Latest reviews from Lake Barrington

“The food is better than the beer, and the beers are better than the Macros, but they’re not Three Floyds. (Who Is?) BUT!!!! They have a beer called "Drago", so its worth the visit. Drago Is phenominal.“

mfhennig 3288 days ago

“Fun spot. Great food - I had fish and chips. 5 oz pours for $1.25, great deal. 8 or so beers on tap, and another handful in bottles/cans. Very nice atmosphere. Beers aren’t very good except Drago.“

BVery 3484 days ago

“Visited October 2010

Didnt eat or even really interact much with the service but it was a nice place to hang out. There was a guy playing an accoustic guitar on the stage and the lighting was turned down a bit. Makes ticking harder but it also makes for a nice atmosphere.

They had quite a few beers on tap and one or two pretty good ones (the hoppy ones). Unfortunately we missed the mango IPA.

Prices were pretty reasonable and the lady at the bar was more than happy to explain each beer as she put down the sample. Would return.“

t0rin0 4170 days ago

“Very nice ambiance, outstanding food. My wife and friends really enjoyed it. Staff was willing to split a meal between two of us. The Hop Slayer Double IPA was very good. Thought the Jack Stout was a little "unflavorful." Drago was more flavorful, but a bit bitter. Service was great.“

MPalecek 4395 days ago

“Decent selection of their own beers and a few bottles. Good service and food.“

jeremytoni 4435 days ago

“Solid place. Nicely decorated and with a large patio out back. Good service and solid food. Selection is nothing amazing but representative of their beers and also have guest taps. Would definitely return.“

kseecs16 4486 days ago

“Not the easiest place to happen upon, but worth treking off the beaten path to check out. Staff was friendly and prompt, food was above average for a bar, drink selection of in house was very good, other craft was a bit lacking.“

JoePeesie 4632 days ago

“It is a bit of a drive to the middle of nowhere to find this place. Once you get there you find a nice looking building and a huge parking lot in between a bunch of industrial type businesses. As usual I chose to sit at the bar. It was a Saturday afternoon and there was hardly anyone in the place. This is not completely unusual as many people are not day drinkers like me, but the better places always have at least a small crowd. We came for the beer, so we asked for a sample of everything they had a tap. (They charge $1.25 per sample.) I only found two of their beers to be decent: Paddy Pale Ale, King Paddy Imperial IPA In addition to the Onion brews, they also offer a selection of interesting bottled beer such as Chimay and Dogfish Head. And for those that find the Louie Light to be too flavorful, they also have Bud Light and MGD 64. It is a shame that the beer is a bit underwhelming because the atmosphere in this place is nice. There is lots of wood. The bar chairs are comfy with backs. The bar itself is beautiful with a copper surface. There was a nice mix of music playing at a reasonable volume. There were a couple of TV’s as usual, but not whole walls covered in them. We ordered food too. The lamb stew was tasty, with tender meat and a rich stout sauce. The Ratatouille lasagna was a fun mix of ingredients. It was filling and delicious. They definitely seem to be better at making food, than they are at brewing beer. The bartender, Mike, took good care of us. It may have been because there was practically no one else in the place. He seemed to have a true appreciation for beer. As an employee, he did a good job of backing the beer, but I have a feeling that he knows there is better out there. I wanted to like this place, but overall I am not sure if I would return to the Onion. It is a beautiful bar and the food that I tried was tasty. They offer a variety of beer styles, but they just are not very good compared to other Chicagoland offerings.“

don_zouras 5131 days ago

“Really dont understand the high ratings for this place as I was less than impressed. On the plus side I liked the praire restoration landscaping around this place but would expect nothing less for being in Lake Barrington. While the Mediterranean veggie wrap was good it came with a red pepper aioli that was a complete waste of the plate (except it filled in space on the menu) it was overpowered by the feta and olives. The fries were very good but the pickle was old and limp. Ok you are a BREWPUB and you have guest beers? An not even very good guest beers Miller Lite, Blue Moon, Hoegarden, Hacker Pschor, LIndemans. Except for the Aventius and 90 Minute of the 14 beers on tap including the 5 house beers 11 were average to below average. They had a limited selection of bottles but seemed to be a quality selection. The prices also seemed good until you notice they were all 12oz bottles. Of the 3 house beers I tried I found the Paddy Pale ale undrinkable, the Amber tolerable, and the Golden drinkable. I sat at the bar and the bartender was good but the server who brought out my meal basically threw it at me without saying a word, and I do mean threw as it seemed like a frisbee toss to me. To summerize I really see no reason why they brew their own beers. When your specials are Miller Lite and a house wine that is what your customers are going to drink. Seemed like a cross between Brass and Flatlanders. There is no reason to go out of your way to visit this place.“

redlem 5812 days ago

“Fantastic selection of guest beers...house bers all super solid....bar staff is knowledgable about the beers too...theirs and guest beers...“

