Grayland Pub – aka Kennedy’s

I have been enjoying this place for years. Both Patrick and Rob have treated us really well. Prices are great and the ambiance is perfect.

BEST BAR EVER
My wife & I have been talking about having a drink here for the last two months. This weekend it finally happen. It was one of the greatest & funniest days of our lives and we hated leaving this place.
When we walked in the bar it was completely empty which gave us an opportunity to meet the owner Patrick. Patrick has been here for 19 years and he is the perfect example of what a bartender should be. Bartenders today do not even talk to you. They are too busy checking their phones, tweeting & snap chatting. Attention bartenders I know you’re not typing on the cash register. I see you clicking on your phone. Patrick is old school. He shares stories and actually knows how to talk to a person and he has some great stories.
This fantastic bar is located on Milwaukee avenue near Addison Street at the Grayland stop for Metra on the Milwaukee District North (MD-​N). When you look around the bar you will notice Metra train schedules printed on large posters for the visual impaired due to alcohol. If you take the train into the city or back to Fox Lake this is a perfect place for a couple of drinks. I jokingly asked Patrick when he closed during the week and he said, «12:42am» which was the last train back to Fox Lake. I also asked if people ever missed that train and he said, «All of the time!» I learned that people drinking don’t trust train schedules printed on bar walls.
We asked Patrick what was on special & he said, «Everything!» and he wasn’t kidding. We ordered PBR on tap & it was only $ 1.50. I figured that the tap lines would be icky but the beer tasted nice and clean. While we were sitting at the bar, a regular walked in and knew exactly what he wanted. He didn’t even say anything to Patrick. He pulled out $ 2.75 and put it on the bar and Patrick poured him his German beer. We call that great customer service and knowing who your customers are. I hope that we will become regulars like that. Did you hear that Patrick? Get those PBR’s poured for us.
The bar was nice & quite until a group of
TBOX people walked in. TBOX is short for «Twelve Bars of Christmas «which happens in Wrigley where people drink from 8am to 8pm also know as amateur day drinking. It was 1:30pm and this group of five had been drinking since 8am. They were very loud but funny. It’s amazing how drunk people have no volume control. We heard many swear words because the filters were all turned off. We learned many things I can not write in a Unilocal review.
While we were sitting there, one of the TBOX people dressed as Santa brought over his gift filled pillow case to give us Christmas presents. We ended up with a Ping pong ball for beer pong & a deck of cards. This is what every drunk person needs for the holidays. These TBOX attendees were already full of Christmas spirits and I mean alcohol. They were drinking shots and beers like a drought was coming. A round of shots for 5 people was only $ 15.75. That is a total deal. They were doing everything from Malort to Whiskey to Rum Chada. I am not sure how these kids even walked in. The TBOX person sitting next to me asked me if I knew when the next train was leaving. I laughed & pointed at the giant posters on the wall. Patrick the owner is very brilliant for posting these signs. He probably got sick of telling people 100 times a day.
Then while we were sitting at the bar another regular came in with a pizza from Calo ristorante. Which I noticed has 4 stars on Unilocal & almost 700 reviews. Yes I’ve bookmarked it and will be going there for some pizza in the future. This patron brought his pizza over to us and offered us a piece. We were having so much fun. Patrick the owner even offered pizza to the TBOX crowd. Of course they jumped in because pizza keeps the belly drinking more. We had to sit back and think…“How amazing is this bar!!!»
The TBOX group found a juke box on the wall and decide to start playing some music. The first song was Joan Jett which encouraged the group to start dancing and singing out loud. I turned to Patrick and said, «I didn’t know this was a dance bar!» He laughed and said, «Oh yeah wait until they start dancing on top of the bar!» Oh boy this place can get crazy.
We were really sad to leave but we had another commitment to get to. If we didn’t then we would have been here until the last Metra train left. As we were walking out the door the TBOX Santa yelled across the bar, «Make sure you play some strip poker with your lady and that deck of cards!» We walked out the door laughing our asses off and at that moment a Metra train went rumbling by. Nobody ran out of the bar to catch it which meant the party inside would live on. It was really hard for us to leave and we can not wait for our return. Thanks to Patrick for having a genuine bar which is totally legit. The drinks are affordable and this is how every bar in America should be. If you ever want to see what an American bar use to be like then stop in here because this is a hidden gem.

This place is great. Pure neighborhood. Epic dive. Cool tunes. Good selection of brews. Standard liquor selection. Cash is king and it is all they take. On the Metra Grayland stop.

Nice place to escape the kids and wife and enjoy a Guinness and a game. Local place to enjoy some peace and quite and not deal with people taking pics of their food.

This is a bar Mike Royko or Studs Terkel would be at home in. I live in the neighborhood and every time I’ve been in here, the clientele are friendly and talkative. Pat, the owner/​bartender, and all the other bartenders there are the same way. Easily the best, most friendly bar I’ve ever been to. Guinness on tap is $ 3 and there are domestic and other craft options just as cheap. Good place to catch a game or just have a good conversation. Good place to get the lay of the land if you’re new to the area as everyone seems to be a local.

