Chief O'Neill's Pub Restaurant Beer Garden — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

My husband and I visited Chief O’Neill’s on Saturday, November 12th for a quick lunch. It was a horrible experience. We arrived at about 1:30 p.m. While we waited for someone to greet and seat us, the guy with the dress shirt and tie (I believe the manager) ignored us and just talked to some patrons at the front of the restaurant. A waitress finally came to the front, told us we could sit anywhere. We sat for about 10 minutes before she asked us if we wanted anything to drink (yet they hadn’t provided us with any menus). She finally gave us some menus, we picked out our drinks, appetizers, and meal options all at once. They gave us our drinks about 10 minutes after, then we didn’t receive our appetizers until 50 minutes later. During this time, I think the waitress only stopped by once to ask if we need anything. Finally, the appetizers came out, it’s been a little over an hour since we arrived at the restaurant.

We then waited for our cheeseburger and corned beef sandwich. We waited about 40 minutes before finally deciding to close out our check. I had to flag the waitress down, ask for the check, then they still tried to charge us for food that we never received. I asked them to take the sandwich and burger off the bill and they complied with our request.

We spent an hour and a half there with only one drink and two appetizers. Never got to even have a sandwich or anything. The same guy who ignored us at the front of the restaurant, was behind the bar now. No one other then the waitress apologized for their poor service.

I’ve only been here a couple times, once with my mom when I was a child and earlier this year for Sunday brunch. The service wasn’t that slow, but the beef roast they served me was really dry and overcooked (they removed it from the bill, too). On this visit, my husband had the crab cakes and some of my beef poutine. The poutine made him sick and upset my stomach, too.

I’m not sure why we received such poor service today. I try to refrain from using the race card, but this is Chicago, and it does still exist. As a black man in Chicago, I know better than to patronize pubs in Bridgeport, Canaryville, etc. I’m wondering if the same rule applies to pubs in Avondale, Jefferson Park, etc. I don’t know much about the history of Chief O’Neill, other than he was a police chief in Chicago in the early 20th century and maybe if I did more research, I would have a better idea if whether my husband and I should expect to be welcomed in an establishment like that.

I don’t blame our waitress for the service or even think she was being malicious towards us. In fact, she was very nice when she spoke to us. I blame management as they should be responsible for training their wait staff and making sure that their patrons are receiving excellent service. I believe if they improved their service, they could increase revenue for the restaurant. No one should sit in a restaurant for almost 2 hours and only be offered one drink. How does this establishment make money if you aren’t trying to sell anything to your customers? If this business model works for them, then good for them. It doesn’t work for me, so I won’t be back.

If the goal is to have a social club where only certain people can patronize it, then create your club, make everyone apply, and exclude all the people you don’t want in your private club. They don’t have to worry about me returning to their establishment. I am not going to spend money in places where it’s unclear if I am welcomed or not. There are plenty of other places where I can get a corned beef sandwich in less...

Phew, where to begin...

As a restaurant/pub: Amazing! Service is fantastic, brunch is SO fun, music is authentic and beautiful, and the food is absolutely delicious. HIGHLY recommend!

As a venue...

My husband and I were married at Chief O'Neill's on 9/3/22, and it was perfect. I can't even recall the number of guests who commented on it being their favorite venue they'd ever been to, but let me tell you - it was a LOT. If I had to describe the overall vibe, I would say it has the comfort and charm of a backyard wedding, but it has the service and offerings of the best venues in town.

Surely I can't capture everything in this small review, so here are some highlights:

The space is indoors/outdoors which was PERFECT for our guests! It provided a stunning outdoor space for our ceremony, for dinner, and for guests to enjoy away from the blaring music of the dance floor while also providing an indoor option for dancing and rain, (which luckily wasn't an issue, phew)! They were able to hold all 150 guests we had! Terah, Siobhan and their team were SO kind when it came to helping coordinate and answering the thousands of questions we had prior. When you have one of the owners of the establishment helping to bus the tables on the night of, you KNOW you're in an environment where teamwork and service is at the CORE of their values. The levels that they went to provide above and beyond for us were truly remarkable. A detail we will never forget for the rest of our lives. The food was amazing! Their team accommodated our request for pierogi, and it was spectacular! The Polish side of the family loved them, ha! The salmon and shepherds pie were also out of this world. Really great selection! The drinks were also fantastic, and Terah helped to design the custom drinks to make them stunning, as well.

I could go on forever, but I'll end with this: some of our guests went back to have a pint the next day because they were so in love with the space and sad to fly home, ha! If that doesn't sum up the experience, I don't know what could.

It was perfect, and we will forever go...

Absolutely Disrespectful Experience on Mother’s Day

I want to share the most disappointing and disrespectful experience I had at Chief O’Neill’s in the Avondale area during their Mother’s Day brunch. We had a reservation for three and were offered an earlier seat outdoors, which we accepted. This was our first visit, and it started off fine.

The outdoor area includes turf where weddings are hosted. Kids were playing on it when we arrived, including my 4-year-old son. A male manager politely explained there may be glass in the turf from past events, and that children shouldn’t be running around or falling on it — which we completely understood and respected.

Later, my son was near a large tree playing with sticks and lightly digging in the corner edge of the turf. That’s when a female manager or owner approached in the most cold, condescending, and frankly unacceptable way. She never greeted us. She didn’t introduce herself. She looked down at her phone the entire time and said, “This is the most expensive AstroTurf, and you’re going to have to pay for it.” Then, she leaned down to my child and said “Give me the sticks” — never addressing me directly as his mother, never showing any basic courtesy.

To be approached in that way — not as a paying guest, not even as a human being — but as an inconvenience, was beyond offensive. And as the only Black family in the outdoor area, the way we were singled out and dismissed felt loaded. Even another nearby diner — a woman — came over to apologize and said she was disturbed by what she witnessed.

When I asked to speak to the woman again once my husband returned to the table, she was equally rude and dismissive. A dismissive apology, and no real accountability — just more cold energy.

This restaurant might serve brunch, but it doesn’t serve respect — not to all patrons, at least. As a Black military family who was looking for a lovely Mother’s Day outing, we left feeling insulted and deeply disappointed.

Be warned: if you decide to visit and have an issue, this may be the kind of treatment...