If you miss the 9pm train back to Chicago your only options to pass the time is Wild Monk. Â This was the one happening (and only open) bar on a La Grange Saturday night. Â Keeping with the cocktail theme we sampled a few signature drinks. Â The Corpse Bride had a slight licorice flavor, not my favorite. Â However the bourbon bacon sour (literally served with a slice of bacon residing in the cocktail) was delicious.
Lots of TVs with multiple games on, huge beer list, and what appeared to be upscale pub food on the menu. Â Open until 1am though by 11:30 the place was practically cleared out.
Husband and I stopped in after 9 PM on a Monday night. The place was relatively empty except for a couple of people sitting at the bar. We were semi-greeted by what appeared to be the only waitress and told we could seat ourselves. The menu is small but had a couple interesting dishes. The beer menu was extensive. Our service was slow as the waitress spent the entire night sitting at the bar. We ordered bacon-wrapped dates to share which were different and tasty but nothing unbelievably special. Husband ordered a pulled pork type sandwich that had an egg and onions on it. The meat was very tender and tasty. He upgraded to the truffle oil fries which were good. I had the spring salad which had sugared walnuts, blue cheese, beets and preserved fruit (which they either forgot about or were out of as my salad lacked them). It was good but again, not amazing. We sat around a good 15-20 minutes after we finished our meals to get our check as the waitress was still sitting at the bar chatting. Overall it was good and I'm sure we will come back on a busier weeknight and try some of their drinks and appetizers. Monday night also happens to be 25% off food night!
Review Source:I actually like this place, and think this is a good definition of a gastropub. Â I have been here twice and always left happy.
The food has always been good and the beers are decent. Â They won't have any hard to find items, however they will have some decent selections that even the snobbiest of beer nerds will agree are worthwhile.
I do wish it was a bit bigger though, it gets extremely crowded on choice evenings.
Pretty solid place in La Grange. Â It's probably the closest thing to a bar that the downtown area of La Grange will get. Â The beer and cocktail menu is pretty good. Â They've got a solid selection of craft beers and are starting to make some nice prohibition style cocktails also. Â
The food is hit or miss. Â I like their chili...they actually make it spicy. Â The jerkey is way too salty for my taste. Â
All in all...a good place to go for a few drinks and a bite to eat.
We celebrated a birthday here.
I had a sofie and a matilda, YUM! Â Great beer menu!
Food was pretty tasty.
Waitress was awesome and totally on top of our large party even though none of us were on the same page! Which as a waitress, I know that can be hard!
We all had a great time!
Our waitress closed us out so she could go home. Wish she could have stayed. The bartender who took care of us the rest of the night was really slow! We weren't ordering anything mixed. Just straight shots and beer!
I will definitely go back!
This gastropub is a nice place to grab a few beers with friends, but food needs some work.
Service - better than average for a busy bar on a Friday night.
Food - mediocre. I didn't finish my BLT (which is telling) and the truffle fries had no truffle flavor (would have been good fries if not advertised as truffle).
Drinks - good selection of American breweries and some imports with almost 20 tap selections.
La Grange might officially be cool again and I know why...
Wild Monk is a great casual warm place filled with top notch service and cozy seating. This place is run by pros...when you get there, you might be told of a short wait (the place was full when I arrived), but we were sat quickly, and kindly brought drinks by the hostess. Her name was Tiffany and she did a great job.
We started with the brussel sprouts. Perfection, and I tell ya, this is coming from a kid who hated brussel sprouts till about age 45. Very nicely done, charred & smoky. Then onto slider bites. A little dry, but cooking burgers that small has it's challenges.
The ambiance here is not for everyone, but I loved it. Sorta sports bar, sorta hipster, pretty good food, rather loud. I went when the hawks were playing, so that had a little to do with the shouting and high fiving. Understood, and appreciated in my own non- jock way.
This little small plate place has me wanting to try every small plate they offer. I predict the Wild Monk needing a bigger monastery soon!
