Miller's Ale House — Restaurant in Norwood Park Township

No way I can call this place a great sports bar (not even a great bar, unless you're friends with the bartender/staff). My gf and I went for the first time on Wed, 6/23/22 around 6:40pm and the experience wasn't great.

We walked in and no one greeted us. That's fine, maybe the hostess just sat someone down. So we sit at the main bar, in front of the kitchen. We didn't see a bartender or anyone working the bar. We waited a good 5 mins and still, no one had greeted us nor did we still see anyone working the bar. I bet they had the bartender serving meals, since again, that bar is directly in front of the plates ready to go. Since we only wanted a couple of drinks, we decided to move to the 2nd bar off the side. It look a little while but eventually the bartender (Erica) greeted us. Right away I could tell she was super busy. Most people know, at a good bar, the bartender hardly leaves the bar area. A great bar would have a bar back helping out the bartender with things like restocking glasses and bringing out anything the bartender needs. I felt bad for Erica because she was all over the place, she was running to kitchen to bring out plates. At one point she even walked out to greet a lady who had been sitting at a table for a good 10-15 mins without any staff member approaching her for her food/drink order.

Mind you, each bar is a decent size where I would have 2 bartenders working. So if one was also acting a food server, the other would be tending the bar as a bartender should be. I even told her I bartend and when I do, I do not leave the bar, obviously there are exceptions. But I am not a server, hostess, nor a bar back. She did mention they are under staffed. Which is obvious.

Another annoyance... our local minor league hockey tea, the Wolves, are currently in the Finals. Even though they are a minor league team, I still love to support all Chicago teams. So I asked if they had the AHL channel for the Wolves. Erica asked. And that was it. She told me she asked 7 times and they are looking for it. On my way to the restroom, I ran into someone (probably a manager) who saw my Wolves shirt and hat, and asked if I had asked for the Wolves game. I said yes, and I repeated what I just typed, although they are a minor league team, I still try watching our local teams. He said "I'm still looking for it." I told not to bother, we were leaving.

In regards to food... pathetic. It reminded me of Chili's where you can easily tell it's microwaved. We ordered the "fully loaded fries." I wish I would have taken a picture of it. They put it on a large plate but it wasn't even half filled with fries. They should have put all the fries on a smaller plate to make it look like a lot. We've all had reheated fries and reheated cheese in our lives and that's exactly what it tasted like. I even told my gf, I've had reheated fries in my home toaster oven, that taste fresher than these. We only ate them because it would have taken longer to complain and get another dish.

I guess if you're going just for a drink and don't mind waiting, it's an ok spot. But in that area, there are many better options. With a lot better deals and even happy hour specials and...

I went to this Miller’s location back in October. I decided to come here on a football Sunday To have some drinks and watch the game. and I had thee worst service I’ve ever had at a restaurant. No one wanted to seat us because they were busy talking to one another, after we got seated no one ever came to take our order. I had to ask a random waitress for a menu, i asked a different one for a pitcher of beer. All of this took 1 hour, what could have been taken care of within 5 mins. After our hostess never came to our table i went up to the manager to ask for my check i didn’t want to walk out on a tab even though some people would. The manager apologized and said he would give me a gift card if $25 to come back and have a few drinks since i had a bad experience. I told him no that wasn’t necessary but he insisted. Fast forward 2 months later I decided to go back to Miller’s on a Saturday to watch a game and have lunch. We order food, service went well. When i go to pay there’s only $10 on the gift card. Obviously its not like i depended on this gift card to pay my bill because we did order food and drinks however I was very disappointed that the manager would lie and give me a $10 to try and make the situation okay. When this place first open it was amazing and i would rave about the restaurant. Now, i really don’t know what’s wrong with this place and how they run their place of business.

Update: i sent my complaint over where they asked me to, no word back. Goes to show how much they care about their business...

Revised: 4/23/2025 I ordered some bone in wings carried out. Online process very easy to use. Wing specials on Wednesdays. 12/$12 or 24/$24. Very good quality and large wings with about a dozen or so different choices for sauce. I'd like to point out to others who may order online is I selected a mixed flavor option and I was expecting separate the half order to be of separate flavors, but it was a combined/blended sauce. I was able to select 2 options A mild buffalo/honey bbq which was okay. But the star of the show was the honey mustard/thai chili blend. I would definitely order this one again.

------original review--------

We dined at Millers on what appeared to be a busy Sunday night. The Bears were playing in Sunday night football so we expected to wait a long time. We only waited about 10 minutes for our table and we had a group of 8. I do think we had arrived at the exact right time though. Others behind us weren't quite as lucky.

I had a slab of ribs and it was pretty ordinary, kinda dry to be honest. Rather forgettable. But 3 of my fellow diners had the Prime burger and each said it was absolutely fantastic. I'll be trying the Prime Burger next time

As for the atmosphere, it is almost too spacious for a sports bar but because of that it is very comfortable. TV's everywhere the eye could see. Bar situated in the middle. Outdoor dining available in nice weather

Despite the ribs not being that great. I still rate Millers as 5 stars because we had a great time and the service was good. Will...