Downtown Bar and Lounge

I really like this place. Nice atmosphere and nice service. Drinks were fine. It is right in the middle of Chicago.

Went here with a few friends during a weeknight. Its a nice cozy bar. However they are overpriced and the bartender don’t know how to make drinks. 3 Screwdrivers were $ 28 I was like WTF ik its downtown but OMG. What made the drinks so bad was that it was all vodka and a splash of OJ.
We wont be going back.

Madonna Concert Weekend. Eight of is stopped in and had a blast. The staff is friendly and welcoming. The place is clean and the music was good.
They have Karaōke tonight and asked us to stay because we were having fun. There is art on the walls it’s kinda like a local dive but not dirty. I would recommend stopping here and saying hello. If you talk to people they will be nice and talk to you.

I tried this place three times and, three strikes and you’re out. for a person, who’s out of town, it’s a non-​welcoming environment. If you’re a local person, or go there with friends, then you’re likely all set in that department. My most recent and 3^rd time, I went downstairs and the locals were all doing karaōke and the bar tender was running it. It’s old school karaōke, where you have to look at pages and pages of songs… get with the program b/​c the days of looking at printed out pages upon pages of the only songs the system has is gone. well, in other places anyway.
So, I walk over to the bar and get a drink and stood there for a long time and the bar tender didn’t take notice… I had to flag him down (and it wasn’t too busy). It wasn’t as if it was hard to notice a new face coming in and drinkless. While waiting there for the extended time, I feel dripping on my head… there is a known leak coming from the ceiling and who the F knows if it was sewerage or not. I then noticed a big bucket right on the bar collecting the dripping. Yeah, that’s sanitary… um, NOT ! I gave the bar tender a 2 dollar tip for an 8 dollar drink and then asked if I could do a song and he was like, um, too late. Yeah, b/​c all the locals had prolly sung there numerous songs and he couldn’t allow a new person slip in one freekin’ song.
So, I went upstairs right after that sucky experience and let the 3 or 4 locals continue singing their multiple songs, show-​tunes, etc, etc… Upstairs continued in the unwelcoming vibe and was just clicky as it gets. The bar tender hovered over the local/​usual «girls» and pretty much stayed there with the locals/​regulars. I finished my drink and left and that was my 3^rd strike there… NEVER AGAIN will go there, nor will I recommend it to anyone. It’s no wonder that the bar was pretty empty on a Friday night.

So to sum it up, this is my least favorite bar that I visited during my trip to Chicago. From the outside this bar looks like a nice welcoming place that plays popular music and people can hangout and have a good time. Well that was wrong, because I did not enjoy my time at this bar.
Basically I walk in and order and drink and then the bartender spills said drink on me. He did apologize and he did give me a paper towel so I could try and clean it off of me, but It was one of those apologizes where you can tell they actually don’t care and are only saying sorry because they should. The sweater I was wearing was white and either hand wash or dry clean only, so that was awesome. Finding a place to dry clean something when you’re on vacation, also not fun. Not to mention it was a total downer on my night.
Besides that I thought the drinks my friends ordered were a bit over priced, the next bar we went to that was a block away they ordered the same drinks, they were cheaper and had more alcohol. All the tables were also super wobbly.
My final note on this bar, before we walked in my one friend said that he did not like this bar very much and he had been to it a few times, well now I see why. The only good thing is the music, that’s it.

Environment: ³⁄₅
Employees: ⁰⁄₅
Drinks: ³⁄₅
Costs: ⁴⁄₅
Total: ¹⁰⁄₂₀
Synopsis: How do I not have a review for this place? In any case, I can tell you now the place went DOWN HILL FASSSTTTT! A year ago, when Allen used to work there he would HOOK THE MUSIC UP!!! It was my go-​to spot ALL THE TIME, LIKE ALL THE TIME! To be honest in Chicago, karaōke life is either non-​existent or the new way of terrorism on the world. Before, it would have been given 4 – 4.5÷5 stars, but now… But now. omg, cannot even laminate the paper pages? The music selection is a flop and the version of the music for singing for karaōke is gawful!
ANYWAY…
Environment: I always loved this place because the top floor was dancing and the basement was karaōke, so as soon as singing was A-​Ok, you could dance the night away with the other 20 people in a 200-​ish full-​capacity room. Even more so, the basement area has been re-​done with new painting for the stage. YES! But, there is a mic that can only go so far? Seriously? Karaōke television broke? Seriously? What, these pages cannot even be laminated? God!
Employees: Although, the previous bartender was a douche from hell, this new one tried to charge one of my friend $ 5 for a diet coke. Is this a joke? I was so disappointed because if you’re going to rip someone off, at least be hot!
Drinks: The prices are moderate and they finally have beers on tap. Before it was JUST for decoration. I didn’t know the bartender, so I didn’t trust him to do anything outside of gin/​tonic or beer. To be even safer, I just decided to do beer.
If you really want to work your night out well, go to Snickers first for their cheap drinks, like UBER cheap, and then make your way here for one drink so you can sing!
Cost: the good thing is that their crappy karaōke costs no money, so if you have numerous go-​to songs then that is good, but for the drinks it’s more on the moderate side. Not to pricey, and only wishfully dirt-​cheap as Snickers!

Went to this bar after a concert, wanting a nice chill atmosphere. It started out great, but then when we got our second drinks I was not watching which alcohol the bartender used.
When I questioned him about it politely, just asking which one he had used, he got a snippy attitude and became defensive. I asked because my boyfriend was starting to feel ill from the drink and I could taste a difference (there’s a big difference between well vodka and high quality vodka).
I believe his name was Kenneth, but he had an attitude towards a simple question. It was a sour note that made us decide to leave without finishing our drinks even.