I thoroughly enjoy this placed; far more than when they first opened. The menu has been greatly improved.
Brussels sprouts - delicious. Plus beef jerky, cheese curd grilled cheese sandwiches, crispy fish tacos....Wild Monk has really grown up. This also applies to its beer list, too.
However, the service was achingly slow and markedly understaffed.
I have wanted to try this local place for a while and finally made it. Lets break it down.
The place is nice but the chairs and stools are not comfortable if you're planning to stay a while. Which you might want to do because the game looks good on the flat screens! Of course the beer ain't cheep so you might want to drink slow. We didn't have a problem with the overall sound level. It's a bar after all.
On to the food.
You will read reviews that tout the sprouts. YES, order them!
Beef jerky. Interesting, salty, more crispy than chewy. It was just ok.
Carrot and ginger soup. This was really good. Subtle flavors, creme fresh. Yum!
Truffle fries. These were really good too. I don't usually eat fries without catsup or aoli but we skipped the sauce and loved them.
Gyros. Again a winner! I love them presented with the pita cut into little wedges. Perfect for sharing! The flavor of the meat was quite good. If eat these again.
Steak skewers. Tender and juicy. Good on their own but with the delicious chimichirri sauce, a big win!
Mussels. I love mussels so of course I had to try them. I've never had them with fennel and spicy sausage. The sauce was interesting too because it has beer in it. Nicely served with plenty of toast points for dipping the sauce.
We skipped dessert because they had only one. It did sound good to me but not to my date. It was a type of flan with a slightly spicy sauce. We passed and walked down to DiNiccos for gelato.
So to wrap it up. I really liked Wild Monk and I will go back. I enjoyed the interesting food a lot! The beer was pricy but I love the choices. Oh and our server was friendly and nice. She got all our requests right and quickly.
I'm a fan. Â We recently moved from the city and this place make me feel less sorry for myself because it's like a taste of my old life. Â Good beer list. Â Good brisket sandwich, good bacon-dates, but terrible fish tacos (kimchi was too raw and inedible). Â They DID take it off my bill though, so thumbs up for the service. Â We'll be back.
Review Source:Stopped into this place last weekend for lunch. I was surprised by it.. pleasantly.
The beer section is good.. they have a lot of it. I had a light one.. cant really remember what it was called. Â I asked the waiter for suggestions and he was very knowledgeable and suggested one that I loved.
Our group had several different items from the menu:
Brussels Sprouts (yum), Brussels sprout soup, bacon wrapped dates, lamb lollypops, fish tacos, a burger, and a pork sandwich. I had the pork sandwich and wasn't a fan. There was something about the flavor and smell that made me a little sick. I ended up giving it to someone else at the table and he liked it. Maybe it just wasn't for me. Everyone else really liked their food. We LOVED the Brussels Sprouts soo much (YES.. Brussels sprouts), that after we finished 2 servings of them we ordered a third. They have a maple and bacon flavor. Trust me.. get them.
My wife and I live in the City, but she grew up in LaGrange, so we were excited to try a new, fun place with friends in the burbs. Â Wow, was the food BAD. Â Beer selection was top notch, service was decent, but all four of us had really poor dishes. Â We all have worked in the industry, so I definitely understand when the kitchen has a bad night...but this seems more like the opposite: when the night has a bad kitchen
Mussels - watery, flavorless broth. Â Crumbled sausage had zero flavor because it was water-logged
Truffle Fries - undercooked, soft, and limp, and cold
Salad - soggy with dressing (must have been sitting a while waiting for other food)
Fish tacos - just bad. Â No flavor, watery. Â Hot sauce on coleslaw over bland fish.
Chicken Pot Pie - Boring biscuits on top of chopped up mirepoix of carrots and celery with slices of dry chicken.
Bacon-Wrapped Dates - surprisingly, these were actually pretty good - a little grisly, but good flavor.
