Smylie Brothers Brewing

Very nice interior and exterior is really unique. Price wise they are okay. Beer is good as everywhere. Food is pretty good. So yeah I will definitely see you soon. I liked this place!!!

The pulled pork sandwich is excellent. Their sides are good. Overall service is average, but mostly accommodating.
I want to love this place. It’s a really pretty establishment and has a great location. My issues come in on two very fixable things that both seem to have ‘the kitchen’ in common.
On not one, but two occasions, I have visited and the restaurant has been out of pulled pork. You’re telling me you want to be know for great bbq (which it is) and your kitchen can’t seem to figure out how much of it to order? The scarcity of this item does not make me want it more— it agitates me.
After a certain point I should really stop trying to eat here, but I guess I’m determined to support local business. Then on those nights I just don’t feel like dining out, I’ve attempted to order carry out on multiple occasions. Keyword: attempted. They are a somewhat busy place which is wonderful to know they’re thriving, but I am incessantly greeted over the phone with either «the kitchen isn’t accepting take out orders tonight» or «you’ll have to call back in a half hour to check with the kitchen to see if we’re taking to go orders.» So I should wait it out, when I’m already hungry– to mayyybe have the kitchen say yes they’ll take my money and feed me tonight with a huge possibility of the answer being no??? To me, this sounds a little unorthodox. I’ve worked as a hostess at fine dining establishments, and by no stretch do I feel as if I’m an expert in hospitality, but to have a kitchen dictate what goes on in the FOH seems backwards and is a business luxury at the expense of the customer. It must be nice to be doing so well that it is more than ok to turn away business so that the balance and orderly utopia that is ‘the kitchen’ can remain upheld.
But I digress, it’s not my intention to come across snarky as it is a by-​product of my disappointment. Like I said, I want to love this place. Please just do better. Two stars… for now.

With a vast beer selection, solid barbecue /​comfort food, and a huge amount of space, Smylie’s is a great option for parties of all sizes. I loved the atmosphere as soon as I walked in. The rustic décor created a casual environment, the readily visible brewing tanks made the beer more appealing, and the upstairs area (featuring a bar, couches, and fireplaces) was a fantastic place to relax with friends.
The baby back ribs had a good, smoky flavor. They didn’t come with a lot of sauce, but with two bottles of sauce at every table (one thick and sweet, one thin and spicy), I was free to add my own. I got the mac and cheese on the side, and it was fantastic. Very cheesy and creamy, topped with bread crumbs — delicious comfort food! Apart from barbecue, they also offer wood-​fired pizzas, though I haven’t tried them yet.
Overall, great place for groups of all sizes to enjoy a couple beers (or more, the prices are very reasonable), eat some barbecue, and relax.

I like Smylie Brothers!
The atmosphere is always very welcoming: in the winter you get a cozy feeling sitting inside surrounded by the hard wood decoration and structure, and in the summer there is a European feeling when sitting on one of the outside tables, getting a drink after work.
They have a wide selection of beers so you can be sure you’ll find a beer you’d like, AND they don’t neglect wine lovers like me. Also, they have good comfort food. From what I’ve tried their pizza and pretzels are really tasty!
Overall, good place for a relaxing night out.

You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu — I’m a big fan of the chicken sandwich. It’s cool that it’s part-​brewery, part-​restaurant, but I think the wide open ceilings can make the place a little loud when it’s packed. Still one of my favorite places to go in Evanston!

Smylie’s has a cool barn style atmosphere with plenty of TVs, its a great place to catch a game. Their house brews are very good. They have great seasonal specials and good BBQ, the Company Burger and the Reuben are good as well. The staff is a little disinterested and inattentive.

All I’m going to say is bourbon barrel beer. It was the absolute most fantastic tasting beer I have ever tasted. Everything was great, but the bourbon barrel beer was pure delishousness

I LOVE American «rustic» cuisine, and Smylie’s did not disappoint! We ordered the Spoonbread to start, which was the right amount of salty and sweet. I had the potato bacon pizza and my boyfriend had the BBQ platter. Great location off downtown Evanston, looking forward to our next meal already!

Came to Smylie’s to watch a Blackhawks game with a big group and was impressed with the space. Part brewery, part restaurant, part sports bar, and entirely cool. The set up and multitude of big tvs is great for big groups and drinking together.
Smokehouse pizza with brisket was tasty, and had very decent crust. I also LOVED the beer I tried. Smylie’s has so many beers that it was challenging to choose between them, so I got a flight.

