Trace

late night bar in wrigleyville, that plays rock music! Sick of the same awful music at the bars, come to trace. Prices are typical, staff is super friendly and chill. Late night bar, don’t think they serve food. They play rock music and have the videos on the t.v.s Cool place that gets crowded. Been here twice, would stop by again. Not very often I am up to staying out for a 5 am place but this is one of the places I would go.

3 stars for being open late! the bartender was great and had just seen us at taco bell like 10 mins earlier, which makes us kindred spirits. I don’t know if this is a standout bar as I was here on a Monday… well, technically, tuesday morning, but it was clean and had decent beer on tap so a girl can’t complain.

Great service but holy crap snooze fest. The bartenders aren’t in control of the music and it’s on a whatever playlist which is the kind of playlist to make me sleepy. I wish the bartenders could have more control of the music because it might as well be classical to put me to sleep on the rail.

Service was quick but bartender was rude.
Place was packed and the people were friendly. The creepy guys took no for an answer. There is no tab minimum so you could stop in for one or two drinks after a game.
Pleasant experience!

awesome music. solid as fuck. like iron. but with less metal and more hair.

By default I dislike 4am bars. From the outset, they have a large burden to overcome because I’ll spend my money there. Trace starts off with two strikes for being in Wrigleyville and for having an Ed Hardy-​esque logo. But Trace is a 4am bar I might just have a soft spot for. Even after 2am, it’s lively without being overbearing. If you’re in Lakeview and the bartender has just called last-​call, head up to Trace.

Trace is my favorite late bar in the city. It is a two floor sports bar with several TVs and reasonably priced drinks. There is always a variety of popular music playing throughout the night, accompanied by music videos displayed on all of the TVs. It starts to get really crowded at 2 AM, when most other bars close, so I suggest getting there a bit earlier to avoid the line. The crowd is very diverse, so you can meet anyone and everyone here. I love it. It’s always a good time!

Trace is one of those places you can go to meet a variety of different people, some of which that just wanna to get to know you and some of which that just wanna «get to know you», hey it’s a late night bar in Wriggly, what’d you expect?
Seriously though, it’s just a great time and a place where if you take a chance and get out there you end up having some great conversations and a good time dancing off all those tequila shots you had earlier. It’s a place that stays open late and keeps the music going.
It’s a little compact on the first floor, but near the back by the bar it gets a bit more roomy.
The upstairs is usually open but doesn’t get very full, even on Saturdays. Overall it’s a fun spot with just the right amount of chill to end your late night/​early morning.

This place looks kinda sketchy but it was a blasts. but it was just a good time with good music the men in there were kinda creepy and the line was insanely long and unbearable! They seriously let people in one at a time. The drinks were strong and the staff was friendly bartenders were quick and efficient. It’s a good after hours spot people do get weird here so brace yourself!

Oh nononononononoooooo. For wrigley town it’s cool.

Came here for a beer before the Bad Religion show at the Metro. Wasn’t too crowded, but it was pretty early. Got a seat at the bar and enjoyed a nice cold beer in peace. Had a banana bread beer on tap that was really good.
Plenty of room to sit at the bar or to grab a table. Bathrooms were very clean. I’d stop in again for a drink or two.

Worst experience at a bar I’ve ever had. We came here to have a couple drinks and they had recently painted the entire upstairs. The fumes were unbearable so we opened a window to try to relieve the smell. A bouncer approached us, flashed a flashlight to his other partner, and slammed the window shut. I told him «we opened the window because the paint smell was so strong,» and his response was «don’t touch the window bro». I have bartended for over ten years and never experienced such poor customer service. I will never return, and I hope if you read this review you won’t either.

We visited some friends who live in the area and they brought us to this bar for late night. Very few things on draft with a full bar that they don’t seem to plan on using. I asked what they had (as I don’t understand the late night bar thing coming from NYC where things just fully stay open through the night) and the bartender just gave a sarcastic face and didn’t answer so– I ordered a margarita and she gave me another snide look so my friend from town ordered me a beer. Apparently they didn’t serve anything fancy like a margarita at late night which is fine but exactly the reason I asked. I don’t think she was trying to come off rude and I’m sure she deals with a whole bunch of drunk characters (given the shift) but we happened to come in sober. The other bartender who settled our check was way more friendly.
The place gets very crowded and accumulated a long line once the other bars closed. Their upstairs is frat house humid and hot. It’d be fine to come here if you just want to party and are already intoxicated from the previous stop. Good scene to keep the party going.

