Had about 45 minutes to kill so I wandered into this little pub on Davis. Nice enough looking place but not the right music (too "poppy" for the environment). I couldn't make out the beers on tap so I asked the sad sack behind the bar (he didn't welcome me when I sat down) about the beers. He read off the names of the three (of six) I could see so I ordered one. The other three will forever by a mystery. He pours me a 12 oz. "Cold Time" (produced by local brewery Revolution) in a standard (read "dull") mug and places it in front of me. Then he hands me a menu and tells me it's happy hour for 45 more minutes. I ask if the beer he just poured me is the "rotating draft of the month" -- on the happy hour menu for $5. "No," he says (without explanation). So what I want to know is should I have a) just walked out right then and there, b) told him I wanted to change my order, or c) introduced him to the idea that maybe (just maybe) he might have told me about the happy hour special as soon as I sat down like a normal bartender (I bartended through my 20s). read more

Incredibly rude and unfriendly people on the Blue Horse side of things. Everyone acts like they don't want anyone in there, as if the customers are imposing somehow. I can think of a couple people there that don't deserve to be working in any customer-facing role at all, let alone at a bar/restaurant. read more

Wow! So good! The complimentary chips & salsa were addictive!! They offer three menus with three different concepts in a super cool old time whiskey bar vibe. The service was fantastic as well! Highly recommend for a night out with friends or a casual date night! read more

The Blue Horse Tavern - Complimentary chips and salsa - Salad Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

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Really great place- the ambiance is cozy and inviting. Loved the rounded booths. Food was good. Large portions and friendly, attentive service. read more

FOOS here absolutely awful. Not even good pedestrian food. Over priced and couldn't even eat half the meal. DON'T WASTE you money!!!!

Good food, great service. Really pleased with my experience. Try the tacos and the rueben sandwich, great cocktails too

We were looking for Five and Dime and walked in. Apparently, F&D and Blue Tavern and Taco Diablo are all part of the same location. We sat at the bar and had a great evening with Fernando, the bartender. He guided us to the right glasses of wine and through the menu. We got great chips and a green and a red salsas when we sat down. The red was a killer. We had a BBQ beef and a prime rib sandwich. They are huge portions. The fries were prefect. really crispy. The slaw was amazing. The buns wereI think the torta bread so substantial. The prime rib sandwich comes with caramelized onions. It overpowers the beef unfortunately. It also made the bun soggy. I would have preferred more meat and less onions. We also had flan. OMG the flan was fabulous. really creamy. the sauce was not overly sweet which was nice. And the portion size was generous. They have nice banquettes but we enjoyed talking with Fernando so we might always sit at the bar if he's there when we return. read more

The Blue Horse Tavern - Prime rib sandwich - Salad Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

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Great options as three places share one kitchen. We went Mexican with the lunch special of two tacos and a salad. Plus veggie enchilada roho. Both delicious. Good service and cool vibe too. read more

The Blue Horse Tavern - Inside - Salad Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

We were so excited to try this placed based on the reviews. Not sure what happened with us. The space is well designed and on a charming street. Now I rarely write negative reviews...but. I'm assuming we had a new server as she didn't know anything about the beers on tap. We got the cauliflower appetizer, I had the ginger salad and hubs had the cheeseburger. Everything is really heavily sauced. Tempura has a heavy glaze (think general tso chicken at a buffet). My salad was a basic bagged salad with tons of dressing, raw tofu, and piles of wonton strips. Burger was covered in queso/cheese whiz and now hubs has some mild food poisoning. We would have been better off at a chain restaurant instead. Super bummed. read more

After a nice walk along the lakefront, I stopped in at The Blue Horse Tavern. It was close to 2pm and the hostess asked if I would mind sitting next door at Taco Diablo where she said I could get the same menu. I scanned the QR code but only saw the Mexican menu. Since I was in the mood for a burger, I got up to leave. Fortunately the waitress stopped me & helped me find the burger menu. I ordered the patty melt without onions. It was really delicious! I loved that it was only 4 ounces (no longer the norm), the sauce was great, the fries were hot & crispy. Now I am wanting to go back. My thanks to Sol who was paying close attention! read more

We wanted to watch football. The bar was closed and the tv was off, but they turned it on for us and it was very nice of them. The food was good. Three restaurants share a kitchen, so there are a lot of options to order and we enjoyed everything we ate! read more

I'm not gonna fluff it up. They make the best cheese burger in all of Evanston. The pickup experience is very easy and always ready on time. Highly recommend read more

Nice restaurant with multiple menus and good food. Staff friendly and helpful. Recommended.

