The food is very good and the sizes of sandwiches and burgers are humongous. The chicken tortilla soup is really good. The potato salad is different than your everyday potato salad and has some heat. It's really good. The bison and turkey burgers are excellent. The service is always friendly. The cons are the floor and bar seating is crazy tight and it can get way too loud to hear the person next to you. The pricing is high. I don't mind paying more for a quality meal but it's gotten too high for a deli sandwich. read more

I'm just going to give you a couple tips here: 1. Split a sandwich. Any sandwich (they're all good) because it's way too much food for one person unless your on one of NU's athletic teams. 2. Visit the bathrooms. Hilarious offbeat decor. 3. Get the banana cream pie. Or any pie or dessert -- outrageously good. Not all necessarily in that order but all 3 are Musts. Oh, and 4. Repeat. read more

Great place to relax and enjoy a beer in hip environment - they have a wide selection of beers and helpful staff. They'll even give you small beer shots to taste & then decide which one you want to try. Their pulled pork sliders are pretty cool too! read more

Food quality and flavors a solid 4 to 4.5 stars. Portions too big, prices too high. Reduce both. Those arent sliders. Those are borderline full sandwich. Service is dry and unattentive. Server telling you dressing is dairy free but had chunks of feta in it. Dining room was at 67 degrees. Moved from high top to high top to 3rd table. All wobbly. Floor hadnt been degreased and mopped well in ages. They dont make use of theit total space well. Black bartender refused to let us take a 5 top only to let another family take it 5 mins after us. Both families of 4. 10 mini wings, not jumbos, for 12.29?? Great samdwiches and burgers but u dont like dining in here hence wont be returning. read more

This place really hit the spot! Who knew BAT stood for Benson Avenue Tavern?! Aside from the great service, friendly staff and cozy ambience, the portions were HUGE! Even the side salad that comes with the massive sandwiches is hearty and they certainly aren't stingy with their portions. You could easily get 2-3 meals out of one meal here if you're able to use self control and take some home! I will most definitely be back! read more

Bat 17 - New American Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

Delicious. Go there hungry! Great drinks. Fun lively atmosphere. Great burgers. Lots of choices. Good cookies. Small bar area with big TV. Friendly waitstaff. read more

Excellent burgers. Excellent service. If you're looking for a burger bar joint with plenty of food, this would be a great choice.

It took 12 minutes for them to come over to the table and take our drink order and two other people were in the resturant! The food was awful. read more

I want to love this place because the concept is so cool. Free brewed coffee, an extensive vegetarian menu, and the combination of a deli and a pub are things I want to encourage. In practice, however, the sandwich I ordered was flavorless and a big disappointment. The brownie sundae was great, and the service was wonderful, too. I would go back, but maybe I would stick to chicken salad or something. read more

Best BLT ever. Don't even think about ordering the large one. Great sandwich. @TomOB read more

The full size sandwiches are huge and can be shared. This is one of the few places that can pull off a good breakfast and a good dinner. Maybe because most items are sandwiches :P. I tried the Funky Monkey for brunch and then split a Carnegie Reuben for dinner (not on the same day). Both were fresh and tasty. I completely forgot to ask for the free coffee at brunch but I will visit again and remember to try it out. Highly recommend if you're in the area. read more

So glad I found this gem in Evanston. I often head up to the Century Theater to see the first movie of the day for $5.50. By the time I'm done, I'm really hungry but just can't bring myself to go to Chili's. The space is tight, but we've found seats both times amid the Northwestern basketball fans. The menu (both beer and food) is extensive. I've had the pastrami and chicken salad sandwiches and both were very good, as were the fresh fries. I also thoroughly enjoyed my white bean and bacon soup. The good news is the sandwiches are epic in proportion so you can have leftovers! read more

The food tastes good, but at what cost? The menu is very overpriced for dressed up bar food at best. After eating here several times over the past couple years, here's what you can expect: 1) Tiny room with no atmosphere and way too many TVs per guest 2) Overpriced booze 3) Delicious but overpriced sandwiches 4) The waitstaff do NOT tell you when half their menu isn't available until you've sat there for 20 minutes looking at the menu 5) The owner is pretentious and yells at you if you disagree with him On top of this, the few times I've gotten takeout there they've gotten my order wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME!! I've had to walk back there and fix it EVERY SINGLE TIME. When I got waitstaff to fix it, they were courteous. When the owner was supposed to fix it, he was a real tool about it. Bottom line, I'm never going there again. Good luck to you if you try it. read more

