Crystal Lake's Fire Bar & Grill ready to sizzle
I don't normally get fired up about the names of the bars I visit, no matter how obvious or obscure. But I have to say that Fire Bar & Grill is a cool name for one of the area's hot spots - all puns intended.
Motif: Fire Bar in Crystal Lake is - big. This is one of the larger bars that I have gone to in quite some time, and the designers clearly made excellent use of the space at hand. Seriously, I hate to think about how crowded the bar must be for you to have a difficult time finding a seat. Plus, Fire Bar is decked out with all of the other necessary sports bar amenities, including more than 30 televisions and two large projector screens on the wall behind the bar.
Speaking of the bar, it's just as impressively large as the rest of the place. The long, black bar curves around the brick wall with orange lights shining out from underneath.
If you want to do more than just gaze at the TVs, Fire Bar has six billiards tables, darts, shuffleboard and Golden Tee. There's a lot going on, but the setup never feels overcrowded. Also, continuing with the Fire Bar theme, the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling give off a cool orange glow.
Crowd: The crowd tends to skew toward twentysomethings, who come to watch sports, play pool, possibly dance and just generally have a good time.
Service: As large as the bar is, the bartenders and waitresses remained on top of their game.
Liquid consumption: When it comes to beer, Fire Bar is not messing around. With 24 domestic and import drafts on tap, beer lovers have a lot to choose from including Blue Moon, Hacker Pschorr, Sierra Nevada, Stella Artois, 312 and Bass. Fire Bar's bottle selection also includes Amstel Light, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Beck's, Dos Equis and others. During the week, the bar has many different drink specials such as $1.50 domestic pints on Monday, $3.50 23-ounce domestic drafts on Wednesday and $3 Heineken and Amstel Light bottles on Friday.
Food: Fire Bar has a moderately sized menu. Diners can choose from various burgers, chicken sandwiches, wraps, fried shrimp, baby back ribs, tacos, wings and much more. Look out for food specials like the $4.99 chicken wraps with fries on Monday and $6 fish fry on Friday.
Sounds: Fire Bar has a lot of music options throughout the week. On Tuesdays, you can listen to your fellow bargoers attempt to carry a tune with karaoke. Live bands perform on Thursday nights. As for the weekend, expect guest DJs on Friday and Saturday nights.
Parking: A large parking lot surrounds Fire Bar, so you should not have to worry about locating yourself a spot.
Overall: With winter temperatures already hitting painful lows, a place like Fire Bar is the perfect alternative for these bitter cold months. There's something for everyone - whether you want to enjoy a sporting event, play some pool, listen to music or just enjoy a drink.
<p class="factboxheadblack">Fire Bar & Grill</p> <p class="News">435 Angela Lane, Crystal Lake, (815) 459-3473, <a href="http://www.firebarandgrill.com" target="new">www.firebarandgrill.com</a></p> <p class="News">Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday</p>