We enjoyed our first visit to First Draft. Stunning array of craft beers as well as old standards, foreign and domestic. Our usual habit is to compare food basics when we go to a new place, especially when newly opened. We pick cheeseburgers and fries. This did not disappoint, both were excellent !! Have not had a better burger in Lake County,IL The waitstaff while inexperienced at this location (open 10 days only) was friendly and enthusiastic. We expect this place to quickly develop in to a must visit restaurant once the kitchen hits it's stride. The decor and atmosphere is something special. The outdoor space can't be beat. 2 levels of Band outdoor seating. This is gonna be a fun place, opening at a time when we really need it. read more

If there's nowhere else...I guess go here. Food is mediocre..they have a big selection of beer but other drinks are watered down.

My husband and I decided to visit this establishment because some of our bridge partners had recommended the patio. When we arrived, all seemed fine for a relaxing day of cold drinks and bar fare to enjoy. Boy were we WRONG! Shortly after being seated, two gentleman ( I use the term liberally), made the overall ambience "less than enjoyable" I understand profanity, especially in a sports bar, to an extent, but these men had seemingly made it their mission to annoy everyone enjoying the patio. Between the overt loudness and occasional racism, it certainly put a damper on the afternoon. I'm not sure who was tending bar, but they should absolutely have known that they were over- serving these gentleman since they couldn't form coherent sentences, let alone be respectful of the people around them. After waiting for our appetizer of bruschetta for twenty minutes and trying to ignore the unfortunate intrusion, one of the men vomited right then and there. To say we were shocked is an understatement. Nobody seemed to be in charge, but eventually a VERY pregnant woman in unflattering jean shorts seemed to help quell the situation....but the offending patrons were not even asked to leave!! We will not be back, nor should anybody after reading this review. read more

We saw this new restaurant that opened in downtown Grayslake and decided to get lunch here on Labor Day. Unfortunately the poor service and meh food disappointed. There's a very pleasant outdoor seating area that is nice if you're here to spend a few hours with friends over beer. But we were hungry and service was extremely slow and nonexistent after food arrived. The hostess took our order and never came back because They were short-staffed. I felt bad for them but the food order came out wrong, too I did like the vegetables I ordered with a grillled cheese but partner's fries and onion rings were overdone. The place has potential, but that would require hiring more people. We literally had no one check on us for more water, ketchup or the check. also, no one is wearing a mask indoors. read more

Cool place being wasted... food may be the worst in Lake County. Last time ordered nachos to be safe due to prior issues. Chips were stale, cheese wasn't all melted all the way, the ground beef was cold to the touch. No one seems to care read more

Very short pour! For 7$. Let's see if it changes? When I told the bartender she looked at me as a pest. I am not a fan!

Went to First Draft tonight. Such a great location and venue. Decent selection of beers and our service was great. My wife and I ordered the cheese curds for an app and they were very good- they had some sort of jalapeño dipping sauce. Now for the bad- we both ordered the Original Burger and they were ok at best. The fries were just terrible- no flavor at all. The onion rings were also flavorless. Overall, it is a nice place to have a beer and (maybe) an appetizer, but I will not be having dinner again. read more

Great service by Alex! Love the new bowls added to the menu. We enjoyed a "flight" of beers with a cute set-up. Dining outside on their patio on a beautiful night was perfect. read more

Stopped by this place for the first time to place a "to-go" order. Sat at the bar and had a beer until my order was ready. I must say, I liked the vibe, cool place to watch a game and have a drink, I would've liked to see the upstairs, however time wasn't on my side. I was told to order the "cheeseburger" its what they're known for...says the bartender? OK, so I order with sweet potato fries and a grilled chicken pita for my wife and the one draft beer, came to $41.00 with tip. My cheeseburger and fries was $18.50, kinda of pricey, ok no big deal . I get home, unpack everything, burger wasn't cooked medium how i asked, bun was awful. Chicken Pita was overcooked and dry, fries were good. Decent establishment, they definitely have their work cut our for them in the kitchen and menu. read more

Beer selection was good. i like the layout of the building. Nice bar. The atmosphere however, sucked. I think this falls on management when you see that the majority of your paying customers are 45-65 years of age and you blast nothing but hip hop shit over the sound system. It really makes you want to run out of the place. The food is nothing special - bar food. I had a burger which was good. My buddies had a Chicken wrap and another burger. The waitress seemed a little pissed when we asked to split the check. She told us that she couldn't remember all the beers we drank. Kinda made me suspicious of the bill's accuracy. read more

