The Neutral Zone

I have yet to experience the Neutral Zone’s fare, but I have first hand experience experiencing their kindness. Our family cat went missing five days ago and she walked into the Neutral Zone’s establishment. The owner called for assistance and an officer hand delivered our sweet pet in the rain late at night to our home! Thank you so much for being more than just a business owner! My family and I thank you!

Love this townie bar. If you want a lavish drinking experience than this isn’t for you. People are posting that it still looks the same from 15 years ago like it’s a bad thing. That’s how home town bars are supposed to look. The place is clean with friendly staff. Vince is the owner and usually works the floor. For all the yuppies, Oak Brook is just north on route 83

Chill, servers are nice, food is awesome, best place to go to watch any sports games. Lots of tvs & projectors. Definitely a regulars bar, but you’re not treated differently or worse for not being one.

Haven’t been in here since it first opened. Was pleasantly suprised and enjoyed a great burger and wings!

Wow, this place needs serious updating. Ten to fifteen years passed since I last dined here and nothing has changed. When I had lunch here a few weeks ago, the place was like a dark, cold man-​cave basement. Also, the bar gals seriously need to cover up. My guess is they let it all hang out for tips, but some folks would rather not get an eyeful of that.
The food wasn’t bad. If not for the creepy man-​cave environment and all the immodesty, I might return. I ordered the burger and it was nicely charred and came on a doughy, fresh bun. The fries also had a crispy char to them. However, Neutral Zone really is not offering anything special.

This bar is laid back and very chill. It has some of the best bar food I’ve ever had (The texas cheese fries in particular), the staff is excellent, and the drinks are priced very well. I honestly don’t know what some of the other reviewers are complaining about, I have been going here since I turned 21 and have always had friendly, fast service.
Great place to go if you’re a Hawks fan, but be aware that it does get packed for games sometimes. All in all, if you’re looking for a fun night out with friends or coworkers, definitely hit up the Zone.

I visited this place a LONG time ago… I was an undergrad at DePaul, and my friend from school lived in Darien. I headed out from living in the city to hang out with her in the burbs one night and she took me to this place. I recall this vividly… I said, you have bars in strip malls out here??? Angela’s response — «Yeah, how are they out by you» Me — «Well, not in strip malls!»
Fast Forward to the year 2014 — I am now the suburbanite, visiting sports bars in strip malls.
Plans got changed last night and I just wanted a low key night with a friend… at a bar… conversation & a few beers. I was debating either downtown Downers Grove, or this place — I remembered it because I got my nails done in the same strip mall a few months ago. We decided on this place.
So picture, a snowy Saturday night… a night a lot of people just stay in but this winter has been brutal and I have been tired of just staying in. There was a table of young-​ins maybe in their 20’s…a few older dudes at the bar, a younger male dude solo, and a few others that I really didn’t pay attention to. Service was fine, the hawks game was on, and just your typical sports bar. Nothing to brag about, though nothing to complain about. I dig their beer garden so maybe I’ll head back out to this place when I’m looking for the same kind of night when the weather is better.
Yay Suburbs!!!

Nice sports bar (a lot of TVs) and that is about it. Used to come all the time and over the past few years it has deteriorated. The food was once the king and now it’s crap. Ordered a burger a few months ago. I was asked how I wanted it. As always, I replied medium rare. Turned out to be a frozen patty. You can’t cook those medium rare or you can make someone sick. It used to be a great thick fresh burger. Those times have passed. The «award winning» food is nothing now. Prices have gone up and for what? All the fun waitresses have moved on as well. Seems the bar only wants to make a buck and has lost touch with patrons.

I thought this would be another lame suburban strip mall bar but it is a pretty decent place. There are more than enough big screens all over the place and it has the potential to be one of the best sporting viewing events in the area for a Bulls, Bears, or Blackhawks contest. There are small screens next to every booth and the place looks pretty cool inside for a smaller strip mall sports bar. The food was pretty limited and average but the service very good and attentive. This is a pretty good place to catch sports and beer in the suburbs.

I came to Neutral Zone with low expectations after reading the Unilocal reviews. I came here to watch a Bears game and they had free brats and hotdogs from 10−12pm. That was a nice touch and I got there just before noon and got a little bit of their free food.
The bar itself is small. It’s kind of strange when I walked into the place and thought the place needed a little rearranging. (The bar could be in a corner against a wall, put more tables in the place, and no, I don’t watch Bar Recovery or whatever this reality TV is about redoing bars)
The service was OK. It was really good at the beginning of the game, then started tapering off throughout the game and it’s like our waitress disappeared near the end. I know everybody is trying to close out their checks, but she could have started the process of closing people out with 5 minutes left and still get everybody out the door when the game is over.
We ordered some spicy hot wings during the game and they weren’t the greatest — the kitchen skimped on the sauce to the point where I had to ask for an extra just so I have something on some of my wings.
The wings were somehow half off though — not sure if that was because we complained or if it was on special. My tab for a few beers and an order of wings came out to $ 12. Not bad. I’ve certainly done a LOT worse.

The worst wings ever because they were not cooked all the way through. Saw blood and pink which was a pure turn off. Notified the owner of my experience in a letter written to them supplied with my address, name and phone number. No response. I guess they don’t care. Well, they don’t have to. If you want wings, go to Hooter’s or Mini Hut… the best!!!

