Wild Monk

I moved to the La Grange area in April and have been to Wild Monk numerous times since. It is really close to our house, and we do love the beer selection that they offer. I gave it three stars because we have had really hit and miss experiences. The service is always alright, but the food varies with each visit. When we first went at the beginning of summer, the food was great. We really liked that it wasn’t just basic bar food, like other bars in the area. I loved the nachos with the pickled veggies and braised meat. So it started off well, and then we went multiple other times, where the food was not good. I was at a table where four of us ordered burgers and requested different wellness, and they all came back well done. I have also ordered sandwiches that weren’t good, when I had had them before, and they were delicious. Even brunch was like that.
Overall, we still go back, but just for the beer selection because the food isn’t the same each time.

Went here for the first time– definitely will be coming back. The beer menu was awesome and the food was pretty good. I got the chicken Caesar wrap– i was a little surprised with my first bite because of the pesto wrap. I’m not sure if I would order it again because it wasn’t quite my taste, but I’m open to trying more things on the menu. Only reason for four stars was because the service wasn’t quite as quick as I would have liked

Love coming up here for Sunday Bloody Mary bar.
The bar tenders JJ and Thayer are great attentive and they know their drinks.

The Blueberry Banana Nut Bread French toast is the greatest thing I have EVER put in my mouth! Service is a little slow but atmosphere is lively and fun — it’s a sports bar after all. Bloody Mary Bar is yummy with lots of selection! I’ve been here twice, both times with larger parties and every one has always been pleased with their food.

Not sure if I’d come back.
Very nice looking place inside and everyone was really friendly. There’s also a decent beer selection and the bacon wrapped dates we started with were very good. I also noticed some kind of peanut dispenser maybe for the bar? which I thought was a cool idea.
I am not a picky eater at all but,
The food we ordered was not the best, the burger I ordered medium was well done which I would normally ignore but it was also very salty also the garlic fries that came with it were extremely salty (enough that I couldn’t eat them)
My wife ordered beef tacos and was not a fan, she’s also not pickey exp over tacos.

Very sweet and attentive bartender, but the food was aggravatingly bad. Over salted and overcooked calamari and the worst «homemade veggie burger» I’ve ever had. The ambiance is decent and the service, in my experience, was good, but the food was so sub-​par that I’d never return.

I’ve been to Wild Monk three times now. Each time it has gotten better. The first time was only a week or so after it opened and it was clear they had a lot of kinks to work out. My most recent visit I could tell they’ve gotten much better. The food is great. Interesting options, set up for sharing. They have a cool drink menu beyond just the beer options. I tried a bourbon bacon sour cocktail and it was awesome.
We wanted to try the «Monk Balls» but they were out of them, so I have to go back and get them next time.
Grab a seat outside if you can. Nice to sit outside and watch people go by on La Grange road.

I love this place! It was my second choice one day and I was so happy I ended up here. We were here pretty early so grabbed a Bloody Mary from the Bloody Mary bar. Lots of really good garnishes. I could have made a meal on just that. The bartenders are friendly and make some amazing cocktails as well if beer isn’t your thing (they have a huge beer list).
For food we shared several small random plates. We had beans and rice, plantains, Brussel sprouts and one thing I can’t quite remember for the life of me. We LOVED the food! I will gladly go back here and try more on the menu.

I went in on a night when the place was not busy, sat at the bar. The bar maid seemed annoyed that I was there, wasn’t too interested in waiting on me. She would rather tend to her chores. She finally acknowledged me and asked what I wanted to drink. I asked for one of their over priced drafts and if they had chilled glasses. Here snooty response was — «chilled glasses ruin the taste of the beer» — well excuse me for asking for what I wanted, and it wasn’t your opinion.
I have not been back and won’t be. Lousy, arrogant service, dark lighting, cramped seating… why waste my money here. Avoid this dump.

Came in to watch the Hawks game and have a light dinner. They offer a nice selection of cocktails and beer. I really enjoyed both the lemon/​ginger and watermelon varieties of beer. It is a nice place to watch a game, maybe could use a few more tables but tv’s are plentiful. Bartenders were doing a great job. The food on the other hand was not a highlight. The nachos were bland (watery cheese sauce), not enough beef brisket, Giardiniera was an odd pairing, and unfortunately our chips were stale. The fried calamari and lobster roll were just ok, nothing special. I’d return for drinks but probably wouldn’t eat there again or at least try something different.

