Jackson Street Pub

Just ate there last night and the homade onion rings were outstanding!

Love, love, love this place! R.I.P. Mike Carper. Your place is just as great as it always was; great food, great service and great prices! Visitors have to try this place!

An institution here in Macomb, this place is a straight up Dive Bar, full stop!
And thats a good thing.
Its the kind of bar, while clean and well kept, has weathered tables, and a real bar. I have been here many times over the years, and here has what has remained consistent and matters most to me.
Food: Straight up and simple fare that comes to you hot fresh and the way you ordered it. Its not fru-​fru or Gastro-​Pub, just filling with large portions. I personally like the create your own Nacho option, which is something I have shared with many over the years. Other items such as the Horseshoes are good as well.
Service: The owner is there often if you need to speak with her, but I have never had to. The bartender is usually friendly and will be the one to take your order. The food comes out quickly, and they keep your glass full.
Ambiance: Again, its a clean dive bar, with a weathered wood look. Theres a jukebox in the back, and you can usually eat popcorn for free most days. Pool table is there for the kid in all of us, without the annoying electronic bar games often found in many places.
Price: Totally cheap and reasonable. This place is affordable to students and working folk alike. Priced right and worth it.
Overall, I still like this place after all these years, and I will go back again.

Typical bar atmosphere. The food is always great! Onion rings are awesome, as are the horseshoes. Totally worth going!

Jackson Street was pretty damn delicious. Definitely a dive that will give you a bang for your buck. If you’re into food that is deep fried and comes in large epic portions, then this is the meal for you. Their big hitter is the «Horseshoe» which is a giant sandwich full of cheese fries. They have a multitude of meat selections. The ones I’ve had were great. The corn fritters were the bomb diggity too!
Go get your stomach stuffed at Jackson Street Pub!

Dark and fairly quiet. If you’re in the mood for greasy food, this is the place to go. No credit cards here, cash or check only. They do have an ATM if you forget to bring enough cash. Love the monterrey jack cheese sticks and cheddar cheese balls.

This place is just fine. Very much a small, local dive with straight forward food. One of those places where the salad is just shredded lettuce with dressing. The roast beef mash potato with gravy on toast. Delicious. And just an observation, the bathroom is back in a creepy dark corner and it is insanely small. Just odd.

This place is a macomb staple and I am so glad it is still here. This is a great local bar. Not tons of students come here but the food is amazing.
Get yourself a pony or a horseshoe, which is an open faced sandwich on white bread with whatever meat you want with lattes fries then two laddles of cheese on top.

I am not ashamed to say that I absolutely love this place. If you are lucky enough to find it while cruising down the road (it is absolutely, positively tiny), than you, my friend, are blessed.
This little gem is settled on a small parking lot and looks very rundown (at least it did when I attended WIU). The inside is small and dark, but that should not deter you from popping a squat and enjoying the delicious items they have available. The great thing about this place is that it is DELICIOUS and CHEAP! What more do you want? This is in no way a fancy man’s restaurant. It is a Macombie Homie gem and is always filled with the most brilliant assortment of individuals.
My food of choice was always the spaghetti or horseshoe and you cannot possibly go wrong with either. Their portions are large enough to fill your belly and leave you feeling satisfied. They also have a great bar with lots of typical drinks, but I cannot say too much more since my drink of choice there was either a whiskey or bloody mary!
If you want comfort food that is good and cheap without all the frills of fancy suburban/​city life, this is your place. If you want something else, than you are just zero fun to begin with.

Not a bad hidden gem for Macomb. However, you have to remember that this is probably one of the worst little towns in the world. So it doesn’t really speak much to the competition here.
That being said, it’s a decent establishment. Pretty divey, but that’s the charm here. Affordable beer with a passable selection. The horseshoes/​ponies aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. They’re likely derived from somebody’s mother resorting to cooking this in order to shut their kid up. Effective and decently delicious, but the concoction is kinda silly. They’re a coronary on a plate, which doesn’t factor into my review here. But it’s good to know.
All in all, it’s a decent place considering the town.

Hamburger horseshoe and draft Budweiser is a must! Service wasn’t too great but we don’t expect too much out of the pub. As long as the beer is cold and the corn is popped, were happy.

I did not attend Western but my Husband told me this was a MUST. Not sure if it’s my age but to me this place was just OK. The pony I had was delicious, don’t get me wrong but the place is cramped, the bathroom is gross & I am not sure they have ever updated. It was all just «OK» for me… Can’t say I won’t go back though.

