Mickeys Bar & Patio

This dump has finally closed !!! Just more proof that a business needs to pay attention to their overall Unilocal rating and REACT to customer feedback. Good rittens Mickeys Bar… LP will not miss you in the least. You were a true blemish in our neighborhood.

Overall, a complete «meh». Food and drinks are nothing special, and staff are not very good at their jobs. Waitresses wander by once every half hour or so. Awesome location for people watching, but that’s about it.
Unless you’re a diehard OSU or Browns fan, or just omgomgomgomg LOVE hearing the same T-​Pain song blasted 3x in a row from a speaker 6 inches from your head, I’d stick to Galway Arms (2 doors away).

This place is dirty, the food is not good, and the service is extremely slow. I will not go back.

Le restaurant Mickey’s est situé dans un quartier résidentiel très sympa et est a deux encablures du Lincoln Park. Lors d’une ballade a vélo sur les rives du lac Michigan, c’est une pause appréciable mais après l’avoir testé, c’est principalement pour boire un verre que je vous le conseille.
Tout d’abord un petit mot sur le service qui est cordial mais d’une lenteur assez extrême… Il né faut pas être pressé !
Ce restaurant est aussi un bar qui est appréciable grâce un beau patio couvert qui est fort agréable en été. Côté bar, l’établissement semble spécialisé dans le Mojito et ses différentes déclinaisons. Il y a aussi une belle sélection de bières et même de vins (ce qui est plus rare aux USA).
Passons a la partie qui fâche, le côté restauration de l’établissement. On est plus sur du snacking que sur un vrai restaurant. J’ai pu tester le Tuna Sandwich (sandwich au thon) et bien je peux vous dire qu’il n’était pas vraiment bon ! Le thon était amalgamé avec une sauce assez étrange et le pain du sandwich manquait de fraîcheur. Les frites servies en accompagnement était beaucoup trop grasses et je n’en ai mangé que deux ou trois.
Bref un endroit pratique de part sa localisation mais au service très très lent et a la partie restauration ou plutôt snacking qui né m’a pas conquis du tout.

Mickeys bar reminds me of that deadbeat loser you know who inherited a million dollar estate but drove it into the ground due to mismanagement. When I look at this place, it screams potential. It’s location is PRIME, its outdoor patio arrangement is great and the relatively spacious setup sets the tone for a fabulous establishment. Sadly, that’s about it.
The owners of this place need to take 2 minutes to get out of their BMW’s and see how management is driving this place into a wasteland of incompetence. It takes a supreme level of poor management to spoil a place like Mickeys. How many complaints do customers have to post on Unilocal for management to take a hint?
It’s easy to blame the waiters/​waitresses but I see a deeper fault in this place. The staff seem uncoordinated, unmotivated and disinterested. The «specials» arent really special, and the drinks aren’t much to talk about either. I blame the management for failing to coordinate a half-​decent system that tends to paying customers needs, I walked into this place on a relatively quiet Monday nigh but somehow the hosts didnt feel the need to tend to us. We got more attention from the gentleman whose job it is to serve water than from any of the waiters who actually get our tips. We had to walk UP to a waitress to grab her attention; she brought us a couple of menus then quickly dashed away claiming its not her responsibility to serve us. Fair, I understand that waiters/​waitresses may be assigned tables but our host never showed up! We waited a further 15 minutes for some attention; we watched at least 2 hosts standing around with no clear purpose apart from the petty high school people-​watching they seemed to be indulging in. Nobody wanted to help us and so very frustrated, we just left. The guy at the door just hopped around in a circle and riverdanced for us as we walked out of this place.
I live in the neighborhood and have attempted to come here before on a busy night. On most occasions, Mickey’s is blatantly short-​staffed and for the few occasions when its not too busy, there is no clear plan. Management probably pats itself on the back for minimizing their wage bill but little do they know how much its hurting their business. If they have any business sense, they would know that the «saving» they make is heavily outweighed by the money they lose to neighborhood competitors who gladly scoop up Mickey’s angry clientele. Maybe the business has to go bust for management to take a hint…

Let me start out with the positives — Mickey’s is good to watch Brown’s games if you want a less crowded scene than the surrounding Brown’s bars on Clark in Lincoln Park. They have bingo during timeouts and half time but the prizes are nothing to be excited about. They also have decent food and are cheap.
Overall, I try to avoid Mickey’s when possible. It’s dirty, the service is not exceptional and the floors are sticky with beer ²⁴⁄₇. It just is not somewhere I would particularly recommend — I suggest heading next door to Galway Arms instead. Their patio looks intimidating but it’s a pleasant surprise once you get in!

