Brehon Pub

Great pub in River North. I have tried most of the menu and I must say, their food is fantastic. You’d have no idea how delicious their food options are.
–Buffalo Mac & Cheese is a winner. It a ridiculously big portion.
–Southwest salad is really filling and sooo tasty

The food here is better than your average bar food. Service is uneven.

I love this place.
Walking past you wouldn’t know that this place has:
1. Amazing Staff — each person I interacted with was smiling and nice. Not something you can overlook at a dive-​ish bar in River North.
2. A great beer selection — options for days and some stand-​bys too.
3. Decent food — I ordered the mussels and they were awesome (more on that below).
4. TVs aplenty — Pick a corner, any corner, they have a TV set-​up for you to enjoy.
The main reason I will go back to Brehon, early and often, is that I ordered the mussels, which again, were very very good. When I got to the bottom I noticed that a number of them were not open… and hence not smart to eat. I was bordering on full anyway and threw in the towel. 2 minutes later a manager (or owner perhaps?) came over and noticed that there were a number of unopened shells and she ordered an entire new plate to be sent out to me. Completely unnecessary, completely out of the blue and completely respected and enjoyed. Class Act by this place. You’ve earned a customer for life.
Cant say enough about how positive I feel after this move. Great little pub (even without the mussel-​gate incident). Thank you!

This place is awesome! I had the buffalo chicken wrap which was the best buffalo wrap I’ve ever had. This place is amazing! The food is not bar food it is restaurant quality! The manager Ramiro is the nicest and really takes pride in the food, which I can really appreciate. Don’t come to Chicago without trying this place!

Food is awesome! Patio is fantastic! Although sometimes the service is slow, so if you are in a hurry for lunch its something to look out for.

One of the few bars in Chicago with Hefe Weiss on draft (Ebel in this case) AND they have the correct glassware for this beer! Golden.
One of the very few places to serve sloppy Joes and Behon’s is excellent.
If the fries were fresh-​cut, 5 stars.
The bartender was friendly, prompt and helpful.
Note to Staff: Order backup glasses. thx
edited review:
Deleted 4 stars. Went there today and they are no longer dog friendly outside. Bar tender made a really big deal about our docile dog outside on the patio. Won’t be back.

Service was slow and met only the minimum standards of cordial, professional service. I read other comments and have concluded my experience must have been a one-​off, but I’m still disappointed.

Rating here is pending me going to the pub…
Otherwise, all I’ve ever done with Brehon is order food for take-​away…
I’ve tried two food items here:
Fish n chips — it was a very good item here. Fish was fried up very nicely and almost delicately. Not quite as good as the Fish! restaurant I went to in London, but still respectable. Chips were similar to steak fries but decent. Tartar sauce was provided in very decent portions. Oh, and you can order FnC with 2 pieces or 3 pieces. Seems to be the only decent place for FnC in River North (please recommend another place if Brehon is not up to snuff).
Shepherd’s Pie — it was okay, though it had an odd smell as I opened the take-​away container. Lots of mashed potatoes which was okay, but the meat was not that great. Unless if I am feeling lucky, I won’t come back to this for a 2^nd chance.
I would of given this place a 3.5 instead of a 4, for the 0.5 penalty, its the Irish Nachos — what the heck is this abomination of a food item doing in a Irish pub? And the fish tacos? Thought this was an Irish pub…
I’ll be back to have a few pints, FnC, and a 2^nd chance on the shepherd’s pie — so this rating is pending change.

Best Mac and Cheese, hands down. I love the wait staff and the tater tots are fantastic. This is a corner gem in a trendy neighborhood. I felt like I was in an episode of Cheers. and yes, everyone knew my name;-)

Good food, good service, okay beer. It’s not loud like some bars, and there’s outdoor seating when the weather is nice. Good bar for meeting friends after work or grabbing a bite on a night out.

Wow. Really rude. We called in a corporate lunch order and the lady was making fun of me on the phone. The lady yelled at me again when I asked for a sandwich that comes in a wrap to be placed on wheat bread instead. She seemed like someone who was old enough to know to be polite (not like youth is a free pass to be an ass, but still). I was totally patient with her and didn’t reply to her negative comments. It’s a little sad that no one is managing the staff courtesy level here. The Shepard pie was burned but the rest of the food was about what you’d expect.

