Up North Ale House — Restaurant in Naperville

I have come here many times over the years as the location is great for me making it an easy choice to dine with my partner or a group of friends. I've probably been here more than 20 times by now and I just think the place is below average, comparable to an experience at an Applebee's or Chili's. I am surprised that I keep coming back honestly, but the prices are ok and like I said, the location is good. However, nothing is special about this place whatsoever. The atmosphere is alright, I enjoy sitting at a table, the bar, and even outside, however the service I've received is really not that great, the staff at the bar is pretty good, but the people serving at the tables seem uneducated. For example, one time my partner ordered a small pizza and the waitress brought it out and accidentally put in an order for a large size. My partner kinda jokingly said, "oh that's alright, as long as I am still paying for the small pizza I ordered" and the waitress told him he would have to pay for the larger pizza. We were taken aback by her response to her own mistake and so we told her to take the pizza back and we won't be paying for it and she did and then a manager came out with the pizza and apologized and told us we didn't have to pay extra for the larger pizza. I am glad they made it right but it seemed like a silly situation we shouldn't have had to been in in the first place. There is also another waiter here who seems to serve me a lot of the times that I come in and he won't take away empty plates to clear off the table and he is just not very attentive and is never refilling drinks without us having to ask. Overall, the food is just ok. Nothing I've ever ordered has blown me away. The portion sizes are a bit small for some of the items too and the dipping sauces/salad dressing come in the smallest little containers, you almost always need to ask for more - I've been told it will cost me extra. I get the vibe that this place is cheap and tends to skimp on portion sizes and ingredients. My partner and friends love the wings here but I don't eat wings - kinda seems like the wings are the only thing that stands out...

I finally came back after 3 years, when I wrote the review following this one. I upgraded from 2 to 4 stars, really 4.5 but there’s no 1/2 star option and it’s not quite 5. I was pleasantly surprised. Post Covid, all restaurants are struggling. The supply chain, the maintenance, the staff…everything factors in. We were greeted immediately by a very pleasant hostess and shown to a comfortable patio table as requested. Menus for food, for drinks and for daily specials were given to us. A waiter showed up immediately. Our order for drinks was taken. Once he returned we ordered food which came quickly. Mine was delicious (New York Cheese Sandwich.) He checked back within minutes to see if all was well or if anything else was needed. Our table and the surrounding area were clean and the patio area was spacious. I’m glad I went back after 3 years. I won’t stay away so long now!

3 Years Ago: Went yesterday, May 25, for their Friday “Special” Fish & Chips. It was 6pm. They were out of their special. Ordered a Philly Steak sandwich which had a lot of bread, a little meat, a little melted cheese and one red pepper strip. I chose salsa and chips instead of fries and was served a small silver salad dressing container with thin red liquid, no salsa, and a handful of tri-colored chips probably scooped out of a bag. The side salad was identical to what is found in bags in grocery stores with the label Fresh Express. Iceberg lettuce, slivers of carrots and slivers of red cabbage. The spicy ranch salad dressing was delicious. The food was good but seriously overpriced for what was served...on plastic dishes. The service was good, water was refilled without asking and the host staff was friendly. There is ample parking and the restaurant is clean, but industrial looking. Maybe they need time to work out the kinks and actually have the “special”...

Mixed drinks 2 stars only because he knew the ingredients, just not the correct amounts of liquor was too strong, the fruit for the drinks were old. The lime was browning. The orange was dry. So the drinks were just strong liquor with hints of fruit and ice Food, food looked good from a glance. But after inspection food is old and going bad. Had a blackened burger with mushrooms. Mushrooms were spotting a sign of going bad. And onlt two in my girlfriends burger. I had a well done porkchop. It looked nice. But it was slightly under cooked. And i paid the price for that later thinking it was just juicy and what not slightly pink on a medium well steak the way it was looking. And the asparagus i had was wimpy and old like it sat in a fridge slightly dry but since it was skinny it made a big impact. Nothing here is fresh really and if this bar were to stock up on fresh food or have the manager check up on their stock it would very nice place to eat. And if the bar tasted their drinks before sending out it can save the place money and leave customers more happy....