To stop in at the Jackson Street Pub and not get a horseshoe or pony is doing a serious disservice to your stomach. To boot, they have an appealing, albeit modest, selection of bottled and on tap craft beer. Warning: the place is pretty small. They pack them in the best they can, but it still may be a while before you find a seat, especially at peak lunch or dinner hours. Waited about fifteen minutes and finally got a table. Had to try their onion rings and cheese sticks. The rings were more comparable to straws, which was a bit misleading. No matter; the batter was tasty and paired perfectly with some ketchup or ranch. The cheese sticks were much the same. Perfect temp and a great start to your horseshoe or pony selection. My new found vegetarian ideology forced me to order the veggie burger pony. Surprisingly enough, it was pretty damn good. I added some grilled onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos; only elevating it to higher grounds. I was ecstatic to see the burger wasn’t some cardboard mess from the frozen section at Wal-​Mart either. Fairly juicy, and without a doubt one of the better I’ve tried. Topped with waffle fries and cheese sauce; it’s easy to see why I packed on a Freshman 50 back in the day (50 not 15!). Well, that and excessive… studying! A great place to check out if visiting friends or fam at WIU, or if simply driving through.

Pony shoe is awesome! Get it with chili, enough said. BAM!

I used to go to WIU and this was one of my favorite places in town. The laid back atmosphere is nice, but the food is great. Best horseshoe in town!

The vibe of Jackson Street is totally right up my alley. Dark, dank, and inviting. Met a friend here for a few drinks during a recent visit to Macomb, and the bartender was pretty friendly. He was pretty accommodating too, as we had showed up about 45 minutes before they closed, and he let us stick around and chat while he swept and cleaned up around us. Can’t mess up bottled beer either, so a good experience overall.

If you can only eat one meal in Macomb, make it The Pub!
The pub experience begins in the parking lot. As soon as you open the car door your sense of smell is treated with the aroma of the homemade onion rings. You can also smell the rings if you are walking around town, but it all depends on wind direction.
Next, is your entrance in to the pub. A step up and a heavy door, a small cramped entry way (be sure to grab the daily copy of Newsbites as you pass through), another door, and you’re in.
Several smiling faces are waiting to greet you. Everyone says «hello» to you and will let you know that you can sit wherever you like. There are tables and booths along the west wall, and at the bar the seats face to the east.
The building is old. In the back of the restaurant the hardwood floors slope to the east, possibly a result of the constant rattling the adjacent railroad tracks provide.
The dining room is dark, but it’s probably better that way. The dim lights hide the stains on the walls from the decades of cigarette smoke that still lingers in the air at times.
Hanging on the walls you can find any number of your favorite beer signs or sports team pennants. –Nearly all are slightly stained from the aforementioned cigarette smoke.
Now, it’s time to eat!
The Food at The Jackson Street Pub is Phenomenal!
For Light eaters there are salads, as well as two daily homemade soups. But, generally, the people who enter The Pub are not in search of a light meal. Most people come in search of Homemade Onion Rings, Juicy Burgers, Giant Homemade Tenderloins, or the Cheesy Goodness of a Pony or Horse Shoe.
An order of homemade onions rings is enormous and is a great appetizer for a group of four.
The Burgers at The Pub are juicy and flavorful. There is something about an old, well seasoned, flattop grill that can build a restaurant’s reputation as a great burger joint. Now, be sure to remember that burgers come naked. So, if you want any veggies be sure to order them with the burger.
Many Restaurants that offer homemade tenderloin end up serving dried up, paper thin, crispy cardboard-​like wafers on a bun. The homemade tenderloin at The Pub is a thick, juicy, hand pounded, hand breaded, deep fried to a golden brown, piece of pork perfection. These things are HUGE and can easily be cut in half to make two sandwiches.
Now, to make your Pub experience truly authentic, you should venture to the world of the Pony/​Horse Shoe. Pony Shoes are your choice of meat (The Pub has somewhere around 10 options — I.E. Grilled Chicken, Fried Chicken, Hamburger, Ham, Turkey, Corned Beef, Tenderloins, Homemade Tenderloins, Hot Dogs, etc) sitting on a piece of toast, covered with a pile of lattice fries and topped with scalding hot cheese sauce. In addition, you can add grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, jalepenos, chili, or chopped tomatoes, on top of the already towering and intimidating plate. The Horse Shoe is literally double the size of a Pony Shoe it has a second piece of bread, double the meat and fries, and what seems like an ocean of molten queso.
Wash down your giant meal with a bottle of beer or a mixed drink (Sorry, no drafts) from the bar.
When paying, don’t be surprised if your total is less than $ 20 for two people, just take that money you saved and increase the amount of the tip you were going to leave.