The 100 best cocktail bars in Chicago

How to read this list

Chicago's cocktail scene is not one scene. The West Loop and Fulton Market hold the rooms that show up on world's-best lists and take reservations a month out. Logan Square and Avondale are where the city actually drinks on a Tuesday. River North runs late and loud. The Loop is mostly hotel bars, which is a compliment here more than it would be in most cities.

So the list below is grouped by neighborhood, densest first, rather than ranked one to a hundred. A ranking is fun to argue with and useless to plan from. What you want on a Friday is four good options within a ten-minute walk of each other.

Prices are the usual four-point scale, and the note is what the room is actually for — not the cocktail program's own description of itself.

Building a night out of it

Three stops is the number. Two feels like dinner with a drink after; four means somebody leaves before the last one and the group never quite reassembles.

Start somewhere that takes a booking at a civilized hour, because the one thing worth locking down is the beginning. Make the second stop the ambitious one — the room with the tasting menu of drinks, or the bar that only seats twelve. Leave the third open and pick it when you see how the night is going.

A few of these are genuinely hard to get into. The Aviary and Kumiko run more like restaurants than bars, and a walk-in at nine on a Saturday is optimistic. Everywhere else on this list, arriving early and sitting at the bar solves the problem.

The hundred

Logan Square (17)

• Best Intentions — Cocktail bar · $$. Reborn Logan Square dive-meets-cocktail bar; frozen drinks, a killer patio, and zero pretense.
• Billy Sunday — Cocktail bar · $$$. Matthias Merges' Logan Square classic; an encyclopedic amaro list and history-minded, spirit-forward drinks.
• Cara Cara Club — Aperitivo cocktail bar · $$$. Bright and tropical on a street that mostly goes dark — amaro, spritzes and red-bitter drinks under airy curtains. The same room runs as a coffee counter every morning.
• Consignment Lounge — Cocktail bar · $$. Logan Square bar where everything's for sale — cocktails plus a vintage shop, one cool concept.
• Culebra — Rum cocktail bar · $$. Down the stairs from Lonesome Rose, a Puerto Rican bar built around rum. Small, loud, and best when the music is going.
• Estereo — Latin cocktail bar · $$. Logan Square's Latin rum-and-agave bar; café by day, party by night, with a great back patio.
• Gretel — Cocktail bar · $$. Black walls, low light, and a bottle wall tall enough to need a rolling ladder — which the bartenders use with visible enjoyment. Walk in; they don't take bookings.
• La Licor Panamericana — Latin cocktail bar · $$. A Fullerton Avenue bar built around Latin American spirits — pisco, cachaça, singani. The staff will happily pour you a taste of something you can't pronounce.
• Meadowlark — Cocktail bar · $$$. Tiny 30-seat speakeasy from the Lardon team; a vintage room and seriously dialed-in craft cocktails.
• Scofflaw — Cocktail bar · $$. The gin-forward Logan Square original; a fireplace, board games, and one of the city's best patios.
• The Double Tavern — Cocktail tavern · $$. A corner tavern that takes its cocktails as seriously as its draft list — a properly built Aviation sitting next to a rye you won't find down the street. The patio fills first.
• The Heavy Feather — Cocktail bar & music venue · $$. Up the stairs above Slippery Slope: brass fixtures, plants everywhere, and drinks pulled from the disco era and made properly. Order the amaretto sour.
• The Walk In — Cocktail lounge · $$. You get in through the walk-in cooler door of the liquor store next door. Funk and soul on the speakers, board games on the tables, and outside food is welcome.
• The Welcome Back Lounge — Cocktail bar & beer garden · $$. Drinks come out of a turquoise vintage bus parked in the garden and strung with fairy lights. Free hot dogs at midnight, and bingo for charity on Mondays.
• The Whistler — Cocktail bar · $$. Logan Square institution — cocktails, live music, and a gallery up front. No cover; tip the band.
• Way Out — Cocktail bar · $$. Every drink costs the same twelve dollars, the booths are enormous and turquoise, and the art is all extraterrestrials. Pool table and jukebox in back, pizza potstickers from the kitchen.
• Weegee's Lounge — Cocktail bar · $$. Beloved Logan Square dive with a serious cocktail streak; noir vibe, a jukebox, cheap and good.

