District Bar & Grill

I could hear the bass and see the lights from the street. We were looking for somewhere to drink after a show at the theater down the street. A stranger pointed and said, «that place is fun.» I believed him, and we went inside.
«I don’t think anyone here has a full time job,» was my observation a few moments after entering. District’s crowd is young, and by that I mean a 21 – 24 (24 is pushing it!), single, party girl type of crowd that *doesn’t* outgrow it. It had a college-​bar/​townie kind of vibe. This is the kind of place where early 20-​somethings go to get drunk and grind on each other. I felt very out of place here, and my two friends (younger than me) also agreed. There were a few older people here, most of which were playing video poker.
It is NOT a «lounge» or a «club,» it’s a bar that has a DJ spinning top 40 hits (sometimes OUTDATED top 40). Think Cadillac Ranch or Saddle Up, if you’re familiar with either of those.
The drinks are cheap. My friend got drinks pretty quickly from the crowded bar. I must say, I was impressed with the bartenders’ abilities to keep up with the St. Patrick’s Day weekend crowd.
I wasn’t on the hunt for a man, but I could smell the desperation. I got leered at by a neo-​Nazi skinhead lookalike. Another kid, who reeked of cigarettes and looked like he’d been kicked in the teeth, tried to hit on me and both of my friends. Upon realizing I was married, he called me «ma’am» and almost got another kick in the teeth.
The floors are sticky. Really sticky. «slurrrrpshwwwppp» was the sound of my shoes with each footstep. The bathrooms are about what you’d expect.
Ten years ago, I likely would have loved a place like this. It was crowded, but not uncomfortably so. There are tables if you need to take a rest from dancing. Drinks are cheap and decent. But now, I’m too old for this sh*t and would rather pay $ 12 for a fancy cocktail in a quiet lounge or listen to a legitimately good DJ in an actual club environment.
If anything, I learned that I can still throw some elbows when needed and get hit on by some of the weirdest of the weird. I don’t know if the atmosphere varies depending on the time of day, but I can only recommend this to those who have freshly turned 21.

District is a cool place overall. However, the last time we were there it was way to loud and the DJ was not that great. We have only been there a handful of times and they have had some great bands and they are always packed full of people, and of course the drinks are good. Again cool place but don’t try talking to people while you’re there cause they wont be able to hear you lol

I’m going to preface my review with my experience and end it on the quality of the food. We got there and sat down and ordered and received our drinks fairly quickly. We ordered our food and anxiously awaited its arrival. The waitress, about 30 minutes later, came back and claimed that she didn’t know what we ordered but assured us that our food was prepared (i.e. she didn’t know what to bring out). We repeated our orders and it was a good 30 minutes again until we finally contacted the manager about what was going on. The manager was very classy about the situation and immediately grabbed us our food and gave us a discount. We’re very grateful for that. The waitress also apologized. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had we not been going to the IceHogs (they won 5 – 2) game at 7. The food itself is really good – I had a bacon cheeseburger and the burger was good. The fries were great. Overall, I think this restaurant has good food but I’m not sure whether the service is subpar or they were just having a bad night.

Gave this place many chances to impress however lots of changes need to be made. Food is AWFULL !!! Everything is frozen or out of a bag. One of the worst burgers I’ve ever had. Very dry and no flavor. Order medium came out well done and try. Management looks to be lacking here. Paper dispensers in men’s bathroom was knocked down n never replaced. Condiments given to me at bar were empty and filthy nasty. As for $ 6 pizza made with frozen crust, it’s a$ 6 pizza and that might be too much. As for the staff it’s hard to tell who works here and who doesn’t. No uniforms and they wear whatever they choose. Place could be decent but no management skills here whatsoever not even the basics.

I’ve seen cleaner establishments in Afghanistan. Wings aren’t bad though and $ 1 16 OZ Oktoberfest is always good.

I’m not a Rockford native butI am willing to guess without looking at the reviews this is one of the premier music lounges in city. The bar is pretty huge and on a slow night really seemed massive. They have a private banquet room and a cool back pool table and seating area for privacy. They have video gaming and a nice bar with ugh eye candy working and attending this youthful bar. Its also has a cool old downtown location in a city that is not too small or too big like Chicago. As Jim Carey’s dumb character would say I like it alot although my age I would to like to come here when its packed on Friday night with twenty somethings

Good atmosphere before a concert last night. Staff was super friendly, but I wish I would have asked what was good instead of trying the chicken nachos… they were bad. Chips were lacking, and the chicken tasted like it came from a can… cheese reminded me of cheese wiz. I did see a lot of other tasty looking items come out of the kitchen, so, I’m not writing them off yet. Cold and tasty drinks, loud music but not so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. I’ll give it another shot when I’m in Rockford.

