Halsted’s Bar and Grill

Best bloody Mary’s I have ever drank in my entire existence here in life. I would die a happy man if I was sipping on one of their worlds famous bloodies mmmmmmmm just thinking about it

Omg their salads are fantastic! I can’t believe I’m saying that about a bar. I had the pear and blue cheese salad and it was fantastic. My friend’s wraps also looked very good. The only complaint is that they were out of a LOT of bottled beer but our waiter said they are about to go through a renovation? Also, service was very good.
Will definitely be back for that awesome salad!

This is one of those places I find myself returning to because I am hungry and in the area and I’m like… mmmm…OK. The food and service is average. Nothing particularly special about the place but it’s easy to get in and grab a bite which is often needed if you have had some DRANKZ along the boyztown strip of bars. They do have a nice patio in the summer so that’s a plus. Other than that Mehhh it’s there… it’s convenient.

Great food, great staff, and an overall a really good time! The brunch on the weekends is such a great deal! Walter, our server was wonderful. He was very attentive. Will definitely be coming back and asking for Walter again! Cheers!

I’ve been a regular over the years. More often than not, good service and good food. This week Wednesday however, that was not the case. Maybe short staffed due to new places just opening in Andersonville, but that’s a hopeful guess. We (2 of us) arrived at 7:30pm and seated among three other tables occupied in the dining room. One of them was a kid’s birthday party of about 8 in total. After about 15 minutes I went and asked the waiter if we could at least place an order for drinks. He said sure, but then never came to our table. After about 5 more minutes I went and asked the bartender to send someone over. We waited about 5 more minutes, but then we walked out and went to Rock’s, which was packed almost to capacity, but we were served immediately. I’ll think twice before returning to Halsted’s.

Came here primarily for their bottomless bloody mary because I found it on a search of bloody mary’s in chicago. A friend came with me and although they offered her bottomless mimosas ($ 16)it just didn’t make sense because they were $ 3 each. Sadly, although they have many different enticing bloody mary’s on the menu, they were only offering up their basic, which I assume was a mix and vodka added. Not really very strong even, and served in a medium sized glass full of ice, a few sips and it was gone :(
Fortunately they made me wear a Wristband! So I could be recognized in their nearly empty restaurant as being a person who is drinking an unlimited amount of bloody mary!
I also ended up ordering the Chicken Bacon Jack Panini — no complaints there! I ate half of it then, took half to eat when I got home… quite a fair distance I traveled to check out their bloody… unless I find myself in that neighborhood again or find out about some other amazing specials they have (half price apps, bogos? something??) I probably won’t be back.

Great food service and sports entertainment. Good was good and tasty!!! Price for my club sandwich was a bit high for what I expected. Walter was an amazing server!

I’ve been to Halsted’s a couple of times in the past and it’s somewhere I would go if my friends really want to go there, but independently I don’t think I’d ever recommend it to anyone.
It’s definitely a perfectly acceptable location for food if you’re okay with a very traditional, no frills, no creativity, not heavily seasoned, foods. Very recently I was there for Sunday brunch and got a steak and eggs dish. The eggs (scrambled) did not have seasoning, the tater tots were lackluster (which was particularly disappointing since it’s really hard to go wrong with tots), the steak was ordered rare and came out probably a little too rare by health standards (but that’s okay, I like it that way). I ended up needing hot sauce and a lot of salt to flavor the eggs, which I very rarely do. On the same trip, I was there with a bunch of friends, and three of them had problems with the food and had to have it sent back to the kitchen, one had to send it back to the kitchen twice before giving up and just asking for it to be taken off the bill. Realistically, it was probably the kitchen’s fault as our server, John (Sean?), was really great about all the errors and ended up giving us all a discount on the food. But see, here’s the thing about discounting things on bills… you should never have messed up to start with that discounting and taking things off the tab is necessary. The only part of the service that was particularly disappointing was the lack of refills on beverages. I think the server came around once to refill my water, and while he left a pitcher at the table 1) I go places for the services and 2) he never refilled the pitcher, so when that got empty…
I’ve also been there in the past for other meals and honestly… I can’t remember any of the them. Nothing stood out. Nothing wow’ed me. Nothing makes me want to go back specifically. But, like I said, it’s a perfectly acceptable place to go and the service is pretty much on par with what I would expect at a casual dining location (not stellar, not amazing, but they work hard and do their best). Definitely a «no frills» kind of place, which definitely has it’s place, especially in Boystown.

