Kouri’s Pub

This «dive pub» seems to be a fairly popular local watering hole. To be safe, I ordered the Thursday night «Special»…prime rib for $ 16.95. What a deal, right? Easily the worst prime rib I’ve eaten in the past 58 years (and I’m 58). It was kind of gray and swimming in a greasy brown liquid. My son had a pizza… he gave it 2 stars out of 5. The floor was covered in crumbs and trash, almost hiding the nasty and stained carpet underneath. Overall, a filthy place with below average food. If I survive the night, I won’t be going back for seconds.

We just recently moved to Pekin. I have heard good things about Kouri’s and read some decent reviews on here. However, our dining experience will be our last. My initial impression after walking into the establishment was that we were going to sub par service for excellent food. Was I wrong.
Service
The service was terrible. After walking in the restaurant, we waited 10 minutes before we were greeted and our names were taken. After our names were taken, the wait was about 5 – 10 minutes longer. After we were seated, another couple was seated about 5 minutes after us. We had the same waitress. She waited on their table for drinks first. As others were seated, they were greeted with the complimentary popcorn as they were seated. We were not.
Food
I opted to try the rack of ribs since I have heard good things. The wife tried the Kouri’s supreme pizza. I will start with the good. The pizza was excellent. It was a thin cracker like crust with an even distribution of toppings, cheese, and sauce. If you like thin crust pizza you should enjoy Kouri’s pizza. However, their are much better choices in the area if you are looking for good pizza. The ribs were served with cole slaw, fries, hard roll, and a small piece of corn on the cob. I am not much of a cole slaw person, but I have had better at KFC. The corn was soft and chewy as if it had been sitting in water all day. Not a very good presentation when we are the state of corn. The ribs were tender and fell apart on the plate. However, they would have been much better with no sauce. The sauce was not good at all. It had a sour and tangy flavor that just ruined the entire meal. I could only suffer to eat a half rack. I would not even feed the leftovers to a dog.
Atmosphere and Décor
After some minor research, I found that Kouri’s in Pekin was opened in 1994. It looks as if this place is from the late 70’s or early 80’s with the wood paneling on the walls. The only update they may have done was add TV’s to the walls of this place. I do not know if they building was already in place or if it was a new building. So they either never updated this place or built it from scraps.
Conclusion
I would recommend them to contact Bar Rescue for some much needed help from John Taffer. This may not be necessary as most from this area may think there is great food and service here. Those individuals must be sheltered and never left Pekin.

Pretty good food, the steak was cooked exactly the way I ordered it. Not a huge selection on the menu. What the menu lacks in food the beer tap makes up for in temperature and selection.

When I lived in Pekin this was one of my favorite places to spend an evening. The ribs are decent but the wings are outstanding. They are big and meaty enough that you might believe they were ripped from the shoulders of some massive
flying buffalo. Vastly superior to the minuscule fairey wings you would find at a place like Buffalo Wild Wings.
They have a reasonable beer selection for a small town and I like to sit around the outdoor fire pit in the autum with a cold seasonal brew from Sam Adams or some such… but be warned they don’t carry Blue Moon! I have had to settle for Shock Top when I am there. All told there are worse ways to spend an evening and if you are surrounded by good friends it is hard to find better.