I lived pretty close to this place for thirteen years but never really warmed up to it.
The first time I visited the Neutral Zone, I sat at a table and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait for service that never came. After about fifteen insufferable minutes listening to Beastie Boys music blaring from the sound system, I finally got up and left.
I gave the place a shot on a couple of other occasions but just wasn’t impressed. As a previous review said, it was the kind of place where all of the patrons and wait staff knew each other and you always had the feeling that you’d crashed someone’s private party.
Not my kind of sports bar (and I’ve always been a conniseur of those), and I always hated their TV commercials which featured a packed house (which I never saw myself) and that loudmouthed guy with the annoying Chicago accent.
Worth a try, though…

Nothing wrong with this place at all– plenty of TV’s although some are a bit dated. The drinks are always cold and with specials there is always something to drink cheap.
I am a total burger snob and I would give theirs a pretty good rating, definitely one of the better bar burgers. The other food there is always good they have some good dudes cooking in the back who know what they are doing.
You aren’t going to be swarmed with hot 22 year olds but you can get drunk and get a good meal while watching a game.

Great burgers — cooked to the correct temperature, with plenty of lettuce and onion! The waitresses are always super nice and they don’t give me weird looks when I ask for vinegar for the thick crinkle-​cut fries they serve! I’ve also had their beer brat — the onions are just a touch more done than I like them, but otherwise it’s also very good. Their fish-​and-​chips dinner is good, as well; it’s one of their most expensive menu items at $ 9.99.
The drink selection is great, and they usually have a good special going. They have more wing sauces than they advertise on their menu — it’s definitely worth asking about those. I really love that sticky-​sweet Bourbon sauce, but they’ve also got parmesan garlic, teriyaki, chili garlic, and others.
It tends to get loud when the sports fans are out for their games, but it’s a bar — what do you expect? They’ve got lots of TVs, and are very good about setting the channels to whatever you’d like to watch.
They have a great little outdoor seating area — it’s really nice on summer afternoons! If you don’t like smokers, though, beware, because they do congregate out there.
I would avoid ordering their daiquiri or piña colada, since it’s just a pouched drink poured into a glass. Seriously. This is the only thing I’m not a fan of — spending the money for a blended drinking and getting a freeze-​and-​serve? Just seems a little tacky. Everything else is great, though, and the bartenders can make just about anything.

Watched the BCS game at NZ last night. Free wings (a good variety). $ 2.00 pitchers of Bud Light (not my favorite but the price was right). 8 guys drinking beer (2 ordering food). Tab = $ 65.
On the downside: The food is not great. The place is a little dingy. The TVs range from really crappy to one good one. The clientele was more 20-​something guys.
On the upside: The service is very good. The prices were great (as mentioned).

Great fajitas good beer friendly atmosphere and lots of tvs to watch sports

This place would be a lot better if one of the owners, Vivian, would became a silent partner. If she stopped making decisions, all the regulars that ran to the Tap House as soon as it opened, might come back every now and then.

I wasn’t expecting much when I went in, and I didn’t even receive that. I knew this was a local Downers Grove establishment and, from the looks of it, most of the people there were regulars who knew each other well. So, I suppose, props for having a community atmosphere. That’s really where the positive review ends.
For one, the service was an ordeal. Our waitress was actually excellent and on top of her game– the only problem was that the bar was packed for Monday night wings night and she was the only one. THE ONLY ONE. This sometimes meant waiting 20 minutes for food, never getting a menu, never getting asked if I wanted to place an order after getting a menu, etc. Incredibly annoying and frustrating– it should not be a 30 minute process to place an order for fries.
And then the food came. Yes, it is cheap– but cheap food should at least still taste good to get the stars, right? The mix of fake and real cheese just didn’t cut it for me on the cheese fries and the strange flavor left much to be desired. Either go all fake or all real, Neutral Zone. In this situation, the middle ground should not be celebrated according to your namesake. Our beers (draft) were served in room temperature glasses and got warm super fast. Yuck yuck yuck.
Overall, I didn’t have a stellar enough experience to feel tempted to return again. The hunt for a good locally owned bar in Downers Grove continues…

Looking for a simple place that’s your basic bar with no frills? This is the place. Plenty of drink specials for under $ 5.00, and they give you a decent drink, not a watered down waste of money.
The night I was there, they had $ 3.50 Jim Beam Blacks and $ 3.00 Blue Moons. Not bad, especially considering how expensive drinks at bars can be in the area. Plus, they had $ 2.00 shrimp cocktails that were delish.
A good place to go unnoticed, have a few drinks, laugh a little, and not feel like you need your latest whore gear on to feel like you fit in. T-​shirts and flip-​flops seem perfect here.

Normally, bars in the suburbs suck. I mean really, really suck. It’s the suburbs, though, so what can you expect? However, I think Neutral Zone is pretty cool.
Sometimes when I’m hanging out at my mom’s and we want to watch some baseball on big screen TVs and have a burger, we’ll head down Fairview to Neutral Zone. Sometimes it’s just nicer to have everyone do the cooking for you and serve you some pretty good, cold beer at the same time. The bar/​restaurant itself is kind of big — a lot bigger than I thought it would be for being in that strip mall at Fairview and 63^rd St. There are a lot of tables and we’ve never had any problem finding seating. I’ve never actually been here at the height of summer, though, so maybe it’s more difficult.
The service is always friendly and attentive. We’ve never had to go find a server or request the check — everything just seems to move like clockwork here. The food is pretty delicious. They have a typical menu of bar appetizers, burgers, wraps, wings. I’ve always had their burgers and they are very delicious. This is the only bar I’ve ever been to where they actually listen to the cooking request that you make (I asked for the burger medium and they did it!).
I’ll definitely keep coming here as long as they stay cool. During the day (and maybe even the evenings during the week) this is a fine place to take your family for dinner. It’s not really a bar until it gets dark and I think it’s really only bar-​y on the weekends. My uncle comes here almost every Friday in the summer after his softball league and they all love it. It’s a pretty popular place and they accommodate large groups.