It takes a lot for me to give someone a negative review but... My daughter, family, and I went to Bo James to have drinks l, food and to watch Iowa football. After being sat at a high top we were told we had one too many people and that everyone needed a seat so we needed to leave. The owner or manager who look like she was in her 60s or 70s was very rude so we won't be back. We could find plenty of more places to drink and eat and spend our money. We just thought we would give them a chance since we've never been there. The other servers and door serving staff were very kind and apologetic. Sad to have an experience like that in one of the greatest cities in the country, Iowa City Iowa! read more

Guinness is amazing! What else matters! Shout out to Kayden! Did not try food but I am sure it is amazing if Guinness is this good! read more

Bo-James - Fresh Guinness just poured! - American Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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The price is right and the service is good. They pay great detail to the cleanliness of the place. It seems it hasn't changed in years. If you like $4 big beers and very reasonably priced food, this is the place to go. read more

Servers were great food was good but the women owner was a nightmare. Kicking PAYING customers out of their booths with food and drinks still on their table just because "new customers are coming in and you've been here for an hour". She is only here on game days and makes watching the game a nightmare. The servers and bouncers don't like her because she takes business away from them. read more

Oh Bo James you really almost had it frfr. The food was just hit and miss kinda like my pullout game. The waitress was nice and fast. Had the Texas burger and it came out dryer than the sahara desert. I loved the music straight jamming to them tunes. I hope I get better luck next time I sit down at the Bo Jams. read more

Bo-James - American Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Atmosphere was great and workers were very friendly and accommodating. I got the Bo James Platter and the Vegetarian Burger with the house salad. The appetizer platter was 50/50. Items like the fried green beans and pickles were amazing while the nachos and potato skins were very dry. The burger was very dry and I could not finish it. The food is a hit or miss but the environment and vibes make up for the misses. Overall enjoyed the time spent here and will be coming back when it's warmer to sit outdoors. read more

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Leah the owner put her hands on young girls as they were trying to enter the patio. witnessed this as i was going to enter from the outside. immediately left. Do not give this business your money! I am disgusted. Acted so entitled. so incredibly rude and looks awful trying to "represent" your business. read more

Ordered Togo food. Got no ranch or salsa for the appetizers or the just cheese nachos. Ordered soup, it came in a small condiment container and was only half full (the size of my thumb), literally not even 2ozs of soup for like $6. Will not be ordering again. read more

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The server was very nice and the atmosphere was good. The pricing was the best I have found of the several restaurants on that block. I found the food could be a bit better but service always is the most important thing, but decent for bar food. Many of the restaurants charge too much, I have noticed, for simple sandwiches, like we are in austin tx. It is also close to me perfect dive bar. The best is one in Ann Arbor, but hard to replace read more

Got the macho nachos. A little spicy but tasted great. What was not great was the diarrhea that followed. Bathroom is arranged so that the sh*tter is a foot next to the two pissers with absolutely no divider. Although the bathroom lacked in privacy, it was great to be able to share a few words with the other bathroom users while taking care of business. After I laid the egg, I ordered a warm carmel apple pie to round things off for dessert. Lovely warm taste! Learned two things after my trip to Bo James today. 1. They have great apple pie 2. A poop with company is better than a poop alone. read more

Owner seemed to be a grouchy person. Put her hands on one of us. Said she "hates Wisconsin people". Feel bad for her. Great waiter. Angry lady owner. read more

Best bar in iowa city with great service! Dart boards and cheap beer from the tap is a dangerous mix!

Nasty. The place is small and seemingly quaint, but after sitting for ten or so minutes inside we noticed a faint mildew smell that lingered for the rest of the night. On top of that, our food was bland- nothing special at all and burned in most places- and the music was so loud it hurt our ears, despite our requests to turn it down (at 2pm, mind you.). Not sure if they're trying to compensate for something. Wait staff was kind, but overall the place just had an outdated, uncomfortable energy to it. Additionally, the woman who seemingly runs the bar (was told she owns the place when i asked) is so extraordinarily rude to her staff AND customers- that alone was enough to drive me away even before the stale food got there. What an unpleasant work environment, and dining environment. I'd recommend many of the other lovely bars in Iowa City before this one. read more

Wish I could give this place 0 stars. The owner, Leah, is extremely rude to paying customers for no reason and her attitude rubs off onto many of her employees as well creating a horrible experience. My group wanted to leave before getting our food because of how terribly we were treated. Loved our server, Skylar, though! She was very nice and attentive. Food is fine but they do have cockroaches. Will not be returning to Bo James after this visit. read more

My daughter ate there with a friend and both got food poisoning from ranch dressing.

