The Dock at Montrose Beach

Had some appetizers and dinner here with colleagues while on a recent business trip to Chicago. Was a super fun place to unwind and enjoy some live music. We sampled some of their signature cocktails; Cucumber Summer Fling was my favorite. Melissa was our server and she rocked! Super friendly and knowledgeable, even took the time to give us some suggestions of other fun places to visit while in town. Dinner was delicious as well. My blackened fish was really flavorful. We shared a couple starters too, dock guacamole was delicious and authentic (we’re from Southern California!). Only suggestion I’d have is that their wine list could use some variety.

I guess I didn’t have high expectations for this place, and rightly so. We came with my dog on Friday afternoon and the atmosphere is fun. Outdoor seating right on the beach. They have dog bowls for water for your pups. The food itself though was pretty meh. Boyfriend got the fish sandwich with sweet potato fries and said the sandwich lacked flavor. I tried the cheese curds and all i could taste was grease. Also, our service was SO slow. We repeatedly saw our waitress just hanging out and not paying attention to us while we waited 7 minutes for her to grab our check.
Not worth eating here if you want a real meal, but a cute place to maybe grab a drink or snack to take a break from roasting in the sun.

In town for a visit with family and friends and heard this place was awesome thru some locals we met out and had to check it! I loved it! Right on the lake, with awesome drinks and food! Melissa our waitress was super fun, fast and knowledgable. We had a great time listening to some music, while hanging out on the lake and catching up with friends:) the Fried Pierogis were amazing! Lake Smelts were phenomenal and my sister loved her Lobster Roll! Mmm yum! If I lived here this would be my summer hot spot! Thanks for the awesome experience Dock and Melissa you rock girl!

Went in with low expectation, being a casual looking beach place… but was pleasantly surprised! Good service, nice selection for a casual beach type place and very good food!!! (i had the caprese pressed panini with sweet potato fries, and lobster roll) !!! Great job! Keep it up!

Great location and potential, all ruined by being terribly managed and understaffed. 45 minutes for a beer.

The fish tacos were good. The yellowfin tuna wrap was okay. But we probably won’t eat here again. We were there Wednesday evening when it wasn’t busy but it took about an hour and twenty minutes to get our food. About 20 min after placing our order our waitress realized that she forgot to place our order (after insisting we hadn’t ordered anything, and then finding our order in her book). When our order finally came wr had regular fries rather than the sweet potato fries we requested, but by then we were just happy to eat.
We only ordered a wrap and fish tacos, so I don’t know how it took another hour (on a weeknight when it wasn’t packed) to make our food.
This place probably isn’t bad if you’re just looking to hang out and drink on the beach. But if you’re looking to eat, walk or Divvy or Über a couple blocks to the other side of Lakeshore Drive and eat at any number of good establishments, or get takeout and bring it back to the beach.

The atmosphere is stellar! The view of the beach is amazing and they had a great Brazilian band and dancers entertaining the crowd. Other than that, we had an awful experience. The services was incredibly slow. We waiting over an hour just to get a Caprese Salad and Chips & Salsa. Not the most complicated dishes on the menu, that’s certain. Another friend showed up and ordered the Fish Sandwich and later reportedly had food poisoning. To top it all off, they lost my credit card at the end of the service. The staff was extremely apologetic and they did try to make things right for us by comping out our meal. We were very grateful for that! Especially since one of us fell ill… Needless to say, we probably won’t go back, but if we do it’ll only be for a drink and I will make sure to have cash in hand. Eek!

It’s our fourth time. We finally got silverware. One knife. Two people. Almost as bizarre as that gross video that everyone has seen.
Oh yeah the foods okay and the environment is desirable.

Poor in getting patrons seated. Food way overpriced for bar like food. Don’t waste your time or money with this place. Very very disappointed after dining here and will never be back.

Great place to go for a day at the beach or a quick stop at it. Great casual laid back vibe. Some days they have a live band. Full bar, and a menu big enough to satisfy most!

There’s a flippin’ beach bar within walking distance of my condo! How cool is that? It’s a great place to enjoy a beer in the sun! It’s not surprising, but the drink prices are a wee bit high. The menu isn’t very exciting either. Last summer, I had an overpriced grilled cheese. This year, evidently the restaurant has new chef. The menu has improved a little bit, and the smelt my husband and I ordered yesterday were quite good. My friend’s dog certainly loved them! If you’re looking for a great meal, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend The Dock. However, if you just want some nosh to go with some brews while you sit in the sun, The Dock at Montrose Beach is where you want to be.

My favorite spot in Chicago in summer time.
Great choice of beers, good food, live music every night and great views of the lake — what more could you ask for?
Roll on Summer 2016!

The wait for a drink may be long if it’s a beautiful summer weekend, or if there’s an event going on near by. Also there may be no place to sit and order food. Just be aware if you plan to eat here, especially since there aren’t any other nearby food options (that I know of). However, even with no table, you and your mates can just hang out on the dock and drink.

