Bridget McNeill’s

I guess I love this place because I live so close, but they made us feel like regulars on our very first visit. Great bar food, lovely staff, good atmosphere, and an excellent weekend brunch! Go for the mimosas on Sundays.
Also, the trivia on Wednesdays is one of the best run trivia locales in the entire city.

Eh, bar food. Nothing more. Could be great as they are the ONLY restaurant within 3 blocks… but alas, they are a bar, with bar food.

My boyfriend loves this place! Me not so much, I mean they have decent bar food and they have typical bar drinks. The biggest plus here is my boyfriend and his roomate are regulars here so, they are very nice to us.
I’m not a big drinker, so I wish the bartender knew more girly drinks because I’m not familiar with any drinks at all. Everytime I come with my boyfriend he gives me the same cranberry and vodka (at least I think it is vodka he mixes).
When it comes to food the only thing I really love here is the pretzel and cheese and wings as well. I mean I’ve had better wings but for a bar food it is good.
Lastly, it gets really busy and a lot of people at the var are regulars so that’s really nice. Although, I’ve heard stories where wasted homeless people comes in and makes a scene. The good thing is the bartender has a lot of BALLS and will not put up with any type of desruptive people.

The place, every time I’ve gone, has been a chill atmosphere, good for actually holding a conversation with someone. The food I’ve gotten here has all been good. It doesn’t blow me away good, but solidly good American food. I got the Pasta Diablo this last time and it was creamy and rich and delicious. It was spicier than I expected, but in a good way. The leftovers were even spicier the next day!

i love this place. food is so good. but i cant believe the latest experience. i want to believe it is wrong but it’s too bizarre to be untrue. i ordered food via postmates and the delivery driver called to tell me that you all were being discriminatory towards him and incredibly mean to the point the driver had had too much and just could not bare to deal with you guys any longer. so, he called to tell me he couldnt deliver the food and his night was ruined. still strange for postmates but something seriously must have gone wrong for him to make such a rash decision that will ultimately impact whether he has a job now or not. i would hope that you guys can make things right with postmates and the driver because i would not want to be a patron of a place that could be so discriminatory to make someone basically quit their job and refuse to deliver something i paid for!

This place is right around the corner from my house so it already gets an immediate two stars for that option.
We started coming here this past winter when we were beginning to be adventurous in our neighborhood. The beer is always good and the bartenders are always friendly and welcoming. A true neighborhood bar. Plus the trivia is always fun on Wednesdays!
The food has always been great. My favorites are the Chili Cheese Fries, Wings, and Dante’s Inferno Burger. Solid Choices. The sriracha mac and Cheese is so-​so.
However, on my last visit this past Sunday everything food wise I ordered was wrong and the food tasted a bit weirder. For instance the Inferno Burger had nothing that made it the inferno burger… in fact it had Swiss cheese instead of cheddar and then none of the special toppings that the burger usually includes. The mashed potatoes I received with the burger were not the normal ones I’ve gotten there before, no flavor and so bland. I compare them to powdered mashed potatoes at an elementary school cafeteria. I didn’t even want to finish them.
All that being said, I think the cook was new and needs some training from the other staff members. The food is usually really great and this place is a gem in the neighborhood. We won’t let this deter us from coming back and ordering but if something is indeed off with the food again we may change that tune.

Where are all the 5 star reviews? Their salads are top notch, service is excellent, board games that my kids adore, and reasonably priced. For my daughter’s birthday, they brought out the brownie bites. OMG — insanely fabulous. This spot will be added to our regular rotation.

Amazing food for a small local pub. Great service. Weekly specials are available. Pub Trivia on Wednesdays. Tasty desserts too. We also like the fireside table, specially on a cold winter night.

I live near Bridget’s, so for me, it’s the perfect place to grab a quick dinner or hang out with friends and watch the game. The prices are good, the portions are large, and the food never disappoints. Their burgers are excellent, and you also can’t go wrong with mac and cheese or buffalo chicken dip. If you want a place where you can actually sit down and get waited on while watching a Hawks playoff game, this is the place to be. It’s not gourmet or hip or trendy, but friendly people and awesome bar food make Bridget’s more than worth the trip.

I love this place, both for having a drink and meal. Beers are tasty and not too expensive. They have a decent choice of hamburgers, which are pretty much all worth trying. The fries are delicious as well, I loved these! I recommend this place if you want to have a friendly diner in a nice atmosphere.

