The Forge

Visited for the first time this past weekend. I really liked the setup and ambiance of this place. It was very warm and inviting, with a wide variety of people, and no loud talking or music to shout over!
Service was very good. Our server was very prompt, friendly and knowledgeable about both the beer and the food.
I had a flight of 4 beers, which seemed a little pricey for 8 bucks, but I did get a good sampling and found the Husky Red that I really liked had a pint of to drink with my food.
Food is a few appetizers, pizza or sliders. We had some soft pretzels with cheese sauce for an appetizer, and thought it was very good with the spicy cheese sauce. Those who don’t like spicy might not care for it. The pizzas were good. Different than we are used to here in the states, but good. Kind of reminded me of the pizza you get in Italy. Next time I will try the sliders.
We really enjoyed our evening and will be back for more. Great to see this place popping up in the DeKalb/​Sycamore area.

First time visit to the Forge for my wife and I. Overall very nice. The beer is good. I tried the sampler and found the dark wheat the best. I am not an IPA beer guy and would suggest on the «beer menu» you add the IBU rating. People coming to the Forge for beer will get the IBU thing. This will help on their selection.
Pizza was great! We had the margarita pizza with a little pepperoni and it was well made. The crust was thin and had great flavor. Service (Saturday early afternoon) was very good as well. Nice atmosphere and not a sports bar feel. There were a few TV’s around but I was there with my wife and what could be better than that!
We will be back. And as summer nears lets get a nice unfiltered wheat beer (hold the orange slice) and enjoy the day!

The Forge is a great brewery/​restaurant. We visited to try their brews and have a quick snack. We tried the pretzels and a flight of beers. We were very pleased with everything we ordered. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, too, which adds to its appeal. We’ll be back to try the pizza and other food items, and of course, we’ll have some beer when we do so.

Great pizza. Great beer. Great prices. & great service. I went there tonight and we both got a flight of beer (only 2 $ per beer) and a margarita pizza (only 11 $). They also sell growlers. Wonderful atmosphere as well.

Beer was so so and the pizzas are terrible. Kind of like burnt toast. I’ve been here twice now. Cademons in Genoa better.

If you like good pizza with an excellent crust, 5 stars. If you like great beer 5 stars. If you want something else (they do have sliders — didn’t try them) — 3 stars.
That «burnt after-​taste» in a previous review –didn’t taste it. In fact, I liked their beer, and will recommend this little nugget in Sycamore to anyone who will ask. I will return!

I really enjoyed the craft beers and pizza. Just what this town needs. Very friendly staff, Amanda is so nice. A great place for family and friends. The pizza oven adds so much to the overall experience. Looking forward to my next visit!

Great wood-​fire oven pizza and an impressive array of beers made on site. There’s a nice number of dark beers: try the St. Giles Porter. Try a flight so you can decide what you like, then take home a growler. We’ve tried four different pizzas: all winners! Overall, though, the place needs some personality. It’s a little pricy, but you are paying for quality. Definitely the best brewery in the area!

