Location: North Side
Top Things to do in North Side
Top 10 Nightlife in North Side, Illinois (IL)
The windy city is a cornucopia of modern art, fine dining, cutting edge comedy, and die-hard sports fans. Snap a photo of your reflection in the silver Cloud Gate sculpture at Millennium Park before heading to Grant Park to get hit with the refreshing spray of Buckingham Fountain. There are dozens of museums and theater companies in Chicago, so a cultural experience is never hard to find. You’re sure to laugh your head off at the Second City Theater, the professional launch pad of many famous comedians.
Restaurants in Chicago
1. Rosa's Lounge
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 81 reviews
Rosa's Lounge operates in the hallowed tradition of Chicago blues lounges, family owned and operated by an Italian immigrant who came to Chicago three decades ago.
Reviewed By MidwestKathM - Detroit, United States
Rosa's is doing a fabulous job of bringing live music to the fans while keeping you safe in these COVID times. Temperature check and questionnaire at the front door; masks required to enter and while walking within and while talking to anyone but your immediate party. Tables are socially distanced. Even the musicians, except those singing or playing an instrument by mouth, are required to mask up! And if this is the only way to experience live music during these times, then we are happy to mask up here!! And the music was awesome...Tom Holland and the Shuffle Kings!! Thanks for a fun evening!!
2. Murphy's Bleachers
3. Hydrate Nightclub
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 6 reviews
Chicago's premiere destination for shows, music and dancing, Hydrate is the best late-night party in the city! Hydrate opened for Pride Weekend in 2003, and quickly developed a national and international reputation for bringing the best DJs to Chicago.
4. Kibbitznest Books, Brews & Blarney
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 10 reviews
Kibbitznest is your THIRD PLACE a WIFI-FREE Zone, NO, not free wifi, NO WIFI, to encourage face to face communication. It is a bookbar, with liberal arts books for sale, donated ones benefit our partner, kibbitznest with the mission of preserving quality human communication by promoting a balance between face to face and electronic media communication. We have beer, wine, spirits -a fantastic Moscow Mule! and small plates- delicious cheese plates and Chicago's very own Classic Vienna Beef Hot Dogs, beer floats, the famous Bobtail Ice Cream and more NOSH! The nonprofit conducts programming with stimulating discussions in partnership with the University of Chicago! Oh, and the games and the typewriters, foosball, just a fun place to be! Just leave your laptops at home! Bring your phones and take lots of pictures with your friends and post them on social media!Then tag, tag, tag!
5. Kingston Mines
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 833 reviews
Kingston Mines is a blues music nightclub with 2 rooms, 2 stages and 2 bands & live music all night, 365 nights/year. We're the home of Doc's Rib Joint with ribs, wings & more right in the heart of beautiful Lincoln Park, on Chicago's North Side. Looking for a venue to host your next party or get together? Kingston Mines is the perfect venue for large or small groups alike! Ask about our party plans.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
Truth be told, I can't tell jazz from blues from rock 'n roll from Mozart from Sousa. It's all music to me, all of it, anytime, anywhere. For blues, the place to be is Kingston Mines, the oldest and largest continuously operating blues nightclub in Chicago. Located at 2548 North Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, it has been showcasing the most celebrated blues musicians since 1982...nonstop blues action seven nights a week, 365 days a year, two separate bands every night on two stages, from Delta blues to Memphis blues to Chicago blues. Over the years, it has hosted such blues legends as Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Carl Weathersby, Magic Slim, Junior Wells, Sugar Blue, Billy Branch, Ronnie Hicks, Mike Wheeler, Peaches Staten, Eddie Shaw, Linsey Alexander and Joanna Connor. If you have a taste for some Southern-style food, you can indulge in some ribs, buffalo wings, Caribbean-style jerk wings, catfish, red beans and rice, home-made nachos, Po'boy sandwiches, shrimp, chicken, bread pudding or pecan pie at Doc's Rib Joint, located in the back of the room and open right up to the last call at 3 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 4:30 a.m. on Saturday.
6. Sheffield's Beer and Wine Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 39 reviews
7. B.L.U.E.S.
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 154 reviews
Popular Blues club located in Chicago's North Side has hosted such great musicians as Sunnyland Slim and Pinetop Perkins.
Reviewed By justnotherjoe
Small, but just what you would expect. Now, granted this isn't the Checkerboard Lounge or Wise Fools Pub of yesteryear. This North side, doing South side best as it can.
8. Second City
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,631 reviews
The Second City is the world's premiere comedy theatre offering the best in Chicago-style sketch and improv comedy every night of the week and has launched the careers of Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and many, many others. First, let’s define a few terms so we’re all on the same page. Sketch comedy is scripted, well-rehearsed scenes that we never, ever call “skits.” (And most of us are mighty touchy about that one. Improv is the unscripted, spontaneous, collaborative art form Second City is famous for. Stand-Up is the classic one-comic-on-stage-with-a-mic-telling-jokes routine. Think Jerry Seinfeld against a brick wall. Typically, any stand-up performances at Second City happen in the UP Comedy Club. A classic Second City revue is made up of original sketches and songs sprinkled with a healthy dose of our world-famous improv. Second City productions are fully written and rehearsed, but no two shows are ever the same.
Reviewed By nina0118 - Boston, United States
I love to laugh, and yet, I was not a big fan of improv comedy... until I visited Second City! I laughed so hard throughout the whole performance! It was hysterical, and probably one of the best nights that I had in Chicago! If you love to laugh, and you love improv, then this is the place for you! Don’t miss it!
9. The ComedySportz Theatre
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 113 reviews
The ComedySportz Theatre hosts our main stage show 'ComedySportz' every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 'ComedySportz' is improv comedy with performers split up into two teams who perform short scenes, song and games based on audience suggestions. It's not ABOUT sports, it IS a sport - the players compete for the audience's approval. It's hilarious improv comedy that is appropriate for all ages and has been making people laugh for 25 years.The ComedySportz Theatre also hosts late night shows and other comedy shows throughout the week. These additional shows include stand-up and sketch comedy as well as improv, and some are recommended for audiences 18 and over.
Reviewed By ldganderson - Grayslake, United States
First time ever to a comedy club. Perfect for the whole family, we laughed almost the whole time. I could not believe how quick these folks were on their feet! Super talented and fun to watch. So much interaction with the crowd in this very small theater. Even the keyboard guy was amazing, setting an appropriate tempo for the musical pieces so that the actors could enunciate and giving audio cues from movies, TV shows, and singers/groups. We had tons of fun and will be back! Thanks for a great show!
10. The Map Room
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 36 reviews
Hundreds of travel books and guides line the shelves of this globe-trotter's tavern. Peruse that tome on Fuji or Antarctica while sipping a pint of one of the 20-odd draft beers available.
Reviewed By Bacinac - Santa Clara, United States
Very nice neighborhood bar. Excellent craft beers and hard to find imported Belgian beers on tap. No food but packaged snacks are offered. Pleasant place for a cozy night out.
