My friends and I stopped in on a Tuesday  night and participated in their trivia night and we had a good time
I can imagine it being pretty douchey on the weekends so I can't say that I'll ever be back on a weekend
I thought their tables with the beer taps were pretty cool if I came back I would definitely like to try that out
Besides that we had a decent time and our server who I can't remember her name was pretty friendly
One of the few places I've Found that are ALWAYS consistent. I've never had a bad experience at Bull & Bear. Between the awesome, upscale Sports bar feel, the amazing bar food, nice servers and AMAZING bloody marys, I'm always happy when leaving this establishment
Sunday Morning brunch at 11am..only a couple tables filled...
But lets just start with the amazing deal of Bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys for $20! You can mix and match too!!
The Hostesses are always nice, greeting with a smile and no attitude (rare to find)
The managers are always making sure Food, service and experience are exceeding expectations.
My date and I ordered the Eggs benedict, a Great Hollandaise sauce is hard to find. Well, bull and bear nailed it.. Adding their own spin on it, paired with fresh fruit it was the perfect breakfast. I of course, love hollandaise sauce so much I could've used another side it was so good! Mind you, This chef is the same for Public House as well =)
Delightful, 3 hour brunch with non-stop mimosas and bloody Marys I was VERY HAPPY when leaving!
TOO MANY AMAZING RESTAURANTS IN CHICAGO TO DEAL WITH THE RUDENESS OF THIS PLACE. Â Went the other night, (it was game night) and the not so brilliant hostess said the tables at the bar were available for first come first serve. Â As we sat down and ordered the beers, she said the table was reserved and then the manager came over (Corey I believe) asked us to get up from the table. Â I have never in my life been asked to get up from a table that was clearly not marked reserved. Â Could not pay me to go back here and do not recommend you wasting your money and time on this place.
Review Source:They get 3 stars for being one of the few places that are happening on Sunday, which is industry night.
They get 1 extra star because a couple of years ago I saw somebody get choked out here. Turning red and everything. Granted, the guy was okay, but it was still funny to watch. You will always catch a couple of greased and gelled up neanderthals walking around, but for a Sunday you can't beat it.
Just, wasn't that good. I'm a vegetarian so there is definitely not a lot available for people who don't eat meat. I went here on a trip for school.
I ordered the truffle mac, which I must admit for an appetizer was pretty huge. I must not like truffle oil though because it was way to rich for me to consider it comfort food. When I eat mac and cheese, it makes me astoundingly happy. This was the opposite. I also ordered the Greek salad. The ratio of cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and olives to lettuce was pretty much astounding. There was way to much going on.
The restaurant is nice on the inside, but I wouldn't eat here again, despite our really awesome waitress. Someone in our party also found a bug in her food. They gave her a 50 dollar gift card.
Holy fire-hazard, Batman!
Seriously. Â Got to Bull & Bear around 10pm for a birthday. Â Around 11pm it was so jam packed I literally could not move. Â Sure bars and clubs could get crowded, but I was literally standing shoulder to shoulder and it took me a good 10 minutes to move from the front of the bar to the back when it's only a mere 20 feet away.
Note to the wise: do not order your drinks at the back bar. Â We ordered drinks, drank them standing at the bar, asked for more drinks and the bartender replies with, "umm...I just served you guys drinks, so you can't have any for a while." Â Now, I understand she might have been trying to pace her customers so no one wreaks havoc, and we had $35, 3 hour open bar wristbands and she was probably worried about not getting a tip, but seriously? Â You're denying us service?
We moved to the front of the bar where an awesome (and fellow Asian! Â Woo-hoo!) bartender took our orders. Â We slammed them back, asked for more drinks and what does she do? Â She jokes, "damn, you guys are throwing them back!" and gives us our drinks...and she didn't skimp out on the alcohol! Â BONUS POINTS! Â Needless to say, all of our tips went to her that night.
Other than the awesome bartender at the front bar, this place is way too jam packed and the music is "eh." Â Only other time I came here was last St. Patrick's day to do one shot, and after this experience, this is definitely a drink and dip kind of place!
I had brunch here on Sunday with one of my friends. Â It was pretty busy in there, but the hostess found us a seat at the back bar really quickly.
We ordered a couple of different things, the breakfast tacos were awesome. Â Our server, Lauren did a great job also. Â
Every time I come here, its always great food and great service. Â Love this place!
