Review: Armitage Alehouse is a dreamy escape that deserves better food

Table Of Content

• Au Cheval Ownership Opens New Gastropub With Cacio E Pepe and Tandoori Chicken
• Want to order online?
• Stonefired Naan Bread With Lamb Spread
• Reserve a Table
• Now on Resy: Duck Sel, Eleven City Diner, Tacombi, and More Local Favorites
• Grocery deals: The Tribune food team’s favorite money-saving markdowns at Chicagoland stores

If you’re looking for Chicago’s most transporting space, the only competition might be the Cherry Circle Room. It obviously doesn’t matter, because Armitage Alehouse needs no promotion. Once again, Sodikoff has created a space where people crave to be.

Au Cheval Ownership Opens New Gastropub With Cacio E Pepe and Tandoori Chicken

If Winston Churchill, who was chancellor of the exchequer in 1926, made a surprise visit from beyond the grave, he’d have a lot of questions. There’s a couple of tables on the Armitage side, but most of our main patio is on the Sheffield side. A lot of people want to dine outside and take advantage of the warm weather because it’s so short in Chicago.

Want to order online?

If the food were as irresistible as the atmosphere, we’d have a new Chicago hit on our hands. But unlike other Hogsalt operations that arrive fully formed, Armitage Alehouse’s menu feels needlessly full of misfires. Since becoming one of the Tribune’s food critics last year, I’ve been trying to center reviews around the food, with everything else (atmosphere, service) orbiting around. But Armitage Alehouse is one of those exceptions that’s too stunning to deny. It’s lovelier than Au Cheval, cozier than Bavette’s, and more polished than Maude’s Liquor Bar (which sadly closed in 2020).

Stonefired Naan Bread With Lamb Spread

Though the bone may be little more than an excuse to give people less filling, the dramatic presentation is undeniably impressive, and the bone is filled with loads of unctuous marrow, which you can spread over the pie crust. There’s no faulting how the crackly crust mixes with the ultra-savory fillings, like the oxtail and red wine pie ($25) or the more balanced steak and ale pie ($25). What’s more, the Indian-influenced dishes on the menu are bizarrely disappointing. The skin on the tandoori-style roasted chicken ($25) arrives blackened to the point of tasting of soot. It doesn’t help that the meat rests on a bed of overly chalky dal. Less traditional takes on Anglo-Indian cuisine, like an endive salad topped with shaved paneer and glistening cubes of mango, make for Armitage Alehouse’s most memorable offerings.

We don’t really have specials, so it’s kind of like, what you see is what you get. If there are any changes (which happens rarely), it will be adding an ingredient or removing an ingredient. But for the most part, the dishes don’t really change. Typically, Hogsalt restaurants open under the radar, and Armitage Alehouse continues that tradition. Still, even though the company hasn’t made a big deal of the opening, reservations are already scarce. Hogsalt Hospitality’s restaurant, on the northwest corner of Sheffield and Armitage, finally answers the question “what restaurant serves both samosas and matzah ball soup?

If you’re looking for a dessert nightcap, this is it. Of course, the only reason you can order Indian food with a gin and tonic at a pub is because the British once occupied India. Not that Armitage Alehouse needs to address this, but it might have shown that it at least considered the charged history. The bar is nothing compared with the dining room, where elegantly framed portraits line the walls. Dim lamps and ornate chandeliers cast a golden glow around the room like you’ve slipped into a Hollywood period drama. Logs crackle from the fireplace, as diners lounge in large, cushioned chairs.

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We are an intimate restaurant and accept reservations for parties of 1-6 guests. We kindly ask that you do not make multiple reservations for more than one group. We accept reservations up to 14 days in advance with each new day becoming available at 9 AM CST on Resy.

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But once we start our own in-house waitlist and service begins for the day, that will take priority over the Notify list. Usually that can be as long as people on a Friday or Saturday night. Let’s say we’re having a slower night and there’s an opportunity to message guests on the Notify List — we definitely will do that.

Armitage Alehouse opens in Lincoln Park with Anglo-Indian fare - Eater Chicago

Armitage Alehouse opens in Lincoln Park with Anglo-Indian fare.

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But, because the British colonized various parts of the world, the influences in Anglo-Indian food are diverse. In Wicker Park, Pub Royale’s menu has included Anglo Indian food since 2015. “This is the neighborhood pub you always knew existed back when, in the days when fireplaces still burned wood and music came from the piano, just like they do here,” according to the bar’s website. The warm cake is contrasted nicely by the cold brown butter ice cream, which has just enough savoriness to balance the toffee sauce.

It’s a watering hole where people can come in and have a beer and a pot pie at the bar. But they can also have a nice full dinner coursed out in the main dining room by the fireplace in the wintertime. The menu is British pub fare with some Indian influences, specifically with the spices that we use in our dishes. We have curry options like tandoori-style chicken and the Indian element is present, but we are not an Indian restaurant.

I’d also stake a bet on the restaurant’s decor, an intimate homage to the pubs of 1920s England that offers some of the most gorgeous dining scenery I’ve ever experienced in Chicago. In a city full of restaurants favoring a certain sleek, spartan design to signal their high-end credentials, that’s a real accomplishment. The pub’s interior features eclectic decor, hand-carved woodwork and dim lighting, with a menu that offers ales and cocktails paired with pub fare and dishes that have roots in India, the website says. We use the Notify list to let guests know if there were any cancellations day-of. They will receive a notification so they can book themselves for those open reservations.

It also operates Aster Hall, a Gold Coast food hall; and two Small Cheval locations. LINCOLN PARK — Hogsalt Hospitality, the nationally acclaimed restaurant group behind Au Cheval and other local favorites, has quietly opened a pub and restaurant in Lincoln Park. Reservations are not transferable and we are not obligated to honor transferred reservations.

That’s true if you go for the sleek Vesper ($14) or the fruitier Aviation ($14). The best might be the simply gorgeous East India G&T ($14), which combines Jin Jiji Darjeeling gin with saffron, flower petals and juniper. While the pies are easily the best thing on the pricy menu, they clock in at twice the cost of the phenomenal English pies served at Pleasant House Pub (2119 S. Halsted St.). But this is no bawdy tavern full of pint-chugging lads. Instead, it feels like where gentlemen from the House of Lords might retire after a long day of doing … whatever they do in the House of Lords. Hogsalt Hospitality’s newest (and much-hyped) restaurant looks as stunning as you’d imagine, with a menu that’s much less memorable.