This is a laid back but fun brewery in Evanston! It’s busy but not jam packed like the breweries in Chicago. The food is good and there is a large beer and wine selection. The beers are also very good. The overall space is open and woody with good lighting. The atmosphere is very comfortable and relaxing. It’s definitely one of my to go to restaurants in Evanston.

Disclaimer: the beer selection is nice and it’s a good addition to Evanston, but I had first experience with the host and manager that left a very sour taste in my mouth.
I walk in with two colleagues around 5pm on a Saturday in the fall looking to get a drink. We’re told if we’re only drinking we can have a seat at the bar or some high tops. We navigate to the bar and realize that won’t work for us, so we grab a table in the middle of the dining room. Mind you: the dining room is probably about 10−15% utilized. Upon sitting, we’re told within minutes that we’ll have to move because the tables are reserved, although no reserved signs are present. There seems to be an unnecessary fuss about all this, especially given we MAY have gotten food once we got a chance to order.
Now I’m perturbed and ask to speak to the manager. He comes over and explains that within the hour the dining room will be full and they have plenty of seating for people just getting drinks. I tell him that they may want to better label or section off seats, because 1) I see an empty dining room and as a guest it sucks to be told you can’t sit somewhere that’s empty and 2) it was very inconvenient to be told to move once we sat down. His response was somewhat smug and less than satisfactory in my opinion.
Businesses can operate how they please, but I found the handling of the matter subpar.

Great beer, great food, great atmosphere. Came here with a group of 10 for a birthday dinner and we had a blast.
The pork belly fries are to die for. You can’t go wrong with any of the pizzas and the pulled chicken sandwich is he real deal.
The beer could be better, and that’s why I am giving it 4 stars. For a brewery, I thought I was going to get something great, but it was pretty average.
I will definitely come back!

My husband homebrews so we always like trying new breweries and scoping out their establishments in addition to their beers.
The ambience is really cool. Nice, big, open feel and extremely warm. We came on a rainy Tuesday for lunch to find no hostess so we kind of just wandered in and found someone to show us to a table. Our server was really nice and made good recommendations.
Service was SLOW and we were literally the only table in there. It was a little frustrating as we watched two guys behind the bar down beer after beer (no joke) the entire time we were there. They each had probably had about 3 – 4 beers by the time our meal was over, which was shocking. I’ve worked in hospitality for a long time and have never seen this anywhere, not even wineries or breweries. I didn’t mind but clearly people are a little bit too laid back there given the lack of attentiveness and how bad the service was.
The food was average. I ordered a BLT which came with pickled green tomatoes. WHOA… so bitter I had to pick them off. I didn’t expect them to be that sour. My mom had the reuben which literally gave her indigestion for two days straight. My husband had the pulled pork which was the best he has had in a while, and it’s not vinegar based, which is always nice and usually tastes much better that way. He is obviously a beer snob and had their less fruity IPA, which he rated an 8 out of 10, and its hard to get that rating out of him so I would say the beer is definitely their strong point.
Our server disappeared mid-​meal and someone else finally came back to check in. I guess our server had gone on break or her shift had ended — either way — you usually alert your table if that is going to happen. Again, we were sitting waiting for a check or the opportunity to ask for one, and it never came. So I had to go up to the bar to ask one of the boozy beer-​tenders for assistance after way too much time had passed.
Probably my favorite thing about this place was the wall in the bathroom. Seriously cool bottlecap backsplash which my husband will likely copy in our next house for his brewing area. I hope this place can clean up some of it’s issues because the reviews are really poor and it’s a shame given how cool the actual building is. This place could be stellar with the right management, staff and food.

We had an incredible experience! Staff was friendly and attentive! Beer selection was delightfully varied and tasty. They let you create your own flights!
The pork belly poutine hit the spot. My partner loved the barbecue flight and my smokehouse pizza was scrumptious. Can’t wait to come again!

OK, here’s the deal. Looked up this place because I wanted to try something different in downtown Evanston. Had kid (7 year old) with me so wanted to make sure the «brewery» was «kid friendly» (e.g., under 21’s allowed). Called up the place and sure enough they were open. Also being 3:30 in the afternoon I wanted to confirm they were not closed or switching menus. Great, all is good and packed up the wife and kid for the drive to the place.
Leave the house, walk over, walk in – CLOSED — for a wedding. Now this would have been nice had they announced it, told me over the phone when I called them, etc. Meanwhile it starts pouring rain, hostess is extremely rude wanting us to «leave» in the middle of this rain cloud. I asked to speak with the manager and he/​she was not «available» because they were busy planning this «private party».
I hardly ever leave 1 star reviews anywhere but this experience was horrible. If I ever decide to come back here, I may update the review but this place deserves 0 stars now. Be sure to call in advance to make sure they aren’t hosting some private party.

