The South Side is what it is: a bar that attempts a slightly upscale menu. When approached with that sobriety it isn't too bad. Sadly, I find that at trying to be both it fails at both.
My wife and I went there on a recommendation of a friend. But our first time there we had a poor experience with the (lack of) service. The waitresses seemed confused as to who was waiting on us even though others in our section were served quickly. After 15 minutes I finally asked the hostess if someone would take our drink order. My wife's wine never came. She tried the chicken and waffles and I had fish off of the specials menu. Both were average meals, but with a dish like chicken and waffles average simply wont do. Its a dish with soul that refuses to taker itself too seriously. The South Side missed the mark.
We were planning on dessert so that we can achieve a minimum $50 tab so we could use our $25 gift certificate but were so anxious to leave that we passed up saving money on our bill. We actually paid more just to leave. I had to go to the bar to pay the bill because our server never returned.
To their credit, when I emailed management to tell them about the poor experience they offered us $50 to come back.
A firm believer in second chances we went again this past weekend. The service was much better but the food was still typical despite being presented better on the menu. The Polish sausage was about as good as I can get at home or in the frozen foods section of the grocery store. The iced tea is fountain (fast food places even fresh brew now), the coffee tasted instant, and my beer was slightly too warm.
Its a bar. That's what it is. And I know much better places to drink.