This place wasn't fancy, but the food was good. The right side was a bar and the left side was a short-order restaurant, but without any divider. They serve burgers (it's like the old SNL sketch 'cheeseburger cheeseburger cheeseburger'), grilled cheese sandwiches, and egg sandwiches (they have salads, too, that I didn't see until I was almost done with my burger.
I had a nice beer with my dinner (can't remember the name, but something with fruit that wasn't too sweet, just perfect) and we had Chocolate Shoppe ice cream for dessert. It was very open.
I'm not entirely sure what all the hate is for Billy Goat. If you know about the Billy Goat in general then you know that you must order at least a double (triple for me). The beef is fresh also. It's not gonna change your world view but it's a solid burger. The buns are nice also. Fries are hot and crispy. Oh, and for the alchy crowd, this place serves liquor, beer and cheeseburgers (cheeseborgers).
Review Source:Went there with the with the family. Youngest is heading off to College next week. We sat outside... very nice.
The burger was lame with too much bun. But not expensive. I made the mistake of putting the relish on my burger and it was sweet relish "GAG" I had to scrape it off and it ruined the burger. I won't make that mistake ever again. I'll get the steak sandwich next time. The fries were frozen but well cooked. I enjoyed the Billy Goat lager.
The staff was very cool.
Over all a chill experience and I'll go there again.
Previous poster said Five Guys has better fries. NOT! They abuse fresh potatoes and serve a mushy gritty greasy mess and I save my comments
on the burgers. Five guys is over priced. I rather have Billy Goat.
Two bad experiences in one night! My husband and I went in for food and a beer opted for just the beer when the waitress never asked us if we wanted a menu and just walked away, sat at a table and ate with a fellow employee.
Later that same evening my daughter and her fiancé went in only to deal with the same unprofessional waitress. She was rude to customers, ignoring some and then went on to thrust her hips in a vulgar way toward a sports figure shown on the tv. They were disgusted and left..
Pyramid Apricot Ale ftw!
The staff here really made the experience. Great recommendations and quick service. I am probably a bit biased because they stock my favorite beer, Pyramid's Apricot Ale. We also tried a bottled root beer beer that they had in stock. We really liked it and they actually sent us across the street to BlackFinn to try their unique root beer brew.
We also had the Greek Fries which were okay. Feta wasn't melted so it was kinda hard to eat, but good flavor. It was a great stop over from the hotel before going to a wedding reception, but since we were there early on a Saturday I can't judge what the nightlife is like here.
Went here during Game 6 of the NHL finals because they had open tables and Blackfinn, across the street, was packed.
This was my first time at this location and on first impressions, it looked promising. Â First, it was clean. Â Always a good sign. Â Second, the burger patties looked fresh and not frozen. Â Thirdly, condiment bar. Â My double burger was small but they gave me a good amount of fries. Â While the fries were very good, I have o give the burger a thumbs down. Â The bun and beef had zero flavor. Â It was also a little too greasy. Â I know that saying a burger was too greasy is kind of stupid but this was greasy in an unpleasant way. Â If you're looking for a good burger, head over to E+O across the street, they have a really good one!
Great place to catch a game. Sports fans can enjoy simple, unpretentious, and reasonably-priced fare. The food and myriad tv screens weren't enough to earn 4 stars though. I upped the  rating because the staff, including the manager, cook, cashier and candlestick maker, were all soooo friendly and sweet. I felt like I was eating at a close friend's place. I will definitely come back.
Review Source:This place is super clean, well organized and has a really friendly & helpful staff! This ain't no Billy Goat! Well it is, but unlike what I've ever seen in their other locations.
This location really is quite nice in the new & fancy Randhurst. There is a lot of parking and a ton of seating inside. Either you can grab a seat at their huge bar with tons of TVs or order your food at the counter and grab a seat. Get this, they even brought my food out to me on a tray! Not what I'm used to at Billy Goats in the city but I can't say I hate it.
