The Garage Bar & Sandwiches

Amazing sandwiches that melt in your mouth. I recommend «the Dolly» sandwich if you want something with just the right amount of soccer. The atmosphere feels great and our waiter was on point as was the entire staff. If your looking for a feel good place this is it. Will definitely come here again and show other people about here.

I have enjoyed the Garage on several occasions, even having a retirement party there. But after last nites experience, it will be my last. After ordering drinks one in our party did not like the taste of her beer. After asking for a new one, the waitress said that we would still be charged for the bad beer. My friend drinks this beer regularly and wasn’t changing her mind, the beer just didn’t taste right. I spoke to the bartender and he explained to me that its bottled beer and it was not possible that the beer was bad. So after ordering apps and one round of drinks we quickly canceled our food and paid our bill and left. It’s too bad, we have spent plenty of money there and many of our friends too. I can no longer recommend the Garage and will be spreading the word to others in the neighborhood.

I have been here several times and with different people and it seems that their is always a problem. Not the food, I want to be clear. Food has always been good and I’m sure that’s why they have business. The service is terrible. They have no clue about customer service. My friend got a beer that was flat. It was obvious by all because we all tasted it. She asked for a new bottle because maybe it was old etc. she was told without hesitation that she would still have to pay for the beer even if she didn’t drink it. WHAT?! We proceed to ask for a manager who was a fill in bartender. He proceeded to tell us that there was no way that beer was bad. Are you kidding me?! We cancelled our orders and left. I will never ever go back again. I have heard others complaints about similar situations and have had this nonsense happen to two of my friends. I witnessed this happen myself and could not believe how rude they were. We had a group of 7 and we were planning on spending a few hours drinking and eating but I guess they didn’t need our business

Pros: the atmosphere, the service, the pretzel, the Margarita,
Cons: the old fashioned, the veggies that came w the wings (they seemed soggy)
Went to watch the NFL playoffs. It was packed. Got the last table. Looks like they open the front during the summer and have a rooftop.
Place was inviting. Service was very friendly and often, even with the crowd.
Drinks clearly used something natural for mixers in some form which was great but the old fashioned was weak.
The giant pretzel is worth it. Comes with a good mustard and a cheese that reminded me of lox because it uses smoked gouda. Wings were good and 50 cent special on Sundays.

Incredible food and service with a unique menu and insane beer list. A hidden gem! One of the BEST bars in Chicago

The Monte Cristo was great and the staff was friendly. Unfortunately the «Dolly» chicken sandwich was not. Soggy bun and chewy chicken. I barely ate half and some of it politely ended up in my napkin. Definitely not worth a $ 50 lunch. Then a member of the staff came over to the table to inform me that it couldn’t be taken off the bill (which I didn’t ask for) because I ate half of it. Doubt we’ll be back unless it’s to have a beer on the rooftop bar.

This a great neighborhood bar restaurant. Went there with my sister and two nephews and had a great time. We had the burgers and a pretzel for an app. My nephews didn’t know they made pretzels that big. The burgers where tasty and didn’t disappoint. Was surprised to see an old fashion shuffle board, and young people were playing it like they just found this existed. Will definitely come back and have more fun.

This place continues to impress. Service with a smile and a whole lotta competence. Most gracious and accommodating even at closing time. Beer selection is one of the best on the street. This visit was a California stout that was smooth and creamy. The beer paired well with my chipotle chicken sandwich that was on a bakery fresh tomato focaccia that reminded me of Italy… and I’ve never been to Italy!
Needless to say, owners on property who work it with a passion always makes me smile.
Bravo Garage, you are a well run joint!

I liked the atmosphere. Such a big part of a bar and yet so many screw it up. They had good music playing at a loud enough yet not screaming loud and not library quiet volume. A good variety and different genres of music to please all, good job Garage. My Old Fashioned was satisfactory. I went because I liked the reviews and their drinks menu I saw online. Con? A little too young for me. I am 37. While I was certainly not the oldest, this place made me realize maybe bars just aren’t my thing anymore. I was a little tired of sitting at a crappy looking table and constantly being bumped by people. I guess you can say it lacked the class I was looking for?

Always a pleasure. A great place to relax and share your time with good food, good drinks and welcoming atmosphere. Can’t say enough about the industrial look of the place.

They have the ultimate BLT there and apparently it’s only available on Saturdays. But when we went on a Tuesday, the waitress offered to ask the kitchen to make it. And they did! The bacon was a little bit fatty for me, but still had a nice crunch, balanced out with a good amount of bread and lettuce/​tomato.
Service overall was good and we got checked-​up on regularly. I have to lower my rating a star because when we were somewhat ready to pay and leave, we were asked to either move to another table, as there was a party of 7, and they wanted to use our table to Voltron and combine with another table. It’s not like we were lingering and talking forever, but they wanted to accomadate others, I suppose.

This is a great neighborhood bar on the northwest side where similar spots are sort of lacking. Excellent beer selection and a more impressive menu than I was expecting. I had the mussels (yum!) and a salad with goat cheese and prosciutto and both were delicious. I tried some new beers on this visit and enjoyed them both. Prices here are reasonable too. Glad we checked it out.

What an awesome place in the neighborhood! The service is excellent, as well as the food and drink. If you are looking for a change of scenery come to the garage, you have the option of sitting on a rooftop patio which is completely unique to the area. They have a food menu with plenty of options for everyone and very large beer selection. You won’t be disappointed!

I love this pub. It’s very nice and the rooftop is really quite excellent. I enjoyed the food I got here and I would definitely return. I do not love the smoking that is permitted on the roof, but I guess if you are a smoker, that may attract you to this bar. Also-​they have some decent specials each day.