The Forge is a great restaurant. It serves two items: pizza and beer. However, this isn’t the sort of restaurant that’s filled with drunkards at the bar watching sports all the time– it’s a relatively new-​looking restaurant that has stylish color design choices and just enough fun to keep it family-​friendly. The front doors into the restaurant are made of pure, uncut, uncarved wood, which is a design echoed in the rest of the restaurant. Everything is wooden, giving it a sort of «casual, modern barn» atmosphere. In the middle of the restaurant, there are several large stainless steel tanks, presumably holding their self-​brewed beer, which help keep the restaurant style in the modern era and serve another purpose as well: to remind everyone that the Forge workers’ own blood, sweat, and tears went into that glass of wonderful beer you’re drinking.
And that’s just the design; the food was great and the staff was friendly. Let’s start with the staff: They were cheerful and helpful. Our party ordered one of their Flights– a taste sampler of four beers from their list. Our waitress, Amanda, recommended beers for our specific tastes, and she was pretty dead on! We ended up trying all four glasses and a relatively large amount was drank from each one. I wouldn’t know– I didn’t taste any– but I heard from other party members that they were amazing. You could really tell that they were brewed right there, and that the Forge was proud of it! Also, Amanda was really nice to both the adults and the children, and gave us several good recommendations. She didn’t have to check a list or anything for the changing Seasonal pizzas ingredients, which are based on what’s in season at the moment. When she heard about the Unilocal review that I was going to write, she joked about how I should mention that «she deserves double tips». And, having experienced great service from her, I would actually say that she does deserve double tips– and I’m not just saying that because she wanted me to!
The food, as I mentioned, wasn’t very diverse– the main course was pizza, with sides of flatbread, pretzels, or one or two other things. However, the amazingness of the pizza was great! It came quickly, and was piping hot, fresh from the fire oven that they showcase and you can see even from the door. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve had in a long time. The pizzas are each 13″ in diameter and have a variety of toppings ranging from just Four Cheese (with oregano, of course) to the Seasonal, which was loaded at this time of year with potatoes, greens, and other great things. We ordered one order of pretzels, a Seasonal pizza, and a Cheese pizza. I had the Cheese and the Pretzels– and the pretzels tasted AMAZING. They came with beer cheese and even without, they tasted great– like a homemade warm pretzel roll. Yum!
The cheese pizza was just delicious. It came piping hot and as we didn’t want to burn ourselves, we politely asked for a fork. They came back a minute later with two forks and a knife. Once the cheese pizza cooled down, it was spectacular! It tasted just right with the right ratio of doughy dough to stringy but not-​too-​stringy cheese to delicious fresh oregano. Overall, a GREAT dish. The Seasonal was one I didn’t try– I don’t personally like potatoes much– but I heard it was great.
The Forge deserves its name. I can only imagine how many people have slaved away at crafting and brewing the beer and cooking the pizza. It’s a great restaurant and I recommend that anyone come and try it. The service was fast, the staff was friendly, and the food and drink was delicious. The atmosphere was just right and just casual enough to be cool, but modern enough that it wasn’t too barn-​like. Great design, color palette, staff, food, beer– what’s not to like? Overall, I give this restaurant the five stars it deserves– for meeting all my criteria of a good– no, GREAT– restaurant. Good job, Forge. You’ve gained a recurring customer.

The pizza as many reviewers have said is absolutely amazing! It would get 5 stars on pizza alone. While I am happy with pizza, there could be a few more options for other people too. We really enjoy dining here. I am not a beer snob, but the beers need a bit of work. They all seem to have a funky after taste. Sycamore needs a place like this. I hope that the beer experiments continue and that the quality improves with time. With better beer, The Forge would be a great experience.

I honestly don’t understand why this place was so busy on a Friday night. This is the second time my husband and I have gone here, and although my better half was reluctant after the first visit, I suggested going another time to give them a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance right? Even though the first time, we got the sampler and didn’t find a *single* beer we liked. I chalked it up to them being new restaurateurs, and they would have it figured out after a few months.
Unfortunately I was wrong. My first sign was when we saw the beer menu. Three pale ales, 2 porters, and a stout. The only other option was something called a rye ale. I asked my server if this was the closest to a Pilsner and she said yes. It was honestly un-​drinkable. I asked for a replacement American pale ale, which was decent, but still not great. We decided not to eat dinner there. The pizza in the past has been pretty good, but there is no variety. I also noticed they have sliders, but not a beef one in sight. However, if you want turkey, vegetarian, or sausage, you’re set.
Overall, I would suggest this place concentrate on the basics – a good, drinkable Pilsner or wheat beer, and some fancied-​up beef sliders. We will not be giving them a third chance.

I happy that we have a unique food joint in town! Their pizza was delicious, I got the Special for the night which was a Spinach and Bacon Florentine. The beer was ok too, I had a Pumpkin Beer. There is NO kids menu nor do they have milk for kids, only water lemonade or root beer soda. We ordered my son (3 years old) a cheese pizza and it was the regular size about 14″.
The services also has a way to go, once we got our food (which came out all at different times) we didn’t see our waitress. She came near the end of the meal to see if we needed drinks, I had nothing to drink but my sons water for most of my meal. Then it took a long time for her to come back to see if we needed boxes and our check. The restaurant was full, we got there around 5:30 on a Friday. We will go again, maybe when it’s less busy thought and when they’ve had more time to work some things out.