The burger is also not as greasy goodness as it is in the city which of course is both good & bad. The signature Billy Goat burger with it's thin patty and whole lot of bun. I knew what I was getting into when I got it and I'm done with it. Like it but didn't love it. After getting your burger, they have a condiment table at which you can add mustard, ketchup, pickles whatever your heart desires. Plain for me, thanks! A single patty cheeseburger runs $2.85.
My surprise was their ice cream! It's so flipping good! A small is just $3 and comes with two huge scoops. I tried the tanzania chocolate and peanut butter cookie dough. Unique and cool flavors for a non typical ice cream shop. Strange as it may be, I would come for just dessert!
I'd go back fo sheezy for a cheezborger-ezy. Great spot to get a quick bite before a movie at AMC Randhurst.
Cheezeborger
Cheezeborger
Cheezeborger
[Cheezeborger]
One for each star.
So I know the burgers aren't 'fantastic', and if you spotted my tip, you'll know to order the double, but I had to give 4 stars for the experience (without trying to compare it to the subterranean tavern).
I see people complaining about the thin patties. I say relax.
Never in my life have I thought: 'I think I'll go to the Billy Goat for a premium burger today' (no offense) so I anticipated the same with this location and I got what I expected. The only thing I didn't imagine was them having  was french fries ("no fries! chips!"), but I'm way cool with that.
I took my Dad here before we saw 42 for his birthday; I love that the Billy Goat is RIGHT across the street from the theater; either way I'll be back before or after a flick. But it was convenient and nostalgic because it shares the name with the popular place downtown that we loved to visit during trips to the city. I ordered the burgers; he ordered the beer, and we met in the middle at a table. If it weren't for a fraudulent charge on my Dad's card (he was on the phone with the 'winners' at Chase half the time) this would have been quite the ideal pre-movie snackage.
This location is very nice. It's spacious with a full bar and a lot of natural light. It was pretty empty when we were there but it was an off time so it was great not having to wait in line for anything. We ate and sipped leisurely then watched a great baseball movie.
A pretty excellent way to spend an afternoon to spend with my Dad if you ask me.
I recommend The Billy Goat and I'll be back for a quick bite sometime...I'm also intrigued by their breakfast menu so I'll hopefully have an update for that later on.
Fun Note: Upon submitting this review to Yelp, they asked me a few times to confirm that this review was in English, apparently spell check doesn't like 'Cheezeborger'......
interesting concept of upper fast food burger joint and sports bar. could get a bit loud (once this guy was watching the hawks game and was screaming at everything) but it's half a sports bar, yeah?
i love their steak sandwich. one of the best. after you get your burger, they have pickles and other condiments laid out so you grab as much as you want but sometime have to wait people in front of you due to the size of the counter.
went back and tried their double burger but that really wasn't worth the time.
This place is famous in the city. I've never eaten there because it's cash only and the couple of times I'd stopped by I only had a debit card. So we were psyched when another location opened up in our 'hood.
The place is rather big and the bar is well-stocked. TVs around the walls give you the games. Nobody was in there when I was there, though it was a midweek afternoon.
The menu is pretty simple. Cheeseburgers. Thin patties, grilled, and tasty. The condiments are on the side of the kitchen and you do your own thing. Onions... mustard... ok. Not much at all.
They are not the best burgers as far as toppings go but if I was drinking at the bar they would be fricking awesome.
Basically there is no real draw here as far as I can see other than the famous name from SNL. A bar with a plain ol' burger joint.
Lot's of cool decorations, though...
I'd come back if I was walking in front of the place and wanted a burger right away, otherwise I'd rather just make my own.
love this no frills, fast food, sports bar joint. if you are going for a gourmet meal, go somewhere else. people who have been to a billy goat before already know the burger patties are small--so order a double if you're hungry. the italian sausage was just as good as portillos/johnnys beef. drinks were pretty cheap and the place was a great stop to catch the tail end of a Bulls game. nothing spectacular but everything you'd expect from a casual sports bar in the burbs.
