The Bar

1696 E Oakton St, Des Plaines
(847) 768-9756

Recent Reviews

Caren Raymond

It's a very friendly place.

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Greg Wutzke

Comfortable, friendly, deliscious. Even the Smirnoff!

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Ritesh Gupta

Loved it here. Freindly neighborhood people. Feels like community when u are here. Drinks are well priced.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

John Zedella

Great tavern. Nothing fancy but clean with good service!

Pablo Guerrero

Fun place to go to, they do make a good pizza ? and good drinks. Darts, pool, golf, and bowling.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Judi Propst

Mr. Albrecht. Check your cameras . There are some things that you don't see or hear

Gilberto Hernandez Dager

is the best American bar

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Karon Fell

Had a great time! Everyone is friendly there

Brian Burkross

liam is a rude jerk. worst bartender i have ever meet.

Christine Sparks

My sister loves it here

Chris Siefer

Great local spot. Bartenders are great and the regulars are very friendly as well.

Terry Langan

Good pricing neighborhood type bar food isn't bad either

Shawn Anderson

Always a ton of fun here and sports galore!

Thomas Hallaron

Best cold beer in the area

B_Pope

Our friends have three adopted sons from Bulgaria, so we all wanted to meet for Bulgarian food. Balkanika did not disappoint; there were plenty of options for meat dishes, seafood, and vegetarian options. The portions were very generous; too much in some cases, but that allows for leftovers to go! One of our Bulgarian teen boys ordered the whole fish, and he ate the whole thing (except the eyeballs). The fish got his stamp of approval. The other teen boy had pizza, which he liked very well and shared with the rest of us. If I had any criticism, it would be wanting a bit more flavor, but perhaps culturally Bulgarian food is simply meat-forward, allowing the meats to speak for themselves. (I don't really know though; I'm guessing here.) Interestingly, one of the meals came with a sauce that looked like ketchup, but tasted different, in a good way. I want all ketchup to be Bulgarian now. That stuff could be bottled and sold, and it would make me very happy. The wait-staff was friendly and helpful to us, not like I read in some of the other reviews. The restaurant has a little snack store near the entrance, and one of the waitresses described things to us and helped us make our choices of treats to go (we wanted airplane snacks, since we were flying later). To sum up, Balkanika was a fun experience, with good food and generous portions.

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