My spouse and I dined at Bar Louie most recently for lunch on a Sunday afternoon in late November 2015. (We also dined there in early November 2015.) Bar Louie is a chain restaurant (with 90+ outlets) that began in Chicago in 1990 and focuses on hand-crafted martinis and American food. Previously, we visited the Pittsburgh, PA location at Station Square twice in the mid-1990s. Bar Louie has a newsletter/frequent diner club called “Louie’s Crew” - if you sign up and provide your email address, they will send you a coupon for a free appetizer (which expires about two weeks after receipt); I have not received any additional mail from them in the six weeks since I signed up. This restaurant does not accept on-line reservations. Bar Louie is open for lunch and dinner daily, and happy hour seems to be popular ($3 drafts, $5 martinis, and some half-priced appetizers).
Bar Louie Center
Valley is located in the lifestyle center (strip mall) space previously
occupied by Shula’s Steak House (which moved to Downtown Allentown in July of
2015). The restaurant, which opened in mid-October 2015, resembles nothing of
the former Shula’s. In nice weather, Bar Louie has small patio tables
positioned on the front sidewalk and enclosed by a wrought-iron railing. Just
inside, the front walls retract to allow light and air into the rest of the
space. A huge four-sided rectangular bar offers seating in front of many TVs,
with additional high-top and low-top seating throughout the restaurant (and
just two or three booths). Below the bar rail are purse/coat hooks and outlets
to charge your cell phone. Some comfortable furniture in one grouping allows
lounging space. Restrooms remain in the same place as they were in Shula’s, but
the décor was renovated, including removing the televisions (which struck us as
odd because this is still sort of a sports bar, in our opinion).
We shared the
potstickers as an appetizer, which were nicely pan-fried and tasty (we liked
them so much the first time that we ordered them again on our second visit),
followed by the fish and chips (you can substitute tater tots for fries with
any of their sandwiches or entrees, and for another dollar or so you can “load”
them with green onions, cheese, and bacon) and the Fried Louie burger (with an
egg on top). We have also tried two varieties of their sliders, which come
three to an order and are served with either chips or tater tots: the brisket
sliders topped with pear slaw were yummy, but the chicken parm sliders were a
bit spicy, and one piece of chicken was cooked improperly. (Our waitress
offered to replace that particular slider, then offered ice cream for dessert
to make up for the error.) Disappointingly, the restaurant only offers two
desserts: a key lime pie (served with strawberries in a glass jar) and
chocolate cake. Most appetizers, burgers, and salads are in the $9 to $10
range.
Service was not
great on the Sunday afternoon that we dined, despite the fact that the
restaurant only appeared to be operating at about 25% capacity. Upon entering
the restaurant, there was no one on hand to greet guests as they came in the
door, nor was there a sign directing patrons to seat themselves, so most people
just stood around wondering what to do. We sat at a high-top table in the bar
area, and service was slow from both our waitress and the kitchen (food is
delivered by runners, so we could not blame our waitress for that). It appeared
that there was some issue – perhaps a manager was not on duty to police the
staff and solve problems.
We will surely
visit Bar Louie again when we are looking for a laid-back option at the
Promenade. (Previously, only Red Robin fit that bill, and it was usually filled
with teenagers and families; Bar Louie offers the same type of casual cuisine
in a more adult atmosphere.)
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