I really want to like this place but after I leave I seem to walk out thinking «Why the hell did I come here again?»
Pros
— location
— food portions won’t leave you hungry
— crowd doesn’t seem to have any of the douchbaggery that some of the other bars in the area have.
— the spinach is really good for a side
Cons
— Prices (high as hell for food)
— appetizer portions (for example 7 pretzel bites which might be 1 ¼ inch in diameter at best for $ 6.50? This is bread people!)
— Despite the Cubs and Sox signs outside, DO NOT MISTAKE THIS for a SPORTS BAR! I stopped in seeing the TVs and a mellow looking small number of people in here thinking this would be a good place to watch a Blackhawks playoff game. They had ESPN on. I asked the bartender if they were gonna have the game on and he said «oh yeah» and promptly changed the channel.
The anthem was starting. He changed it back to ESPN and said «it’s the anthem, I’ll change it back when the game starts.» I bite my tongue and tell myself, as Duran Duran is playing in the background on the jukebox, that murder is illegal. Keep in mind that this whole time there is bad 80s music playing as what looks like a DJ is setting up for probably 20 minutes prior. He changes it back to the game 3 min in and says he’s sorry he got busy even though he was just talking to a regular. I was happy at least the game is on… A minute goes by… Music is still on when the DJ begins a sound check.
I have to admit I’ve never seen a DJ for a playoff hockey game and thought it was more than strange. His sound check ends and its probably 7 min into the first period, the damn music goes on as the DJ starts to hand out pieces of paper asking people if they wanted play trivia. I saw 5 people take forms, Only 5!!! Two of whom, by the end of the game appeared to just answer a few questions out loud and weren’t invested but watching the game. While the Hawks began to rally in the second the bartender finally yelled to the DJ to cut the music between the trivia questions. REJOICE! But once again I got my hopes up only to be let down yet again. The Hawks tie the game up after being down 3 – 0 and as just about everyone in there was staring at a TV trying to see the replay. This idiot, stupid trivia Mother f’kr apparently loves the sound of his own voice so much that he talks right through a game tying score and the replay after ward. Some on else blurts out «will you shut the hell up?» Just loud enough where the people in the general vicinity and the DJ can hear. He does not shut the hell up and continues to talk and turns the music back on for the intermission… The music continues to play for almost half of the third period.
My apologies for the long review but I needed to blow off some steam and I felt compelled to warn others. I attempted to watch one more game there. No jukebox, no DJ setting up all looks good. Again, channel change during the anthem and the game goes on 4 min into the 1^st period when some ass**** and his half hipster, half yuppie girlfriend sit down right next to me and ask the bartender to change two of the three TVs to the Cubs game (they asked for two because they had two different views as they had the two seats at the corner to the bar). The bartender did it.
I walked back down to Broadway and stepped into Brendan’s, a f***ing Boston bar. It’s a dive, small, only two TVs, both of which were playing the Hawks WITH volume. Drinks were cheaper by a ton. I’ll stop in to Mc’Neills if I wanna have a convo with a girl or a friend if I wanna simply that. Otherwise, not really worth it unless you live within 100 yards.

Where do I begin?
To start, you enter the restaurant by entering the apartment building first, then get tucked through a narrow, awkward passageway to enter the restaurant with no clear signage, with an awkward bar (or pizza hearth?).
We stumbled our way to a high top, which was shaky, but loked more appealing than the plastic card-​table four tops peppering the floor with no clear layout or sense in their placement. There is a lovely fireplace in the far end, but one large table is plopped in front of it, making it impossible to enjoy for everybody else.
There is a giant chalkboard that you can’t read, a menu with fold-​over pages that make no sense, and no real sense of direction for the bar. The bar seems to be an Irish Pub, but makes pizzas and cheap american bar food? The bar seems to highlight its beer selection, but the drink special was a $ 5 martini that tasted like my teenage brother made it to impress a date he snuck into our parents basement after Homecoming.
The food was terrible, by the way. I got a burger, it was overcooked and the cheese was put on too early, making it too melted and impossible to pull the bread to add condiments. I ended up dipping it in the ketchup, because this bar wants me to look poor and disgusting.
The sweet potato tots were bland (HOW??), the fried pickles were over breaded and under brined (HOW??), and the Chicken and Chips was boring and bland.
The only thing that gives this place a 2 stars is Jacqueline, our lvoely server. While she needed to be more attentive (there was like 6 people in the bar, and we could barely find her sometimes), she was a genuine pleasure.
Too bad the rest of the experience wasn’t.