Very cool upscale bar near the Merchandise Mart. Â Had read about their 'fantastic' brunch menu so we were in the city for a Buddy Guy concert, had stayed the night nearby and decided to try them out. Â Unfortunately we arrived on a Friday morning at 11:30 and I now understand they only have brunch on the weekends - makes sense in the city. Â We made reservations for 11:30 not realizing the place opens at 11:30 on the weekdays. Â
We arrived at 11:25, couldn't get in the front door, so walked to the side and literally happened upon the hostess stand where two of the front desk staff was hanging out. Â They looked at us kind of funny and I said, "did we come in the wrong door?" "No, we don't open until 11:30. Â I looked at my watch, she looked at me, I looked at her, no words were exchanged. I looked around, saw the staff was having a team meeting in one of the booths - the manager told the hostess to go ahead and seat us. Â Minor blip on the radar. Â
The place was literally empty aside from us and one other couple, and the hostess brought us up to the second level to a hightop table in the bar area. Â There were six or eight booths set for four, none w/ reservation cards, so I asked if we could sit in one of those. Â Well, she asked us to wait because she needed to check. Hello, why aren't people empowered to use their brains and just do the right thing? It truly is not rocket science. Â She came back and conceded to seating us at a booth closer to the door, further from the bar. Â Another minor blip on the radar screen.
The booths have taps right on the table - what?!?!? Â Yes, you read right, tappers right on the table, swipe your credit card, fill your own glass. OMG, whoever thought of this is brilliant. Â We weren't imbibing (had intended to come for breakfast after all) but again, brilliant!
Server came right away and was attentive throughout the meal. Â Bussers constantly filled the water glasses, hot water for tea, etc. Â Had a chx sandwich w/ avacado and hmmmmm....can't remember what else, but the chx was cooked just right, sandwich overall was great. Â Ordered the sweet tater fries w/ it which i also enjoyed. Â One of us ordered wings, enjoyable, spicy, but not wickedly hot. Â Another whose watching calories, fat, etc., ordered the boneless wings - bad idea - it was a chicken breast that had been grilled, smothered w/ bbq and sliced up. Â Not sure what we expected, but that wasn't it. Â Overall, I'd say the food is decent and the wait staff was great. Â Hostess staff, notsomuch.
Went here on one of the first Saturdays that was devoid of college football -thank God!
We sat at a table in the back of the first level. There weren't many people there when we first arrived, but once the place started to fill up it seemed unnecessarily cramped. A group of about 12 frat guys was occupying the booth adjacent to our table. There wasn't enough room for all of them to sit down so we had a bunch of annoying drunk guys crowding around the back of our table - kind of annoying.
Either way, our waitress was only semi-attentive. However, my food was nothing short of amazing! I had the buttermilk pancakes and they were delicious. Not too much dough and just perfectly sweet.
My friend ordered the nachos and they were poorly made. Bad nachos = cheese and toppings only covering the top 10 chips ( and this plate was HUGE); all chips on the underneath side totally bare. Kind of disappointing because the ingredients they used were fresh and tasted good, but it was too much of a hassle to have to take toppings off of the top chips and spread them to the bare chips on the bottom.
Good hangover food. Not good if you don't like an unnecessarily crowded space. I will say that it is cool that they have a free "cereal bar" during brunch. I am a big cereal fan. Walk up, get your bowl, fill it up with cereal, pour in the milk and enjoy. That's something I've never seen before, I was pleasantly surprised.
Ahh, utter disappointment.
I had "The Melt Down" (their verbiage for create-you-own-sandwich) of chicken + bacon + swiss on multigrain. Sounded delicious in theory....execution?---not so great.
What was supposed to be the entire substance/backbone of the sandwich ended up being 2 MEASLY pieces of super dry chicken :( The swiss and bacon were just fine, and the bread was decent. But...ah (sigh) the chicken was just inexcusably wrong.
The rest of my group had burgers and they didn't have much to complain about with those, but then again all these guys have for comparison are the hockey-puck-imitations-of-burgers that they get at McD's and Burger King...
I suppose I should mention that the service was pretty good: attentive and friendly.
Ambience was nice: this isn't some gross dive bar. On the contrary, it's pretty done up and modern. Although I did find it to be SUPER DARK in here..
Though I'm not legal, the bar seemed to be quite agreeable--so if that's all you're looking for, you probably shouldn't rule this place out.
As far as food is concerned, keep walking.
I was here in a Friday night last weeks, and will not be coming back.
The place is tiny, no room to walk, breathe, think...wayyy too many people.
We did get wrist bands for like $1 donation, the drinks were then free til 11... Due to the line and lack of response from the bar tenders, I had only 1 -vodka tonic with a splash of tonic...I'd call it more of a tonic with cranberry and a splash of vodka here.
