According to their website, they have “combined two historic downtown buildings & brought them into the newest century”. Empire Burger Bar in Downtown Naperville is a restaurant located at 48 W Chicago Ave. They have open mic Tuesday, trivia night on Wednesdays, comedy groups,  live music and of course great food too.

Empire’s industrial modern feel and high-quality food is attracting customers from all around the Chicagoland suburbs and bringing them right to Downtown Naperville. Empire prides themselves on their masonry, atmosphere, brewery and of course- their burgers.

Being a vegetarian for about a year now, it can be stressful going out to eat, wondering if I’ll have ample option on what to dine on. I was wary of choosing a burger joint, but looking at their menu had me convinced that I could eat almost everything so long as I asked for their vegetarian substitute meat, which I was extremely grateful for.

Just walking into Empire, you can gauge the vibe of the restaurant. The music is playing, people are talking and laughing and you can smell the burgers on the grill even before being seated. We were seated at a table close to the stage, and a waitress came to take our order almost immediately.

The service was top notch the entire experience at Empire. The waitress we had was quick and efficient and made sure we had exactly what we needed, despite the restaurant being full of people. I ordered a Coke, and we ordered appetizers to share.

The appetizer we went with was called the Dirty Chips. These chips are buffalo style house made potato chips. At Empire, they make their potato chips fresh every day, and they were crunchy and delicious. I was definitely impressed by Empire right off the bat.

The chips were covered with melted and crumbled bleu cheese and had buffalo sauce drizzled over top. The buffalo sauce was just the right amount of sweet and spicy, and the bleu cheese played off of the saltiness of the chips perfectly. They were flavorful and a great way to tide us over until our burgers came.

As aforementioned, the service was superb despite the restaurant being full of customers, so quickly after we were finished with our appetizer, we were served our burgers.

What does a vegetarian eat at a burger joint you might ask? Well, Empire has a signature vegan burger named The Ellen. This masterpiece of a sandwich is a vegan Beyond burger, vegan cheddar cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato and raw onion all served on a pretzel bun (also vegan). Now- I’ve had a lot of vegan and vegetarian meals in my year of vegetarianism, but nothing compares to how delicious this sandwich was.

The Beyond meat patty is made of plant-based ingredients, and it has so much flavor, the guac was creamy, the cheese was cheddary, and my stomach was so happy. The way they combined these flavors and cooked that burger was perfect. I was surprised that they had an all-vegan option, and I was even more pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

Along with my burger, I chose fries as my side. My fries at Empire were crispy and the seasoning was salty, sweet and paired well with the burger.  I am also an avid ranch and fry fan, so I ordered a cup of ranch on the side, which was also very good.

If you can’t tell, I had a memorable meal. Efficient service, scrumptious food and overall fun atmosphere. The only downside was how expensive my total was. My check came on a clipboard that said “the damage,” and that statement was accurate because my bank account was crying after this meal.

All in all with the: Dirty chips, The Ellen, and my drink, I ended up spending $25 for just one meal. The experience at Empire was excellent, but I think that price tag is a bit out of my budget.

Don’t get me wrong, you are definitely paying for quality food. I just think for most high school kids, Empire might need to stay sacred for special occasions- or maybe after you get a raise.