Bar Louie

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Bar Louie is an eclectic urban bar with warm surroundings, filled with nightlife photography, hand-laid tile artwork and other local architectural touches. Made famous for its handcrafted signature martinis, they also feature an exceptional selection of uniquely presented American food traditionally and regionally inspired, including small plates, burgers and sandwiches. While beer and wine connoisseurs will be impressed with the extensive selection of imports, microbrews and over 20 wines by the glass, cocktail drinkers will revel in signature martinis, mojitos and margaritas made from the highest quality ingredients, fresh fruit and hand squeezed juices.

With locations all across the country, we were recently invited to the soft opening of the newest spot in Crystal City, VA whose grand opening takes place the weekend of December 27 - 29, 2013 with $2 Martini specials and free appetizers.

We arrived for lunch and first shared the Roasted Vegetable Flatbread topped with fresh spinach and artichoke sauce, tomato, mushrooms, basil, balsamic, onions, provolone, and mozzarella. The flatbread was a nice portion and had decent flavor compared to most.

Keith then chose the Backyard BBQ Burger with cheddar, barbecue sauce, bacon, and topped with fried onion strings. It was served with tator tots. His burger was huge and all the loaded toppings were a bit messy, but overall a decent lunch option.

I ate the Voodoo Chicken which has a scary name to match the scary presentation of blackened chicken, Andouille sausage, and bell peppers covered in "voodoo sauce" and served with white rice. The chicken was surprisingly tender and juicy. I appreciated the sliced Andouille sausage, but the sauce was overpowering.  The blackened seasoning was not overkill in spice factor, though, which was another positive of this large plate.   I ordered a Sweet Peach Tea to accompany my meal, which was not very sweet nor peachy, but still very refreshing.

Overall, the service at Bar Louie was very energetic and friendly. The staff seemed really pumped about the new location and grand opening. The space itself is very large (in the former Memphis Barbeque spot) with large garage-style doors that open up to fresh air and a large central bar area with flatscreen tvs all around. The padded leather chairs and stools were stylish and comfortable.

My only notes for improvement would be to rearrange some of the tables that are too close to the swinging kitchen doors and the service window.   It was awkward to see the staff huddled right up on the tables as they were waiting for their orders to come through the pass. I could see how that could become troublesome on super busy nights.  Nevertheless, I suspect Bar Louie would be very popular for office lunches and Happy Hour crowds.