River North (11)

• Arbella — Cocktail bar · $$$. River North globetrotter's bar; a menu mapped by region, low-lit and date-worthy.
• Bar Sótano — Mezcal & cocktail bar · $$$. Rick Bayless's basement mezcal-and-cocktail bar below Frontera; Oaxacan spirits, snacks, live cumbia.
• Clandestino — Cocktail bar · $$$. No-reservations cocktail social club below Matilda; intimate, first-come, seriously good drinks.
• Encanto — Agave cocktail bar · $$$. River North's agave room, with a back bar deep enough to spend an evening working through. Ask what came in recently.
• Gus' Sip & Dip — Cocktail tavern · $$. Lettuce's River North tavern; a serious cocktail list at approachable prices, walk-ins welcome.
• Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club — Cocktail lounge · $$$. Polished late-night lounge beneath Crying Tiger; martinis and small bites, River North glam.
• Machine Cocktail Bar — Cocktail bar · $$$. River North's industrial-chic cocktail room; inventive drinks and a late-night pulse.
• The Berkshire Room — Cocktail bar · $$$. ACME Hotel bar famous for its dealer's choice — name a mood and they build the drink.
• The Drifter — Cocktail bar · $$$. Prohibition-era basement below the Green Door; tarot-card menus, burlesque, vintage soul.
• The Library at Gilt Bar — Cocktail bar · $$$. Hidden lounge above Gilt Bar; leather couches, a fireplace, and classics — River North's cozy secret.
• Three Dots and a Dash — Tiki cocktail bar · $$$. Subterranean tiki landmark down an alley off Clark; rum, fire, and gloriously over-the-top mugs.

Wicker Park (8)

• Alley Cat — Cocktail bar · $$. 1940s-style Wicker Park bar from the Paulie Gee's team; $12 draft cocktails and good bar bites.
• Amaru — Latin cocktail bar · $$$. Pan-Latin cooking with a bar built to keep pace rather than bolted on afterwards — tropical, sharp, and best from a stool. Warm and very loud at full tilt.
• Bordel — Speakeasy cabaret · $$$. A sultry, Paris-inspired speakeasy and cabaret above Mama Delia since 2014 — craft cocktails and live burlesque Thursday to Saturday. 21+.
• Clara — Jazz & cocktail bar · $$$. Artist-owned and named for a 19th-century composer, with live music most nights — chamber players one evening, a funk trio the next. The spirit-free list runs as deep as the cocktails.
• Dorian's — Record shop & cocktail bar · $$$. Cocktails and vinyl behind a Wicker Park record shop; live sets, natural wine, a hidden back room.
• Queen Mary Tavern — Cocktail bar · $$$. Nautical Wicker Park cocktail tavern; punch bowls, tiki leanings, and a good-time crew.
• The Up Room at The Robey — Cocktail bar · $$$. Thirteen floors above the six-corners intersection, open year-round with both indoor and outdoor seats. The best view in Wicker Park by a wide margin.
• Valedor — Cocktail bar · $$$. Built on the Japanese quarter of Mexico City — sake and tequila in one glass, takoyaki filled with birria. Dark, small tables, abstract video flickering on the wall.

