Thirsty Whale Bar & Grill

I’m only giving this a star because you can’t put no stars and because of the bartender. She was very quick on getting drinks. The worst part was the djs girlfriend who was sitting next to him with glaring at everyone on the dance floor. It was my birthday and the dj called me up there to make the announcement and she was glaring at me the entire time. Then when he was done she poked my arm and said «you can leave now» I replied with «no I’m good» because I was going to request a song and she looked at me with a stupid look and said «get down b*** you can leave now». I will never go there again.

The wings are excellent some of the best I have ever had. The cocktail selection is a little lack-​luster and seemed a little more gimmicky than functional, but I’m sure the bartenders are knowledgeable and could whip together any concoction you ask for. The service is where they drop the stars it appears that if you aren’t a regular or a group of college age patrons to be flirted with you should be prepared and willing to trip your server to get their attention.

Love this place. The bartenders and servers are all really nice. I feel like a lot of the negative reviews are just girls being jealous of better looking girls. Really fun place if you like sports bars.

its an ok bar. pizza tastes like its frozen but the nachos are exelent. all in all a good place to hang out

If I could rate any lower I would. The owner and his employees are thieves. They keep your credit card while you order drinks and then when you pay in cash they still run the transaction on your card. Forget trying to call and get any type of resolution. After 7 days and about 6 phone calls, the owner called me a mother F…
The waitress is no better.
I am already at the police department and filing a formal complaint.
BTW — this same owner opened up Iron Horse in Algonquin.
Hold on to your credit cards ad wallet, because you too could be ripped off

2^nd time giving this place a shot, and will not be back. 1^st time was a slow Monday night, not a single other table, and food took forever. Not sure why we would think it would be any better on a Friday night. Was told kitchen was «backed up», took over 45min for 2 appetizers. When food came over an hour and a half after ordering (burgers & wraps) fries were raw, dishes put in incorrectly. There was a Hawks game on, you’d think they would be better prepared. And holy cow, be sure to bring your ear plugs. For some reason, the game has to be on at the highest volume setting, making it impossible to speak with anyone. Again, no. Won’t be back.

My boyfriend and I discovered The Thirsty Whale when shopping in the Commons one night. We fell in love with the Reuben egg rolls that they offer as an appetizer. We would go back frequently just for the egg rolls sometimes! Loved them!
My sister and I had lunch on 02/​13/​2016 there. We walked in right around noon, there was two people sitting at the bar and only one or two other tables that had guests at them. We ordered our drinks, Reuben egg rolls and burgers. I ordered unsweetened iced tea, with a lemon and requested some sweetener on the side. The server brought our drinks, no sweetener. I asked again for some. Then the egg rolls came out, again, no sweetener. I looked past it at that point, asking twice before, and just drank it as is.
When our burgers came out, I took a bite and couldn’t even chew it due to the burger itself being so burnt on the bottom. A half inch of the burger was so charred to the point where it was tough and hard. The server never came back to check on us until my sister was done with her burger, and I had just eaten some of the fries. During our entire meal, the server was chatting and laughing with the other servers instead of checking on her tables. When she asked how everything was, I showed her with my fork how tough the burger was and that I couldn’t even chew it. She listened and said she’d bring us the check. When we got the check, she not only charged us full price on the burger that was so burnt to the point where it was inedible, she also charged me for 4 pickle slices on the side. The prices in the menu were not what was on the bill and I brought it up to her. She told me that it was because of the pickles I requested.
I paid for the meal and left, completely unsatisfied. When I got home, I called and asked to speak with the manager. She was very apologetic and told me that the server was wrong to have charged for pickles when it comes with the burger. She told me that she had been there since 11:00am that day, and that the server should have come and gotten my meal taken off of the bill since it was inedible. The manager asked me for my address and that she’d send me some «coupons» in the mail to give them another try.
It is now 03/​02/​2016. I have not received anything in the mail, as promised and it’s really frustrating. We used to love coming to this establishment, but we will not be back. I’m really going to miss those egg rolls!

You’d think based on all of these reviews they would take some initiative and start changing their habits? Well, there’s a reason nikos and nikos lodge are both closed I suppose.
Terrible service. How hard is it to keep straight who ordered what? Every time we came here for drinks the waitress messed up our drinks and our bills. The wait staff is pretty but that’s it. We were there for 1.5 hours and got served 2 drinks during that time that’s only because our waitress only came to us one other time besides greeting us. Seriously? In what world is it acceptable to check on your table once every 45 minutes?
We used to come here for the food. Not even that is good anymore. Way to miss the mark whale.

The food at Thirsty Whale used to be excellent with good portion sizes. What happened???
I ordered the chopped whale salad (avocados were browning, the other toppings were just okay and the lettuce looked sad — there wasn’t much in the bowl) I was not only disappointed in the ingredient quality but the portion size is severely smaller than it used to be.
I would only give them one star if it was based solely on the food but because the wait staff and bartenders are usually attentive and friendly I’ll give it two.

