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    The Berghoff Restaurant

    3.7 (1.4k reviews)
    Open 11:30 am - 8:00 pm

    The Berghoff Restaurant Photos

    THE BERGHOFF RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - The Berghoff Restaurant

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    Dessert menu.
    TJ D.

    The turkey BLTA was very good! Definitely a German style atmosphere, just wish the music was a little louder and more authentic. The service was great.

    Paintings
    Austin P.

    We got seated quickly and the server came often to make sure we had what we needed and gave a great recommendation, the food was delicious! I would recommend the game plate. I also loved the interior of the restaurant because it had a strong sense of the German culture and old Chicago.

    Carmel cheesecake, Carmel flavored crust
    Steve H.

    Good German food, a few other options on menu and didn't fit German food, all sausages are good with a really nice spicy mustard, potato pancakes were smaller and tasted like hash browns, missing flavor that should be in them, beef was nice, potatoes and veggie's tasty and cook well, desserts cheesecake and strudel topped my list of desserts. With Adams street brewery, lots of good beer selections, I had Da Dizzy a juicy sour that was just right, my server had good recommendations and service was fast and humorous. Make it reservations we arrived at 5 to empty tables 10 min later the place was full on a Thursday,

    Karyn M.

    The Berghoff has been family owned and operated for more than 125 years. That means they are probably serving the same food they served your grandparents. This was decorated for the season with large Christmas trees and I even saw Santa walking around and talking with kids. There were a lot of groups (multigenerational) dining for the holidays. We started with the giant pretzel and ordered traditional dishes like schnitzel. The menu has made concessions to modern times -- I saw salads, paleo dishes, salmon. If you are looking for hearty dishes, beers, and a festive setting, do like your grandparents or parents did and eat here.

    Liver and onions with carrots, asparagus, atop mashed potatoes
    Sarah W.

    Our group of 5 stopped in here on a Sunday night for a late dinner, which was a great choice because of so many menu options to make everyone happy. Service was great and food was brought out very quickly. Noise level was mild and we enjoyed being seated at our round table which allowed for easy conversation. The food was divine. I had beef liver and onions served over a huge portion of creamy mashed potatoes. Roasted carrots and asparagus also rounded out the dish and overall a very lovely presentation. This was enough food for two; however, we tried our best to make a dent. Would love to return when we visit the city again.

    Beer flight
    Paula C.

    Visited on a Monday for a lunch reservation for two. The restaurant was not busy, but the atmosphere was great. We started with a flight of beers, which offered a nice variety. For our main courses, we ordered the Reuben sandwich and the Pork Schnitzel platter--both were absolutely delicious. For dessert, we requested the German chocolate cake. There was a slight mix-up, and our waiter initially brought us the black forest cake instead. However, as soon as we pointed this out, he promptly and politely corrected the order. Overall, it was a very nice experience and a great restaurant we'd recommend.

    Leslie C.

    Wow! What a cool and historic place. Family owned and operated for over 125 years! Huge place! Many rooms for dining. Oktoberfest was going on in one area, and down below in the lower level was a wedding reception. Festive decor and excellent German food. I had the Ragout from the Oktoberfest menu and it was delicious. My boyfriend's goulash was very flavorful too. The cocktails are tasty too. Wonderful service from Chris. Lovely experience!

    The Wiener schnitzel with spaetzle and creamed spinach.

    The Berghoff has always been one of my favorite downtown restaurants. I usually order the Wiener schnitzel with spaetzle and of course the creamed spinach. The restaurant is very rustic and the wait staff is very attentive to your table. A great food experience.

    Sausage appetizer with German potato salad
    Benjamin H.

    Visited again and went for the schnitzel. Comparatively, I would suggest sticking with their sausages. They have a wonderful knockwurst and bratwurst. The schnitzel was average. Also, TRY THE HOUSEMATE ROOT BEER. It is complex and flavorful. The Christmas decorations are quite beautiful and German. If you find the pickle ornament on the tree, you get a free drink. Our server was attentive and recommended the goulash for my partner, and it was rich and comforting.

    Menu
    Jessica W.

    Stumbled in here to escape the cold for a beer and some live music but couldn't find a seat so went over to the dining area after seeing that giant pretzel float by... Not typically the dining menu I would go for but it is BIG. We did only get the Bavarian pretzel and beers- both were average. I did really like both the beer cheese and the sweet mustard though! The service in the dining area was slow, I objectively had a bad seat because I was in a square table about 4 inches from a full round table in a corner so the waiter couldn't get to them without bumping into me, and the hostess was rude. Honestly, I likely would have given it 4 stars if we were in the lively bar area because that's what we came for but maybe in a bigger group the dining area would provide better service.