Lincoln Park (6)

• Bobo — Cocktail bar · $$$. Filipino drinking food and cocktails behind Muhajir. Loud, tight, and built for ordering one more round of skewers than you planned.
• Kibbitznest Books, Brews & Blarney — Cocktail bar & bookshop · $$. Thirty-odd craft cocktails, sixty-odd board games and shelves of second-hand books, with no screens anywhere to look at instead of each other. Rooms tuck off other rooms, so a quiet one is usually going spare.
• King of Cups — Cocktail lounge · $$$. A tarot-themed lounge run by a father and son, with a reader working the room some nights. Velvet-heavy and darker than the street outside would lead you to expect.
• Le Mistral — Speakeasy cocktail bar · $$$. Twenty candlelit seats hidden behind S.K.Y. The list runs long on French wine and short on cocktails, but what's there is made carefully.
• Love Street — Cocktail bar · $$$. All-black walls and barely any light, on a residential corner that had nothing like it. From the Victor Bar team, working classics and near-classics without fuss.
• The Albion Manor — Pub & cocktail parlour · $$$. An English pub on the ground floor and a cocktail parlour above it, which is the half worth climbing the stairs for. The kitchen runs late all week.

West Loop (6)

• After — Cocktail bar · $$$$. The bar attached to Ever, run with the same precision as the tasting menu next door. Small plates, long spoons, and a room that stays quiet enough to talk.
• Booze Box — Japanese cocktail bar · $$$. A red neon arrow in a Randolph Street alley is the only sign. Downstairs it's sake, Japanese whisky, and a bar that seats maybe twenty.
• Inkwell — Cocktail bar · $$$. Moody West Loop cocktail den; jazz-age styling and a tight, well-made list.
• Kumiko — Cocktail bar · $$$$. Julia Momosé's Japanese-inflected cocktail room; omakase-style flights, spirit-free or boozy, poured with exacting precision.
• Lazy Bird — Jazz & cocktail bar · $$$. Basement jazz-and-cocktails bar under The Hoxton; live music most nights and polished drinks.
• Moneygun — Cocktail bar · $$. Cozy West Loop parlor bar; low light, listening-room calm, and classics made right.

Avondale (5)

• Belmont Tavern — Cocktail tavern · $$. A corner tavern brought back to life in Avondale. Real cocktails at tavern prices, a jukebox, and regulars who were coming here under the old name.
• Ludlow Liquors — Cocktail bar · $$. From the Sportsman's Club team — stirred drinks sold by the ounce, punch on draft, cheap beer, and a backyard that stays open late.
• Parachute HiFi — Listening bar & cocktails · $$$. Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark turned their old Parachute dining room into a record bar. The drinks borrow from the kitchen — expect savory, fermented, unexpected.
• Quality Time — Cocktail bar · $$. Wood panelling, vintage wallpaper and leather booths, with DJs at the weekend. The list works through riffs on classics, and nobody blinks if you order a frozen Vegas bomb.
• Tune-Up — Cocktail bar · $$. An Avondale auto body shop with the garage doors rolled up. Vintage clutter, drinks that don't take themselves seriously, and half the room outdoors in summer.

Pilsen (4)

• Punch House — Cocktail bar · $$. Wood-paneled basement below Thalia Hall; communal punch bowls and a retro fish tank.
• Tack Room — Piano cocktail bar · $$$. Modern-Western piano bar in Thalia Hall's carriage house; live music and horse-country cocktails.
• The Alderman — Cocktail bar · $$$. Pilsen speakeasy-style spot; classic cocktails, dim and unhurried — an easy date pick.
• The Green Room Tap — Cocktail bar · $$. Laid-back Pilsen bar with cocktails on tap; a patio, a neighborhood crowd, easy prices.

West Town (4)

• Bar Bambi — Cocktail bar · $$. Katie Renshaw's playful, colorful West Town bar; walk-in energy and a stylish, fun room.
• Friends of Friends — Cocktail bar · $$. Easygoing West Town neighborhood bar; draft cocktails, Danny's Tavern lineage, unpretentious.
• Lemon — Cocktail bar & music venue · $$$. West Town cocktail bar and performance venue; polished classics with live jazz or comedy in back.
• The Dandy Crown — Neighborhood cocktail bar · $$. A West Town corner bar packed wall to wall with art and oddities. The drinks lean historical, the patio is one of the better ones on Chicago Avenue.

