, and after a recent $150,000 kitchen fire, I found this job listing on [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
[...] been paying attention. If you’ll recall my wife went to dinner there and had some not so nice things to say about the place. It didn’t take long before the bad reviews piled on, and on, and on, [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
its a restaurant, things happen, people are human, omg they make mistakes, man im sorry it happened to you, but guess what get over it, life goes on. go to another restaurant, that seems like an easy solution. hope you are done crying now.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
No-one’s crying here. Thanks for the input.