Swirl Wine Bar

Sucked

Cute wine bar! We had great service and lots of good wine. I thought the prices were reasonable, especially when ordering the half bottles. I loved the lighting and the way the room/​seats were laid out. Street parking is somewhat easy as well. The only thing I found to be a bit off was the crowd. It ranged from 22 year olds posing for facebook photos to older women who clearly had one to many rough nights. Strange!

Still a cozy little wine bar that is great for a date or drinks with friends, but the service has slipped. Our waiter came by once before we had decided what to drink and then disappeared. The half carafe of Pinot Noir we got was quite good, but the Malbec we switched to later was not good. I really like the international music they play here, too bad their sound system needs some fine tuning. The music seemed to get louder as the night went on. Same service issues when we were ready for the bill. For better ambiance, I’d suggest going on a Friday/​Saturday, though it will be crowded and hard to get a seat.

We were drawn to Swirl for a group event and arrived a bit early to take in the atmosphere. Initially when you walk in the first impression is that the bar has been decorated without a theme or purpose. There is exposed brick, juxtaposed with strings of light blue circles next to flashing Christmas lights. Particularly for the River North neighborhood with lots of lavish bars and restaurants, this bar appears in its awkward teenage years before it blooms into adulthood.
The reason Swirl falls short is because I’m not exactly sure what they are trying to be, a kind of identity crisis. They have pretty good pizzas, but then there’s live latin music, and the décor is just generally uncoordinated. All of the elements of a great bar or restaurant compliment each other to create a good experience, and Swirl’s components confuse the senses so you’re not quite sure what to expect.
Unfortunately our group had some bad wines for the wine-​tasting event, and most people ended up drinking beer. My guess is that the organizers wanted a bargain, but as a wine bar they should be able to find better budget wines.

Went there for one of the Non Profits Organisation (Concern Worlwide) get together. It’s a small quite wine bar. Service and staff was very nice.
I am a fan of their pizza. Delicious small portions.
Nice place for a get together after a busy day at work.

I’ve been at swirl wine bar twice now. The last time was last year in March for the bf’s 30^th and just this past Saturday again just for wine. Both times I have been here I have been pleasantly surprised with great wine. I am an occasional wine drinker so I is great to go to a place that offers variety and a selection that I am interested in. All three of us (went with the bf and his brother again) had red wine. I am not the biggest fan of their white wine, but I had it the last time I was here and it was pretty darn good, but ultimately I have decided I would rather stick with the red wine.
I asked the server if he had a sweet red wine that was maybe not on the wine menu and he came back with exactly what I was hoping for. I am not a dry, red wine kinda person and the wine he brought back was perfect (sorry I don’t remember the name!). The boys had Cabernet sauvignon and melbec I believe. I tried theirs but they were a little too dry for my likings. I think they did not enjoy their wines as much as they usually would have, but I don’t know if their taste buds were a little off since I am pretty sure they have had those glasses of wine there before.
Fooooddddddd= yum!!! we wanted some munchies since I was craving food and boy is their food so damn good! we ordered the baked goat cheese and the vegetarian pizza (minus the squash and zucchini per our likings) and they tasted great! I was actually surprised at how good it was!
Pricing is pretty good. The wine is about 10 – 12 bucks a glass and the pizza and baked goat cheese were about 12 and 8 respectively I think. Can’t really remember the prices of food. So bills about $ 100 for 3 people with tip for appetizers and 2 glasses of wine each. Not bad for a night out I think. They have changed the place up a bit and it looks classier with the new couches. The flamenco band is one of the reasons we like to come back each time and we had the live flameco band since we went on a Saturday night. You usually have to get there earlier to see them live otherwise it is just the DJ. The DJ is not the greatest so it’s a pretty good idea to come there early for the live much.
Overall, I would recommend this place for the price and quality of food and drinks. I love the atmosphere and the ambiance is great. The service is not the best since it always seems like there is only one server and you sometimes have to go to the bar to get drinks and place an order.

Was here briefly with some girlfriends while I was enjoying sometime in the Windy City. I had two (2) Blanco Tequila, double on the rocks ($ 38) and the ladies had some white wine; Sav Blanc I think.
The music was bumpin’, the band played along and they make people go outside to use their cell phones.
When I have more time, I’m sure I’ll return.

