Leadway Bar & Grill

This place rules I will hear no argument.

They recently added dart boards, a mini pop-​a-​shot, and a ping pong table… movin on up!

I miss this bar. I live in the northwest burbs now– have two young kiddos and feel too tired to drive down to Chicago just for a bar. But, I have fond memories of making art, playing pool, drinking little cocktails and eating some yummy bar food in their outdoor seating area. My husband and I often think back to our dating days when we remember that bar! So glad it’s still up and running.

This place is awesome and everyone who works here is very friendly and always want to make your time at the bar exciting. And now they have a ping pong table, and darts, and arcade basketball!
Leadway bar rocks!

Quirky neighborhood bar. Good drinks and specials. Food average to bad. They do have some very cheap food specials. Might only be worth ordering those. I had a $ 10 steak fajita that was horrible and should have sent back but was starving and just ate the fries. Drinks are good though. Bartenders are friendly. Come for the drinks, not for the food!

The Leadway is a quirky bar that defies easy categorization. It’s a very low key vibe, seldom crowded, but the walls have art & metal sculpture, instead of plywood & a Hamm’s Beer sign from 1972. So… not really a dive. Plus, they have a decent selection of good stuff on tap, so you can do better than an Old Style for under 5 bucks.
A few TVs will have major sports games on, but the rest of the time it’s some old movie that the owner throws on. So… not really a sports bar.
The food is mainly standard bar fare. Nothing stands out here, except they will make a pizza to order for 5 bucks. That’s what I said. A hand made pizza, not, «What do you want on your Tombstone?» Service is friendly, but not fake friendly. So… not quite the neighborhood grub pub.
They will make a basic cocktail, but the Leadway is not a hipsterish cocktail joint. No skinny jeans or porkpie hats to be found. Definitely not a hipster bar.
Sometimes they have live music, but it’s kind of random. Sometimes a band, sometimes an open mike, but you just never know. The rest of the time it’s random rock/​pop. No jukebox… that might be nice.
All in all, an unpretentious, but quirky bar for drinks with friends. That’s good enough for me. There’s outdoor seating in the summer on the shady Farragut side.
PS– The sushi menu is gone, but there are plenty of great sushi places.

I love this place! Cheap beer, decent food, and a GREAT atmosphere

I stumbled across this place while staying with a friend before moving into my place. It quickly became one of my favorite neighborhood bars (and made me wish I had found my apartment in this area). Great bartenders, friendly owner, stiff drinks, and good music… what more can you ask for?

A cool neighborhood bar that tries to be different. The sushi bar in the middle is unique and the food prices are reasonable. The owner makes some of his own metalwork here I think and the décor is pretty cool. parkign is a pain if you do not live in the neighborhood. I highly recommend Chicagoans from any neighborhood to check out this bar and others in this nice neighborhood.

This is our fave local hang out bar.
You never know what you are going to get when you walk into Leadway. Everything from open mic night, to board games, to finger painting…
But you’ll always walk into a warm environment, a great bartender (Valentina) who will remember your name, and of course great drinks.

Awesome dive bar. I used to live a block away, and The Leadway always provided my friends and I with a great place to meet up for drinks, especially during the long, cold winter! The décor is a bit like Halloween all the time, and it’s a very quiet bar, so you can actually hear what your friends are saying! Not the place to go to meet random new people, as you may be the only ones in the bar, but in my opinion that is most of its charm! Also, the free pool, good beer specials, and well mixed cocktails certainly help!
When you want a dive bar, free pool, and a place where you won’t have to worry about whether it will be too crowded, The Leadway hits the mark.

I’m a big kid now!
As I check my clock I notice I’m a half hour early to my therapy appointment and what better way to kick off a therapy session with a drink.
Luckily this bar was walking distance from our meeting spot so I decided I’ll try a new level «of Independence» and grab a drink by my lonesome. The experience in itself was scary. Me sit alone? what never? Well I did it and I enjoyed it. The bartender was friendly and I had a little conversation with 2 ladies also enjoying a drink. They also have games for your playing pleasure! Cute bar, they host events and have signature drinks. Good job guys.

this used to be my neighborhood bar… and I so miss it (CAN ANYONE RUN A DECENT BAR IN ALBANY PARK PLEEEEEZE)
I just miss it. It’s a cheap, quirky art bar. It’s just a great place to hang out and you won’t bust your wallet.
Don’t expect fru-​fru drinks here though… and I don’t remember what the food situation was here… not remembering probably means that it was nothing to write home about) but I did like that you could order food from down the street and eat it there and there were no hard feelings… which i think is cool
Just miss this place!

Both times that we’ve been to this bar it has been completely empty. Not necessarily a bad thing but kind of strange.
The bar itself has a Beetle Juice esque feel to it. Lots of fun art all over. Plus it has some games to play, which came in handy with us being the only customers there.
The food isn’t amazing, so I wouldn’t recommend it for dinner but it’s a really nice place to get a cheap drink. Really, the beers are super cheap. It’s a nice bar to have within stumbling distance.

