Sal’s Beverage World

This place is right around the corner from my place. I’ve finally decided to swing by on NYE since the Benny’s on North Ave in Chicago was crowded beyond you can imagine. I have to admit, looking from outside, I thought it was just an average liquor store. Quite surprising to find all kinds goodies including cigars (a-​ok selection)! Their 1.75 liter Bulliet Bourbon was actually cheaper than the Benny’s and Scotch/​Whiskey selections and price were on point. Also had a pretty decent section for craft/​domestic/​foreign beers and wines. Not much of beer/​wine guy but you should check them out!

I’ve got my list for this weekend in my hand and my credit card in the other. I’ve spent 10+ minutes wandering the aisle looking for beers without a hello, welcome, can I help you? This is twice now that I’ve been ignored by their staff. I am done and never coming back to this store. Go to Binnys or Cottage Corner.

Such a great hidden gem. Right at kingery highway and St Charles road in Elmhurst!
I would say beyond the wonderful selection, the customer service is by far the best part. Everyone is helpful and cheerful.
Their prices are great, everything is always on sale :)
I am here doing a Travelers Beer Company tasting tonight until 7pm, stop by for a complementary sample and a mustache!

Fk yea! Excited to find one of my fave beers. Won’t tell what it is b-​cuz I dnt want it to get too popular, jus kno that the brand is a fist. Picked up 3 6pks!

easy to find and conveiniently located with good close to the door parking! Great
selection and great prices to boot. This place sells Barefoot wines in the 750ML bottle for only $ 3.99 this is the cheapest price I have ever seen anywhere on this wine, typically this wine is $ 5.99 at other places like the grocery store or walmart.
The selection was great and the place was clean. The selection was so good on the wines and there were so many wines that I had a hard time finding exactly what I was looking for, but they seemed well staffed and I quickly found someone who asked me if they could help me before I even approached them, and they took right to the place where I could find what I was looking for.
Check-​out was quick, and the cashier was polite and cheerful. Great shopping experience! it was big but not too big, but big enough to have a great selection and small enough to be personable. I would shop here again, even though it is not in my usual traffic pattern as prices really were impressive, and when it comes down to it, what more can you ask for aside from great selection at a great price with helpful employees and a parking lot where you can park and dont have to walk a quarter mile to get inside.

This is my go-​to liquor store. Nice staff, huge selection, great wine club, frequent tastings — what’s not to like!

I drove here from Milwaukee to pick up a case of my new favorite drink… CiderBoys Peach hard cider. I got hooked on the stuff in early summer, and then learned it was only a seasonal product. I happened to find Sal’s website when I was searching for it online. Rather than pay for it to be shipped I decided to take a joyride to Elmhurst and pick up some liquid gold. The store on the outside looks like nothing special. But on the inside… you’ll find tons of unique products that you won’t find elsewhere, at very reasonable prices. If they continue to carry my product next year when more is made I’m sure I’ll be back.

this place has it all,
whenever i visit the VP, I always stop in by.
They will have promoters sometimes, good deals, and they sell these drinking glasses cheap that are to cherish.

Large selection and independent… which is good for four stars. Prices are average, sometimes a dollar or two less than the grocery store and sometimes a dollar or two more. It pays to shop around.
I didn’t find anything here that I would consider a *rare* find worth going out of the way for. They weren’t lacking in any of the standards, either. While they aren’t worth going out of your way for a visit, it’s good to know that there are shops around on par with Binny’s as I tend to see competition as a good thing.
It’s one of the many treasures of Elmhurst/​Villa Park and I hope the locals appreciate it as much as I do.
The only disappointment when I stopped in was that it took until I was leaving before any employees asked if I needed any help. I wasn’t searching for anything in particular so I wasn’t able to gauge the level of knowledge or expertise of the clerks. I can’t say that I was disappointed, really, as I prefer to be left alone. For what it’s worth, once the first person said something, I had two other employees approach me within a minute or two… perhaps they were all just preoccupied while I was there.

Lots of craft beers in stock here. Lots of wine and other goodies, too.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside and the parking lot kind of stinks but it’s got a lot of good stuff and very friendly folks manning the aisles and registers.
It’s one of our top three go-​to liquor/​beer/​wine stores in the area.

