Excellent joint, run by nice local people. No corporate ownership here. Friendly staff.

We happened upon Gideon Welles when we were actually in route to Half acre on our bike and brew tour and decided to stop here for dinner because the outdoor patio with the string bulb lights looked so inviting. We started off with a refreshing brew, the list of beers on tap had a great selection with something for each of us. We ordered the buffaloed veggies for an app. Lightly breaded tender veggies (mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower) generously doused in buffalo sauce with ranch, carrots and celery on the side surprisingly hit the spot. While you can do no wrong by dousing anything in buffalo sauce, I could have easily had a few more orders of those buffaloed veggies. I 10/10 recommend. I ordered the Old Neptune Burger. Medium cooked juicy burger patty topped with brie cheese, tomato relish and a crispy onion ring. Quite frankly ordered this because never before have I seen brie on a menu as a burger topping. It was quite different but very delicious. I do not know if I would order it again but I would definitely return because the outdoor patio was so cozy and perfect for a summer night. read more

Gideon Welles - Bar - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Fish n' Chips was delicious. Mac n' Cheese was outstanding. Petite salad was pretty good...vinegarette dressing was tasty.

I met a few friends here today for some brunch grub & beers. I've walked by this place a million times but prior to today, I had never been here. I got in a few minutes early, so I grabbed a seat at the bar. The bartender was very friendly and accommodating. My friends showed up and we were seated in the back bar area. Lots of NCAA Bball & Fball games on the big screens so it was crowded but not overly crowded. Out waitress was very nice, friendly, and from her accent, I'm guessing she was from Ireland. I was undecided on what to choose for brunch. It was gonna be either the Fish N Chips or the Reuben. She recco'd the Reuben, so i went with that. OMG. I've been in Chicago 33 years, and I have tried countless Reubens over the years but this one is definitely in my top 5, if not top 3. So delicious. And it wasn't just sliced Corned Beef deli meat. This was brined brisket to perfection, pulled apart and stacked high with the killer sauerkraut, melted swiss and fabulous thousand island/russian dressing. All between the grilled rye toast. It was perfect. A bit messy but that is part of what what defines a great Reuben. The fries, too, were awesome with skin on and the perfect side. I ate it all and I'm so glad I did. What a great meal. I will be back to Gideon Welles again & then I will try the Fish N Chips. Also, their beer selections are top notch. Kudos, Gideon Welles! read more

Hands down best French fries I've had in Chicago after living here for 17 years. Great spot to grab a bite to eat on a nice day sitting outside. Friendly service, good selection of drinks, and overall good food. Better than average compared to other bars with food. The hand cut fries are extremely legit. read more

Great bar food and beers! Beer Garden is great when weather is nice. Nice service and reasonable priced.

Nice little pub located next to a park that shares the same name, this Irish pub offers a full bar with a solid craft beer lineup and a full menu. The place itself is sectioned into two indoor sides and a nice size patio. The service was great on a busy Thursday night and the food smelled delicious. Would happily come back for a pint in the future. read more

Love this place the staff are always amazingly friendly and efficient!The Irish fry is to die for! read more

Gideon Welles - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Have come to Gideon Welles many times and usually love it, just stopped in today, spent around 75 total on food with a 14 dollar tip for service where fries were forgotten, and silverware was given halfway through the meal, Jerry (manager/owner) comes running after us down the block to let us know we did not tip on our bill and he will have to cover it, however they already had included 18% gratuity on the bill which I had already paid. Maybe you should learn how to make and READ receipts before getting upset with your customers? I completely understand all the terrible reviews on customer service. Clearly starts with the management. read more

Gideon Welles - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Great dinner date spot and can also be a great family night out dinner place! Staff is friendly and the food is great! They have plenty of options to choose from when it comes to drinks. Over all I absolutely love their shrimp tacos! read more

This is our go-to place on the north side for burgers and beer. The location is perfect right across the street from Welles park at the lower end of Lincoln Square. The outdoor patio is always a lovely place to sit outside and the service is generally friendly. read more

Great bar food if you're hanging out at the park! Love the nachos and their cider menu especially.

