Expanding Bulldog Ale House opening Friday in Algonquin

Algonquin will soon be home to a rapidly expanding suburban restaurant chain offering traditional American fare and an assortment of craft beer.

Bulldog Ale House opens its newest location Friday at 1520 S. Randall Road, an existing building in the Algonquin Commons that formerly housed Niko's Lodge and the Barley House.

With a predominantly scratch kitchen, the family-friendly establishment serves "high-quality" pub food at a reasonable price, said Paul Marrin, director of operations.

"We typically like to go into cities that kind of jell with what we do as a concept," he said. "Algonquin is such a great town, and there's a lot of restaurants around here that are doing really well, so we thought our concept would fit well with this area."

Owned by Matt Ahmeti, Bulldog opened its first restaurant in Carol Stream in 2011. It has since expanded to several other communities, including Roselle, North Aurora, Bolingbrook, Chicago, New Lenox, McHenry and Rolling Meadows.

The Algonquin establishment will be the restaurant's fourth new location this year, Marrin said, noting a fifth is expected to open within the next few months at 451 N. Commons Drive in Aurora.

"It's been kind of a whirlwind," Marrin said. "But we have really good people that work for us, and I think that's the No. 1 thing. We trust in them to make sure the locations are doing what we would expect them to do from the beginning."

At each location, restaurant leaders try to immerse themselves into the community by hiring locally, hosting community events and partnering with schools and organizations, he added.

Bulldog Ale House is open for lunch and dinner, and typically offers daily specials, Marrin said. The menu includes various styles of pizza, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, salads and wraps.

"From what we've seen, our blueprint from what we put out there seems to work," he said. "Hopefully we'll be successful."