The Lucky Monk

 

 

 

This is more of a restaurant focused brewpub with lots of families and screaming children.

The brews are sub-par.

The service is quite good.

The selection is minimal.

The food is fantastic though.

The words, "nothing special" come to mind if asked to describe this place.

Overall, the Lucky Monk in terms of a brew pub that focuses on the whole experience is a solid night out in the northwest suburbs. Cool vibe, love the barrels in the wall and the dim lighting, has a classier vibe to it that fits the location.

The beers themselves were just average, I found bitterness to be a common flavor in them all that was somewhat overwhelming, admittedly I have yet to have the amber, and likely won't as it is not a style I enjoy. I typically find myself ordering one of the guest tap beers when coming here, and they have a fairly solid selection of them.

The food on the other hand, I've yet to have a bad item on the menu, constantly meets my expectations. Service is typically quick and the pricing really reasonable.

Every time I come here the experience is consistent, and I know what to expect which I don't hate.

 

 

 

 

Nice facility. Good serive. Above average casual American cuisine. Middle of the road craft beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last time I was there, they were putting all their beers in this little mason jar glass.
They used to have tall glasses for the tritica, but now put all beers in the same glass.
Does anyone else have a problem with this? Now, I have not been there since they made this glass change, if they went back to REAL glasses, I would like to know.

If you enter this place and judge the book by its cover you will be incredibly disappointed once you read the pages. Very nice atmosphere with barrels embedded in the walls (complete with names like lambic, kriek, Belgian Abbey ale, Doppelbock, etc). Well laid out tables in the dining area and high tables in the bar area. But despite the decor the house beers were awful, every last one that I tried.

It strikes me as basically a restaurant trying to capitalize on the popularity of craft beer without making the effort to create compelling beers themselves. The IPA was bitter without any flavor, tasting as if it was aged for 5 years prior to serving. The pilsner was similary bitter without redeeming flavors. It's difficult to make beers this bad without realizing it, and thus I believe that they truly don't care. They do carry guest bottles (although all the taps are house beers), so Lagunitas IPA to the rescue.

The food was quite good, no complaints as a restaurant. But the reason I find brewpubs is for good beer/food pairings, and except for the guest bottles there was nothing to find here.

The atmosphere is clean and a little more upscale than just a pub or restaurant. Darker colors, wood, and modern furniture. The lighting is ample but nothing too bright or too dark. It's a nicer atmosphere that you can wear something casual and not feel underdressed but can dress up a bit and not be overdressed.

The beer menu mainly focuses around their house brand, which is very good and has a wide selection of styles. I'm a fan of their oatmeal stout. They even have limited seasonals and other specialty brews as well. Their bottle list has actually gotten smaller over the course of time, but it is constantly being updated and switched out.

The food is really good. So far every time I've been there I've gotten something different and have been very pleased with the quality of the cuisine.

It's not really expensive and definitely not any more than another pub or restaurant in the area. I think it's quite reasonable for what you are getting.

alright place. I got a sampler of brews and nothing was spectacular. The food on the other hand...I had the 'hot head' burger and split some pizza with the table. the pizza was great the burger was phenomenal...I couldn't even put it down. Wish it was a bit larger though. There are upgrades for the fries, but they weren't worth the $$$.

They have rotating taps for random beers they make. I had the barrel aged oatmeal stout. It was nothing special. The beers in general were lacking a ton of pop and flavor. I was originally going to buy bottles to go, but passes as nothing was tremendous. A good place to go for food and try the new 'beer of the week' they concocted...but I wouldn't make the trip just for beer.

Nice fire pit outside and the place itself looked new and clean. Plenty of seating and a great place to go for a nice weekend dinner. Would go back...just not only for beer.

A big surprise when I found out there was a "Belgian brewpub" in suburban Chicago. I specialize in brewing Belgian styles and have enjoyed a beer tour of the country seeking to return sometime soon.

A tremendous amount of work and money went into this facility. It looks even better than what is shown on the website (which is a rarity these days). I sat at the large wooden bar in the shadow of the spiritual Belgian brewing tanks and multitude of large flatscreen TV's. By the time my first beer arrived, 9:30, the 30-something couple next to me was making out and trying to figure out how they could avoid detection of her teenage daughter (no impact on rating).