    Dining area
    Rhett B.

    I have meant to come here for years but between work and their limited COVID hours it took me a while! As a big fan of Breweries and beer brewing in general I was excited to visit this historical monument to the craft. Upon arriving for lunch we were quickly greeted and seated. Immediately I noticed the variety and quality of the beer offered was far above average! The menu was filled with predominantly German and UK inspired meat based dishes with few offerings for vegans, vegetarians, or pescatarians. The ambiance was very much a older, touristy, kitschy vibe similar to what you might feel at somewhere like the Walnut room. Service reflected a similar kind of "tourist hospitality worker" vibe and not in the overly performative happy way, more in a - "I'm on hour 13 of my Bubba Gumps shift down at Navy Pier" kind of way. Not to say it was bad or anything, everyone was super kind but definitely had an exhausted/burnt out feel. We had the Fish and Chips and the French Onion soup. The fish and Chips was what you might expect from an upscale pub, but the soup was absolutely phenomenal. I honestly would go back for just the soup alone! Beer was great! In short: -Food was amazing -Drink was great -Ambiance was touristy, elderly, supper club vibe -Pricing = Tourism premium However the big drawback here is prices. Listen I understand it's expensive operating a business like this in Downtown Chi but at some point fried bar food and sandwiches; is just fried bar food and sandwiches - and paying $20+ per plate is crazy. Similar feedback on the beer pricing. Overall I don't like the idea that their repacking traditionally low cost, working class food and drink and selling them back to people for premiums which rival a mid-tier steakhouse. Come here once if your enticed by the locations history but beyond that I can't understand why anyone would come back here. (Except for maybe the decent priced cup of soup!). Would love to see owners take this place in a different direction which focuses less on serving high spender tourists and instead appealing to Loop workers looking for great happy hour spots that won't break the bank. Make it a true spot loved by Chicagoans.

    Audra M.

    Class from the bottom to the top! When I went with family from out of town, it was all excellent. We felt catered to, from our drinks to our desserts. The ambiance is stellar, service great, and food amazing.

    The ambiance
    Karen A.

    We ate at the Berghoff on a Thursday evening. We chose Thursday because right now they are celebrating Oktoberfest in the bar area. That was fun! There was a Duo playing a very long horn and a euphonium. They were dressed in traditional German folk outfit and played traditional German music. We were seated in the dining room for our dinner reservation and ordered the appetizer of potato pancakes, which was delicious! My husband took the first bite and declared that it tasted like Germany on a plate. And he meant that in the most positive way possible. I ordered Jager schnitzel, which was a little disappointing. I've usually had Jager schnitzel served with with a breaded and and then pan fried pork cutlet. This was a thin pork cutlet which appeared to be pan fried but was not breaded before it was fried. Small distinction, but for me, an important one. Sauce was okay, although not terrific. Sometimes I have received Jager sauce that is creamy, rather than brown. This was brown sauce, with what I think were wild mushrooms in it. Good. Just not great. Hubs ordered the Austrian meatloaf, which was on the Oktoberfest special menu. This was a fabulous dish! Everything about it was delicious! The meatloaf was interesting and flavorful, the potatoes were mashed and tasted as if they had emmenthal or gruyere cheese in them, and the accompanying sauteed spinach was done just right. Still green, but wilted. Would order this dish again in a heartbeat! Beers were fantastic as expected! Apple strudel was okay. I felt like it was too much like phyllo dough rather than choux pastry and I didn't think there was enough extra flavor in side. The apple strudel, like raisins and cinnamon. Also, I really missed having a bit of whipped cream on it. Not sure I would order this again. The dining room is great! I recommend a stop at the berghoff just to see what old restaurants look like. I recommend eating there also.

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    The Berghoff Restaurant Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - The Berghoff Restaurant

    What does the the wait time look like during weekends in December?

    Do you have to walk up or Downstairs and if so is there a elevator for handicap people?

    No stairs when I went. Just a ramp to walk into the restaurant!

    Is this restaurant open for indoor dining? The website says it's temporarily closed but Yelp says it's open.

    Do they have valet parking? If so, how much does it cost?

    There is no parking at all. Take Lyft or Uber. It's in The Loop. All trains stop nearby Red Line, Blue Line and Elevated Trains.

    Anyone know where in the Chicago area I can buy the Berghoff beer?

    They'll be brewing their own beer again soon on location. The Brewery will be called Adams Street Brewery.

