Bo-James

Terrible customer service. Food was under cooked. Dead fly sticking to the bottom of my pop. Leah was rude about it. Morgan is full of attitude. Will not return.

I used to love this place. It was here back in the 80’s when I was a student. I went back to Bo James this past weekend with a couple of old friends… we all came in for the Iowa Homecoming weekend.
THE WOMAN MANAGER IS A HORRIBLE PERSON AND SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING A RESTAURANT!
She was rude and degrading not only to her wait staff but to one one my friends as well who was trying to save our waitress from her by getting up and putting a used dish in the bus tray.
I will never go there again. Please do not support this type of abuse… it’s just wrong.

Your rude waitress really killed this place for me. Won’t return. After being a long term customer. Food was cold service was terrible. I almost sent out a small investigator team to find her at one point.

It’d be great if you could sit outside on a patio, order drinks, and maybe have an appetizer at 3:30 on a Sunday. Instead, the owner decides to tell the waitress (rather than doing it herself) to move our party because we weren’t eating lunch in the middle of the afternoon on a semi-​full patio. Not worth it, support a better local biz with reasonable and understanding ownership.

This is my favorite downtown bar! I love the atmosphere! The patio is awesome in season, and Megan is one of the most sociable, great bartenders I’ve met and I am a bartender myself.

If you are going out early or looking for somewhere to pregame go here!!! 3 dollar big beers, and there food is alright also.

The food is awful and unsanitary. Everytime I’ve gone here, the food is undercooked and will usually have hair or something in it. Typically, the food isn’t what is listed on the menu, they will blatantly forget to put ingredients in the food. The owners will be rude and yell at customers because they think it’s funny to be awful to them. There’s no rationality to it. Don’t go here. Don’t support these kind of people. It’s a family run business that treats their employees like slaves with no regard for their personal well being. They will make personal vendettas with their employees because they have personal issues in their own lives that they can’t deal with. I’m amazed that this business is still running. They embarrass themselves and anyone associated with them by the way they can act in front of customers. If you go here and give these people money, you are supporting the least professional people I have ever dealt with my entire life.

Leah is the most godawful customer service employee & owner I have ever experienced. Time and time again, we try and come back for old times sake and since we aren’t 40+ she refuses to let us in. «sorry only serving parties of four for dinner.» «Oh great, we are a party of four and we are eating!» She turns the other way. I just have never been so horrifically offended when trying to bring my (sober) business to a restaurant/​bar. Never ever again. Don’t even try this dump!

I was with a friend from out of town and my dad for the Iowa/​UNI game on 8÷30÷2014. Since all of us were from out of town and hadn’t been to downtown IC in a while, one of the places that popped into my head for an after-​game meal was Bo James. Big mistake, epic fail.
I don’t know if the place has ever been updated. The carpeting at the base of the booths is so gnarly and dirty. I remember the chairs from when I used to go there in the late 90’s (when I recalled their food being good?) Our server was tall, blonde, absent minded and absent most of our visit.
The place wasn’t that busy comparatively, which made sense when we saw the food, experienced the service and realized how absolutely filthy the place was.
Finally to the food, we started with chicken nachos. Cold, stale chips, shredded cheese that wasn’t melted, server forgot the sour cream and salsa which you needed in order to provide any moisture to the chicken.
My dad and I ordered burgers. Fries were cold, burgers semi-​warm but blah, blah. My friend ordered the Buffalo Chicken Wrap. She sent it back and they microwaved it. Cold fries, cold chicken, gross.
I sort of wish I would have stopped the owner but I think she needs to just call it a good run and get out of the business.
May be a good place for drunken college kids, when it’s dark but definitely not a place to visit again. IC has much better restaurants.

Went out for the night to meet up with some buddies. The moment I got there the hostess was extremely rude. Commanding us, the customers, to order as if we were toddlers, under the time span of two minutes of sitting down. After a few additional rude remarks later from this hostess, we simply left and went to a place who actually wanted our business.
This was by far the worst service I’ve ever experienced in Iowa city. It was completely bizarre to see this from a professional setting. I won’t ever be coming back here and I would advise others to do the same.

Probably the worse buffalo chicken sandwich I’ve ever had… Thin piece of probably frozen over cooked chicken, with a piece of lettuce and a soft bun for $ 9… $ 3 blue moon was a deal… Plenty of TVs for sports games. On a cool day, they kept the room chilly.

Crappy selection of draft beers. Worst and most bland burger ever, maybe besides the vine (which sucks too). The coleslaw seemed like it was going to give me food poisoning. Split the appetizer sampler– totally inconsistent. Literally got ONE chicken strip… seriously? Server was unattentive. My stomach hurt SOOOO bad after eating here. Never ever again.

We affectionately call them Beer James because we (my dog and I) like to stop at their outdoor seating for drink (beer for me — water for him) while out for a walk downtown.
Owner is working the door most nights making sure things are running well. That really makes a difference. Food is good; not great. It is a bar that serves a lot of food. Food and drink specials most nights gets us a good meal for a great price.
You won’t find a four course meal here, but you will walk out full with money left in your wallet and want to come back.

Awesome burgers, awesome people, awesome drink specials. Seriously one of my favorite bars in Iowa City.

Friendly service, a nice seating area outside, and an interesting selection of burgers meant that my family and I were happy with our lunches. This month’s special was $ 5 burger baskets, but we opted for the more interesting variety of burgers available at regular price.
I cannot rate the inside of the restaurant or any other food aspects, but I was impressed with my cheese curd and ranch dressing burger.
Huge glasses of soft drinks too… can’t rate the beers either, as I was not there for alcohol, but there was a moderate selection of decent beers to choose from.

The staff here is always really friendly! That’s about the best thing I can say about Bo-​James, unfortunately. The beer selection is terrible but cheap. The fries and appetizers are pretty okay, your usual bar-​food fare. But $ 1.50 extra for veggie burgers? Come on, I know you’re just popping them in the microwave and then slapping them on the bun. That markup is ridiculous for a frozen Morningstar Farms patty. I don’t think we’ll be back anytime soon.

If you’re looking for a great deal on 36oz of beer, this is your place to go. And you’ll need it if you want to believe the food here is amazing. It’s above average, don’t get me wrong. But like all sports bars in Iowa City, you’re going to get a burger with fries that aren’t anything to oogle over.
What I really liked about this place are the booths, you’re in a bar but you definitely get the feeling like you and your friends can also have some privacy if you’re not there for getting drunk. I wish I could give it 3.5 stars just for that fact.

Love Bo Jangles. Questionable music most of the time but the biggie beers and nudie electronic games made my night. Good chill place to sit and drink with friends if you need a break from all of the «clubs.»

Is Bo-​James related to La James hair styling college? Like trashy cousins?
Food was garbahjz, garbanzo, garbajosa, garbage. My drink tasted as watered down as Kenny G jazz. Was with 3 other peeps and they also complained about the drinks. This is in my bottom 5 Iowa City experiences.

Great place for many things…
Cheap beer, good burgers, and fun nightlife. The regular customers show that this place has something special.
Cheap big beers, always a lunch special and usually no cover.
The Bo’s Burger is a must (cheeseburger with special ranch dressing). Mozzy sticks are also good. Chicken cordon bleu is also a top pick.