Lou's Drive-In — Restaurant in Peoria

Review Date: June 8th, 2013

A seasonal place that sells Christmas trees during the cold weather days.

That’s right, Lou’s is a place you can get food during the warm days and Christmas trees during the cold days. At least, I’ve always seen them selling Christmas trees in the fall and early winter.

But, this was a bright and sunny summer day and my father and I were wanting to try Lou’s for lunch. If you don’t know Lou’s, its kind of one of those old places that you order at this small building and then you eat outside, in your car, or get the food to go. Think an ice cream shack, but a focus on food instead of soft serve delights. I could picture this place in the past being one of those places that you ordered from your car and a lady wearing skates would be the one to bring your food out to you. Not so much anymore.

We pulled up and had to look around for a parking spot. The parking situation here isn’t ideal but with the space they have and the layout of Lou’s, it’s the best they can do with what they got. We hopped in line and waited our turn. The menu here is not any different than most places. Again, think ice cream shack but with the main draw being the food instead. I knew I would have to try their root beer. Something in my memory told me that this place was well known for that and I knew I would have to try it. I also like root beer, so that’s another reason I wanted to try it.

I think we both got your standard burger with some french fries. With the heat, we didn’t want to spend too much time trying to figure out what we wanted. Burgers, fries, and a soda. A classic lunch. Despite the crowd at Lou’s, we were able to sit down at one of the few tables that had an umbrella. For two Irish guys, this was a blessing. While we waited, we took the lovely photo used above. It was a bit of a wait as they were busy and places like this usually cook their food to order. That was fine by me as it gave my dad and I time to chat and people watch.

At long last, they called out our name and we quickly grabbed our food so we wouldn’t lose our table. The first thing I tried was the root beer. It was a great root beer. But truth be told, all root beer is great to me and tastes the same for the most part. So, the root beer at Lou’s was great but didn’t taste much different than others, in my opinion.

After using the root beer to cool down a bit, I started working on my food so that wouldn’t cool down too much itself. First up, burger! You don’t come to these places expecting to be blown away by gourmet food. You come here for the experience of eating at a unique place, the low price, and the staple foods they offer. That is to say my burger was just that. It did everything a burger should do without showing off. It tasted good but didn’t feel the need to blow my socks off and sometimes that is all you need. The same can be said about the french fries. Not every meal has to be the best ever. Sometimes getting exactly what you ordered and expected is all you need.

Lou’s is a fun place to stop at in Peoria for a meal that will be exactly what you expect and nothing more. Should there be snow outside, you can stop and get a Christmas...

Bad Experience-Please be sure to check your food before you leave. I live far from Peoria, and had a doctors appt, so I wanted to grab some lunch on the go. I waited for about 20 minutes for my order which costed 34.00. I ordered 2 bacon double cheese burgers and 2 regular cheese burgers, and chili cheese fries. Did not check my food until I got home thinking my order was fine. There was NO CHILI CHEESE that I payed for my fries, or bacon on the 2 burgers, and the fries were practically burnt. They even charge you for lettuce, tomato which should be free. However, I contacted the manager at the time on duty which doesn't have the authority to do anything but apologize, she contacted the owner and the owner specifically informed her that she will mail a check to me for $18 a week goes pass and nothing. So I called today and was able to speak directly to the owner, and she stated she will not give me a refund that they do not give cash back only gift certificates and that she has no knowledge of ever even saying she would send a check for $18. I then explained to her that I do not want to eat back their again and that I live far, so a gift certificate would not be of any benefit to me. She was very non-nonchalant and really didn't even care about a customer having a bad experience that spent such a large amount. I will never go back their again. The food was bland no salt even on the burnt fries. They may look busy, but looks are very deceiving there!!!! Beware there are a lot of young cooks and staff that she has...

1st time trying tonight. The food was pretty good. I had the tenderloin is was ok (not the best or the best priced one i have had) i added lettuce for an extra $0.25 and the piece of lettcue was wilted and only the size of a half dollar. My husband had a 1/4 burger he really liked it, was very happy to find it was not greasy. The fries were very good and the homemade rootbeer was excellent. Dispite the fact there was not really a line ahead of us the wait was pretty long and the teenager girls who are servers are clearly only there for looks, they never did anything the whole time just talked to each other. The place was moderately busy with mostly middle aged customers sitting in the heat at the cute tables and the bar type counter. It seems to be a charming place and i think we will try it again (though not likely I'll get another tenderloin--- if you want a tenderloin go to Our Inn Place in pekin, il they are the size of a dinner plate for the...