Bottom Lounge

In September 2015, my husband and I were married at The Bottom Lounge. We had the pleasure of working with Natalie from January 2015 until our wedding day. From our initial meeting at The BL, we knew it was the perfect place for us to have our wedding. The space is definitely non-​traditional for a wedding but was actually the perfect place for a music and drink loving couple. We were married in the concert hall, cocktail hour in the main bar and reception upstairs in the reception room. Natalie was very organized, creative and knowledgeable in every interaction with us. Natalie manages a very fun and professional team who from all accounts from our guests were helpful and accommodating. I would highly recommend scheduling not your event when the weather is nice and you can take advantage of their awesome deck! It nearly doubled our spaces and created a great space for those wanting to get fresh air, play bags and get a great view of our beautiful city. I know I’m missing amazing details from our wedding but have been wanting to write this for months and had a wave of guilt and needed to write it ASAP. In sum, my husband and I had the best day of our lives and a great deal of that joy was in selecting an amazing venue that fit our life together and a welcoming staff at The Bottom Lounge that helped it come to fruition. I have and will continue to recommend the BL for weddings but really any other type of event! Thank you Natalie and The BL!!!

Great place for a show, drinks, and food! I happened to find this place on a Google search to see what live music was near to the Airbnb I had booked. The Vacationers and Great Good Fine Okay were playing that night, so we opted to check it out and were totally blown away! We loved everything about it! I’ll definitely be checking their calendar next time I’m in town!

Waited 30 minutes just for a menu. The waiters ignored us. The waiter then told me that I could not have my burger the way I asked for it which is absurd. Definitely never coming back here.

I went here for The Internet show. It’s a great
venue. The sound was really great for a concert.
The line and process to get in was really smooth
and quick. I will definitely return. Oh, parking was
also very easy to find and the show began on time
which was a huge plus!

I’ve only come here for concerts, but there seems to be a decent bar space in the front that I wouldn’t mind checking out before/​after a show in the future.
The bathrooms have been clean, there’s a separate vanity area for ladies touching up their lipstick or «powdering» their noses.
The sound has been great and my views have been fine. The staff has been friendly and efficient when I’ve gone in.
There’s an atm outside right before the venue, if you need cash. There’s a McDonald’s if you really need some fries.
I’ve never had an issue finding parking, and this location is walking distance from the green line.

Went there Tuesday to see Bowling for Soup. Had never been here but based on the reviews I had some concerns. They were completely unfounded. I was running late and was not able to park in the lot but found a good spot on the street a block away. I had plenty of time so I checked out the first couple of songs from the first opening act and then went back into the restaurant/​bar up front to get something to eat. I opted to sit at the bar since it was open and there was a game on. The bartender that took care of me was excellent and the stilton and bacon burger was fantastic. The fries were hand cut and delicious.
After dinner I went back to catch the Dollyrots and scope out my spot for BFS. If you choose to drink, the bar in the stage area is very accessible and there is not a bad seat in the house. The show was great and I got to meet Kelly from the Dollyrots at the merch table after it was all over.
As some others have pointed out the area is pretty sketchy I had no problems after the show but would recommend the buddy system when leaving late at night. Good entertainment, good food, great staff, and an overall great time. I will definitely be back.

They have so many great bands play here! The bouncers, however, are very rude. Its kind of like The Rave in Milwaukee. Its not glamorous by any means but its a cool place. I didn’t try the food so I can’t really comment on this.

It’s a great concert venue, has great food and beer, but the service is absolutely terrible. No one comes and checks on you while eating so you end up with nothing to drink or no food ordered for quite some time.

The venue itself is great. Hardly a bad view in the place, great sound, pretty clean and big bathrooms for a music venue. Bar and merch tables are out of the way so you don’t have to battle a crowd to get to them. And the bartenders are fantastic. No complaints there.
The restaurant has great food. The falafel burger is my go to, and it never disappoints. The service, however is consistently terrible. You seat yourself, then have to wait ten to twenty minutes to get noticed or to be able to flag someone down. The servers usually seem confused as to which tables are their responsibility, so you often get overlooked. And after having your order taken, you rarely get checked on or asked if you need anything else.
Love the music venue, love the food and beer selection, but the service is seriously lacking every time. I’ll continue to come here, because a girl’s gotta see a show, but I’ll continue to stew about it.

We were there for the Point Break show and even before doors open, the food took 45 minutes. The Southern Buffalo wings tasted like Famous Dave’s seasoning with extra sirracha-​hot, but not good.
I really enjoy seeing shows here, but forget ever eating here again. Also, they threw a tip on our group of 6.

We went there to see Andy Hull (lead singer of Manchester Orchestra) and the lead singer of Thrice last week. The venue was a-​okay and we’d definitely go back. The parking was rough, but NBD, that’s to be expected in that neck of the woods. The sound was good, the bar was SUPER noisy and kind of right in the middle of the room, so that was annoying in such an intimate venue. I’d go to a show there again though!

Although I didn’t come here to see a concert, I did bring my 17 year old nephew and his friend here to see Stick To Your Guns. While I waited, had the Stilton and bacon burger with hand cut fries. Delicious and the fries were perfectly cooked and seasoned for me. The waitresses seem to know we are waiting for the show to end to take our head angers back home. They kept me in coke and made sure I was doing ok throughout the evening.
Parking was very limited next door but street parking in the hood was available.
Easy place to find and get to. Pleasant, helpful staff.