    Welche Art von Schweineschnitzel bereiten sie sich hier vor? ist es Münchener Stil? Danke.

    Ich bin mir nicht sicher, was der Münchner Stil ist. Jaegerschnitzel ist mein Favorit und ich war enttäuscht. Wenn Sie ein wirklich gutes Schnitzel wollen, ist Karl Laschetts auf Irving der Ort zu gehen.

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    Girl & the Goat absolutely lived up to the hype - so much so that we went twice…read more Our first night, Luis greeted us and immediately jumped in because our server, Chloe, was tied up at another table. Once Chloe took over, we were shocked when we found out she'd only started TWO DAYS earlier. She was AMAZING. Knowledgeable, confident, attentive and genuinely fun. Huge shoutout to both Chloe and Girl & the Goat's training program, because if that's what two days in looks like, they're doing something very right. We shared the green beans, goat empanadas, pork shank and chicken dish, and loved everything. We told Chloe we'd be back for dessert -- and we actually kept our promise! Unfortunately she wasn't working when we returned, but Jake took great care of us and was amazing too. We came specifically for When Life Gives You Blueberries and the Chocolate Basil Brownie Bash, and both were superb.

    Girl & The Goat has been on my Chicago food radar for a while, and sometimes the places with the…read morebiggest hype have the hardest time living up to it. This one did. The whole experience is built around sharing, which gave us an excuse to order like we hadn't eaten in three days. And there really wasn't a weak plate on the table. The goat belly was the WOW bite for me. Rich, tender, full of flavor and exactly the kind of dish you come here hoping to find -- something different that you'll actually remember the next day. Then came the grilled short rib. Beautiful char, incredibly tender, sweet and savory working together... this was the plate where the table got noticeably quieter for a minute. Always a good sign. And don't sleep on the chickpea fritters. I wasn't expecting them to compete with goat belly and short rib for attention, but they absolutely held their own. Crispy, flavorful and another example of how Girl & The Goat takes something relatively simple and makes it interesting. We tried several other dishes, passed plates around, argued over who got the last bite and basically did dinner exactly the way this place is meant to be experienced. Great atmosphere, creative food, strong service and enough unexpected flavors to keep the meal fun from beginning to end. Girl & The Goat was worth the splurge

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    Girl & The Goat
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    Boka

    Boka

    4.3
    (1.9k reviews)
    2.6 mi
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    2026: Came for a business dinner and was more blown away than last time. The bluefin tart, the Dry…read moreaged tartare, the scallops and the short ribs were all so well put together I am still thinking about them. Highly recommend Boka. 2022: What a great experience. The short ribs were unlike anything I have tasted before. The service, the food and all elements of the meal were a memorable experience.

    Boka and Alinea are perhaps the most iconic Michelin star restaurants in Chicago, and it would be…read more"embarrasing" that a person who visited Chicago for over 15 times has not try either one. So, I finally made a reservation for Boka. There are several reasons that Boka looks attractive to me: a fine-dining restaurant opening on Monday, creative New American dishes, and importantly, they allow customers to order à la carte. I went there at 7:45pm on Monday and at that time the restaurant was about half-full. I tried the following dishes: 1. Bluefin Tuna Tart. A bite size app. The tart was filled with cherry puree/sauce, finely "minced" tuna and yuzu jelly, from bottom to top. Very rich in texture, and had a good balance of flavors. 2. Tortelli. Italian Dumplings filled with ricotta+tarragon, cooked with maitake and sweet corns, and topped with shaved goat gouda. The dumplings came with 6 pc, all generously filled with cheese. There was also lots of shaved goat gouda. These absolutely made the dish very rich in flavor, but a large amount of cheese also means it could be salty. The corns, luckily, added some refreshing sweetness to it. 3. Black Truffle Chicken. I ordered it mainly because I wondered how well a Michelin star restaurant cooks chicken, which could easily be made too dry. Surprisingly, the chicken was so tender and juicy that it required little effort to slice it! Moreover, interestingly, the chicken breast was stuffed with some sausage (the layer you see between the skin and the meat). Unfortunately, the dish was too salty for me: the chicken was brined, the sausage may had been cured, the jus and zucchini puree were also salty. I tried to finish it but could not, so I asked a bartender to send it back to the kitchen. 4. Roasted Hokkaido Scallops. Another creative dish. The seared scallops were paired with pickled & grilled cucumber slices, diced seaweed & radish, cauliflower puree, perhaps some puffed rice, and garnished with tarragon infused oil. I really liked the smoky and sour cucumber slices and the umami seaweed & radish. The puffed rice added some delightful crispiness to the dish. But the taste of cauliflower puree was more or less over-shadowed by the other ingredients. 5. Dinner rolls. Potato rolls with sunflower seeds. Served with fennel pollen+sea salt butter. Bread service was free. Service was, overall, top-level. I was greeted warmly by the reciptionist and the bartenders (I sat at the bar). The staff all had a good knowledge about the ingredients in the dishes, as well as how they are prepared (actually it seems that they had a book to record these, because I saw two of them reading and discussing such). When I complained about the chicken, they apologized to me and offered to cook something else for me for free. I might come back in the future if I see something interesting on their seasonally changing menu.