This place is crammed with NW students and locals. Which makes sense, as this dive has plenty of flat screens to follow your fave team, plenty of brew on tap and great sandwiches. The wait here can get pretty bad at times, but if you're not in a hurry, grab a cup of coffee and wait. The burgers here are top notch and probably some of the best I have ever eaten. Then again, you are dropping about $14 for a burger and side. The bloody Mary Sunday special ,is not very special, as I could barely taste any vodka and the "BM bar" is a joke, just make me a decent drink and save the "customizing" BS. Service here is spotty. First time, the server was all smiles and right on her game. Second time, the server was in lala land. Brought me my drink and then forget the other 3. After waiting and seeing her dart in and out of the kitchen getting food, hugging some guy, etc I just stood up walked through the maze of tables and patrons, found her in the back and reminded her about the drinks. Her service level did not improve throughout the visit. It's definitely a "must go to spot" in the area for great sandwiches, but the wait and service may cause to move on next time if the wait is long. read more

(FYI: I am reviewing the restaurant side, not the bar side.) This Evanston establishment is the best of times and the worst of times. If you're looking for a good environment for an intimate dining experience with friends, this is not the place to go. You will be seated a cramped tables in an overly crowded restaurant and barely be able to hear the person across the table from you, while you brush arms with the stranger at the table next to you and can't move your chair in or out more than an inch without ramming someone. BUT.... If you're just looking for good food, you're in for a real treat. The sandwiches are humongous and delicious and could satisfy the appetite of a small village. The cube fries are an added delight. They're a bit pricy, but they have a membership card that gets you points for every dollar, so at least the high prices help you get closer to a coupon faster? I would recommend coming at non-peak dining times for a better experience. It becomes almost impossible for a party larger than 2 at lunchtime and dinner is no better. The newer bar side seems to be emptier, but it also has a different menu. read more

BAT17 is one of the gems of evanston. It used to be a small bar and was kind of tough to get into, because when you have such good food and beer people flood to it. Luckily they expanded to the building next door and put a few pool tables in and more TVs. I used to dig the fried pickles but they got rid of em !! Crap. But dont worry they had these small buffalo chicken bites which were totally chill. I liiiike. Grab a few buddies go get a beer tower and have a great time. Staff is friendly and awesome. Why would anyone go to tommy nevins when you have this a few blocks away. read more

Found this place on yelp and being a holiday, thought we'd give it a try. Wow! What a find! This place is absolutely great! I tried the door county cherry pie French toast, which is enough for at least two people. You can see how huge the slices are. I'm not a huge cherry fan, but for some reason decided to try this. I'm glad I did! The cherry compote was perfect and served with Vermont pure maple syrup! The specialty breakfast sandwiches are also giant and on really good homemade bread. If you're a foodie (and even if you're not), this place is a must!. You won't be disappointed!. Oh, and did I mention the killer bloody? read more

Bat 17 - Door county cherry French toast! - New American Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

Been coming here on average once a week since Bat opened years ago. Will put as calmly as able, this place has been HORRIBLE service and food since the new owners took over! 4 of 5 times there has been something wrong with our orders. As of this evening, when opting for take-out, my husband and I pick up and the waitress responded with "kitchen is still working on it". 15 minutes later, "mistaken. Order wasn't even entered". Come on new Bat!! Too many people we talk with are saying the same thing about the decline in service. Get your acts together. We want to love this place as we did before. read more

Friendly staff, good but not amazing food. Reuben was solid, fries were really good, and the nachos were good but huuuuuge. Enough for at least 4 people! I'd go back again to explore the menu. Great place to sit and hang with a date or, in my case, a daughter :) read more

It's March madness, minimal seats. It's an hour and a half wait for a take out order. Why are both kitchens not running? Thankfully there are other options and we never have to go back there until you decide you want to stay in business. read more