Ralph is one of the best personalities that works there. A tad humorous, insightful, honest. A must meet type of human being read more

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Gideon's Wells is everything you want in a great Chicago Pub! Great bar and restaurant atmosphere. TVs on all sides and volume where you can hear it even outside. The outdoor patio is both relaxing and enjoyable! Their beer is both delicious and locally. I got their Reuben sandwich...Hands down! Best Reuben I have ever had!! Ad I've had a lot of Ruebens... ;) If you're from the suburbs, its worth the drive and if you're like me living in the city, its worth the walk! read more

I like this place because of its ambiance, draft beer selection, great service proximity to walkable destinations like welles park and the outdoor seating. I food is fine, but I wish that the flatbread were thicker. It's so flat that it's more like chips with delicious toppings (not at all filling). My kids loved their meals. read more

I was genuinely surprised at how good the place was. I went out with a group and everyone was happy with what they ordered. The nachos and the goat cheese appetizer were amazing. The shrimp tacos were really good, too. Our waitress was so personable and it was overall a nice pub environment. I would come here again and love the Lincoln Square neighborhood in general. read more

Stopped in on a Saturday. Was able to get seated outside which is nice. Patio overlooking the park. Place seemed a bit overwhelmed, although it didn't seem that busy. Not sure if they were short staffed. 3 stars is purely based on food though. Ordered the buffaloed veggies. Deep fried in a nice buffalo sauce. Was spicy and tasty. Best dish we had. Wife got the Cobb wrap, it might as well have been a pile of lettuce wrapped in a tortilla. It was 90% lettuce. I got the chicken sandwich. Had high hopes as it looked good. Honesty the bread was toasted very well and I enjoyed the sauce that was on the sandwich, but the chicken tasted rubbery. Like it was over microwaved. French fries were good. And I ordered the Irish curry dip. More like a gravy, I would not get again. read more

Gideon Welles - Buffaloed Veggies. Best dish we ordered - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Nice spot with a Decent patio for outside dining! The service was good from our waitress but extremely good from the busboy / food runner I do wish I got his name but we visited on Sunday evening around 7pm and he was so pleasant and helpful. He checked in on us more than our server and that's not to say she wasn't doing her job he just really did a great job. Bringing extra waters & clearing empty cups plates so quickly even though they were busy he was so on top of it all. I had the shrimp tacos they were great, the fries were super fresh and topped with sea salt. They also have a nice beer selection on tap. read more

Food was good but 3 stars for the service. Very slow so don't go there if you're in a hurry. My friend and I had class at the old town music school at 8pm got at Gideon at 7pm hoping to get a quick meal. Places our order at 7:10pm and our flatbread came out 25 mins later, our meals came out at 7:47pm so we had to rush. Our meals were sandwiches so nothing fancy. This was a Tuesday night so it wasn't packed but what bothered us was when the staff came around for our first bit check we also asked for the check and the check came 10 mins later. Usually when guest ask for the check during the check we gotta dash. This place is probably a good place if you're not in a rush. read more

I ordered for the 3rd or 4th time expecting things to be the same as what I got before. It was not. This time the corned beef on the Rueben was thick, tough, and underseasoned. In the past, it was thinly shaved and juicy like it is is stated on their menu. I am now searching for a new "go-to" place for a corned beef sandwich or a Rueben sandwich. It was good while it lasted. Pretty sad.... read more

Improvement. Big improvement! I used to go here occasionally, when it was Latitude. It was boring. However, the proximity to the Old Town School of Folk Music makes it a go to when I'm in the area. We did just that, after an OTSFM show, staggered in for one after the show. Well! It seems to be under new management, at least the staff got a refresh or something. Our server, K, sidled up to us when we sat down, charming as can be. What was "Let's just have one." turned into at least three, she was so friendly and chatty. Or maybe we're just lushes, unable to confine ourselves to one drink. Naahh!! It was because we were having a blast. This place used to be just meh, but now I'll definitely be back! read more

I really struggled with this review. I like having a place close to home that serves decent drinks that I can walk to, especially when out of town guests are visiting. We came in on Easter evening to wind down. There were four adults and three children in our party. Heck, one of the little critters was only two rears old. We had some decent appetizers. The dip trio with hummus, guacamole and, spinach dip was okay. The nachos and the wings were devoured. The drinks were just ok, and my vodka and lemonade was chintzy on the vodka. The small-fries in the party had typical kid fare like a hot dog and chicken nuggets. Service was decent even though our server accidentally dropped a plate and dumped ketchup all over one of our purses. No biggie - accidents happen. It would have been a nice gesture to comp a little something, but again, no biggie. The big surprise of the night is that the gratuity 18% was added to our check. We were told that it was added on because we had we had 6 or more in the party. You people are seriously counting toddlers and preschoolers in that head count? To make a long story short we paid with a combo of cash and credit, and WAY over tipped because we were unaware of the included gratuity. I think it was kind of slimy of this place to do this. It left a bad taste. So all in all the food was okay for pub grub, but if you're dining with very small children know that they're counted toward that added gratuity, and make sure they chip in. read more

