Hops & Barley’s

I’m not really sure how to rate this place as I’m basing it off a one time visit and I was uncomfortable due to the cold and the fact that I was cranky and hungry didn’t really allow me to pay attention… BUT, I will say that the service was nice and prompt. It was a week-​night and the bartender did an excellent job of waiting tables and serving up drinks until back-​up staff arrived. :) He botched up my order. I asked for the mac and cheese with bacon and jalapenos and I got mac and cheese with chicken and jalapenos. Since I have a soft spot for food that gets thrown away, and back and front of the house in general, I just ate it. (also because chicken doesn’t bother me. lol) So, I simply ate it but I did tell him that the order was wrong. He admitted that this was his fault (could’ve been the chef) and offered to replace my dish. I declined. Right before I left, he told me that the next time I come in, that he will give me a drink on the house. I thought this was very nice of him.
Drink list is extensive and satisfactory… food is just meh. The mac and cheese was thick but it didn’t have that «cheesy» bite to it. It felt more like a thick sauce (bechamel…or something similar to it) and it needed a little salt BUT, the portion was HUGE! So that was nice considering how hungry I was, and the dish was piping hot. The seating was a little uncomfortable for me as they are high tables with tall chairs… I’m not tall… lol.
Anyway, I didn’t hate it… but I didn’t fall in love. It’s worth giving it another shot on a warmer day. :)

Excellent wings! And on Sunday’s they’re 40 cents… score! Dave, the owner, and his wait staff are super friendly too. Neat neighborhood bar with good drinks and many drink specials. Their homemade French fries are delicious, as is their mac and cheese. My grind had the grilled cheese sandwich which came with poblano peppers, she loved it. Will definitely come back :)

go here occasionally as a neighborhood spot is convenient. waitress laughed at me and told me it was a classy place when i asked for malort, which is not the case lol, also no malort in a chicago tavern is a travesty. also got food poisoning from a burger there and called and they said theyd call back and hook me up with something but that never happened. still an ok place for a few drinks

Great sports bar with lots of TVS and a great beer selection. Surprisingly the mixed drinks are good to! The wings are smashing. Cheers!

This is a great find in the neighborhood, a bar with craft beers on tap and a full food menu with TVs all around the area.
We came on a Sunday afternoon to catch the game and could not have had a better experience. Bartenders knew their food and drinks and service was great. Food came out hot, fast, and under budget.
Their drink specials cannot be beat in the neighborhood, getting the downtown drinks or the latest craft beer for a fraction of the drink.
Highly recommend!

I like the feel of the place. The staff is awesome and the bathrooms are clean. If I was coming here just to drink I’d give it 5 stars, but the food menu could use some variety. Don’t get me wrong the food is good, it just needs to accommodate people who don’t want typical bar food.

The rating this place gets is too low. The food is excellent for bar food. Prices are more than reasonable. Maybe the best turkey burger and portabella sandwich in the city. The bartenders are friendly. Always has interesting beers. Decent inexpensive wine. The only thing that keeps it from being a 5 is the décor. The bar area seems like a great hipster beer and drink place. But the dining area feels more like a dark, little bit sleazy Northwest Side pickup place. It isn’t, but just feels that way. They should lighten the place up a little and it would be about the most comfortable bars in the city.

Got here shortly after they opened around 3 p.m. today. Sat at the bar. The bartender clearly saw us come in & sit while he set up some tables. Took him a bit to ask us what we wanted to drink. He wasn’t the most pleasant person when shooting down the first 5 drink orders my buddy asked for, claiming they were out & not offering any suggestions. Also, right after I asked for another round, he decided to talk to a table, do their drinks then ours. um hello, we are sitting right in front of you & ordered before the other ppl.
Food is mediocre. burgers & skewers cooked well but no seasoning or taste.

The food was great. Build your own bloody mary is a good idea.
Came here for a Bears game and a server called off which left with only 1 wait staff. I have to say she (Cheery) did a great job. Not just with my table, but with the bar. I’d come back just for that good of a service.
I had the smoke house, popper, and wings; i give it a 8 out of a 10. I’m glad to say I’ll be back.

There are some good musicians and vocalists that perform at their open mic on Sunday nights.

Happy birthday, bartender! Spend some time serving the bar instead of drinking it. That’s cool, I don’t mind waiting 10 minutes for another customer to call u over so I can get a drink, better make it 3 cause I won’t see you again. I mean ever, cause I won’t be back. Whip that.

I like the place, I like the friendly staff, the ambience is always fun and energetic, but I wish the appetizer wouldn’t take 45mins to get to our table! No wait, the burgers got here first and we still waiting for appetizers. I meant how hard is to trow the jalapeño poppers on the deep fryer and take them out 5mins later!

