Seven Bridges Ice Arena

The first time I’ve been ice skating where I felt unsafe. Groups of teenagers up to ten people just standing socializing and taking selfies on the ice. People going the wrong direction. None of the employees or security corrected the issues when I informed them of the issues. When I told the manager at the end of the night he basically blew me off, saying they didn’t have a limit to people on ice. Wouldn’t go here again.

The people working were super cool and helpful! Thanks Alex, Jake and Jamie :)

I contract ice here and have a coach, so I can’t review the public skating. In general, paying money to skate in circles is not my thing. And as far as rental skates go, you get what you pay for. I’ve never been to a rink that has good rental skates… if you want good skates, go buy a pair! But I digress.
I briefly took Learn to Skate lessons here. They follow the USFS program, which is good, but the coaches can be hit or miss. (One of them was great, and is now my coach, another one was not so great.) Generally, I find that I don’t improve fast enough with the Learn to Skate programs, but they’re good for younger kids and adults who just want to figure out how to go in a straight line. I highly recommend them if you’re interested in getting started with skating but don’t know how and/​or find public skating sessions intimidating.
The ice here (Olympic rink) is in excellent shape for contract ice, MOST of the time. In the worst, most humid days of the summer, you can sometimes get a puddle of water with a little bit of ice underneath, but in general it’s always freshly zamboni’ed and in good shape. Really, I’ve skated on the worst ice in the universe when I skated in Boston, and I never take for granted the excellent conditions here.
Also, the price. Contract ice is $ 12/​hour. You can’t beat that. Same for walk-​on, if you already contract. OK, sure, it’s expensive. But nobody said figure skating is a cheap hoppy. And the prices are WAY better than what you’ll get in a city.
Time of day to skate is variable. In the winter the earlier sessions have fewer crowds, in the summer it’s the opposite. Just ask yourself when you think the most young children are free, and try not to go during those times. Unless you’re a young kid.
Which brings me to the only thing I dislike about Seven Bridges, which they can’t really help, but it’s the age of the skaters. When I started skating here I was hoping to meet some other adults who contract… Unfortunately I’m the only person who contracts ice who is old enough to drive myself to the rink. Oh well. It’s mostly a lot of young kids whose parents have Olympic aspirations for them.
Finally, I have a sort of unique relationship to this rink. I broke my ankle here a few months back and I’m impressed with how the ordeal was handled. My coach and others helped me off the ice, an ambulance was called, everyone helped me and the EMTs deal with getting the skate off my injured foot, getting me water, keeping me calm, etc. And I have followed the rule of ice skating: after you fall, you get up and you do it again. I’m still skating at Seven Bridges even with 5 screws and a plate in my ankle, and it’s thanks to the great staff they have!

As far as public access ice rinks go, this place is not that bad. However, by the time they open the rink to the public. (8 – 10) the ice is so scraped up its hard to skate straight! I enjoyed an out of the box night with friends here. the skates are 10 bucks to rent which is a good value. If their lighted signs outside are not turned on at night, its pretty hard to locate let alone get to. Check online for specials!

Pros
Good quality ice and nice arena
Cheap rental lockers
Cons
Rental skates (figure and hockey) are in such bad shape that I don’t even think a thrift store would take them
The staff of what appeared like high school kids definitely does not know their customer service skills, as we had to ask for a replacement pair of skates because the laces were so frayed, and the girl working the counter seemed hesitant in giving another pair. The skates were so worn that it was difficult to get enough support from the skates and made the placement of the foot uncomfortable.
When returning the skates, they staff seemed completely ungrateful, no thank you or appreciation of our business.
THE WORST part about the experience is that these prices are as much as downtown Chicago prices, and considering the shoddy equipment and bad customer service, it was not a good deal at all.

The rental hockey skates were poorly maintained. Took me a half hour to get my sons’ skates on since the laces were shredded. Even the replacement pairs were in the same condition. Then the lack of soles made all of our feet hurt. We left within an hour. Really disappointing since we love to skate.

Came with a group for their free skate night. This place is A-​OK and I didn’t think it was super expensive. But on a free-​skate night, the ice gets really old/​grooved fast so something to look for. THey play fun music in the background which was nice.
Tips:
— If you bring a group, RSVP in advance. You’ll need to let them know youre coming otherwise, they’ll give you attitude when you arrive.
— We got yelled at for loitering on the side benches (where the hockey teams generally sit). so don’t loiter there.
— They have lockers! All you need is a quarter.

