Act One Pub

Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Enjoy Act One while you can.
End of March, 2016 they’re closing, to be replaced with a fresh concept and new management.
So many good times had here, with enormous quantities of beef, chicken, potatoes and alcohols consumed. The best Mac and Cheese around!
S. and I want to thank all the servers, bartenders, bussers, musicians and managers who have so often made our times here special and caused us to feel special, too. It’s been you all who, with your individual warmth, charm, professionalism, good humour and willingness to enter into relationship with us and so many others, who have shared with us your gifts and, for a brief while made life in Rogers Park filling and fulfilling.
We will miss you. We wish you all– those there and gone through the years to you ending your service locking up in March– all the best life offers. You’ve done well by us and we thank you.
Peter O., S. and G-​the-​dog

Went in on a Saturday around noon for brunch. They have good brunch drink specials on the weekends — $ 4 bloody marys and mimosas. The bloody was okay, it was more spice than anything else. Gave me awful heartburn, but it was drinkable. The mimosa had an aspartame aftertaste, I’m assuming they used low-​cal OJ, which is a terrible idea, and if it’s true, just warn the customer.
I ordered the BLTE, which was so disappointing. First of all, a BLT means mostly bacon, right? It’s the main ingredient on the sandwich. Well I got TWO slices of bacon. BTW this sandwich was $ 9. I was pissed. Also, the bacon is sickeningly sweet, no salt, nothing, just this weird maple flavor that gives no satisfaction of eating bacon at all. Once we had our food, our server did not even glance our way once. We had to stand up and flag her down after sitting with empty drinks for ten minutes. It took just as long to get the check.
All in all, this place is not very good, and adding shitty service when the place is near empty, I will not be returning, and the three people with me agreed.

Great brunch place. Good french toast. Need better patio seating but it’s a great addition to the neighborhood

Great upbeat neighborhood place. Tasty hamburgers. Chicken and steak dinners are nicely seasoned. Good desert menu. Friendly service. Glad it’s here!

Great food and services. manny and Mary are the type of staff that keep business open

This is a good local place.

good food, bad wine, lol…
but not going to knock a bar for that. service was great but dinner convo was tough as the acoustics are great in there too, apparently ;)
the kale burger is truly delicious and hearty. stick around for a show if you can — you can carry in your drinks!

We came here for brunch on a Sunday. Other times, I have visited places that have a more stuffy and snobby attitude, like Sip. There, I was annoyed with the stuck up service and noisy crowds. And the food was bland. This place has amazing food. Act One did not disappoint with price, service, and portions. I had the poached egg on top of fried chicken with biscuits and gravy. Just delicious. I am definitely coming back.

This is the pub between Jarvis and Bryn Mawr. It is potentially better than another fav of mine to the north, but I will decide to love them both.
Food = Great. I like the pot roast melt, the turkey melt, the turkey club, the burgers, the fries, the tots, the flat bread. I won’t list the menu, but you get the idea.
Drinks = Large beer list. Diverse and ample selection of drafts (or should I spell it draughts? My American English dictionary doesn’t like the latter, but after a couple of delicious and potent examples I am not enamored with the former).
Environment = Good on a slow night. Good on a show night. Been there in some Fridays for free music in the bar. Chris Casello was fav. Neil Young in the PA now. Comfortable bar stools, decent booths, tastefully decorated. I am comfortable here.
Service = This is probably their best feature. Act One does a great job of hiring intelligent friendly people that fit the neighborhood and make this a place to which I will return again again.

Act One is very comfortable, staff is well trained and food is very good for a bar-​type restaurant. It is the Bar/​Restaurant portion of Mayne Stage Theatre.
High quality build-​out. Probably the best looking built bar on the north side. Good window view down tree-​lined street.
Always has a food special and they are introducing new items often.
Huge craft beer selection.
A real community asset. Superb business neighbor. Class act.
Good service that can get a just a little crazy just before concerts — as everyone wants to eat 45 minutes before show time.

Went to dinner with my husband on a Friday night. We just moved to rogers park and thought we would check out the local restaurants– we both agree we have a new favorite spot! We loved the calamari appetizer and found it perfectly done. I had the chicken pot pie (delicious) and he had the steak sandwich (he says he loved it). They had an extensive beer selection though we both stuck with Guinness. Service was great– quick and friendly. Will definitely be going back soon…

Great beer selection. Goat cheese burger delish! Loved the French onion soup. Chopped salad too big to finish.