Walt 5859 days ago

“The Beer is great not sure what these other people are talking about. They had Paddy Pale Ale, Jack Stout, Amber Ale, and Golden Lager. All made right there In there Brand New Brewery. I was told The original brewmaster is back in control and the Beer is the best they have had since they opened. Congradulations to Owner/ Brewmaster“

beerforall44 5934 days ago

“**NOTE** This rating is pre-downsizing of the brewing ops. The restaurant is a beautiful, rather expensive looking building with lots of old wooden beams and fancy furnishings and, as mentioned, a ski-lodge type feel to it. There were several beers on tap, with a nice range presented for enjoyment. I found the food very good, but I just had an appetizer. It sounds like you’ll want to give them a call before heading out there to see what’s up with the brewing ops.“

Ughsmash 5977 days ago

“Visited in December 2007. THEY HAD NO HOUSE BEERS AVAILABLE! The bartender said something about them changing owners and re-doing their brewing operations. Not sure what that meant, but I was pissed we drove all the way out here for only a decent selection of bottled beers. Had dinner which was good, but the next day both the wife and I were layed up with what we think was food poisoning. Not saying it was the food from this place, but the timing was suspicious.“

JMerritt 5980 days ago

“I’ve been here a few times over the years, and it was a little disappointing this time. Apparently the scale back is underway, and they didn’t have their Jack Stout (my wife is a big stout fan). I wonder which stout they were using to make some of their dishes with. Anyway, the beer we did have was good, but the food was generally dry (drunken chicken and the garlic mashed potatoes). Probably won’t be going back for a while.“

drywallman 6103 days ago

“Consider this a warning, as I know the Onion is a long haul for a lot of people to drive out to... The Onion Pub has apparently decided to substantially downsize their brewing operations. I was told on a recent visit to expect only 4 non-rotating house beers in the near future, one of which is the Light (why bother?!?). Pretty sad (and inexplicable), as their seasonals were really where they shined (Pumpkin, Bevo Brown, Winter Warmer, etc). Not only that, but the guest taps they had introduced at the time consisted of things like Hacker Pschorr and Blue Moon--why would someone go to a "brewery" to try things readily available at the local TGIFs?“

cgs027 6141 days ago

“Cool place. I went after lunch crowd, very quiet. Pumpkin ale outstanding. Potato cheese soup very good. Great selection of taps.“

RIS101 6414 days ago

“(04.25.06) My family and I visited the brewpub on a Tuesday, late afternoon, for lunch. With the lunch crowd gone, we practically had the place to ourselves. Mostly wood, stone, and lots of natural light, the brewpub had a comfortable country farmhouse feel to it. There was much active construction behind the brewpub, where a huge new extension was being built right up to the pond. The menu was very good and we enjoyed the crab cakes, and BBQ ribs. The extensive beer offerings on tap were great. We sampled the following beers on tap: Firefly light, Helles in a Bucket, Sand Hill Pilsner, Equinox Marzen amber, Hefeweiss, Brown Robe Dubbel, Batch 100 Tripel, Jack Stout, Patty Pale ale, Trippel amber ale, and Bourbon aged winter warmer. I particularly enjoyed the Brown Robe Dubbel and Jack Stout and took a growler of the Stout home. The food, beer, and service was excellent. Moreover, after I had complemented the waitress about the beers, Brewmaster Steve Mazylewski appeared at our table to talk about the beer and his future offerings. Wow! Onion is a great place for food and beer. It is also child-friendly and had kiddie coloring stuff. I am looking forward to my next visit to Onion.“

beervana 6486 days ago

“Having visted both Three Floyds and The Onion within 24 hours of one another, I’d disagree - the location of The Onion is a bit nicer. The food was excellent. I strongly recommend the crab cakes. Our dinners (ribs and a bacon, shrimp and avacado wrap) were top notch. We tried only in-house beers. The Helles was a very good example of the style. Their stout was on nitro and quite good. The Paddy Pale was a classic American pale ale, made with cascade hops. As of today, the bar stocked a Belgian style double and triple. The triple was better balanced, though at 11%abv it was pretty stiff. The effort is admirable, but both could be improved. All around, a nice place for some solid food and well-made beers.“

