Arrived in a Friday night about 6:30. Place was bustling. Hostess took my name and we went to the bar for a drink. After over 15 minutes I had to flag down the bartender. "You want a drink?" Yeah. Another 10 minutes go by and I turn around and there are 4 empty tables and a couple walks in and gets seated right away. We flag down the hostess who now is playing bartender by filling mugs with foam. "Sit anywhere". Really? We wait another 10 minutes and go back up to the bar and ask the hostess, still filling glasses with foam, if we can get a waitress. Food order. 60 minutes go buy. She brings me a pizza with the wrong ingredients. I know Chiefs has changed ownership a few times since Chuck, but oh my god! I've been coming here since it was opened but sadly this will be my final visit. read more

Chief's Pub - American Near Me - Lake Forest, Illinois

Chief's is your good old-fashioned neighborhood bar. Started by a previous fireman chief, this family friendly place serves typical bar food. You'll spot families with their kids here as well as guys catching a game and having a beer. Shoot -- my husband and I have even caught some of the World Cup soccer games here (not the most popular sport in the States) but they had it on. The service can be slow at times but come on -- you're at a bar people! Also, don't expect fine cuisine. Again, you're at a bar people! But do expect a great burger and BBQ chicken. It's a terrific place to meet up with friends in a casual setting or grab a relaxed dinner with the kiddies. read more

Delicious! The food was amazing, and the service was top class! Very busy place, but our server was on it! 10/10 will visit again! read more

Chief's Pub - a bar with a lot of liquor - American Near Me - Lake Forest, Illinois

Pretzel bun with the burger was good. Cheese curds were solid. The molten lava cake was fantastic. The pizza.. I just would avoid. It's very heavy on the sauce, and the sauce itself is very heavy on the onions. Just an OK thin crust with way more sauce than you'd expect. I'm sure some like it, but just be aware if you're expecting standard Chicago-style thin-crust bar pizza.. It's a ways off from that. Overall it's pretty decent, would come back and try some more options. read more

Good food, great service! Had takeout from here and was ready in time. Looked like good crowd inside.

Don't go if you have a big party. In town for my sons graduation at LFC. Called ahead & yes it was last min. Asked if they had room for 25-30 people. They Said yes , so we went. Got there, they wanted us to put everything on one bill. Even know we where willing to give them a credit card for each family 5 family total. Wouldn't work with us at all. Probably lost $2000 in sales but they would not accommodate us at all. So we went down street to Lantern they took care of us & made a ton of $$$. Have two sons, who are football players & attend LFC. Won't ever return to this place & other family will know also. read more

I was really looking forward to ordering the wing special and was pleased to find out you could get $1 wings even for takeout. Unfortunately, after driving 20 mins to get there and 20 mins back, realized that I only had been given 1/4 of the wings I paid for. After calling back, I drove there again and picked up the remaining (now very cold) wings. I get that accidents happen, but one of these things should have taken place: 1) been given a fresh set of wings that were recently prepared 2) literally any kind of compensation (a free app?) 3) a manager's acknowledgment that the mess up happened. Now over 1.5 hours later, our fries are completely soggy and our wings are cold. read more

I ordered for the first time from Chief's today. I used Grubhub delivery. We ordered a large pizza & calamari. The pizza was cold. I was not a fan of the sauce or cheese quality. My kids both took 1 bite and didn't like it either. Now I have an entire $30 pizza no one likes for our weekly pizza night. Fortunately the calamari was good. It was lightly breaded and seemed fresh enough. I would recommend the calamari if you're a fan. The fresh lemons & sauce were yummy. The pizza was really disappointing though. We will not be ordering from Chiefs anymore. read more

I love pizza! I always seem to order from the same 3 or 4 places. Tonight I wanted to try a different place...soooo I was like hmmm??? Let's give this Chiefs Pub a try, I got an x- large with sausage and pepperoni and let me tell you after I took that first bite I was like Yum! But what impressed me even more that the pizza actually had a heavy amount of sauce for a thin crust pizza, that made my night read more

Chief's Pub - American Near Me - Lake Forest, Illinois

My wife and I stopped by recently for the first time. Thought.....what the heck...lets try their shrimp tacos (both styles). These were by far, the most exceptional shrimp tacos we've ever had. We live in Highland Park and have tried all of the taco places in the area including Highwood. Nothing even comes remotely close to the exceptional quality found in your shrimp tacos. We now have to try something else next time we're at your restaurant. read more