All this and a beer each came out to $130. Â To top off the night, on the way out, i politely asked the female bartender (who was not busy at the time) if she wouldn't mind filling up my pregnant wife's water bottle from the tap - cue the eye roll and the deep breath...get over yourself, its LaGrange!
We were really hoping this place would be way better, maybe bring a cool new vibe to that stretch of shops on LaGrange Road, but we probably won't be back simply because the value is WAY short of the cost and all our meals missed the mark.
I emailed the restaurant with my thoughts (very respectfully) on our experience...waited a week and never heard back.
Meh. That's it, just meh.
The chef that I work with suggested we come here for a bears game and I was more than a little disappointed, in as much as his culinary opinion as the food here. The only thing memorable was the brussels sprouts, and since I'm relatively sure no one has ever said that before, I probably could've left that out.
And my god the grease! I've seen less fried food at state fairs. Decent beer though...
This will be a short review. Â I have mixed feelings about this place. Â Can't decide if I like it and Wild Monk can't decide what it wants to be.
Pros:
Beer...nice selection
Peanuts....yummy
Cons:
Food...pricey,everything doesn't have to be fried.
Noise level.....too loud
Atmosphere.....blah
It's another option in the area for watching sports and drinking beer.
Wild Monk is a serious gem for the suburbs. Especially if you don't want to hike all the way downtown for a place with a great beer selection and yummy food.
It's located right next to Lagrange Movie Theatre, which is always a good before-or-after movie spot. Not to mention the tickets are cheap at the theatre, so you can spend a little more on food/beer.
They have a large selection of craft beers, it changes pretty often, so I try something different every time. I usually ask what the server recommends and get it... haven't been disappointed yet. Make sure you check the price though... some of the microbrews are 'special' and can go over 10 bucks for one beer.
The nachos are a must have. I'm not a big fan of cauliflower, but I actually like it on these nachos. You should know that they give you a lot for an appetizer, so it could be a whole meal for some. But ughhh, beer cheese. I would eat it on everything if I could.
I'm a sucker for pork belly, so I order the pork belly BLT, which is delicious. The mix between the peppery arugula and sweet tomato jam (I think that's what it is?) is divine. Oh! And substitute the fries for truffle fries... yum!
The brisket sandwich is really good too. They add a runny egg on top... I'll eat anything with an egg on top of it.
The crowd is a strange mix. I've seen everything from families with kids dining at the tables to younger 20-something's. Not a huge fan of hightop community seating though. Last time I went I was seated next to a drunk older woman who felt the need to comment on our beers and make awkward conversation. No thanks.
My second visit to Wild Monk was this past Saturday with my husband. We had run a few errands, it was a grey, cold day, and we were a wee bit hungry. During my first visit I didn't sample any food, so I was looking forward to doing so. We sat at the bar, and I ordered a flight of beer. Steve, the bartender, asked me to name one beer I like and he took it from there. That guy know his stuff! He poured me 4 excellent beers, one being my current new favorite - La Fin Du Monde. We ordered the brussel sprouts and the gyro plate. Gyro plate was ok; the lamb was a little dry. But those brussel spouts - hot damn I could have put away 3 more servings of those beautiful little cabbages. Order those and don't worry about a thing - you'll love them. I look forward to going back and trying other menu items. And hopefully Steve will be there to be my brew guide! See ya in 2013!
Review Source:This place has really stepped it up since their opening, so they deserve yet another review singing their praises. Wild Monk has become our default date night spot and we've been thrilled with the food and the service each time we've returned. The beer selection is amazing, even though they occasionally run out of our first choices, and the appetizers...my god.
That's what we usually do: we load up on a few of their delicious appetizers. Their gyros have ruined me for all gyros until the end of time, and their nachos, with the delicious pickled veggies... (I KNOW! PIckled veggies on nachos!) AMAZING. The mussels, the chicken wings, everything's been really great. This is definitely one of our favorite restaurants in the area.
Okay, there's kind of a douchey vibe there that isn't really our scene, and we're the least sports-bar people out there, but honestly? We love this place.
