Emerald Loop

So this was an OKAYYYY place. My friends and I went after work on a Saturday night and they were pretty busy. The servers were really nice and helpful. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Wrap ($ 11) and split a sangria pitcher with a friend ($ 19). The wrap wasn’t impressive. It was mainly chicken chunks and avocado served with a side of fries. The sangria wasn’t all that either. However, my co-​workers got burgers and the brisket which looked really good and according to them, tasted great too. So if you’re going there I’d say try the burgers or the brisket. Overall, the ambiance was nice, we sat outside to enjoy the nice warm night. Our waiter was great and even worked with us when we were trying to split the bill ourselves.

This isn’t the best Irish pub I’ve been to, but the service was fine, the food okay, and the wait (at dinnertime) non-​existent. We were seated right away.
Everybody enjoyed their choices: fish & chips, bangers & mash (I thought the sausage a bit mushy) and shepherds pie. The waitress thoughtfully asked our friends if they were particularly hungry, suggesting they split one order of shepherds pie rather than getting two. (Proved to be an excellent suggestion.)
Plenty of beer, decent wine and several options for dessert. My friends split chocolate cake a la mode which looked quite good. T and I shared what proved to be a puny portion of bread pudding. The taste was lacking.
Most of the clientele looked like locals unwinding after work.

Good food, good drinks. Fun place in the summer with a nice outdoor patio. They have daily specials. The food is very good, especially the salads. Huge portions big enough to split. The drinks are also good, with many beers on tap. Decent prices. Only reason for 3 stars is the atmosphere. I’ve been here many times and it is almost always quite empty (except the patio when it’s nice out) and very dark inside. Nice spot for a date or for big groups.

I used to frequent this place and had a review up but at some point it must have been removed. I like their pub feel and outdoor seating. The food has always been solid. The service has been hit or miss. I will say I’m quite surprised with how many people say they have good bloodies cause I thought it was below average. It’s watered down and had no spice. However, they have a good beer list and a few wines by the glass. Last time I went I got the quesadillas, which were actually solid. They were cut completely unevenly but other than that they were good. They had very nice chunks of chicken in them and were not overly greasy. They come with a somewhat bland salsa and sour cream. The veggies inside were what made them above average for me. Overall, it’s a good option in the area.

Great nachos and guacamole. Service in our first visit was great. Had a rude bartender last night who wasn’t interested in waiting on anyone.

I was a guest at this establishment last night and unfortunately, a bad customer service experience tainted our farewell evening we hosted for our manager. We arrived at 4PM, we had a reservation for 15 people. We were seated in a section that was set for this many people. Our server Krista introduced herself, and from the beginning was unfriendly and dismissive. We work in Concierge so we notice these things immediately. We laughed it off as maybe she was busy or something. Initially when we arrived there was only 5 of us and explained to the host that the rest would be coming at our original reservation time of 530. 30 minutes later Krista returned, and asked (with a sour attitude) if we were going to fill in the other seats. We immediately replied YES they are coming at 530, we were just early. She immediately walked away and didn’t bother to check to see if there was anything else we needed. As I learned this was how she handled the rest of the evening. We were lucky to see her every 30 minutes. Even as new people arrived at our table, she was nowhere to be found. When some of our party went to the bar to get a drink (after waiting for 20 – 30 minutes), when she finally showed up she said «If you are going to sit at MY table you HAVE to order drinks from me». I have never felt scolded by a server before.
In my personal and professional experience, even if an establishment has great atmosphere, cuisine and drinks if the service is subpar, customers won’t come back. Service will trump all if they have bad experience. I monitored the situation throughout the evening and her service only got worse. In my line of work, good service in the restaurant industry means friendly service that makes sure her customers are tended too. Upon asking for my final bill and made sure I provided a detail of what I was paying for, (which took 20 minutes to get) when I received the bill the items were all incorrect (FAILURE TO LISTEN) I had to wait another 20 minutes to get a correct bill. Once I provided the CC it took another 10 minutes just to get the bill and sign.
Sometimes, good customer service simply means being available and Krista was not only unavailable most of the time her attitude was just horrible.
This was my first time visiting this location and not sure if I would ever return in the future.

looks like a bar, serves like a diner…
this place is fine. that’s all i’ve got. the menu speaks for itself. it’s in a great location for michigan avenue lunchers looking for casual yet not fast food. i don’t crave this place but it’s standard for a lunch date or an after work drink.