I expected this place to be bigger from the looks of it on the outside, and I’m sure it gets packed full during sports games, and weekends. My friend and I stopped in here between 5 & 5:30 on a Sunday (this past Memorial Day weekend) after Bottle & Bottega down the street. We found a handful of tables open… only con was, it was pretty loud in there… smaller place, medium size crowd will do that. I felt like we were shouting till some of the crowd left.
The atmosphere is nice — not exactly a sports bar, but not a cocktail bar either. The beer menu is pretty extensive, and the food menu is just right, only like many places… we didn’t make it past the appetizers so we both had a glass of beer and split three appetizers — the 3 or 4 cheese flat bread, the monk balls, and plantain chips. All three were wonderful… I’m not sure I’ll make a trip back here because my feeling was kind of «been there, done that» and there are several other places in downtown LaGrange I’d like to check out but overall our experience was decent.
The flatbread was delicious — it wasn’t so «flat» it was more like pizza, but nonetheless… delicious! The monk balls were something I’ve never tried before. The dipping sauce for those were alright, the plantain chips were a tad on the dry side but the dipping sauce for those were good. Our total came to about $ 42 — which wasn’t bad. The prices at this place were decent. This place has specials 7 days a week, so I would recommend at least checking them out!

Easily the best restaurant in La Grange, along with Prasino.
Beers are always top-​notch and I attend their specialty tapping on a regular basis and enjoy the kicked-​up pub food.

Our second visit to Wild Monk. We stopped at Wild Monk about a month ago and found a few seats at the bar. Pretty cool décor inside although very very loud. We ordered a few yummy beers and decided on a few sandwiches for dinner. I had the brisket which was just ok, the bun completely fell apart and the meat was decent but not great. My wife got the lobster roll and the same thing, ok but not great at all.
The bartender, a cute English girl was fantastic. Suggested some good beers and was fun to talk to.
We walked way thinking we’ll try Wild Monk again and get a different meal and see how it is.
Went back today and got a nice seat outside. The waitress wasn’t very friendly at all. She seemed bothered to be waiting on the tables outside. Considering there was no one at all inside she should be happy to be outside on such a beautiful day.
Took a little bit to get our overpriced beers but that’s ok we were going to have some great food. Well I had fish tacos that were pretty good, although most other restaurants give you three you only get two here. My wife ordered a salad and was hoping to share my tacos. Salad wad bland. I appreciate the effort of homemade bread as croutons but they where tasteless.
Finally got to order a second beer after my first was empty for a while. The next overpriced beer came about ten minutes later. She still wasn’t very friendly. Finished lunch and our beer and was hoping to head out but our waitress didn’t come back for fifteen to twenty minutes. Finally got the bill which was pricey for the food and beer we ordered but I understand it is LaGrange.
I won’t be back, sorry.

Been here 3 times.
First time food was average and overpriced based on quality.
Second time, sat outside, food was good, service, meh.
Went tonight and not going back.
Service was slow. Ordered a beer, waited 25 minutes and then was told they were out. My wife orders a non-​alcoholic beer because she’s pregnant and it’s the same price as a regular beer. All the while, the bar has about 10% capacity which should have meant some better service.
Food comes out-​the BLT. Bland, undercooked, and seemed as though they ran out of ingredients since most of the bun wasn’t used.
Also ordered fish n chips. Tartar sauce, coleslaw, and fish were all so absurdly bland.
Based on the poor service and over-​priced mediocre food I will not be going back.

Summary: poor, slow service, terrible $ 5 burgers, mediocre fries, good mac and cheese
We stopped in with the kids for $ 5 burger night, now this place is basically a buffalo wild wings (bar, tables, high tops, very similar menu) with a MUCH better beer menu. We walked in and got a «oh god here we go» look from our waitress who didn’t smile once during our meal (sorry I stopped by to give you money for service and food, it’s clear that you do not want to give me or my family either of those things). Got our build your own burger checklists. As expected the base burger was $ 5 and the toppings were .25-​$ 1 each to add on. My daughter wanted a salad so I asked for 3 types of lettuce and ranch dressing to be served on the side of the burger. They have a really cool fill your own bowl with 3 different types of peanuts so the kids loved that. We ordered a few beers, one came out no problem, the second one kicked the keg half way through (which is by no means their fault just unfortunate), they searched for a new keg and didn’t have one. They gave me what remained on the house (the bartender was great). I ordered another beer, we weren’t at the bar but 10 feet away. I had to walk to the bar to get my beer since the waitress was no where to be found to wait on me and I didn’t want it to sit on the «order up» tray for another 10 minutes. Keep in mind there were MAX 10 other customers in the restaurant.
Our food FINALLY came out, the lettuce and tomato on the side was missing (since it took 20 minutes for 3 burgers to show up I decided not to complicate things further by sending anything back). The burgers were burned charcoal hockey pucks of meat, almost inedible. Neither of the kids wanted anything to do with the burgers (and these kids love cheeseburgers). The waitress then informed us that she deleted the order for the mac and cheese accidentally while she was putting in our order so that would be out in a bit. Good thing the kids had filled up on peanuts or else this would have been a vastly different experience. All 3 burgers were garbage, their ranch is not typical ranch but some in house custom twist on an original that shouldn’t be legal.
The mens room needed some serious cleaning, how at 4: XX pm it stinks and the whole urinal cubicle is covered in piss is beyond me. You have at least 3 employees sitting around talking, at least make a sweep of the bathrooms every 30 minutes.
They drew me in with a special that was less than enjoyable. I won’t be back. Do yourself a favor and give your money to any number of better establishments in La Grange (Nicksons, Palmers, Back alley burger etc).
Protip: $ 5 drafts include everything under $ 8