Good place for cheap beer, low key atmosphere. One of many Chicago dives, cash only. Currently hard to access due to road construction on Milwaukee

Love this place. I live in the neighborhood and this is a great place to grab a quiet drink and watch the hockey game or bring friends when they visit.
The jukebox is great. It’s in a permanent state of 1994, and I hope it stays that way. A couple arcade games in the back, if you’re into that. Galaga and golf I think.
Pat is a kindhearted, wise old man. Don’t let the divey nature of the place fool you, everyone is welcome here.
It’s a shame that business is hurting since they tore up and closed half of Milwaukee for an entire year with no regard for the residents or the old man trying to run a business. I try to spend some money here when I can.

What a fun local bar! Came here when visiting friends in the neighborhood and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The bartender was quick and friendly. A clean establishment as well.

Besides forced accents and homicide, what do all the Boston Irish movies have in common? TOWNIE BARS. This place feels like a bar straight out of Good Will Hunting, Mystic River, The Town, Gone Baby Gone, minus the violence or math equations. And maybe it’s just me, but I like my bars that way. I used to take the Metra to Deerfield and this place is a GREAT stop-​off after the train. Patrick, the owner/​bartender is a classic. He is exactly who you would hope and expect to be there. Don’t pass by this unmarked wonder if you’re in the area. Maybe have a few cheap beers and go to a Hava’d bah to beat up some smaht kids!

I live right across the street, but i’ll admit this place looked a bit intimidating at first. Local dive bar and it took me a year and a half to step foot inside. Did not know what I was missing! $ 3 Guinness on tap! Met Mike the bartender, who was a nice dood. Others were friendly too. Solid place to grab a drink and chill…

What a delightful little dive bar!!! A friend took me here on Friday night and I’ll be honest upon pulling up I was a little frightened but this place is great! I heard it can get a little crazy after cubs games since its right next to the metra stop. The bar isn’t too big but theres comfortable seating, great jukebox, great service and best of all the prices, $ 3 guinness on tap!!! Nice place to relax and enjoy a drink.

This place used to be called «The Irish Wolfhound». Some of the regulars caused some trouble a few years back when they were joking around with a FBI agent and said it was a local headquarters of the IRA.

I’ve been to a few bars in my 6 years of professional drinking and none compare to Pat’s place.
Before I even moved into the apartment building just across the street I went in for a pre-​apartment-​viewing drink with my boyfriend and basically got the neighborhood run down. Pat gives the best advice and knows pretty much anything you would want to know about that neck of the woods.
The bathrooms are clean, great jukebox, and one of those touch screen bar game thingys that I think i’ve been spending more money on recently than beer…
Couldn’t ask for a better neighborhood bar or bartender!

i’ll start off with a cliché and just say this place is the shit.
grayland pub? Patrick’s? i thought it was called Kennedy’s. there’s no sign on the door so how would you know. only reason i thought it was called Kennedy’s was I was sitting there drinking with some youth basketball referee’s who were telling me a story about coming back from reffing a game in deerfield and they said hey fuck it let’s stop off at Kennedy’s. i dunno.
the prices are awesome. where else can you get a $ 3 Guiness in Chicago? the owner/​bartender is probably the coolest bartender i’ve ever come across in Chicago. he’ll sit there and talk to you for hours about sports, and pretty much any other topic. i bought a round one time and now every time i go in there at least one person buys me a drink, bartender included.
i’ve always had good company with whatever patron happens to be in there, i guess that says quite a bit about the drinkers in this neighborhood.
i’d definately bring friends or a date there and i’m sure at first they’d be sketched out but by the time we left they’d also be saying that place is dope.
five stars all around even given the fact that they need to fix their ATM machine.

The #1bar /​bartender in Chicago. Only bar I know with Gluten free beer. Get your drink on here.

Great Atmosphere, Great People, Great Prices. Great Dive Bar.

Grayland Pub?! Who knew? well obviously everyone other than me. I always thought it was called «Patrick’s» but i guess that is because that is what the drunk at the bar (no, not me, the one of the other drunks) told me it was called.
It is great place and as the dive/​old man bars are disappearing lets hope this one can hang on.

This little old man/​dive bar is a total gem. We’ve driven by this stretch of Milwaukee God knows how many times and have never noticed it. I think that they have renamed it Kennedy’s. This a great place to meet friends if you are planning on seeing a film at the Portage Theater or just want to hang out and avoid the usual bar scene. The prices are dirt cheap. $ 1.25 PBR’s! Patrick, the owner/​bartender is super cool, we’ll definitely be back!

This dive bar’s quite a find: cheap Guinness, absolutely lovingly poured by a guy named Patrick Kennedy, in a tidy space.