The Garage Smokehouse & Bar

Last Thursday on May 5^th the husband and I decided to give this place a try. Living in Berwyn for 19 years it’s pretty exciting to see a new restaurant open up.
1. It was a really nice day that day and they had these big garage like doors open. So we went in and sat down and immediately smelled smoke from the smokers standing right next to those big garage doors smoking. Now the smell of smoke does not bother me but having a daughter with severe asthma, cigarette smoke can trigger a bad attack. I told the bartender/​waitress I thought those guys smoking were too close to the open door and the smoke was bothersome and can you ask them to move farther away (correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t smokers supposed to be at least 15 feet away from the door). She replied «well their regulars and it’s what they’re used too from the old bar that was here». Her answer really bothered me. Then she went back to the bar and did a SHOT with one of those «regulars» sitting at the bar. Strike 1…
2. We ordered our food. I ordered the beef brisket and my husband ordered a The Big Tex sandwich (with beef brisket, pork and chicken with cheese). We got our orders and mine was correct but my husband got the Fire Chicken Sandwich. We told our waitress/​bartender that my husbands order was wrong and she said the cook couldn’t read her writing (maybe from the shot she did?). strike 2
3. My beef brisket was so dry it felt crumbly in my mouth no matter how much BBQ sauce I put on it. I even put some water on it to moisten it up. Strike 3
Anyway, I don’t think we will be back. Not because of the food, I would totally give it another chance for that. We won’t be back because of the smoke and the bartender/​waitress. It’s too bad because I really like what they did to the place and how they fixed it up compared to how it used to be.

My wife and I had a great time here as a part of the Berwyn Depot District Mini-​golf pub crawl. The drinks were good and strong, the «drunk food» was spot on and the service was awesome. This spot is just steps from the Berwyn Metra stop, and we plan on coming back very soon.

I was very excited when this place opened up, we had take out the first or second weekend they were open and it was super awesome. I was craving BBQ this past weekend and I called for delivery on Friday night to find out they can’t deliver unless you pay for cash, let’s keep in mind I found this out after I placed my order with the «new employee». She new nothing, probably not the best person to answer the phone. To her defense she was very sweet and told me she would call me back to see if they could manually put my #CC number in because I didn’t have cash. The bartender called back and was very short and not friendly, but let me know that no they could take my order unless I payed cash.
So, still craving some BBQ we went in for dinner with our friends on Saturday, let’s just say this was their downfall… The place was empty except one other table and a few people at the bar. I think we arrived at 6:30ish and there was one employee working. We sat and ordered apps, they were pretty good. Then another employee showed up and started waiting on us. We soon figured out that this new employee was the «new employee» I spoke with the night before. The place started to fill out quickly and the two young workers were clearly overwhelmed! Our food was ok, pretty soggy/​mushy pulled chicken and pulled pork and the brisket was fatty. We were not impressed. This wasn’t even the worst part, when we asked for our check our server was lost and it took over 20 minutes, she didn’t know how much anything cost, but worst of all they don’t have any POS system. Everything was written out by hand!!! Another bartender arrived and I recognized her voice as the not so friendly bartender I spoke with the night before.
Overall this place turned into a hot mess. Don’t put new employees that don’t know your menu on the floor on a Saturday night! Epic fail! Also, get a damn POS system, it’s 2016 and I didn’t even get a receipt for my dinner!!! Last, your employee’s attitude and behavior will make or break your business, they may want to think about this when speaking to customers…

If I could would give The Garage a 4 ½ stars. We had the Whole Garage, a sampler of every smoked meat they have. The pulled Chicken, pulled Pork, the Ribs, the Brisket, and Sausage you could taste the smoke which was not overpowering. The baked beans were the best this side of Kansas City. Except for the parking, all street parking, this place has the best BBQ in the southwest suburbs. And this is from a person who does a whole lot of home smoking of meats.

We have been here twice in one week. Very happy with everything we have had. Ribs fall off the bone, smoked chicken is great, all sides have been excellent. So happy to have them in the neighborhood

Hot bartenders. Awesome jumbo wings and leave it to me to order crab cakes at a BBQ place. Well I did and they were pretty darn good, especially the sauce that accompanied them. Berwyn needed a place like this. Lord knows they have plenty of corner bars named Lloyds or Jack’s or whatever random male name they come up with (and I love corner bars). I can’t wait to go back in the summer with the open garage doors and try the rest of the menu.