Solids appetizers with spinach artichoke, fried mac cheese and potato skins. Service was good. Just a loud place.

Mushroom Swiss burger was dry, lacking of flavor, and had minimal toppings consisting of a few canned mushrooms and one piece of cheese. There were no condiments or lettuce, tomato or onion provided. Side salad for $ 1 more had one tomato wedge and two slivers of cucumber. Not impressed.

Stopped in for a bite to eat before the Ice Hogs game. Hallie was my server and she was excellent. She was very friendly but what was best is that her timing was spot on for giving me time to look at the menu and ask how everything was, The atmosphere was pretty relaxed, lots of TV’s with sports. Food was good. I’ll go back the next time I’m in town for a game.

Very busy but service was slow. Friend ordered a drink but Bartender did not know how to make an blue cheese olive martini with vodka. First one came with gin and no stuffed olives. Second finally with vodka and no stuffed olives. Waitress kept asking if she was sure she wanted the olives stuffed because she would have to make them. Blackened chicken sandwich was SUPER spicy and almost un-​eatable. Would not come back.

Dueling Pianos at the District is a blast. The food is fine.
Don’t order any drinks besides beer! I ordered a raspberry martini. The drink was yellow and had an orange twist on it. I told the waitress it was wrong and she said, «no, it’s made with raspberry vodka.» Between the color and the smell of the orange it was an incredibly disappointing drink.
Then I ordered a margarita. It was not served in the right glass, it was served in a plastic glass that you would expect water and soda to come in. One of my friends got way too much salt, the other didn’t get any salt at all. The drink itself was ok — not great, not even good. Stick to beer.

Went here about a month ago, granted they were busy but the service was terrible. The server had no idea what she was doing. Told us the wrong soups and when I asked if a sauce was spicy she said no but it was very spicy. I waited 20 minutes just to get a soda delivered to the table and when the soup was brought out It was completely different than what we ordered. The manager never came over and apologized after I expressed my discontent. I’ll never go here again.

Great atmosphere & food. Had the mac n cheese with steak. My husband tryed it and said he would eat it and he doesn’t like mac n cheese. Was great and fair priced. Food came out very fast. Garlic mashed potatoes were homemade. Happening spot, TV’s all over so you won’t miss a game. :)

We decided to stop by District as we were downtown and hungry. We went in at an odd time, around 3:30pm on a Saturday. After parking in the back lot, we entered through the backdoor that leads to the public lot. They greeted us promptly and told us to sit anywhere this side of the roped off area. Half the bar was roped off for a special event before an Ice Hogs game. We found an open table and sat down.
…and waited.
…and waited.
…and waited.
As people were walking around no one came to our table. We had a hard time trying to figure out who were patrons and who was staff. The staff had no uniforms or name tags that we saw. They were all dressed differently like they were going out for a night on the town, not as a server. Finally, just when we were about to leave a couple of waitresses came up to us. They were apologetic and asked us if we wanted anything to drink. I asked what beer they had on tap and the girl ran down a short list. I could see the tapper handles from our table, but I couldn’t make them out. But I knew she left a lot of beers off of her list. After ordering one, I went up to the tapper handles to look. That’s when the waitress came back and said they didn’t have the beers we ordered. So we ordered two new ones, based on reading the tapper handles. She came back a third time saying they didn’t have one of the beers we ordered. I’m annoyed at this point. I’m trying to be civil, but I’m sure it came off as annoyed. I asked if her tapper handles where wrong. She said no, and I directed her to the tapper handle that had the beer we wanted that she said they did not. She went back to the bartender and came back with two beers stating that the bartender called it by a different name. Okay… Seriously, they need to know what they have on tap.
She took our food order. My wife had the Classic Italian Beef; my wife had the Sante Fe Pork Wrap. The description of my Italian beef (copy and pasted right from their online menu) «Slow roasted seasoned beef served with mozzarella cheese on a toasted hoagie bun with au jus, giardiniera or roasted red peppers.» When mine was served there was no giardiniera or Roasted Red Peppers. The meat was flavorless and the au jus was just okay. My wife’s Sante Fe Pork Wrap is described as «Shredded pork, lettuce, roasted corn and beans, tomato, two blend cheese and spicy ranch». She wasn’t impressed either. She let me try it. When you think of something being «Sante Fe», most people think a little Tex-​Mex or Southwest style cooking that has a touch of spiciness to it. This had nothing. And as for the Spicy Ranch, she joked the entire time that there was a drop at the bottom of the wrap and it spilled out after the third bite. It was very plain.
District seems to be a bar that wants to be a mix of an upscale bar/​restaurant, music venue and sports bar, but it seems to miss the mark on all three cases. The atmosphere isn’t bad, but it does have more of sports bar feel with a slight VIP/​stage area for music. The upscale attitude they try to give is betrayed by all of the neon bar signs and distributor decorations. The fact that the staff was dressed in Night Club chic clothes when we were there with no identifying markers made it even less appealing. We didn’t know who to flag down for service.
I’d be willing to give district another chance, but it will be a while because this experience left such a bad feeling that I think it would still bleed over into my next visit if it is recent.

