Bar Louie by LouieBaur

Dominick told me that he was on his tenth Guinness when I took a seat beside him at the bar. He had ordered and paid for ten beers during happy hour when a pint goes for $3.00. Of course, I had just missed happy hour by about five minutes, so my beer rung in at full price. I wasn’t in the mood for ten Guinness beers, but I did order a Sierra Nevada and the fish and chips platter which cost me about $21.00 total after tax. The fish and chips were not the best I’ve ever had, but tasty none the less for being bar food, served with ample ‘chips’ and yummy tarter sauce. The portion was enormous, and I couldn’t finish it all.

I did however, finish my beer. Dominick had finished half his tenth Guinness and ordered us both glasses of water. ‘How are you able to stand up?’ I asked him, shocked that anyone could drink ten large, heavy beers in an hour and not be on the floor. He said he did this every night, with an expression that said ‘nothing in the world could be more normal than drinking buckets of Guinness nightly’.

Dominick also told me, without slurring his words, that he had had the salad because he was watching what he ate. “With all the beer, it’s best to have a salad,” he admitted, clearly counting calories. I felt somewhat guilty when he said this, my giant platter of fish and chips sitting in front of me, but told myself that I’d work it off the next day.

Honestly, Bar Louie is not the sort of restaurant that you would normally find me in. It’s a sort of sports bar, and looking at their website I know realize it is also a national chain. There are televisions everywhere in the Anaheim Bar Louie, showing the latest in football, baseball and whatever other sport is hot at the moment. This is fine by me, and I appreciate that it’s fun to have a beer when watching the game. However, as I was finishing my fish and chips the waitress put on a reality TV show that a large group of people in Bar Louie had come in to see. I think one of their friends was on the show, so they were into it. Still, I don’t think other innocent diners and drinkers, like Dominick and myself, should be subjected to reality television while eating. Maybe it’s just me.

Would I go back to Bar Louie? Probably not. Still, in the area of Anaheim I was staying in there wasn’t much around, and Bar Louie seemed to be the only chain I had not tried in Anaheim’s Garden Walk commercial area. All in all, Bar Louie is a good spot to try if you want to see the game, get ten beers at happy hour, or watch some ridiculous reality show.

MORE:

Garden Walk web: http://www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/

Bar Louie web: http://www.barlouieamerica.com/home/

Post by Regina Winkle-Bryan. See more of her food and beverage tips at : The Spain Scoop!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/busaboys/