We headed here for lunch this past March and I am STILL stewing over how much I hated this place, so I figured I'd write a review. Â In short, if you love overpriced, poor quality food then this is the place for you. Â Went with my husband and a friend for lunch. Â We started with the corn bread - which is supposed to be their specialty appetizer - and found it a bit burnt and completely flavorless. Â I had a burger, which was by far the best of our three entrees, but wasn't really anything special. I can't remember what my husband had, but our friend had the fish and chips. Â His face fell when they brought the plate - there were four teeny tiny fish sticks on the plate, and a few fries. Â He wasn't looking for a huge three-person-serving portion of food, but enough that would fill him up for lunch, which this was not.
Add two beers and a glass of water for drinks and the bill came to $70-something. Â
Did I mention service was lackluster as well? Â Never going back, and we live about two blocks away. Â I scowl at this place every time I walk by.
My internal monologue:
"I'm not really hungry."
"But these nachos I'm stuffing in my face are delicious, with all their beer cheese, pickled veggies, and braised 'meat'."
"Now I'm DEFINITELY not hungry."
"But the pork belly tacos sound great too. I can probably manage one of those. Or three of them."
Good beer gives me an appetite, and Wild Monk had a great selection of drafts and bottles. Our server was good, and while there were loads of big TVs showing sports, I managed to sit facing none of them and so my sports-related ire was kept to a minimum.
Wild Monk is a very short walk from the La Grange Road Metra station, and makes an excellent meeting place for suburbanites and carless city dwellers.
We went for a quick bite and a few beers on a Sunday at about 6pm and the place was pretty empty with just a few bellied up to the bar watching the game. Â
Cool decor, dark and intimate, good service. Â Lots of brews to choose from, nice compact menu tapas style mostly. Â
We had the dates, which were great definitely the stand out, the Spring Salad (I could've eaten two very tasty), the prosciutto flat bread was popular although I didn't try it, and the cornbread was small and just meh. Â Entrees were pork belly tacos (just ok), Chicken Pot Pie (no good), Chicken sandwich and pulled pork sandwich -- both of those were a hit. Â I might go back to have a beer and try something else, or just order that salad again -- yum.
Wild Monk seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis, but it's a delicious one, at least.
The space is sort of half sleek gastropub, half local sports bar -- big TVs at one end that clash with the rest of the aesthetic.
Sunday night was a good time to go for a chill Wild Monk experience with some friends. We had tasty food, good service and  good music that wasn't too loud to talk over.
The beer menu is pretty extensive* and the food menu offers some tasty options.
We had:
- cornbread -- delicious, hot, but not very big (maybe 4" diameter?)
- veggie tacos -- goat cheese is delicious. the veggies were well cooked.
- burger and cajun fries - my husband enjoyed his burger thoroughly and I snagged a few of his tasty fries (well cooked, well seasoned)
- nachos -- lots of cheese, good chips, pickled veggies were interesting, not quite your typical nachos
and a fair amount of drinks, too. I also snagged a few of my friend's truffle fries, and she seemed to enjoy her BLT quite a lot, while her man devoured his pork belly tacos.
There were a few small snags. I asked the waitress to bring out the cornbread first and then put our food orders in, but instead we got our main plates first and the cornbread as a side. Overall though, service was pretty good.
*She also seemed to have a weird idea of what "hard cider" is and said "well, it's not HARD hard"... it's not hard liquor, but it is hard cider. It seems funny to me that a place known for its beer list hasn't gotten on the hard cider wagon yet.
I will also say that it seems a bit pricy -- I'm not sure the tiny cornbread was worth $9, for instance -- but I guess it's the whole "gastropub" thing, eh?
It's not my favorite place in this category, but it was a good place for some bites, drinks, and lots of conversation with cool people.
We went here on a Friday night and enjoyed ourselves. Â We got there around 6 and would definitely recommend going around this time or calling to see if they take reservations. Â Although the waiting time for a table didn't seem terribly long, the opposite side of the bar seemed loud and crammed compared to the side that we sat on with the bench.