This place sounds better than it turned out to be.
Was supposed to be a great girls night out with wine tasting and nibblers but the seating was uncomfortable and the place was too dimly lit for food. We struggled to eat with utensils even though the flat bread pizzas were pretty good.
the recommendations on cheeses were okay and the wine was average. They didn’t really make any recommendations and there were no tastings going on that night.
I think the place could benifit from flights on a daily menu and better seating arrangements if serving food rather than just nibblers.

On an early, weekday night, this place is not too bad. The atmosphere is casual, and the wine list is decent, both in selection and price.
But on Saturday night Swirl turns into Mr. Hyde. Club music, $ 10 cover at the door, and plenty of douche bags.
Honestly, there are other, more amazing wine bars so I doubt I’ll be going back to this one.

So I decided to venture away from the rowdy debauchery and douchebaggery that is Wrigleyville bar hopping, and found myself in River North. My friends and I came here pretty much on a whim, and I’m glad we did.
First of all, I have a special place in the pit of my heart for places I don’t have to pay to get into.
I like the whole ambience of this place. Swirl Bar, you’re a sexy little minx! I didn’t want to risk the red wine headache so I opted for martinis, which were yum. Love the live music, and the DJ is pretty good too. There’s ample space to dance if you so choose. This place would make a great option for a date, imo. I’m definitely going to come back here.

I have, in all honesty, never had a worse experience at a bar.
The manager needs some serious training in people skills, since it appeared he thought the job description was ‘rip everyone off, lie to your customers, act like you’re god’s gift’. I have not met a person who was less suited to working in the service industry.
As Rachel has said, we saw the staff eating our fries at the bar so quite rightly sent them back. We were accused of lying, and from then on, treated appallingly. The bill was presented with an overcharge of $ 136. Not even a child could make that kind of error in adding up. No apology. When the mistake was pointed out, he re-​added it up (a second time) including a compulsory gratuity on top of the total with tax. I told him outright that if the gratuity wasn’t compulsory (ridiculous in the first place, as the others had separate checks), we would not leave any tip at all as we were appalled at the service. His response? «That’s great».
Overpriced anyway, our second bottle of pinot wasn’t worth its $ 40 price tag, the food was hit n miss. I am gutted to have wasted some of my Friday evening here as the attitude just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Me: «Sure I’ll meet you for a drink. Where?»
He: «There’s this wine place with music. I don’t remember the name– it’s on Hubbard– Twirl or Swirl or something but I know you’ll love it»
Me: «See you there»
And so I did. Find it AND love it. And the name of the place is Swirl for those following along. My friend was spot on. This was my kind of place. Upscale, classy and loungy– like a little bit of New York in Chicago. Exposed brick walls, comfy couches defining seating areas and wonderful lighting. Perfect for meeting up with friends.
They seated us on the couch right in front of the jazz trio and served our food to us on the low table. It was like being in someone’s home so intimate was the lighting and unobtrusive the service.
And as for that music? They have live jazz every night with no cover (two drink minimum). If you go on a Friday night– Gypsy Trio plays at 8pm. Loved them! They perform vintage jazz that is inspired by the likes of Django Reinhardt who changed the way Europeans listened to Jazz back in the 1930’s. Their style of music was the «icing on the cake» to an overall amazing evening.
We ordered a bottle of wine that was suggested by our server. It was a full bodied Cab and was perfect Along with that we had the gourmet cheese and antipasti plate which was great to nibble on along with the wine. I could feel my crazy day slipping away.
Swirl has about 20 wines by the glass and and you can get their other wines by the full or half bottle. Service was stellar– from the front door person who showed us to our seat, to the server who took the time to offer us some wine tastings before deciding on a bottle, to the friendly musicians.
I can’t believe that I never knew this place existed. I’ve been down this street many a night but have obviously been going to all the wrong bars. But now that I’ve found Swirl it may be my new favorite place to sip wine and listen to music.
He: «Are you ready to go?»
Me: «Go? Go where? They must have another wine for us to taste .»
And imagine that. They did.