I have been to Leadway now a few times and yay I am a fan but sometimes the bands that they host can be quite on the heavy side. Thank goodnes for the pool table in the middle of the bar. The place is really small so be ready to bump elbows if it is busy. The have a lot of art work on the walls from local artists and it changes every time I come back.
The food is just ok. Their fries were just ok. On the other hand when they have a band playing the bar puts out a veggie platter for everyone. The bartender girl is Romanian and she is really nice and friendly. One time, she made me a cosmo and it was pretty good not too watered down. I am sure I will be back as my firends love to play shows here.

The pro: Thursdays is $ 3 Bass night.
The cons: The rest of it.
Besides the fact that some big drunk Romanian dude tried to bone my friend and I the last time I was there, this place is kind of werid.
There is never anyone here. Whether its a Tuesday or Friday there will be the same amount of people here and they are always people who can walk here… And no one else!
A few decent beer on tap and the atmosphere is ok and they have a wrap around outdoor patio so there is that but this place is anything but happening or the place to be unless of course you are a Romanian power lifter looking for dudes… even though this isn’t even remotely a gay bar.
Never had the food but I can’t imagine it is good.

My friend just moved right across the street so we checked it out a few times. Really unique. The bar tender everyone is talking about is very sweet, just not a boisterous person. Very nice though.
The beer & $$$? How can you beat this. They have 4 of my favorite import beer at prices that are insanely affordable. For that reason alone, combined with the atmosphere, we love this place.
One thing — not really a complaint but a suggestion — Try serving food before 6pm. We came it at 4 pm one day to fill up and then have some beers and were told that no food was available prior to 6pm.
The food and the food $$$ are great– just need to be offered in the day too.

Ok– this place is so crazy you have to love it. Last time I was there a band in NASA outfits with fencing masks were playing some crazy electronica /​futuristic music. This was on a Sunday.
The artwork/​décor inside is pretty neat– from the front of a Buick (?) to the metal sculpture to the fish tank of piranhas — the place is decked out. All this will free pool and board games, great beers on tap, and a diverse crowd. I’m in.

Okay, let me say up front: Leadway is NOT for everyone. But the Boy and I love it and it is our bar of choice.
In some aspects, the place is kind of divey. It’s dark, lousy rickety tables, and what passes as a cushioned bench up front is totally atrocious and no fun to sit on at all.
But it has the most amazing quirky charm I have yet to find at any other bar in the city — or just about anywhere else.
There are these elaborate semi-​abstract metal sculptures that hang from the ceiling — they have always kind of reminded me of the art Catharine O’Hara does in Beetlejuice that comes alive and attacks the party guests…
And there is a Piranha tank mounted on the wall. If that’s not punk rock, I don’t know what is.
And the other decoration is just as quirky and mismatched — the front of car with working headlights over the bar, black and white stills of Scorcese films and more, a totally out-​of-​place neon Homer Simpson sign.
The music is totally unpredictable — sometimes it’s super poppy dance, sometimes more toward classic rock. Seems pretty random.
We’ve never had a problem with the TVs, really — we’ve watched the Cubbies and the soccer games there.
Beer selection is decent, and prices are average. The cocktail prices are kind of outrageous, but to be fair, they are really good. I suggest the Key Lime Pie.
As for service… I can see where some people would think the bartender was «icy» — I have never thought she was, but I can see someone misinterpreting her attitude that way. She just seems to need to warm up to you before she gets really friendly. If you’re a regular, she’ll give you stellar treatment. We think she’s great.
If you’re looking for a laidback place with a Tim Burton feel as a home base bar, this might be for you. We find it to be scrumtrulescent.
10÷21÷08 — They got rid of the scary bench up front! But they replaced it with these booths that, while, more comfortable, look like they were leased from Pleasantville. Very weird, LOL.

Leadway oh Leadway, I hate you, you stink. I wish you were on Montrose so you’d wash down a sink (hole). The Leadway is a tease. The Leadway advertises itself as many things that it is not.
1. I have never been able to make art here. Ask the bartender about fingerpainting and she will icily glare at you.
2. Banners outside encourage you to watch your professional and college football games at the Leadway. Banner should read: listen to the XFM station that only plays music from 1990−1994… there will be no football here. In fact, our icy bartendress does not know what football is.
3. Here is a short list of other things the bartendresses don’t know:
— What a Tom Collins is (unable to order here)
— What a vodka & lemonade is (served as vodka & soda)
— What a gin & tonic is (served as vodka tonic)
My 12-​year-​old cousin mixes better drinks, and doesn’t argue when you tell him he served you Smirnoff instead of Beefeater.
4. Another banner reads: This Month’s Special: $ 5 Jack & Coke. Not only has that sign been up for a year, is that really a special? Here’s another banner they should post: «This Year’s Special: $ 8 Yellow Tail Glass of Wine!»
I know that I sound unduly angry and bitter. But I have good reason. This bar is across the street from my house. By default, it must serve as my neighborhood watering hole. So not only does it have bad service, expensive drinks and won’t play the Bears game (even though they promise to), they’re taking up the space of a perfectly fine bar that WOULD if only the Leadway weren’t there.