Man, I'm SO mad someone got to review this gem before me. 3 Stars!? C'mon. This mo-fo is a…read morefiver.
Be forewarned, I use the word "gem" loosely. The previous poster was right, Joe's Saloon is on 47th Street just west of Plainfield. If you're coming from 1st Avenue, it's about a Mile west.
I like this bar because of the odd, undeliberate charm, cheap drinks (ahem dollar Schlitz all day everyday), decent jukebox (used to be awesome before they went digital... Patsy Cline awesome), and the infamous Dollar Mystery Shots. Your choice of A, B, and sometimes C, depending on what stock the owner, Ellen, thinks they need to get rid of.
Bartenders are laid-back and can put a drink to a face -- I rolled in after not being there for 6 months and they had it poured before I could say hi. The late-great Joe is adorned on a small canvas above the windows and REAL!? wood paneling on the east wall. Soft orangish-red neon illuminates most of the saloon, glowing up from behind wood molding - Not an ideal lighting plan, but almost accidentally the PERFECT lighting level.
The bar isn't really a "kept secret" at all -- housed in a stand-alone building with all-season Christmas lights framing the peaked roof, it's not that hard to spot. That said, it owes a lot of its odd mix of clientele to it's location.
People that roll into Joe's aren't there on accident. The south side of the street is a vast empty expanse that used to be a massive train depot for the nearby quarry, and the north side of the street is an industrial/9-to-5 business strip where even the liquor store closes early.
Now that I've played the alcoholic sociologist, lemmie posit that the out-of-the-way-ness of the bar directly contributes to what kind of people come through the door -- people that specifically left the house to be at Joe's.
Aside from College Break overspill (Easter, Spring Break, Winter Break), there's always a place to sit and rarely an loudmouth over-served coed to scowl at. This place can be blue collar, no collar, and popped collar at different times of the day (and if a sporting event is on).
There's live music for a cover sometimes, but nothing too consistent. There's a terrific Quizzo once a month, though the questions skew towards the 40-something locals that attend and run the quiz. (One standard category is called "Where are you in the Western Suburbs", another was "Local TV News Anchors".) But, you're there for the experience anyway, so, whatev.
While other locals are living past glories with their gym teachers at Kenny's, avoiding eye-contact with old flames at Palmer's or packing it in at local cavern-turned-Irish-bar Brixie's, what filters through to Joe's are the low-key neighborhood joes of all ages looking to sit back, drink, play Meatloaf on the jukebox and maybe play a round or two of Word Dojo.