Absolutely awful service. Too many lazy millenials that have no idea what service looks like. The food is mediocre at best. Over priced for the area and not worth your money. Go to Emil's...The place looks great but has no heart..worst yet, the management are flakes. read more

Did the owner walk into the snobbiest sorority they could find and give every brat a job? I think so... I'm in town from Colorado, visiting my parents... just got back from the airport and we decided to come here. FIRST.. I want to say the hostesses here have ZERO social skills or any sort of customer service skills... SECOND... there was a wait so my parents and I decide to ask if we can sit at the bar... the dumbest hostess looks me up and down and says with an attitude to my mom "um well SHE can't, she's under age"...This LITTLE girl says, "She", as if I can't see this girl talking about ME. I say, "excuse me, can you atleast ask for my ID before you assume I'm too young? Because I'm 24..." the idiot hostess responds "oh well you're wearing a D.A.R.E shirt so I just assumed.." And i said "well if you READ IT... it says C.R.E.A.M and it's a Wutang shirt...but THANKS."... seemed like Daddy required his little princess to get a job, and she isn't grateful for it. Entitled snob. Its not what she said that was irritating, it was her attitude, it was her vibe, it was all of the hostesses and waitresses energy... our waitress never said her name which was alright but her vibe seemed very impersonal and closed off , and the Bartender was very short and rude and seemed like he hated his job. ONLY ONE PERSON ASKED HOW OUR DINNER WAS and it was a Male waiter, maybe manager... since he was the only one that cared... at a restaurant where the cheapest meal is basically $16 without a side... I just felt my parents and I should've been treated better. The food was decent. The pizza sauce tastes like ketchup, but good ketchup for what it's worth. The brussel sprouts are AMAZING. So I give two stars. Really hate giving a small business a bad review in times like these... but YOUR STAFF WILL SHUT DOWN YOUR BUSINESS, not my review. Fix it. I don't even live here anymore and felt the need to leave a review as if I would ever come back here again. We spent near $100 here tonight for some crap service and OKAY food, respect that. read more

I hosted a private event in the upstairs room for 25+ people and I am absolutely thrilled with how everything turned out. I worked directly with the owner, Tom, and he was extremely responsive, attentive, and took excellent care of us the day of the event. The venue could easily have fit twice as many people, so we were comfortable in the spacious room. There were several games throughout the room to occupy guests and the fully-stocked bar upstairs was perfect. The availability of an elevator was absolutely key for some of my guests and I'm so grateful that everyone was able to celebrate together because of it. I hosted a buffet for my guests; the food was nice and hot, fresh, and delicious! Every single guest raved about how thrilled they were with the menu. We enjoyed the bruschetta, mini pork sliders, mini chicken parmesan sandwiches, pretzel bites, and house salad. We were so grateful that Tom allowed us to bring our own special cupcakes to the event. I would highly recommend First Draft for your event. Tom was wonderful to work with and all of my guests were so impressed. read more

Two stars only because the service was really good. I know we're getting back to normal, and I really wanted to like this place. I will like it for beer and sports, but not for food. Flat out, the food sucks. The fried chicken sandwich that my daughter had looked exactly like a hockey puck. It was at least five minutes overcooked in the deep fryer and had the consistency of thread and dust. Fries were mushy and unsalted. Wife had salmon that, for some reason, was way over-salted. I had fish and chips. The fish was greasy and over-cooked. It was dry and unseasoned. I think the tartar sauce is just mayonnaise. I spent $100 that was simply a donation. The service was really good and the workers are really friendly. I'll go there again since it's a great location a quarter mile from my house. But I'll drink beer. I'll never buy food there again. read more

I was excited to try this new place but was very disappointed. We went at 4:15 for the upstairs outdoor seating. They said it didn't open until 5. So we put our name down for upstairs and sat at the bar to wait. We were reassured that we would be seated right when it opened. Around 5:10 we went up to the front to ask about the upstairs (just to get an update). We were told that they were wiping down everything because it rained (which it hasn't rained in days....) and would come get us from the bar in 5 min. After about 5 min someone came up to us asking if we were the ones waiting for upstairs and we said yes. Then the lady said "oh ok we will try to fit you in". About 15 more minutes passed. We decided to close our tab and then finally someone came up to us telling us they were ready. We decided just to leave. I know they just opened but this has been our 3rd time here. Tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. read more

