Firehouse Grill - Evanston

So, I feel like I have to give a 1 star because the food is so profoundly bad it’s actually impressive in a way? For a Cubano to have the actual worst pickles I’ve had in my life, a grocery store vlassic pickle would have had 100x the flavor in the pickle. I gave my partner a bite of one and she agreed, they taste more like just, slightly brined cucumbers than pickles, the pork tasted as if it were boiled, unseasoned. Just no flavor. The service was friendly, and even when we said the food wasn’t good, the server seemed to understand be used to hearing that from patrons. It’s just sad because the servers are fast and friendly, the restaurant is clean and a cool little spot. But you will find significantly better food at your local grocery store than you will here. I feel like it would be all minor changes that need to happen to actually make the food good. Just things that I’ve never had to say like ‘the pickles were literally bland.’ And the pork has almost zero seasoning on it. My partner got the fish and chips which were heavy, over-battered, and over-cooked with the batter also lacking seasoning, and probably an undermixed batter if I were to take a guess. The fries were good though!

Love Firehouse Grill-the Chicken Club Wrap with Chipotle Mayo is addictive!!

Great restaurant find; when I'm up in Evanston. Great atmosphere, really good food, nice outdoor patio, but it was rainy. Cocktails seemed a tad weak, but food and service were worth it. Definitely coming here again.

Unbelievable but management refused to serve me the Carnitas Burrito in a bowl even when they have bowl items on the menu! Lousy ****** Mary, too! But they have an outdoor patio so I was sucked in after never trying it over the years. Everyone I know says it sucks and they were right! Not willing to save a tortilla and serve it bowl style. What are they hiding that they don’t want one to see? DO NOT RECOMMEND under any circumstance not worth the aggravation!

When I lived in Evanston and the north side of Chicago years ago, I can easily state that this was a go to place. Heck, we had lunch here for my all day bachelor party back in 2002 before a Northwestern football game. And it was really good back then. Like they say, never meet your heroes and in this case, never go back to your old haunts. The memories are just that, memories. And what I remember of the food was way different that what we had just a couple months ago. This was a sad shadow of its former glory. There were three of us. My wife got the Detroit-style pizza, our friend got a salad and I got a burger (I have a burger club and we rate burgers from 0-5). This was a mediocre burger. I got the Candlelite BBQ Burger. The one thing I can safely say about burgers is that the more places doll up a burger, the more mediocre it is. Everything on top of the burger (in this case the Merkts pub cheese, housemade bbq sauce, bacon, and crispy onion strings) all take away from the actual flavor of the meat. All these toppings just competed with one another. On top of it, the burger was not the medium I requested, but more on the medium well side. I typically don't send back food unless a place royally screws it up. This was just okay. I'd give the burger a 2.75-3.0. Lackluster. Like I said, don't visit your old haunts. My wife got the pizza. Despite asking for the crust to be well done, it wasn't. It wasn't crispy and was quite doughy. Just greasy with a lack of flavor. Our friend said the salad was okay, but nothing to write home about. The Firehouse Grill was once a great place to go, but now with so many options and a lackluster menu, they'd have to do a complete 180 degree turn to get back to their once former glory.