The Black Beetle

They’ve changed a lot. Went here in December and the food was DELISH, and the cocktail I had was so incredible I could have drank 10 of them.
A well deserved bump up in the star category.

3 stars WHAT!!!
Pro:
Not packed when I went but irregardless there is lots of room.
Pool Table
The play great music and have one of those on-​line Juke Boxes
Drinks are great and cheap compared to some places
Turkey Burger rocks
Staff is cool and laid back
Patio
The website is kind of cool too.
One guy below wrote «A late twenties/​early thirties crowd hangs out here, don’t expect young hipsters.» and then gave it only TWO STARS… what is up with that?!?
Con:
I just don’t see any other then that it’s so far away, it’s almost in MO

I have been here twice. The DJ always plays very surprising and AWESOME music — the first being very bad dance music from the early 90s and the second visit, oldies from the 50s and 60s.
On the first visit, the bartender lined up 10 free shots for us. The second visit, they remembered us. LOVE IT HERE and it’s right down the street from Bacci’s.

Ventured over after hanging @ Shokalad, which it happens to be right across the street from. This is a pretty chill, laid back bar from what I saw. Wasn’t crowded at all and the patrons seemed to be regulars. They had pool tables and televisions, as most bars.
They had $ 2 Bud Light on Wednesday and I heard the Turkey burger was pretty good. If I am over on the west side of Western on Chicago Ave, I will stop here and have a sip.

Pretty solid neighborhood bar!
With $ 2 domestic bottles on Wednesdays (hell yes!) and ample seating, The Black Beetle is a cheap place to grab a quick drink with friends in an über chill environment.
There’s no loud music. I like that on a weeknight. There’s a pool table. Pretty clutch when you need some entertainment between beers. It still kinda smells like stale cigarette smoke, which makes me nostalgic for the days you could light up in a bar. The bar staff seemed very friendly.
Why is this such a lame review? I have to do better next time.

Popped in for a late-​ish lunch/​early dinner on a Saturday. The place was nearly empty, so we snagged a table quite easily.
Love the rugged, raw feeling of the place (although I feel like it’d look even better in the dark). Service was fine. As it was an odd hour, we were tended to by the bartender. Not overly friendly, but food came fast and we got appropriate refills. That’s enough to make me happy.
Bells Amber on draft… YUM! Love that. It wasn’t terribly cold, however. This is America, peeps, we like our beer cold. No matter, I lived in Europe for a couple of months, I can tolerate beer in that state if I’m thirsty.
Great veggie burger, for sure. Spiced nicely, on a big and crusty roll, I think I gave my non-​carb-​imbibing friend a stroke. Sorry, dude, I love my bread. I’ll deal with the junk in my trunk for that. (Well, sometimes.) You don’t have to have the fries, you can get a salad or roasted veggies at an upcharge. The roasted veggies were tasty, and made me feel slightly less guilty for the bun.
Not a bad spot at all, I’d definitely come back if in the area.

**I have edited this recently due to more and more trips.**
Here’s the situation with the Beetle: my roommates and I are lushes (some of more than others) and the Beetle is a stone’s throw from our apartment so we go there a lot. The «papa bear» of lushes in our house goes there a lot. She’s charming and cute and doesn’t have a problem with people remembering her usually because she’s 1.)a big drinker and 2.)a bigger tipper. Not the case here. She goes to the B eetle several times a week and no one even pretends to remember her. What good is a neighborhood bar if no one’s going to know your name?
Also – The wait staff is obviously hired because they’re cute and not because they give good service. There’s a high turn over and none of them seem to give a crap about whether or not you’re satisfied. One of the last times I was there the newest waitress came to ask if I wanted another beer and I told her I’d ordered one from the lady who brought my food. She sneered at me ever so slightly and said «Well, I’ll just go get it since I AM your server.»
Finally – We discovered that they have «Sunday brunch» now. So we shrugged our shoulders and hopped over there again. Everything was entirely mundane and bland and served with an English muffin. My 3 pieces of boring Texas French toast? Served with an English muffin. I don’t get it. We were the only table in the joint and the food still took ages to come.
And! The Bloody Mary was the worst I’ve ever had, no exaggeration.
They do still have a decent beer selection, and a patio, and pretty good hot wings and french fries. So when I’m sick of my far superior front porch I’ll probably go back to the Black Beetle. But don’t you think I won’t complain about it while I’m there.

Lots of space and some good outdoor seating. They do have a problem with their cooking temperatures though. Two of us ordered burgers, one rare and the other medium rare. Both came out well-​done. Kinda hard to understand when their menu says «all burgers cooked medium unless otherwise specified», as apparently all burgers are cooked until all the juices have been removed. The bun however was really good and the fries were decent…