BaCalls Cafe

First time here getting take out which is slow let you know what I think next time I check in.

Good atmosphere, great food and great prices. Try the desserts. The bread pudding is to die for. We will miss them when we move away

After an absence, we tried Bacall’s again on 12÷31÷15 — and it was a good experience. The menu is updated and tasty. Service has improved and we enjoyed our meal. I had ½ a BLT on dark rye and the soup of the day — Chicken Florentine. I found the soup a bit salty for my tastes but it was edible; the sandwich was very good. My husband had the chicken buffalo wrap with fries and it was good. A much needed improvement over our last trip. :D

Although the restaurant has changed owners over the decades the menu never really changes. The antipasto salad used to be delightful but the last time I had it the chicken tastes like teriyaki & that was disappointing.

Great atmosphere, reasonable prices and attentive staff make this local café a must have in the area.

I love the hometown feel of this restraurant. The service was great and very friendly. I order a lemon drop martini it’s was refreshing. A must have when you dine here.
For lunch I ordered the balsamic chicken with spice rice and stir fry veggies. The veggies and rice were average and standard for most restaurant. The balsamic chicken was a little bland for my taste but not bad.
I later learned their blackened chicken quesadilla is really good and recommended. The next visit I will order this and the lemon drop martini of course!

I came here for lunch with a few coworkers, and I would say it was just ok.
The décor here is art deco 1920’s-ish, but with some diner accents. It’s not a very nice looking space, but it seems clean.
We ordered lunch off of the Lite Bites menu… You can get 2 of your choice of half a sandwich, a soup, or a salad. I ordered half of the cashew chicken salad sandwich with the caesar salad. They serve all of their salads with the dressing on the side, which I appreciate because I’m kind of picky and think people tend to overdress their salads. The cashew chicken salad had chunks of chicken, cashews, dried cherries, and mayo. It tasted ok, but it needed some more seasoning and a little less mayo (and maybe fewer cherries). Overall, the food was good not great.
Our waitress was very nice. However, my friend ordered half a turkey sandwich off of the Lite Bites menu, and the waitress asked her what cheese she would want, so we assumed the sandwich came with cheese. Then when we get the check she sees that she was charged 75 cents for cheese. We didn’t dispute it because it’s not that much money and we didn’t have time, but to me, that just seems deceptive… I don’t like to be charged for things without knowing about it.
I would come back here for lunch, but I don’t think I would go out of my way.

We stopped here for dinner on a weekday night and were underwhelmed. They had tasty-​sounding cocktails at appealing prices, but they definitely seemed light on the alcohol. We had the cheese nuggets as an appetizer — I thought they were fairly tasty. For our entrée, we shared a Veggie Burger and upgraded our side to the Mac and Cheese. The burger was hard and unappealing, and the mac and cheese was neon yellow and disappointing. To salvage the meal, we shared a small slice of Raspberry cheesecake. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to convince my husband to check this place out again given this first disappointing visit.

I love BaCalls. I’ve eaten in once and had carry out multiple times. Their portions are generous for a decent price, the alcoholic drinks are mixed nicely and the service is quick and friendly. It’s definitely a «home» atmosphere, where everyone seems to be familiar with each other.
Each time I go, I enjoy the same dish: the kitchen salad. Add extra egg, because egg in a salad. There’s nothing better, in my opinion. They always oblige. Their house ranch is fantastic, packed with flavor and almost as thick as molasses.
My boyfriend lives close to BaCalls and has experienced a lot more of the menu than I have and he always seems pleased with what he gets.
If you’re ever near North College Hill, I highly recommend stopping in there.

Standard café fair. The ambiance with a mix of old fashion diner pieces and a lounge-​like bar. I typically only visit here for lunch. I find the sandwiches and burgers to be good (I like the reuben or the cuban). The food tastes as expected with nothing that particularly stood out. The service was acceptable. I can’t say that I have a 5-​star standard for diner-​type food, but I think it’s safe to call this one average, have experienced better.

BaCalls is only 2 blocks from my house but this week was my first time going! I was really impressed! I got the chicken avocado club with onion strings and was impressed! The chicken was flavorful and moist.
It’s a bit smaller than I expected but nice enough. I’d definitely go back again!

