Stanley's Ale House and Restaurant

We are new fans of Stanley's Ale House and Restaurant. They have the best selection of craft beer and the best prices in South Elgin, IL. Two Brothers, Shocktop, Kentuckey Bourbon Ale, you name it. They have it. Daily food and drink specials make this a weekly stop for us. They have Buzztime trivia in the booths. Stanley's is also an OTB location. So there is that gambling effect as well.  Sometimes ppl smoke right outside the door which is a huge turn off for a non smoker like me. I dont want to smell smoke at all nor do I want to smell like smoke. That is the only reason this is not a 5 star review. Have a great day and I will see you at Stanley's.

This was quite possibly one of the worst dining experiences we've had in the last 10 years. We had great hopes, the menu online looked wonderful. Our party consisted of 3 adults, a teenager, and two toddlers. We had all pretty much decided what to order from the web, and we were really looking forward to lunch today. However, the menu online is not the restaurants menu. Not at all. So the things that looked exciting we thought of ordering were not on the menu anymore.

We arrived at noon, and were the only people in the restaurant.  As a matter of fact, my husband and I wandered around for well over 5 minutes before the bartender appeared. We sat down, our daughter and three kids arrived shortly after. We were pleasantly surprised with the interior. So far, I was very happy!

We decided to order chicken fingers for the 3 and 4 year old immediately, and then we ordered our food. The chicken took about 15 minutes. We had ordered one burger, one soup of the day, one chicken sandwich, and one turkey sandwich. oh and the fried pickles.

The bartender/server said they had a tomato soup today, and left over chicken soup from yesterday. I asked if it was broth based, and she said she was pretty sure it was, but would let me know. She brought the soup out, and as she handed it to me, said it's cream based. fine, whatever. I tasted the soup, which had more sage in it that the average Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. It was completely inedible.

When the she came to clear dishes, she asked how my still full cup of soup was, and i said not good. She said thanks for letting me know, I won't order it later.

The rest of the food took almost an hour to come out. An hour after the chicken fingers is a really long time. At this point there was another couple, and a few people in the booth behind us. My husband was seriously going to ask for the check so we could find someplace else to have some food..we should have.

The burger was ordered "pink", as my husband was asked if he wanted it pink. It was very well done. The bacon tasted old and nasty. The chicken on the sandwich was completely over cooked.

The fried pickles were truly horrible. And i mean horrible. They were cold and soggy. They tasted like very old oil. Unbelievably bad. I ate one, the 13 yo ate half and the rest sat. Since my lunch consisted of fried pickles and soup, I was pretty hungry when we left. And during all of this we lost the bartender/server. Someone else dropped the food, and we never saw her again until she brought the check.

This was a huge disappointment, and I will never go back. The humorous part was when the bartender dropped the check, she asked if we had a frequent diners card. Not a chance!! There's $70 it pained me to have spent on something so miserable.

THE FOOD IS GREAT. The owner is going for gastro-pub but can't let go of the off-track betting so this place is packed with tv's and even has a large room next door for the gambling.

There is a comfy bar area with more big screens and big ass couches. If there is a DJ it is a bit crowded.

They have room for banquets.

The bar is incredible... literally... it is hand-made on-sight decked out with ornamented trim and leaded glass windows through out. Looks and feels like Ireland.

The beers number close to 100 with some of the most exceptional brews in the tri-state area!!!

Tasty food and tasty beers. Worth checking out if you're near...