Old Herald Brewery & Distillery - Collinsville, Illinois

Michael R.

The bacon jam burger was amazing, one of the best burgers I've ever had. Every part of the burger was in perfect flavor balance, nothing over powering. The patties themselves were perfectly cooked and very juicy. The french fries are a great compliment too. We also had the fish and chips, which were ok. The fish was good real fish, it just didn't have a lot of flavor and the beer batter (which actually seemed more like breading) was a little one note. It certainly was edible, just not memorable. We got some beer flights and tried 8 of the 9 beers on tap, all were good. The service was a little lacking. At first the server was prompt but after putting in our drink order and asking for a couple of minutes to keep deciding, 20 minutes (I promise I'm not exaggerating) went by before we got our server back. I even went up to the bar and let them know we were ready to order. Overall good, I'd go back to try other things that also sounded very appetizing. Cool vibe too.

Ann M.

Hey Everyone,
This time we had a party of 8! We decided to eat outside even though it was toasty outside! That didn’t stop us from having good conversation, catching up and enjoying our delicious food when we got it. We had Pamala tonight to take all of our orders and I must say she has great customer service for all the meals she brought out for us to eat! We had plenty of napkins, water to drink and everything went smooth. I made sure I took pictures of their menu so you would know exactly what meal you wanted to eat once you arrive! If you’re just visiting the area this is also a brewery where you can try different tastes of beer they brew too! The atmosphere was very laid back to relax feel and not hustle and bustle. The ketchup is different from other restaurants because theirs has a smokey flavor to it. Didn’t get a chance to order dessert though but maybe next time?

Liam A.

It is so cool and fun to come across so much passion and hard work to make delicious whiskey!

Do yourself a favor and grab a bottle or 2. Their spirits are delicious.

Michelle K.

Try it! Try it! TRY IT! What a fantastic place!!! We for the Bacon Jam Smash Burger and the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich. Both were so good! They served the onion rings and tater tots with smoked ketchup. It’s AMAZING!!! The staff is super nice. The atmosphere is awesome. Definitely a MUST TRY!

Nathan

We gave Old Herald’s restaurant two tries. Both were disappointing.

The first time, the Paper Route Pretzel was warm and delicious. The steak special was thin, grisly, and overcooked. My wife’s meatloaf was okay. Their house Old Fashioned cocktail, which they seem to highlight, was small for the price and watered down due to being served over small ice cubes instead of a proper whiskey block.

On our second visit, we had a 5:45 reservation. The restaurant was half-empty. We ordered a Cobb salad and a burger. Forty minutes later, still no food. We gave up and left without eating. At a casual restaurant when ordering simple items, I consider longer than a thirty minute wait to be unacceptable, especially when there's no explanation from the server.

Good concept, poor execution. Not worth a third try.

Micki E.

We love coming to the old herald. They have concerts outside in the summer in the new outdoor stage area.

One thing we keep coming back for is their Sunday brunch. It’s buffet style and they always have a nice selection of food. They don’t always offer Sunday brunch so make sure you double check before you go.

They just opened a holiday pop up bar in their event room. It was fun and I believe it was their first time doing it. I liked the festive drink menu.

Something else I need to mention is their onion rings . Usually when I get onion rings from somewhere, I bite into it and the onion slides out of the breading. The onion rings at the old herald don’t do this and they were delicious!

Finally, they have a delicious Bloody Mary! I always get one during the horseradish festival.

All the workers are very sweet.

Spocky 7.

The food, brews, and spirits are incredible! I got the bacon smash burger and fries and they were absolutely fantastic (I don't know what devil pact they have for their ketchup but it was the best I've had, weird flex, I know).

The biggest problem was the service. We arrived there around 1130-12 on a Sunday and got seated quick, which was great, it wasn't super busy. That's about where it started to go downhill. It took a while for us to be able to put our orders in (2x Kids Pizzas, my burger and my wife's sandwich) and two drinks and then nothing happened. The first inkling we had about anything was our server and someone else coming by arguing about our kids' pizzas and what toppings they had/didn't and then they disappeared again. Still, no drinks.

Probably 30-40min after ordering our food finally comes by... But no drinks. I made mention about it and the response to "Hey, so, we're missing our (wife and I's) drinks." was a blank stare and then "... You mean alcohol?" Mind you, this was sadly funny as the inflection made it sound like the guy had never heard of alcohol... while working at a brewery. Maybe another 10-15 minutes later we finally got our drinks.

My wife and I are interested in coming back sometime soon but it's unfortunate that the service is holding this place back.

David O. L. S.

We stopped here as it was en-route on our drive home from Louisville and showed as 4.4 stars on Google reviews at a glance. We should have READ the reviews! The food we had was good - spouse and I had steaks which were VERY good - not tough or gristle-y at all like someone else said. BUT - they were out of LOTS of things at 2:30 p.m. on a Sunday. No meatloaf, no MASHED POTATOES, no onion rings - how do you run out of POTATOES The servers when we were there were very young, perhaps mid-teens, and made NUMEROUS mistakes - our friends ordered a spirit flight and they brought the wrong spirits in the flights. The service was VERY slow - the restaurant was not busy, and we thought it would be fun to try one last brewery/distillery on our way home from vacation. I did try the stout, which was very good, my friends liked the spirits they sampled (once they got the correct ones), and the food, when it arrived, was very good. I think this must be one of those small-town places that is very inconsistent with its offerings and service. It could be a great place if it were a bit more organized.