Andersonville (3)

• Little Bad Wolf — Cocktail bar & kitchen · $$. Better known for the burger, but the cocktail list is the reason to stay past it. No bookings taken — leave your name and wait with a drink in hand.
• Marty's Martini Bar — Cocktail bar · $$. Ten seats, deep red walls, and martinis made without ceremony. A longtime LGBTQ+ room just off Clark that rewards showing up alone.
• Nobody's Darling — Cocktail bar · $$$. Andersonville's Black- and queer-owned bar; great cocktails in a welcoming, buzzy room.

Bucktown (3)

• Chef's Special Cocktail Bar — Cocktail bar · $$$. Tropical drinks alongside Americanised Chinese cooking — potstickers, Mongolian beef, something arriving under an umbrella. The bar is first-come and stays loud until two.
• Remedy — Neighborhood cocktail bar · $$. Open until four every night of the week, with a fish tank at one end and a fireplace at the other. There's no kitchen — bring your own food — but the drinks are made with real care.
• Truce — Cocktail bar · $$$. Bucktown cocktail bar with a globe-trotting menu; approachable, low-key, reliably good.

Fulton Market (3)

• Bisous — Cocktail bar · $$$. Chic French-leaning Fulton Market bar — Champagne, martinis, and a see-and-be-seen room that takes its aperitivo hour seriously.
• The Aviary — Cocktail bar · $$$$. Grant Achatz's avant-garde cocktail lab — drinks arrive as edible art. Book the experience, not just a stool.
• The Office — Speakeasy cocktail bar · $$$$. Reservation-only speakeasy beneath The Aviary; rare pours and off-menu cocktails for a splurge night.

Gold Coast (3)

• Bernard's — Speakeasy cocktail bar · $$$$. Second floor of the Waldorf Astoria, behind a door most guests walk past. Vintage bottles, a fireplace, and bartenders who will build around whatever you tell them.
• Sparrow — Cocktail bar · $$$. Gold Coast's Havana-by-way-of-the-1920s hideaway; daiquiris, rum, dark and romantic.
• Z Bar at The Peninsula — Rooftop cocktail bar · $$$$. A sixth-floor terrace at the Peninsula with skyline on three sides. Snacks borrow from everywhere, and there's live music most nights.

Loop (3)

• Bar Sotto — Aperitivo cocktail bar · $$$. A low-ceilinged room under Italian Village, the restaurant that's been feeding the Loop since the 1920s. Amari, negronis, and a pre-theater crowd that clears out by nine.
• Cindy's — Rooftop cocktail bar · $$$. A glass-roofed rooftop above the Chicago Athletic Association, looking straight down at Millennium Park. Come before sunset; the room fills fast once the light turns.
• Vol. 39 — Cocktail bar · $$$. Library-themed lobby bar in the Kimpton Gray; leather chairs, refined classics, a quiet Loop escape.

North Center (3)

• Apero — Wine & aperitivo bar · $$. A small French-leaning room on Lincoln Avenue, opened by someone who grew up a few blocks from the door. Short drinks list, shorter food menu, and few enough seats that the regulars get recognised.
• Long Room — Cocktail bar · $$. North Center's long, narrow institution; great cocktails and beer, a back patio, no-fuss charm.
• Victor Bar — Wine & cocktail bar · $$. North Center wine-and-cocktail spot; small, romantic, natural wine and precise drinks.

Albany Park (2)

• Bokeh — Cocktail bar · $$$. Intimate Albany Park neighborhood bar; camera-inspired, warm service, thoughtful seasonal cocktails.
• Nighthawk — Cocktail bar · $$. A coffee counter by day that turns into a cocktail bar after dark, a few steps from the Kimball Brown Line. The patio is the draw the moment it's warm enough.

Bridgeport (2)

• Charis Listening Bar — Listening bar & cocktails · $$$. Bridgeport hi-fi listening bar; vinyl, cocktails, and low-volume-conversation calm.
• Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar — Cocktail bar · $$. Half liquor store, half Bridgeport institution. The bottle selection outclasses most dedicated cocktail bars and the crowd spans four generations of the neighborhood.