We didn’t like it

Great to have a family bar downtown. Friendly bartenders and a «cheers» neighborhood bar atmosphere. Will definitely go back. Thanks to bartender Eric for being so friendly. (the 2 navy guys).

The crowd is small and tends to be older men. The bartender who waited on me was excellent and the drinks were well made. It is truly sad that downtown Chicago has only two LGBT bars and both are mediocre. due to the lack of a good crowd. I REALLY miss the early to mid-1970’s and the days of the Bistro, Sunday’s, and the Gold Coast Those three bars and a few others made downtown Chicago a gay mecca.

If you live downtown or just visiting and you don’t want to trek up to the bars on Halsted. well Downtown Bar is an option. The crowd can be hit or miss depending on the day/​time. The drinks are definitely poured with a heavy hand (winning) and the prices aren’t bad. However, trying to get the attention of the bartender, even when the place has –7 people in there, can be a challenge. Two pluses about this place are (1) the DJ is always willing to play any song you request (if he has it on his Mac) and (2) karaōke in the downstairs portion of the bar is damn entertaining.

When you are a Gay bar on the near north side and you run out of stemmed cocktail glasses, when there is less than 30 people in your bar… This is a red flag! You call yourself a bar? … Seriously?
You don’t charge top dollar and serve a Martini or Cosmopolitan in a basic highball glass.
Bartender seemed amateurish and not ready for prime time on a Saturday night.
Try getting your act together guys!

Ehhhh. I have high hopes for the few gay bars downtown but STAY AWAY. Terribly rude service from the bartender and he had no idea what was on tap. $ 8 ALLAGASH — I’ve never paid more than $ 6 at any other bar downtown. The bathroom seat in the women’s restroom doesn’t even fit on the toilet and it’s loose — you might as well be sitting on the porcelain rim. Also, fruit flies all over the walls — totally sanitary. Go to snickers or public house, they’re close and infinitely better. Or if you’re looking for a gay bar — go to second story, it’s a million times better than this place.

My friend has taken me to Downtown quite a few times and I’ve never been disappointed. It’s a laid back, non-​pretentious, let-​your-​hair-​down kind of gay bar. The price point for drinks is great and you can actually taste the alcohol!
We made the mistake of bar hopping and should have never left Downtown — lesson learned.
Friendly staff and crowd with fun things going on either of the two floors makes this a great hang out.

Pretty darn pricy for a beer. $ 8 for an allagash white. Not to mention they were out of every other beer that was under $ 8 except for green Miller which was left over from St. Patricks day. The ambience is great but the booze prices and selection just isn’t there.

Interesting two floor bar in the heart of downtown away from the Gay-​borhood of Boyztown.
Known for its downstairs karaōke area according to my local guides. The clientele is definitely on the mature side but that’s not a bad thing. I did like that it was pretty clean.
We sat at the bar downstairs because my DIVA of a best friend loves his Karaōke and no one can deny him a microphone. While he sang his little heart out, the rest of us did what we always do at bars, DRAAAANK.
We started off with some tap beers that no one knew even existed and to be honest, now i know why. It wasn’t very good. So we decided that lets skip the foreplay beers and get to the DIRTY DIRTY…
Tequila that is! YAAS Child! Anyone who knows me back in my college days knows that I love me some tequila. I may not drink as much now, but I can still knock a few back sistah!
We started lining up shot after shot. By the 5^th round, 2 people were done. Another left cause he had work the next day. Then it was just my and my new bud, who by the way was 1.5x my size. He ordered another round and the bartender gave us some attitude. «You two better slow down. I am not carrying you out of here» Mind you we are grown ass adults and we aren’t exactly TWINKS. Oh Hunnayyyy you wouldn’t be able to carry us out anyways, just serve us our damn drinks…
After a few more i tapped out as i was pretty drunk… The prices are kind of moderate seeing that it is a city bar.
It was a fun experience and the best thing was that I had no hangover the next day! :)

Sports Bar upstairs, karaōke bar downstairs. A friend brought me here one evening recently for a drink and we ended up staying much longer than expected and had a great time. Drinks were a little expensive, but I realized my drink suddenly got bigger once I went downstairs and ordered there instead of upstairs. Mental Note: skip the upstairs and immediately head downstairs next time.

This bar is really friendly. We were visiting Chicago last week and the wife and I wandered into the bar. The bartender recommended a great place to have lunch that was right around the corner where we could watch the football game.
Later that night we wandered back into the bar and talked to some really great guys who were sitting right next to us. The bartenders were really nice and the drinks were good. This is a mostly guys bar, but were welcoming to us lesbians!

You know… I’ve had to write an update. After some fallings-​out with another bar that shall remain nameless, I’ve been coming to Downtown Bar more and more and have to say that it may be light on clientele at the beginning of happy hour, as the evening progresses the crowd does thicken a bit.
The three bartenders that I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with during the week are nice, professional, decent when it comes to the amount of alcohol, and have made me feel welcome.
Still gotta take away two stars for the price of the drinks though. Me and a friend had two drinks a piece (friend had vodka tonics, I had whiskey and coke), plus a whiskey shot each, and it came to $ 50. Not used to paying such prices!

Gay! and it does famously right here. First run in was over my birfday weekend some months back and we caught a mention about Jameson shots on special. Everyone. I mean everyone bought me a shot. Had some great conversations and did some people watching.
Next time. back again for Jamo shots while bar hopping Hubbard. We got a few looks and I understand, its probably because we were a big group of neanderthal heteros making a ton of noise. Bar staff was cool with us, downed a few heavy handed drinks and tried to mingle with some chicks trying to dance. Fun times.
Keep the Jamo on special!