Navy Pier Beer Garden

Came here on a Saturday with a few people and had a great time here. Had some drinks, listened to some live music. Saw some drunk people on boats. One even played the bagpipes for all of us. Prime location with a neat view of the city.

A review for the drinks and atmosphere only, as we didn’t get any food while visiting. We stumbled upon the place while hanging out on the Navy Pier and got pretty thirsty along the way. A band was setting up and getting ready to play in about 30 minutes, so we decided to grab a beer. I was surprised at how expensive the beers were, even domestic basic drafts (Bud Light, PBR, etc), heaven forbid I wanted a local beer. But we decided to go for it anyway.
The place was getting a bit busy so it was difficult to find a place to sit. Not only that, but most of the tables clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a while; littered with food particles, wrappers, and spills, but nothing that couldn’t be cleared away ourselves.
In the end, it was a nice little spot to sit and enjoy a beer and some good music, good shade, and people watching.

Great view of the lake from this spot. The food is typical not so good stuff you might see at a bowling alley. The best part is having a decent beer and enjoying the views.

Good beer selection, great view, and dog friendly. It’s a tourist area, but not as crowded on this end.

The views can’t be beat… But the price per little bitty beer is way to high! After reading reviews we decided against grabbing food here.

Nice place at the very end of the pier for you to sit back and enjoy a nice cold alcoholic drink. They have lots of beer on tap. I got the Van Gogh Palm Arnold drink and it was really yummy and refreshing.
The place has 2 bars on both ends and lots of patio seatings for you to rest and soak in the nice view of the Chicago skyline and Michigan Lake. Lots of good music accompanying the view.

Great selection of beers and a great view. Best seats in town for the fireworks. FYI, they card everybody.

I am out to Chicago for my first time. I should have listened to the other reviewers and ordered only the drinks but I was so hungry I had to order something. I didn’t think I’d die from eating the food here. I just thought I’d experience mediocre food. Unfortunately as things turned out, this was not the case.
The view was great. The weather was great. The seating was nice. The waitress was so-​so on knowledge of menu and attentiveness was so so as well. The level of service and her taking my order, I felt like she didn’t increase the enjoyment of the atmosphere but was there «to do a job» like a factory worker doing a job. However I did enjoy sitting at the table and enjoy the view so therefore two years. :) I ordered the Chicago Style Vienna hot dog off the kid’s menu and a Johnsonsville Big Brat. The hot dog tasted decent and it was my first Chicago hot dog so I was happy. The Johnsonville brat was huge and tasted really greasy. there are french fries and fried potato chips that came with the orders respectively but those were on the low end of fries and chips.
I also ordered the draft Lagunista IPA. This must be on the low end of IPA’s as far as taste is concerned.
As soon as I finished eating my food, I started getting a huge amount of gas. Then within 30 minutes getting getting really nauseated and it was difficult just making it back to the car without falling over. By the time I got back to my place, I felt pretty awful and had to sleep it off and then woke up all worn out and wasted my Saturday evening at the hotel instead of going out. I had to take anti-​biotics to kill the food poisoning in order to feel better.

If you hate to feel ripped off — stay away from this place. If you are looking for a drink– check out some breweries or descent bars, because they have a far better selection and more reasonable prices and a better atmosphere. If you are looking to have a bite to eat definitely avoid this place. Ordered tacos and salsa — received a super overpriced… wait for it… tacos and salsa that I could have bought at 7eleven under a brand Tostitos. I am 98% confident that the beer garden uses even a cheaper brand.
Oh… if you want to watch fire works… I am going to disappoint you… the navy pier is not even a great place for doing it. And fireworks are not even that great.
STAY AWAY

As an out-​of-​towner but also someone who hates crowded touristy places, I both loved and hated this place. Great scenic views. Great place for people watching.
If it were not for my buddy/​tour guide I would not have had so much fun. But he made the trip great. We walked everywhere several times until our shoes fell apart and by the end of the day I was exhausted.
I would say even though it gets crazy busy and crowded for people to still come here just to enjoy the great weather and get some fresh air while you can!

Took a trip down into the city for the afternoon Saturday, and hoped to have a yummy bite, recognizing many of the places in this tourist area are chain restaurants. We chose the Beer Garden based on it’s advertised selection of great burgers and beer, and made the walk to the end of the pier both exciting and near starving. :) Although we were sat immediately, and with great views of the water, our waitress and the food that finally arrived were less than mediocre, and sadly took from any positives. I actually questioned if she (waitress) herself had tapped into too much of the beer selection that day, as she not only took our order (after a terribly long wait), then promptly forgot it (she’d written it down and still struggled), then returned much later to ask if we wanted anything!!! She was confused and more than dazed, as we politely smiled, reminding her we had already ordered, and she had taken it; laughing, she riffled through stacks of paper and asked if what she finally pulled out was it, then reported she never put it in, and «that’s why it never came.» Whew. At that point we should’ve just walked. I’ve never in all of my travels and eatings had such a caliber of waitress, nor someone so terribly clueless to our presence. I get bad or off days. This didn’t seem to be it. And the rest of the staff and service really wasn’t much better.
The food… it arrived cold, unfortunately, and really was more a plastic container full of the cheap crinkle fries than anything. My «shrimp» basket was more some microscopic tadpole sized pieces fried atop a mound of French fries which took over. It took another painful wait to be served with the missing sauces in our order, and then to get our check. AGAIN this waitress had no idea as to what to do next and I’m certain had we been those people to have just cleared our own table (which we did) and walk out (which we did NOT); we would’ve never been even accounted for or checked out.
Please, if you’re going to the tourist attractions in this area, either hit one of those chains (they’re not really our thing) or save your hunger for the city where the amazing food choices are endless!

