Evanston holds a lot of events throughout the year and with so many of them happening in the…read moresummer, there are many options to choose from. I've gone to a number of them over the years and find Custer Fair to be a top summer destination in the city. During our walk down Main street, Chicago, Washington, and Custer Avenues (this fair covers 4 streets) a few notable things I saw were vendors selling air plants hung from glass containers, vintage Chicago posters, handcrafted jewelry, a caricature artist, cool hand crafted toys for kids and, if you wanted to relax from all the walking, there was a booth that charged for chair massage. The food stalls had a good mix which included typical carnival fair like funnel cakes and corndogs. They also had a Taqueria stall, local craft beer, Pina colada stand, Texas bbq, Gyros, and Soba noodles. With all the savory food and tempting refreshments abound, the real hero on a hot 90 degree day was the lemonade stand. Every refreshing cup of lemonade had a whole half lemon in it. I was able to double my servings of lemonade by squeezing the half lemon and adding water and sugar when I got home afterwards. Bonus! Consider yourself lucky if you've scored a parking spot around the neighborhood. You will need to arrive an hour prior to opening to find a space. Your best bet is to take public transport by taking the Purple line train and get off on the Main Street station. It takes you right there. Pro Tip: Most stalls are cash only establishments with a few taking credit/debit cards. If you forget to bring cash, there is a Chase bank less than a block and a half across from the Main street purple line stop south on Chicago Avenue.

I had the honor to work at one of the food vendors this year. In fact, it was my first time…read moreexploring the "Custer Fair" in Evanston. I was quite impressed by the number and the variety of merchants that participated. I guess the time has changed and we are becoming a cashless society. Many vendors were able to accept credit cards (with a surcharge fee). Nevertheless, the trusty green bucks still would still get you all-inclusive access! There was at least one (1) PNC bank ATM outside the CTA Main Purple Line station for visitors' convenience. The sound quality for the music lineups was decent. Fortunately, our area wasn't bombarded with an excessive volume while the concerts were in session. The tent we set up was near the center stage, and thankfully, we didn't have to "shout" to the customers to ask for their orders. As always, most ladies can have a difficult time getting used to the porta potties. Here's my recommendation: be patient and reserve some energy by going to the nearest grocery/Liquor stores, such as WholeFoods, Target, Trader Joe's, and Binny's to use their facilities. They are not located feet away from the festival, but within walkable distances.

Some of the food is very good,BBQ sandwiches especially…read more Service can be appalling at times , slow, disinterested and bordering on rude which really affects the experience.

As soon as I walked into this place many months ago I knew it was going to be great. You walk in…read moreand you can smell the bbq aroma . Some of my favorites were the dry rubbed ribs and smoked wings , brisket sandwich and now the smash burgers. Full bar , nice beer selection .

It was so yummy. Thank you Jody and Tony for All the great tender brisket, excellent ribs, bbq…read morechicken and sausages, the corned bread, the Mac n cheese, the coleslaw, brioche buns, the Arnold Palmer drinks!! True comfort food! The service and staff were awesome too. We all rang the bell after dinner and were the last ones out tonight after the Loyola men's Basketball game. We Won and dinner was amazing.

The food is still great, but this store cannot handle volume, and their service leaves much to be…read moredesired. Three years ago, we ordered curbside pickup on Father's Day, and it was a disaster. After waiting outside for 30 minutes, I went inside and was informed that it would be another 30. They were slammed and many others were in the same boat. I cancelled the order, but had to call the store the next day to have a manager handle the refund. Later that year we tried pickup again, for an elementary school fundraiser, and met a similar fate; we did get our food but they were backed up and it took forever. Well, fool me thrice, shame on me--we gave them another chance this past weekend, again on Father's Day...and they haven't improved. My wife ultimately waited over 40 extra minutes for our food. The staff member said "I understand" but never apologized or offered any restitution. I'm not asking for the moon and stars, but a free dessert and some sincerity would have meant something. They have two problems to solve: first, getting real-time feedback from the store to the online app, so that the app can give accurate estimates of the wait times. And second, handling a busy situation in the store with grace and empathy.

The live music, the dancing, the picnics and fireworks are all incredible. Always a good time here…read more Looking forward to attending this year!

A nice, annual, and free Park Ridge tradition. And even better - walking distance for us, so no…read moredriving needed. But if you do need to drive, lots of neighborhood parking is available and nearby as long as you don't wait til the last minute.

The food was great the service was awesome would 100 percent recommend as a destination for a date…read moreor family outing! Managers checked in on us and were very nice!