Bridget’s is one of my local favs but the vicinity doesn’t impact my review. Their new owner has gone to great lengths to ensure above average food and considering their competition is at minimum, four blocks away, Im glad they make the effort to be more than a dive bar at belmont and lake shore. Things to try: fish and chips. Hands down a menu winner. As good as Joe’s stone crab which is one of the best of I’ve had. Also. Similarly, chicken and chips. Others, the belmont club Sammy, almost anything on their brunch menu and shockingly, they make a decent pizza. Ignore their weird cement floor and odd décor. It’s a great local spot.

I want to love Bridget McNeill’s I really do.
But alas like meeting a terrific guy or girl in a bar at 1:45 am, my high hopes turn into mild disappointment.
A neighborhood bar with traditional bar food, reasonable prices, solid beer selection, a within walking distance. Oh what a tease you are Bridget.
The food is okay. Nothing great, just a little lacking. A bit more season here, a little more attention to assembly there and it could be really good. Service is friendly, really well-​meaning, just a little too «casual.» If they were a little less relaxed and a little more focused, it would better.
Prices are fair, some of the daily specials a pretty good deals.
One odd phenomenon, almost every time I have been there (going on a dozen visits) some guest is so odd and/​or obnoxious it is distracting to the rest of the clientele.

First of all, having Allagash White pretty much solidifies a small space in my heart.
Bridget’s was surprisingly uncrowded when I ventured in. And that’s not a bad thing, as I like having a seat, I just don’t if that’s a regular thing. It was after work and football was on, I just expected more people. Still, it’s a nice spot. I can’t believe I’ve lived by it so long and have never been in.
I reserve a star until I try the food, which looked good, for whatever that counts.

The renovation of the bar looks great, and the place is always packed when my husband and I come in for dinner. The BBQ Bacon burger is my favorite burger in Chicago — bar none.
Great changes at Bridget McNeil’s over the past year or so; we now pop in about 1 – 2 times a month. Excellent service and good crowds.

Fun neighborhood bar with great food and drink specials. There is nothing fancy about this place but its a great spot to drink some cheap booze and play board games.

Ummm, pulled pork nachos? I’m in!
Bridget’s (as I lovingly refer to it) has THE BEST pulled pork. You can have it on nachos ($ 5 on Wednesdays), on tacos ($ 2 on Tuesdays) or just on a sandwich. It’s fabulous. You might think I’m insane as Bridget’s isn’t a bbq place or anything, but whatever. It’s good.
As the bar recently went through some renovations, the pool table and large, leather chairs are now gone. It’s now a little more modern and sleek, but it still has has that friendly, comfy vibe to it. LOVE the employees here because they’re always so nice and sweet.
They have really good specials during the week and on Friday’s…I think they have $ 5 Jame-​o shots. Who can beat that after a long work week? Next to Dram, this is my favorite place in the ‘hood!

Daily food specials? Gone.
Popcorn machine? Gone.
Pool table? Gone.
Reasonably priced PUB food (as opposed to the fancier fare they’re trying)? Gone.
Thursday pizza night? Soon to be modified.
Fries? No longer included with sandwiches unless you want to pay extra.
Listen, I’m all for a place trying to change it up when there is a new owner, but this is ridiculous. Too many changes in too short a time. We don’t want a fancy gastropub, we want Archie Bunker’s Place. If we want fancy, there’s Wilde on Broadway.
Bridget’s is usually a douche-​free, no backward-​baseball-​cap-​bro wearing kind of place. It’s a place where a girl can wear a scrunchy and not be judged. It’s also important for the new owners to realize a lot of folks from the condo building above use this place like a supper club every night.
It still is for the most part, but it’s slowly losing that rec room/​corner bar & grill feel that so many people enjoyed.

Bridget’s like an 87 yr old grandma paying at the check out lane with a stack of coupons and slowly writing a check.
Tedious.
The service is slow and there’s quite a few hiccups and mistakes made. One server REALLY was bad and a touch rude too boot. The few patrons are a bit «mature.» I’ll spare you the details of mistakes with the mundane food, specials, and drinks because they changed the menu and stopped doing specials now. They also took out the popcorn machine (not that I ate any).
In each area I felt there wasn’t a real sense of the place’s identity or enough effort made.
The fireplace is nice and there’s board games. There’s also free wifi.
This review may be a bit cold, I feel fair since I have them a few chances. I look forward to seeing positive changes so I can «check out» Bridget again!