I really hate giving this place a bad review… because they are nice and have a really good lunch special. I went in today and after about 40 minutes left because I didn’t receive my food… I was told at one point… that there was a table of 16 people that just came in before I did. and that my food would be right out… and then another 15 minutes passed and I simply had to leave… Problem is… That table of 16 are probably tourists that have all day to eat lunch and I have one hour… Couldn’t they just get the one buffalo chicken sandwich served to me .? Guess not…

We stopped in for lunch on a gorgeous July Saturday afternoon and were able to get an outdoor table without waiting. Star!
The bruschetta appetizer was delicious. Star!
Lunch/​SW Chopped salad w spicy black bean burger and grilled chicken (chicken is extra) — great. Star!
Our waitress, Summer was nice and attentive. Star!

A little neighborhood bar in River North if there is truly such a thing. Definitely a refreshing change from the hair gel, cuff links and boat shoes of other river north establishments. The food is pretty solid and the outdoor patio area is nice. One of the few places you can go on a saturday afternoon and sit outdoors without having to wait or deal with insufferable people. Drinks are pretty cheap. the only reason I’m not giving it four stars is because they were severely understaffed and the waitress wasn’t good about checking in about more drinks. Gotta keep my cup full.

As soon as I walked in there was a sign at the door that read. Patrons must leave in an orderly fashion, bla, bla, bla. So this is a fun place when everybody gets trashed! There are two sides. The bar and the pool table side with tables. We had about 15 people and took the PT side. Only problem with that is the waitress wasn’t used to going to that side of the building and we had to keep flagging her down. Bring your own fun as this place gets quite stale! The food that I did not sample was enjoyed by all.

Just up the street from the office, our group decided to give Brehon Pub a try. The burgers are pretty good, but the check splitting policy (no more than 3 checks) is absurd, so as a group I won’t suggest going here again.
In terms of the food, I got a hamburger with eggs and bacon. Once again I don’t think it’s possible to find a bad burger in River North; the patty was cooked perfectly medium, and the eggs were deliciously runny while the bacon was also wonderfully crisp.
I ordered tater tots instead of fries, which were cooked a bit on the long side, but they weren’t bad either; just more crunchy than usual. And they go really well with the burger.
Then problems came at the end of the meal, when the 8 of us typically throw our cards in and split the check 8-​ways. If literally every other restaurant in River North that I’ve been to can handle this and Brehon can’t, that’s a dealbreaker for coming with a group. Eventually the bill was settled when everyone who had Chase agreed to QuickPay… accidentally paying the tip twice because we didn’t realize tip was included.
So overall it’s another good burger in River North. Just take it to go.

I’ve been coming to Brehon for five years now and cannot believe I’ve been remiss to write a review. There’s a lot of great things about this place and a few bad ones…
I come here fairly regularly with co-​workers and friends for happy hour because it is a very chill atmosphere compared with other River North spots and you can usually find a place to sit.
One of my favorite things about Brehon is their food. All of their appetizers are great for sharing and are delicious. Favorites are the bruschetta, Irish nachos, and cheese curds. If I’m going to go for a meal I always go with their chicken fingers. They have four great sauces to choose from and they never disappoint.
The only downside for me at Brehon is the service. I was here recently and there were very few other people in the bar but it was extremely difficult to get a drink. We consistently had to track down our waitress and ask her for a drink. It was pretty frustrating, especially since she did not have many other parties to wait on. I would’ve been more than happy to go to the bar and order my drinks had they had that kind of set up.
Nevertheless I really like Brehon and I plan to keep coming back, if I encounter better service on my next few visits I’ll definitely amend this review.

bravo!
a pub that isn’t douchy or dirty.
ate here tonight with my boyfriend and we enjoyed our experience. service was good and the food was fresh!
we will be back :)

Great service, generous pours, and reasonable prices make this classic Irish pub a River North standout. It’s perfectly positioned between the bustle of River North proper and Old Town; rowdy sorts usually stay away from this one, and that’s fine with me.

A chill neighborhood bar in an area that doesn’t have many. Brehon is one of the only fake Irish places you can go to in River North you won’t want to punch at least a few people in the face. (ahem Barleycorn cough Ocallahan’s) You’re also more than likely going to have a place to sit down so there’s that too.
The staff is super friendly, the drinks are cheap, and there’s plenty of entertainment to play on. (Golden Tee, Pool, Darts, Digital Jukeboxes) Food is quite tasty with an Irish/​American influence, but if you’re just drinking and munching make sure to try the Irish nachos. They’re a must.
Overall a solid spot that I plan to keep poppin’ into.