Warmonger 6678 days ago

“Rumor has it that this place is owned by a local that won the lottery. That would explain its beautiful interior, lush wood everywhere, a lot like a ski lodge. Bar area is kind of small. Of course, its location is equivalently as shitty as the Three Floyds brewpub hidden in an industrial park. Turn off route 14 at the Saturn dealer. Having 10 of there own beers covering a wide variety of styles is pretty awesome. They range from mediocre to pretty great. Paddy Pale ale is the best. They also carry 5 Lindeman’s lambics for some reason in bottles for $10. Food is above average and menu is very wide but too eclectic. Worth a visit if you’re in Barrington.“

Zeswaft 6697 days ago

“Visited in December 2005. Get good directions...this place is practically invisible in the midst of just-about-to-be-developed wealthy suburbia. Odd crowd at lunch...mostly much older, mostly not drinking either. Shame because the beer was very very good, once you get past the obligatory lighter stuff...these guys don’t have a handle on lagers yet as far as I can tell. The Paddy’s Pale and the Hefe were absolutely great, the food (a simple chicken-bacon-blue cheese sandwich) was excellent if typical upscale pub fare, the service nice and the setting quite pleasant with some cool Belgian beer memorabilia. Probably the best suburban Chicago brewpub I’ve visited yet.“

muzzlehatch 6720 days ago

“I thought we came home when we found this place. Off the beaten Interstate path works for the locale, but it’s worth the drive. Excellent beer with a wide variety on tap at a given time. The pub struck me as an English-Southwest American hybrid. Very friendly staff, happy to chat up a storm. Only had an appetizer, but it was great.“

badgerben 6778 days ago

“Everyone’s using the phrase "off the beaten path" (it was in my notes as well). The beaten path, of course, being Interstate 90. If you throw a rock from your car whilst driving down 90, the rock will hit Brass, then ricochet across Barrington Road and hit Millrose. Onion takes a little more work. The upside is that you get a bit of scenery along the way, from nicely forrested areas to viewing million-dollar+ homes.

The place you end up is in an Industrial Park area similar to that of Three Floyds... except that here you can tell you’ve found a pub. Impressive doors, beamed ceilings and alot of "new"-ness... right down to a "new-wood-smell". However, the intricacies of the detailing seemed overdone to the point of seeming movie-set fake. The glasses were so clean that they left a lingering odor of bleach. Even the bar patrons and staff seemed overly happy... yet wooden & false, like extras on a set. The whole experience was surreal. Thank god the beers were good... I even took home a growler of hefe, a style that I am usually not that fond of.“

frankenkitty 6832 days ago

“Got the sampler, at 5oz apiece you get a good amount to taste. Very nice staff, they were fun to hang out with. I didn’t get any food.“

DavidP 6847 days ago

“Yeah, it is kinda out there and the place is nice and clean. No smoking and they keep 10 beers of theirs on tap and a good selection of others. You can buy samples for a buck each. Thats pretty cool. Some of thier beers were interesting. The food though was really nothing to get excited about. Id say that it was below average and slightly overpriced. We had the fish and chips and thois chicken sandwitch that had apples, blue cheese and such on a pretzel roll. Eh, it sounded much better than it really was. If you have no where else to go give this place a shot.“

SubstanceT 6860 days ago

“Ten beers for ten bucks? Sign me up. Nice, renoved atmosphere, a little hard to locate, but "off the beaten path." Hadn’t realized how eco-friendly the place is supposed to be, the atmosphere is more high-class Old Western Saloon. I dig the copper bar top. Had a beef sammich, not bad. Would like to try more of the food.“

Arnie 6879 days ago

“No smoking here. The place is pretty far removed from a shopping area or even a busy street, but after finding it, it’s a lot like a log cabin; a little rustic feeling. We got the sampler which was ten beers for ten dollars, not too bad. Service was good for a tuesday afternoon. Would be back if it weren’t so far away from where we live.“

gws57 6886 days ago

“Beautiful building somewhat off the beaten path. Very nice aesthetically and the service was some of the nicest group of people a restaurant could have on staff. Got the sampler which included all 10 taps of their beer, and I was overall very pleased with their line up. We each got a cup of their house lobster bisque cream soup and it was really tasty. We split the pub chicken sandwich, which was absolutely divine, especially with its pretzel roll bun. We’ll definitely return here.“

StewardofGondor 6887 days ago

“I was surprized to find this to be a nice restaurant, one that my girlfriend enjoyed, too. Of course I was there for the beer. They keep ten fairly decent brews of their own on tap. Of the thirty bottles, only about five were p-waters, the rest okay - Chimay, Lindeman, Sierra Nevada, Pilsner Urquell... The pub itself is nicely laid out in a rustic way, having a fox and hound motif. It’s pretty much out of the way for me, but I’ll probably drop in from time to time.“

Cornfield 6902 days ago