I'm going to give first draft a 4 star review with potential to be 5 star for sure. They just opened this summer and really got shorted with the pandemic. They're a new restaurant and in an amazing location. There's a deck with outdoor seating and a bar on both floors- super cool. The wait for a Saturday night was 45 minutes, so we were able to go to the bar upstairs and hang out. On a beautiful day with some drinks on a second floor deck bar, how could you complain? The male bartender was so nice and had a good sense of humor. He apologized when he asked for my ID (the waitress did too. Idk what's up with that? That's their job) and recommended drinks. BTW: Upstairs, they can only seat groups of 6 or less. The indoor seating looked good too, but a little dark on the first floor. I'm not gunna lie, our waitress kinda had an attitude. It was funny though. No, I did not act like a Karen and demand more respect. Just cause she wasn't a bubbly overly-enthusiastic valley girl doesn't mean we had bad service. She was so real, and I respect that. I felt bad when we kept making her take more trips to grab mayo, and then another straw, and then ketchup, etc..She did every time though and never rolled her eyes or anything like that. I thought the not-in-your-face and not fake-nice kind of waitress was refreshing in all honesty, and we kinda giggled here and there. So, girl with dark hair and lots of tattoos and long eyelashes, I wish I knew your name because I would ask for you next time I eat here . However, I hope she's careful, because there are some majorly entitled pricks out there who will NOT like her attitude. I didn't mind. She did wear her mask below her nose the whole time, which makes me nervous. I know how hard it is to wear your mask all day covering your face, but you gotta do it. Especially when serving food. Okay, if you've made it this far, I bet you'll wanna hear about the food. Okay fine, I'll tell you. First, a small side note: they reuse their menus. They're just paper menu packets, so when it's like that, I would expect them to be able to print out more and not reuse them during covid. It would be better if they were reused and plastic so they could sanitize them... Hopefully that'll be fixed next time. Anyways, I got a medium well burger and it was wellllll overdone. It was dry and pretty average. If I want a burger in the future, I would go to Red Robin or something. I really like the fries though and I'm not a huge beer fan but they had a big enough selection that I found something I like! Their appetizers: the pretzel bites and fried cheese curds were AMAZING. Especially the fried cheese curds. I dreamt of them that night. My friend got a salad and it was a pretty good size, but a lottttt of lettuce and she ate up the chicken and everything else in it with about 2/3rds of the lettuce left. Everyone else in my group was very happy with their food-so maybe it was just my burger or maybe don't get a burger. I'm not the type to send it back and have them make me a whole new one while my family all eats, so I ate most of mine and it was fine, just not the best. Also I couldn't get the sink on the left in the women's restroom to work-but that might just be a me thing. All in all, I would recommend this place for a date night (first date if you wanna impress them!), family outing, fun dinner with the girls/guys, etc. I'll definitely be back, and I hope the food will be better. If it is, I'll update my review. Check this place out though, it's a great addition to Grayslake! OH ALSO!! When the sun set and the mosquitos started attacking, our waitress came out and offered bug spray! Haha, so random, I've never been somewhere that does that, but it was a life saver. read more

Brunch only until 1:00 pm on Saturday - don't waste your time. Menu has no selections and the waffle was cold and I think it was a LEGO waffle. Not impressed and very disappointed. read more

Good food poor service. I enjoyed my Hot Stuff burger. Very tasty, nice sauce and well prepared. My partner enjoyed her burger as well. But come on, not a good service experience. Greeted at the table quickly and ordered an appetizer, and then 10 minutes (happen to hear the noon bells) before a return trip, after I asked another server to find her. Ordered food and beverages, afore mentioned burgers, and can you provide a side of bbq sauce? Burgers come, no sauce or mention of the sauce, did not provide s&p or ketchup until I asked. I'll try this place again because the location and ambiance were nice and the food was good, but in the mean time spend some time training your staff please! read more

Great burgers very beef taste good sear on beef very juicy, buns a little soft for so juicy a burger. Onion rings crisp and not greasy. We'll be back read more