Our waitress was very attentive and helpful in explaining the menu and concept of the bar.
After reading everyone rave about the bacon wrapped dates, we had to try. Â I think the combination was good in theory but the bacon was a bit over-powered by the sweetness and mushy feeling of the date. Â I wasn't a huge fan due to the texture of the date. Â For the entree, I had the pork belly tacos. Â They were delicious and I didn't think I would like the pineapple salsa on top, so I ordered it on the side, but the salsa definitely completed the taste of the taco. Â My date had a burger. Â I'm not sure what it was called but it had a fried egg, horseradish and some other things on it. He said that it was pretty fantastic. Â
The draft beer selection was decent. Â I created my down flight of four beers to start. Â I also ordered several other beers to try. Â The most memorable beer would be the banana bread beer. Â It was delicious!
My date enjoyed the variety of Rye beers. Â He said they were tasty and comparable to others that he had.
I will consider going back to this place again for a night out or appetizers/light dinner.
Great beer selection but sadly some of the best beers weren't in stock any longer so it took the date awhile to settle on a drink.
We went on a Friday night at around 9:30 and the place was full, at around 11 it started dying down. Parking was easy, bathrooms were clean, and bartenders were great as well as the waitress that was walking around. Her table offered to buy my date and I drinks because they thought we were a cute couple, which was a first for both of us so it was a nice gesture so I'll add great patrons as well.
Went here with Dana G for a "Vino VanGogh" Painting event, which is a whole 'nother review in itself = AMAZING....
So the bar, right, that's what we're here for...
The servers were really good, very nice and patient especially for people like me who get handed a beer list full of crafty-goodness and can not make a decision! Â I had two different ones, a Founders, and I can't remember the first one. Â But both delicious! Â I am so excited that this bar is here! Â I never knew til now! Â
The food we had later was good. Â Wasn't disappointed at all. Â
A little on the pricier side, but the beer is worth it if you want to enjoy craft beer outside of bed *cough* home... Ok, yeah, I have a beer in bed sometimes when I'm winding down with my Netflix. No big.
But the experience was a positive one. Â And sometimes, when drinking, if that's all you can remember, then it must be good!
Finally decided to hit this place over the weekend.
5 people at the bar when we entered midday Saturday. We took a seat by the windows. Our conversation noting the decor was interrupted regularly by the squeaky stools. The interior is dark and punctuated by clusters of flatscreen TV's. A variety of sports programming was on. Not too loud.
After about 5 minutes, again with us being the only ones at the tables. Menus were brought over. The menu was not as diverse foodwise as I expected. One slider for $3? Do the math on what two would cost and how that would still put a dent in an appetite. $15 for lobster mac? Sounds like a bit much, and I'm not sure that sounds very good with a beer. We asked about the habanero chicken wings- they weren't ready. After all that, we opted for truffle fries.
A delicate dish was brought out with more salt than fries. Thank goodness we still had most of our beverages. We needed it to kill the saltiness of the fries.
This place is an upscale sports bar priced to keep out the undesirables.
Nice-looking from the exterior. Nice selection of beers.
Keep walking north and go to Palmers Place.
Hit this place a few months back on a Saturday and was not impressed. Seems like a  Wicker Park Hipster bar smack dab in downtown LaGrange.
Place was packed to a point where you couldn't even walk around. Beer selection is very good but pricey.
If you can't make it out to Wicker Park and you're a hipster this is your place, otherwise skip it.
Ugh, where do I even begin...?
My best friend and I came here on a Friday night. We were already pretty sauced from drinking at a restaurant down the street, so naturally we decided to drink some more!
We got here pretty late, probably no earlier than 11pm. The outside tables were totally full so we opted for two stools at the bar. We were served pretty quickly and I was happy for a bartender who could recommend a tap beer that he thought I'd enjoy by me naming popular beers I liked. My friend ordered some sort of martini, which if I remember correctly, she said she enjoyed.
