Oysters, Shots, and Sliders: The Best Happy Hours in Every Chicago Neighborhood
From oysters deals to beer-and-shot specials, these are your best bets for happy hour.
In a world where concert tickets are more expensive than most mortgages, we can all rest easy knowing we’ll always have happy hour. And since most of us don’t have the disposable income to cross an ocean for Beyoncé, we’ll take all the deals we can get—the boozier the better. Fortunately, all over Chicago, the city’s patchwork of neighborhoods are positively soaked in happy hour deals, offering affordable snacks and drinks that won’t put a dent in your rent payment. That means, depending on which geographic sector of the city you’re looking to catch a budget-friendly buzz, there are no shortage of options. From a downtown gaming parlor to a culinary temple in Hyde Park, here’s where to go for happy hour in Chicago.
Wicker Park
When: Monday - Thursday, 5 - 6 pm; Sunday, 4 - 5 pm
Considering happy hour is typified by hedonistic Americana pleasures like discounted chicken wings, this Latin-leaning gem stands out as among the most unique options in town. Out are the wings, in are the $3.50 Yuca Frita, $3.50 Sweet Plantains, and $6 Guatemalan Ribs, along with $6 Caipirinhas and Mojitos, and wines hovering around $6 a glass.
Bucktown
When: Daily, 5 - 6 pm
One of the coolest—and cheffiest—bars in town also serves a fierce happy hour, wherein Chinese-American comfort food gets discounted to takeout prices. This includes $6 orders of egg rolls and spring rolls (two per order), $7 crab rangoon, and $11 dan dan noodles. To drink, look for $9 cocktails, $6 draft beer, and $45 bottles of house wine.
Loop
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
This “ping-pong bar” (yes, there is such a thing) keeps your mid-week stress levels to a minimum with $5 Ketel One cocktails and $5 Lagunitas brews every weekday afternoon, along with po’ boy sliders ($10) and salami pizza ($10), which sounds like the fuel you need to beat your friends at ping-pong.
University Village
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
The University Village location of this low-key neighborhood pub chain offers a pretty tantalizing happy hour with half-priced select bar bites—and all flatbreads— paired with $4 select domestic drafts, $5 craft drafts, $6 glasses of wine, $7 signature martinis, and other rotating specials.
River North
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 6 pm
For a restaurant like Sunda New Asian, a celeb-friendly mainstay whose typical menu prices are a smidge unrelatable, happy hour is a breath of fresh, sake-scented air. A newer addition to the offerings at this perpetually hot spot, happy hour features $6 bar bites, like nori fries and adobo pork belly bites, plus $6 sushi handrolls, $8 yuzu Moscow mules, and $14 sake cans.
Loop
When: Monday - Wednesday, 4 - 6 pm
$4 draft Krombacher, $5 mini black & tans, and $6 glasses of bubbly rose help put this stylish downtown American tavern on the happy hour map.
Lincoln Park
When: Daily, 3 - 5 pm, and again 9 pm - close (food only)
This Canadian export believes that happy hour is so nice, they’re giving it to you twice. A three-hour drinks and eats bonanza kicks off at 3 pm with beer, cocktails, and wine specials followed by a second evening happy hour of food-only specials like $10 Yucatan chicken tacos and $16 kale and mushroom pizza.
River North
When: Tuesday - Friday, 5 - 7 pm
Taco Tuesday is really more of a weekday spree thanks to the tortilla-tastic happy hour featuring $3 tacos (e.g. green chile pork and chicken tinga options), $7 Queso Fundido, and $8 Macho Nachos, with plenty of discounted draft Mexican beers ($6), well cocktails ($6), and house margaritas ($8) to wash it down.
River North
When: Weekdays, 5 - 7 pm
This mainstay Irish pub gets you hankering for the Emerald Isle with $7 Harp-battered Fish Tacos and Stuffed Cheese Puffs, $8 Irish coffees and whiskey sours, and $6 beer and wine by the glass.
Albany Park & Logan Square
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
For a slightly different happy hour experience that leans less Office Space and more Color of Money, hit up this hip coffee and billiards bar for $4 bottles, $5 drafts, and $8 featured cocktails on weekday afternoons.
Old Town
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 6 pm
If your happy hour excursion calls for sports on flatscreens and over 90 beers on draft, point your GPS toward this sprawling booze emporium for $2 off local drafts, well drinks, seltzers, and wine by the glass, plus half-priced bar bites including Cheese Curds and Kung Pao Cauliflower.
South Loop
When: Daily, 5 - 7 pm
This dimly lit, saloon-looking karaoke lounge provides the perfect escape from another interchangeable work week with $5 Old Fashioneds, Revolution brews, White Claws, Palomas, and more.
Wrigleyville
When: Monday - Friday, 3 - 6 pm
One of the few actually not-terrible bars in Wrigleyville offers this not-terrible happy hour special: $1 off draft beer, well drinks, and freezer shots, plus $3 shots of the polarizing local gasoline-styled charmer that is Malort.