Aw, Seven Bridges!
Going here is like going back to my youth. I used to train here for years as a kid and have a lot of memories here. The rink has recently been revamped but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s really nice, it’s just not bad. I remember the three rink phase, and it has come a long way since then. They now have two large rinks, one Olympic and the other is the NHL rink. I quit when I was about 11 and when I was 19 decided to go back for fun. I’m now 23 and after phases of intense spurts and breaks, I go at least 4 times a month now. The crowd tends to be really friendly and they tend to play decent music. It’s the only place I really feel comfortable skating. Here and Darien.
Also, this rink is way better than All Seasons which doesn’t allow you to do anything within the center of the rink as opposed to Seven Bridges. I went to All Seasons recently and I went to do a spin in the middle where no one was (it was sectioned off) and they yelled at me and told me I couldn’t. I could hardly understand due to the fact no one would be in the center. So back to Seven Bridges, I tend to want to work on spins and small things when it’s crowded (which will ALWAYS BE DAYS WITH NO SCHOOL OR A FRI/​SAT NIGHT). The bathrooms aren’t in good shape at all unless they have recently redone them. I just sort of avoid it altogether…
I bring my own skates, but I cannot imagine the rental skates being in good condition at all, but I’m sure some pairs are better than others. Hope for the best! It is best if you have your own skates. It is reasonably priced. If you have your own it’s only $ 7 and for avid public skaters, they offer 10 skates for $ 60. Skate times are typically 11:30−1pm and 7−10pm on Friday and Saturday. I tend to call ahead of time just to make sure. You never know if they are testing, have a hockey camp/​rented it out, so it’s just always better than just winging it. The times are pretty solid though and the times available to skate are 90+ minutes. They also have good contract time which take place scattered all throughout the day. Definitely check this place out if you’re looking to skate in the area!

We went on a Friday night. It was fun, the rink was clean and reasonably priced. The only compaint we had was the condition of the rental skates. They were horrible. Horrible is actually an understatement. Mine (size 9 for women) had 4 missing hooks and the laces had no plastic on the end to push them through the tattered holes that were left in their place. They were painful too. With as worn as they were you would think that they would «give» a little in the ankles. But no! They defy the laws of physics. We will go again but I will demand a better pair of skates next time.

I thought that $ 10 for skating and rental was a great deal, so I got some of my friends together for a Sunday afternoon activity. There are a couple of reasons for my two star review:
1) The rental skates are horrible! They are beat up and even worse painful to wear. Two of my friends and I got rental skates and all of us had the same painful experience. We couldn’t skate more than 2 laps around the rink before stopping and resting our feet. We exchanged our skates for another pair — same experience. Tried making them tighter, looser — nothing helped. Someone who overheard and saw my discomfort told me that if I plan on skating much in the future that it would be worth it to go and buy a used pair of skates because the rental skates are so bad.
2) I realize that ice skating is a family activity which means that there will be children skating also — but the amount of children made it almost impossible as an adult to skate without running into them. They let children use these aluminum frames on the ice which allows them to skate easier — but they are all over the ice with them and instead of ice skating, you really end up dodging children and those aluminum frames. They have two rinks there — you would think that they would either open both — one for families with young children OR they could make adult only skate times on Saturday nights or something.
Besides this — they facility is great. The rinks are taken care of, it is a clean facility and they have a halfway decent concession stand.

10 bucks for rental and skate is pretty good. GF said the place was and i quote «too fu#$ing crowded and it stinks». But i think she still had a good time. At the end of the day, it was a activity to pass the time.

A fun place for ice skating — $ 10 includes skate rental.
A little crowded, but nothing compared to the madhouse of millenium park!

A cure for cabin fever. I love bringing my daughter here in the wintertime because it’s a nice alternative to all the indoor activities, but warmer than purely outdoors fun. They tolerate it for a good amount of time. Snacks are nothing great, but no worse than any other sporty concession stand. Pretty nice place and I’ve never found it over-​crowded.

One of the nicer ice arenas in chicagoland, although it is showing its age. I played many seasons of high school hockey here. The ice was always well laid down and the atmosphere just right. It has 3 rinks of different sizes: college, NHL, and olympic. Nice pro shop. It has a small eating area with nachos, etc. I even survived a nearby tornado inside here!