The waitress swiped my card twice, and didn't even let me know. And then when I talked to the manager, Morgan, he told me that my friend did the damage that was with me the entire time.... He won't dispute the charge because he swears "I was friends with them" but won't tell me who or what it was. He also told me "I don't care if you ever come back to this bar." Most likely from alll the freshmen they let into the bar.. TERRIBLE BAR!!!!! When they know someone can't pay for their drinks they do this? Horrible. read more

Aggressively mediocre food, pretty disappointing. Got the potato burrito which itself was fine - but the mashed potatoes felt reheated from frozen and the temperature of the burrito in some places made that clear. The fries were also awful, like the budget freezer fries you get at Walmart. Definitely not worth the money. read more

Cassie and Georgia are the best bartenders in all of Iowa city.love the Philly cheese steak.

Tia and Cass are excellent employee and deserves a raise. amazing prompt service, which exceeded our expectations for a college town. had great recommendations! Loved the Pasta, best thing on the menu! Bo James has an excellent service. Go visit! read more

Big beers. Not a ton of selection. Bartender wearing a dress shirt and tie. What for? I'm unsure but it's hotter than hell in here. No AC, fans going and door open! Bartender super nice, but busy talking to friends at the end of the bar to wait on people he doesn't recognize. Didn't try the food read more

Bo-James - a baseball bat on a bar - American Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Mark makes the best bloody Mary's!!! (Totally not spicey) he's definitely not a young buck either

Came in for an Iowa game mid day. Sat down and all together our table spent around 180 on food drinks and tip. Middle of the 4th quarter of the close game got told we need to leave if we weren't gonna order anything else. read more

Twinkle twinkle little star, point me to the nearest bar.... Why go? I've got five reasons. 1. Locally owned for 32 years 2. Fresh basic burgers 3. Big 32 oz. beers 4. Large outdoor patio 5. Weekly karaoke (Thursdays) I always enjoy myself at BoJames-- but it's a typical college town bar with basic bar food. Check out their daily specials and always swing by on St Patrick's Day! read more

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Sat outside during a street fest. We ordered our kids' meals right away so they could be occupied with their food while we were waiting for ours. Turns out their PB&J came out AFTER our other food. Service overall was poor. Food overall was poor. Would not recommend for eating. read more

Can't speak for the food or the football-viewing experience, but if you're looking for laid-back, Thursday night, bad karaoke with a large group of people, this is your spot! $4 big beer specials and deals on shots if you're feeling dangerous :) read more

Bo-James - Right before we all morphed into Freddie Mercury for karaoke :) - American Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Was in town for a game and happened upon this place. The food was worthy of 2 stars max. Cheese curds were served room temp and had heavy fry on them. Nothing was worth re-ordering. The worst part of this restaurant was the owner. She is rude and we watched her literally push a girl in front of us. We also witnessed her yell at a nearby table that they needed to leave because there were paying customers who needed the table. I've never seen someone treat patrons as bad as what I saw at Bo James. Sure they have "big" beers but with the many other options available; I wouldn't recommend coming here and giving her a dime of your money. read more

I was there for country night which ended at 2am. They turned off the music at 1:30am and said we had to leave. We had an uber coming and at 1:50 they said we had to get out and wait in the zero degree weather otherwise the man working would "put his hands on us". They made us wait out in the cold while they were just cleaning up inside. read more

This place is a disgrace.. I walked in on homecoming weekend to have some beers and grub.. and at the door they were turning people away unless they would promise to buy food.. I think that's bull but whatever I was planning on it anyways.. we show our IDs and get our hands marked and everything, and when asked if we were going to eat or not I said "yeah we are going to get some burgers and fries and stuff"... apparently that response was not good enough and we got rudely turned away and kicked out BECAUSE WE WERE NOT BUYING ENOUGH FOOD!!! what a sham... Bo-James is a money gouging establishment and nobody should go there... absolutely unacceptable and they WILL NOT be getting me business ever again. read more