After hearing great reviews of The Garage since moving nearby last fall, we finally tried and it didn’t disappoint. The upstairs patio was crowded on a nice summer Saturday night but the staff separated a long run of tables so we didn’t have to wait long. Our waitress was clearly busy, but we never felt unattended. The seared tuna app was really good, as was my pizza and my wife’s burger.
I only have one complaint, but it’s enough to take it from 5 stars to 3: STOP PERMITTING SMOKING on the roof deck! Smokers will patronize your bar even if they have to go outside to puff like everywhere else in Chicago. The only thing you do by accommodating the 10% of your customers who smoke is inconvenience the other 90%. Let them ruin others’ dining experience someplace else. A repeal of this policy would make it much easier for us to return and recommend to others.

The Garage gets CROWDED when it comes to hockey (HAWKEY!)
Be aware, they do not take reservations (and when they get as crowded as they do, I don’t blame them!) and it is highly advised you arrive 2 hours to game time. I showed up an hour before and had to get scrappy for a table.
For being so busy, service was very good. Drink refills were offered as often as our glasses got low, and our server was upfront about a back-​up in the kitchen.
After perusing the entire menu more than once, I hastily settled on the tuna tacos in an effort to remain somewhat healthy. On the side I had elote and sweet potato fries.
Everything that we saw coming out of the kitchen looked amazing, but my tuna tacos left me wanting more. I shoud’ve gone with the burger.
I’d say it is safe to say I’ll be back to try again.

The Garage is one of the mainstays on our rotation of places to go when we don’t want to cook or feel like getting out of the house. I’m also so Jaked that warmer weather is coming and looking forward to being able to enjoy the rooftop, which is probably one of the benefits this bar has over the other nearby places.
The food is delicious, generous portions, and a fairly diverse menu selection for a bar. The beer menu alone will take a few minutes for you to process and the bloody marys are perfect: not so strong that your throat choaks on Vodka, but certainly not so weak that you wonder if these were secretly bloody virgins.
I’ve never had a bad meal here and they have lots of alternatives to the usual burgers and fries at most bars. The portions are about right — not over board but definitely not small at all — and they have an outstanding large selection of craft beers.
The wait staff is friendly and fast. I do feel sorry that they don’t have a dumb waiter and our poor waitress had to carry heavy trays up to the roof, but hey she’s gonna have awesome quads and gluts!
the only downside is the rooftop is zoned for smoking. Smoking is permitted upstairs, though it isn’t entirely clear if it is the entire outside area or just beyond the sign. And frankly, when it comes to cigarette smoke, it doesn’t really make a difference. As the joke goes, having a smoking section next to the non-​smoking section is like having a non-​peeing section in a pool. But hey they have the right to smoke especially if The Garage is zoned for it and all I can do is make fun of them on this site.

Woah, ho ho!!! What a burger this was!
My wife got the garage burger and I got the Thai chili chicken pizza. My pizza was good. A little too thin on the crust for my tastes. Additionally, if something has the word «Thai» in it, there should be a little zest to it. This had not. On to the basket of sweet potato fries. They were awesome and thick cut. I never knew sweet potato fries tasted this good with ketchup. At this size, I could try.
Now, as for the garage burger. It was awesome. Best burger I’ve had in years. The bun was properly toasted, the egg perfectly fried, the cheese melted oh so delicious, and the burger cooked to perfection. They put avocado on it, which I’m at odds with. On one side, I love avocado. I mean, who doesn’t? People that suck. That’s who. But, when you have a gooey burger with a slippery layer of avocado on the bottom, it makes for some difficult eating. Hands down: get this burger. The chips they serve are spicy and delicious.
As for the service, it was on par. The décor is awesome. They had some garage band-​ish music. Oh, and free street parking. Win, win, win.
I’ll be back.

I ended up at Garage Bar one night unexpectedly. I was nearby and hungry and thought I’d stop in.
The food was good. I ordered one of the sandwiches and gobbled it up, along with the delicious sweet potato fries. I had the Sailor Jerry to drink, which was only $ 3.50 on special that night, and thought it was quite refreshing. They offer different food and drinks specials each night, and all sounded good. I regret not trying the wings — they looked good when the next table over had some brought to their table.
Unfortunately, it was still a bit too cold for the rooftop to be open, but I will need to check it out soon.
Service was quick and friendly. If you grew up in the area, you’re sure to see a friendly face there any night of the week. I’ll be sure to head back soon.

I’ve been here once before on a weekend night for drinks. I recall this place having «Not Your Father’s Root Beer» on tap and decided to grab a late lunch/​early dinner and some root beer beer with friends. This visit was also St. Patrick’s Day weekend. We arrived around 3:30…a few tables were open. They have an extensive beer list, and a drinks specials list, and their food list… all looked pretty fab. I was debating between a chicken sandwich and burger… burgers were huge!!! My friends ordered those while I decided on a chicken sandwich… also good. We substituted our fries with tater tots… can’t go wrong with a place which offers tots! Love me some tots!!!
Not Your Father’s Root Beer is a rare find… so I’m always pleased to find a bar which offers this! So so good!!!
Of course we had to get the big pretzel as an appetizer… when they say this thing feeds four, it feeds FOUR people for sure!!! We got all three dipping sauces — mustard, white queso, and beer cheese, all were very tasty. We definitely enjoyed this appetizer.
This is your typical city bar with a neighborhood feel to it, but not a dive bar… just a bar with some great atmosphere! I no longer live in the area but I will keep this place in mind when visiting again in the future in seek of drinks and eats.

Goood food! Try this place!