Have You Been to Mack's?
I’ve never really reviewed a local venue before. And, let’s be honest, I have a hard time saying anything negative about a place that supports the Peoria area live music scene! But I thought more people needed to know about Mack’s, and this is the best way to make that happen!
Katelyn Smith Sept 19, 2020
First, The Facts…
Address: 619 A SW Water St, Peoria
Open: Tuesday-Thursday Noon-10pm, Friday & Saturday Noon-1am
Kitchen Closes at 9pm
Live Music: Most Fridays & Saturdays
Food: We’ve heard great things, but haven’t tried it yet.
What’s to like? Plenty!
Mack’s has a fun atmosphere with side by side by side TV's over the bar, containing just about any content you were hoping for. And where will you not see a TV? Directly over the live music! (It’s one thing that always bothers me a bit and I’m happy to see there are no issues with that at Mack’s!) The stools at the bar and the all-bar-height tables in the main room are all comfortable and well spaced.
There’s also back room that can be used for overflow if the crowd out front gets too big as well as other events. (I don’t know about you, but to me this back room looks like a great place to grab a drink and log onto my laptop on an afternoon when I can’t stand one more remote learning related interruption to my work!)
General Manager and Head Chef, Jared Ford, showed Mike & I around awhile back and chatted about his vision for Mack's, which included being able to use the back room for more things as the amount of time they are open and traffic increase.
“I would love to have people use this space for meetings. It’s actually a great place to have networking lunches or community group meetings.” He pointed out that the TVs in that room have several options for connecting to computers so that someone could give a whole presentation, complete with visual aids, if they wanted.
It was clear right away that building community is important to Jared and the staff at Mack’s. It’s not just about bringing more people in (although we obviously want to encourage to go in!) It’s about connecting with others in the Peoria area as well.
They started by showing off some of their personality with their Mack’s Mixology sessions.
Every week Kelly not only shows us how to make the drink special from the coming weekend, but she tells us what amazing food should pair it with from the Mack’s menu.
Tequila Lime Mule?
Better get the Pulled Pork Tacos.
Strawberry Gin Splash?
Apparently those pair perfectly with Fried Green Tomatoes
Or how about this video about Cranberry Mint Vodka that should be paired with the Chef’s Special sandwich, that’s fit for a King…
Not long after Jared shared with us how important community is to him and Mack’s, we saw those words being put into action.
The Neighborhood House was highlighted the last Wednesday in August.
Every week, in the Mack’s Gives Back video series, Mack’s shares a video highlighting an area non-profit organization and letting patrons know that 10% of all food and drink sales of the next Wednesday’s profits will be donated to that organization.
When explaining it to me, Kelly, who hosts many of their videos, said, “Of course we want more people to come out to Mack’s. But that’s not the purpose of Mack’s Gives Back. Telling people about an area organization they may not be familiar with is a great way to use our videos and help build community, and that’s the real purpose.”
Mindy Watkins & Sam Wyman
And of course, we LOVE that they support live local music. Every artist we’ve seen there has been Peoria local with a mix of covers an originals.
We’ve included a couple of photos in this post and a video below.
What’s Not to Like? Just one thing…
As we mentioned before, we haven’t tried to food yet. Why? Because the kitchen closes when the live music starts (and I rarely make it in places these days when live music isn’t playing.) We’re hoping that will change as more people start showing their support for this new local hangout and demand for their great food increases!
We want to try some of those pairings Kelly keeps telling us about!
Here’s a video from Emmalyn Paul on July 18, 2020