We went during the week for lunch. It was an accident. We set out to go to another spot for lunch only to discover that it was closed. We looked around and saw Mickey’s. It looked casual and inexpensive and it was.
We sat ourselves in a side room where we were the only patrons. There were probably about eight flat screen televisions showing day-​time television shows (Judge Judy and something else). I saw that the booth seats were dirty with stains and crumbs and was happy when my friends suggested we move to a tall table. Our server was nice but she was the ONLY server and bar tender for the whole place. Even though we were the only ones in that particular dining room, she had about four or five other tables on the patio.
My friends all got fish bowl drinks and mojitos. They let me taste them and I thought that they tasted like juice. I’m not sure if the fruity taste was because they were well made drinks or because they were low on alcohol content. My friends liked them and ordered multiples.
We all seemed perfectly content with our food. I got pulled pork sliders. They were tasty and the buns were toasted. The fries were thick, crispy exterior, and gooey interior. I liked the texture of the fries very much but I thought that they had a strange aftertaste. Like, maybe they were fried in a different oil than what I’m used to.
Service was extremely slow the whole entire time. My friends walked up to the bar to get their drinks. We waited so long to pay that we had a discussion about leaving money on the table to cover everything because there was no bill. I mean, it all eventually got sorted out but it took FOREVER and we were more than ready to leave.

Prime location with a nice patio
Food selection isn’t the best, nor is the bar area inside
Overall, good place to go to catch a game. Warning — it is an Ohio State bar!

The big outdoor covered patio is cool. It’s nice for people watching. And since it’s covered you can sit out there when it’s too sunny or raining. They have tvs on it and play music. It’s a bit of an eclectic crowd; sometimes old timers, sometime loud chads and trixies bellowing. One time I was there and these two preppy jocks came up to me and asked me questions about their clothes and sunglasses???
The price point isn’t that great IMHO for drinks or food. But I’ve only had drinks there. Nothing on the menu stood out to me and the service was lacking.

My friend and I stopped in on a week night for wings and a beer. The bar area was packed, but the patio was pretty empty. We sat for 10 minutes and never saw a server. The other tables had food, so we knew one existed! We left and went to another bar where we were promptly acknowledged. Mickey’s patio seems like it would be cool in the summer, but no thanks!

small.
went here for NYE and had a bad experience but it wasn’t mickeys fault, their manager was accommodating and we got free bottles!
BTW the bathrooms only had THREE stalls. NOT okay.
probably won’t be back here, its not my scene but thanks manager for trying to make our sucky situation better.

The only reason I’m giving this place 3 stars instead of 2 is because their outdoor patio is pretty cool.
I would come back here for some drinks but probably be sure to eat before I come. Their menu doesn’t really have too many options and I didn’t really care for the food.

I wonder if anyone really reads the reviews for this place. Skimmed through some and found my exact complaint: the servers are awful.
At one point, my friends and I wondered if we were just being ignored because we were a table of women, and we saw our server being way more attentive to tables full of men. We began to discuss how some servers may think women don’t tip well at bars so they don’t actually put forth much effort. However, even if you had that misconception, you’d at least try to get rid of the table as soon as possible… right?
It took 20 minutes to get our check even after we asked. After we saw our server give every other table in the area their checks. Maybe she was just a space cadet? Either way, we made sure to tip her well, and I was very tempted to write how rude she was on the receipt, and that I wanted half the tip to go to the bus boy who was way more attentive. The servers here are just awful.
On the other hand, the turkey burger I ordered was pretty good. They have a really good cucumber/​watermelon drink that I will inevitably recreate on my own, because I never want to go back to Mickey’s.
Another weird thing to note was the draft beer my friend ordered that came with a straw. Whaaa? This place is just weird.

If you dare find yourself at Mickey’s at some point, you are better off sitting at a table in the patio rather than at the bar inside, where they undoubtedly have some of the rudest bartenders I have ever had the «pleasure» of being served by.
Instead of making an honest attempt to fraternize with the customers, these bartenders would rather stand at the furthest corner of the bar playing around with their smartphones and gossiping with each other — placing customers at a very low priority and making them feel unwelcome, and often times making it difficult to wave them down to place a simple order without having to raise your voice.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by some of the great dive bars I’ve been to in Chicago due to excellent bartenders having the social skills necessary to make even the newest of customers feel like the oldest of friends, but the bar for even decent customer service at Mickey’s is very low. At the bare minimum (and depending on crowd size, of course), the bartender should ask the customer every 5 – 10 minutes if everything is okay, but the bartenders at Mickey’s even fail to do that unless you are wildly flailing your arms to grab their attention.
In spite of living within walking distance of Mickey’s, I haven’t been back in four months and don’t plan on going back anytime soon.