Here's where things go downhill...
First, although I appreciated the bartender's recommendation, he seemed to have some sort of elitist attitude that seemed out of place for a suburban bar in a sleepy town.
The second WORST thing about this bar is the female bartender (I don't know her name, but she was the only female staff there on this Friday night).
There were several "kids" in the bar, and by "kids" I mean college kids, newly 21, who were drunk and having a good time. Considering that I get annoyed pretty easily, I was actually getting a kick out of this college group; they were lively and funny and clearly having a good time together. Sure, they were being loud and I guess for a suburban bar in a sleepy town they might have been a little annoying to me had I been more sober.
Cue the female bartender that I will refer to as, Bartender-zilla, or BZ for short.
One of the college kids sat next to me to order a round for him and his friends. At some point he and I struck up a conversation and at some point he decided to comment to me on BZ, that she was a bad bartender or something of the sort. The college kid never made a derogatory reference about her or to her, just made a comment in passing, to me.
BZ hears this comment and spins around, hands on her hips and begins yelling (literally YELLING) at the college kid saying, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT ME?! You will not talk about me that way!" and then goes on some INSANE yelling rampage. She then begins to threaten the college kid, loudly talking to her fellow staff about how she was going to "call her husband" to "kick his ass", meaning the college kid.
Is this seriously happening?
I was horrified. BZ kept going on and on, degrading the college kid, continuing to threaten for her husband to come up and kick everyone's ass and so on. At some point my friend told me that the manager made a "knock it off" sign to her. What the manager SHOULD have done was pull her from the bar and tell her to go home for the night.
I get that maybe these kids had been there all night drinking, probably growing more and more obnoxious, but if the kids were really THAT bad, security should have asked them to leave. So, clearly the group of kids were really just any normal group of drunks on any normal Friday night. Whatever BZ's problem with this group was should have been handled between her and her manager quietly, up to and including someone else taking over as the group's bartender.
I will NEVER ever return to this bar, ever. BZ's wildly inappropriate response to the drunk college kids was enough for me to write this joint off forever.
Listen, if you can't hack drunk college kids, you shouldn't be a bartender, PERIOD. I rather head down the street and have drinks at a dive bar and pay $3 less a drink than drink here ever again.
The beer selection here is great, what I'd expect to find from a gastropub. Unfortunately the food was underwhelming.
The draft beers come from an advanced dispensing system where they rinse the glass immediately before pouring, and then bottom-fill the glasses from special taps. They have the correct nitro dispensing stout tap as well on the far left side (I think they had a milk stout on tap when I was there). Prices are *reasonable* at ~$5/pint. What I'd expect to pay in a place/space this nice.
The decor is a little dark on the inside, I was there for an early dinner so they might have been saving the electricity for when it got dark. The bar stool squeaked quite loudly when I turned to get up, kind of with an annoying fingernails against chalkboard tone. The bathrooms were neat and tidy, and the patio looked inviting even though I sat at the bar.
The food I just ordered off the "small plate" menu. let me clarify that they really do mean small plates. At $3.50 for a single lamb slider (which was lukewarm, but tasty), I hardly would consider this "gastropub" faire. I also had the cornbread small plate, which was more of a creamy fritter, and not so much in the category of bread.
Look up gastropubs around the US (I've personally enjoyed Victoria's south of Baltimore MD, and Deagan's in Lakewood, OH), and you're given images of ample, simple, GOOD food. I think Deagan's would laugh at the thought of a "small plate" menu at a gastropub. So if it isn't a gastropub, what is it? I think it's more along the line of "american fusion", just with a better beer menu.
Came here for craft beer week to try out the Dogfish Head My Antonia tapping (DELICIOUS by the way...I usually hate lagers but this one was the bomb. Â Lots of hops but still crisp. Â YUM.) and we ordered some food to soak up all the beer too. Â (Their beer list is amazing, by the way. Â There's even a special page dedicated to Midwest craft brewers and it's arranged by beer type. Â Awesome.)
