Brixie’s

I came on a Thursday night and the place was not that busy. There was a bouncer at the door checking ID’s. They had a good selection of beer on tap. The food was OK, I didn’t care for the pork tacos that much. There were a few billiard tables, arcade games and pinball machines in the back.
Surly Furious draft $ 6
El Diablo $ 12
Jorge Pork Tacos $ 8

Hmmm, this was a tricky one. So tricky in fact, that it’s taken me 12 check-​ins before I’ve felt comfortable submitting a review.
This Brookfield bar & grill has gotten my business many times over, thanks largely in part to their selection of craft beers on tap and impressive pinball array in the back. For the longest time I only came here for P&P (pinball and a pint), and it was only yesterday that I tried any of their food.
I wanted to love Brixie’s and give them 5*, but after recent events, I’m not convinced. They feature daily specials throughout the week, notably free soup on Tuesdays (while supplies last), free bacon on Mondays (restrictions apply), and half price burgers on Sundays. Pretty cool ideas to lure in business.
Then 2÷2÷16 happened. Groundhog Day. First off, I was told that the free soup promotion has been discontinued. Since I dig soup, and I especially dig free things, hearing this bummed me out big time. Fortunately, they’ve replaced that promo with half price sandwiches. Knowing I’d be here for a while, I handed the bartender my Discover card to open a tab, and was promptly denied. Only Visa and Mastercard. Damn. Alrighty, debit card it is.
Lots of beers to pick from, but several taps were removed indicating empty kegs. I got an Allagash White and put in an order for a patty melt, which came out in a reasonable amount of time. Big juicy patty with grilled onions and jalapenos, along with some terrific chips ($ 2 extra). Wings looked good, maybe on a future visit. After eating, it came time to get my slam tilt on.
A brief word on their pinball sitsh:
Brixie’s has 4 of said tables, each at $ 1.00 a pop. When you consider that some games last little more than 90 seconds (depending on your pinball prowess), a dollar per play is CRAZY expensive. Consider too, that most barcades in the Chicagoland area have their tables set to either unlimited freeplay [HeadQuarters] cost only a token [Emporium], or are at a reasonable price of 50¢ [Logan Arcade]. Honestly, I don’t see how $ 1/​game is justified. I’m a pinball owner myself and my table is the tits (can I say ‘tits’ on Unilocal?), yet I would never dream of charging a whole buck for people to play it in a public setting. Seems like robbery to me.
That being said, the pins are – for the most part – in great shape. The person responsible for the games has rotated them out periodically and has made numerous modifications/​improvements. As of early February 2016, the four tables were: Medieval Madness, Scared Stiff (a magnificent Elvira-​themed table, and also my great white buffalo of pinballs), The Dark Knight, and The Walking Dead.
After dropping several not-​so-​subtle hints that the Dark Knight pinball table is kaputt/​unplayable, the lone female barkeep didn’t reimburse me. Normally I wouldn’t care, but their tables are each 1USD, which is insanely expensive for a single play. Short of saying «hey, your (Batman) pinball is f*cked up, I want my $ 1 back» I didn’t know what else to do. I felt weird demanding that my money be returned, so I dropped the issue :’(no apology or effort made to say sorry. She said she would «text the guy and let him know», but I’m positive that went to the same place my previous inquiry went… straight into the circular filing cabinet a.k.a. da trash. lol
Bread = 4.5
Circuses = 2.5
In summary: good food, expensive games. Despite what others have said, Brixie’s is *NOT* one of the best places in Chicagoland to get your pinball fix. Just because they have 4 pins doesn’t make it the ‘best’ by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you care more about craft beers and bar food than you do pinball, then this is a great spot. I would recommend Lombard’s Brauer House or HeadQuarters River North as places where you can get excellent food, beer, and quality pins all in a single location.
I make a decent living, but Brixie’s pinballs are way too rich for my blood. Teetering on the 3 – 4 star border, refusing to accepting Discover is the nail in the coffin for this one.

I came here with a friend for the time not really hungry or in the mood to drink but it definitely won’t be the last… This place was awesome great food good service and if you’re big drinking of beer you need to check this place out they have plenty of things to do than sit and eat at the bar there have retro arcades, pool tables, dart boards and lots more. Highly recommend if you’re in the area

It’s my favorite neighborhood dive bar for a nice beer selection. There are a few pool tables and darts as well. I even think they have a beer club that meets here once a month. Great spot for a low key night. They do have food, it’s good, but it is bar food, so if you are being all healthy, not the place to eat!