I thought about the review for this place for a good 15minutes. I came to the decision that if you're considering eating here then it is a 4-star restraunt but if you are ordering delivery, then don't eat here. The food in the place is hot and fresh and tastes good. Delivery is a while other space. I don't think they use insulated carriers. The food we've gotten from them (especially yesterdays pizza) is always cold and soggy. It's like they just put it in their trunk and drove it to me in the box, 30minutss after it had cooled down. We literally had to throw it in the over for 10min just to get it up to temp to eat. All that and it was nearly $30 for the single 14" pie after delivery fee. I just can't suggest you doing that (or doing that again ourselves). TL;DR: Good pub, bad delivery. read more

My friend and I went in for their pizza special that they have. The waitress was very patient with us because we were picky on what we wanted BUT it came to us just the way we wanted! Great environment for a nice bar or to bring for family sports night. They have a ton of TVs read more

Nice place to hang out. Just got an appetizer so can't speak for the food. Plenty of parking, at least

Consistently disappointing. This place has been here my whole life and I've never enjoyed the food. Service is slow. Still remains a Lake Forest staple, perhaps the nostalgia is the main selling point. read more

We had a large party of approximately 20. The restaurant was super busy but the servers were very efficient and friendly and handled the big party with no issue. Their steak bleu-cheese salad was very good. Highly recommend this restaurant for great food and great customer service ! read more

Chief's Pub - American Near Me - Lake Forest, Illinois

I'm genuinely surprised I haven't written a review of this place yet, as it's a frequent option for after work appetizers and drinks. That said, it's a location of convenience more than of choice. The menu has a ton of options upon first glance, but they're all derivations of something else on the menu (e.g. taco salad/nachos/quesadilla or tuna melt/tuna wrap/tuna salad or bbq chicken sandwich/bbq chicken wrap /bbq chicken pizza). Little is original and less than little is fresh. When I asked about the garlic turkey burger, the server told me the turkey patties are frozen and pre-seasoned. For $9, I expect better than what I could buy at GFS in bulk myself. They don't specialize in anything unless specializing in being generic and non-descript is something. The service is consistently poor. At today's lunch, the server said a grand total of 15 words to our table. The emotion she put into drawing a smiley face on our final bill was more energy than she'd demonstrated during our 45 minute lunch, including the half-hearted explanation that they ran out of sweetener. She was also wearing a tank top. While I don't know that there are health code regulations against this, having her armpit in my face while she reached across the table to serve someone else was less than appetizing. The beer selection is weak unless you like domestic carbonated, malted water. They do typically have a Goose Island selection on draught so there's that glimmer of hope when happy hour lands there next. read more

The burgers are superior & service is good. Try the wings as they are super good. Joe gives a discount To our military also. He trains his staff well read more

We've been coming here for about 6 months after leaving a rival LF bar, and cannot rate this place higher. Fast seating, fast service, great food, fun-loving family-friendly bar, beats the heck out of its rival up Western Avenue. read more

Great find Labor Day weekend when the breakfast place a few doors down was full to bursting. BLT with multigrain bread and hot crispy fries was outstanding. Lovely presentation. Awesome service. Thanks Rebecca. read more

See all

I had never heard of this restaurant before and my mom and I were driving through Lake Forest and found it. Absolutely would recommend Chief's Pub!!! The service was great and the food was fabulous. We had the cheese curds as an appetizer before our meal and They were delicious. My mom had A beef sandwich and I had a bacon cheeseburger they were both really good. Also had a watermelon margarita which I will definitely be back for! Really good, I would highly recommend!! read more

Standard Lake Forest issue sleek pub that looks old, but is in a strip mall. The fireman theme is cute, and the bartender was friendly. Nice glass of wine for $8. Everything pretty standard and suburban with no surprises. I prefer surprises. Carry on. read more

Hello Joe. Thank you for your response, This report had nothing to do with my financial standpoint but since you mentioned I think I should clear it up. First, I said I am a FREQUENT customer (so that should tell you I am financially stable). I am not looking for a job but thank you for the irrelevant offer!! This issue is solely about me getting food poinsoning and calling you the next day to report it. If this was about getting my money back or hurting your business financially, that could have been done all the numerous times I have went before. However, I called during the food poisoning period happened, in hopes that YOU and your WIFE would understand how sick I was feeling. I was the one that made the call and made the report which means that the issue should be addressed with me and NOT ANYONE ELSE. If you choose to go around listening to others and responding to me A MONTH AND A HALF LATER THE ISSUE HAPPENED, this is not only poor service but rather how you say you "value" your customers and your business is not the appropriate way to handle an instance like this. There are some policy changes that I suggest you make as you will not be able to address the issues that come your way appropriately and potentially injure future customers that won't have a chance to be heard appropriately. Additionally, not that I need to explain myself, but since you found the need to publicly comment on my integrity, I have no problem telling you that where I called your wife from was not even on campus. My premises to this situation, is IRRELEVANT. So the fact that you are believing a random "employee" concerns me about the future that your business and employees provide. I have no problem approaching you about the situation because it seems to me that instead of understanding your customer, I'm the one that continuously need to reach out to you. Very unprofessional of you to continue this problem and find no solution after this long. I hope you have a fantastic weekend are have a good time reading this on a Saturday night. read more

