FF_062019

frankfortstation.com dining out
the frankfort station | June 20, 2019 | 29
The Dish
Bailey’s owners ‘put a lot of love’ into restaurant over past decade
Jacquelyn Schlabach
Contributing Editor
With practically no experience
in the food industry
under their belts,
husband and wife Ronald
and Tamir Bailey opened
Bailey’s Bar and Grill in
2009.
Ten years later, they
have continued to pour
their love for quality food,
service and atmosphere
into the restaurant that has
evolved into a “hot spot”
in Tinley Park.
“We’re staying with
what we’re doing,” Ronald
said in regard to the
restaurant’s 10th anniversary,
which was celebrated
in March. “We started this
business — neither one
of us were ever involved
in the bar/restaurant business,
and we had a lot of
big dogs that are our competition,
and now we’re
neck and neck with all the
competition on Oak Park
Avenue. They’re following
our pattern.”
The Bailey duo never
wanted to just open a bar;
they wanted to create an
experience for customers
by which they could
pair great food with great
drinks.
“If you just come here
and sit in a bar and there’s
no food — you have to eat
sometime and somehow, or
people are going to leave,”
Tamir said. “You have to
have good food, because
then people are going to
stay and then drink and
hang out. Without food, I
don’t know how any bar is
going to survive.”
They refer to their menu
has “way above bar food”
and take pride in making
many of their items in
house.
“You can find any drinks
at every bar, but you just
can’t find the service or
good food, because everybody
cooks differently,”
Tamir said.
Bailey’s hamburgers,
which are the most popular
men item, are fresh, handpacked
and seasoned in
the kitchen. The restaurant
also makes its own soups,
dips and salsa.
A popular sandwich
item, the Bailey’s Reuben
($11) comes with
corned beef, sauerkraut,
Swiss cheese, Thousand
Island dressing served on
marble rye bread with a
side of chips. One of the
popular entree dinners is
the 12-ounce New York
strip steak ($21.99) and is
served with garlic bread,
choice of potato, vegetable
and a house salad or cup of
soup.
On Mondays and Saturdays,
Bailey’s offers $2.50
hamburgers, which Ronald
said contributes to Mondays
being one of the restaurant’s
busiest days. The
restaurant also offer $1 tacos
on Tuesdays.
“There’s many times
throughout the day you
can’t even get a seat in this
place, because of that,”
Ronald said. “Literally, it
costs us more to make that
taco than a dollar, but it’s
been a good business model
for us.”
Bailey’s offers daily
specials Monday through
Sunday, as well as drink
specials every day.
The food is not the only
thing that keeps bringing
people back to Bailey’s.
In addition to daily specials,
Bailey’s welcomes
customers to enjoy free
karaoke nights at 9 p.m.
Wednesdays and Fridays
and free live acoustic
music from 7-10 p.m. on
Bailey’s Bar and Grill
17731 Oak Park Ave.
in Tinley Park
Hours
• 6 a.m.-2 a.m.
Monday-Thursday
• 6 a.m.-3 a.m. Friday-
Saturday
• Noon-2 a.m. Sunday
Kitchen hours
• 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Monday-Thursday,
Sunday
• 11 a.m.-midnight
Friday-Saturday
For more information…
Phone: (708) 429-
7955
Web: www.
baileystinleypark.com
Bailey’s Bar & Grill focuses on being a restaurant as much as it is a bar, but that
does not stop the Tinley Park spot from serving drink concoctions such as this beer
margarita ($15). Photos by Jacquelyn Schlabach/22nd Century Media
Bailey’s Reuben ($11) comes with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and
Thousand Island dressing, served on marble rye bread with a side of chips and pickle.
Tuesdays and Saturdays
throughout the summer.
“Some bars are like a
biker crowd; some bars
are like the kids crowd,
[but] we have a little bit of
an older, mature crowd,”
Ronald said. “That’s because
we’re trying to be
more restaurant and not
100 percent bar.”
Bailey’s strives to be a
family-friendly restaurant
that also allows dogs to be
on its front patio.
“When we first started,
we had no experience,”
Ronald said. “Our food
was going to be just basic,
and we were going
to be more bar. But over
time, we found out that
you have a better clientele
when people come in with
their families and couples
come in, instead of just
having the bar crowd.
So, we’re achieving our
goal.”
Because of their success
in Tinley Park, the
Bailey’s expanded the restaurant,
knocking down
the middle wall and adding
two retail spaces to the
mix. In addition, Bailey’s
also opened another location
two years ago in Oak
Forest.
“We glow in [the success],”
Ronald said.
“That’s what drives us.”
Looking onto the next 10
years, Ronald and Tamir
simply want to maintain
what they have been doing
for the past decade.
“Sometimes I wonder
how we did it,” Tamir said.
“If you saw this building
before, oh my God, it’s
just like day and night.”