Great little wine bar with unique atmosphere.
We met here for an end-​of-​day drink on a Friday evening. I really like the décor (for a wine bar). It’s immediately inviting, comfortable, yet classy. They have an interesting approach to their wine list. There are only about three dozen wines on the list. Two dozen of them are available by the glass, half bottle, or bottle. The half bottle price is a straight one-​half of the full bottle price. In fact, they don’t have actual half bottles. They pour a carafe of half the bottle and keep the rest for future customers. By having a limited number of wines, this works. It’s a great idea — we can try more wines when there are only two of us. And the selection is interesting, very international, with every major wine producing country represented. Reasonably priced too.
Then there’s the food. From 5 – 6:30pm they have a list of $ 5 food items. We tried the empanadas and they were excellent. Fresh dough, great ingredients, tasting more homemade than most. We’ll have no hesitancy in ordering food on future visits. (There is a full menu too, if you’re interested.)
I understand the music is good here. We left before it started at 8pm, so can’t comment on that. Our service was excellent, but that may have reflected their half-​empty status early in the evening.
My wife pointed out the male: female ratio among the patrons. Early on it was 12 women for every man. Now I know where we’ll take our single nephews for a drink next time they’re in town.

I’m reviewing this place solely on the music, atmosphere and service — I don’t drink and wouldn’t know about how good or bad that is.
Their speakers don’t handle the bass too well and on some songs, they come out too shrill.
The service and atmosphere are great — the people are friendly and the place isn’t cramped at all.

$ 7 half carfe of Sangria? Hells yeah!
They also have industry nights on Wednesday where you can get half of bottles of wine, cocktails, and food. Also with a $ 5 menu Tuesday through Thursday (two drink minimum). If I didn’t have a birthday dinner to go to after my trip to Swirl I would have chowed down on this menu. They had some really great options!
The wine list isn’t as extensive as I would have thought it would be for a wine bar but hey what do I know. The prices are reasonable and with all the specials it’s a great after work spot.
PS Swirl’s frites are delicious! Yum!

Looking for something different to do than your neighborhood bar?
Swirl is a candle-​lit wine bar tucked away between Clark and LaSalle. Long and narrow, it allows its visitors to find seating along the wall, naturally breaking up the space into intimate sections.
Saturdays are hosted by a duet of Flamenco dancers and dueling guitars. A glass of deep red wine pairs exceptionally well with the organic guitar sound and seductive dance moves.
Hosted by Ojos Gitanos, its a definite recommendation for a romantic date.
Juerga!

Skip to last night, a Saturday. The girls and I had just finished a lovely evening of roller derby and late dinner and decided to head out for the infamous, «just one more drink». When our destination turned out to have a huge line, my friend (with her new roller derby name — Sass Urass) said, «I don’t do lines, let’s wander.»
All I can say is thank goodness for Unilocal and Jenna R.‘s review from yesterday because once I saw the Hubbard Street Adult Video and Bookstore, I knew we had a plan B.
The Pros:
1) Cute atmosphere with live Spanish guitar music
2) A lively crowd and good people watching
3) When we sat at a bench along the wall with no table, a server brought us a table, and a lantern centerpiece. Great & unexpected!
The Cons:
1) It takes forever to get a drink. While they have 3 bartenders, 2 are always facing the back. One is handwriting tabs. Handwriting? Really? The other is running credit cards. This leaves one bartender who is usually chatting it up with someone. Not cool.
2) The wine list is rather limited for a wine bar. They only offer a few options by the glass and their entire wine menu is one 8.5×11 sheet of paper.
3) It’s a pretty narrow space, so it gets jammed and super loud. I was thankful when a bunch of people left and gave us some breathing room.
So all in all, it was just ok for me. I would probably come back on a slower night to relax and enjoy a bit more.