Place everyone comes after all the 2 am bars are closed. The only place in wrigley that stays open until 5am. It’s not a club kinda place just a sit down with friends and have a beer. This place is very cramped on the weekends. Overall a decent time!

I’m giving them zero stars. The bouncers were very unprofessional and wouldn’t let us in after we presented various forms of Id because we weren’t «composed enough.» After this occurrence, the same bouncer then made out with an extremely hurt chick (0 out of 10) that was in line behind us and let her in without even asking for identification. I feel so bad for whoever is in charge of staffing at this bar because they have to have the IQ of a dung beetle.

I was rather upset that there wasn’t an open patio area on such a lively night as last night. The area was insanely busy and crowds were everywhere!
I liked the atmosphere here but wish it wasn’t as suffocating– again– open patio.

This place has a large crowd, decent beer list, and even an upstairs so there is plenty of room. It is a pretty typical 4AM bar that gets flooded when all of the other bars close. The bar tending is so so. It is hard to tell when it is pretty busy, so when mistakes were made, I tried to give the benefit of the doubt.
The biggest complaint is that the bouncers were very rude and unreasonably pushy! I understand that as a bouncer, you’re dealing with extremely drunk people all the time and probably get jaded from that kind of job. But seriously, you don’t have to be an asshole to every person that walks in. And when people are leaving, you don’t have to help them by grabbing them by the neck and tossing them out. Trying to finish my beer by the door before leaving, I was «escorted» out briskly. Once outside, I also saw them being dicks to other people, as they were flipping them off for whatever reason. I mean, really?
I feel like this review will probably fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes?), but I just don’t want to go to a place where I have to put up with people who have personal issues they need to take out on others. Thought we’d give this 4AM bar a try, but not gonna go back. Tai’s til 4 it is.

I went here last night (7÷4÷13) for the second time. I went at 2 am and stayed till 4 as it’s an afterbar.
Pros:
* It gets packed with drunk people so your bound to end your night with some laughs or interesting events to say the least haha.
* Fun dive bar
Cons:
* The female bartender with crazy hair (looks like a black hair piece/​wig with a white bow type thing in the back) is AWFUL! 3 prominent things happened last night that make me say this.
1. We ordered car bombs and vegas bombs and she used a very short plastic glass and put the bomb part in a small shot glass… Usually with vegas bombs, you can just add the red bull right in… It didn’t fit in the cup and overflowed.
2. She spilled my friends glass that was half way full with a vodka cran and just said «sorry». didn’t even replace it!
3. The bus boy took my gin and tonic that was more than halfway full as well as my friends beer (I have NO CLUE why as it obviously wasn’t empty). I told her about it and she replied with «the bus boy took that, not me»… OKAY, well you’re still an employee here so do something about it! That’s NO excuse…
4. My friend ordered a miller light and paid for it, she put it in front of the wrong person so my friend never knew… he said «can I have the miller light I ordered», she said «4.25, and popped one open. He mentioned that he already paid for it, and she said, oh well I put it over there (wrong person). She made him pay for another one anyway. (shouldn’t be charging people for your mistakes).
Anyway, I will come here again because this is a fun after hours bar, but if I have that bartender again, I won’t leaving her any tips. She was just AWFUL.

As a former General Manager of a bar and over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry the owner of the bar is the main thing that ruined my experience.
Here’s the plus side of the place.
1. Very good to selection of beer for a late night place.
2. Good room to move throughout the spot.
Bad: The owner. Stay out of your own bar.

No, no and no!
This is definitely one of those late night bars filled with horny creeps. This is one of the worst bars in Wrigley. By the time you roll around to this bar, all of the good people in Wrigley have already found someone to go home. Trace is where the leftovers hang out. If you don’t want to go home after the bars close, go to Taco Bell instead.