All Swanky Bars

Recommended Swanky Bars

• 
  American
  Allium Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville  1
  The former Seasons, now morphed into the more casual Allium, retains chef Kevin Hickey, who offers a farm-to-table menu of elevated bar snacks. Pricey drinks include homemade soda, a craft cocktail list, and an embarrassment of wines and American whiskeys. »
• 
  Bar/Lounge
  The Aviary Fulton Market
  There are plenty of cocktails to marvel at while visiting Grant Achatz’s and Nick Kokonas’s cocktail lounge, and in general they’re well balanced and delicious. But that’s not why you came. Often the flavor and balance are subordinate to some »
• 
  Swanky Bar
  The Bar at the Peninsula River North
  Of all the places in town with cocktails priced between ten and 20 dollars, the Bar at the Peninsula is a good bet. At least here you can feel like Michael Douglas in The Game while you slug back a »
• 
  American
  Coq d'Or Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville
  This dimly lit hotel bar with wood-paneled walls and live piano music seems like the perfect place to launch an affair. The scotch menu is extensive, and they claim to be the second bar in Chicago to have broken out »
• 
  Bar/Lounge
  Encore Loop
  Encore, a Kimpton Group-managed "lunch club and liquid lounge," morphs into a cocktail lounge in the evening, with a DJ most nights, and classic drinks such as old-fashioneds and brandy Alexanders. The overall ambience is comfortably luxurious, if somewhat affected. »
• 
  Bar/Lounge
  Roof Loop
  Since its 2007 opening, SRO crowds have been lining up to get onto the glass-walled patio of Roof, the industrial-sleek black-and-gray lounge on the 27th floor of the Wit Hotel. Two tips: arrive around opening time, and check out "the »
• 
  Craft Cocktails
  Scofflaw Logan Square
  A rebellious mix of the baroque and the affordable, Scofflaw makes a perfect square of Logan Square's premier cocktail destinations (Lula, Longman & Eagle, the Whistler). Head mixologist and co-owner Danny Shapiro has mixed more than his fair share of »
• 
  European
  694 Wine & Spirits River West
  A relaxing spot for a midweek date or a sophisticated night out with the girls, this two-story wine bar has a carefully curated wine list and flights of meats and cheeses for a discerning palate. Exposed-brick walls decorated with pop »
• 
  Tapas/Spanish
  Vera West Loop
  This Spanish wine bar from chef Mark Mendez and his wife, Liz, is a cream-colored, high-ceilinged room with a handsome dark wood bar and cheese counter. Liz Mendez put together the wine list, which has at least a couple dozen »
• 
  Bar/Lounge
  The Violet Hour Wicker Park/Bucktown
  Between its reputation as the cradle of modern mixology in Chicago, the painfully obscure pseudo-speakeasy exterior, and the weirdly funereal interior, there's a certain intimidation factor to overcome with the Violet Hour. It's worth getting over, though, because the craft »
• 
  Bar/Lounge
  Watershed River North
  The jazz lounge once housed in the basement of Pops for Champagne has been transformed into Watershed, a dim, nautically themed suburban home barroom circa 1976—a setting for events as diverse as after-tennis cocktails, key parties, and teenage booze raids. »

All Swanky Bars

• • Bernard's Bar at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago

    11 E. Walton St.

    Chicago, IL, 60611

    312-646-1300
  • Drumbar

    201 E. Delaware Pl.

    Chicago, IL, 60611

    312-943-5000
  • Easy Bar

    1944 W. Division St.

    Chicago, IL, 60622-3146

    773-227-4644
  • The Gramercy

    2438 N. Lincoln Ave.

    Chicago, IL, 60614-2415

    773-477-8880
  • Maude's Liquor Bar

    840 W. Randolph St.

    Chicago, IL, 60607

    312-243-9712
  • Old Oak Tap

    2109 W. Chicago Ave.

    Chicago, IL, 60622-4821

    773-772-0406
• • Pops for Champagne

    601 N. State St.

    Chicago, IL, 60654-3834

    312-266-7677
  • Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar

    954 N. California Ave.

    Chicago, IL, 60622

    773-292-1616
  • Sable Kitchen & Bar

    505 N. State St.

    Chicago, IL, 60654

    312-755-9704
  • Signature Room at the 95th

    875 N. Michigan Ave.

    Chicago, IL, 60611-1803

    312-787-9596
  • Spy Bar

    646 N. Franklin St.

    Chicago, IL, 60654-3925

    312-337-2191
  • Webster's Wine Bar

    1480 W. Webster Ave.

    Chicago, IL, 60614-4275

    773-868-0608