Old Crow Smokehouse

Holy hell where to start…
1.) Every drink is a dollar overpriced, a $ 5 lagunitas IPA is now $ 6, a $ 4 Millet Lite is now $ 5 and so forth, also you can order a crappy moonshine for 12 bucks that tastes like dayquil spiked with ground up peeps
2.) Some of the worst food i’ve ever experienced in Chicago as a whole. I love some shitty bar food but this stuff was literally poison. The brisket «burger» was a slimy, grisly log that I think was actually made with old crow meat. Have never experienced anything like it, it seriously seemed like it took work to get the meat to be that bizarre. Also had these pork nachos in which the chips tasted like they had been drenched in water and brought back to life. The strange cardboard texture combined with the cold pork and pinto beans was off putting and frankly am getting sick thinking about it.
3.) Our waitress was brutal, would go missing for hours on end, not get drink orders in etc… I mean can’t blame her as the place may have been understaffed but when we cleared out and left a 12% tip, we got confronted at the door and strong armed into giving her the missing $ 5…
Have never experienced anything quite like this place, I’m not exaggerating when I say this could be the worst bar in Chicago.

Excellent experience overall! Went with a large group for a birthday party and all the staff were very accommodating! Great waitress Lindsay. Had a wonderful time!

My friend and I wanted to go somewhere post St. Patty’s day to enjoy good food and music. They had a great crowd and an AWESOME band that interacted with the customers in between sets. They had an all you can eat buffet — delicious! And bottomless mimosas for $ 30. Not sure how anyone can have complaints there! I hope they have it again soon!

Absolute worst. The owner was super concerned that he thought I «cut him off» in line and had me kicked out. I’ve read reviews and apparently he has done this multiple times. Stay away

Douchey place. Rude service. Bad atmosphere. May be good for food but I would not recommend it as a bar or a place to meet people.

Many of the reviews on here are about the food and service. THIS IS NOT A DINING SPOT. Yes they have food but they are specifically a bar so don’t expect amazing food at a place like this. In terms of nightlife here, this place is way better than the Wrigley location. Huge open space and great acoustics. Perfect addition to river north nightlife. Drinks are comparable to other bars in the area and it is always busy but never too crowded to order a drink. Great country bar when you want something different than your typical bar scene.

Service — 0 stars.
Food — 0 stars.
Ambiance — 0 stars.
The worst dining experience I have ever had — both in service and in food.
I went here for an early dinner to catch up with a friend. Our server came up to our table and asked us if she could get us anything to drink. No introduction. No suggestions. We ordered drinks and proceeded to talk. She came back three times asking if we were ready to order. We did — Burnt Ends and some other «WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!» item with mac and cheese and fries as the sides. Everything was cold, dry, and flavorless. Completely, and utterly flavorless. How do you mess up mac and cheese? The BBQ squirt bottles on the table were not only disgusting, but all tasted the same — full of sodium, no differentiation between the «flavors» marked on the front.
Our server didn’t come to check on us once after we got our food to check on us. When she saw we stopped pushing things around on our plates, she asked if we were ready for the check. She dropped it and walked away. We paid, then proceeded to go somewhere else for an actual meal.
Do yourself a favor and spend your money elsewhere. Extremely disappointing.

I’ve been here a few times for lunch with clients. Good service, good food, and a decent atmosphere. I’ve had a couple dishes with pulled pork and it is some of the best I’ve had.
I also think it’s a nice touch that the head chef came around to see how our meal was. Don’t normally see that kind of service at places. We will definitely be back in the neighborhood

Food is really good! Amazing BBQ slow cooked chicken and Korean tacos are my favorite
Even more amazing is the staff! Someone in my group had lost some items and The manager Chacho spent 5 days staying in touch with us, following up and really helped us find most of what we lost.
It’s rare to find people as genuine as Chacho. I can’t thank him enough for helping out some strangers.
It feels good to have a bar in river north staffed with genuinely good people that doesn’t feel like you’re getting scammed.
Thanks again Chacho you rock!

I was at this establishment on the night the GOP presidential debate viewing party was being hosted here. Old Crow Smokehouse did a fine job of accommodating the massive crowd with prompt and friendly service throughout the evening. It’s a great place to host an event, for certain…

I went for lunch. I wanted to like the place. It seems like a place that has a heavy input from the chef. The chef came out to the tables to speak with other customers, but not me.
A diner should never get up from their seat to get something. If your servers are attentive, you don’t need to. I did it twice. Once for a utensil and once for a refill on my ice tea. (Btw, how can you be a BBQ place and not have sweet tea?) It took forever to get a check at the end of the meal as well.
The music was way too loud for lunch. And it was corny country music. Not all country is bad, it just seemed inauthentic.
The food was above average, but a bit overpriced. Especially when you just open a restaurant, I expect some deals to entice me to come back. I work a block away and wanted a new lunch option.

The brisket was the best I’ve had. Really like the cocktail list as well. Front porch punch is the way to go. The servers we friendly and helpful!

Free peanuts, but you’ll pay a «$ 3 upcharge for a neat or rocks pour»…how else am I supposed to order good bourbon?
Signed,
Every person ever
Great meat though.

Had a great time on a Thursday night only to look at my credit card bill online a few days later. The staff took it upon themselves to add an additional $ 10. Talked to my friend and they did the exact same thing to him. Tried calling the phone number they have online only to see it doesn’t work. Dishonest staff! Check your credit card statements after going!

This place is the typical river north bar with a western theme. The brisket and Mac ‘n’ cheese were really good but the ribs were over cooked with out flavor. I wouldn’t recommend this place if you’re with a group that you want to talk to as the music is so loud that shouting across the table is a must.
We probably won’t be back.

This place is rather unique. Some people feel it is a bitof overkill to have a western themed cowboy bar in the middle of River North.
I went with a real live woman on Friday Night and I realized this was in the former space of the Riv North John Barleycorn. It seemed like there were lots of deuchebags and other types of morons when I walk ed thru the bar to a different area near the area where they were going to have a live country music band at 10 PM.
Everything is served in a crazy mug even diet coke or iced tea.
I had a salad but before I had any of the meat.
How does one go about reviewing a salad? is there specific rules for the texture of mixed greens or etiquette of how cucumbers are out on the plate?
it was ok. How can a salad be bad?
we had a guy named «chef jeff» come up to our table and help us open some of the peanuts out of their shell and then took some of the shells and hoisted it on to the ground to help save room for us and potentially for a person who was going to be working the broom later-​job creation can be tricky.
I myself question how in the middle of River North where you have all these fancy shmancy places will be able to sustain a place where people who have dressed up in more affluent gear than gym shoes and «wife beaters» are putting peanut shells in the ground. Maybe they can have a slaughterhouse in a area in the back too-​just for ambiance purposes. But there is Bub city and the food is good there. We will see.
Next on to the wings… I am not a spicy wing person. I had the honey mustard flavored wings. I would come bank here again just for that alone.
This might be the cool place to be for a few months but its not my personal cup of tea (which they do have)
I spoke with the chef for a few min amid the very loud country music (it was like going out to have a beer with Alan Jackson) and this country food lifestyle thing must be catching on since he is going to open like a few more places like this in southern california. He was a nice guy to us.
Interesting spot to say the least. :Like I said I will be back for the wings and so should you. If you think peanuts are good as a free appetizer you may enjoy this spot as well