McNally’s

Fuck McNally. There is no shortage of southside establishments to catch a Sox game. Any of which would be better for your mental and physical well-​being. Suck a bag of dicks, McNally.

giving this fine establishment a 5-​star review to offset all the 1-​star reviews given by bitter cub fans who all went on here to trash this place despite having never set foot in the bar.

It turns out this place not only hates Cub fans, but apparently hates black people as well. Do a simple google search for «McNally’s Western Ave» and see for yourself. If you are a racist White Sox fan, this could be the place for you.

This location is disgraceful being plain mean not supporting another chicago team! I will never step foot in your establishment! I supported the Sox when they won the world series in 2005. You should be ashimed!

I love how Michael T. Shames people for calling this place a shit hole. Then he praises this place as a good place to drink. Only then he tells us how much of a shit hole it is. He is right about one thing. The place is a shit hole. But I will go on to say that that is not necessarily a bad thing. They do a great job of poisoning Sox fans.

Garbage can bar, I think the owners might be huge racists. Wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemies.

Shame on you for betting against your hometown team. You would run out of beer if you gave it away when the cubbies hit home runs. Hope you lose business.

They get 5 stars cause they have true Sox pride. Free beer for every Cardinal HR in the NLDS. F#@k the scrubby cubbies WhiteSox 4 Life!!!

This place is awful. The customers actually urinate on the floor of the bar, yes you read that correctly not the bathroom, the floor of the bar. If you want to know where the rats in chicago hang out, you will see them walking around this dump. Do not go here, this place is disgusting.

3 free beers and the CUBS still won! Good hangout for the street peeps. Owners aren’t too bright. Any bar in Wrigleyville is better!

Do not go here! Trust me, you’ll regret it. The only reason to go here is to watch a game. Only problem is their TV’s are terrible. The audio is almost all static, and they think making the volume louder somehow compensates for it. Some of the staff is friendly, but honestly I don’t go to bars to make friends with the staff. If you do decide to go be sure to order something that comes in a bottle. (Not that they have a wide selection of drafts anyway) The glass they gave me was cloudy and looked as if it hadn’t been washed in weeks. Upon closer inspection there were lip impressions near the rim of the glass. They did pick up my bill however, but judging by how nonchalant they acted I get the feeling it’s a pretty common occurrence. As a side note the smell was comparable to the bathrooms in Wrigley Field on a warm summer day. (Kind of sad when THAT is the detail you forget)

Trashy bar. The prices are pretty good but the food sucks, the music sucks, and the staff and owners are trash. I had never planned on bothering with a review for this place until i saw their newest trashy decision to give out a free beer for any time the cardinals HR off the Cubs. I’m a die hard Cubs fan but when the sox were going to the series, i rooted for them and the respect the Cubs showed was big.
I will definitely not be back here ever and will make sure everyone knows this place is garbage.

I love McNallys and the beautiful Ken doll owner! Great prices and great service! Thanks also Mike for all u have contributed to the community. Constantly helping people and throwing benefits. I’ve been going there for years and will continue.

the service was really bad as bartender ignored me last Sunday. The beer was over priced and the place was just dirty. The bathrooms looked like they were not cleaned for over a week. There are many better alternatives within walking distance for a place like this to give this bad service. It really doesn’t even look that good inside. Just a small dumphole

A four because I’m feeling friendly…
Seriously if this bar was around the corner from my place, my alcoholism would probably be much more raging. $ 3.75 for a Jack and coke? I’m all about that. I can wrap my drunk, cuddly arms all around a price like that. What I can’t wrap my arms around is the person who picked out the hideous music we heard tonight. Barf.
Since I’m on the Young Adult Board at the Beverly Art Center you’ll probably find me back at McNally’s, but can someone hire a DJ or professional music chooser, please.

