[1] In 1999, The Berghoff won a James Beard Foundation Award in the "America's Classics" category, which honors legendary family-owned restaurants across the country.

[2] The restaurant opened in 1898 as a saloon, but during Prohibition, when serving alcohol was illegal, it became known for its characteristic German food, such as sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, creamed spinach, and apple strudel.

Herman and his three brothers, Henry, Hubert, and Gustav, started brewing Berghoff's Beer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1887.

The bar remained open even through the prohibition period by selling the legal near beer, which contained less than 0.5% alcohol, as well as a new line of Bergo soda pops, and expanded into a full-service restaurant.

The restaurant was run by two of Herman's seven children, Lewis Windthorst and Clement Anthony, who had both joined their father in the business prior to his death.

July 1, 2016, marked the first day that Berghoff Restaurant Company of Delaware began managing operations at 17 West Adams.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois issued an executive order that effective on March 16, 2020[9] prohibited restaurants from serving dine-in patrons.

[11][12][13] As part of a $2.2 million expansion project that started in 2018, Berghoff once again brews its own beer that is sold at the restaurant - this time onsite as a microbrewery named the Adams Street Brewery.