Hops and Barley is one of my favorite places to go! My boyfriend lives in Jefferson Park and we frequent this place a lot.
First of all, the waitresses are ALWAYS so wonderful! Literally every single time we go, their great. Tonight in particular we had an absolute doll of a waitress named Danielle. She was so quick, sweet and creative specifically with her suggestion of putting different fruit in my plain water to jazz it up :) She was also dressed so cute and so pretty and friendly.
Second, the food is so delicious and they always have great drink and food specials. My favorite is the shrimp appetizer. It includes 10 lightly fried shrimp with fries. It just has the right amount of spice too. The shrimp and fries were piping hot and fresh. They also have drink or food specials that are always something so good.
Last, the atmosphere here is always great and it’s never too loud or noisy.
After all the times we have gone here, I had to make sure that I gave them a great review; they deserve one!

Love the atmosphere. Great food specials and the drinks are cheap.
The owner is awesome! He would tell the most hilarious stories and made it a great time.

Great beer whether it be craft or domestic. The wait staff is friendly and excellent at their jobs. The bartenders are experienced and can make a hell of a drink and are friendly and great at their job. The music is also a plus since its not top 40 radio crap. Highly recommend this bar to anyone looking for fair priced drinks and a good time.

A good go to place for drinks and all around fun. Awesome beer selection and specials during the week. There are tv’s all around, so we’ve gone here a few times just to watch Blackhawks games. The food is the run of the mill pub food, but hey, it’s inexpensive and the customer service is on top of everything. I love ordering the Purple Haze beer and tator tots. They’ve also got trivia nights! It’s maybe a good place for a first date but highly recommended for just a group of buddies getting together to watch a game or just hang out. Parking is on the street and paid, but easy to find, and there’s also a lounge or club of some sort downstairs.

Good place to drink but the food leaves a lot to be desired! Ordered some food to go. wings were on special but they said you had to pay $ 9 if you ordered to go. ok, I get it. Paired it up with a «Smokehouse Burger». total cost with tip about $ 25! Problem #1: They use those cheap aluminum to go containers where you just crimp the lid and it SEALS. Newsflash: ALL the food was soggy mush and inedible even 10 minutes after I got the order! Burger: A GFS pattie cooked to MW with 3 totally undercooked pieces of bacon. Wings: Total SOGGY mush, terrible «Buffalo Sauce» and even worse «Blue Cheese”/ cheap and tasteless! Fries in the third container were undercooked by about 2 minutes and wilted to nothing in the lovely container/​garbage can! Sad thing is the place does a ton of business and whoever was cooking last night should have worked their last shift. get dat did

New-​ish neighborhood bar. They play all the Chicago team sports. Great selection of craft beer and drafts. A bit small but that’s ok. Decent prices. Will try the food next time.

Great beer, friendly service and owners, yummy grub.
Servers and owners have always been nothing but amazing. They have great food and drink recommendations and are truly interested in making their customers happy. The food here is really good, not your typical bar food. While they do have the staples (buffalo wings, burgers, and fries), they also have unique house made items like crab cakes, custom mac and cheese, and fish tacos.
I’m happy to walk into a place and feel like the owners care enough to talk to you and serve you great food. Love this place!
PS — outdoor patio is dog-​friendly :)

Nice bar but not impressed with the bland food and watery drinks. The service was ok until our waitress informed us that she leaving so we paid out bill in hopes of getting another drink but the second waitress just passed by us a few times with no acknowledgment.
Pretty lame!

If you’re looking for a mediocre time, this place is for you! Not awful but definitely not special.

I came here on a date. Our drinks were okay but I wouldn’t come here just for their cocktails. I also ordered some nachos. I was very hungry and ate them but the cold, liquidy yellow cheese spread that topped the nachos was far from delicious. On a positive note, the food is very reasonably priced.
It took a while my server to come to the table. After we got our nachos the server disappeared again. We had wait awhile to get napkins and silverware, this time from a different server. It took some time before our anyone came by again, and the restaurant was not busy at all.

Hops & Barley’s is a nice bar in the Portage Park area.
I would say this is a hipster like bar with old black and white photos lining the brick wall on the north. It has its menu and drink specials written on chalk boards above the kitchen and behind the bar. The first thing you will notice about Hops & Barley is their outdoor seating as there are not that many places that offer this in the area.
Again, I note that this is a hipster kind of place with the fancy beers and a good kitchen menu. But it also caters to other crowds. It turned slightly into a sports bar on a Sunday when the World Cup was taking place. They originally had on some music but turned the audio on for the game once it began. They had a dozen or so perfectly place large screens for great viewing.
Not only did they do a great job on the sports viewing but it seems like this bar restaurant has plenty of weekly deals. They have trivia Tuesdays, cheap burger days, cheap pizza days, and many other deals that are written out on the chalkboard. On the Sunday that I was present for they had $ 12 domestic buckets which is a steal. The also had Stoli specials and 40 cent wings.
Hops & Barley’s look like it had a space for some type of open mic area as well as a downstairs area. I would like to come back and check out what the night life is like here. There were a few regulars that were having a Sunday Funday. If you have some regular party people then you know that this place has to be a good time.
Two thumbs up for H&B.