Great tasting food in a comfy, cozy, and friendly atmosphere. I might just have to become a regular.
I have been here twice now. Since I live ridiculously close, I’m surprised it hasn’t been more often since I am always smelling their onion straws from my apartment! The first time I ordered their burger with onion straws. This is one of only two places I have ever been that cooks their burgers at or under what you order! I like mine medium rare, so red or dark pink in the middle. They hit this one at red in the middle, so I might in the future go with a darker cook. It was also HUGE. I couldn’t even finish it. The onion straws, well they’re a staple, so they’re great!
The second time, and most recently, I got a half rack of ribs on special. Thursdays you can get a half rack with one side or a full rack with two sides. My half rack was about $ 8, and the meat was falling off the bone. I mean, if I looked at it I swear it was already falling off, and super moist too. The BBQ sauce is a nice mesquite kind of flavor. I loved the grill charred bits too. (And of course I got the onion straws again.)
Also both times, I had the same bar tender who was very friendly to the regulars and myself. They also turn down the lighting in the evening for a nice feel. :)
Next time, I’m trying their trivia on Tuesdays with Last Call!

I went to BaCalls with a few friends for dinner. One of them had been there before and enjoyed it so we decided to take her advice and try this place out. What a disappointment it was. First of all, our server was very wishy washy and what I mean by that is that she didn’t have any concrete responses for hardly any of the questions that we asked. For example, she had no idea what the happy hour specials were. Before arriving to BaCalls, we called ahead to confirm that they had happy hour. We were assured that they did and that drinks would be ½ off. Our server, the wishy washy one, told us that she didn’t know what the deal was but that it might be $ 1 off wine and beer. My friend ordered a glass of wine but I was kind of turned off by this and decided not to order anything but water. I felt like she should have confirmed the specials for us since we were obviously curious but she didn’t.
Not only did she not know what the happy hour special was, she also didn’t know the price of the «Special of the Day.» How annoying! My friend, who was interested in ordering the special dish of the day, asked the server what the price was (there was none listed on the menu or the white board where the special was written) and she told her it were $ 11 or $ 12 but she wasn’t sure. Again, I thought, why not go and confirm for us?
We went ahead and ordered our meals and after about 20 minutes or so our food was brought out to our table. The food looked okay, nothing special but definitely not terrible. Everyone at our table ordered a side of broccoli and boy was it bland. There was no salt and no pepper and no flavor (there was also no pepper shaker on our table). One friend and I both ordered the blackened salmon as recommended by our waitress. She did tell us that it would be a tad bit spicy, which we were okay with, but she failed to tell us that the seasoning on top would basically make the salmon taste like taco mix. Yes, taco mix/​seasoning. I couldn’t even taste the salmon flavor because it was completely taken over by the taco taste. Weird!
When the bills came to the table, one of my friends noticed that she was charged full price for her wine. Now of course, the wine was only about $ 6 or so but that’s not the point. The point is that we were told that it was happy hour and the wine would be $ 1 off. When we brought this to the attention of our server she looked puzzled. She tried her best to reassure us that she initially told us that the wine would only be $.50 off not $ 1. This was totally false. Everyone at our table heard her tell us that she didn’t know what the happy hour deal was and that it «might» be $ 1 off wine. This is poor service. After a few minutes of back and forths about the price, she finally agreed to take another $.50 off of my friend’s bill. Funny thing is, when my friend received the «corrected» bill, nothing had changed. Nope, she didn’t even take off the additional $.50. For sake of argument and because we were completely over BaCall’s at this point, my friend paid the bill and that was the end of it.
I had really high hopes for this place and I must say, they truly let me down. From the lack luster service to the severely bland food, this place could really use some improvements.

Terrible service. Had to wait a half hour for the barmaid to finish her cigarette. She smelled like a chimney when she brought my food. Food was cold and unappetizing. Such a shame. This place used to be great. The last three times I’ve been here, the food has been less than average, at best. This was my last try and I won’t go back. They don’t dserve the star I gave them.

This is the happy hour to go to on Friday with coworkers. Food is typical bar food but happy hour prices for beer and other selections are great. It’s got a lax vibe and friendly servers.

It’s in a great place if one is planning to go out for drinks at Marty’s Hops and Vines or seeing a show at the College Hill Coffee Company. The food is okay.
I had the Reuben and onion straws. I honestly had to go back to the menu online to be reminded what I had… not too memorable.
Service was fine.
I look at the descriptions that go along with the review stars. For three stars it says, «A-​OK». I picture someone holding their forefinger and thumb together, all other fingers up in an «OK» gesture. So I imagine someone outside waiting for a sign… Thumbs down would be 1 star, OK would be three, one thumb up is four and two thumbs up is five. That leaves two, which would have me putting my hand out flat and giving it a tilting wag back and fourth… I think that captures «Meh. I’ve experienced better».
Now don’t get me wrong. The food wasn’t bad. The service wasn’t bad. In fact, it was okay, but I can’t say it was «A-​OK».