Gold Coast
When: Wednesday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
This cool little spot from the crew behind Bangers & Lace and Spilt Milk offers $5 select drafts and $10 wines by the glass to spice up your post-hump day work week.
Lakeview
When: Daily, 4 - 6 pm
Kickstart your after-work routine at this affable neighborhood hang with $5 Champagne followed by $6 well drinks, $5 wine by the glass, and $6 drafts plus half-off select starters.
Logan Square
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
If you’re looking to end your day with a fancy craft cocktail that won’t break the bank, hit up this loungey spot connected to Red Star Liquor store via a walk-in cooler door for expertly mixed $6 creations including Old Fashioneds, Gimlets, and originals, like the vodka-based Rosey Cheeks with rosemary-pomegranate syrup.
Loop
When: Monday - Friday, 3:30 - 6:30 pm
This popular downtown happy hour go-to offers a large menu of selections in its bar and patio areas (we highly recommend the patio area) including $6 Truffle Fries and $8 Pork Belly Bao Buns, in addition to $7-8 select drafts and wine by the glass—all available with a minimum beverage purchase of a very random $3.40.
Noble Square
When: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 5 - 6 pm; Saturday - Sunday, 3 - 5 pm
Who doesn't like $1 oysters? No one, and Frontier has them, along with $3 Beam shots, $5 house wine by the glass, and $6 draft cocktails.
Uptown
When: Monday, 4 - 7 pm; Wednesday - Friday, 4 - 7 pm
Four days a week, this happy hour has your basics covered with $7 build-your-own burger nights on Mondays, $7 whiskey cocktails on Wednesdays, $7 martinis on Thursdays, and a $16 Friday night Fish Fry featuring beer-battered cod and Champagne slaw, which is perhaps the ritziest fish fry side dish we’ve ever seen.
Various locations
When: Daily specials
Pound for pound, these four neighborhood classics from 4 Entertainment Group offer some of the easiest-drinking happy hours in Chicago. Nice and simple, enjoy half of ALL DRINKS for two hours each day, seven nights a week at Easy Bar and AliveOne, or for three hours every weekday at Estelle’s and Remedy. You’re welcome.
Ukrainian Village
When: Monday - Friday, 4 - 6 pm; Saturday - Sunday, 2 - 4 pm
For some of the low-key greatest happy hour snacks in town, venture into the cozy neighborhood confines of Ukrainian Village, where chef Zoe Schor is blessing customers with $7 flutes of Cava, $9 martinis and old fashioneds, and a fruit punch-like cocktail, the Bottle Rocket, for a scant $8.
West Loop
When: Tuesday - Thursday, 4 - 6 pm
In a neighborhood as budget-crushing as the restaurant-saturated West Loop, it helps to find a bargain now and again. Enter: The Press Room, the kind of subterranean wine and cocktail bar you want to cozy up to and linger. Which is easy to do thanks to $1 oysters, $20 charcuterie and cheese platters, and $8 martinis and Old Fashioneds.
West Loop
When: Tuesday - Friday, 5 - 6 pm (at the bar only)
You’ll find a whole slew of singular specials at this dark and alluring South American-angled steakhouse, where you can taste food—empanadas, grilled oysters, bone marrow among them—from acclaimed chef John Manion at shockingly low rates. Happy hour drinks include $6 house wines, $5 Brazilian black lagers, and $11 cocktails, including an exemplary caramelized rum old fashioned.
Hyde Park
When: Wednesday - Friday, 4 - 5:30 pm (at the bar only)
Thanks to chef Erick Williams’ recent win at the James Beard Awards, that means you can snag award-winning Southern-inspired snacks at a price that feels too good to be true. This include $7 gumbo, $7 pimento cheese and crackers, $7 buffalo mac & cheese croquettes, and $8 catfish sliders. All this plus $9 wines and $10 cocktails.
Pilsen
When: Monday - Thursday, 4 - 7 pm; Friday, 4 - 8 pm; Sunday, all day
The deals are seemingly endless at this colorful, neon-lit 18th Street watering hole, where daily deals run the gamut from $10 pizzas on Monday and discounted nachos on Tuesday, to $2 off wings on Wednesday and $8 pineapple dark and stormies on Friday. Added bonus: happy hour burgers—with ½-pound Angus or vegan patties—are available every day until 5 pm.
Andersonville
When: Daily, 4 - 6 pm
There’s a lot to love about the discounted offerings on hand at this cozy neighborhood haunt. Namely: $7 Buffalo Grilled Chicken Sandwiches, $8 Burgers, and $7 BBQ Chicken Wings, all washed down with $5.50 draft beers, and $7.50 wines and cocktails.
working on a memoir about the epic ups and downs from life on the road as a gay couple—and the lessons learned along the way. Follow him on IG @mattkirouacofficial.