I was delighted to find a place that reminded me of college-​town bars within walking distance of my sleepy suburban hometown. I didn’t have high expectations given the suburb, but when I popped in with a friend for dinner I was enthralled with the sports-​bar-​meets-​hipster-​burger-​place vibe, with a very nice beer and cocktail selection and appealing specials, like half-​off-​cocktail ladies’ night.
This place pours a great Manhattan, which I guzzled altogether too quickly and got another one. I love the Cajun burger with Cajun fries, which complement my hoppy-​malty beer choices nicely. My friend got a salad, which unfortunately was an unimpressive pile of monotonous lettuce and mayonnaise-​esque caesar dressing. Opt for a burger, can’t go wrong. Another friend got a brussel sprout appetizer which was salty and sweet and perfect and delicious, surprisingly good with the beer and whiskey as well.
Conveniently located two blocks from the LaGrange Road Metra BNSF station, it’s great for a substantial dinner before heading to the city to avoid city prices.

Loved the chill Friday night atmosphere. Seated at the bar without a problem. Definitely took notice to their drink menu. Plenty of quality libations on tap and via bottle, creative hand-​crafted drinks, and nightly specials alone are worth the trip. Plenty of TVs to keep up with live sports events, and quality tunes spinning in the background. While we didn’t hit their food menu too hard, we still tried our hands at the Lamb Sliders and Brussel Sprouts. IMO, the Sliders were great. Juicy as hell, perfectly paired with a creamy tzatziki sauce and spicy pepper relish. Basically a spicy gyro in burger form… I’ll allow it! The sprouts were undoubtedly some of the best we’ve ever had. Cooked to a crisp yet tender perfection, seasoned with sea salt, lemon juice, and bacon jam?! My taste buds were blown away by their creative take on what is quickly becoming one of my favorite eats. Sweet, sour, salty, they hit on sooo many notes, it was pure bliss. Maybe only a narrow second behind Maude’s on Randolph Street. Friendly, attentive bartenders, great drinks, great food, awesome vibe… highly recommended if dining/​drinking in the downtown LaGrange strip.

Stopped by for lunch on a Saturday.
Everything on the menu sounded good and looked like a good beer selection for those looking for one.
Major complaints/​issues though:
— the place was dead but service was dreadfully slow
— steak skewers were cold
— tartar sauce (fish and chips) was runny and lacked flavor
— server «accidentally» charged by credit card $ 70 instead of the $ 40 on my check (luckily I noticed prior to signing off).
Lots of better options in the La Grange area. Will not be returning.

I’m in town from Vegas and my friends wanted to show me a place I’ve never seen in Lagrange. We went to see the bears game and they wouldn’t put the bears audio on even when we asked??? Who’s in charge of this place?
The drinks are a tad expensive ($ 10 –15 A glass Cabernet) and limited food menu. The brunch menu with Bloody Mary and mimosa was decent. My friend ordered a beer and it took 20 min. The décor is very nice and clean. The service is ok. But overall this place is disappointing. It had the look of a sports bar but not the feel. They had the music on for a while after kickoff before we asked the waitress to put football audio on. Just weird. We got the check in the middle of the 2^nd quarter and we won’t be back.

The atmosphere was nice, the lamb burgers were full of flavor but the cocktails though… I don’t know if we happen to get them on a bad night or we had stumbled across a newly trained bartender but our cocktails were horrible. I had ordered a drink called the «cherry vanilla bourbon phosphate «taste that of watered down sprite. Tried the «oaxacan sour» taste like cigarettes decided to give them the benefit of the doubt ordered a old fashion, although its over all taste was subpar they didn’t give me any orange or cherry as a garnish and for 11.00 a drink I expect some kind of garnish! So in conclusion the food is good but do yourself a favor and order a beer or something familiar to drink.