The putting is great fun but the food was below average. My friend and I ordered the hummus plate…read morewith veggies and the veggies were like a week old, floppy rotten carrots and old cucumbers. The hummus was good but I don't know what establishment would serve weeks old rotten vegetables. Service was good but I would of rather eaten at any other place in the mall

First, the beer is pretty good. Lots of sour choices but some decent ales and lagers too. I had a…read moreburger which wasn't very good. Overcooked and dry and barely warm. The waitress came over and asked if everything was okay. I told her about the burger and they made another for me. Unfortunately it was not much better. It was hot but otherwise the same. My partner had the chimmichuri skirt steak sandwich, it was excellent. The fries are so so. Had the smoked sweet potatoes, they were pretty good. I give the food 3 stars and the beer 3.5-4 stars.

Garage looking type of brewery in Niles in some industrial type of building. It seems there's a lot…read moreof these, but this is among the good ones. Une Annee is one of the reasons to go to this pretty boring looking suburb. Hit up the bar for some cold ones plus on site made food. The prices aren't bad for craft beers and kitchens. A pretty impressive looking building. It's big and can fit hundreds. This is like a massive garage with a bar and a kitchen. First though it's a brewery. It's about $6 a pint. The one I liked the most was the Twist Of Wit. It's a wheat beer with Cara Cara oranges, coriander, and Meyer lemon. Tasted fruity but not too much. Also we got some food, which was actually good for a brewery. Vegan options are limited but there's a few. It's $6 for the Veggie Chili. This is vegan without the sour cream sauce. Also there's barbecue. There's pork belly and that kind of stuff. Beers are the best things to get here. It also has food from an on site kitchen. There's meaty options like pork and there's chili for vegetarians.

From the moment t we walked in Robin provided fantastic service. The food was fantastic and way…read morebetter than we expected. We ordered the taco special and were pleasantly surprised to get rice and beans with it. The wings were delicious and very flavorful. Our kids even sent compliments to the chef! We definitely recommend to anyone and everyone. Thanks Robin for taking such great care of us and our kids!

A solid option for drinks and food, this spot has huge portions for a reasonable price. The theme…read moreof the restaurant is a bit confusing, somewhat between a cowboy type bar and Italian restaurant, with a wide variety of food options that range from burgers to pizza to standard bar fare to steak to porkchops. Service is fairly quick and friendly, and you have the option between enjoying the outdoor seating, indoor casual italian restaurant feel, or cowboy bar area. Overall food was as expected with the cheese curds being crispy, though not the most amazing cheese. The Tater tots were crisp and standard. The Spicy chicken sandwich was a good size but not too spicy. The sausage pizza had plenty of cheese with a good level of sausage for the price, with a slightly more tasty sauce with basil and parsley to give a little more flavor. Overall, solid option in the area for a meal, which isn't too challenging to park near.

This was my first visit to this nice summer festival. Without any kiddos in tow, which is not…read morereally in the job description anymore except in umm special situations, I was only interested in the free concerts. The atmosphere on a pleasant Saturday evening was crowded, festive, buoyant, well-behaved, and safe with a good visible presence by the Skokie police. This festival is really great for the area and has grown in its local renown. I actually lived in Skokie from 1982 - 1995 and this event didn't exist until 2007. We saw about half of Americana singer Micheal McDermott's performance followed by alt-rock band Vertical Horizon. For the price, t'was very enjoyable. I never heard of either and it was no biggie, but I saw that the Bash drew Foghat here at least one year, so they occasionally get some big names. I also learned I didn't need to lug around portable chairs to watch the main stage. There's fold-up chairs already set up and available and it's easy to nab a couple of seats if you're there before a performance starts. Midway through one though, it's harder at prime time, but with people coming and going, the wife and I still managed to nab a couple seats pretty close to the front. Parking can be a little challenging as it's virtually all neighborhood street parking. You just have to circle around looking for an opening and be willing to walk a little. Great festival, and a great first visit for us! Thank you Skokie!

I like the fact that I could just walk to this event from my home, no car necessary, not at all…read more Downtown Skokie is experiencing a resurgence and the Backlot Bash is part of that good feeling about living close to Oakton and Niles Center Rd. And it's a three day event (Friday - Sunday) and there's a little something for everyone - kiddie rides, funnel cake, a beer garden, car show, good food (relatively speaking), live bands and you can go during the day and at night. I really have enjoyed the bands, here's a list of who I've seen - The Wailers (without Peter, Bunny and Bob), the Fixx (One thing leads to another), Blue Oyster Cult (more cowbell please), Flock of Seagulls (actually missed them as I was in Ireland) and most recently Foghat (I just wanna make, love to you - whoops, this is a PG rated review). So that's a pretty awesome list for a free neighborhood concert. I do worry though because this event is getting bigger and bigger and bigger each year. I think they need to go West on Oakton for more space. I haven't asked the home owners though, for their opinion. I do have to say that I enjoy the folks who bring their little kids or their aging parents to watch a rock concert, that just warms my heart. Like I said, there's a little something for everyone. It's also really safe, there's always the Skokie 5-0 swat truck parked right in front. Now I just hope next years band will be even better - how about Rush, REO or Cheap Trick, The Romantics, wouldn't that be great?!?