Sal, you wonderful man. You taught me never to judge a book by its cover. From the outside, Sal’s looks like a regular, somewhat sketch liquor store, tucked away in the corner of Villa Park’s armpit. However, once you look at what is on the shelves, this place suddenly becomes freaking Disneyland.
My boyfriend and I were just looking for some Oktoberfest beer. As we perused the beer aisle, we came upon some Three Floyds bombers. And not just the regular stuff that you’re lucky to find in some restaurants. They had some beers that I didn’t even see at the brewery the last time I was there. This really awesome employee was a craft beer afficianado and gave us the low-​down on some of the other beers from Three Floyds he had that weren’t on the floor and talked to us about some other stuff we might like. We had a nice chat about a bunch of different beers. Dude knew his stuff.
The best part of our visit was finding a beer that we had when we were in the Cayman Islands. Presidente is a Dominican-​made beer distributed only in some parts of the East Coast, yet somehow it’s sitting pretty on the shelf at a Villa Park liquor store. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?! Minds=blown. We took home a huge bottle of it and a six-​pack. We couldn’t stop talking about this amazing find for about 15 minutes.
They also have this interesting tub thing where apparently, you dip bottles of warm beer in the water, and they chill in a few minutes so you don’t have to wait for your home refrigerator to do that job. WTF. This place is incredible. We left with $ 40 worth of beer for just the two of us. I love you, Sal. I think I’m gonna have to cheat on Binny with you.

Awesome selection of beer.
It looks kinda crumby from the outside. You’re run of the mill liquor store, but don’t be scared off. Easy parking, wide aisles and a friendly and helpful staff. What more could you want?
They carry all my favorites and have everything sorted out well. It’s very easy to find anything you’re looking for and if not the staff will help, suggest or go find it.
They even have a blast chiller that is amazing!

Sal’s has a fantastic selection of all sorts of booze! Really, the best selection around… and that’s the reason for 2 stars. But I won’t be back… I was totally disgusted with my experience at Sal’s. We went on Sunday, at about 5:50pm…not realizing that they were just about ready to close.
We asked an employee if he would get us a bottle of tequila on the very top shelf that we couldn’t reach. He climbed up the rack, handed it to me (while still up on the rack), and walked away. He said nothing. We actually wanted him to get us another bottle close by… but he was gone. Then, a few minutes later, he came back, and said (in a TOTALLY snotty voice) «We are closing in like… uh, NOW… can I get you something ELSE?»
I understand employees wanting to go home after a long day, I really do. I was just taken aback at the total disregard for customer service. Maybe he was having a bad day? It happens. We left without the tequila… and will find another store with a great selection, and friendly staff.

Great beer selection.

A huge store filled with booze! Pretty good selection of wines, liquor, and beer at decent prices. There are usually tastings as well, always nice to try out some drink options. Although I am still unable to find a store that carries John Courage beer.

Came here for a beer tasting and was pretty impressed. They had a great selection that cater to beer geeks and fans of beer imports. I even saw items that Binny’s didn’t carry like a N’Ice Chouffe bottle vintage 2007 and a bottle of Corsendonk Christmas Ale. Prices were par to Binny’s maybe a dollar higher or lower with various items. Also, check the date on some of the products since the beer I bought ended up being a few years past its date, which can also be a good thing, depending on the type of beer. (if its 8% or more in abv, then its fine) The beer singles selection, which is what I spend most of my time at, is mixed in with the rest of the beer so look carefully in the beer aisle. Customer service wasn’t bad, was asked by two different employees if I needed any assistance. Parking is probably their downside, especially during one of their tasting events, with only about 20 parking spaces. I’d come back to this place if I was ever in the area.

This place is much better than you would think from just checking out the outside.
There’s a fairly good cold beer selection and a phenomenal wine selection. It’s not cheap but if you’re looking for good stuff you already know that.
They often have beer or wine tastings and their staff are all really friendly. I just wish they’d move the junk food away from the check out… it’s so tempting!

This is one of my go-​to places when buying good wine; not the cheap, two buck chuck stuff, but fine wine that you want to savor on a weekend or with that special someone. They have an extensive wine selection, the prices are good, and the wine guy is very, very knowledgable about his stuff. They have a wine club that you can join for $ 20 a year, and it entitles you to 10% discount on all wines, as well as special wine club pricing on an assorted group of wines monthly. For the amount of wine that I buy, I will probably save double that in a month or two! They’ll feature different wines at all prices, and the discount can be as much as $ 10 a bottle or more. You can taste the featured wines in the store as well, so it is a great way to try a new wine and take a little risk! I recently got into shiraz by tasting in the store; he was able to recommend a shiraz that didn’t leave as much of an aftertaste as some can. They also have a great assortment of beers and the hard stuff as well!