I've driven by the Morrison Roadhouse countless times over the past 15 years that I've been traveling to Chicago for work. It's always sort of intrigued me as it's been in business for 85 years and was probably a true country "road house" when it opened in 1932. One night on my way back to my hotel, I decided to stop in to have something to eat and to check the place out.
Morrison Roadhouse is located along Harlem Ave. in Niles, not far from where Harlem intersects with Milwaukee and Howard Avenues, and just north of the intersection of Harlem and Touhy. (see map) I was able to find a parking spot - the last one that was open in the lot next to the building and went in. I would have to characterize Morrison Roadhouse as a sports bar more than anything, but it did have sort of a neighborhood tavern feeling to the place.
Morrison Roadhouse features a large rectangular bar in the middle with a number of tables and booths around the bar area. There was a game room toward the back of the place, as well.
I ended up taking a seat at the bar and was greeted by Brittany, one of two young ladies working behind the bar that night. (It turned out that both Brittany and the other bartender were also the servers for tables - more on that later on.) I ordered up a Revolution Anti-Hero IPA to enjoy while I looked at the menu.
There seemed to be a lot of regulars in the place, especially around the bar area. Brittany and the other bartender were having conversations with a number of people on all sides of the bar. The clientele was mostly male at the bar - many of them middle-aged to older men. I fit in pretty well with that demographic.
Now, I couldn't find much historical information about the place other than its present day owner is a guy by the name of Robert Castle. I asked the other bartender working at the bar if Morrison was the name of the small town that Niles possibly engulfed at some point. "Hmmm... I don't think so," she said. "I think it's named after the guy who started it."
A guy seated next to me said, "I remember my parents used to come into this place and it was sort of a fancy dress-up place that was more of a mixed-drink crowd than a beer bar. But that was in the 60's."
The menu at Morrison Roadhouse was extensive with a number of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers and steak sandwiches. They had a number of deep-fried appetizers on the menu, and there were nearly a dozen different types of salads to choose from, as well as a like number of burgers on the menu. There was about 10 different chicken sandwiches and a number of wraps to choose from. Sandwiches ranged from a Cuban sandwich, a beef sandwich that is slow roasted in Guinness beer, a classic reuben, and something called the St. Jarvis Beef sandwich that featured Italian-style beef served on ciabatta bread and topped with mozzarella cheese, giardiniera, and pepperoncini's. I looked long and hard at that sandwich, but I ordered something else.
The burgers sounded good, but I was sort of burnt out on burgers for the time being. I ended up ordering the toasted Italian sandwich with a side of tater tots. Well, it took me a long time to be able to order it. Remember, there were only two people behind the bar and they were also table servers, as well. I was done with my first beer and no one was coming back to check on me. I just couldn't believe for as busy a place that Morrison Roadhouse was that evening that they didn't have more wait staff. I had to get Brittany's attention to order up the sandwich - a good 10 minutes after I was done with my first beer and ready to order something to eat.
The sandwich was all right - it featured French bread with sliced ham, pepperoni and salami with mozzarella cheese over the top of it that was put under a broiler to melt the cheese. Then it was topped with chopped lettuce, red onions and tomatoes and finished off with an Italian dressing. It was nothing fancy, but I liked it. I've always been partial to these type of Italian sandwiches since I first used to have the "hoagies" at Pizza Hut when I was a teenager. I couldn't even begin to eat a Pizza Hut pizza these days, but if they ever brought back the hoagie on their menu I'd stop in to try one. But I have to believe that the toasted Italian sandwich at Morrison Roadhouse would be even better than a Pizza Hut hoagie.
The tater tots were good, too. They had some hot sauce in a caddy on the bar and I was able to drizzle some Frank's Hot Sauce on the tater tots to give them a little zip in taste. Tater tots are getting to be about the only potato I will eat at places like this. That is, when they have them on the menu.
Service continued to be slow as the two bartenders were obviously overwhelmed by having to work the bar and be the wait staff for tables the whole time I was there. I was sort of peeved that they wouldn't have more people in there working as the place was more than half full. And I'm sure other people were just as frustrated as I was. But other than that, the toasted Italian sandwich was good, as were the tater tots I got on the side. OK, so I was able to finally stop into Morrison Roadhouse. And it was all right. I think that if you're a regular there, you'd probably feel more comfortable in the place. I'm just not certain that I'll be going back anytime soon.
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