We went to this restaurant before A Night with Janis Joplin. Got there 90 minutes before the show and sat and sat and sat. For two sandwiches! We complained and told them we had a show and they said so did everyone else! We are calling in another cook! Really??? We had to leave without eating!

Went there for lunch for a group outing. It was the only place we could make a reservation for 20. It was nice we got a table in the back so we were able to talk without any noise. I ordered the brisket and it was really good. I’m more giving 4 stars because it was a great place to chat and the one food item I got was jam good ;). Maybe next time I’ll notice the prices and service and update my review.

Disclaimer 1: I am not Irish.
Disclaimer 2: I am not a connoisseur of Irish food.
Disclaimer 3: I am not a huge beer person, I just like good food.
I went here when I got in because the hotel concierge recommended it when I asked for reasonably priced food, and he had these coupons where you got a free appetizer if you spent $ 15 or more.
Location: It’s in downtown; upscale area, lots of stuff to do. I walked from the hotel, so not sure about parking or the sort.
Service: Took me a bit to get seated, but this was around 5 PM, so fairly early in the dinner hour. The waitress was attentive to me once I got seated though.
Ambiance: Again, I don’t frequent pubs, but it had a lot of TV’s with sports on, dim lighting, volume was moderate. Bathrooms were clean. Nothing to write home about.
Food: The food is a bit pricey; most appetizers are around $ 8 – 9, which is sometimes more than I want to pay for an entrée, and the entrees are around $ 15-​$ 20. The perk was that it was easy for me to get my bill over $ 15 for that free appetizer. I got the Shepherd’s Pie and the Cheese Curds. Disclaimer 4 should probably be that I’m not a cheese connoisseur; I just like cheese. All things considered, I didn’t think the curds were anything to write home about. They’re basically expensive little cousins of mozzarella sticks with more wholesome cheese. Probably about 20 – 25 curds in there, good enough for sharing among 2 – 4 people. Came with marinara and a mayo-​based sauce kind of like tartar sauce, but less tart. That would normally have been $ 9. The Shepherd’s Pie was huge. The thing was probably at least 1.25 pounds, with dimensions of 9″ long, 4″ wide, and 2.5″ tall. This could probably be shared by 2 – 4 people as well unless you were really feeling hungry (I can normally eat a pound of prime rib for reference). It was well-​done; there’s honestly nothing mind-​blowing about minced beef and cheap veggies topped by mashed potatoes, but it was quite hearty and well-​flavored.
Seating: Good for parties of 1 – 6. 7 – 8 is doable; anything larger should make a reservation. When I went at 5 PM, about 75% of the place was full, and this was a nondescript Wednesday with good, but not great college basketball on — kind of surprising.
TLDR: If you pick your places by their beer, keep scrolling.

Decent spot in the loop. They have a ton of beer options that aren’t out of control expensive. The atmosphere is inviting with plenty of room to sit and relax solo or with a group.

Having tried two different pubs the previous nights and having great success with the food in both we thought we’d give this place a shot. What a shame, it was relatively quiet so the service was good, but the food was poor. The fish and chips looked like it had been store bought and defrosted in the deep frier and had so little fish in it my wife sent it back. So the comparison (since she loves fish and had the same meal at the other two pubs) was hard to ignore, in fact so much so that we ended up walking back to one of the others just so she could have her dinner.
Yes we are out of towners and maybe not so important since this place is very well located, but even after the food got sent back, other than the waitress (who obviously isn’t to blame) apologized, no one else bothered to see what the issue is. Anyone who has worked in the restaurant business knows the importance of your customers whether they are there once or 1000 times and if you don’t bother to find out what’s wrong shows you don’t care.
Like I said, shame.

Our waiter was attentive and friendly, but we waited a while for our food even though there weren’t many other customers. However, the food was worth it.
Unsurprisingly, few vegetarian choices, but the black bean burger was delicious. We got sides of mac & cheese and mashed potatoes with our burgers, which were excellent and the portions were huge! Many TVs made it easy to watch the game.

Good place for lunch if you work in the area. Service is decently fast. Menu has traditional pub fare. Rec the mac and cheese. Happy hour is decent, drink prices are loop prices (vs. neighborhood bar prices), but nice list of beers on tap.