Came here on a lunch meeting for work. The waitress was so amazingly friendly, and she had so much excitement about the food and drinks that it make it very easy for us to order! She answered all our questions about the beers on tap.
I ended up getting special at the time. It was fish and veggies. It was perfect size, fresh tasting, and pared nicely with the recommend beer!
The prices tend to be on the higher side, but you get what you pay for sometimes. I think its a great place to stop in and try some beers. I was disappointed that the beers the person I had took out wanted were not in stock so that is why I’m giving it only four stars.

Went to District Bar & Grill on a Sunday night prior to hitting Bar 3 for a concert. As it was a Sunday night, they had both NFL games on, with sound being piped throughout the entire bar/​restaurant. Very nice if you enjoy football and were interested in the games (which I was).
In addition to a good number of TV’s and good audio, I was also very impressed/​surprised by their food. I had the BBQ pulled pork sandwich, and it was extremely good. The side of mashed potatoes was a great suggestion by the waitress… very much appreciated.
The lone negative on the experience, was the service. Other than the suggestion for my side, our waitress was below average. Upon arriving, it was a good 10 minutes before she came to take our orders… meanwhile, we watched as she chit-​chatted with already served customers, went to the back to get a drink, went to the bar to chit-​chat with the bartender, etc. We weren’t in a super-​hurry, so it didn’t impact the rest of our night… but with how few people there were in the bar, I would have expected a little more attention from our waitress.
While the service was poor (probably 2 out of 5 stars), the food and ambiance were good (4 out of 5 stars). For that reason, I’d definitely consider coming back to District.

Interesting. I mean, based on my 24 hours spent in Rockford, I didn’t really have that great of an impression of the city in general (sorry dudes). Walking into District, it seemed oddly… out of place. But I think that’s a good thing. I think.
I mean, based on the specials alone, this place is 5 stars. $ 2 «big ass» beers? $ 5 «big ass vodka drinks»? Holy cheapness, Batman! I don’t think we’re in Chicago anymore, Toto.
The place is absolutely huge, with a separate banquet room in the back, and a substantial stage for shows. Tons of TVs to watch sports til your heart’s content. Food was pretty typical bar food – nothing to complain about.
Of course, the bartenders and waitresses are all dressed like they are going to their «other» job after their shift, which appears to either be as a hooker or a stripper. Eh, it’s nothing I haven’t seen at sports bars in Chicago, but I just kind of shake my head at it all.

Customer service at this place must not be important. I called to get information about a band that may or may not be playing there, the first time i called, they said they were busy and told me to call back… before i could say anything they hung up on me. So i called back the next day at 11 am — I got put on hold briefly, someone then picked up and hung up the phone. When i called back to tell them what had happened the person on the end of the phone snapped «Well what can i help you with» at me. i was a little shocked but proceeded to ask my question. She couldn’t answer my question.
If I wasn’t interested in seeing the band that will play here after this experience with complete rudeness i wouldn’t even consider going.

I was excited about something re-​opening in this location which is an important spot for west side downtown. Something needs to do well there.
Totally disappointed.
In an attempt to be modern/​trendy, it’s drab, cold and uncomfortable. The lighting feels like the stage of a theater doing a sci-​fi skit. The only thing missing is an electric sparking sound and some fake smoke.
We sat down at a table and after 10 minutes — no exaggeration — had not been greeted by anyone, so we left. There weren’t more than a couple other occupied tables, so it’s not as if we could have gotten lost in the crowd.
Unfortunately this looks to be another case of a Rockford place that can’t figure out if it’s a restaurant or bar. This type of place tends to hire cute young girls with short shorts, but who don’t have the brains to match their boobs. Some of these places work because it’s what people are used to around here, and frankly it’s what brings in the single male drinkers which is also what Rockford’s got a lot of. But if District is truly trying to draw a more professional crowd downtown, they’ve got to do WAY better than they did last night.
I obviously can’t say anything about the food or drinks because I wasn’t given a chance to order.
The guy standing near the door with the large-​lettered «SECURITY» t-​shirt on didn’t do much to contribute to the coziness. Is that really necessary? Why not replace him with a greeter/​floor manager who can run the show and prevent the kind of lousy experience that we had last night.
Come on, guys. You can do so much better and I’d really like to support a locally owned downtown establishment. In its current state, I give this place through the fall.