Love the way this restaurant shares menus between Taco Diablo (a family favorite). The decor is really beautiful & the food is always great. read more

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First, we loved the atmosphere walking in. A beautiful, old world bar sets a great vibe. We sat in a comfortable half circle booth. It felt like we were dining privately. There's 3 restaurants you can order from at this place. We stayed with the Blue Horse menu. My draft beer was fresh and a 10, as was the mimosa my wife had - another 10. They serve fresh chips with two salsa's. Another win! We next had the pretzel with mustard sauce and cheese sauce - definitely the best I've ever eaten. I ordered the burger MR, which was perfect w fries and my wife had the ribs, another winner! Our server was absolutely amazing! We will definitely come back! read more

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Blue Horse Tavern, Lulu's, Taco Diablo, and Five & Dime are all connected if you were confused like I was originally. When you get seated at any dining area of these establishments, you can order from all the different restaurants menus. Very interesting concept, almost like a sit-down food court in a way, but I think the food and the atmosphere is way better than any food court I have been in. I enjoy the tacos at Taco Diablo (a little expensive, but still tasty), but my recent order of the full rack ribs was fantastic. The house sauce has a strong bourbon flavor, pretty interesting and unique. Great since I was really craving ribs and wanted to try ribs from a place I had never ordered them from before. I was pretty skeptical since this isn't a bbq place, but I was pleasantly surprised! The meat fell off the bone as we were cutting into the ribs, which was already a good sign. Theres a lot of dishes I still haven't tried, specifically from the Lulu's menu, so I'll have to come back and try those out! read more

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We drove a half hour for a late lunch at the Blue Horse Tavern. When we got there the manager indicated they are closed from 2:00 - 4:00. When I pointed out their own website indicated they are open at that time, he said he didn't care. read more

TLDR: Food is fine. Good service. Left disappointed. Service was great the whole time. Our waiter was super friendly and attentive. Ambiance and vibes are good. It's dimly lit with cool booths and a nice bar. It's really 4 restaraunts in one. You can order from the menu of all 4 restaraunts in the building but we ordered from the Blue Horse menu. You get complimentary chips and salsa which are great; they're the same ones you get at Taco Diablo next door. We ordered the big pretzel for an app and split the spicy chicken sandwich. The pretzel was great and came with mustard and cheese sauce; i'm a huge fan of big pretzels and this one is one of the best in Evanston. The sandwich though was pretty bad. You can tell the chicken is a frozen breaded chicken patty. It didn't have much flavor and you can honestly get a better fried chicken sandwich from a fast food place. Summary: Worth a shot. Cool place, food is hit or miss, but I will try again and order something else. read more

Excellent food with lots of choices. Pleasant atmosphere and attentive service. We appreciated the variety and that they welcomed our children read more

Multiple menus can be overwhelming but the food is good and an amazing bar. Love the ambience as well. Nice big booths.

Evanston institution serving a delicious array of options (American, Mexican, asian). All of which hit it out of the park. Nicely varied menu by season also keeps it fresh. And the Ob-la-di cocktail is an incredible start to a lovely meal. read more

I was here on a Monday. Monday's for the Restaurant business have become just like they are for the rest of us, crappy! Not that anything went wrong, all good, just really slow and empty, so from an atmosphere standpoint, I have not a lot to offer. However, the food was great and so was the service. I had the Prime Rib Sandwich, which is shaved prime rib with Au Jus, it was very good as were the fries. They have an extensive bourbon/whiskey selection which was nice as well. Overall a great visit and I'd definitely come back! Note: they are part of a group of restaurants. There is a Mexican place next door that is owned by the same people and a roof top deck called Five and Dime, which was unfortunately closed for a private event when I was there. read more

A shared kitchen where you can get just about anything your heart and tummy desire. Worth becoming a regular if you can afford it-- it ain't cheap, but it's very good. read more

The food and service at this restaurant surpassed any restaurant that I have ever been to. Everything was cooked to perfection, the portions were large, and the staff was very attentive. Would definitely recommend this restaurant group. read more

The Blue Horse Tavern - Grilled chicken and vegetables - Salad Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

Meh- Went for Blue Horse only El Diablo was open for lunch. The server took care of a woman who walked in after our party who then placed a take out order. My margarita was all ice and had so much salt on the rim that was all I tasted. They could not be bothered to mix the queso fundido quickly turned to a cold block of cold cheese. I was told there was no lunch specials and had to order a full taco meal if I wanted any. The beans and rice were lukewarm warm and not very tasty. I don't understand why they would make to take a whole entree with sub par elements on it. There are too many good Mexican places in the area to try and get away with the mediocrity that they are pushing. Try harder,do better read more

Fast service and great food. Extensive menu since they share the kitchen with taco Diablo and lulus read more

The Blue Horse Tavern - Enchiladas - Salad Near Me - Evanston, Illinois

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Love their drinks. I also really love that you can order food off the menu from their sister restaurants, which makes it a nice place to bring a group because you don't have to decide on a specific cuisine. The ambiance is fantastic (it's my favorite of the three). read more

Great ambience and service. The custom cocktails are amazing. And you can order from Three very distinct menus. I highly recommend.

I have mixed feelings about this collection of restaurants, feelings that prices have always been higher than they could or should be. We went in for my birthday and started with chips and salsa. It was all pretty bland with no real flavor to speak of. Neither the salsa rojo or verde had any kind of kick to it. We asked for guacamole, figuring that a $12 bowl (separate from the $2 for the chips and salsa) would offer more flavor. It was also just kind of...there. I didn't detect any cilantro. My cocktail (Hot Joy, a mezcal-based drink) was pretty good, I'll admit. read more

The salmon is delish. I didn't like the bbq sauce on the ribs though. (I've been twice). My friends and family have enjoyed burgers, ginger salad (bomb!), steak quesadillas, and tacos. The service is fine. One thing though...it's really dark in The Blue Horse. read more

Nice ambiance and decor. Not pretentious. Reasonably priced. A good variety of cocktails. Try tuna poke!

This place is a gem! Food is fantastic! Cool bar. Not pretentious at all. This is the perfect place for when you can't think of a place.