Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

WoodBrew

Illinois

4.63/5  rDev +18.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Chitown....BABY! Corner of State and Grand....great local for a brewery. Yes these are a chain of breweries, but they do a fairly nice job of brewing beer....mix that with some great food....espcially the NACHOS (according to my wife) and you have major success! Solid line up of beers....I had the specials...Fire Chief and Drink Me IPA....both very good. We of course had nachos...followed by a delicious burger. It is certainly worth a stop even if just for a beer! The bar area is much better thean the stiff "grill" area. I like my breweries to be relaxed.

03-26-2011 22:36:59 | More by WoodBrew

DreamFielder

Iowa

4.55/5  rDev +16.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Okay, yes, it's a chain. And the menu might be similar to what's elsewhere. But this is as good as it gets, and it is certainly the best restaurant/brewpub in downtown Chicago. There's a decent selection of food, although a lunch menu would be a nice addition, for all tastes. I enjoy the fish (salmon) and chips, as well as the meatloaf. And the desserts are even better. As for beer, there always seem to be several varieties besides the six standbyes. The Brown Bear brown is always reliable, always wonderful. Last week was the Fire Engine Red, which is rich and tasty. The Belgian was absolutely out of this world; any extra ABV was not overpowering at all. Only two piddling complaints: the bourbon barrel porter had run out hours before I arrived, and it's always a highlight of my visits to Chicago in the spring. And the musak tends to be loud, but the waiter graciously turned it down a bit with no quibble. I've always found the service to be reliable, generous with the samplers, knowledgeable, and more friendly than an Iowa yokel has a right to expect. Which is why this is my main eatery during business trips. It's great.

04-25-2008 18:46:01 | More by DreamFielder

mkopera24

Illinois

4.45/5  rDev +13.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5

I have had the opportunity to have been part of a party the first time I was at the Downtown Chicago location. The many craft beers on hand are award winning and compliment the wonderful food on the menu perfectly. The staff at this location bend over backwards to make sure you are having a great time. And I've returned many times since my first experience because of that. But each beer I had (Erik the Red Ale, Brown Bear Brown, and the Terminal Stout) were perfect examples of hitting the bullseye on each style brewed.
Fun to go watch football games on Sundays, televisions, pool tables, etc come together for a great place to have fun and drink some really outstanding craft beer.

12-02-2004 20:12:13 | More by mkopera24

botham

Illinois

4.43/5  rDev +13.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

rock bottom in chicago is right in the midst of downtown. a great location and a great spread of brew types.

there were around ten brews on tap, with a good spread of variety, from pilsners to stouts, and a good line of in-betweens. the terminal oatmeal stout is good, although it jumps away from the archetypes of the style a bit, it is a decent brew. the porter was great, highly recommended!

the staff is friendly and responsive, for brews, samples, or to talk beer and brewing. service was prompt and of good quality.

overall, this is a good place to stop and have a brew while in downtown Chicago, especially when travelling with a group of diverse beer drinkers, most styles are covered. cheers!

09-06-2007 01:47:38 | More by botham

granger10

Wisconsin

4.4/5  rDev +12.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4

While in Chicago one of my friends told me he went to this place and wanted to go again. I figured it would be like a Grand Rapids Brewing Co. and nothing special, prolly bland beer with mediocre food and shoddy service. But it was lunchtime and my hangover was starting to kick in. I needed lunch and maybe a beer or two so a group of us went. Well, shit, I was way off the mark here! The service was quite knowledgable about their beers and he was very friendly, already better than the GRBC and their shitty service. Their sampler deal was a good deal so I went with that. The beer was exceptional for a national chain standards. This brewer knows his stuff, its obvious. Each beer had a solid flavor and some were exceptional. Plus, the best part, they had a bourbon barrel aged imp. stout and a bourbon barrel aged barleywine on tap!!! And they were both awesome, simply incredible. The food was solid and large in size. I had an chesse dip appetizer which was really thick and slightly spicy. Then the pulled pork sandwich which was really big and really juicy, not dry at all. The fries were weak and too greasy and thin. I liked this place so much I had to go back a few more times in my relatively short stay, it was also b/c of where i was staying and the fact i could walk there and back easily. Don't miss this place, next time I would like to meet the brewer and give him my congrats on such a good job.

11-24-2004 18:48:11 | More by granger10

Clembo1957

United Kingdom (England)

4.38/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

We visited Rock Bottom on a busy Thursday evening but were found a table in the corner by the friendly Server with no problem. The server was excellent and knew his beer so i ordered a beer sampler (or possibly two...)