An Irish-​themed bar and restaurant, located in the historic Jewelers’ Building at Wabash and Wacker. It’s a large, somewhat dark room; the bar area is larger than the dining room, and, on my Friday late afternoon visit, much busier. The bar crowd was about what would be expected at that time of day, skewed toward youngish, loudish, drunkish Loop office workers (a few of them in Halloween costumes, this having been October 30).
Up a few steps from the street, accessible by a small lift if needed.
The weekday hours currently listed on Unilocal,11 am-​2pm, are obviously incorrect; I suspect the closing time figure is a typo for 2am, though I couldn’t find hours of operation on their website. Certainly, they’re open well into the evening.
The bar offers a modest craft beer menu, including a Beer of the Month (currently the local Revolution Oktoberfest) and a rotating «bartender’s choice.» The current selection, which I tried, is from Crazy Mountain Brewing in Edwards, Colorado: Mountain Livin’ Pale Ale. 6% ABV. Slightly cloudy bronze, medium head. Light malt nose. Taste is much more hop-​forward than the nose would suggest. Long bitter fade, with a caramel note.
Happy hour 4 – 6 pm: $ 5 drafts and well drinks, $ 3 domestic bottles, $ 7 signature cocktails. Saturday and Sunday buffet, $ 11. Various specials during football games.
I didn’t try their food on this visit, though I noted a number of the expected pub-​grub specialties: fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, that sort of thing.
Good public transit access: two blocks from Lake Street on the Red Line and Randolph/​Wabash on the Loop «L» (Green, Brown, Purple, Orange, and Pink Lines); four blocks from Clark/​Lake on the Blue Line. One block from bus lines on Michigan Avenue and State Street. For pub crawlers, across the street from South Water Kitchen; one block from Elephant and Castle; within a few blocks of Howells and Hood, Eataly, Chicago Public House, and Harry Caray’s.

Great location and decent food, typical Irish sports bar with plenty of TV’s and a small patio for outdoor seating, menu includes the usual «Irish» staples, shepherds pie, bangers and mash, chicken curry and sandwiches and burgers.
Service was good and timely, and servers were pleasant.

This is a good spot to come in for a bite or drink. I ordered fish & chips and ended up giving it to my friends because it wasn’t what I expected. The service was a little slow and we had to ask a few times for the same thing. In all, I’m talking a big game of crap because I’d go back if I was in the area.

What a horrible experience. Starting with the service. Our server was very slow. We put in our drink orders and waited. Finally we got those. We were had to catch a boat cruise so we put in our food order with 45 minutes to spare. After 30 minutes of waiting we asked a server, because we couldn’t find ours, to put our food in boxes and for our check because we had to catch the boat cruise. There wasn’t even a big crowd! Why did it take so long? After another 10 minutes of waiting and no sign of a server we left cash for our drinks and left. Then to our surprise a server ran behind us in the street asking if we left money for the food, which we never got!!! Needless to say we will never be back. I would keep walking to another restaurant before coming here!

The place was very nice, the staff the are very cool also. Our food it’s delicious we really enjoy it .
The price very good too.

The Emerald Loop was suggested to us by the hotel we stayed at for St. Paddy’s Day, and seriously, it was (next to the deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s) the best find of our trip! We were lucky enough to get in while most of the city was watching the river-​dyeing, and we posted up at a great booth in the corner of the bar!
To make sure our stomachs were ready for all of the green beer we’d have, we ordered several breakfast sandwiches, which were ready within 5mins and pretty generous portions! I have to call them out and say that the two kids working the register were doing a killer job! Kudos to them for being so attentive and doing a great job to keep the line moving and for finding us when our food came out faster than we expected! Much respect for your contributing to what certainly seemed to be a well-​run family establishment on such a big, busy day.
While at Emerald Loop, we had several rounds of beer, a few shots, and all of the fun we could handle! They brought in a bag-​piper, face painters, dancers and some great promotional folks from an Irish family brewery, McGargles. We thought we’d be bar hopping all day, but we loved the place so much, we never left!
The only down side was the huuuuuuuge line that happened after the river-​dyeing ended. We had several friends meeting us that waited around 45 – 60 minutes to get in… That said, it was St. Paddy’s Day in the Loop, and I’m sure that would have been the case nearly anywhere. When our friends made it in and got some delicious green beer in their hands, they were more than happy to forgive the time spent waiting!
We got snackish later in the day and tried the pretzels (small portion, but good), Buffalo chicken (awesome!) and fried pickles (pretty good, even to an admittedly snobby southerner who loves her fried pickles). Definitely a great place to drink and celebrate!!! What a great time!