Came here for lunch during the weekend. We were the only ones there. The waitress was really nice and attentive. We ordered the wings, hushpuppies, and a shredded pork sandwich. The wings and hushpuppies were what you would expect at a bar. The sandwich was dry… even after I put some sauce on it. They also had a limited beer selection but this makes sense since we were in a suburban bar. The highlight of this place is that its really clean and looks new. The bathroom also had a unique sink pictured below. Too far to come back and give it another shot.

Completely tasteless pulled pork. Cold, greasy, limp sweet potato fries. Definitely will not return.

First time trying this place. Friday night. The service was good. I tried the pulled pork which I thought had good flavor. They have multiple bbq sauce options. I thought the sweet heat sauce was the best. My daughter liked the hickory. My husband got the ribs and I thought they were really good! We got the sweet potato fries which I liked more than the regular fries. We tried the baked beans which were good and unique in a thicker sauce. I thought the hush puppies were ok. They have a kids menu but note our daughter was the only kid in the restaurant on Friday night at 7:30. There was also live music which added to the atmosphere. I would recommend giving it a try!

Worst Brisket I ever ate. Walmart sells better brisket. The drink prices were good and good service. The décor on the exterior is lacking and not signage. Skip the food enjoy the drink and the hot bartenders

The place is cool… great garage theme! I thought the food was good. I had the ribs with hickory bbq sauce. Meat Fell off the bones. With Brussel sprouts which were grilled and we all loved. The spicy coleslaw was really good! I also tasted the brisket, fries and sausage. Brisket and fries were really good but I did not care for the sausage… it tasted like breakfast sausage. Others in my group had the sampler and they were happy, but indicated the pulled pork and chicken tasted the same.

Pretty bland BBQ pork. Sausage was a breakfast sausage. Brisket seemed like it was not made on site, dry, bland, but at least tender.
Ate here about 8pm, woke up at 3am to say hello to the pork again.
Food poisoning/​sickness aside. It’s average bbq, wish you well in the neighborhood but I Probably won’t be back…

Really enjoyed the fire chicken sandwich, hush puppies, and mac and cheese! Only suggestion is that the sandwich could have been a little bit warmer.

The bar design is amazing. The food was very good BBQ, sprouts and hush puppies were the best I’ve had in the area!

Ordered the Crab cakes, armadillo eggs and The Whole Garage (sampler platter for two) to go. Crab cakes were cold when I got home. I live a block away so it wasn’t the drive. They also didn’t come with the Chipotle Aioli like it says in the menu. So that was a little disappointing. The Armadillo eggs were pretty tasty. The meats in The Whole Garage were pretty good. Nice smoke flavor but not too much smoke. Only thing that could have been better was the sausage. It was not great. We also didn’t get any BBQ sauce with the platter. That was a little disappointing too. Good thing we had some Sweet Baby Rays in the fridge. It was too pricey for the size. Also think corn bread should be included (it was a side). Two sides that came with were pretty small too. I would go back, but would have to eat there to ensure everything was correct– and hot!

I really wanted to like this place. We ordered the garage –it was a sampling of all of their bbq offerings. It was $ 29.00 and it was meant for two people. We ordered it to go. When the bartender brought it out in one small and light bag I was suspicious. It was one Styrofoam to go container, two small containers of sauce and two small containers of sides. The bbq had no taste. All the meat tasted the same. All kind of tasteless. The few ribs that came with this were very tender but bland like the rest. I think there was some pulled chicken in there but we couldn’t differentiate it from the pulled pork. We were very underwhelmed.
is nice inside, they just remodeled it over a period of about six months. Don’t think I will be back.

So excited that something like this has come to our area and replaced the dive that used to occupy the space. I would say that the experience and food was a solid «okay». Not great, but not bad.
The waitress didn’t know anything about the beers offered and there was only one drink list that has only names. I like some kind of description so that I have an idea of what I’m ordering.
We ordered the garage, a sampler of all the meat. Sadly they were out of brisket, so we got additional pulled pork. The pork and ribs were yummy. I would order either of those again. The chicken and sausage were fine, but nothing special. The best part of the meal were the fries, I liked the seasoning. The hush puppies were also good. The Brussel sprouts are grilled. They were good, but basic.
I would give it another try, but I don’t think I’m in a hurry to go back. l

Great update of a local place. We ordered The Garage and it was outstanding. The sauces are good too! The only thing I can think of that we would change is to serve with less foil and more plates. But that won’t keep us from coming back.

I LOOOOOVE what they’ve done to this place!!! Its been open for a couple of weeks. They redid EVERYTHING. Looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Im here trying their food and OMG!!! Im really enjoying the whole experience. Even the bathrooms are SUPER COOL!!! This place has GOT IT GOING ON!!!