Review Source:Marco does a great job here and has had the same consistent staff churning out the same great food since it opened. Â They don't play up the skit like they should and they do serve fries so there the novelty is lacking. Â Maybe the staff needs to embrace the SNL skit and provide some silly light hearted entertainment for us suburbanites who may have never ventured to lower Wacker. Â Have not been there for breakfast. Â Remember "Chips. No fries. Â Coke. no Pepsi." :)
Review Source:I just don't get the bad reviews for this joint. If your in Randhurst and want a bigger burger go to Buffalo Wild Wings and pay $10 for one of their crappy burgers. It will be bigger though, and so will 5 Guys but at 5 Guys you will pay more and taste less. I went to 5 Guys a couple times and I'm just not into paying close to $15 for a burger, fries and a drink. BWW's has some of the worst burgers I ever had. Not a fan of either.
Here I had a Home Run burger and it was great! Four thin burger patties and four pieces of cheese on a really good toasted bun for $7.15. Served hot off the grill. If you have a smaller appetite go for a single or a double. A triple is also available. All with or without cheese.
We sat at the bar and there was a $2.50 bottled beer special so our total tab for a quad cheeseburger, a double cheeseburger, fries, onion rings and four ice cold beers was $24 without tip. Take that...5 Guys and BWW's.
I will be coming back here again. I like the bar, the TVs and the value! Once you figure out where to park (if you've been to Randhurst you'll understand) this is a good burger stop.
We were looking for a place around Randhurst to have lunch and watch the Bears game. Â At first we were thinking about going to Buffalo Wild Wings but after seeing the parking lot was full we decide to check out Billy Goat Tavern which was across the street. Â I'm glad we did.
I walked in not knowing what to expect. Â The atmosphere was comfortable and inviting. Â It was not too crowded and the menu was reasonably priced so we decided to eat there. Â
I had a hamburger and fries. Â Both were made fresh to order. Â They have a topping section where you can add what you want to it. Â The hamburger was very good and the fries were some of the best I have had in a long time. Â The were cooked perfectly and had a good flavor. Â
The service was friendly and pretty quick. Â They have lots of TVs with all the sports games on. Â It was not too loud so you could watch the games but also have a conversation. Â They have a bar as well as many tables for seating. Â
Upon looking at the website, it seems like this site has more food options that the site has listed, such as salads and and ice cream bar. Â
I was surprised to see the low reviews from other diners. Â I had a good experience and will be back.
Went here on a Saturday night, and there weren't many people there - that should have been a red flag to tell us that we should go maybe go elsewhere. Â Menu isn't anything special, not too many options. Â Decided not to go for the burgers since there's so many terrible reviews on those, went for the jalapeno poppers instead. Â They weren't spicy at all, and the breading was thick and tasteless. Â We were sitting at the bar, and the bartender was on her phone most of the time.
My guess is this place won't last very long, unless they do some major changes.
Tried Billy Goat in Randhurst shopping center on my grandaughters birthday August 12, 2012.. I was very unhappy not only with the burger, which by the way was no thicker than my credit card, but ther customer service was just horrible. I asked the older man who was behind the counter what flavor milk shakes they had and he flipped his chin up while looking over at another wall. I guess that was my answer. Rude workers and worst burger I every had. The only thing I liked were the fries. Toppings for your burger are off on the side with the condiments. All there was to choose from was, pickles, relish and onions. No tomatoes or lettuce or other choice toppings. Will never go there again! 2 burgers, 3 fries, a hot dog, milk shake and 2 cokes was $26.00. I would of enjoyed Wendy's and saved some money too....
Review Source:If you're looking for a super high-end gourmet burger- this is not your place. Â Most of these reviews, to me, are similar to someone getting mad at Ford for not being a Caddilac. Â The food is cheap and fast. Â The staff is friendly. Â The bar is so much better than I ever expected. Â
To recap: it's not Five Guys, Meatheads, or Kumas. Â The burgers are fast and cheap. The place is clean and the staff is friendly.
Although the food was cheap, it was only worth it because we were given a gift card for the place. The burger meat itself wasn't terrible, although being dry, less flavorful than a McDonald's patty, and very under seasoned, but the bun was low in flavor and much more prominent than the meat. The cheese was nearly undetectable. Despite this, the fries, which are probably frozen, were good, mainly because they were perfectly cooked in good oil, which really doesn't say much about the restaurant's food quality. I might want to return to try the beef sandwich, but you're better off heading to Five Guys across the parking lot for burgers.
