Kroll's (ye pub)

I think Kroll's merits a dedicated thread. Quoth SMT:

Krolls in the South Loop has a nice variety of beers and very good bar food. I've enjoyed the burgers, apps and even the milkshakes there, and the atmosphere has a kind of swanky, hipsterish yet comfortable vibe to it:

http://www.krolls-chicago.com/
1736 South Michigan
Chicago, IL 60605

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... ght=krolls

I've eaten at the original in Green Bay, which indeed is an institution. They make a Wisconsin-style 1930s burger. Cf the masterthread:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... yle+burger

Kroll's version has raw or grilled onions (default: raw), pickles (dill), and ketchup (!) as its standard fixins; that's the single ($5.50) off the late night menu, as they have about four different burger categories. I find it to be quite good in that Cock Robin (between this and Kuma's, how many times can I quite legitimately type that word this week) / Hamburger Heaven vein. The fries are your standard frozen affair. The beerlist makes up for where the other food lacks: good Belgians, Ayinger (doppelbock!), and the rarer of the Goose Island offerings. Atmosphere is dark and conversation-friendly even on game nights. Wisconsin and White Sox paraphernalia dominate, no Cubby-blue to be seen. It's a stone's throw from Panozzo's (aka "Has Guanciale!!!")

No revelations here, but I'd be interested in other thoughts on exploring the beer and food menu.

Eh, Krolls is simply a major dissapointment to me, since I live just down the street I wanted to support it but could not after repeated chances.
All the items seem to be 3-5$ more expensive then they should be. The food for the most part, is simply forgettable and often greasy. Can anyone that has frequented Krolls recomment anything noteworthy? I will be surprised if someone can name me anything positive regarding the FOOD. The decor, large open space, multitude of plasma's and decent bar are obviously positives, as well as it being the only sports bar in the area, (unless, you count TRIADS bar haha) but in regards to the food I can't find any compelling reason to give this place another shot. Sad really. This, along with La Cantina further down south mi need to be put out of it's misery!

I actually go there quite often, not for its food per se, but for game watching and once in a while burger craving in the neighborhood.

Foodwise, I love their broasted chicken dinner(butter drenched/fried chicken? yum...and so bad), it's certainly big enough for two, but usually I can chuck it down pretty good by myself (hey, I'm on LTH enough to have a decent sized stomach). I had high hopes for their curds considering the Wisc background, but it was rather disappointing the only time I had it. Overall, i'd say their food is a notch above typical bar food, but not much of a notch, defintely not worth going out of your way for (it's crowded engouh on game days for us neighborhood peeps ).

Had lunch with a client at Kroll's yesterday, and having been (with this same client) on a Chicago's best burger quest for the last year, I have to say that their Chicago burger (1/2 lb. Angus Beef) ranked right up there with our previous 2 favorites, Kuma's and Poag Mahone's. As far as the flavor of the beef alone, not counting toppings, I'd rank them Poag's first, Kroll's second, and Kuma's third. Kuma's topping choices throws Kuma's into a tie for second, but the flavorful beef was superb at Kroll's. The "loaded tater tots" were a bit of a disappointment, however. Some pretty rough nacho sauce and mediocre bacon bits drove that item down. But the burger was superb, and $3 Pacifico special was nice for the price.

Gosh Santander, I feel kind of flattered by your quoting me

I haven't been to Krolls since the summer, but I recall really enjoying both the burgers and the milkshakes (as I mentioned in my earlier comment,) and I take milkshakes and cheeseburgers very seriously so that is no faint praise from me. I guess the food at Krolls is vaguely greasy, but certainly less than the stuff at say Howie's. I happen to really like the concept of taking basic bar/comfort food and making slightly more upscale, and I think Krolls does a particularly good job at it. The burgers have always been very flavorful and juicy, and they've always been properly cooked.

I really disagree with the comparison's to La Cantina, even though I've never been because of it's terrible reputation locally. I have yet to see processed, poorly prepared, or carelessly thrown together food come out of the kitchen at Krolls, but from what I've heard that's the standard experience at La Cantina.

I must admit that I will always think of Kroll's as the place where my beer arrived with a flexible drinking straw. Don't quite remember what I thought of the food, though.

Next time there, I'll have to give the burgers a shot. I've had their pizza, which looked good but was very disappointing, and their wings were nothing memorable. I didn't try the burger because my friends steered me away from it (their experience was with some 1/4 pound gameday burger special, so I presume it's not a fair comparison to their regular burger.)

From my experience there with the pizza, wings, and bartender who twice forgot my order, I'm not in any hurry to go back, but I'm willing to give it a second chance if it seem my experience is anomalous.

Last time I was at Kroll's a couple years ago I had their butter burger and was stunned by how bad it was. Pretty tough to screw up a burger, but somehow they managed. I'll have to give them another chance.

Grace O'Malley's down the street also has a very good burger. I had the blue cheese burger there a few weeks ago and it was outstanding, served on the now ubiquitous pretzel bun. I think that Kuma's has set a benchmark for burgers around Chicago, I've noticed other places trying to put out a similar product - ie, pretzel bun and high quality fresh ground beef. Competition is a beautiful thing.

My wife and I went to Kroll's for lunch today and I have to give them props on their double Kroll's Original cheese burger. Two tasty 1/4 pound patties cooked on a flat-top to get a nice crust on the outside, buttery goo and melted American cheese all combine for a tasty sandwich, somewhat reminiscent of Culver's but even more buttery.

A few years ago, I had the "Original Kroll's Cheeseburger", and thought it was pretty good...juicy, fresh meat, thin & crispy edges on the patty, served on a decent bun that looked like it was made by an actual baker.

I don't know what happened between then and now, but man, what a downward spiral. On Monday, I ordered the "Kroll's Big K Burger". The waitress told me they were "cooked to order" and asked me how I wanted it cooked, I asked for medium - she said "good choice". So there I was expecting a big, beefy, hand-formed patty with a nice pink middle...what I was served instead was a goddamn travesty. The bun looked like it was die cast by a giant industrial bun press, and the patty was bland, dry, overcooked (like a cross between "well done" and "run through a food dehydrator for a couple of hours"), and perfectly round with flat sides and sharp edges - since it didn't say "Official NHL Game Puck" anywhere on it, I can only assume it came out of the freezer. Now I've had some reasonably decent frozen burger patties in my time...I don't know which brand Kroll's is buying, but it was garbage.

When the waitress (the very same one who took my order) stopped by to ask how everything was, I told her that the burger was extremely overcooked & dry. I showed her the gray-brown middle of the patty (the burger came cut in half, so showing her the middle was easy). She responded, "Well, that's how they cook them. They're not cooked to order or anything." She then offered to "have them throw another one on" for me. I declined, and choked down the half I was working on by dousing the thing with mustard.

The tater tots were good - nicely fried & salted. If I get stuck going to that stupid place again, I'll be sticking with tots for my meal.