Overall, it was pretty good. Both sets of bathrooms were clean and well lit. The bar and seating were nice. The prices were a little much, in my opinion. The carried Pumking when it wasn’t in season, so I was pretty thrilled by that and ended up spending WAY too much money on it. The music wasn’t too loud out in sitting area, but was perfect when you were in the room watching the band. I regret eating down the street instead of here. The food was actually really good. Some random people ended up not wanting their sandwiches and gave them to my boyfriend and I while we were sitting around waiting for our band to start. Thank you, random people. A few times it took my boyfriend too long to get the bartender’s attention even though he was tipping well. The staff was friendly otherwise. The Bottom Lounge definitely isn’t my favorite place, but it’s far better than most.

I miss the old Bottom Lounge location for sentimental reasons. Never ventured to this location til recently when I was lucky enough to see Slint. The bar area is really neat and I loved checking out all the stuff hung on the walls. Love that they have pinball machines that unfortunately I could not kill time on since the place was packed for the show. To my surprise everyone fit perfectly into the performance area and I had a pretty decent view of the stage. The band sounded incredible.
They also have a bar in the performance room which is always, always good.
A nice venue to see a show, and I look forward to coming here again.

I was really impressed with Bottom Lounge on Lake St in Chicago. The views from their rooftop deck are stunning, and the venue as a whole is really nice. I had some good drinks, they were well staffed and getting a cab at the end of the night was easy.
Look forward to enjoying their rooftop deck again this summer!

Great intimate venue, and the perfect amount of space for the band, Slint. My Saturday night felt like a magic portal where I walked through and witnessed some serious period music, watching an opening act for Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana. I’m sure my group of former hardcore musician friends would have strongly disagreed with me. Adding to my experience, my group might as well been a bunch of people I barely knew from high school. They were people I didn’t know. How did I get here?
When you walk into Bottom Lounge, there is a bar in the front, reminding you of any other sports bar with retro video games to play while you wait to see your show. If I remember correctly, there is a solitary flat screen over the bar itself, which can be viewed from almost anywhere you decide to sit. Security was organized and made sure everyone was ushered into the concert area as quickly as possible. The last time I saw so many older people at a concert, I was watching Moody Blues, 10^th row center, with a full-​string orchestra in the background.
Go to a concert at Bottom Lounge, and you’ll find it’s standing room only. I noticed a potential VIP section in the back, where I suppose the luxury is not getting trampled by anxious people in search of a bathroom or a beer. My thought would be that the more adventurous concert fan would have muscled their way to the front of the stage. I have mixed feelings about standing-​room-​only venues, unless it’s a band I like. Then it’s the best thing in the world and no one is stopping me from getting to the front of the stage.
On Tap, Bottom Lounge had a beer I had never come across, called Chillwave. The electronic music lover in me immediately had to try this brew. I had found an oasis in the middle of an outdated grunge pit. Be careful though, that stuff is strong! However, it tastes fantastic. If I had another one of those, I would have been drunk. I don’t have much of a tolerance, but even the frequent drinker would have raised an eyebrow.
I’d say the best part of Bottom Lounge would be that you have a fighting change to find free parking. If your parking turns into quite the walk to Bottom Lounge, fear not. I parked along the EL tracks and was able to discover restaurants and dancing schools that otherwise I would have never run across unless they got reviews in publications I find myself using to learn about the city. maybe I just need to check them on a more frequent basis. At the end of the concert, I was ready to leave. The 90’s were calling. They wanted Slint back; along with my foggy high school memories.

The Bottom Lounge is probably my favorite venue in my (limited) experience of Chicago. I’ve caught a few shows here over the years.
Security is always pretty friendly and they definitely get a lot of cool bands coming through. These guys tolerate a lot of pushing and shoving at a crowded, heavy show which can definitely be a plus for me. Maybe that’s a negative for other people.
The acoustics are always pretty good here, in my experience. It’s loud, but the vocals, instruments, and electronic noises are all well defined.
Beer prices are pretty decent by concert venue standards. Being from Milwaukee, I’m spoiled with cheap beer, but the Bottom Lounge’s prices weren’t that much higher than what I would expect at a similar venue back home.

The Bottom Lounge is one of the best places to see a show in my opinion. It’s almost like you’re seeing a band in a friend’s oversized garage that also happens to have a stellar bar inside. The best part about TBL is that there’s not a bad place to stand. It’s one of those great venues where you can see the band no matter where you are.
I recently saw Dashboard Confessional here, then even more recently, I saw Wax. They were both very different acts, but I had a blast at both.
The only things you need to know: bouncers and bartenders aren’t douchey — they’re legitimately friendly, acoustics were good for both a band AND a hip hop show, they have craft beer and prices aren’t going to make you broke, tickets are usually pretty cheap too.
If a band I like plays a show at TBL, I’ll always say yes to getting tickets.

Came here for a New Politics concert and it was great!
You can find street parking along Lake and the bar here is great, a bunch of craft beers for a decent price and the food is pretty good!
The stage area is nice and big. It was a great experience! i wouldnt hesitate coming here again for a concert!

I came to this venue for a friend’s art show which also comprised of a fashion show, singers, art booths, etc. that was located in the back of the venue. I truly enjoyed myself. It was literally like the beginnings of Williamsburg in there… Hipster galore with so much talent. The guy who sung on stage was amazing. He did a whole set and tore it up!!! The space was sufficient and didn’t feel stuffy.
Before entering that area, my friends and I got food at the bar in the front. I got the three cheese grilled cheese with tomato soup.
Whoa…
Hands down the best grilled cheese and tomato soup I’ve ever had. No lie. Flavorful, appetizing, and had mucho character. They seasoned the hell out of the soup. It was amazing. The grilled cheese even had fresh tomatoes in it. Omg… And the three cheeses they used? Blended perfectly. No one cheese took over the other flavors.
I want to go back just for that dish!
The venue was great though. I had a good time.