Gideon Welles - There's a wide open dining room in case you have kiddos in tow. - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I have to give this place 3 stars as there is some room for improvement and I DO hope to go back and find they were just getting through a few tough weeks of being "new". I had to pop into the actual restaurant and walk around as I couldn't find anyone to seat us. We almost didn't stay as we thought they may be closed, but the TV's were on. We were the first to be seated for dinner time on the outdoor patio that is encased in planters with gorgeous plants and flowers all around the patio. We were a bit surprised that our food seemed to take a while, considering there was only 1 other table occupied for dinner. My kids tried the home made lemonade and yowza's... it was SOUR and even mixed with half water. They couldn't even drink it after we poured half out and mixed it with 3/4 water. As for food, we started off with the goat cheese app and I liked that the cheese came in 2 fried balls. Different. Tasty. Would order again. As for entrees, I ordered the shrimp fish tacos and they were great. My husband had a buffalo chicken wrap and my kids had a cheeseburger and mac n cheese. I LOVE that there are organic options on the menu. Don't often find that. No complaints on the food..everyone enjoyed their dishes. They just need to firm up a few things and work on the service. Hopefully the kinks get ironed out and we'll be back! read more

Gideon Welles - Fried goat cheese app. - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

A great neighborhood bar/restaurant! We came for dinner on a nice, summer night and were not disappointed. We wanted burgers and to sit outside. We were seated right away and our waitress was attentive and super sweet to our 3 year old. I ordered the Gideon Welles burger and it was very delicious! My husband made his own burger where you can pick 3 toppings. To drink I ordered the Saxo beer. Very refreshing. The hubs ordered a Kentucky Mule and something else but both were good. Our 3 year old ordered a lemonade and chicken fingers and fries. Can't beat that! We will definitely be back since we live close by. Also, Wells Park is right down the street which is a huge plus for us. Eat then play! read more

Gideon Welles - The Gideon Welles burger! - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Serious the best chicken sandwich I've had in years. Extremely moist very tasty includes avocado, bacon and much more! You're missing a great meal if you don't try! read more

This is a nice neighborhood bar i would go to regularly. The staff is friendly and the food is great. Music is not too loud. And there's a good selection of beer on tap. I came in about 4 PM and sat in the bar. There is one menu for lunch and dinner. The Maryland crabcakes were excellent appetizers. The texture of the lump crab and crispy sear on top was great contrast. The sauce reminded me of a spicy thousand island dressing and tasted great with the crab. I had the Keller's Favorite sandwich as my main meal. It's a bacon sandwich, but the addition of an over easy egg made it superb comfort food. The fries were okay, but then again, i prefer the thick cut fries. I could tell my sandwich was thoughtfully prepared and not slapped together. Allagash White beer was my beverage and it was on tap. The bartenders kept an eye if I was almost done and asked if I wanted another. Even though I was there during late lunch / early dinner and the bartenders were serving regular tables, they didn't leave people at the bar neglected. I don't live in the Lincoln Square area, but I would definitely come back for the crabcakes and their other dinners. It's a great casual atmosphere, there's a good view of the TV screens anywhere you dined, and there's great service. Why I didn't give Gideon 5 stars. Three reasons... though the food was really good, it seemed limited. I wish there was a larger selection of dinners. And the bathrooms. I prefer the doors to be hidden away in the corner and not accessible in the main room. And third, I prefer thick cut fries. read more

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Saturday in Chicago and the sky is... Yes, grey. It's warmer than expected which reminds me I should take the bacon out of the garage. Instead I find myself at Gideon Welles with the M and Z. Z is extra loud making their back room excellent for containment - and at 2:30 it's not packed making it good for his frequent trips to the bathroom. The first thing that I see is a IPA heavy beer list. It's the rage. "Soo hoppy". I resist and got for Yetoi stout. It's beautiful and dark with a hint of sweetness. It makes my mouth happy. We decide to sample the appetizers. It's a good choice. The home made chips with blue cheese fondue is delicious. The ceviche and crab cakes are perfect with hints of spice. I would prefer more heat. I don't complain. I order crispy goat cheese. The goat cheese and crab cakes are small. They leave me wanting. Z finds the hotdog superb but the fries ordinary. Food gone. Beer gone. We got the trio of green dip and more beer. Fistmas for me. (Thank You Revolution). If the dips one should eat the edamame first as it is the most bland. Follow this with the other in any order. The fried pita is excellent. The service has been great. My only complaint is that he (our server) was a soft talker. I am sated...for now. read more