Austin inspired (notice the ads for the Austin Bat Festival on the menu board) bar/cafe/coffee shop is tricky to find, but worth the find. Texas sized portions, with OK service, and free hot beveragers. Only wish the place was much bigger as the bar area gets a bit difficult to get around when more than three parties are there. Oh yeah, the cole slaw is AMAZING. read more

I had never heard of this place before coming here the other week ago, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I ordered their veggie burger for lunch and it was excellent. It was huge, so I sheepishly had to eat it with a knife and fork, but it was so worth it. It came on what seemed to be a home made brioche and had cucumbers, avocado, and really really good swiss cheese. There's a variety of sides you can choose from to go with your burger/sandwich. I went for the black bean and corn salad, which was a good call since it was pretty light and the burger itself was way bigger than I had expected. The sweet potato fries looked really good, but there's no way I could have eaten the burger and the fries. I wasn't thrilled with the service, but at a casual place like this I don't really expect great service, so I guess it didn't bother me too much. read more

Great sandwiches ...awesome service. Only problem is the bread to meat ratio. Bread is cut a little to thick for the amount meat provided. Otherwise the sandwiches are highly recommended. Dont forget FREE COFFEE read more

This is kind of late review (I Was there Thursday 18 April) but I have to give a great shout out to one of my Favorite restaurants in Evanston. Every time I have friends or family come visit I bring them here at least once. Pretty Impressive Beer Menu and a decent liquor selection...I get the Blue bloody mary almost every time I go...it is Awesome. or having such a large menu with many many items everything I have tried from there has been delish., which is not very common when there are so many items it seems restaurants tend to go cheaper on the ingredients to be able to make all the dif. items. I split the Turkey burger with my cousin the portions were MORE than enough to split and I eat a lot. We got their delicious sweet potato fries as a side. My other cousins got the BBQ Salad and Ceaser salad they got the smaller portion that was offered and still couldn't finish it. I will have to say this last time the service was pretty bad which is a first. we went on a Thursday late afternoon around 3 or 4. They waitress took awhile to bring us waters or get drink orders even though the place wasn't particularly busy. Then after she took our order she went and ate her food. She only came back to our table once to bring us our food and didn't even ask if anything looked ok or if we needed more drinks/water...she just sat down the food and walked away and continued eating her food. I had to get up and go ask her if we could get some more water and the side of tomatoes I originally ordered. Other than that experience I have always had a pretty pleasant dining experience with friendly servers ....I can't wait to visit now that the new addition is open!!! read more

Love this place! Something for everyone on the menu. Great beer list. Friendly staff. Kid friendly. It's one of my go-to's for casual dining. Sandwiches and salads are gigantic but they offer half-sizes. I always still get the biggie and end up eating it all because it's so good. The cookies are also excellent so we usually end up taking a few home for later (iced oatmeal cherry). It is definitely a small place, cramped and sometimes loud but that never seems to bother me, even if we have to wait for a table. Bat 17 is a great casual neighborhood place to meet friends for lunch or dinner. No need to dress up, I'm often coming straight from the gym next door and never feel out of place. read more

Well its a "Sports Bar" but they played a Modest Mouse song, which made me want to give it 4 stars for effort, but it shortly lost that rating by playing a Silversun Pickups song right after. This is the kind of place that would love Tame Impala, but still isn't over the Black Keys stolen riffs, and would be scared of playing Death From Above 1979. The beer prices were extremely fair but that doesn't cut it bro. 10/10 would love to DJ this bar. read more

I simply love Bat 17 for a casual burger night! The burger selection is amazing, and I can't rave enough over the Scarlet Knight burger, a TEN ounce angus burger with grilled pineapple, roasted red pepper on a pretzel bun with sriracha sauce on the side. The sweet potato fries are consistently amazing, crisp waffle-style served in a metal basket on the side, so you know you will consistently get a nice-size serving of fries. I tried the Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale, which was pretty good -- I consistently recommend the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter which they have on tap there. Husband loved his Nittany Lion. Oh, and we're SEC fans, so we guffawed at the SEC burger nestled at the end of the menu -- a plain and frankly timid burger... HAHAHA! We finished up with two beers at the bar while taking in the Blackhawks game, and we really were "overlooked" by the bartenders, although the bar was not busy -- room for improvement for Bat 17, but not enough to keep us away. We'll be back! read more

