Legal Tender Restaurant — Restaurant in Evanston

How the heck are ya! This was a fun dining experience and a very unique place. Old time Gangtser theme throughout and aptly named menu items. It is a bit dated inside but not dilapidated, it was clean and in good order. The food was a little more expensive than what a big chain would offer, but the flavor was not missing a single bit.

Fresh baked bread and soft butter brought out first thing, and I must say it has been a long time since we have had pumpernickle bread and it was so good! Good clean water, not like arrow head, and the lemonade was pretty decent but rather tart when starting a new glass. We ordered the sampler to start, it had; fried shrimp with cheese and a bit of minced pepper that made for a new and good flavor, fried cheese curds, fried cheese sticks, jalapeño poppers, fried pickle spears( OUR NEW FAVORITE THING), fried zuchinni spears( suprisingly tastey), and corn poppers that had just enough spice for a pleasent suprise.

The wife got the Skinny Joey salmon dinner. Very well cooked( texture and flavor) asparagus and other vegetables along with decent garlic mashed potatoes came as sides. The salmon itself had a great flavor, but did feel a bit on the dry side. She did also order the feench onion soup and she loved it!

I ordered the Tightlip sirloin. It came with mixed vegetables and I too chose the garlic mash potatoes. Now, the vegetables on their own were nothing to write home about, but when they picked up the flavor and juices from the steak they were awesome. The garlic mashed potatoes were decently flavored, I had the brown gravy on the side. The potatoes had decent flavor and didn't need the gravy, but it was nice to layer up the flavor and ad just a little moisture when dipping the fork load into the gravy. The steak had fantastic flavor, no sauces needed! Sauce would actually ruin the steak. I ordered it medium actually came out medium, the cut did have some stringyness that didn'y want to chew though. Next time I may go medium well though to get a little more sear, not that it was not enough just maybe I'd like to try a little more done for curiosity sake.

Not sure if I can do a full five stars, but if 4.4 or 4.5 was an option that would be right on. In summary, great flavor but only decent texture, clean but dated environment, great service, and a little more expensive...

Overall, decent. Something you'd expect for a quick in and quick out experience, like what you would want when travelling. The price was decent, the service was mediocre at best, and the food was fairly good.

We only got their lemonades, which were okay at first, but when I got my refill, it tasted like bitter water, rather than the sweet lemonade you'd expect.

The food we got was okay, slightly pricey for what it was but it was fair quality. I got their signature burger, from which I can say their sauce is really good. I wish there was more, but that's personal preference. I would have gotten some on the side, but the only time the waitress checked in was near the end of my burger about 15 minutes into eating. Not the end of the world, she still got me in time for a refill. My partner got their wrap. It was okay. Good for the price, actually, and they only ate half of it before being filled.

When we were first entering, the gentleman who sat us down at our table seemed between 14-16 based on appearance and professionalism. He brought us to the table, put our menus down and was almost out of "thank you distance" by the time we were actually next to the table. Very fast paced and didn't feel super professional at all.

Overall a mediocre experience. The impression we got from appearance alone wasn't met, but when we first got in to be taken to a table is when we knew what...

Inital impressions were great!! Your host (manager??) rules!! We loved listening to him sit every party, his enthusiasm and unique banter were impressive!! A note, it was Wed before Thanksgiving and I-80 was closed, so perhaps they were busier than they anticipated...

Menu was broad and had a lot of options. Unusual names made you have to read every description so you knew what it was... clever!

The food was very good. My hubby had the steak, a bit pricey but cooked perfectly and tasty, potatoes/gravy questionable seemed pre-made. Also, 28$ for a steak and no salad or soup included at a casual restaurant?? Sad.

The shrimp/jalapeno poppers were unusual and a better than average app, they seemed to be pre-made (frozen) and, in my opinion, pricy for what we got... the french onion soup was yummy, plenty of melted cheese. Bread served to each table was hot and addicting!! Our opinion... what the chef made was AWESOME what was prepared ahead of time was just good...

Our server was great initially and then seemed to disappear as they got busier (maybe short handed due to the holiday?), however again the "host" stepped in and made sure we had drinks and more bread... thank you!!

Bar was quick and drinks were definitely a highlight!!

We stop every time we come through Evanston! On this visit we were left with another overall good experience... we will...