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I had the pleasure of meeting the owners of this establishment earlier in the day. I promised a visit, but couldn't wait for my next trip to Chicago. So, I took A Lyft & checked it out... First impressions: great atmosphere. Intriguing menu. Outstanding beer selection. Had the Crispy Goat Cheese. Excellent..! I've never had anything quite like it. Family owned pub. Great place. I'd recommend it all day long. read more

Gideon Welles - Crispy goat cheese...! Outstanding...!!!! - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Checked out Gideon Welles on the Hawks' last game of the playoffs. Sad face. Ended up being Burger night, $7 2 topping burger with fries. I was so excited to try the burger since the meat blend is rib eye and brisket. Another sad face since the burger was overcooked, I chose goat cheese and mushrooms for the toppings but they were topped kinda unevenly. The fries delicious as they were very fresh cut, great beer list and the featured $5 beer was Citradelic. Felt so bad as there was only one waitress for the whole restaurant so service was quite slow.. But I am giving empathy points. read more

Gideon Welles - Goat cheese mushie burger. - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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A great tavern with a lively atmosphere to stop in to for drinks or food! Their burgers and fish and chips are great. They have a good selection of craft beer and cocktails, or you can get a classic Irish Guinness. The staff here is very kind as well. Highly recommend checking it out! read more

Get the fries!!! Went here for lunch and a beer with my parents. They had sports on, so the inside definitely felt more like a sports bar vibe, and the outdoor patio was great on a beautiful day. read more

Food is pretty bad, service is meh, and the outside chairs for the high tables are incredibly uncomfortable.

Meh. This was okay. I came on a Friday for a late lunch, and sat on the patio. Service was severely lacking at that time- it took about 15 mins to get a beer because I sat there for so long before anyone greeted me. I ordered the French onion soup and a basket of fries. The table next to me, which had two parents, a toddler, and a non-stop screaming baby got their entire food order before me even though they were seated about 10 mins after me. I was about to pay for my drink and leave because it had been so long and I really didn't want to have my dinner near a screaming freakin baby. My food then came and I ate it quickly. The baby calmed to only mild cries so I shoveled down my food and left. The French onion soup was awesome. The fries were average. I know it is not their fault about a screaming baby, but I would have appreciated them asking the parent to go soothe it outside or in the car rather than letting it scream on a patio. read more

Food was alright, probably not worth coming back for unfortunately but the service was TERRIBLE. It was 40m after we ate the server finally appeared and asked if we needed anything. Another 20m for a check. The place was far from packed too. read more

I recently came here for outdoor dining! This place is amazing and the staff went above and beyond to ensure we were warm and gave us some amazing blankets to keep warm. I ordered a hot tody and it was delicious. If you looking for a great place in Lincoln square this place is amazing! read more

Great neighborhood sports bar / tavern. The food is the standout, as it's a step above most bars. The southwest wrap, chicken sandwich, and fish and chips are all fantastic. It's our favorite spot for good bar food (and a great beer selection). read more

We came here for a friend's birthday dinner and it was pretty good. We ordered a bunch of appetizers (shrimp in a blanket, maryland crabs cakes, crispy goat cheese, etc.) and all were good. I ordered the "Gideon Welles Burger" which was basic, but VERY good. My date ordered the Bistro Steak which was really good as well. I tried to taste everyone else's entrees, but they kept slapping my hand away, so I can't vouch for any of the other entrees, but no one seemed to complain. :) The beer list was pretty good, especially if you are a craft beer fan. Apparently, they just opened a few weeks ago and they seemed pretty slow, especially for a Thursday evening, but maybe it was just the neighborhood. It definitely wasn't due to the food or service, which were both very good. read more

Gideon Welles - Gideon Welles Burger - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Nice neighborhood place to grab a bite. You can always find a seat outside. Affordable and big portions. Limited menu but everything is pretty good. I love sitting outside with my dog on a nice night and having a drink while watching the little league baseball kids run around at the park across the street. read more

Gideon Welles - Southwestern chicken wrap that I shared with my friend and the half was very filling. - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Gideon Welles is one of the few restaurants named for a Secretary of the Navy, in this case Lincoln's. This is classy. The bistro steak is one of the best in the city at a moderate price. You can get peas with your fish & chips; not mushy peas, though I suppose you could mush them yourself. Stellar fish & chips, excellent beer selection, friendly bartenders, a freakishly tall manager. Adds up to a great time and a superior value. read more

I've lived in this area for a solid six years, yet had never been to Gideon Welles until this past Sunday! Ordered the Reuben and a Bloody Mary. Delicious! Can't wait to come back for their fish n chips special on Friday! read more

Gideon Welles - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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