Monty Gaels

Our favorite local go to. The brunch menu is a hidden secret. And their fruit bowl (NO JOKE) is the best in the city for kids and adults alike. Berries galore all year long. Not a warm mound of melon. We joke all the time that it’s the best in the city, but it really is.
Beer selection is great. The staff is always smiling.
I also love the pretzels and the cheese dip. Mmmm.
I often have our kids with us and we always feel welcomed!

Wife had the pear chicken salad. Chicken was rubbery and she had diarrhea for the rest of the night. I had the turkey burger, nothing special. Service was meh.

Really like this place. Service is always excellent (including being accommodating for a one year old). Menu has standard bar items with some interesting twists. (The Juicy Lucy is a hamburger patty stuffed with mac and cheese, a heart attack on a bun, but very tasty.) Very diverse beers on tap. Menu also has poutine and cheese curds, which are great to snack on while watching a game. Never been in the place when it is busy and there are lots of TVs, so never had a problem getting a TV turned to a game I am interested in watching.

Stay away, this place is addicting! It has the most amazing prosciutto flat bread. I’m a fan of their soups and cocktails as well.
At times this place can get busy and loud but the service is always good and timely. I’m definitely going to be coming back, the flatbread has me hooked.

When all you want is a warm cozy spot to post up and have a great laugh with friends, fuled by the great staff here, you will always find what you want.
The ambiance is warm, cozy, and inviting. The drinks never go empty. And when you need a bit of sustenance, their menu can fulfil many desires.
Hint* The conversation here will make you feel like a regular within minutes.

Ducked in here on a Friday night because I was in the mood for fish and chips. I didn’t expect much from a bar, but I was wrong. That was some of the best fried fish I’ve had: perfectly and tastily battered and served with an excellent tartar sauce. The outside was wonderfully crispy while the flakey fish was piping hot all the way through. Now I know where to go on Friday nights.

Sat ourselves outside. The tables were pretty filthy. Asked for napkins & cleaned it ourselves. Nothing against the waiter, he got the job done but didn’t leave an impression. I had a van the man drink which was OK. And a Kale salad that had cheese nuts and strawberries — it looked beautiful but lacked flavor. Instead of strawberries I would have picked tangerines or anything a little citric.
The good about it — the outside seating is nice & the service was fast — we weren’t kept waiting for the drinks or food.

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed by Monty Gaels without giving it a second thought. Yesterday after leaving the Ravenswood Artwalk, my husband and I were looking for a place we could sit outside and have some beers and lunch. At this time of year I’m always worried each weekend will be the last warm enough for patio weather. We saw the sign for Monty Gaels in the distance and once the patio came into view it was settled.
We sat out on the patio and it was just almost too cold. The patio is positioned so it doesn’t get that much sunlight which I’m sure is nice in July but not so much in September. Anyway, can’t fault them for breezy weather. They have a decent beer selection and we both got some Begyle Blond. The service was super fast but we were the only two people on the patio.
For an appetizer, we had the cheese curds and they were nice and crispy but nothing out of the ordinary. We got them on special and I wouldn’t have paid nine dollars for them. For lunch, I had the Tavern burger and my husband had the hickory. The burgers were huge. I hate when I pay ten plus bucks for a burger and I’m still hungry. These were so big I couldn’t finish my fries. Overall I liked my burger but it’s not the best in the area. My husband’s was as big as his head and we took a picture to prove it. Somehow he managed to eat the whole thing. This is a fun little pub with good service and decent beer and food. Give them a try the next time you’re in Northcenter with some friends.

Cool looking interior. Great to grab a beer and watch a game but I don’t think I’ll ever eat here again. The food sounds great from the description in the menu but my wife, kids and I ate here and everything was gross. We didn’t even eat half of what we ordered and the bill was $ 55. The «baked» macaroni and cheese, is more like bland shells and cheese out of a box. Not good. The sweet potato tater tots sounds great but they were mushy and gross. My daughter had the kids chicken nuggets and fruit and the fruit had mold all over it.
Definitely not a place you want to eat at.
Grab a beer or steer clear!

Been here a handful of times, and each time the food seems to get worse! We were with our kids — got the sausage app and kettle chips app. Sausage was bland, served with some sort of cuke purée, BBQ sauce (with sausage??) and mustard. Kind of eewww. Even my kids were put off by the kettle chips — it’s nachos (cheese, bacon, sour cream) but on… Kettle chips. Which is, frankly, kind of nasty.
The corned beef sandwich we split was just ok, my kid’s buffalo chicken wrap was too spicy for her eat, and the kids’ menu chicken tenders were fine. We’ve had other disappointing meals here, too…
I should point out we’ve been to their other locations — Mystic Celt, Emerald Loop — and all was well. For some reason, this particular location can’t get it together, food-​wise, I guess.
The wine was great, and their outdoor patio rocks in the summer, and the waitstaff was pleasant and efficient. Just won’t be back with the kids to eat in the future.