This was the year that I caved in to my friends’ demands and came down to Chicago for the South Side Irish Parade. I don’t go for the big drinking holidays like St. Patty’s, where just the occurrence of a certain day means you’ve got to get hammered. There are of course the exceptions of Bockfest and the Great Taste every year in Madison, but these are more of a destination because of the beer served, not the other way around. That said, I ended up eventually having a pretty good time down on Western in the company of many green-​bedecked Chicagoans. We spent the majority of the afternoon camped out at McNally’s, where I was repeatedly assured (and I mean repeatedly) that this was the epitome of a South Side neighborhood bar.
I believe we paid about $ 20 cover to get in about an hour before the parade. The bar was completely packed — no room whatsoever. There was a bar supposedly but the crush of the crowd kept me from even approaching that end of the bar. Instead there were mobile tap stations set up selling the buckets of beer. I made my way over to one and saw the choices were Budweiser and Bud Light. You’re not in Wisconsin anymore boy! I’m sure there were at least seven micro taps at the bar, right? I bite the bullet and get a bucket of Budweiser for $ 12. It’s not bad while cold but then quickly gets warm from the heat of the crowd. I chase it down with nips off of the flask of Crown my buddy brought. My first impression of McNally’s is that it reminds me of some of the older blue-​collar places on the east side of Madison or more accurately Milwaukee. Nothing stands out as original or that unique, but I’ve also come on the one day a year that the place is out of character.
As the parade goes past I try to station myself near the door so that I can at least see a bit of it, since I don’t get many kilt-​wearing firemen up my way. We all occasionally duck out for a smoke and everyone but me risks the wrath of the CPD and piss in the alley. I figure the cops can suss out a Sconnie like me no problem, so I wait in the interminable line for the restrooms. Plus my red UW hoodie would be a dead giveaway. I’ve been constantly dealing with the crush of the crowd and spilled beer on countless people by this point, so it feels great to go into the piss-​stained alley for a smoke and the ability to extend my elbows straight out from my body.
As the afternoon wears on I manage to remain at least coherently sober and keep most of the group together. I seem to be the only one. I’m wearing the only green seasonally-​appropriate article of clothing I own, which happens to be a Maccabi Haifa stocking cap I had recently bought in Israel. I strike up a conversation with someone that recognizes the Hebrew on the cap, but then shit goes south when one of my friends becomes suspicious and goes off on a vaguely anti-​Semitic diatribe, something about Lithuanians and I have no idea what else. The ethnic identification in Chicago confuses me because there are no real ethnic neighborhoods where I’m from, and besides Madison is a yuppie/​hippie/​college dynamic surrounded by white-​bread suburbs and farms. Besides, isn’t everyone supposed to be Irish today? I’m in way over my head here.
A man who I was later told was an owner comes up to me and proceeds to insult both my Badgers and my Cubs for some time. We kind of get into it. I can understand that he correctly identified me as a Badger given my UW hoodie but how did he know I was a Cubs fan? Would only a Cubbie be audacious enough to wear a green Israeli soccer cap to an Irish parade? I learn later that my Sox fan friend tipped him off and asked him to take me down a peg. I didn’t know I was even up a peg. Whatever — at this point I equate the South Side with Milwaukee, a place I’ve got to keep my head down or attract the wrath of the locals. That’s fine, because I’m able to take a bit of shit from the proles from time to time so long as i can get back to my base of arrogant self-​righteousness in Madison. The crowd started to thin out and we decided to call it a day. Half of the group managed to get themselves locked out earlier, and when I leave I expect to get into another jawing match with the owner at the door. Instead he’s as nice as possible and my seething rage completely vanishes. This is where I learn that you’ve apparently got to earn respect from these guys, and somehow I’ve done that.
Realistically I probably won’t ever be back to McNally’s. I did the whole Parade thing but I don’t think I’d make a special effort to go again. The remaining 364 days a year aren’t likely to find me on the south side of Chicago either — I just don’t know anyone that still lives there. Which is kind of a shame, because I wouldn’t mind stopping in one night and cheering on my Cubs.

I was transported back to Sidetracks in Carondale upon entering this south-​side bar stock full of white guys in Big Ten hats — perfectly arched brims, of course.
The jukebox would not allow me to play ANY rap except Will Smith. I was sad that I couldn’t play most of my standard jukebox picks like Back That Ass Up, Watch Yourself, and Juicey.
Fridays are two dollar shot nights — hollah. I was able to buy two enormous rum and cokes and two shots for $ 10 — now that’s what I’m talking about.

Great little local hangout, full of loyal Sox fans. Specials for Scrubs day games (opposing team hits a dinger, you get a drink).