The concept of a "bar" was probably a little different in the early 1900's than today, with the idea being as long as Eischen's has been open that it is really a family place. Children are welcome if accompanied by adults, and in that respect it is no different from most restaurants where beer is served. A wood paneled bar near the building's entrance is a good place to sit while waiting for a table or to get something to drink (Eischen's has beer and pop, but no iced tea). The standard procedure is to place an order when you arrive, and wait for a table to become available while the food is cooking. The chicken takes anywhere between a half hour to over an hour to cook (depending on how busy the kitchen is), so the employees are used to advising customers that they should go ahead and order even if no tables are available.

Eischen's kitchen is visible from the bar

From looking at the kitchen it is little wonder that such a small facility might get behind on the orders when the restaurant is busy. Eischen's should really be considered a restaurant even though its official name is "Eischen's Bar." Most out of town visitors (including a party who arrived in a limousine when I was there) come for the fried chicken, although a couple of other items are also available. I suppose locals might want to try the other things for variety, but certainly most of the guests who travel some distance to Okarche do so for the chicken.

I do not usually comment on the "drink" portion of a bar, but the beer at Eischen's is excellent, and in some ways is an equal part of the equation that brings visitors here.

Eischen's serves whole fried chickens along with a side order of pickles and onions

The Fried Chicken is made with a secret recipe, and I thought it was one of the best I had ever eaten. The white and dark meat were equally good (usually I like white meat better), and the crust was not too greasy. I definitely thought it was worth making a trip to Okarche for the chicken.

Only whole chickens are served, and this leads to the strong possibility that you will either want to share it or take some home as leftovers. When trying to decide how much to order, though, I tend to think that each person can eat more than the normal number of pieces that are usually ordered at other restaurants (thus it is better to order too much than too little). For one thing, the chicken was so good I almost could not stop eating it. Another factor, though, was that this was chicken the way it used to be when I was growing up--normal sized chicken that did not seem to be genetically modified to produce huge pieces of meat or injected with fluids to make it larger. While I think one chicken for two adults is plenty, most people could easily eat more than that.

Sides are also available, and the okra is the one that gets the most raves by customers.

All orders come with sweet and sour pickles, as well as onions. Normally this would not be very exciting, but the pickles here seemed quite special to me, almost to the point that no other side dish was really needed.

Fresh white bread is also served, and is almost addictive it is so good.

No plates or silverware are provided, but customers can eat off of sheets of wax paper.

I did not see that tables had individual waiters, instead it is best to place an order when you walk in with somebody working in the bar or kitchen area so that it can begin cooking. I think chickens need a minimum of 30-40 minutes to cook, so do not plan to come to Eischen's unless you have enough time to wait (many times orders will take longer if the kitchen is backed up).

Eischen's is definitely downscale (jeans or shorts would be in order for attire), and the place is quite loud. Probably close to half the tables had children, so from that standpoint I would call it a "family restaurant."

This arch is the only part of the original bar that survived a fire several years ago