Beautiful atmosphere, clumsy service. Ordinary Beer .If you need to enjoy the waters and a drink to hold on then the place is fine. But do not expect too much.

Saddest part was my wine in a paper cup. But the scenery is good and it’s an easy place to have a snack.

So, while I’m not a huge fan of Navy Pier in general, the Beer Garden was a welcome surprise. I went here with some friends a few weeks ago to see a Smith’s cover band. What a blast! The drinks weren’t cheap, but not nearly as expensive as I expected. The area was relaxing, and the staff was really easy to work with. I’d go again.

The Navy Pier Beer Garden (a.k.a. Landshark Beer Garden) is like a radio station, catch it at the right time it is entertaining, but catch it at other times it is just there.
Twice we caught the Navy Pier Beer Garden (from this point forward referred to as the Beer Garden) when it was entertaining. On Sunday, the sounds of Fortunate Sun, a CCR tribute band led us to the Beer Garden. The Beer Garden is an enjoyable venue to view live acts free of charge. It is outdoors and has sufficient seating and some shade. There are a few concession stands that serve Land Shark, beer, and other beverages. By the way cups of draft beer start at $ 4.75. Not cheap, but far less than the $ 8 beer in a Las Vegas bar.
The Beer Garden is as entertaining as the act playing on the stage. Fortunately for me, Fortunate Sun was entertaining. They looked and sounded like CCR. And so, the Beer Garden was entertaining.
The Beer Garden has a variety of acts that perform on the stage. One day it might be a tribute band, and another it could be Dueling Pianos.
During intermission, the Beer Garden is a nice place to drink a beverage and view the humanity on the Navy Pier and the boats in Lake Michigan. When we were here, we were entertained by the pirate boat.
On Wednesday nights, the Beer Garden is a prime spot to watch the fireworks. On any night, the Beer Garden is an entertaining place to take in a mesmerizing illuminated Chicago skyline over Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, security puts a stop to this entertainment, when they shut down the Navy Pier around 10 P.M. on weeknights.
The Beer Garden is an okay outside hangout spot near the east end of the Navy Pier. If you catch it when there is a great act playing on their stage or at night (especially during fireworks) it transforms into a great outside hangout spot.

The beer garden is a ton of fun. It is at the end of the pier so the view is great. Plus they have a few beer stands, with prices you would expect in a tourist spot. The atmosphere is very fun though and if you are there on a wednesday or Saturday night, the fireworks are a must.
There are usually some very good bands there.

Good dancing music and a sizable crowd for an overcast Saturday afternoon.
We were still able to find a table to listen and watch the festivities.
A walk-​up counter offers a bunch of different kinds of beer (as well as a kiosk right before the tables and crowd start), not cheap but not ridiculous (I’ve paid more…).
Ordered two Coors and listened to a mash-​up, a sub-​par Lady Gaga, and some classics (they should have stuck to the classics).
Definitely a fun atmosphere.

I’m not going to sit here and say Navy Pier is the place to see and be seen in Chicago. It’s mostly tourists, kids, families and suburbanites getting «a taste of Chicago» in the most un-​Chicago environment I can possibly think of in Chicago. Ugh.
However there’s an oasis at the very end of Navy Pier in the form of the Beer Garden.
You’ll get wallet-​raped paying $ 5 for a can of Miller Lite, but $ 5.50 for a Blue Moon? Not bad, my friends. The extra 50 cents is well spent to upgrade to a nice beer over beer flavored water. There’s bags, there’s cute tables, there’s live, free music and possibly my favorite activity ever, extreme people watching. All types here, for sure.
The best part? The view, of course. I swear, there are times when I’m on or near the water and I see the amazing Chicago skyline and I can’t believe I live here. I think, «This is MY city.» And I fall even more in love with Chicago.
So maybe it’s okay sometimes to fall into the tourist traps. They kinda sorta have a way of making me love my city more than ever.

Location of beer garden puts it apart from other places playing live music. The view of the lake is awesome and one can enjoy fireworks on wednesdays and saturdays. The live music is sometimes nice but it depends what kind of music one likes. This place has lots of tourists.
The food and bar close to elevated stage are good enough to grab a drink and quick bite.
Overall a nice place to enjoy with family with lake view.

Ugh, WHY do I keep falling for this place? A friend tells me «free salsa lesson, and the Chicago Mambo Kings!» and I think «caliente!». I grab a hot man to salsa it up with me, and we meet my other darling friend. All good, right?
Wrong.
Packed-​ass dance floor, overpriced weak drinks and too many overfed suburbanites. I like the concept of Navy Pier in general ‘cos it keeps the tourists off Michigan Avenue, but I’ve got to let go of my occasional thought that I might have a good time there.
Navy Pier would be great if it had about 20% less *stuff* packed into it. And my friend hilariously commented that the crew from «What Not To Wear» would go into seizures at the Pier. Not to be confused with the uncivilized couple we saw on the bus, apparently creating their pilot show «Why Not Everyone Needs To Breed»