Clark Street Ale House

botham

Illinois

3.73/5  rDev -8.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Clark Street Ale House is just North of Downtown Chicago and is easily recognizable by the large red neon sign above the front foor cantilevered over the sidewalk. the place is of medium size, with the bar to the side and high top tables throughout. the windows to the street open when weather permits, allowing an inviting atmosphere to take over. the tap and bottle list are of decent size, with fifteen to twenty of each and a decent variety. the brews are served in proper glassware most of the time, with clean conditions. service is friendly and prompt, without any real bias towards beer, spirits, or wine. prices are reasonable, with a 12 oz snifter of Hennepin selling for $6.

overall, this is a worthy stop for a brew, a couple blocks from the el, with a decent list and a nice atmosphere. not a rapidly recurring stop, but nice once in a while.

11-02-2008 18:03:03 | More by botham

Slynger

Illinois

3.7/5  rDev -9.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This place is not bad if you are in the area. No parking lot so get ready to shell out about 13+ for parking if you can't find an open meter. Wood finished, cozy corner bar feel, but not too cramped inside. No food, but they do have lots of pretzel sticks for consumption. Decent draft beer selection of regionals. 4 bucks for flight of three, if you want to sample. I had allagash white, alpha king, summit winter, black sun stout, robert the bruce, and capital winter skal. $6 cask conditions including two brothers northwind imperial stout and lagunitas brown sugga. Decent bottle selection including lots of dogfish head, goose island belgians and bourbon county stout, and 3f's fantabulous respelendance. You could definitely do a lot worse than this place.

01-28-2008 01:16:03 | More by Slynger

BrewSomerville

Ontario (Canada)

3.64/5  rDev -11%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

They've got a good selection of Beers, including cask conditioned ale(s).

There is no kitchen there, which kindof sucks cuz Beer makes me hungry.

They allow dogs into the bar. There were three dogs there when I was there. Two of them were barking and fighting/playing.

The bartender was fairly quick at getting us our Beer.

Prices are fair I guess. I paid $6.00 for a pint of a cask conditioned Heavy Handed IPA from Two Brothers.

It's downtown on a one way street, so parking may be an issue.

11-06-2007 00:44:41 | More by BrewSomerville

ARSmythe

Ohio

3.61/5  rDev -11.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 1.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Nice selection, good atmosphere, lousy service. Visited here early on Monday evening for a few beers before a Bulls game and my wife and I were literally the only people in the bar when we walked in. The bartender could still barely be bothered to talk to us and clearly didn't really know much about the beers he was serving. He even disappeared for a solid 20 minutes later in the evening when more people were there. I even tried calling the bar from my cell phone to no avail. I would have just left if I hadn't have given him my credit card to open a tab. Wonder why you would want to be a bartender in a place like this if you don't like people or good beer?

11-12-2010 01:09:25 | More by ARSmythe

Illiniphil

Illinois

3.59/5  rDev -12.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Was there early evening prior to dinner with friends. Atmosphere was typical but yet had a nice vibe. Was the first night of Goose Island tap domination. Not a large crowd, but once again was there around 6 pm so I'm sure things picked up later.

Ordered a Goose Island Vanilla Bourbon County Stout which was served in a 8 oz. water glass which was similar to what was in my hotel bathroom - not impressed.

Service was fair at best as there was one waitress on duty for the whole bar and my glass sat empty. After having it happen twice, I left and went to Haymarket Pub.

09-30-2011 00:39:16 | More by Illiniphil

DaPeculierDane

Wisconsin

3.5/5  rDev -14.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

The Clark Street Ale House feels like your ordinary neighborhood bar but a few highpoints do stand out:

1.They put Free Pretzels on all the tables
2.Sample glasses are available and cheap (three 4 oz glasses for three bucks I think)
3.One Cask Offering
4.I had my first Victory Imp Stout there
5.Great Big Neon Sign in front that says something like, “DRINK HERE”

Prices are reasonable, staff is friendly, and there's a good tap selection. The downside includes a lack of imports and a small but solid bottle selection.

01-30-2006 20:25:12 | More by DaPeculierDane

bkett01

Massachusetts

3.38/5  rDev -17.4%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

Stopped by the Ale House due to its proximity to my hotel. After checking out the website I was looking forward to having 3F Dreadnaught & Bells Two Hearted on tap. Upon arrival they were out of both. Ended up having a number of 3F Alpha Kings, which were good. They did have a decent # of beers on tap but nothing really stood out to me.

There were about 10 people in the place when I was there (on a Sunday afternoon) and the bartender was attentive to our drink needs. My big issue with this place was the music. Loud & obnoxious tunes came on about halfway into our visit and kept up until eventually driving us away. As others have mentioned there were dogs wandering about the place (which I like, but may not be for everyone).

Overall, I wouldn't visit again.

10-19-2011 16:41:37 | More by bkett01

elNopalero

Texas

3.28/5  rDev -19.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $

I came here with my friend on a Thursday evening in mid-March on a Chicago trip, right around happy hour. I wasn’t sure what to expect. They have a decent tap selection although I didn’t find much exciting about their house pale ale, and my conspirator in drinking ordered a beer which was clearly infected. I found their house brew to be like the bar itself, boring yet passable. The vibe, like the beers, was somewhere between unremarkable and …eh. Sorry, but this isn’t going to merit a follow-up visit.

05-04-2012 22:31:16 | More by elNopalero

jaustin72403

Texas

3.23/5  rDev -21%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $$

Ok, the only question I have about this place is how the hell did it end up in the top 25?

I ventured to this pub after visiting the Map Room and Hopleaf. This was by far a let down. The beer selection was decent, but nothing special (not a top 25 selection at least). Service was ok, not very many people were there though.

I guess I was expecting a lot better for a top 25 in the US beer bar. The Map Room and Hopleaf are much better. If you come to Chicago to drink beer, don't bother with this place, the other two bars will do the trick for you...trust me.

01-07-2008 05:13:50 | More by jaustin72403

jrallen34

Illinois

2.19/5  rDev -46.5%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 1.5 | $

This had decent BA reviews then I recently say it in the all about beer traveler issue ranked as the 52nd bar you have to go to, so I finally made the trip over. Two words and two phrases for you all, OVER-RATED and AVOID IT.

This place was beyond disappointing. The atmosphere was horrible, unless you are an old school Chicagoan who finds the cheesy mafia style Italian steakhouses appealing. Its old inside, little charm at all, all wood, then somehow think its the right place for video games such as golden tee. The staff are all in ugly black outfits, just terrible. Staff is not terrible friendly or knowledgeable. I asked what's tasting good guy and the guy just started at me.

The quality and selection are garbage. Yes, they do have several craft breweries represented but they are alongside Miller, Bud light and corona. The beers from the breweries are terrible. They are all easy to find regular local staples. They aren't bad beers but nothing I can't go to the local store and get. If I was from out of town, maybe it would be ok for 2 seconds.

I get the feeling this place is more for whiskey and vodka as they have great lists for both. If you want liquour you might give this place a shot, if not avoid at all costs as with so many better options in Chicago are are surely wasting your time.

06-26-2010 14:16:00 | More by jrallen34