I’ve been here three times, and each time I order the same thing– the spicy pulled pork nachos. They are absolutely delicious. When I came here with a dinner date, we ordered the loaded the potato skins, and they were tasty as well.
The service is better at the bar than at the tables, though. It seems that the bar staff are better trained, and are just generally more attentive than the waitstaff is.

Food was good
Burgers cooked on the rare end of medium rare even though we requested medium… No problem, still tasty.
They don’t give a lot of tots as a side or fries…
Rating is so low because our waitress was very unenthusiastic and basically being a bad waitress… There were 3 of us who were black women and 1 white male, and she only spoke to him with any sense of duty. He got the specials enthusiastically recited to him but she could hardly be attentive to us. Then he gets a special little handwritten thank you note on his receipt even though we all spent 5x more than him (he got two of the cheapest drinks)! IDC if she was hitting on him or has a micro aggression problem but that was frustrating. And she rarely came over, talked to us like a 16yo girl would… Not pleasant.

My fiancé and I have been coming here for the past year and a half. The brunch is not to be missed and not just for rogers park. I love the service, and I gotta say the food is damn consistent. Top ten of rogers park in my book

I must admit my expectations were low. We really went for the free band… which turned out to be the worst part of the night btw. But surprise surprise the food was so yummy!
We sampled a lot off things… calamari, nachos, steak, burgers, flatbread, pudding and apple crumble. The turkey burger was delicious!

I absolutely love this place! The food is great. The staff is beyond friendly. The atmosphere is a sophisticated casual. You feel like you’re in a more upscale place, yet entirely comfortable. My boyfriend and I moved to the area a little over 6 months ago, and we have gone to this place more than any other. That says a lot seeing as though my boyfriend would rather go to some place new when we dine out.

My fiancé and I love Act One! Every waiter/​waitress we have is friendly and the food is great!

The staff is usually polite, the venue itself is good looking but the food does not seem vey well thought out.
The flat bread seems to be put on top of a ultra thin deep fried cracker, it tasted OK, but for the price it lacked substance.
The pot pie was pretty bad. It’s not a pot pie at all!
It appeared to me it was simply a chicken pot pie soup, with a small flaky pastry on top. For 11.50? Are you crazy?
To this day I feel like they either made a mistake or it was some sort of hidden camera show that I was unaware of participating.

We visited one night before a concert at the Mayne Stage. It honestly wasn’t our first choice, but there weren’t really any better alternatives that were within walking distance.
It ended up being alright though. The food was a lot better than I expected. I actually really enjoyed the buffalo chicken wrap. The service on the other hand was off. Don’t expect a refill or any assistance without waving somebody down.
The prices aren’t very good, but they weren’t completely ridiculous either. It was a decent meal, but I would only visit again if I was seeing another concert next door.

Came here last night with a group of friends who had been before and recommended it. It’s connected to Mayne Stage, a concert venue, but they also have live music in the pub itself on the weekends. I didn’t mind, but it was too loud for the rest of our party, so we left shortly after the band started playing.
Awesome draft beer specials ($ 3 Lagunitas Pale Ales? $ 4 Bells Winter Whites? Sign me up!) I was surprised to see such good specials on a Friday evening. The food was all good. I ate nachos, since they had them on the menu. The chips were obviously freshly fried and delicious, and stood up well to the toppings. Fake cheese sauce was in abundance, and there was a large amount of pico de gallo, a few pickled jalapenos, and some sour cream on the top. I ordered the pulled pork option, which was good, but definitely already had barbeque sauce on it– this is not an ideal nacho topping, since cheese + barbecue sauce = yech. Overall, though, I’d give them a ⁴⁄₅ and just order the veggie nachos next time.
Two people at the table ordered the fish and chips, which, although bizarrely expensive, got good reviews. Another person got a burger, which he also enjoyed, particularly the siracha garlic mayo that came with it.
I’d consider returning if I’m in the neighborhood, but I don’t think I’d come here as a destination– I don’t live that close, and the transfer at Howard always makes me reconsider coming into the city unless I can take the Metra.