Good food & service. The last time I was there, ordered the Smokehouse pizza (BBQ brisket & jalapeños). Quite spicy, but very good.
Beer selection is excellent: the serve beers from their brewery, along with «guest drafts» from rotating microbreweries and numerous bottles from all over.
Outside seating is great, with good umbrellas for shade.

Very clean and huge. The wooden décor everywhere, the fiery pizza oven, and the large glass window showing the beer tanks was nice to the eye. I found it odd that our bartender was also our waiter and our busboy, but he did manage it all fine and he was polite. He wasn’t too knowledgable on the food specials, ice cream flavors or even what day of the week it was though.
Pulled pork sliders had a smokey flavor which I typically like, but thought these were just alright. The BBQ sauces weren’t to my taste. They had plenty of homemade ice cream flavors which was plus, but the salted caramel was a bit on the way too sweet side for me. Cali Commons was my favorite of their beers.
Closed on Mondays. $ 5 pulled pork sliders special on Tuesdays. Half priced pizzas on Wednesdays.

Ambience: Clean. Aesthetically pleasing wooden panels in the interior. They have a variety of spaces to spend your time here — on a cold winter day, sit next to the fireplace on the first floor. On a warmer day, opt to sit upstairs or on their outdoor patio.
Food: Mediocre. I guess I don’t expect more than that, considering that Smylie is a brewery. I’ve tried their margherita and truffled mushroom wood fired pizzas, which are both decent but slightly oilier and pricier ($ 12+) than I’d like. I’d much prefer the ones at Blaze Pizza in Evanston. The side dishes, like the mac and cheese and cole slaw, were tastier. According to my meat-​eating friends, the BBQ isn’t great even with the sauces, and they’d rather eat the sides, such as the fries. Their coffee crème brûlée had an overwhelming coffee flavor but was passable.
Service: Mediocre. The last time I went, our waiter was impatient with our party of 10 for dinner on a Tuesday night and had an unenthused look on his face the whole time.
Overall, I’d say that if you’re looking for a space to hang out with friends but don’t care much for the food or service, then Smylie Bros. is an option. Note that you need at least half your party to be seated.

Well, we came back to try more of the menu (I was having a real hankering for meat and mac and cheese) and were… underwhelmed. Though the service seems to be moderately better, the food just isn’t that good.
We sat at the bar, where the bartenders were nice enough but not terribly involved– we got our place settings, then before our food came, they were taken away, and then when the food came, we had to hunt down more forks and plates! that was really weird.
In order to get a good sense of the meat on offer, we shared a tasting platter with mac and cheese and slaw on the sides. It was… fine?
The good:
the mac and cheese is very cheesey, with good crunch on top from bread crumbs
the slaw is very fresh in a great creamy dressing
good ribs! nice fall-​off-​the-​bone meat
the not good (though bad is not really fair, i’m tempted):
the brisket was so fatty that it was essentially inedible.
the pork, though tender, was dry and the primary flavor was just of smoke
the sauces are so weirdly spiced– it’s fine to have some interesting takes, but niether of these was a classic and both were just so spice flavored. eh.
pickles were just cucumbers in salt and vinegar water.
We ate our dinner, and it wasn’t terrible, but with so many awesome, classic southern-​style bbq places in chicago (with better prices, no less!) we won’t be back. Sorry Smylie Brothers.

I know there are a lot of 2 and 3 star reviews for terrible service, but we had a great experience. We were greeted both outside by the patio hostesses, and inside as well. We were seated right away in a nice booth, and our waitress was attentive and efficient. We had the combination platter with the mac and cheese, which we really enjoyed. The pulled pork was excellent as well, and it was probably our favorite meat on the platter. They give you BBQ sauces that you add yourself so you can decide how saucy you want it to be. We also had the beer that was on special. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was huge and was only 5.50!
If you can, sit at the pizza bar. It’s very entertaining watching them bake the pizzas! We enjoyed a Smokehouse pizza and the pork belly poutine the second time we went. The Poutine was amazing. Basically, it’s a huge bowl of fries covered in sauce, pork belly, cheese curds, and cheese. Yum! It was enough to make the two of us almost full. We could only eat half of the pizza, which was also pretty good. It could have used a little more brisket, but it was a nice combination of sweet and spicy (picked jalapenos).
Overall, Smylie Brothers is a nice addition to the Evanston food scene. We will definitely be back when we are craving some good BBQ or pizza!