The food was pretty good too. Â Maybe I'm not that picky or maybe I don't have a refined enough palate to decide if the food is gastropub worthy, but I liked it. Â I got the beef slider, the lamb slider, and the braised lamb poutine. Â OHMAHGAHD THE POUTINE. Â It was SO good. Â Salty, sweet, savory, loaded with meat and cheese and carbs...just perfect. Â The burgers were decent too, but nothing compares to that poutine. Â My husband ordered an artLESS burger and ended up with the artFUL burger (this was just the end of the service issues...nothing huge, but it took FOR EV ER to get our order down [we were asked three times] and then took forever for it to come out), but it was all good (anything is better whilst drinking craft beer. Â Write that down.) Â He was more upset that it came well done instead of medium. Â Meh.
Overall, I wouldn't come here for the stellar food selection or the service, BUT the beer more than makes up for it. Â If you're in LaGrange, it's worth a stop.
This place is fantastic. We've been here twice now and definitely we plan to go more often... it and Prasino (across the street) are our go-to places for great food.
Their beer selection is top-notch and the servers really know their beers... ask any of them about any beer and chances are they know it and can describe it, etc.
The menu is compact but wow is it flavorful... not your ordinary pub food at all. Some things to suggest to you:
- bacon wrapped dates
- Brussels sprouts with Bacon jam
- Pork-belly BLT... omg amazing!
- chili chocolate mousse (so tasty)
Great atmosphere, not pretentious at all... a fine place to go... about the only other thing to mention is that it really isn't a family place... not setup for that so please don't go expecting a family dinner, in my opinion.
Was here on a packed Friday night and I liked it a lot.
The night we went they were having a seat shortage. And not like "oh we're packed" but like "what happened to the chairs" type of chair shortage. So it took us a second to get seated while they found chairs. But once we got seated it was on!
I loved the food. I didn't really like that the food menu was so limited but it was good. But that's not what brought me here. I wanted to try the left hand milk stout off the tap. It was totally worth it! After I tried that everything else was a bonus.
Bonus 1: the brussel sprouts were really good. A little greasy but the flavor was undeniable.
Bonus 2: the dates were meaty, sweet, salty and delicious! Very rich so make sure you share.
Bonus 3: the service was good. The waiter def knew his stuff (not that there was a lot of food to memorize).
All in all pretty good experience. Although I probably won't be visiting this place in the summer when Palmer Place's beer garden is back in full swing. But in the meantime wild monk it is!
Very cool new addition to the La Grange strip! Â Wild monk has some really cool and cozy decor with probably the nicest bar on the strip. Â Everything we tried was superb including the free japanese peanuts that are available for self-serve on the back wall of the restaurant.
We definitely will be back to try more menu items!
Remember when Mom cooked dinner and you cried and moaned about the Brussel Sprouts? Mine typically sat in the corner of my mouth unchewed. Â While I attempted not to gag from the disgustingness of them near my throat.
Well, pleasantly surprised to say I would eat the ones here again. Â Very tasty, with a smoky, yet salty, yet sweet flavor. Delish. Bacon wrapped dates pretty tasty as well. Â
Underwhelmed  by the pretzels and cheese. Â
Good spot for a beer after work, as this place caters to beer drinkers. Â I tried a few cocktails and they didn't really knock my socks off. Â Wine portions smallish as well. Like I said, good place for some specialty brews and for a few nicely concepted appetizers.
Being a big fan of Belgian beers and "gastro pub" type food, I was very excited about the Wild Monk opening in LaGrange. Me and 2 of my buddies decided to head over and try as much of the menu as we could and enjoy some quality beer.
The beer is definitely the best thing about the Wild Monk. Â I didn't see any issue with the noise level as a lot of people have brought up. Â Service was fairly attentive and friendly and the TV layout was nice but its all down hill from there.