Out of all the bars in Chicago, we went to this one purely out of convenience; and that was a major mistake. It was pouring down rain after my friend’s birthday dinner so we decided to run across the street & pop into Mickeys for a night cap. We were pretty much the only patrons in there.
We sat at a table & ordered drinks. We ordered three double whiskey and cokes in a short glass — and our tab was $ 19.50. The waitress then made us close out, before we were ready to go because she «had to leave». I found this odd and a complete faux pas as I spent 5 years of my life waiting tables.
We then order from the bartender. I order the same drinks, but only two this time. My tab was $ 24.50. When we questioned the bartender about this, she got angry, continuously repeated herself, and was very rude about it. We then sat down at our table discussing with our friends what had happened. She rudely interrupted us in mid-​conversation to «straighten out» the confusion. She was rude again, did not apologize, and continued to argue/​roll her eyes at us.
We left (mind you this is at 10:30pm). The bartender and all of the other employees literally bombarded behind us and ran to their cars. I honestly couldn’t believe how rude they were and unhappy to have customers.
Do not go here for drinks! It is overpriced, lame, & the staff is beyond rude. Not to mention a rip off. We should have gone to the dive across the street.

I really dislike this place. It is always packed but I still cant figure out why. Maybe I just had a bad experience but, needless to say, I am not going back. $ 12 «boat» drinks in Lincoln Park? Come on. You are marketing towards a bunch of college kids and kids right out of school in my opinion.
The crowd is not my type. I see a lot of kids with spiked hair and exposed tattoos.
The service is very poor. When I went with 4 friends we could not get our waitresses attention.
The outdoor patio was nice but the music was way too loud and we could not talk. In addition, some homeless person came up to the edge of the patio asking us for money…

Nah.
My boyfriend and I were walking around Lincoln Park, shopping, and we got hungry and also wanted to grab a drink… so we thought we’d give Mickeys a shot because they do, admittedly, have a great patio.
The guy at the door told us to sit wherever we wanted… so we did, and we waited for our server.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, a server walked by, made eye contact with us, passed us and went to wipe an empty table down.
We tried to flag her down, but she didn’t see us or something… and she walked away. I was highly irritated by this point. It was the middle of the afternoon and dead. Not busy at all.
The moment before we got up to leave, different server came to greet us and she was nice. I decided to let it go. We ordered mojitos. They were not great and expensive but they were okay.
Then we ordered food. I did not get what I ordered, but I was so fed up with the dining experience that I just ate what I could so we could get out of there.
I wasn’t expecting to be astounded by their food but I was hoping for some decent service at least. I most likely won’t be back unless it’s for drinks and I’ve already had a few before I get there.

Pluses:
Patio
Location
Mickey’s has a great patio area, that is really hard to beat. Their food is pretty good, and is your basic bar grub. The service is generally OK. but nothing that will rock your socks off. One visit you’ll have someone great, and the next visit you’ll be virtually ignored until you get someones attention.
I’ll keep going for the patio, the drink specials… and the location.

I was in Chicago for the weekend and after a quick tour of the Lincoln Park Zoo, my friends and I were on the search for Molly’s Cupcakes which we had heard great things about. It was pretty hot, and as we passed by Mickey’s we decided to stop in and grab some waters and rest for a bit.
We sat at the bar that faced the main street right on the patio. The bartender asked what we were drinking and gave an incredulous look, when we said we weren’t drinking. After some good-​natured ribbing we took a look at the specialty cocktail list. We settled on the Dos Amigos, Grape Punch, and Sweet Ice Tea. The purple punch was in a 32oz glass and felt amazing after walking out in the sun all day. Our view was prime for people watching and our bartender kept us entertained as well.
I can see how this place might be a typical bro-​hang out, but I welcomed the excited soccer fans cheering in the background as I sipped on my purple drink!
If your thirsty and need a break from walking around I would say to check out Mickey’s if your in the area. Prices seemed reasonable and I did see some food options though we didn’t eat anything.

Cute place!
Even cuter when you can sit on the patio.
Good drink specials. Friendly service.
(Didn’t try the food, but saw what looked like some tasty little treats that others were snacking on)
Would totally come back :)

The only reason to come here is the patio on a sunny day. It’s big and at a perfect height for people watching.
Oh, and the wings are surprisingly zingy and awesome.
Watch out for those waitresses. They should be called waititudes. HA, wasn’t that funny. Their attitude sucks.
Don’t come here for a date or anything nice. It’s really just the kind of place to hit after a day at the beach. The tables are mostly dirty and the floor is littered with chunks of food.