The waitress was pretty rude that came by us when we sat a table that we were not aware we weren't allowed to sit at without paying a I believe $80 reservation fee? Crazy price for a bar...this isn't a lounge or a classy bar, nor would I be getting a bottle service with that price... Anyways...the wakes could have explained this nicely t us since we were not informed when coming in, plus the majority if the booths/tables were empty.
Can't rate the food side we didn't eat here... We left about 1 hour after coming her.
The funniest thing is the concept of making a 'reservation' for this place, which is something straight out of a college-town bar pretending to be a restaurant. I saw this spot in Chicago Magazine, and the food looked good. The main problem: me and my girl waited 20 minutes, and no table service arrived. Perhaps the worst table service I've ever received dining out. All the while, the tables around us were getting their orders taken and the drinks were flowing their way. I found it kind of odd that all we got was the busboy who at least gave us water. You know a spot is bad when the bus-staff encourages leaving, which is what we did.
Review Source:I went to this horrendous bar this past Friday for a birthday party. Â The bar is packed with suburban douche baggery , wasted falling over 20 somethings.. Â A cocktail waitress with long blonde hair shoved me to her side, DELIBERATELY and without apology!!! Â I was there for a total of 8 minutes. Â When I walked out there were approximately 5 20 something girls that were so wasted they fell like a set of dominoes one top of the next and finally landing on a newspaper stand and tipped over a garbage can. Â This place is a dump!
Review Source:Just a so so spot in my opinion--and would not say one of the best sports bars in Chicago.
It was definitely very crowded for the recent football game I watched. They try and crowd more people than would normally fit in the booth that is for sure.
But definitely get the cookie dessert...so damn good.
***This review is based entirely on Grubhub's delivery service. Bull & Bear has fabulous food and has always gotten our orders correct and hot!***
Here's the situation: my boyfriend and I had just gotten home from a long work week and were looking to order delivery to relax on a Friday night. We placed an order through Grubhub, as we've done many times.
The driver arrived super early, which is normally a great thing. However, the driver called my cell and said he couldn't find a parking spot. This is my problem how? I'm trying to relax, guy! You're a big boy, figure it out.
We live in a high rise, and he demanded that I come out to the road to get the order from him. Well, I'd just gotten out of the shower and it's November; not happening! I'd paid a delivery fee for a reason, PLUS a prepaid tip. Anyway this driver wasn't budging while listening to my logic, so I handed the phone to my boyfriend. The driver had the nerve to snap at my boyfriend that if we didn't come downstairs to get our food, he was taking it back to the restaurant. We'd just have to wait for the next driver to become available. Then the unthinkable happened...this guy HUNG UP on my boyfriend!!! Seriously? News flash, we don't negotiate with terrorists, even if you hold our food hostage!
We get some form of take out at least once a week, have lived here for three years, and no one has ever made us feel like jerks for not coming outside. If we wanted to venture outside, we'd pick up the order ourselves and skip the extra delivery fee.
For the past 30 minutes, my boyfriend has been calling Bull & Bear and Grubhub to get our order cancelled and money back. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening is ruined. Who knew delivery was so stressful? This experience completely defeated the purpose of ordering in. Now, it's 9 p.m., we have no food, and we're all riled up. What a stupid Friday.
This became a matter of principle. If we paid for delivery, we should get a delivery! Another irritating factor is that no one wanted to take accountability. Bull & Bear said the driver isn't their employee. Ok. Grubhub said the driver isn't their employee. What? Then who is he working for? Regardless, he's your subcontractor so he's your responsibility. Grubhub offered an insulting $5 credit for our trouble. Really? We don't want a stupid credit, we wanted our dinner. But for all the trouble, I think our time was worth more than $5.
In summary, Bull & Bear has GREAT food. Keegan (sp?) from Bull & Bear called my boyfriend and was really cool about everything. We'll definitely get Bull & Bear again, but it will be dine in only!
This review is based ONLY upon dining experience. I typically don't enjoy going out here because it's one of those insanely crowded bars that's filled with douchebags. However, I came here with five friends for dinner and the food was pretty fantastic. In retrospect, I would have chosen a night that wasn't a Saturday...we honestly couldn't hear a thing anyone across the table was saying.
We started with the wings and nachos which were both excellent. Definitely surpassed the expectations of our entire party. I also shared the skirt steak tacos with a friend and they were great as well. We utilized the drafts at the table which were kind of overrated. We thought it would be helpful to pour our own beers, but they came out incredibly foamy. Overall, I'll dine here again, but will avoid weekend nights.