If you are going to go there to watch an entire game keep in mind that you will be sitting on bare metal stools that look like they had the padding taken off them. After half a football game none of us could feel our rear ends. Â
We started with the braised beef nachos. Â As another poster had mentioned, it consisted of cold tortilla chips covered with some taco bell looking and tasting meat which was also cold. Â There was so little cheese on them we had to ask for extra.
The homemade jerkey was as thin as a slice of paper and tasted like it too. The worst jerkey I have ever had in my life. Â I appreciate the effort to make it homemade but clearly need to work on it before serving it to people.
The pretzels consisted of a small cast iron bowl with about 8 little pieces of pretzel about the size of a quarter and the same cheese that came on the nachos.
The burger was very average and for the price, has nothing on a couple of the other downtown LaGrange establishments.
The two redeeming dishes were the cornbread, which was very moist and flavorful. Â A good amount of cheese and a nice kick from the jalapeno. Â Reminded me of Chuck's in Burbank. Â The other was the bacon jam brussel sprouts which was an amazing sweet and savory dish. Â A 5/5 for sure. Brussel sprouts were cooked perfectly and the bacon jam complimented them very well.
And before more people post that this is a bar and doesn't need to have decent food, remember they are billing themselves as a "gastro pub" which also means they need to be serving some quality pub food to go along with their great beer selection.
Wild Monk did not disappoint. Here is a quick rundown: contemporary decor, plenty of TVs for sports fans, attentive, friendly service, great beer, good food, and uncomfortable bar stools.
Wild Monk's beer list boasts a high quantity of high-quality brews in all different styles - it would satisfy any beer lover.
The food is perfect for the contemporary, neo-pub concept. Â They seemed to move away from small plates, which is not a big deal. Â Home-style fries are not my favorite, but let's move on - please see below for a list of what I ate and a brief review of each item.
Beer: Southern Tier's Oak Barrel Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA, draught - A delicacy among IPA lovers and a rare find, indeed! At an incredibly reasonable price! They also had Double Daisy Cutter, for you Half Acre fans.
Nachos - You will think they are ordinary...until you taste them. Â The beer cheese and marinated beef are tied together by the wonderful, tangy vinegar flavor of the giardiniera. Â Would definitely order again.
Grass-Fed Beef Burger - You can recognize that it is grass-fed beef, immediately. Â The beef is first seasoned, then turned into a patty, which I love. Â Great sage flavor that mixes well with the smoked lettuce and savory mushroom ketchup. Will also order again.
Beef Brisket Monte Cristo - Hmm...Was it good? Yes. Â Will I ever eat one again? No. This has nothing to do with the Wild Monk...It has to do with eating a deep-fried french toast sandwich stuffed with delicious braised beef, onions, and melted cheddar cheese. It's clearly not good for you, but it's definitely worth a try. Â Additionally, the bread is sprinkled with powdered sugar and cracked sea salt, which somehow worked well with the rest of the flavors.
Overall, delicious, avant garde pub food, a welcoming, trendy atmosphere, nice people, and awesome beer. I'll be back.
Finally a Bar (sort of) in Downtown La Grange!! As soon as I found out that there was a bar (with tons of tv's to watch the games)...I knew I had to check it out. So of course we went on their first Friday evening/night. We got there just in time to get the last two seats by the bar...Right after we were seated the place got packed....
The place looks great...clean and trendy atmosphere...much nicer than most bars or "pubs". They had the games on and music but it wasn't too loud.
The beer list is long and they were nice enough to give us a sample of two beers. Our waiter warned us that the food was a tapas style so that we would get our plates whenever they were done...we were not going to get all our plates at the same time....which I thought was nice "warning".
The french fries & the aoili sauce were very good...along with the nachos. I was told that the porkbelly sandwich was absolutely delicious. Everyone around us also seemed to be enjoying the food.
The beer prices were average....and we had friendly waiter....
The only downfall is that my drink was over priced...I never spent that much on a bloody mary before. Next time I will just order beer. :-)
This place could definitely be my new neighborhood hangout!
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