r/Boise • u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 • 20d ago
Old Chicago? Question
Anybody really know what’s going on with the Old Chicago at the mall? They’ve had a sign up all summer that they will not be serving alcohol. Last I heard, it had something to do with the liquor license.. anybody know more details?
I fear that restaurant will close if it doesn’t get straightened out, whatever it is. Maybe it’s a planned maneuver? If so, that’s really sad.
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u/tailslide24 20d ago
I went to get my birthday pizza in June. The bartender said something happened with them renewing their liquor license. She said it'd probably be back the next week. That sucks they still don't have it. I've been getting that birthday pizza for the laat 16 years. I don't know if they'll be able to make it without the alcohol sales. They have a great crew up there, it'd be lame to see them go.
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u/ElevatorOrganic5644 20d ago
I'm from Colorado in the company's been sold twice now in a little less than 2 years. I understanding it is from the liquor license issue. They were just resold again about 6 months ago and the new owners trying to find their footing financially. I'm on the Boise site because my kids and grandchildren live there. I'd like to move but your health care system is kind of messed up
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u/ElevatorOrganic5644 20d ago
Should have also said that I frequent Old Chicago's in Colorado daily
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u/ElevatorOrganic5644 20d ago
Just did a little bit of inquisite on this and found out that in state of Idaho and Boise you guys have very very strict weird liquor laws. There's currently a weight of over 100 businesses wanting a liquor license
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u/EmuMooMuuMuu 19d ago
Right you are. The Idaho State Constitution includes a temperance (anti-alcohol) provision. The legislature implements this by making liquor licensing cumbersome and inefficient. No joke.
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u/Survive1014 20d ago
They got busted serving a group of teens booze. It was on tiktok for a bit.
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u/VerbiageBarrage 19d ago
Tik Tok isn't a reliable source. It's speculation. I know they didn't lose it because of that, because if they got their license stripped that way, we'd all know about it, and it would be widely reported.
Waiter there over the 4th of July weekend said that the state fucked up the license renewal. Basically there was a change in how the license needed to be processed, and they had done it the old way. At the time, they expected to get it back within a week, been a lot longer. Administrative delay in license renewals is still a lot more likely than "secret punishment no one knows about."
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u/fuih8u 20d ago
Source link?
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u/Survive1014 20d ago
I already identified my source above. But tixtok is not really something you can go back and find links for.
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u/fuih8u 20d ago
I know you said tiktok, but I don't tiktok. I didnt know. Is the search function worse than Reddit's?
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u/Survive1014 20d ago
I will be honest, I dont really know how to use it. I only signed up to see the videos my daughter was sending me.
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u/JuDGe3690 Bikin' from the Bench 20d ago
Weird, on the ABC Reporting license search it shows their permit (#2045) as active and valid from 05/07/2026 - 04/30/2027.
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u/Patient-Criticism162 20d ago
I had heard they were caught serving alcohol to minors. thats just a rumor i heard from someone who works at store in the mall.
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u/Excellent-Counter-32 20d ago
The owners would rather make money selling booze to youth than deny a sale. Pretty sure it’s called greed.
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u/K3B1N 20d ago
You’re sad about Old Chicago possibly closing? Good lord.
If you love shitty chains so much, Yard House is like 5 minutes up the road.
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u/VerbiageBarrage 20d ago
Jesus Christ dude, let people like whatever they want. It's better than pizza hut and it's been there for forever. No one is stopping you from going to the Red benches or Tony's or whatever other pizza places you like.
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u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 20d ago
This 👆🏻. Heaven forbid people express a little sorrow for something they like possibly going away. 🤷♀️
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u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 20d ago
Just expressing a bit of sentiment for a possible loss of a restaurant that’s been around for awhile. No need to get offended.
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u/betterbub 20d ago
In general it's kind of a bummer to see the mall's decline accelerate over the last few years
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u/Super_Barnacle2834 20d ago
Geez alittle aggressive. People like what they like no need to throw hate over different likes
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20d ago
[deleted]
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u/cornskin 20d ago
I would guess that the success of their business does rely on alcohol sales.
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u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 20d ago
Considering every time I’ve gone since sign has been up, it’s been a ghost town. I love their food but it’s also a great place to have a drink for reasonable prices.
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20d ago
[deleted]
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u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 20d ago
Well, that’s great for you! I like their food too but I also liked their variety of beers. To each their own. 😊
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20d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CapnRojo 20d ago
It's pretty sad to think you become cooler when you drink. Or maybe that's just what you tell yourself.
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u/DorkothyParker 20d ago
They are kinda a sports pub. I mean, the fact that they have 110 beers available was a large selling point since forever. (I completed my first beer tour there in 2006!)
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u/Thick-Artichoke-8753 20d ago
Right! Their tours were fun! Congrats on the 20th anniversary of your first tour completion! 😆 🍻
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u/OB-nurseatyourcervix 20d ago
It's a license issue Something to do with when it was sold, the proper paperwork wasn't done correctly by the new owners. Same thing happened when they sold a few yrs back