Amazing food, fantastic Trivia, and a really cool atmosphere.
I had the Turkey Chili and a house salad, Mike had the grilled chicken breast sandwich, which shocked me, becuase I hear they make a mean burger, but it was all delish!
The trivia was really cool, hard, but fun, oh so fun!! Â I always feel smarter when I leave Trivia, and then I think to myself, why didn't I know those answers.....Geesh I'm dumb! Â Anyways....I'd love to come back here, everything was great!
I don't think I will ever go back after my HORRENDOUS lunch experience. I've always thought the service was less than desirable, but having to wait an HOUR for my lunch to come is ridiculousness. After being seated, the waitress took my food and drink order, and then didn't come back until I have been waiting for about 45 mins for my food. She apologized and said it should be out shortly. After waiting over an hour, the manager brought our food and offered to take care of the bill, which I gladly acccepted.
The table seated near us had the same issue, but we watched other tables around us arrive after we did and get their food before us. Given that this is a typical Loop lunch spot, there is no reason for such slow service where lunch rushes are common.
I appreciate the manager picking up the tab, but there is NO WAY I am coming back to this place.
I'm mainly writing this review so I can remember I went here. Â Obviously not a memorable place for me. Â Now, I was only at the front of the restaurant in the bar area. Â It was a typical bar with TVs and little round tables. Â I had a Stella. Â My friend kept talking about the gorgonzola mashed potatoes and as a game time decision, he ordered, was served and ate them in 8 minutes. Â Bull and Bear is a little out of the way since it's pretty far west on Hubbard but it's just fine, whatever. Â I can move on with my life.
Review Source:Def make reservations!! Place was packed! Upscale sports bar is how I would classify this place. Everything about Bull and Bear is pretty typical for a bar of its kind honestly. Great Americana cuisine that offers quick bites/apps and entrees, great half off 22oz drafts/apps happy hour specials, and attractive/quick bar/wait staff! What makes this place mostly unique are the seating booths with built it beer taps!!! Don't get the boneless wings...they're not breaded and its essentially chicken breast cut into 6 pieces with sauce poured over it. Kobe beef sliders with amazing though!
Review Source:Average.
We stopped in on a Saturday afternoon so we didn't have to deal with the sardine-like crowds that other reviewers had mentioned. Â The cocktails were good but the service was just, well, meh. Â They have TVs...and it's a sports bar (I guess?)...but I really wasn't feeling the atmosphere, nothing about it seemed very special to me. Â 2 stars? Â 3 stars? Â I couldn't decide. Â We didn't have a terrible time, but odds are you won't be finding me at Bull & Bear again.
This place is a douchebag haven.
Firstly the music is terrible and there's no where to dance (despite the terrible music).
Secondly, all drinks whether it be a mixed drink or shot was $8 (or was my bitch of a bartender just being well, a bitch)?
Thirdly, the ugly dudes at this joint were so drunk by 10pm on a Sunday that they grabbed at my friends and I as we walked by.
Fourthly, unless you reserve a table, it's very hard to find a place to sit (since you certainly don't want to stand up and dance).
EVEN the lady in the bathroom was rude. She just sat there and told me to use the towels when I wanted to use the hand dryer.
I was so confused by how this place even exists with these conditions.
My advice: DON'T GO.
***BRUNCH REVIEW ONLY***
You're going to have to excuse me, as I'm a little taken aback by the brunch served here. Â I agreed to go, but went with the mindset stereotyping B&B as just another douchy River North location that would probably offer bottomless mimosas, hot waitresses, and "meh" food. Â
The first two were true; there are bottomless mimosa's and bloodies for $20, and the servers are, in fact, quite attractive. Â But the third item. Holy crap, batman, I was absolutely blown away by the grub.
Homemade pop-tarts were the first to come out, one sweet, one savory, changed every weekend. Â We happened to have peanut butter and blueberry in the sweet, and smoked turkey, cheeses and....something in the other. The turkey was amazing, very homemade feeling, as if the chefs mother made it for you. The blueberry/PB combo was also tasty, although not as great, as I felt the pb overpowered and came on a bit strong. Â MUCH LIKE THE MALE CLIENTAL THE NIGHT BEFORE, AMIRIGHT?!?!