I had Chicago gold (5.2), Lake Drive Light (3.9), Rotating Walleye Wheat (5.0), Erik the Red Ale (5.5), Crowley's Irish American Stout (4.0), Double Diamond Double IPA (9.0) Neil Diamond IPA (7.0) Bowdon Barrel Aged Imperial ale (11.0)i think, by then my handwriting was a bit indecipherable! I also had a massive steak meal which was excellent.

Rock Bottom is handy for The Loop, downtown and The Holiday Inn Express where we were staying. Excellent food, a good selection of beers, friendly staff but i imagine it gets very busy at weekends.

06-08-2009 18:34:04 | More by Clembo1957

jackndan

Illinois

4.35/5  rDev +11.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5

Rock Bottom/Chicago: I used to hit this place quite frequently, but stopped because the beer was just so-so. However, Rock Bottom hired a new head brewer (Pete Crowley), and rededicated themselves to making fine beers. I was impressed with their offerings at the real ale festival, and much more impressed with their offerings last night (reviews to come).

The place is quite large, but unfortunately the bar itself is kind of small, with not much seating. There is a wonderful beer garden on the roof, and it is definitely worth a stop.

I sat down with a pint of Mai Bock, and asked a few questions of the waiter in anticipation of buying a sampler. Not only did the waiter know his stuff, he substituted an oatmeal stout for the light, and brought me a total of NINE samples, including the barleywine that they were just tapping. All were above average and some were exceptional.

Rock Bottom was hosting the American Homebrewers Association that night, and I had a chance to meet fellow BA Drew, and Pete Crowley and his fairly new assistant brewer (whose name I’ve forgotten) were there and I had quite an amiable chat with them, while sampling more barleywine. I understand Rock Bottom frequently hosts such gatherings, which is terrific.

The food I had was quite tasty, and some of the other diners around me had nice looking chops and steaks. They have a full menu as far as I could tell.

I had a wonderful time, and this place is now on my short list of places to recommend to friends and visitors.

06-19-2003 09:49:44 | More by jackndan

beerinator

Illinois

4.33/5  rDev +10.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I liked this location. There are quite a few neat things that I noticed they were doing. First off, they had this 'rake-like' device that they used to transport and pass out the samplers. You basically will have to visit and check it out, I couldn't do it justice. Also this is the first bar that I've seen that has coathangers mounted underneath the bar and bar tables. This is a good idea!

The beers were good. At the time we visited they had 7 beers on tap. From a golden ale to a porter and an American IPA. Most of the beers were brewed to style and none of them tasted stale or old. But they weren't anything too exciting either.

The food and the service were very good. Our server wasn't too learned in the ways of beer, but he sure did know how to get us our beer and our food in lickety split time.

Don't let the fact that this is a chain brewpub discourage you.

07-06-2004 16:59:25 | More by beerinator

kmpitz2

Tennessee

4.3/5  rDev +10%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Been here a few times this month. Upon entering, there is a bar and small seating area to the right and restaurant style seating to the left. I've only been in the bar and pool area. There is quite a bit of seating at the bar, with a nice view of some of the equipment behind the bar. Not sure the exact number, but it seemed they had about a dozen house beers on with at least 3-5 special brews each time I was there. Everything I had was pretty darn good, but I only sampled special releases. It was a little difficult to get a beer the first time I was there, but the second, I sat at the bar and the server payed very good attention to me, even taking time to strike up a conversation with me. I've yet to have food here, so I have no comment there. This is easily going to be one of my favorite stops when I move back to the city in a few months. It seems to be nice and relaxed, with just a great vibe to the location. Not to mention that its literally a few steps from the red line, making it easy as anything to get there.

02-15-2006 00:42:52 | More by kmpitz2

Stoneman78

California

4.3/5  rDev +10%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Nice and open brewpub typical of the style for this chain, plenty of seating and TVs abound. The overall atmosphere and quality were acceptable but lacing in uniqueness.

Service was very good, our waiter was very attentive and expedient with drink and food orders. Bonus points for running after us in the street to get me my left-behind beer journal!

Impressive selection of beers. In addition to a standard RB lineup, this location had ~7 specialty beers including a belgian wit, barleywine, smoked porter, and dry-hopped oatmeal stout. There is something here for any beer geek, this Chicago location had the best specialty beers of any RB location I have frequented

Food also was good and indicative of the chain. We split a series of appetizers for dinner (chicken nachos, spinach dip, pepperoni pizza) all which satisfied our tastebuds and hunger.

Even if you've been to a RB before, I would recommend a trip to the Chicago location to try their unique specialty beers

03-09-2008 21:26:22 | More by Stoneman78