Absolutely fabulous evening, absolutely fabulous company and absolutely fabulous service. Aurore L., Reuben H., Rocky S. and I decided to go and get some drinks. Aurore and Reuben were nice enough to want to congratulate me in my new employment so we decided that wine and good food would be the best idea. It totally was! Aurore and I ventured over here from Greenheart after the Unilocal Office Hours to continue drinking more wine.
The atmosphere of the place is super chic and super stylish. The lounge was nicely dimmed and there were nice, dark woods, leather and beautiful soft, dark fabrics. Reuben opted for a tall table (he was waiting for our arrival) and it was very comfortable. There is a food special Tuesdays-​Fridays where you can get $ 5 food items (two cocktail minimum). TOTALLY worth it. From 5 – 6:30 p.m. there are $ 5 appetizers and pizzas (that are normally much more on the menu) so get your ass there and get some yummy food and good wine. The bar was pretty full when we arrived because there were still people dining on the after work special.
I opted for some yummy Italian red wine and I was very pleased with my selection. Reuben and Aurore seemed to enjoy their selections, as well, so they must have been delicious. My boyfriend really enjoyed his first selection and then liked mine so much that he got a second glass of that. I was a little confused that I did not see flights of wine on their menu, but I presume they must have a selection of them somewhere. It is a wine bar, after all. I’m OK with wine by the glass or bottle, but sometimes I’m in the mood for samples.
The food was delicious! We ordered the baked goat cheese appetizer and butternut squash and arugula pizza. Yum! The baked goat cheese was fantastic — when is it not? — and it came with little tiny baguette chips for dipping that were covered in basil. I love basil, so I was very, very happy. The pizza was delicious. I loved the combination of butternut squash and tomato but I think the arugula was a bit overpowering. There could have been less on top and I still would have been happy.
The service was great. Our server was around but not hovering. He was paying enough attention to notice when we needed refills and was promptly there to take another order, which I enjoy. If I’m in the mood for drinking, I’d like to not have to wait 10 minutes to get my next glass. The server was very friendly and the bartender bid us a nice farewell when we left. There was also some very nice, live music. A trio of strings (two guitars and a bass) and it was very jazzy and lively. I really liked it — I hope when I return those guys are there again.
As a side note, be wary of the step when you exit the bar. There’s a little step right at the front door that tripped several people while they were exiting. Especially if you’re a bit tipsy from all of the wine that you just consumed, you’re liable to twist your ankle and hurt yourself. To be honest, it was pretty hysterical to see at least six or seven people do the same thing over and over again, but just be careful when you exit.
I had a great time and I know I’ll be back here. I enjoyed the atmosphere and menu a lot more than ENO or Bin Wine Café, so I’m hoping to bring a group of friends here soon. Oh, and it’s right next door to the Hubbard Street Adult Video and Bookstore — you could make a great night of it.

Heard a lot about this place from some friends of mine (one of them actually DJs there every 4^th Fri of the month) and I gotta say, it was a pretty chill place. Nice candlelit ambiance and great mellow house music to go with it. This is one of those places where you take your significant other or a small group of friends out for a nice, relaxing evening to enjoy some good wine and shoot the breeze. They have very comfy seating and the servers are pretty good. The place isn’t really that big, but it’s not very small either. Great place in a decent location!
Good place to check out on one of those spur of the moment evenings

Since I had such a great first experience here, I came here with a group of friends this past weekend. There was one of the owners (a female) who was very rude to our group. She said that there was a drink minimum and we all had to meet that. However, we did have a designated drivers with us (sorry — not all of us live in the city and cab/​public transit around) — later on in the evening, when one of our guests came in, she even asked for a credit card to guarantee that the two drink minimum was hit.
To make matters worse, she even kicked out two of the designated drivers. That was it for me — some of us chose to leave at that point and swore to never return to Swirl again which is a HUGE pity because I really had a great first experience.
Original Review (2.7.2007)
Came in — service was super friendly — it has a trendy, swanky feel to it — love the lighting and the bar/​wine rack just looked so inviting.
We loved the whole experience — one of the owners, Rich, was super friendly and helpful — his suggestion of the rioja wine was fabulous — priced just about right. And then, he suggested a couple appetizers to go as pairings with the Rioja. I even got a little lesson in wines, too. On a side note, Rich was cute so definitely eye candy there.
The suggested appetizers were fabulous — the chorizo/​potato empanada was delish and the mushroom pizza was even more amazing and more than perfect for sharing — for only $ 11, it was more than enough for us four girls. There was bout 8 slices and the empanadas — there were 5 of them — a combination of both chorizo/​potato and mushroom/​cheese.