This is a rare bar in this upscale suburb of Chicago and it is decent enough but not as great as I would figure it would be. This far is in The Old Firehouse and has a nice interior artwork but the food is overpriced and not very good. I also don't like the setup of this far as it seems to have more boost send regular bar seating somehow feels like a corporate restaurant read more

Fantastic place for lunch. Food and service was excellent and modernly priced. The onion rings were perfect! I ordered a Tuna Melt for lunch and a Ruben for lunch since I'm here on business, Have to say it was the best Ruben I've had in years! The story of the Back Bar has an interesting story and is beautifully carved. Don't miss this while visiting downtown Lake Forest, Il. read more

As someone who worked at Chief's for about two years I can say with firsthand knowledge that it is an amazing environment. Not only is the staff welcoming and kind (not to mention great hands-on management/owners) the food is AMAZING. The biggest struggle at Chief's is choosing what to get off the menu of fantastic choices. The kitchen is efficient and clean, the two most important things in the service industry for it to be. In light of the pandemic, they have done an amazing job continuing to offer the same level of hospitality while ensuring it is clean. Thank you Chief's (the staff, Joe, and Jenna) for being such a great spot to go for a meal! read more

Ummmm. I have to be sort of political here. My boss lives in the area, has been coming here for years and likes the place. So much so, he recommended we have a Team supper here for the first time. The Pub is quaint (meaning, sort of small for a larger group- not their fault), the bar service is good managing about 30 easily, plus their regular guests but... The food? Not great. They laid out our buffet on a fold out table with paper plates and plastic utensils! WTH? Plus there were no serving utensils provided in each dish so I went through and put a plastic fork or spoon in everything. The pasta and quesadillas were obviously made well before our event and they were both soggy plus they ran out of wings. I did enjoy the salad and they were serving a nice wine I like! Maybe not so good for groups and it looks like they have a solid customer base. Boss likes= 1 star Great wine= 1 star Service= 1 star read more

My wife and I moved from Winnetka to Lake Forest 8 months ago. We looked for a pub - which would be similar in food, drink and atmosphere to Stormy's in Northfield , our favorite spot for 45 years. We have patronized Chief's approximately 12 times since our move. We were greeted warmly the first time we visited in November and still experience the same friendliness from the entire staff. The food is very good and the menu is expansive. It feels very much like Stormy's and the food is delivered promptly even on crowded nights. We love to sit at the bar and converse with Abby and Josh. As a veteran of the Vietnam War I am afforded the military discount and appreciate that courtesy. Thank you Joe read more

Chief's has definitely become our "go to" in the neighborhood for great bar food. Service is always professional and friendly. Great tacos and good sized beer list! Daily specials are a nice touch too! read more

After voicing my complaints and concerns for this business, I was told I was not worth their time and not even a real person. Read my google review. Rude staff, long wait times, and disrespectful owner. Would not recommend. read more

Went to Chief's Pub yesterday (4/16) with my friend for their$2 bottle special and had a great time. Besides the $2 beer we ordered the mac n cheese bites to start with and they were awesome they had a good crunch to them and the dipping sauce that Laura (bartender) recommended was really good. Laura our bartender was awesome she was such a sweetheart. She came introduced herself to us and asked us for our names. She also made sure that we had our new beers before we finished the ones we had so we wouldn't run out. On the way home my friend and I talked about making this place our after work hangout. read more

Chief's Pub - Monday $2 bottle special - American Near Me - Lake Forest, Illinois

Had lunch there today and ate at the bar. Great taco salad with a restaurant that finally added some spice. Allison, the bartender was super friendly and sadly will be leaving town at the end of the month. Prices are moderate for the North Shore. I would recommend. read more

I wanted to like it but the service was non existent. Good burger, good pizza and a nice environment. Perhaps find employees who want to work there? read more

The food here is great. The amount of molasses that's stuck to the staff's feet is not. There could be only two other tables being served and it will still take a good two hours for a meal consisting of burgers and fries. Better management is needed desperately. read more

