Handlebar — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

SUPER loud music. Like you can’t hear the person sitting across the table from you so everyone's just yelling at each other. My husband asked the hostess if there was a way to turn it down a bit since we could not even hear each other, and she told us “that’s just how it is” and then ignored us. I was so happy I had concert-grade earplugs in my purse (ended up using them the entire time). The food was way too overpriced for what it was. Cauliflower wings were so fried they were rock hard and tasted burnt. They didn’t come with anything special, just carrots and celery. My husband had a Nashville hot fried “chicken” that he really did not like. The side of fries was fine. Very overpriced for low quality fast food.

The staff was super awkward like it was their first day interacting with other people. We had a hard time getting the staff to talk to us. Their entire demeanor was like they hate their job so they’ll just take it out on the customers. Snarky, condescending, rude... Sat there for a solid 15 minutes before our waiter told us it’s a QR menu. No problems with QR menus, but why did the hostess not tell us that so we didn’t just sit there for so long. (QR code was hidden by condiments and random stuff on our table so we did not see it and then the waiter was snarky and rolled his eyes about it being a QR menu like we’re stupid when we laughed after realizing that we didn’t see the code). The waiter kept hovering like he was hesitating to take people’s orders or to come up to them, yet was never available when needed and did not check in. Had to ask the hostess if we could get some water. The place is so small and tight and too crowded that you might as well be sitting on the hostess’s lap, at least based on the table where we were sitting. Waiter was kinda judgy about us not wanting to order a dessert… we were full of gooey mac, burnt cauliflower, and regret. I think they know the desserts are like the only good things here.

While we were deciding on our food, we discussed just getting up and leaving because it was not the vibe at all. We honestly should’ve trusted our guts and just got up and left.

The only thing we sorta liked here was the smoked gouda mac, although you could taste that it was made with powdered/box cheese and way too much butter. My absolute favorite cheese is smoked gouda and there was no gouda just smoky flavoring. The cheese to mac ratio was way off. It was more like a side of pasta for the bowl of cheese sauce.

We shouldn’t have tipped as much as we did because the food was mediocre, the staff was rude, and the service in general...

Just a bad experience, should have followed our 1st mind and left when we couldn't get anyone to stop at our table to assist with menu's.

Decent bar atmosphere, we were taken to our seats and the hostess didn't provide any info, no biggie because we assumed our waitress would do that after we realized that we only had drink menus.

It felt like we were invisible because we couldn't get any of the 3 folks moving around our table to stop and acknowledge after saying "excuse me" and trying to signal with our hands. Finally we yelled over to someone at the bar for assistance. When she came over we asked about the menus and she showed us the QR code on the condiment tray, now it's very low lighting and the tray is not easy to read so we didn't see it. It would have been helpful for the hostess to advise when seating us.

Now to food, great options but that food was absolutely the most bland food I've ever tasted. We ordered the fries pickles that had too much corn breading that wasn't fully cooked on a few slices but overall I'd give them a 3. We both ordered the "Fried Chix Patty Melt". Now I love a good melt, this had no fried or chix flavor, it was not even a pinch of salt or seasoning on the mushroom patty and there was no cheese for the melt. Even the grilled onions had absolutely not a bit of flavor. My hubby on took a bite, I was asking for different sauces to help mine but couldn't even finish a 1/2 slice.

For the sides, hubby had fries and I ordered the smoked Gouda Mac and cheese. Fries were tasty and crispy. You can tell the mac was from a box with powdered white cheese. There was no Gouda, it was cheesy but lacked in flavor.

Luckily the drinks we had, margarita and lemonade was tasty, but a Huge No on the food except the fries.

Service was horrible, food tasteless and drinks decent. Hopefully if you decide to go you have a better experience. It was Soo bad I didn't get any pics and was...

Used to really like this place.... until Covid happened and the staff treated us differently. Tried to get a seat earlier during the pandemic and was told by staff at door that if we didn't have reservations we couldn't be seated, which is understandable, but proceeded to tell us to "have a nice day" without even offering us getting something to go. Only after we inquired, we were allowed to order meals to go.... which took almost an hour to get, as we asked the staff at front door multiple times the status of our order. They seemed very apathetic and confused where our order was or what the hold up was. We finally got our food, only after speaking to the manager. He recognized us from previous times being there, sincerely apologized and even found a seat for us to make up for the wait. The staff at the door seemed not to care at all. The manager was personally accommodating and asked us to just keep coming back...... which we did, expecting to have a better experience next time. The next time we arrived, we were told by staff at the front door that we could not be seated unless we had our vaccination cards. When we told them that we didn't have them, they told us that we could not be seated, and, once again, was told "have a nice day", while closing the window and not offering us the option to get food to go. They also had a cavalier like attitude and seemed apathetic. THIS TIME we DID leave and found another spot with vegan options, who were way more accommodating and personable. That spot gained new customers and Handlebar lost some... Won't be back. It seems like since the pandemic, Handlebar remembered how to make a good drink and good food, but completely forgot how to...