Enjoyed lunch on their patio. The food was good. The service pleasant but unorganized. They need to work on their COVID sanitation standards. Wait staff had dirty dishes in one hand while delivering new drinks or food to another table. We had to wait for a table to be a cleaned after he previous party...which is not a problem. When they were going to seat us, they were going to give us a table that had literally been vacated while we were watching....and we pointed out it hadn't been cleaned. Hostess had paper mask worn below her nose all the time and below her mouth some of the time. Won't be back until Covid under control. read more

My husband and I order burgers for delivery and damn were they delicious! I ordered the first draft. The egg was cooked to perfection and my burger was cooked to perfection. Amazing read more

This was my first time there, with 5 other members of my family. We all had delicious meals, from meatballs in marinara with goat cheese, to burgers, to shrimp, chicken, and pasta. All delicious! The manager was our server and he was a joy and very fun and helpful. He mentioned a recent overhaul of kitchen staff and that it has made a world of difference and that a new menu will be coming in the Spring! Can't wait to check it out and also need to come back on the weekend and have some fun on the 2nd level and grab a few beers. Thanks for a great evening! read more

Don't allow dogs on the patio. That's a deal breaker. Food is ok but nothing to shout about. Prices high but so is every other place in town except Fred's Diner. read more

What place doesn't have carry out during Covid? I don't understand? I can't give a review, because I don't have access to the food. Thank you. read more

Bad first impression! My sister and I were there for lunch and our waitress started off asking for our drink order. My sister ordered a Bier and I asked for iced tea. The waitress said, "we don't have any tea made". I should have said, "make some" but I didn't. I saw the tea maker and it's the normal restaurant size and it would have taken someone 15 seconds to put the filter and tea in to brew for 5-10 minutes. We ordered pretzel bites which wasn't anything to write home about, and we ordered Italian bison meatballs with goat cheese. Now this was really tasty. After we finished our meals but my sister hadn't finished her bier, our waitress didn't even ask if we we wanted anything else but brought and plopped the check down on the table. I immediately paid because I was disturbed by such service, or lack there of. Before we got up from our table the waitress scooped up the check, wished us well and then left the scene of the crime. When I went to the bathroom afterwards I saw the waitress leave with her apron in hand and then realised that she pushed us to get out of there so she could leave. Please train your staff the does and don'ts of how to be a good server so that others will have an enjoyable experience at this restaurant. read more

First Draft - Pretzel buns. I should have taken a picture of the bison meatballs but was in a rush from our waitress. - American Near Me - Grayslake, Illinois

The food is normally great - love their bison meatballs and brussel sprouts. However, the service is not fabulous. I was waiting on a to go order for 20 minutes and he kept saying "5 more minutes". I have people waiting on me and I'd rather you be straight up about when something is ready then lie. They clearly cannot handle being read more

I REALLY want this place to be a success because it is a great addition to the town. I love that it adds some new life to a rather quiet end of the town. The building is beautiful and they have a great patio. I've been here twice now, once in the middle of the day and just last night. On our first visit I was surprised they didn't offer a lunch menu and only had breakfast items. Aside from being a little slow on service I don't remember any real issues on our first visit. I ordered eggs Benedict which was good but it came with toast on the side which I thought was odd considering it already has an English muffin. Most restaurant usually serve it with potatoes. My friend ordered something with fried chicken and really liked her meal. Last night when we got there they told us there was a 2 hour wait for an outdoor table so we put our name on the list and decided to run an errand only to get a call within an hour. Granted everyone prefers a shorter wait but that estimate was way off and caused us to have to rush back. Once again the menu was very limited which I'm hoping in only temporary. The menu consists of burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, and just a few other items. I'm not sure if they just want to be a bar but if they want to be a restaurant they really need to add to their selection. We ordered an appetizer and 2 meals and unfortunately they goofed up on each thing we ordered. They either gave us the wrong sauce with the appetizer, no sauce on one meal, and also the wrong salad dressing on the other. The food was fine and the prices were fair. The service was very slow even though it seemed that they had a lot of help. Someone decided to build a fire outside which was really nice once it was burning but they really should have had it all set to go before everyone was there. It was distracting that they were carrying in the wood and ripping up cardboard to try to get it burning. It's also really dark outside when the sun goes down and it was really hard to see our food. Candles on the tables could maybe help. I really really want them to be successful and I'm hoping this is all just issues due to them being a new business and having to figure everything out still. I'll go back but I might wait a bit. Good Luck First Draft!!!! I hope you stick around. read more