Growing up in LaGrange Park, Bixies was always known as that dark dingy dive bar on the other side of the overpass on Ogden in Brookfield. Fast forward about 20 years and yeah it’s still kind of dark, but it’s less dingy (we’ll call it chic Divey), and now it’s a mecca for the craft beer enthusiast in the area.
If you’re a craft beer fan this one of the best spots in the western burbs to check out the latest offerings in the craft beer world. The menu changes constantly so it doesn’t get old and you can try brews that are fairly hard to find even in the city (check out
to see what they have on tap).
Food is okay, typical bar fare but hits the spot. Staff is courteous and patrons are an interesting mix of locals drinking their PBR and High Life and beer snobs checking out the latest offerings of Three Floyds, Revolution or Founders.
Only negatives are that, yes it’s still dark, bathrooms are in tough shape (at least the men’s), parking lot is a bit small.

I have been going to Brixie’s regularly for over 13 years, and I gave the place a 5-​star review on Unilocal about 4 years ago. Unfortunately for me, Brixie’s nowadays caters for a much younger crowd. My friends and I, who sometimes are the only people around at quiet times (pre 8:30pm Monday-​Thursday and weekend afternoons), but we seem to come a poor second to the young people who grace Brixie’s with their presence for the special Friday night beer tappings and other events, but are rarely otherwise seen on the place.
An perfect example was tonight: My friends and I arrived at the bar between 4:00 and 4:30pm. There was a 6:00pm beer tapping and as 6:00pm approach our glasses were virtually empty waiting for the new beers to be served. Despite us being there for nearly two hours, the staff were told not to serve us and we were told that we had to queue up to get a beer. Is that anyway to treat your regular customers? Of course not.
Brixie’s does have knowledgeable friendly staff, but the place has lost a lot of it’s appeal to us older patrons.

All I can say is thank God that this place is no longer a 4am bar. It really keeps out the riff raff. I went here last Friday and it was definitely a more relaxed environment. For the first time in 8 years, I actually enjoyed being here and the food is really good.

Amazing beer! Great service and food. Really good Moscow mules too! I have been looking for a reason to get here for years. I was so excited when a friend invited me.
The beer list is awesome! I really have to use self control here. I may or may not have gotten drunk here once or twice.
The food is good. It’s not life changing or anything. Mostly typical bar food, but it’s very good and worth ordering!

Showed up around 10pm on a Friday. Wasn’t too packed, spacious layout, garage doors were open for fresh air, decent prices for drinks, tons of different beers, good whiskey, Malort!, average bar food, friendly & knowledgeable bartenders, plenty locals, plenty TVs, slot machines, pool/​game room area, comfortable atmosphere. First sat at a table, then my guy and I moved to the bar… I thought this was a dive opened until 4am with idiots fighting? I was wrong and will gladly return soon. Great times indeed

If you are looking for bar food the is not just ordinary, get over to Brixies! Burgers are great, and have yourself a Maple Bacon Donut to finish it off!
Great selection of craft beers. One for any taste.

Casual no frills but not a dive environment. Food is good. Garden burger is flavorful but mushy. Would make a great dip with organic blue corn chips imo.

Love this place!
The bartenders are great. They know their beer!!! Always there to answer questions and make small talk.
Love that it has the local neighborhood bar feel.
I have eaten here (only small appetizers) but it was average bar food.
Craft beer people, you’ll love this place.

This is like a Craftheads paradise! They have what seems like an endless line of craft beer on tap, Whiskeys to sample, and to top it off… DELICOUS FOOD! Oh did I also mention the video gaming, pool table and five pinball machines?
That’s just the tip of it. There are a lot of locals here, so you will also get the local bar charm with it’s mix of characters (so far we’ve only encountered the good mix, but i’ve heard stories!)
It is also located a block down from the Galloping Ghost, an amazing arcade, and Tony’s Diner. home to great comfort food. But I don’t want to take away from this review, so onto the rest.
The bartenders at this place know their shit when it comes to beers. If you tell them exactly what you are looking for, they can rattle off beers that suit your needs and even let you sample them to make sure it’s what you absolutely want. If that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is. Amongst the chalkboards listing their beers, flavor of the week, whiskeys, and shots… they have an event board listing the days that different breweries will be taking over their taps and showcasing their stuff
We definitely plan to be back!

Smoked and pulled pork tacos topped simply with cilantro and onions are incredibly good.
The dozens of choices to drink on tap from all the best craft brewers only makes it better. And the service from Brittany was excellent.
Note I read reviews that say it is a «dive bar.» I would just call it «unassuming» which is a good thing.

