Ram Restaurant and Brewery - Schaumburg

No Longer In Business

(Visited 05/2010): Ram Restaurant/Big Horn Brewing is located in Schaumburg right off I-90 on McConner Pkwy. They have a fairly large lot. The inside is very spacious with high ceilings. The lounge/bar area is on the right and the restaurant seating area is on the left. There is a lot of brick along with red/brown colors and the place has a somewhat industrial feel. In the bar area the brewing equipment is visible, and there are large boards displaying the beers on tap. As for the beers, this location has more or less the standard "spiral" group of beers from the Hefe, Big Red IPA, 71 Pale, etc as well as a seasonal (Maibock). All of the beers are more or less average and are available in a sampler for $4. Service was decent on a weekday lunch. The bar server didn’t seem overly knowledgeable about beer but was friendly. The food at Ram is pretty good, no complaints about my sandwich. Overall this is a decent stop along the highway but is pretty far down the list of Chicago-area beer spots.

Giant, generic sports bar. HUGE on the inside with cavernous ceilings. They do have about 10 beers on tap, the food is absolutely generic. The beer is reasonably well made, albeit kind of one note. Not really worth a revisit, imo.

This place is OK. It is about as generic as you can get brewpub-wise. It is an enormous building, lots of TVs over by the bar area and less in the dining area. Staff was friendly. The food was extremely typical brewpub fair which is to say it was mostly gussied up hamburgers and salads plus some steaks and ribs and such. It was tasty though which is really less than I can say about the beer which were pretty bland or at least the six or so I had from the sampler. It is kind of annoying though that the glasses they sell are really large. I wish they had a 12 oz size or even a regular pint rather than 18 and 24 ozers. The prices were reasonable for the Chicago area, I thought, maybe a bit expensive for elsewhere considering the quality. I don’t see myself going back any time soon but I didn’t mind the place.

Ram is a place that I wanted to like, because it is fairly close to where I live and work. Unfortunately, it suffers from that crushing corporate control that does not mix well with craft brews. The beer selection seems good at first. They have a half dozen on tap at any time, with some standards and a few rotating styles. The problem starts with the temperature. Every beer is served ICE COLD! I found it difficult to even taste the beer. If you find yourself here, be sure to ask for a warm glass, so that the beer will be at a drinkable/taste-able temperature in less than 15 minutes after it is served. I found most of the beers at Ram to be too bland for my tastes. The food at Ram is mediocre. I really went for the beer, but a man has to eat. I haven’t had a wide selection from their menu, but in general I found it to be expensive for the quality. It is basically fancy pub grub that is trying to be hip for the Schaumburg crowd. The layout of this location is your typical giant corporate restaurant. I have sat at the bar as well as in the general restaurant booths. The bar had way too many TVs and lights for my taste. I also wish they could clean up the smell of stale beer a little better. The restaurant seating was very loud. I did not like the number of children that were present. These types of brewpubs cater to the suburban families that think nothing of bringing children to bars. This is common, so not really a Ram problem specifically. Overall, I would probably go back to Ram if I was in the area, but I wouldn’t seek it out. It is not terrible, once you are aware of its deficiencies, but I keep wishing it was better.

In Chicago area for some training, found this place by luck. The Beer is on tap, and nothing I have seen in bottles anywhere...Worth a stop for novelty alone. The beers were all pretty so-so. Nothing jumped out at me as being better then average. The food was incredible. Good place to eat.

Lots of parking. Outdoor seating, if you can tolerate the wind. Decent indoors. Lots of big screen, flat panel TVs with sports on... mostly Cubs games, ESPN and such. Didn’t eat. Most of the beer was over-attenuated and fairly bland, but the stout and hefeweizen were spot-on!

Typical Humperdinks...food is pretty good but the beers are mediocre...if you are in th area, go there but don’t go out of your way.

Larger than the Rosemount location. Really, only RAM beer on draft which is so so. Food is pretty good. near IKEA.

Visited on a Thursday right around noon. Cavernous restaurant/bar, ambience of a pretentious sports bar. Place was not busy, but it wasn’t quiet either. Lots of televisions, an impressive visual display of alcohol on huge racks, and a very nice bar. Food was really good, buffalo chicken sandwich and great fries. Beer was mostly very good, with one excellent and one so-so, not a ton of selection but I am not sure what one is to expect from a brewpub. The braumeister himself gave us a free one because we were sampling, which, by the way, samples are really cheap. All in all, I have no idea why this place is rated so poorly, the beer is good and the food is good. Service was just a bit inattentive but I had a great experience and I’ll be back, whenever I happen to make it up Schaumburg again.

Layed out very similarly to Brass in Barrington, Ram is a pretty standard suburban-restaurant with brewery that dots suburbs all over. The food is good, if a bit expensive, and the service is alright, if slow (only one bartender). The draw here is the beer, it’s better than one would expect for the ambiance.

For a suburban sports bar with aspirations of a Bennigans and Applebees, this has to be the lowest of the low. Stored in a giant barn of a building, the brewery is lifeless and bland. TVs hang everywhere with advertisements for "chilled cosmos" and "poppers" peppered through colorful menues and various marketing pieces. The bartender seemed overworked and clueless. For some reason he didn’t ask my girlfriend if she wanted anything and we had to yell to get her an overpriced frozen drink that hardly was festive. The beers were horribly bland and makes me wonder why they even bother brewing; the clientele seemed to be content drinking a light beer of theirs or an MGD. Unless you like crappy suburban generic lame bar and grill establishments with no soul or character, avoid this place at all costs. Don’t look at it as you drive by. Don’t think it won’t be that bad. Run as far away as you can.