House beers were: weiss, Belgian amber, pilsner, Vienna-style lager, American IPA, and an oatmeal stout. The monks that I know would take exception to the fact that one out of six beers at a Belgian-themed brewery was actually a Belgian beer. The guest taps were New Belgium might arrow (American pale ale), two varieties of Sam Adams, and Blue Moon (marketed as a Belgian white). I won't insult the Monks by asking about this guest tap list - at least they didn't try to pass Stella on us. The good news for fans of Belgians is I did see what looked like Wetmalle and/or Rochefort bottles being stocked in the fridge. This place needs more Monks like those.

I had what they called a thin pint of the Belgian amber which was still a generous sized pour. I followed that with a generous free sample taste of the IPA. They both tasted pretty much the same - cloyingly sweet with no distinct Belgian yeast flavor from the amber and nothing hoppy from the American IPA.

I went with a Greek salad which was based on spinach and other than forgetting the onions, it was good.

This was stop #210 on my quest to visit as many quality breweries as possible. If they invested as much effort into the beer as they did the facility, this could be something special.

Stopped in here with BeerFMAndy and our ladies recently and gave it a whirl.

The decor seems to be upscale restaurant/sports bar. Which suits me just fine. Dark wood and rich upholstery cover the place. Along with a large number of flat screens. Low lighting to give it that almost romantic feel. We were seated in a large booth and persused the menus. Andy and I actually walked up to the bar to check out the chalk board to see what seasonals were being offered. Unfortunately it was rather sparse. We sat back down and were informed they wereout of all seasonals except the porter. I love porters so this wasn't all bad.

The beers were served at proper temp in nice oversized pints. The food was fantastic. The pretzel trio was EHHPIC! The pizza was very tasty as well.

About the only complaint I would have is the price. A bit steep for my taste but it is IL. I would go back for dinner for sure.

Ventured here with VDubb86 and a few other friends for something to do. Seated behind the bar near the fermenter-filled window. The place is a nice, dark-ish brewpub kinda atmosphere, not too loud but not all that noisy, really, either. Tried all of the brews on-tap (the in-house brews, anyway), with only one of them (the porter) sticking out; the rest were decent but nothing special. A bunch o' flat screens allowed for the viewing of sports. The service is pretty good, though I did not note the knowledgeability (if any was to be found, o' course), as no questions were really asked. Overall, it's a nice place to grab some drinks, and I hear the food is pretty good too (though I did not partake this particular evening). Though the beers ain't the best in the area, they're also not bad, and everything goes down quick and easy.

After seeing a Hindi movie at the South Barrington 30, we stopped by the next-door bar for dinner and beers. A fire was going in the outdoor back area, which was inviting. They tried to seat us in the bar right in front of a TV, but gave us a booth in the dining area when requested.

I got a portabella mushroom sandwich and my wife got a pizza. Both were good but the pizza wasn't spectacular. I got the beer sampler which, it turned out, did not include the porter, but my server happily got me a sample of it, which was nice of him. The beers are well-made if a bit pedestrian for this extreme beer lover and homebrewer. The porter is the best of the bunch in my opinion.

Having spent time at plenty of mediocre suburban brewpubs, I have pretty low expectations for them. I'd describe the Lucky Monk as a very good restaurant with good beer to which I would be happy to return in the future. The value is in between 'reasonable' and 'a bit pricey'. It's more than we usually spend, but the food is tasty.

The feel of the lucky monk is of a higher end classy place. The prices are much more reasonable than I expected. It was my intent to get the sampler platter to taste all of the beers to find my favorite selection at the place. Overall, I wasn't really impressed with the beer choices that I had before me but I settled on the Amber which was still a solid brew. From what I understand the winter seasonals are the better of the brews. I'll have to come back and find out.

The service at the place was excellent our waiter was incredibly knowledgeable with all of the foods on the menu as well as all of the beers available on tap and in bottle.

One thing that I would be hard pressed to complain about was the portions. You get quite a large meal for the price you pay. There wasn't a giant menu of options to choose from, but it really didn't seem to phase anyone in my party. All of the food ingredients seemed to be put together in unique combinations to make up the menu items, they did not disappoint. One of the better meals I've had at a brew pub.

Overall, this place comes highly recommended. The beer isn't the greatest, but it's good enough. And the food and service are enough to keep you coming back for more.