We decided to try this place on the way home from a hike. Walking in you’re immediately impressed by the décor. It’s all done in natural wood from the doors, to the table to the bar. Apparently all hand made. A few TVs showing sports which I actually appreciate as some taprooms/​brewpubs snobbily try to make a «no sports on TV» policy. I find that foolish because you can do it without it being overbearing, which the Forge does well.
Now, onto the beer and food. Overall I think the place has potential, but the beer needs a little work. As others have noted there is a bit of a weird, almost grassy aftertaste and nose with a few beers that was frankly off-​putting. My wife and I couldn’t really even finish a sample of the Saison because it was near undrinkable.
We also tried the DuBelle (can’t remember the spelling), an IPA, and a pale ale. The Dubelle was ok. The APA did suffer a little bit from that aftertaste problem, but was otherwise tasty. The IPA was very good and probably something I’d come back for.
The food menu is limited but the Greek pizza we had was delicious. Fresh ingredients, perfectly done crust, and a good size to split between two people. The problem is that outside of the pizza and pretzels (which they were out of that day), they have nothing else. I really think they need to expand the menu a bit to make people want to return. Pizza’s great but having a cheese or meat plate, some salads, or other brewpub sharing staples would really help add some variety.
Our server was knowledgeable, friendly, and very attentive. Service is excellent.
Basically, I would have given three stars but I feel like they have a lot of potential and will wait to see if they tweak some things.

We went to The Forge on Friday September 4 (my birthday). I was excited to try the beer and the food.
We were greeted warmly and told we could sit anywhere.
We sat near the pizza oven so the kids could check it out.
Our server Amanda, was very detailed in explaining the beers choices and what pizza was available, always attentive and helpful throughout out visit.
We decided to get a flight of everything to make a decision on the drinks. Our son got the root beer which he enjoyed a couple times.
We also ordered the pretzels (which were amazing).
The boys got a half cheese half pepperoni and olive and my wife and I ordered the Special, which was white sauce with goat cheese caramelized onions and bacon.
Both extremely delicious and cooked perfectly.
I am usually a fork and knife pizza guy but this was fresh out of the oven and the crust was perfect!
The beer was all done well but a couple just were not my cup of tea.
We decided on the Du Belle, which from the first sip just a beautiful tasting beer.
I recommend The Forge for anyone looking for a relaxing place with good food and brewed beer.
One suggestion is to perhaps add a simple salad choice to the menu.
This place is 5 stars for me and you won’t be disappointed!

Great pizza! The beer, however, is best described as «kinda mossy» much like an aged scotch. Thats not a good characteristic for a beer, especially if you plan on having more than one pint. I went there twice in a week, ordered the great sausage mushroom pizza, and a flight of four beers each time. Coal Dust was the only beer I considered tolerable by my own «non beer-​snobbery» standards. I generally like all beers unless there’s a red flag. This 5 second delayed aftertaste was so funky I wasn’t able to contain myself. Cringing, laughing, etc. Perhaps The Forge jumped the gun and opened their doors before they perfected beer making. I am not alone in thinking this. I really love the idea of Sycamore having a brewery/​eatery, I just hope this product gets fixed before it’s too late.

We’re hoping this place works out, but for now there’s a little work to be done. The pizzas are good, you can tell they have an actual pizza oven. The problem comes in with the beer, which for some reason all has a burnt after taste to it. If we were basing solely on the beer, it would probably be to start We tried the flights, which gave us access to all the one of the beers, and everyone at the same burnt finish. It’s a little confusing when you get there, there’s no hours posted and the atmosphere is one of still needing to be finished. Will give it another try in a month or so, to see if they got the bugs worked out.

Great place that Sycamore needed.
Great beer and pizzas are awesome!
Back again and loving it d

This pizza is fantastic! We ordered 4 different pizzas because we couldn’t decide. Our party of 4 was all in agreement that the pizza was delicious. Seriously I could not stop myself from just one more slice. I was smiling with every bite and happy to have this place just minutes from home. I will be back and if the pizza stays consistent I will be back again and again and again.

They have been open a week and I have already been there twice. Took my wife and brother in law along for the 2^nd visit. The pizza is really solid. The crust has great texture and flavor. It is not overly greasy and it comes out hot and ready (and unlike little caeser’s its not because it has been sitting in a warmer for hours) in minutes. You can actually watch your pizza be made in the brick oven, its nice to eat at a place that has nothing to hide ! Oh and the beer… how could i forget the beer? I have had 4 of the beers that they brew and they were all pretty solid. I especially liked the porter. Overall, everything is very well priced and worth the visit.