Ok, let me start by saying that I giving this place a 3.5 star. This is the second time that we have visited this restaurant, both times during the Wednesday 5.00 burger night. The food is great, love the tomato soup! The burgers are very good as well. The first time we came here, it was just excellent! However, on our last visit, it was horrible service, and if this had been our first time here, it would have been the last!
We were waited on by a gentleman, who truly had no idea what was going on. I ordered the tomato soup for an app, and waited and waited for it to come, when I finally asked about it (15 minutes later), the waiter says, let me check on that… really? Lets get real, when you have soup on the menu, it is usually made ahead, and based of off the first visit, and have the soup delivered within 2 – 3 minutes, this was clearly a case of him forgetting my soup. Ok, I will give you a pass on this, things happen. The burgers come out, and they are way overdone, I ask for medium rare, and get well done. My partners fries are cold… nice.
Well, I will say that the manager did come to the rescue, this is why they get 3.5 stars. He had the kitchen remake our food, comped the bill, and gave us free dessert! After we complained about the issues we were having, the waiter REALLY stepped it up, almost to the point of annoyance, but hey, at least they took notice.
We will go back to Halsted’s, hopefully it was an off night.

I have mixed feelings about this place because there are definite pros and cons.
Let’s start with the negatives. I brought my parents from out of town to Halsted’s to show them a little bit of why I love living in Boystown. The place was a little quiet since we came on a Monday night, so I expected great service. However, the service was extremely slow and we had to wait about 40 minutes for our food. Once our food finally arrived, the French fries were cold and severely undercooked. We asked the waiter to take them back and he didn’t apologize or offer a replacement. We also had to wait quite a while for our check.
The atmosphere is so fun here, and the back patio is especially great. The lighting and water (wall?) is really cool. Definitely welcoming and a nice place to hang out. Also, the tater tots are super fresh and delicious. They also have a wide variety of craft beers and specials during the week.
I will definitely return to Halsted’s, but with the knowledge that service is slow and not the best.

I ate here recently for the first time. I was impressed with their back patio space. It was nice and quiet, especially considering how loud the street can be.
The menu is my kind of menu. Tater tots, burgers, nachos, fried pickles mmmmmm. I ordered the «tot» chos. (Nachos with tater tots in place of chips) they were good.
I didn’t give them 5 stars because my drinks were empty for half the time I was there and it was a hot night. Otherwise, I would definitely go back, and even bring friends from out of town.

Came here with a group on the 4^th of July holiday and sat outside on the patio. Everybody enjoyed the food. Most of us tried one of the Bloody Mary specials from the brunch menu. Only critique there was the Bloody Mary served with the small sandwich should have had the sandwich elevated above the drink some so the bread didn’t get soggy.
The service was great though, very responsive and friendly. We had a good time and will be back!

Lunch with a friend. Ate on the patio. Service was friendly. Food was satisfying. My only complaint is that there was TOO much turkey on my sandwich.
Who doesn’t love tator tots on a patio?
Yum

Right smack in the middle of boys town! This place has a good beer selection, a fantastic beer garden, it’s very clean, and straight friendly.
The staff was incredibly friendly and fun to interact with. I would definitely go back.

Great mimosas! Awesome patio and really good service. Lots of TVs too if you want to watch a sporting event.

