Friday 4th of July 2008 11:04:52 AM

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We wandered into The Assembly on a Saturday afternoon right after leaving Millrose, which is a short distance away. (See my review of Millrose to understand why I was still looking for more beer.)

The atmosphere had "the dank" as my wife likes to call it. This simply means that it is dark. The wood is dark, the walls are dark and all the blinds were mostly closed. In case this sounds negative, let me assure you that we actually like the dank sometimes. What I don't necessarily care for are the zillions of TV's showing sports in every corner. I know I am in the minority on this point, but I felt I needed to mention my opinion anyway.

We sat down at the bar since we had already eaten lunch earlier. The bartender was friendly and helpful. The place was fairly empty during this mid afternoon time slot, so she had time to chat with us.

I ordered the IPA and my wife had a Dark Satin.
Both of the beers were fair. They did not really excite my taste buds, but they were not offensive either. After finishing my IPA, I tried the weizen. It was fairly tasty and I actually enjoyed it more than the IPA, which was not as hoppy as I would have liked.

The interesting thing is that after I left The Assembly, but before I wrote this review, I found out that the beers are made by Taylor Brewing. I thought the names sounded familiar, but I did not immediately make the connection. So the interesting part is that I found the beers at Taylor Brewing Company in Lombard to be absolutely horrible. I am glad that the Assembly seems to have gotten a better batch.

Although we had eaten lunch earlier, we did order dessert. I had the carrot cake, which came highly recommended. My wife tried the chocolate cake. Both of them were very good. I like to eat sweets with my beer sometimes and perhaps this helped me to enjoy the beer more on this visit.

Overall, I wasn't extremely impressed with The Assembly, but I might stop in again for beer and dessert.

Friday 15th of June 2007 03:31:04 PM

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When we first arrived I was put-off by the server who was super busy and like a pistol! After I hung out for a while, I realized that part of dining at this establishment was dealing with the fact that there are alot of customers at the bar and only one server taking food and drink orders. After talking with the bartender I cam to realize that she was really cool however bitchy she may have seems from first impression.

The server or bartender informed me that the burgers, rueben sandwhich and carrot cake served at the Assembly was to die for and people came from surrounding states just to dine here for these menu items. I had to order a rueben and was pleased when it came just the way I like my ruebens, with not too much thousand island dressing, piled high with thinly sliced corn beef, tangy sourkraut and finished with marble rye bread.

The Assembly is owed by the Taylor Brewing Company family business and serves all of the Taylor beers on premise. The beers are super clean, some sweet, some dark, alot of beers by Taylor to choose from.

No smoking at this location so step outside for that but do bring an empty tummy and appetite to match a king!