Pretty cool place if you want to play some pool, watch a game on a big screen tv at the bar and enjoy some great food. I ordered the Acapulco burger and onion strings, the burger was cooked to order medium rare, perfect, they also have a great assortment of domestic and imported beers and spirits. Service was good. read more

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Wife and I are both vaccinated so we took a walk here this morning and saw thy were open for breakfast at 11 so we went in. Only ones there. Place was very clean. Had a couple of balawat breakfast sandwiches. Out effing standing. Our young server was very pleasant. Evanstonians need to come out and support this long standing bar restaurant. read more

I ordered the K2 burger. It was tasty, very big and filling. The atmosphere is also amazing. Doesn't deserve 5 stars, though, as given how overpriced this place is, I expected a better tasting burger. But if you are going for a cool atmosphere with big portions, Bat 17 is the best place. read more

The bar is fine. The beer selection tends to be stale with the staples you'll find in most places, but it's a good place to watch a playoff game. The food is very good on the restaurant half - if a little generous (plan to take half of your sandwich home!). read more

We came for a burger and a beer and that's exactly what we got. Wait time was minimal from time we walked in and out meal was on the table. For a Saturday night, not bad at all. The services was attentive and friendly. This was my first sunny side up burger, and it was not a disappointment that's for sure. read more

I heart their Sunday Bloody Mary bar. They provide mountains of fixings and all you have to do to customize is add your favorites to the tomato concoction of vodka. Their bartender is pretty good at creating martinis as well. The meat is fabulous and I love their potato salad, but it's too expensive for our college student-esque budget to hit up more than a few times a season. Their alcohol is decently priced, however. One time I ordered a pastrami sandwich and got a turkey sandwich instead and they gave us a free drink. The omelets aren't bad but aren't anything to write home about. I like their potatoes, however. Also, I am a bat lover with tattoos to prove it, so I feel right at home when I walk in and see their bat mural and their Bat Festival posters from Texas. It's a nice place - as someone else mentioned, pretty spartan, but I like that. read more

I enjoyed the Revolution Anti-Hero IPA. My burger was good; the beef was tasty, tender and top quality, and the bun was chewy and fresh. The service was cheery and friendly, and the atmosphere was okay but could be improved, especially for the price. read more

Re: brunch Blueberry muffin french toast was very good. But I'm not sure it was really french toast. It felt much more like a very good blueberry muffin with a little egg and blueberry cream cheese frosting. But it was tasty, so I'm not complaining. I did find a bit too sweet toward the end - there might have been a bit of brown sugar added which could be removed. The fruit on the side wasn't at all tasty. It was bland, and tasted like something a supermarket might have prepared a week prior with unripened melon. Get here early. At 11:30am there's a line out the door. read more

I went on a Saturday afternoon. It was busy and crowded. They politely asked us if they could move our table to fit a bigger party in but gave us free shots for moving us so we didn't mind. I had the California Dreaming sandwich it was delicious. The bread was tasty, but the sandwich was too tall so the insides kept sliding out. Half of the regular sandwich was filling for me. read more

Bat 17 - California Dreaming Chicken - New American Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

Food is 5 stars, one star off for the service. Could not have picked a better college bar to have in Evanston. I miss being able to go there for the nachos or their salads on a weekly basis. I still have my Bat card in my wallet! Check it out for a dive bar that has huge portions and great drink specials. I swear by the nachos, roadhouse sandwich, and buffalo chicken salad. read more

Hubby and I were passing through and we so glad we stopped!!! Amazing service! Best burger and awesome brew selection!!! Will definitely be back. #livesimplybysimplyliving read more

Bat 17 - Cold brew! - New American Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

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I ordered a sandwich and onion strings at 5:00 PM. It is now 9:41 PM and I'm still waiting. No phone call. No text message. Nothing. I checked 3 times and the order had gone through. 13 minutes away from house. They'll never hear from me again. read more

Great food, drinks, and atmosphere. So much variety on the menu as well. Definitely a tried and true favorite for my fam!