Review Source:I don't know Mike M., but he took the words right out of my mouth.
Easily one of the worst hamburgers I've eaten in quite some time and the fries were equally bad (for better fries, jump in your car and drive around the perimeter of Randhurst Village to Five Guys).
On the menu, the hamburgers are listed as "hamborgers". Not only is that not funny, it's borderline offensive.
Actually, no, it's tasteless--just like their food.
Eh. I was not a fan. I ordered the hot dog and fries. The staff was friendly, but other than that nothing special. I would only come here again if I needed a cheap,quick bite to eat and was too lazy to go anywhere else. However, there are a lot of different dining options at Randhurst, and this would not be my first choice.
Review Source:One of the worst burgers I have ever had. I ordered the double with cheese. The wafer-like beef patties were dry and tasteless. And what passed for cheese in between had no flavor whatsoever.
It is served plain so you have to go to their tiny condiment bar which has pickles, relish, sliced onions and chopped onions. So if you want anything on your burger that is not a pickle or onion you are out of luck. Also had ketchup, mustard and hot sauce in squeeze bottles. Whoopee.
The fries were the most generic of generic frozen steak fries which were, again, void of any flavor. The soda is in the smallest of cups for $1.85 with no refills. And the service is downright surly. This is a restaurant clearly using a long faded SNL skit to lure unsuspecting customers in to take their money without any attempt to make an edible product.
What I don't understand is people who give this place more than a 2-star rating. They  must eat dog food at home.
I was so looking forward to trying out the new Goat in Mt. Prospect! WOW; what a disappointment. I've been to the one in the loop and was impressed. It was shocking to have a totally different experience at Mt. Prospect. The food was cold and the service was terrible. The bartender is beyond bad - nasty attitude and can't handle even a slow night. Very surprised; won't go back; will tell my friends not to bother.
Review Source:Remember the commercial, "Where's the Beef?" Â That's the first thing that came to mind when I sat down to my cheese-borger and fries. Â Not only was the patty the size of a slider, it had less taste than, well, anything. Â It had absolutely no flavor. Â I liked the full sized kaiser roll, the kosher style pickles and the fries were good. Â But the burger was a total waste of time and money. Â And my daughter's Italian beef tasted as though the meat had been boiled and underseasoned.
The room is very nice, very clean, floor to wall windows with attractive shades, lighting, loft like feel. Â Which is to say, it has no resemblance to the original. Â The staff looks like they'd rather spit at you than serve you. And they are not kids. Â These are adults who could care less if you like their food or not. Â You expect it from teenagers, not adults. Â Though they do prepare your food quickly and obviously keep the place clean. Â Of coure, a paper thin hamburger doesn't take long to fry. Â The whole experience was devoid of any character or flavor. Â I've had better meals at Culver's, McDonald's and Burger King. Â And that's the sad truth.
So unless you are in the mood for a pickle sandwich with fries..... don't bother.
This place is nice and spiffy, unlike the original hole-in-the-wall downtown. The customer service is about the same though - goofy and off-putting.
The burger was a little better at this location, but not enough to make a difference. It's still dry and overpriced.
Fancy new flat-screen TVs or not - it's still a burger joint for tourists who have watched too much SNL.
I'm over the Billy Goat.
We were very excited to go to Billy Goat for the first time, I knew it was a Chicago institution but never had the chance to visit one.
Walked in, saw the simple menu, thought, what could go wrong? Â Everything. Â Cheeseburger was probably one of the worst I ever had. Â It was actually a double. Â It made McDonald's burger look like Kuma's. Â It was a super-thin tasteless piece of frozen beef. Â No salt at all on it, even the cheese they used was the absolute worst quality processed american. Â
To top it off, my daughters single burger was undercooked! Â It was red, red, red in the middle of that skinny little patty! Â How does one even do that?
Never again.