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    Boka
    Boka
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    Chocolate Angel Food Cake
    Gretel

    Gretel

    4.5
    (476 reviews)
    4.5 mi
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    This is my third time at Gretel and the food was even better than I remembered it! We came around…read more5pm on a Sunday and there was only about a 10 minute wait. They sat us downstairs. I had only sat upstairs at the bar and outside, so I was happy we were able to see the downstairs. It's very intimate down there with only a few tables, while the upstairs is a lot more of a lively bar atmosphere. Service was good and fast. They are known for their burger but I am not a huge burger fan. Their other food is amazing though! Even my boyfriend who loves burgers agreed that the chicken sandwich was one of the best and maybe even better than the burger. Definitely get the mac & cheese, chicken sandwich, and french onion soup. The french onion soup was super cheesy and the mac & cheese was so creamy and perfect. Typically I don't like bacon in mac & cheese, but I love that they don't overdo it here where it overpowers the entire dish. It was only some tiny pieces of bacon just for the flavor.

    Came for the burger, but stayed for the drinks. Maybe I chose a bad night, but I thought the burger…read morewas disappointing based on its hype and Gretel's reputation. Hands down, the saltiest burger I ever had in Chicago. At least, they were generous with the fries. Laidback vibes and cool space, I would come back to try the other cocktails on the menu with friends.

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    Flowers
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    Outstanding butter & brine oysters from portsmouth maine
    Outstanding butter & brine oysters from portsmouth maine
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    Ema

    Ema

    4.3
    (2k reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$

    Some friends and I were in town for a birthday and decided we wanted to do the riverboat…read morearchitecture tour. Our friend group is split between two groups. The 1st that plans ahead and gets to places early. And the 2nd that is there for a good time but always gets everywhere late. Those of us that wanted to come early and not worry decided that we wanted to go to a restaurant close by to wait for our tour time and that's how we found Ema. As soon as we walk inside we see how beautiful and modern the interior looks. They had a lot of seating available and we got a nice table by the window with a view We wanted to eat light before the tour so we shared a bunch of small plates. We ordered the mushroom escargot, lemon Caesar, crispy potatoes, a couple orders of hummus and some chicken kebabs. That mushroom escargot was one of my favorite things I ate during the entire Chicago trip. The mushrooms were creamy and rich. It tasted umami, bright from the lemon, slightly spicy from the Calabrian breadcrumbs, and paired perfectly with some warm pita bread on the side. The hummus was smooth and well seasoned. The lemon caesar was fresh and fairly standard. The crispy potatoes were perfectly textured and were soft and pillowy on the inside. As long as they sat on the table they never lost their crisp. The chicken kebabs were tenderly, juicy and garlicky. We were all putting together our perfect bite combinations with the pita bread. Everything we ordered I would actually order again. Though may want to try a different salad next time since the Caesar was pretty simple. Regardless, still no real complaints with the food Our server was charismatic and funny. He had a great attitude and entertained us throughout the meal. Everything came out promptly as well so we made it out and could take our time walking to the riverboats. Lucky for our friends the tour said they'd be docked for a few minutes after our scheduled start time to set everything up. As 3 minutes after our start time we see group 2 sprinting up from a couple blocks away Overall Ema was consistent, flavorful and reliable. Not a bad price point either for what you get. I'd definitely recommend and come back

    You can't go wrong with $1 froyo. The line does get kind of long (it moves fast), and they do cut…read moreoff the line as it gets closer to 3:30ish. The froyo itself with no toppings is $1 then any additional topping is $2. They only have strawberry rhubarb and pistachio syrups as toppings though. The line moves fast and the inside is really cute to look at as you wait. If you time it just right, it's perfect as a Friday afternoon sweet treat!

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    Ema tables and bar
    Ema tables and bar
    Double chocolate.
    Double chocolate.
    Inside

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    Inside

    The Berghoff Restaurant - bars - Updated August 2026

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