Have popped in several while in the neighborhood. The staff is always friendly and the food has always been good. Had the Forester burger last time w fried and it was delicious. I happened to hit happy hour so the drinks were very reasonably priced also. Highly recommend. read more

I've been here a few times. The food is decent pub food. Chief's Bloody Mary is epic - it's seriously a meal. I like their salad and jalapeño cheddar poppers. But the service - friendly but slow. read more

Place is terrible... I hate writing bad reviews but I could not help myself. Went their for lunch about two weeks ago and could not stop thinking about how bad it was. First, the waitress told us to sit where ever we like. So we did, thinking she was going to bring us a menu. Well at least 5 minutes passed before I got up and asked the waitress for a couple menus, since i literally had my back toward their stand closer to the back. Im sorry i forgot to add that after we looked over the menu it took here closed to 10 minutes for her to ask us what we would like to drink. So naturally we thought we might as well order also before we never get our food. Honestly the food was not good. I ordered the Ruben and the corn beef was literally shredded into microscopic pieces. Now I understand people are cutting back, but all i tasted was the bread and 1000 island dressing. Not a fan... read more

Horrible service. Waited one hour for an order of 6 boneless wings and cheese fries. No one came to take my order for 20 minutes, got a new waitress, she forgot to bring the cheese with my fries, wings barely had any buffalo sauce on them , and no one came with the check even though I was clearly done with my food. Not coming back. Not worth your time. read more

I guess this place opened a month or two ago, but I just heard about it last week from a coworker. Since I didn't feel like cooking tonight, we decided to check it out. You walk in and the place is cavernous... EXTREMELY high ceilings, even though the square footage isn't all that much (it's the end unit of a small strip mall). The decor is all firefighter stuff, from authentic used air tanks, masks, jackets & boots to really nice murals of firemen and fire trucks painted on the walls. The place is very clean (it IS new!) and has a nice atmosphere, but the voluminous ceiling results in a lack of "coziness" for a place that really isn't all that big. You kind of feel like you're sitting in a shoebox without a lid. Food is the usual bar/pub fare... fried everything appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, etc. We got the combo platter for an appetizer - onion rings, mozzarella sticks, potato skins and jalapeno poppers. Cheese sticks and skins were really good, but the onion rings were just "eh". They seemed to be of the Oreida variety. Poppers were ok too. I had the turkey club and it was actually really good. Hubby had the BLT and said it was good as well. My son had the hot dog.. can't really mess that up. I'm really giving it 2 stars because of a bunch of quirky things that happened/that I noticed. 1) On the HUGE daily drink specials banner by the front door it said that Saturday is "Old Beer Can Night" (or something to that effect). We asked the waitress what that meant and she said she had no clue, but would find out for us. She never did. 2) Right when we sat down, the server brought each of us TWO glasses of water. Is that their way of getting out of coming back for refills? My husband finished both of his and they never did come back to refill his water - but they did refill his iced tea. 3) Mac & Cheese is on the kids menu, however they really don't sell it - apparently never have. Also, no paper kids menu/puzzle page or crayons. Bring your own "kid supplies" if you need to. 4) A few misspellings on the menu (giardinieras??) 5) Several tvs, on different channels, all with each of them having the volume on at the same level, so you can't understand/hear what any of them are saying - just a mumbled mess. They'd do better to mute the tvs and turn on some tunes. 6) Asked for a take-out menu on my way out the door, and was given one. Realized when I got in the car that NOWHERE on the menu is the name of the restaurant, address, phone number, etc. listed. How can that be? 6) On the apps. menu, they list "mini sliders" as an appetizer - ok, cool. I thought the pricing was weird though... $5.95 for 1, (who gets 1 mini slider as an appetizer???), $6.95 for 2, $9.95 for 4 and $11.95 for 6. Why give a choice? Just say there are X amount to an order and the price is ___. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was just strange. Overall it was a so-so experience. Decent food (nothing horrible, nothing to write home about); servers/hostess who were more than friendly, but somewhat in the "duh" category; prices that were very fair (dinner, including apps. but no alcohol was $40.00). I guess we'd go back, but we're in no rush. read more

Was in town briefly and had an opportunity to stop here. Was pleasantly surprised! Tried a new burger and wasn't disappointed. Glad we stopped! read more

Stopped in yesterday prior to a nail appointment and ordered a Makers Mark Manhattan "on the rocks with extra bitters".............I was charged $14.00!! When I inquired about the amount she stated.....it is our new pricing system, we double charge for the extra shot, and for the vermouth..... I never ordered a double shot and since when are you charded for vermouth? Never again. Great Marketing move! read more