We must be either spoiled with all the fine choices we have - Meathead, Edzo's, 5 Guys, Epic, Kuma's and of course the hundreds of local, great establishments serving up a true Chicago burger, or these guys are trying to pull a fast one using their famous name. Â No borger for me and my family!
What a shame.
I heard from my mom that this place is based on the original Billy Goat Tavern and Grill in Chicago, which was a much more gritty, interesting place. The suburban version is super-clean and sanitary, and super impersonal.
First of all I wasn't very happy with the customer service. We got there at around 7 pm, and there were barely any customers besides us. So, I would have expected some kind of cheerful greeting, a smile, anything... but the employees seemed zombie-like, bored, and spoke softly with barely any expression in their voices.
The cheeseburgers were okay, but not something I would look forward to. They were mostly bun and no meat... even though we ordered DOUBLE cheese burgers! The fries were decent... crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
There was a little counter where you could add things to your cheeseburger. I imagine it would be really difficult to squeeze over there if the place was more crowded... they would have done better to put it in the middle so people could stand around it! Also, include more condiments, such as mayo, instead of just the basics.
When we left this restaurant I felt full, but not satisfied. You know how sometimes you go out to eat and you feel like you just had an awesome meal? That would not be this place. You might as well go somewhere else.
This place just opened and I was invited by a friend here on a Friday night. It's a small bar/fast food place. You order your burgers and then you wait for them, kinda like a 5 guys, then they have a topping station which reminded of a Fuddruckers that I had been to when I was in high school and never returned. Im not sure if it's faster for them to make us put all the toppings on, but really there weren't alot of toppings. It was a tray of Pickles, Raw Onions and Relish. I rather eat at a burger place that makes my sandwich and I don't have to do any of the work. Once we sat down, the burgers and fries were just blah. Nothing to rave about and I would not go back here. The place was super clean and there was a small bar that had lots of new tv's with the Blackhawks game on. If you are looking for a bite to eat and watching a game, then I would go here. Otherwise, Skip this place all together!
Review Source:When in there for lunch and had a cheese borger, fries and a coke (no Pepsi) and found the burger a little lacking in taste. I like the set up and bar area but nothing special about the food. At least what I ordered.
They do have a breakfast menu, but I haven't tried it (yet), so can't say if its any good. till the next review.
Sorry Billy Goat owners. Â You get 1-star. Â Your hamburger featured much more bread than burger. Â If you paid a restaurant planner get your money back. Â The ordering, paying, delivery, condiment bar process needs reconfiguration. Â Strange as it may seem, McDonald's burgers taste better and are less expensive.
Review Source:Dry, tasteless, oversized kaiser roll sandwiches a paper thin, tasteless burger. Â Not my idea of a good meal. Â Way overpriced, too. Â $5 for a double cheeseburger (the double is only a 1/4 lb) that comes plain. Â Onions, pickles, ketchup & mustard are the only condiments available and they are self serve from a condiment bar that gets way too much handling from the public, yuck!
Review Source:Went here for lunch and it was pretty empty. Â It was expensive for what you get. Â The bun to meat ratio was way too high even with ordering a double. Â The kaiser roll seemed pretty dried out as well. Â My friends had the steak sandwich and there was barely any meat as well. Â Like someone else noted, you are better off going to 5 guys for a good burger.
Review Source:I came here a week ago when it first opened and it was !!PACKED!! Â
Fast forward a week and on a Sunday evening during the Bears game, there was hardly anyone here. Â All the TVs had the Bears and besides us, there was a sole beer drinking fellow @ the bar. Â We just got some burgers, fries and a soda. Â The burger patty was somewhere in the burger - remember the 'where's the beef' lady? Â She would've had a field day with my burger. Â My wife got the double cheeseburger and basically, that's the way to go. Â They also have a condiment bar which was kind-of nice if you need to get your onion on. Â You say you like a disc of onion on your burger? Â Go ahead - nobody will judge you for this indulgence.
If you're in a major hurry (like your movie starts in 10 minutes and you just need to eat really quickly) then go ahead and give BGT a try - otherwise, just go to the other side of the mall and get  a Five Guys burger.