Prairie Moon - American restaurant in Evanston - 1635 Chicago Ave, USA

This is something like my 2nd or 3rd ever review, but it felt necessary. These pictures are from my second, pretty disappointing visit to Prairie Moon with my boyfriend. Last time, a few weeks ago on a Thursday night, I ordered the pot roast with root vegetables, and the roast was incredibly dry and reminded me of a frozen TV dinner, while the vegetables were diced pretty small and cooked to the point of being crouton-like. But my boyfriend enjoyed his fish and draft beer, and yesterday was his birthday and he wanted to go back to Prairie Moon. This time I ordered the NY Strip Steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli, I ordered the steak medium-rare. These pictures are from the opposite ends of the steak. I don't even know what to say. In addition to the one side being basically raw, it was also almost completely unseasoned and dry. The potatoes were fine and the broccoli average. We also ordered the Cajun catfish nuggets for an appetizer and those were pretty good and again my boyfriend enjoyed his order of the 3 Sisters and beer. The service was fine, but both times we had to flag down the server to get our check after waiting 10-15 minutes after our plates had been cleared, so we could catch the bus home, and it's not like either time the restaurant/bar had more than 5-7 tables. My boyfriend and I enjoyed the atmosphere and he enjoyed his meals (admittedly he is a lot easier to please with food than I am) and the drinks, but I have yet to find a meal I really enjoyed on the menu.

Stopped for an early dinner after a rainy tour of NW. Excellent attentive service. Had the very flavorful trout and veggies, family ordered asparagus soup, mini crab cakes and tacos, Key Lime pie was also tangy and good. Good craft beer tap and bottle/can selection. Multiple seating areas, dining areas are downstairs, sidewalk seating per weather. I assume there is an elevator for accessibility.

Calamari was crispy and tasty Crab Cakes were on the dry side and too doughy (not enough crab meat) NY Steak was overcooked and too tough to eat. Fish was good Jambalaya was ok Chicken was just ok too Canned beer was not cold enough Service was decent

5+5+5🌟 5 for the food 5 for the ambiance 5 for the staff! Absolutely fantastic establishment. I have to give them more than five stars. I had the Prairie Moon half pound burger, with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, onion, tomato, and lettuce. Nice slice of dill pickle came with. A little container of coleslaw, and the garlic fries! And man those garlic fries, smokin! My wife had the Martha's Vineyard salad with Grilled Shrimp, and Calamari with some of their homemade Tartar sauce which was the real deal, plus some of their Cocktail sauce. My wife had a Ginger Beer, I had a Mai Tai which was exceptional. It isn't on the menu, but I have to admit, it was strong and delicious. It's hard to find a good Mai Tai. Cassie was our server, and was one of the sweetest folks we've met. Even though the server doesn't affect the quality of the food, they enhance the ambience and reflect the ethics of the establishment! Prairie Moon is in the lower level of the building, but, some of the best restaurants I've ever been in, have been subterranean so to speak. One that everybody knows about, is the Billy Goat on lower Wacker drive in Chicago. Cheboga cheboga cheboga. No fries, chips. No Coke, Pepsi. Anyway, enough about the Billy Goat. Stop in the Prairie Moon for a delicious meal, excellent music, and good folks! Oh, One more thing, the bathrooms were spotless! Clean bathrooms, clean kitchens! That's always the rule of thumb.

Great find! Loved the happy hour seafood bar. $2 oysters, $1 shrimp. Good deal for sure these days. Also oysters were very good quality and flavor which surprised me as they are a more warmer climate oyster. Beer selection good. Atmosphere fun n chill. Only critique is staff was a bit slow but friendly. Highly recommend. Update- went back we had 4 oysters, 10 shrimp...seriously as good as it gets, 1 Northwoods burger and 1 smash chili burger and 1 order blackened chicken hash to go....everything was incredible. Best food n value in Evanston...the hash we used for bfast with an egg...just great. Cannot recommend any higher. Still a bit slow service, but very friendly and great food! My new #1 in Evanston.

We had 3 different shrimp meals and all were great. The wait staff were great, the restaurant is very cool playing good music

Quiet and relaxing. Unique food options. 4 of us and each ordered something different. All of us were impressed with selections! Highly recommend this restaurant.

Came here on a Saturday night dinner for 4. Food was just fine- large portions, straight forward. Service was not good- we waited for our server quite a lot- she seemed absent from the floor for long periods. The environment was cute but very loud for dinner conversation due to the nature of the space.