This was my first stop on my trip to Chicago. Got there right when it opened on a Saturday. Was there for a couple of hours for lunch and drinks and it never got super crowded. Great selection on draft of alot of Belgians and locals. Tons of Belgian and Belgian-style bottles. Staff was terrific. They chatted with me about lots of the local beers I hadn’t tried. They went out of their recommend to me stuff I might enjoy trying. Food was pretty tasty. Overall, I really enjoyed my expereince and Hopleaf. Great selection, fair prices and great staff.

I can’t knock the beer list here - it’s pretty incredible. 70+ including a focus on Belgians and a nice selection of craft beer and some reserve bottles. Although the staff was friendly, the service was slow when it was busy...waited a long time to take our beer order. I probably would have had more beer if they had taken the orders more quickly. I didn’t find the food all that great, other than the excellent aioli.

Hopleaf is one of the great beer bars of the US. Fantastic selection, with an emphasis on Belgians. The staff are knowledgeable and will help you find your beer, if you’re in doubt. But get there early, if you can. They also have an amazing menu, with excellent food. The Duck Reuben is delicious, as is the Nueske Ham sandwich. But the stand-out are the mussels. Be sure to get the Belgian-style and ask for extra bread, because you will want to sop up every last bit of the delicious broth. Mussels also come with a huge cone of tasty frites. The crowd is mixed, and very friendly. I have never had a bad time at Hopleaf.

Fantastic bar and restaurant with lots of taps and an even wider selection of bottles. Their draft beer is fairly priced, mostly, and the bottles are ridiculously expensive. The food is fantastic, though a little over priced. Great ambiance and service.

Stumbled on this place and wow! great belgian style taps and food.. great mussles! great staff.. love it

Lots of taps of great beers, tons of bottles of great beer, fantastic food to pair with great beer. What else is there to want? To have the optimal time of your life, bring lots o’ cash but there prices are pretty standard, just the cost of the habit (and chi taxes)

(Visited 06/2012): Hopleaf is located on the north side of Chicago on Clark. Metered street parking is available in the immediate area.

The doors open right to the wraparound bar, and there is table seating in the rear. Green stamped ceiling with fans which were necessary as the place was not running A/C on a 100+ degree day. Brick motif with old breweriana posters on the walls.

The bar features around 30 taps with local brewers like Metropolitan, Half Acre and Goose Island represented. Lots of bottles too including a lot of Belgian choices,

Service on a weekday afternoon was good. The bartender was friendly and familiar with the beer menu.

My lunch at Hopleaf was a duck Reuben and it was pretty tasty.

All in all this is a great beer bar to hit in Chicago (at least in the cooler months),

Great selection of US and belgian taps, as well as an impressive bottle menu. Nice ambience and good service. Go there for the beer, rather than for the food, as it was mediocre at best, and overpriced.

Excellent beer-centered bar. Beer and food tend toward Belgian-ness. I am told that this is one of the original craft beer locations in Chicago. Great food, great beer. A must for those in the area.

This place is a legendary Chicago beer bar. With their recent expansion, they have undoubtedly vaulted themselves into a top 10 beer destination in the United States. Their food menu is very solid, high end pub food with Belgian flare (eat mussels, drink beer). Their beer menu will blow your face off. With the expansion, I believe I counted 62 drafts. Even among the "good" beer bars, though, their list is very special. Few bars can fill more than 30 drafts with truly interesting choices. They can. And then there’s the 22 page bottle list. If you’re visiting Chicago, this is a MUST. MUST. Visit. If you live here and haven’t been, shame on you. The only disclaimer is these guys get BUSY. The staff is extremely lovely, so go at a time when you can actually talk to them.