Great place to chill on the beach on a sunny day. Long line for drinks at the bar… get a table under an umbrella if at all possible! Greasy but surprisingly flavorful food.

Fun! Went here for Reggae Wednesday’s on the Dock. Street parking is free or there is a cheap lot across the street from the beach.
Stage location can be a little difficult to find. Just go away from the boats and head towards the sand. Really diverse crowd and great music. Food and drink prices are reasonable, but service is slow due to the number of patrons. By no means is the food gourmet. I had the veggie burger with fries and it was decent enough.
My advice if your attending an event here is to bring your own food, lounge chairs, and set up and enjoy the beautiful night.

Been here a couple of times and is always a good time. Came here with some friends for the live music. They often have different band’s playing. The atmosphere is great! The services was good. And the food is not amazing or anything. The places is usually very busy so expect a 20 – 30 mins wait. They also have television at the bar.

I went up here this past Wednesday and had a great time!!! The atmosphere was amazing and a huge crowd of people. All kinds of people was out there and there was no problems. The restaurant was super crowded so u must need to arrive extra early.
I really enjoyed myself and I will be going back.

The boyfriend and I had rode Divvy bikes up to Montrose beach to walk around this past Sunday. After exploring the bird sanctuary, we saw The Dock and thought it was cool there was a nice chill place to eat and drink on the beach. The location is perfect with great views of the beach and city.
Overall though, I wouldn’t make a special trip out to The Dock if you’re not already at Montrose Beach. Our main gripes were the service and prices. Service was slow and disorganized. Starting off, our server had asked if we wanted any drinks. We told him we’d look over the menu but that we’d take water in the meantime. A little after, 10 minutes he never brought us water, nor did he mention they had a self serve cooler of water.
For their limited beer selection on draft, their prices were a little too high for our liking. Daisycutter was $ 8, Green Line, Blue Moon and Summer Shandy $ 7. Those beers shouldn’t be more than $ 5 or $ 6 tops. Fine, we just had Pacifico.
On to the food! The food was actually pretty good, but… again, with the prices! A SMALL basket of chips & guacamole was $ 10! What you get for free at most authentic Mexican restaurants, they charged $ 10. But we wanted to eat something light and considered the hummus since it was recommended… but $ 12 for a plate of hummus and veggies? Nah bro. That’s ok. Instead, we shared the Caprese wrap with a side of grilled veggies. The grilled veggies were awesome and the wrap was just the right size for us to share and get perfectly filled.
If you’re already down by Montrose beach, stop by and check it out, but be prepared to wait long periods with service and to spend more than is probably needed, but you’ll be on the beach FAR AWAY from most tourists at least!

This place is awesome! I have been here countless times, during the day after a few hours at the beach and at night to hear bands. It’s so fun! If you want to feel like you’re on vacation without the expensive flight, here you go!
Sure, the time it takes to get your food, then the bill, is sometimes really long. But you can’t be in a hurry. If you are, you shouldn’t be at the beach in the first place. Plus, if you saw the kitchen! You would understand. It’s tiny so they have to make do with what they have. But the atmosphere and the staff and the bar can’t be beat! For up North, this is great. Castaways, no thank you. The Dock is just fine please and thank you!
Cheers from the beach! Oh, kid friendly and dog friendly. Water is help yourself with dog bowls provided if you have your doggy :)

One day while sitting at home, sipping a drink on the balcony, I decided to drag my loud family out of my house to walk to the beach. I figured maybe it would tire everyone out and they’d all want to leave after we got back. We walked a few blocks down Montrose and yanked off our shoes to run in the sand. At that moment, in mid shoe rip off, I heard music. Bare footed and tipsy, the family and I ran down to the where the tunes were coming from and thats when I realized that it was The Dock! Duh! I’d totally forgotten about the place!
We got there just in time to hear the last 45 minutes of the live band performing and they were awesome. They allowed my 4 year old niece to come on stage and dance with them and she loved it. Here’s where my issue came in — the food was okay, but our waitress did a HORRIBLE job at explaining the menu.
My Brother wanted an extra patty on his burger but the waitress failed to tell him that they would charge him the amount of another meal (almost 10 bucks) for ONE extra patty! Maybe they skin, clean, gut and cut the meat themselves. *shrug* We also asked if the kids meal came with a beverage and although she told us yes, that wasnt the case. It didnt come with any drink and it was the same cost as everyone elses. My older niece that is about 27 ordered a meal and drink. Originally she ordered an extra order of fries but then cancelled it. However, we still got extra fries. *sigh* One of my friends ordered the fried fish and it was so bland, I almost took it over to the lake to release it back into the wild. Seriously, it was screaming for salt, pepper, anything!!!
Im still a fan but next time will be sure I have a different waitress oh and Ill be sure to warn everyone to leave their burgers to one patty and one patty only!!!