The staff are VERY friendly. Kudos to those making the hiring decisions. That's about all the positive I have to say after about a dozen tries. There won't be a 13th. read more

Food is always amazing! Their kitchen is in great hands!! Service could be better depending on who you get but all in all five stars for first draft!!! read more

First timers. We had a few beers and a couple of apps. Really enjoyed the pretzel bites and the Asian sauce wings. Would not recommend the Parmesan garlic wings though. Not terrible, just not great. The sauce wasn't creamy like I enjoy. It was an oil based sauce. Nice atmosphere and many different areas to dine. Lots of outdoor space! They allow you to sit at the bar too which is nice for game days. Social distancing approved . We'll be back. read more

Wow went here for my birthday dinner. Not very busy was seated right away waited 30 minutes as other tables got served and we went unattended. Got up and walked out handed the menus back to the hostess they were unapologetic. Hate to play the race card but it felt like it was because the color of our skin. Disappointed don't go to this place! read more

First time there. Pleasant welcome, great seating outdoors. Beers and cocktails were first grade and the food was better than one would expect at a 'beer place'. Excellent selection on beers and bourbons. Prices are adequate to the quality, experience and location. Will be back. read more

Stephanie was awesome. Beer is cold! Great selections. And cheese curds are unbelievable!

Staff doesn't wear masks which is very unprofessional, disrespectful, and makes guests uncomfortable.

Beautiful restaurants this is the second time I've eaten there. They supposedly have a new chef. It was pretty slow last night walked in with the large group. It was a clown Fest. The waitress is very nice however the food service was a joke. Half the meals came out at different times at least for the meals were wrong it took forever to get them corrected most people just gave up and ate whatever they got portions are ridiculously small compared to the prices. Most of the things you ordered that came with the side you got the wrong thing even on the second trip of bringing the correct thing it was wrong again. I will say this the waitress should pay attention before she brings it to the table. She's supposed to stop the mistakes before they reach the customers. I can't imagine how bad it would be if they were busy. Way below average food will not go again. read more

Great, large space. Friendly staff with good specials and drafts. Dart boards (with real darts) , pool table, outside patios make for a good time. read more

First Draft - Quesdillas special today. Sooooo good - American Near Me - Grayslake, Illinois

The food is mediocre at best. We ordered wings that were soggy and undercooked. The pretzel bites were great but for 12.00, very skimpy portion. Calamari was flavorless and also a skimpy portion. The drink of the day was a joke, if there was any vodka I'd be surprised. The pork wings were good. Our waitress, who was new, was the only saving grace. She was attentive, friendly and genuine. read more

Came in on a Tuesday night for a beer flight.. did not disappoint! The bartender (Stacey I think ) was wonderful and even bought us a round! The tap beer selection is the best in Grayslake hands down! The building is beautiful, fire place, darts, and lots of parking! What a great little addition to Grayslake! read more

6 of us went in for Dinner. we were staying at an airb&b nearby and the host recommended this place. we passed several restaurants that looked very good. the food in the first draft was awful. 4 of the six took two bites and ate no more!! the server was nice and helpful but we told her the food was bad and she gave it no attention. she apologized and said she would discuss it with the kitchen. 170 bucks later we left. never had a manager come see us, never a consideration or adjustment. we are not complainers and were not looking for a freebee, but we paid for food that was awful and had no flavor. please re-conciser this restaurant!!! its not worth your time or money. highly disappointing. We were there with our son who graduated from Navy boot camp and was looking for a good meal with the family. i didnt make a big deal because he needed a good experience with the family. read more

We had dinner at First Draft in Grayslake last night. What a disappointment. We'd had positive experiences there a few times last summer so we expected another positive one. My husband ordered the perch fish fry. He was served 2 small pieces of fish with fries. Their fries are very good but the fish was not good at all. My husband said the fish tasted like frozen fish you'd buy in the frozen section of a grocery store. I ordered chicken Parmesan served over pasta. The pasta had hardly any sauce on it. The chicken was fried with a very hard breading and was very dry. And...had NO marinara sauce and NO mozzarella cheese!! There were a few flakes of grated Parmesan cheese on top. It should have been called fried chicken over pasta. I ate some of the pasta and about 4 bites of chicken. Waste of money and a big disappointment. The server was ok. Not very attentive and not very friendly. Not sure we'll try it again. read more