Booners Place

In all honesty, I’ve been mulling over what I’d write in this review for some time now.
Booner’s and I have many similarities in that we’ve gone through our periods of transition. Flashback to Winter of 2009, I was a young lass who had recently graduated college, moved back in with her conservative parents, was miserably unemployed, and had been dumped by her boyfriend. Ah, yes my quarter life crisis round 1. Since Booner’s was a bit plain looking with an aging interior, I had absolutely no qualms about showing up in yoga pants with a bucket of fried chicken to share some shots of Polish blackberry brandy (A Waukegan favorite!) with some friends. Obviously, Booner’s & I needed some kind of intervention.
Flash forward to today: I am in a much happier place in my life while writing this review and Booner’s is also a much happier place. Thanks to some remodeling, Booner’s has a shiny new bar, lots of new TV’s, and a great selection of alcohol. Anytime I need a break from Chicago life and am in Waukegan, I am most likely knocking back shots with my friends and snacking on chicken fingers. What can I say? Old habits die hard.

Cherv can remodel all he wants but he needs to wash this place of the stink known as Bartender Chris if he wants to do any real business in Waukegan. Chris never showers and is rude to women he finds attractive. He always has those dumb polo shirts on and they get all sweaty and it’s gross. The rest of this bar is awesome with its state of the art televisions, live music, fancy floors, and a good waft of that fresh remodeling smell… but Chris has to go.

Tried this place on the suggestion of friends who were meeting there to hear a band.
I was prepared for the worst based on the outside– but it probably was one of the BEST entertainment experiences I have had in some time.
Here are some of the highlights.
— The neighborhood is in transition but not a real problem.
— Lots of parking, it’s OK to park in the school lot across the street.
— NO COVER CHARGE for a well-​known blues band popular in the greater Chicagoland area performing on a weekend. Unheard of.
— The female bartenders are HOT HOT HOT and they had very sexy and cute uniforms. Each one smiled a lot and took care of drink orders QUICK. They were even nice when my guest switched to drinking water later in the evening.
— Drink prices were about what you’d pay for a place with no entertainment, but with the benefit of entertainment!
— Not too crowded, a nice crowd for a Saturday night.
— Classy decoration inside the bar and comfortable seating.
— Diverse crowd from 20-​somethings to over 40’s. Seemed like lots of singles and by and large friendly mid to upscale people.
I didn’t observe a SINGLE negative about this place (OK — the band stand could be elevated a bit so people could see them better) and I would be happy to go back again sometime when they have a band or maybe just show up to watch a game.
It’s obvious by the attitude of the employees that management knows how to best treat customers and have people leave with a positive memory of their night out.
Trust me– don’t be intimidated by the rough exterior, give them a try and judge for yourself.

What looks like a little dive bar in a gettho part of Waukegan is actually a nice looking bar inside. I was not sure what to expect walking in this Waukegan bar. It was ok and had a young American male crowd. there is a pool table in the back and a long bar in front. Not much on the mid week night I went but this place has plenty of room to move around. The beer prices were good and this place is better than some of the other bars in this town. The bar is great but the town looks like shit.