Black Sheep Beer Garden

nice, chill bar that serves food
not sure anyone knows about it as it has the wrong address. It is now on Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park

The Yard has closed and re-opened as the Black Sheep Bier Garden. I don't quite get the name. If I were next to a bar named the Dark Horse, I wouldn't pick Black Sheep as my name. Now if Nisei will just change its name to the Ebony Chicken, this will be quite the set.

Seeing as I am the first person to review this place, I will be slightly forgiving. What should have been two stars will get graded on a curve to three. Black Sheep is in a good location. Heart of Wrigleyville but not directly on Clark, so it tends to not get as packed on game days. The bar has a nice layout and an even nicer "bier" garden with private booths that are great for groups.

The lure of $2 1/2lb burgers drew in me and my friends for Saturday lunch. It's a good thing we wanted burgers because there really isn't much else on the menu. The total menu was 4 appetizers and 5 sandwiches. No salads. No fries or tator tots. The Yard used to have tots and this place needs to bring those back. It took forever for my friends to order beers because every beer they chose off the menu was not in stock. Neither was one of the appetizers. How is it possible to have so much of your already sparse menu missing on your second week of business?

Service was ok for us because we sat at the bar, but two tables that came in after us left because they were sick of waiting. This was not the most promising sign. They may want to invest in a weekend waitress so that the bartender doesn't have to work the whole room. If our food didn't arrive quickly and taste pretty good, this would have been a complete waste of time. The fried cheese curds app was a small portion for $7. They were good, but not $7 good. The burgers were freshly cooked and definitely a bargain at $2, which made up for the over-priced cheese curds.

If Black Sheep wants to establish itself as a decent bar, they must address the menu immediately. Every beer listed needs to be stocked. The most boring food menu in the world needs a little more variety. They also need a website that lists bar specials and at the very least, a bar back on the weekends. Since I am in constructive criticism mode, the bathrooms should have been a lot cleaner. I love the back patio here, so I really hope they take my feedback seriously and make this space live up to its potential.