I’ve lived in the area for years, shlepped my hot mess self to & from the bars/​restaurants forever, but never have I visited Halsted’s until ¹⁰⁄₁₉ around 8:30 ish and holy crap. Rarely do I get a positive experience & perfect food but Halsted’s OWNED that.
Like, dude who was our waiter– I’m so sorry I forgot your name but you need a cookie or a whole damn cookie cake because you were so polite to my hag and I as we annoyingly giggled about the dumbest things ever (probably cats) all night. You were awesome and that was some of the best help I’ve received in a while.
But lets talk about these totcho things, because I need to meet the person who discovered how to make sex in food form… Like seriously! WHO DID THIS?! This is like the best food concoction thing I’ve ever had! And yeah we sure did go back 2 days later (Awesome woman who waited on us you were just as cool and I got a cookie cake for you too) to get more because YOLO and our size 27 waists say we can so shut up.
The beer list is also bomb. I had like 2 double pints of 312 green line because 312 is the only way to go duh. We also had these chicken strips. And you wouldn’t think there would be anything amazing about chicken strips but they just made them so magical. Like I took forever to eat these damn chicken strips because I didn’t want them to disappear because then I would go crazy just wondering if they ever existed to begin with.
WHAT.ARE.THIS.
Goal list edit: Be Halsted’s regular.

The previous time I was at Halsted’s it was certainly not the best service or food. As a creature of habit, it had stopped there recently on a Friday for lunch. I was able to grab a table next to the open door that looked on to Halsted Street.
John G, was doing double duty — server and bartending. Since I was working later in the day, I just ordered a coke and the All-​American Minis (burgers). This time, there wasn’t a long delay receiving my food. He would also check-​in with me and would refill my coke. The burgers were prepared perfectly.
John had restored my faith in this restaurant. I would defiantly return.

Halsted’s Bar and Grill saved me from Market Days. At least for a while.
I have been attending Market Days faithfully for the past 4 – 5 years. I love it. I do. But there are two things I do not love:
1. Eating while walking in a crowd. This is why you will never catch me at the Taste of Chicago. It makes me feel like my food is surrounded by the germs of thousands of people. Not to mention, one misplaced elbow and you’ve got mustard on your chest.
2. $ 6 Bud Light. The $ 6 part isn’t the problem. I feel like elaborating any further will make me seem like a snob… which I admittedly can be when it comes to beer selections.
After weaving through the crowd at least twice, Halsted’s back patio felt like an oasis. I mean, it does have a waterfall and all. Given that it was Market Days, the beer selection wasn’t as big as normal, but I paid $ 6 for something that wasn’t Bud, and that’s all I asked for. We had the nachos, which were good, though not particularly memorable. I greatly enjoyed the fried green beans and would recommend giving them a try. For as busy as that day was, I think the service moved along as quickly as it could have. And our waiter was awesome.
As I sat there bobbing my head along to the string of Beyonce hits, I wondered how the residents who lived above and around Halsted’s put up with all of this. But as the hard to miss aroma of pot caressed the breeze and entered our noses, I guess they wouldn’t have much room to talk, huh?

Halsted’s Bar and Grill has been a disappointment in the food department two times I’ve been there.
The food is OK, but if I had a choice between eating here again or having a pre-​made sandwich from Starbucks (last time I had one of those I got food poisoning), I’d probably take my chances with the Starbucks sandwich.
The only reason why I’m giving this place two stars is because the staff has always been friendly and provided great service.

Me and a friend were walking around during Halstead Market Days yesterday and we wanted to actually sit and eat (and people watch), so we stopped and sat. We decided on Chicken Nachos. I really wasn’t expecting much, and they were REALLY good! I was very pleasantly surprised.
We loved the fresh fried tortilla chips, the guac was fresh and the freshly grilled chicken was awesome. Even the pickled jalapenos were fresh — they didn’t look like they had been sitting in the jar forever. Good ratios of everything. The only thing I would have wanted is more chopped fresh jalapeño for kick (but I have a palate that likes HOT. Since I have been here in Illinois, there has not been a single thing that has met my level of spicy HOT!!)
I don’t remember our servers name, but he was nice and friendly.