Stupid DJ with his girlfriend makes it uncomfortable to request songs. Especially when she gives you dirty looks every time you go up there. She doesn’t even work here. They play stupid music too, nothing you can even dance to. I just wanted to them to play the wobble, but apparently that’s too much to ask for. That is why I give you 1 star. I would give them 0 if I could, but the food is decent.

I got a DUI leaving here but I got the pizza beforehand and it was lit. they were also showing Forensic Files on one of the TV’s on mute but I already saw the episode so I knew what was going on. will be back whenever I get my license back.

Friendly. Not really open until 1 though. I was there on a Sunday when they were supposed to close at 1. They called last call at 12:05 because the staff seemed to want to leave.

This place is just okay. personally never have eaten here but the menu is far from impressive. The drinks are not the best I’ve ever had. and the crowd is usually dead. Who knows, maybe I pick the wrong nights to go, but I usually expect to see more of a mix of younger people there and yet never have.
If the Hawks are on, not typically my first choice sports bar.

Type of bar: circa 2007 douchebag bro fest
Dress Code (men): gordman’s graphic tee with sketchers non-​slip work wear dress shoes, boot cut jeans with heavy white stitching and flaps on back pockets, got2b glued hair gel.
Dress Code (women): Pinterest a «cute» outfit for women, then gather the materials at ROSS and close pin them together. Complete the look with old navy sandals.
Service: slow
Music: apparently they have frequent Rockford celebrity DJs to cater to the dads and 24 year old Chili’s waitresses hanging out here.

Stopped in for a drink to end a double date night with friends who live in the area. It’s a pretty large bar with plenty of seating, TVs, and room for entertainment.
We sat ourselves at a high top near the back of the bar. Our waitress was alright. Nice, but she didn’t really offer up any specials or info which would have been nice since this was our first time in.
I browsed the cocktail menu and found something that sounded interesting. It was called something along the lines of a fish bowl, and when I asked the waitress if it was indeed like the large fishbowl drinks I remember from college, she assured me it wasn’t that big. So I said hey, why not? Sounded fruity and delicious!
And it was. Tasted great, but I felt like there wasn’t any alcohol in it at all. And yeah, needless to say she lied about the size. This drink was huge! You can say I felt REALLY cool sipping a large bowl while the rest of our group sipped regular adult beverage cocktails. Honestly, the size wouldn’t have bothered me if it wasn’t seriously lacking alcohol. I felt like it was just a big bowl of sugary juice. No bueno.
On a positive note, I realized later this place has daily drink specials and their drinks are actually pretty cheap. The food menu seems like your typical sports bar food. They do have live music and entertainment often (check out their website), so I’d say that’s their main selling point. Well, and of course the awesome Thirsty Whale name.
All in all, pretty average bar. I don’t live in the area and our friends are moving, so I probably won’t be back anytime soon.

PROS: cheap drinks
CONS: old people trying to relive their youth

Pretty standard food options, but they taste great. Mind your ears when the Blackhawks games come on. It’s definitely a sports bar when they come on. Karaōke on Wednesdays.

Met my husband here! Best bar food I’ve ever had. Best fried pickles I’ve ever had! If you get there pizza which I would definitely recommend asked for it double dough! (Thick crust) just found out they did this. Sooooo good! Service is great. All the girls are very nice and attentive. At night it’s very fun. They have a dj, karaōke, and a live bands playing depending on what day you go. Lots of nice drink special during the week. I always come here after a date night with my husband for drinks. Love this place!

It’s exactly as you would expect, mediocre in every way.
The suburban dream in a way I guess.

I honestly have no idea if this place is associated or has any affiliation with the OLD Thirsty Whale back in River Grove, or just adopted the name… regardless, it doesn’t matter because I never went there.
This is your typical sports bar, nothing special. I don’t live in the area or even close but I came to this place to celebrate a friend’s birthday and see a band… I was there more for the birthday than the band I might add. For starters, there was no cover so definitely one star for that… drink specials on a Saturday night? Sure, that’s another star because a lot of places tend to not put anything on special on the weekends and this place has specials 7 days a week. The special may have been Coors Light bottles for 2 bucks which left me with a headache the next morning but, still… they were on special, along with $ 5 mai tais and a few others. Old habits die hard from my college years and I tend to drink whatever is on special when I’m out on a budget.
My friend had some seats reserved which equated to about three tables. When we got there we had to stand around in the aisle, but shortly after they accommodated us and let us have a booth nearby once people sitting there were done eating. I did not eat there so I can’t speak to that. The service at the bar was ok… one female bartender just gave us the stink eye standing there waiting to be waited on and kept walking, and another did come and wait on us. We didn’t have to deal with stink eye since we had a waitress the rest of the nice who was very attentive and on the ball with our refills, etc.
If you’re here just for a band, there may be tables in the way… I’m not sure if they clear the tables out otherwise, so I can’t speak to anything else.
I wouldn’t make a special trip out to this place, but I’d consider going again should I be invited out that way for some reason.