Bulldog Ale House

Arrived at 5pm on a Saturday
Have been to this New Lenox location many times

Pros:
Plenty of parking
Good specials everyday, not just weekdays
Website easy to navigate
Food and alcohol decently priced
Friendly table staff
Relatively quiet in the side dining areas versus the main bar/tabletop areas
Very good House Beers

Cons:
Yelp waitlist feature is available but was not available. This marks the third time I can recall that was the case. At 430pm it was available. At 445pm it was not. When we arrived we were told there was a 10-15 minute wait for 4 people, and the text link they sent us for the wait was a Waitlist connection showing us first in line. The wait was 10 minutes and we did not get checked-in by the staff on Yelp Waitlist.

The step-up area for video gaming right when you walk in seems to taint a first impression of the restaurant. It used to be toward the back only. I realize to a business these areas add income; I hope it offsets a visual minus to the person coming for food/drinks.

The food quality was average. Chicken tenders were below average, wrong sauce brought. French dip was good, fish was average and the signature burger was good. Fries were average. Also they mixed two types of fries together which seemed odd.
The Friday house and domestic beer special of 23oz for $4 came as 16oz but was made right by the waitress on the bill. That was appreciated.
The staff was overwhelmed with the number of tables to cover. The waitress did her best.
Food came relatively quickly but seemed slightly delayed compared to other visits
The bill arrived long after we were done and that was on the facility overwhelming the servers with too many tables to cover.

Overall:
We like this place. But with lots of local pub food competition, I'm not sure they are my go-to as in the past. Have a house beer and some of their appetizers (not the chicken apps) and I think you'll enjoy the experience more than the full dinner.

We came here on a Friday night, they originally quoted us about 30 minute wait, but it only ended up being about five.

The atmosphere is really nice, it's a really cool sports bar kind of vibe. They have different specials every day, I had the all you can eat fish and fries which was $13 with the purchase of a beverage. The fish was outstanding. I'm not even a big fish person, but it was excellent and the onion rings were also beer battered and delicious. I really liked the tartar sauce it kind of tasted a little bit like dill pickle or something. My only complaint is my waitress did not ask me if I wanted any more fish, but she was asking other tables.

My fiancé had the country fried burger and he loved it. I believe it was somewhere around $15. It's basically a deep fried burger with all the toppings.

Glad this place closed down. Management...no where to be found. Other than one or two servers, there is no sense of camaraderie at all between the team. It is literally every man for themselves.

I have served prior for 7 years and loved it. This place, not so much. The majority of servers do not have a sense of urgency when it comes to greeting tables, refilling drinks, or checking in on them.

Bonus point: their main (and only) ice well stopped draining and instead of routing servers to other cleaner options, the managers just kept saying they'll fix it and never did. Imagine the nasty and stagnant water mid shift during rush hour.

Speaking of wells, why did you guys only have one? Waiting on a server who is filling up 12 glasses of coke actually takes more time than you think. Not very productive.

They also are not nice to food runners who always get the shit end of the stick every busy night.

Place is disgusting. Little flies buzzing all around the bar. Employees don't care and sit on their phones. Place smells like sewage. I'll be calling the village to advise them to shut this place down before someone gets sick.

If I could give it zero stars I would, took 2 hours for chicken tenders, wrap, and kids meal. Wasn't busy, no wait on a Saturday night. They only had one physical menu, no problem, but then QR code on table doesn't work. Waiter worked hard and apologized, seemed overwhelmed, and said he was getting hassled from the guys in back when he checked on our order. Food was fine, but nothing tastes good after waiting that long. Seems really poorly run. Had to seek out manager after we paid, won't be back, really sad because my husband I I had our first date here.

Very disappointed. Took my wife here for her Birthday. Ordered the Margarita Pizza, not a traditional Margarita Pizza. Red sauce sliced tomatoes and regular shredded mozzarella not Buffalo mozzarella. Basil was shredded not whole leaf and no sign of any garlic. Got the Carnitas tacos myself and they were bland. Really Bummed because things are usually good here.

My husband and I go there a couple times a week. Well today was the last time. They are regularly out of coors light. New Year's Eve they were out of coors light. There is no reason to be out of the basic beers at a bar. We live down the street and have plenty of company follow us when we go but we won't be going anymore

My husband and I reluctantly went back to Bulldogs tonight for dinner. I say reluctantly because the last 3 times we have either had bad food, horrible service or both. It seems like they are just struggling ever since Covid hit.
Tonight we ordered what we thought was pretty simple, he had the French dip with a side salad and I ordered the House chicken Club salad with Cream of Chicken soup.
It took an hour to get our food and when we did finally get it my salad was wrong and my husband didn't get his salad.
The waitress did bring his salad out after asking.
My salad, which is described in the attached picture, came to the table with just lettuce and chicken. No cheese, no bacon, no tomato, no egg and no honey mustard.
Once I brought this to the attention of our waitress she did take my salad back, added the cheese, bacon, tomato and honey mustard, still no eggs though.
It took us 90 minutes to order, eat and pay for such a simple meal.
Unfortunately this neighborhood chain restaurant can no longer be considered a reliable place to meet and eat. 4 strikes and your out, we will not be going back.

BEST FRIDAY FISH FRY IN NEW LENOX... As a long time patron of traditional fish frys in the area I thought i would never say that!
Even in the face of disaster, a young lady had an accident w a tray of our food, the staff came shining through!
Quickly got the remade food out to us and it was awesome!

Years ago, tried this place with the fam. They were missing a couple food items and the beer didn't taste that great.

Gave it another shot a week ago - same story.

Some draft beers were completely out, a few appetizers were not available - same for some dinner items. Ordered drinks and one came back wrong, the other had soapy film in glass. It was a less-than-half busy Sunday night.

May seem picky but the place just needs to try harder. I felt bad for the waitress, at least she was pleasant. Probably the only reason the place didn't get 1 star.