Sorry, sorry.  Moving on.  Second were breakfast tacos on your choice of corn or flour, leading to another of those Billy Madison-esque "shampoo is better, no conditioner is" debates between girlfriend and I (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DN_GjFMzVT7c&s=38bb0914476f5c5ac43dd7b6593ef38b7a8b6b5b6cbe224e334225fdd5b63557" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/w…</a>).  Either way, tasty. Although could use a crunch element, and I know that makes me sound like a fool.  Oh, also Benedict, also featuring smoked turkey, asparagus, and tasty.  All tasty. Super tasty.
Last, but best, was the belgian waffle. This isn't some namby-pamby Motel-6 make your own waffle by using the soda-type waffle batter dispenser. This is some dense, caramelized sugar bits and white chocolate and. Â Look, I don't order waffles, as I generally DON'T do sweet, but this is in a class of it's own. Â I could make some outrageous statement about sleeping with the chef to have one every morning, but I hate those people, and I couldn't think of a funny one.
Coffee - surprisingly good.
Service - came with a smile, but spend a bit more time reading the menu, and knowing whats on it.
Facilities - Very clean.
Booths - those backs were at a perfect 90 degree angle, that doesn't work for relaxing after gorging.
TV's - a Plenty.
Cocktail menu - uninspired.
I want to go to Trivia night tomorrow but all of my friends (2 people) are busy. Â I can't reserve a table for 1 on Trivia night! Â I'll be laughed at the whole time. Â Who can I yell "THEY'RE CHEATING!" and "OMG WHO WOULD KNOW THIS?!" to? Â
On the other hand, everything I've ordered from here has been delicious. Â The burger, turkey club, chicken sandwich (best ever, they are very generous with the avocado slices), and grilled cheese with tomato soup are very tasty.
I once took the Metra into Ogilvie and walked here in 10 degree weather. Â That's a decent walk in cold weather. Â Oh, it's not? Â Well guess what, I live in the suburbs and we don't walk for shit up here!
Really don't mind this place. Â Kind of cool, I always hear people see famous people here at times, but I haven't. Â Like the outdoor seating, and the wings are great. Decent beer selection, they have Leffe which has become one of my favorites lately.
Crappy wines that are overpriced, but that has a trend in this area of bars I have noticed. Â Gets fairly busy at night. Â Not worth making a trip out of your way to come here.
A group of about eight of us stopped into Bull & Bear on a recent weeknight. It was close to last call, but a waitress still took our order and led us to a booth. Our drinks arrived, and about a minute later, a manager told us we had to leave because they were closing. Then a different manager came up and again insisted we had to go, even though we just received our drinks and hadn't even paid. When our group made this point, this second manager - who was clearly drunk - began using profanity and hurling insults at us.
When we got up and left, without paying, the two managers and waitress followed us outside and insisted we give them the money. We refused, arguing that we hadn't been able to even finish our drinks and that they told us to go. They yelled some more, but clearly the drunk manager had no clue what he was doing, because he continued to insult us as we tried to talk this over.
Horrible customer service here. Not coming back, there's plenty of other spots in the neighborhood to get a drink without being yelled at.
"I think you'll like this place, they have beer" ...that's what I said to my friend as we were walking towards Bull and Bear. Little did I know that I would actually end up liking it here too.
They have a pretty decent cocktail list. I ended up trying a Blue Malibu and a Lush. Both were as mentioned, decent. I enjoyed the Blue Malibu a little more than the Lush.
Our waitress was friendly and attentive, which is always a plus. Outdoor seating was pretty nice. I wouldn't mind going back again, and maybe trying some food next time.
After my second try, I give up. I called ahead to make a reservation for 8 on a game night and asked if volume would be on. We get there, they squeeze us in a tiny bar table, even though the place was empty at 6pm, because they were preparing for an industry night at 10pm. How about making some dollars off the patrons in the next 4 hours before a free industry night starts? And how about telling us that on the phone when we called to make a reservation for 8?
Food was meh, service was meh, and experience was meh enough to teach me not to suggest Bull & Bear for another game watch! And oh, the hostess decided she wanted hip-hop music rather than the commentary on the game.
Stopped here for beer and a burger before a night out. Â The draft beer selection wasn't bad - had Sofie, Green Line, and 312 on tap. Â The burgers were solid - bonus points for the bacon they topped them with which was thick, juicy, and generously applied. Â The truffle fries were pretty good (watch out for the high surcharge for adding these to your burger), but Rockit's are better.
Atmosphere is pretty in line with what you would expect from a near north sports bar - lots of happy hour drinkers catching the Bulls game and a pretty modern look and feel. Â Overall, this place delivered what I expected but not a lot more.
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