Humboldt Park (2)

• Dorothy — Cocktail bar · $$. A red door on a residential Humboldt Park block opens onto a queer cocktail bar with a rotating menu and a room that fills with people who know each other.
• The Hi-Lo — Cocktail bar · $$. The menu splits every drink two ways so you can go strong or go easy. An outdoor fireplace makes it one of the few Humboldt Park patios that works in winter.

Lakeview (2)

• Cubaneo — Rum & cocktail bar · $$. Cuban cooking and a rum-led bar on a busy stretch of Broadway — oven-roasted paella, a properly pressed sandwich, and daiquiris made without shortcuts.
• Farm Bar — Cocktail bar · $$. A Lakeview kitchen-and-bar sourcing from Midwest farms, including the honey in its house old fashioned. Unfussy, and the only real cocktail room for blocks.

South Loop (2)

• Buttercup — Aperitivo cocktail bar · $$. Espresso and pastries in the morning, amaro and low-ABV drinks after four. The rare South Loop room that works for both halves of the day.
• Oliver's — Supper club cocktail bar · $$$. A candlelit room done up like a 1930s supper club — velvet seating, vintage pictures, classics poured without reinvention. The bar keeps its own early happy hour midweek.

Chinatown (1)

• Nine Bar — Speakeasy cocktail bar · $$$. Chinatown's first craft cocktail bar, hidden behind Moon Palace; neon-lit, with Tokyo-bar precision.

Edgewater (1)

• La Pharmacie — Cocktail bar · $$$. Inside the big pink building you can see from Lake Shore Drive, in a room that genuinely was a pharmacy. Apothecary fittings, small plates, and live jazz some nights.

Hyde Park (1)

• Cantina Rosa — Agave cocktail bar · $$$. Erick Williams' agave bar on 53rd Street. Mezcal and sotol get equal billing with tequila, and the room is warm enough to stay all evening.

Little Village (1)

• Osito's Tap — Agave cocktail bar · $$. Little Village agave bar from the Osito's crew; mezcal, tequila, and a tiny, personal space.

Portage Park (1)

• Moonflower — Cocktail bar · $$$. Portage Park charmer; agave-leaning drinks and a warm room — a Northwest Side gem.

Printer's Row (1)

• Vitalogy on Dearborn — Cocktail bar · $$$. A dark little room on a Printer's Row block that empties out after six. Small plates, a short list, and few enough seats that it still feels found rather than found-out.

Rogers Park (1)

• Rogers Park Social — Cocktail bar · $$. Opened by neighbours who wanted somewhere to sit, with a heated patio, a wall of board games and a seasonal list that turns over often. Sundays bring a build-your-own bloody mary bar.

Roscoe Village (1)

• Kite String Cantina — Cocktail bar · $$. Cocktails pour from cafeteria-style bubblers and the food stops at taquitos and dip. There's a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet in the corner and game-show reruns playing above the bar.

Ukrainian Village (1)

• Sportsman's Club — Cocktail bar · $$. Reimagined Ukrainian Village tavern; rotating cocktails on tap, a front patio, real neighborhood soul.

Uptown (1)

• Mao Bar — Cocktail bar · $$. A handful of seats inside Immm Rice & Beyond, pouring Asian-leaning cocktails alongside Thai bar snacks. Uptown's smallest good idea.

Wrigleyville (1)

• Devious Lounge — Cocktail lounge · $$$. Underground cocktail lounge below Pilot Project in Logan Square; moody, low-lit, and playful.

Making it an actual plan

The bars are the easy part. The part that kills a night out is the eleven-message thread about which Saturday works, and the two people who never answered.

Put two dates up, let everyone tap one, and send the winner with the first bar attached. Anyone can answer without downloading anything — RSVPing is free for everyone, forever, with no app and no account. If you want the whole hundred sitting in your own map to pull from later, that is what the app is for.

Keep the ones you like

Whosly saves any of these to your own places in a tap, then turns three of them into a night your friends can RSVP to — no app or account needed to answer. Want all one hundred dropped in at once? That is the Chicago Cocktail Bars pack, included with Planner Pro.

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