We walked in, no one greeted us. We stood there for a few and then decide to seat ourselves. There were only about 5 other customers inside and a few outside. We stayed for about five more minutes, no one came to us or acknowledged us at all so we left

Open late inside! Good food great ambiance. The patio closes early. Had an adorable Irish server who was super friendly and helpful! This is the second time we’ve gone on this trip to Chicago

I’ve been coming here with my dad almost weekly for the past two years for the Wednesday 10 dollar main special. We almost always get something different with the exception of the butternut soup which I adore (it is no longer on the menu… Please bring back!)
But everything that comes out of the kitchen is exceptional!
Today we tried the tilapia off the updated menu and it was absolute perfection. According to my dad every part of the dish was excellent.
I also highly recommend the tomato bisque which I will have now in place of the butternut.
Service is always accommodating, especially for my father who can be incredibly picky and irritable. Our server Connor actually changed the music for us after my dad complained. Lol.
Food and service aside the interior is elegant, I would definitely bring a date here!

I love monty’s the food is amazing and the staff is very friendly. The tacos al pastor there must be the best in town. Good selection of beer with plenty of TVs to catch a game or just sit outside and enjoy the weather in the patio. I’ve never left monty’s disappointed.

Hanging on a Sunday afternoon stumbled across Monty Gaels in my hungover state, in very bad need of a glass of cider. I wanted an anger orchard but the cute bartender kev promoted me to try an Irish cider magners. Wow how have I never tried this before :)
Great bar with very nice food and friendly staff I will definitely stop in again if I’m in the area!

Awful.
Our experience here was so bad I don’t even want to go into great detail. Food (Brunch) was slow, cold, and overcooked. Drinks (Bloody Marys) were terrible, watered down and had no flavor, despite being advertised as «spicy.» Tasted like ketchup. The. Worst.
Service was slow– but in their defense they were grossly understaffed. At least our waitress took one of our meals off the tab; we barely touched both of them, they were THAT bad. Maybe we just came here on an off day but we will never be going back; there are too many awesome spots on the north side to waste time going back someplace that wasn’t amazing.

Really happy I tried this place out!
First off, super cute inside with holiday decorations. Love that. It was just a friend and I, and we sat at the bar. The bartender was extremely nice and very helpful. We got the beer special ($ 4.50 porters, I believe), and the cheese curd special, as well as the Bavarian pretzels.
Everything was SO good. Food came out quickly and the cheese curds and pretzels were just amazing. I think the cheese dip was a beer cheese also? It was really good. So good my friend then got the grilled cheese (can you tell we like cheese?), and was extremely happy with that. And though it was getting pretty late on a Sunday, we were having such a pleasant time that we stuck around for another round.
I’m very excited to come back here. And if anything, they have great specials every day, so that should be enough of a reason to check this place out.

I went in on a Friday night around 10pm. Had a few drinks with a couple friends. We were the only ones there except one of the staff who stayed after their shift was over and the remaining bartender’s rude friend. The guy behind the bar was a 40 something bald guy with a beard and an axe to grind.
Sometime after midnight the place was empty except for my small party. I politely asked if I could use my electronic cigarette since there was no one else there. A kind «no thank you» would have been fine, but rather the bartender snapped, «Well, I’M here.» He promptly went to the computer and printed our check as if to ask us to leave.
How rude. No wonder the place was empty. NEVER going back.
RIP Bowmans.

The law of probabilities does not apply in Monty gaels establishment for if there are two employees and two customers, only one gets served. Ok at some point I did get served but it was like ten min after I sat down. Two stars are for the well made cocktail I got to sip on while I waited for a tow.

I came here with a friend to catch up. We are trying new places in all different neighborhoods in Chicago so thought we’d give it a try. We found free street parking next to Welles Park, so we stopped at the closest place, which was Monty Gaels. The interior was beautiful. Soft bar stools, nice ambiance, and even some TVs if you wanted to watch something (sports were on). We noticed a woman had her baby with her in the bar, and thought it was a nice thing to see, although we thought it was late to have a baby at the bar still at 9:15pm.
I was debating between the grilled cheese and the ham and cheese and the server recommended I get the ham and cheese. My friend got the fish and chips which were on special for $ 10. Our angry orchard ciders were $ 6. The food came out really fast and my sandwich was really really good. It came with a side salad and the house lemon dressing was really delicious. I sampled my friend’s fish supper and it was also tasty. Our server was friendly and great and she even brought a lot of water as well!
One thing we did notice is how empty the place was. Drinks here are on the pricey side! Their cocktails were between $ 8-​$ 10. I was really surprised to see such high prices for a neighborhood pub. They do have drink and food specials every night, so i suppose you’d have to come on the $ 5 wine nights instead.
Overall, we had a great time, but if I come back, I would rather come on a weeknight when they have the $ 2 tacos and $ 5 wine. $ 23 for a ham sandwich and a cider on a Friday night was just too expensive for me.
This place would be great to have a date though, especially is someone else was paying!