The food is much better than one might expect here and a place I’ve come back to again and again. I had a burger there with coworkers one day and went there for drinks other times
The staff is friendly and for me the place is in a convenient location to where I work. Parking availability in the back is fair. Sometimes it fills making you hunt for a spot on the street, but since its a shared lot with other businesses, you can’t fault BaCalls for that.

This is the kind of diner style restaurant where the staff interacts with you more as friends than customers. So it’s definitely friendly, even during busy lunch service.
It’s your typical burger and sandwich type place which is often not my favorite. I was impressed that they had more than one vegetarian option. I’ve been 3 – 4 times now due to coworkers who love the gyro, the Reuben and the burgers.
I’ve had the vegetarian burger which was OK, passable I guess. I didn’t expect more though so I was happy to have the option to eat with friends.
I’d avoid the fries. They are like those frozen crinkle fries from the school cafeteria that are just barely cooked, not crisp on the outside and decidedly mushy on the inside.
I did enjoy that they offered a vegetarian Reuben. The veggie burger patty it comes with leaves a little to be desired, but I just ignored It and enjoyed the rest. It could be made much better if they cooked the patty a bit differently or crusted it with some peppercorns for example.

The BF and I happened to be in the neighborhood last Saturday, so we decided to try Bacall’s Café out (not sure why there are two listings with reviews for this place.) We walked in and were seated immediately… it was early and only a few patrons inside. After looking over the menu, I decided on the veggie burger and the BF decided on a club sandwich (even though it was the lure of chicken noodle soup on the signboard outside that drew him in.)
The interior of the restaurant is large, with one side dominated by an art deco bar. The dining area has a variety of tables and booths and is a little worn and dated looking. The service is decent and was fairly quick (I would hope so, since it wasn’t crowded). The servers seemed intent on chatting with the other parties who were a little larger in numbers or, I’m guessing, regular patrons. That wasn’t a problem, as it left us to eat our food relatively undisturbed.
The veggie burger was good, but the bun looked like it came straight from the Kroger 99 cents buns, so was definitely nothing special. It came with some weird white stuff in a little cup, which neither of us could identify. So, we asked… it was creamy cucumber sauce. Ok. The BF said it tasted a little like coleslaw. The fries were food, but nothing special. The BF said his sandwich was good. I tried a couple of his chips and they were fresh, not stale (which sometimes happens at places like this.)
When I went to pick up our check, I noticed that we got the wrong bill (items weren’t what we ordered.) Once they gave us the correct bill, it was the exact same dollar amount as the other check, so easy to understand the mix-​up. It was a little over $ 20 for two sandwiches and two sodas, so not a cheap lunch, but too terribly expensive.
If I ever happen to be in the neighborhood again when I’m hungry, I might try Bacall’s again, but I certainly won’t be going so far out of my way to eat specifically eat there.

I live nearby and it’s the only true bar and grill in College Hill, so I know I’ll be back, and probably with frequency, but I’ve had a few qualms with this place lately that have caused me to think twice about stopping in.
I understand the necessity of cutting back in trying times, but it just keeps getting harder and harder to put up with some of the changes lately:
Shortened hours
The kitchen now closes before the bar
The menu has been cut back
The prices have gone up… again
Some staff members and friendly faces have been fired, quit, or moved to greener pastures–
–but the thing that really irked me:
I called up on a Sunday because I needed a quick take-​out option before heading in to work. I asked what kinds of burgers were available, and the person who answered the phone (and I know who you are), told me that there were too many to name. I know that there are three basic burgers on the menu now, because that was one of the menu items they cut back on. There are many variations you can get on those, but it’s still three basic burgers, so I was a little peeved. The person answering the phone then informed me that I could not purchase a burger on Sunday until after four anyway. This was at a quarter until four and I had to work at four. If that’s the actual policy I guess that’s fine, but do they honestly think no one wants a burger for lunch on Sunday? The whole conversation had me so flustered that I just picked up some fast food instead.
Again, I understand some cutbacks, but the next time I come in I would not be surprised if they had sold all the silverware. I really hope things turn around for Bacall’s because this has historically been one of my favorite hangouts in my own neighborhood.