The entire staff at this bar should be fired, all bartenders and servers were drinking and clearly drunk. I was there for a drink or two and ended up having to break up a fight that none of the security guards cared to pay any attention too. While doing so one of the hammered servers came over to me, took my drink and poured it on me and got a security guard to kick ME out instead of the guys that were fighting. Very disappointed because I enjoyed going to this bar in the past but will never be going again! read more

This is a terrible place. The waitress was rude and didn't get my order right and then changed me for stuff I never got. Then made me go to an ATM and get a fee from that because the credit card machine not working. What a terrible time. First time going and my last. read more

This place is a joke. Bartender told us we could sit outside after we ordered drinks from her. Upon arriving we were told that food would take awhile if we planned on eating. We just wanted a few drinks outside on a beautiful day. We were outside enjoying our drinks when an older rude lady told everyone they have to order food too. Otherwise one drink and we need to leave. We barely had our drinks. Why would we want to order food when you warned us it would take awhile? The tables cleared out. I felt bad for the waitresses. It's not like we were college kids either. read more

Wonderful service! not sure who this Coleman character is that rated this establishment 1 star but he is out of his mind! How about you get out of a college bar you geyser, welcome to the real world. the waitresses are amazing and the food is grade A quality. read more

by far the worst bar in Iowa city. the owner Leah is a bitter old woman who has a power issue. the bar space is tiny and constantly crowded. Not to mention the "waitresses" who will ask if you want a drink, take your money, and never give you the drink. AVOID THIS BAR. read more

Is Bo-James related to La James hair styling college? Like trashy cousins? Food was garbahjz, garbanzo, garbajosa, garbage. My drink tasted as watered down as Kenny G jazz. Was with 3 other peeps and they also complained about the drinks. This is in my bottom 5 Iowa City experiences. read more

This used to be a bar I would go to all the time. Not because it was anything special but because it was mostly void of undergrads and it was the bar that everyone from my grad program went to. It was fine for a while but once I got to know certain people on staff more I realized how awful some of them are (some are amazing though). Last night was the absolute last straw. I ordered a drink and then when I went outside to smoke the male bartender yelled at me to put more clothes on. Insulted I decided just to leave abandoning over half my drink and my tab. I went back today to close it out and on top of the 9$ I was charged for my big Angry Orchard I was charged 5$ in gratuity. 56% tip for a drink I didn't get to drink and a derogatory comment. Don't go here, there food is garbage too. read more

Bo-James - Proof of how the ripped me off. - American Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

My girlfriend and I both got food poisoning after eating here. The mustard for the hamburger I ordered expired over a month ago. Definitely not a place to order food. read more

Went out for the night to meet up with some buddies. The moment I got there the hostess was extremely rude. Commanding us, the customers, to order as if we were toddlers, under the time span of two minutes of sitting down. After a few additional rude remarks later from this hostess, we simply left and went to a place who actually wanted our business. This was by far the worst service I've ever experienced in Iowa city. It was completely bizarre to see this from a professional setting. I won't ever be coming back here and I would advise others to do the same. read more

Not impressed. My son is in the hospital the family thought it would be fun to go up and grab some food to share with him. When we sat to eat with him or food was all over cooked and yet cold. Our sampler of appetizers looked as if it was left overs from another parties mean. 3 onion rings, 2 cheese curds, 5 fried green beans, 3 pickles some stale chips and 2 Jalapenos. My burger cam with the smallest portion of mac and cheese ive ever seen. My daughter gt a salad, it had 2 tomatoes in it. Worse place ever ! read more

I've been to Bo James many times over the years, and every time I'm there while the owner is there I remember why I try to not go there anymore. She's rude, which you would think someone her age would understand that being in a customer service industry is just not acceptable. Even though I am not a doctor, I would still suggest she seek medical help in removing the huge stick that has clearly been lodged in her backside for at least the last decade. Our food was sloppily put together, and was nothing impressive. I ordered a bloody mary, and wasn't asked how I like it which I thought was odd. When I asked for a pickle with it I was informed they didnt have them, despite the fact we had just gotten fried pickles. When it came it no taste other than the tomato juice, and was by far the worst bloody mary I've ever had. Never going back again. read more

Awful. Wouldn't let us in because a friend didn't have a shirt so he put one on and they still wouldn't even let us in. Said you can't pull the veteran card and wouldn't let us even in the door at 6pm. They also lied and said they were called "Brothers" when I said I was going to leave them a review read more