Hooooly taps. No exaggerating, 20+ unique taps to choose from and you’d never expect it from the look of the place from the exterior. We came here for the first time on Sunday and were very pleased to try a flight containing 7oz each of 4 different beers/​ciders we’ve never had before.
The bartender knew what was up — not annoying or unnecessarily pushy. The fellow patrons were unique and made for and enjoyable people watching experience. There seems to be a lot going on during the week as well (trivia, live music, etc).
Food isn’t good by any means, but that’s why you order after a few rounds.
Overall a very cool, relaxed hangout for craft beer enthusiasts and divey bar lovers.

For those of you who complain Galloping Ghost Arcade doesn’t serve alcohol, this is why.
Only a four minute walk from the biggest and best arcade in the world is a dive bar that will definitely answer your need for booze after getting your ass kicked by Krang and Shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the millionth time.
Brixie’s has a great selection of draft and bottled beers, including a pineapple cider that I am crushing out on so hard right now. The bartenders are friendly and knowledgeable, and will definitely help you make a selection from the many choices or whip up a cocktail of your choice in no time.
As many reviewers here have mentioned, Brixie’s does attract the full spectrum of humanity at any given point of the day. But if you’re playing video games at 1 in the morning, it’s comes with the territory. Walk in here knowing you’ve signed a contract to see life’s, ahem, RICH pageant at any given moment. And don’t worry. The muscle at the door makes sure nothing gets out of hand.
They’ve got television and pool tables along with a jukebox for playing your favorites and a live stage for bands.
The only thing that could make Brixie’s better is the menu. It’s a dive bar, so the food is gonna be a bit rough. They do have daily specials to help make spending money on food a bit more paletable (pun intended).
If you want to booze out while playing video games, elbowing for room on a busted cabinet of Mortal Kombat that doesn’t have a working block button, stay in the city at Headquarters. If you want a clean separation of game and beer that keeps both sides pure, come to Galloping Ghost and Brixie’s.

Ah Brixies, I love this place. It’s a dive bar and has bad ass bathrooms to prove it. Doesn’t pretend to me anything more than a dive bar with a great beer selection, interesting regulars, cheapo prices and bar grub that I’ve never tried.
It’s been here for ever, lots of RB high school alumni still come back when in town. I hope it never goes away. Brixie’s is the epitome of coolness.

Upon reading reviews for Brixie’s I can draw one conclusion: it absolutely depends what time you go there.
If you arrive before they roll down the garage doors (AKA dark), you’ll find a north side esque bar stocked with rare beer finds.
If this is your last stop of the night (and everyone else’s), it will obviously be a sticky, «divey», dirty-​bathroom mess (duh?).
I live in North Carolina but I stop at Brixie’s every single time I’m back home in Brookfield. I looooove the beer selection.
I only give 4 stars bc sometimes the jukebox is disabled and the staff’s choice is pretty lousy and specific. Loud death metal-​y stuff isn’t a crowd pleaser for someone who wants to sit and converse and have several beers at your spot! Save that for after hours.

Let’s just say, people don’t go here for food. We got nachos and fried pickles and they were both the worst food I’ve ever touched. I’ll update later if I get sick from the two bites I took.
As for the beers– amazing selection, nice bartender. We were happy they had bells, rev brew and my favorite; Allagash. Didn’t check out bathrooms but overall, they were probably as minimal as the bar décor is.

My friend told me I couldn’t steal his description, so I won’t, but it was so fitting and he only beat me to it because I was laughing about my bathroom mishap. Whatevs.
There was a part of me that really liked this place. The garage doors, the general feel, THE BEER LIST, the back wall of poker machines (which in turn made it feel like some seedy dive, or Reno)…that all made me smile. Then again, the table of guys who looked like my high school group of friends was a little much for me. I’ll go to almost any bar as long as there is good beer. It’s an added bonus when it’s cheap. I wouldn’t say it was cheap, but it wasn’t overpriced either.
Clever burger descriptions and a menu that actually sounded appealing. Can’t comment on the food though, I was there to drink. Seems a little odd that their kitchen closes well before the bar does, but hey, to each their own.
Surprisingly clean bathroom. I broke the seal before arriving here, and nothing is worse than breaking the seal and having to use an awful bathroom many times. Not the case here! Through the pool room and to the left. Don’t bump into anyone’s cue, they don’t look like the type that would find it funny.
I’ll give Brixie’s this. The bartender we had actually knew how to describe beer. I know this seems silly, but you’d be surprised how many places will have a solid beer menu and then say «it’s good» as a description.