The Listing Loon

Ambiance. This place has it in spades. Due to the time of day, we were the only people here, but it didn’t bother us in the slightest. They offered a nice array of craft beers, a select few wines and some hard liquor for mixed drinks. The bar tender was helpful in assisting my mom with her drink selection (she’s not a beer drinker) while my best friend and I drooled over their bottle list. I settled on the a cranberry ale and we sat down in nice, comfy chairs. The music choice was more random than my iPod could ever be, but all songs were deemed «great drinking music» by my friend. We were all digging the North Side neighborhood in general, but this place definitely made it for us. I will be back.

I love having a place in Northside to swing by and pick up a bottle (or two) of wine or beer — depending on my mood. The selection is always great, diverse, and changes. The only thing I would say is to keep some bottles of the retail white in the chiller for that last minute shopper who needs to grab a pre-​chilled bottle.

Listing Loon is a lovely little bar on Hamilton Avenue in Northside. It has a few couches, a couple of tables, and several bar stools. «Chill» is a pretty accurate description of this place. Last time I was here, I was on the fence about a wine. The bartender gave me a nice sample pour, which was much appreciated. Another time I was here, I got (boozy) ginger beer for the first time, which was tasty. There are several bottles and 6-​packs for sale as well.
Plus, Listing Loon has one of my favorite bar features of all time — Purse hooks!

I have only been here a couple of times. As it happens, the same bartender was working both times despite the radically different times of day I came in. Their beer and wine selection available for having a drink at LL is somewhat limited, but decent. While his knowledge was somewhat limited compared to what I am use to, he was always pleasant. Their beer selection is better than the wine selection in both variety and quality, though still semi-​limited due to their small size, but I would take LL over many other bars in a heart beat. You will get a better beer here than most bars, especially in Northside. I’d rather get a decent but overall unimpressive glass of wine than a domestic brew any day. (I should add that I have worked in the food and drink industry for 15 years and at some very nice places where you might pay $ 15 for a glass of wine but it is AMAZING). Their happy hour isn’t impressive and I would patronize nearly anywhere else in the city for happy hour. Their to go wine and beer for such a tiny place makes The Listening Loon really stand out. It is a small selection, but everything they have is good. I do wish they would get Vanguard and Wine Craft selections in, as they have some of the best wine available, but I know I can go into LL and buy a good bottle of wine at a decent price and be happy with it, and I can walk there to boot.
They also have live music at times. I’m not sure how often, but I know that when I went in on a Friday night they had an acoustic guitar musician in. It has a homey atmosphere.

Stopped by on a Thursday evening at about 10pm when every other bar in Northside was full of hipsters enjoying adult beverages. We actually thought that this place was closed when we went in because the bartender was sitting reading a book and there was no one else there for the entirety of our time there. I really hope their wine and beer sales are keeping them afloat, because the bar scene certainly is not!
On the other hand… this place has a really really cool vibe. It feels like your favorite college coffee house, no frills, full of comfy furniture and nick-​knacks. Put a couple more people in here and maybe a acoustic guitar and the corner and this would be a great hangout.
Each of the three people in the group had a different glass of wine. It was apparent that the woman working the bar was not particularly knowledgeable about wine. She allowed us to taste a sip of it before ordering the glass, which I really appreciated! Glass prices were reasonable– $ 7 – 9.
Would definitely go back again if I was in the area… just hope it lasts that long!

Ok, so I drive past the Listing Loon everyday on my way to and from work, and I have been dying to stop in since I’m a huge craft beer nerd.
And before I begin my review I must state how highly I value good customer service. Ok, having said that, here we go. It was apparent from the time I walked in that something out of the ordinary realm of daily business was going on, there was a cake and some food trays set up and only a couple of patrons inside. I had a look around at the selection of carry out brews they had available, there were a few good selections. Then I went to the bar to get a draft, this is where everything went down hill for me. The man behind the bar was carrying on a personal conversation with the one other person sitting at the bar. He never looked at me once, I stood there for maybe 3 minutes without being acknowledged a single time. This is something I will not stand for. The least he could have down was let me know he would be with me in a minute or say hello or something. Instead he just continued on as if I wasn’t even there. This is unacceptable to me, therefore next time I’ll just hit Northside Tavern, or better yet The Comet.
Like I stated earlier it was apparent they were preparing for some sort of party or something of the sort, so maybe that was the reason the service was so horrible. Thoroughly disappointed.

I stopped into the Listing Loon yesterday and it felt like people were still trying to figure out what this place is so let me explain…
The Listing Loon is a bar and bottle shop. Think Dutch’s but scaled way way down. They have a very unique collection of craft beer and wine. Shout out to the other reviewer, they do have their liquor license now and are currently serving beer and wine. What they serve however is a bit limited since it tends to be a very crafty selection.
You can sit at the bar, or cozy up on one of the couches. The atmosphere also reminded me of Sitwell’s. Just a no rush type of place where everyone is welcome. A huge plus for them — they are open until midnight most nights! That means that not only can you get a nice drink until then, but with not many other shops around you can stop and pick up a bottle. Just what the neighborhood needs.
A cozy little place to have a nice brew, or glass of wine with a date, or your girlfriends this place is great.

I’m really happy they are here, but I really hope they do manage to get their wine license. There is actually a decent selection of craft beers at the Marathon and a few other places in Northside, but no place to get wine! I heard they are planning to expand into more of a bar-​type thing, of which we have plenty.