Bar 63

Worst experience every single time. Bartender who also calls himself a manager, is pretty rude with almost every customer. He doesn’t know the meaning of Customer service.
Besides, it’s barely a bar. Never going there again.

This place gets 5 stars as they are the Barcelona bar for Barcelona fans. They always have great service and have Estrella beer. Perfect for watching Barcelona games. Their food is also very good. Anything from the bison Burger to their very filling nachos and chilaquiles. All very delicious.

Their bison burger is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Can’t recommend it enough. Had great service. Waitress split our checks with no hassle at all and was very attentive. Kind of a dive bar atmosphere but we enjoyed how relaxed it was. Highly recommend!

Dear Owner:
I dislike your business.
The bar options are slim and there are not many bars nearby Loyola. Do you exploit us?
You now want $ 20 at the door?! It was 10:30 p.m.; early for Chicago. The place was dead. And it seems just like a bar to me! …but…maybe I’m wrong. Is this now a dance club or a posh spot? Do you suddenly offer amazing frills and rooftop views of the city? Free video games? Perhaps you now valet?
No, not exactly; this is still Rogers Park. ’”Bar” 63′ is still a bar too, no? Are we wrong?
I have seen patrons smoke in your bathrooms, vomit outside your door, spill drinks everywhere, fall down, and spit on your floors. The bar top is often sticky and wet. The staff; they take their time and appear to deliberately ignore.
BY THE WAY: A few guys in this series also reviewed Bar 63. They got kicked out one night. They also remarked about your failed, poor service. They claim to have waited 30-​minutes without a beer, a cocktail, or a hello, only to be reported by your bartender for finally yelling, «Yo» at him. The bartender (Harrison) immediately reported them to a «Hawaiian» bouncer. Yes, their story is true!
How do I know this?
I happened to be there that night, and I experienced the same problem with your staff. I saw the whole thing.
I do NOT know who these patrons were – not from Adam. I’ve never seen them before or since. But there they stood, clustered up, right next to my stool, waiting, frustrated just like me.
They were indeed a large group! One of the guys finally appeared to get sick and tired of waiting forever. I admire him. He represented everyone else patiently waiting for a drink (20+minutes). He finally called out, «Yo!» Your bartender «missed» him, again, for a drink, but mysteriously heard this patron when he finally spoke up!
Your staff caused this group to leave due to your horrible service. I saw everything, finished my drink, and I promptly left too.
They claimed that your place is racist due to the members of their group. Maybe Bar 63 is bigoted? But I seriously doubt it. I just think your service sucks!
And you now charge twenty bucks at the door too?
I dislike how you do business. Get a grip!

Their page said they’re open till 3am, so we stopped in at 1:13am after visiting the hookah bar nearby. We were sober (the hookah bar was a dry bar) and were looking for a close place to get a drink before we called it a night. We (4 of us — 3 guys and 1 gal all late 20s/​early 30s) got dirty looks from the staff immediately. Oh well. So we went to the «game room» area of the bar with the pool table and arcade games. We figure we have at least an hour to drink and hang. An employee puts a chair in front of me as I try to enter the game area and says «sorry, we’re gonna call last call in about 20 minutes so you need to go to the bar.» Ok, whatever. So we go back over to the bar and the bartender chick says «we’re not calling last call yet, but, you know, it’s pretty empty, so…» My response is «oh so you’re gonna close up early to head home?» And she says «well I mean you’re welcome to stay.» We were a bit confused but politely requested our drinks. She made them and said something along the lines of «last call soon.» So we sat in the booth and enjoyed our drinks while they set the chairs up on the bar around us and turned up the lights and stopped the music. Didn’t stop us from finishing our drinks. Then a heavy set Hawaiian man (an employee) came by at 1:43 and said «1 minute, guys.» … So we’re clearly not wanted here. We see multiple people come to the bar and try to open the door and find it locked and leave. So we left. Before 2am when they close at 3am. We went down to Sovereign Liquors down the street, gave them a TON of our money and had a blast.

We came here after having a few beers and they refused to serve us more shots. Okay, yes I am 34 but wtf?! It is 8:30 pm. Boo to this place.

Really nice «looking» place. The renovations to the establishment since the previous ownership was well thought out and very well executed. That said, I’ll never be returning to this place. Came in on a Sunday afternoon with a group of ten. Half beautiful women (late 20s early 30s) which you’d think a fairly empty bar with mostly older men occupying it would appreciate. Apparently not. Upon requesting just one tv be changed to another game besides the Bears, we were given a strict most unwelcoming response. «Per the Owner, this is a Bears bar. Deal with it.» Yeesh. We left immediately. Way to alienate potential regular customers Bar63. It’s unfortunate because some of us live in the neighborhood and enjoy spending long Sunday’s eating and drinking together while watching football at a good place. We’re a very hungry and even more thirsty bunch with plenty of coin to spare. Sadly you will not reap the benefits of such. I only give this bar 2 stars because though it’s nice, we were forced out before we could even order drinks. Therefore I can’t judge the food or drinks and it’d be unfair to give one star purely on service.
ps. Unless you make enough money on Loyola students and old men in the afternoon, I’d suggest you change your mindset. Only half of this city is comprised of actual Chicagoans. The Bears make for terrible entertainment.

Arriving for the first time on ⁸⁄₃₀ with my girlfriend from Naperville and paying 13.64 for a ticket online to get in… we arrived only to stand outside for over an hour only to be turned away by police saying it was closed down and haven’t been refunded. Needless to say this guest management was terrible thus my low rating… I feel like my money was stolen.

Great space. Larger than it looks from the outside. I had a regular cheeseburger and it was outstanding! So much flavor.
Drink prices are great. Specials even better
Games, tvs everywhere, booths, tables, this place has it all. Great service too.

I still high marks I love the bar staff but no NLF package just kills it for me. I usually spend slit there but now Sunday’s will be looking for a comfortable bar with NFL package. Somethings can’t last forever I guess.

I’ve been here a few times. I’d give this 2.5 stars if I could. It’s clearly a college bar. The bartenders are obviously hired for their looks. They don’t seem to know anything about making drinks more complex than a rum & Coke. Most of them are pleasant enough. A few have attitude problems. They’re that special breed of bartenders (exclusive to college bars) that believe the customer should accommodate them and not the other way around.
The beer selection is okay, but not stellar. This place looks like it wants to be a college party bar, but I haven’t seen it too full, even on weekends (which I think is good), and though the music is all terrible Top 40 and pop-​idol-​of-​the-​moment, it isn’t so loud that you can’t think. There is a separate room with a pool table, Buck Hunter, Street Fighter, Golden Tee, and darts, which is cool. There are a lot of TVs, so it’d be a nice place to watch a game if the service were more reliable. Seems like a lot of people are learning on the job, so I imagine you’ll be waiting a long time for a fresh round of beers if you want service at a table.
I can’t be too hard on this place. It’s right on the Loyola campus, and it’s clearly targeting college students whose only criteria for a bar is that it have pop music, attractive bartenders, and dark corners for making out. And it does in fact have all those things. I graduated college seven years ago, so I come here mostly because there are few other options in this neighborhood and I like to play pool. I am clearly not the target demographic, but I still find it tolerable if nothing else is convenient (which, in this area, is pretty much the case).
If you’re over 24, think about how much college nonsense you can stomach before you go in. If you don’t mind Tiffy and Tina and Tammy yelling and crying three tables away, you’ll have a fine time.

I would say over all the bar looks good but once you get past that it’s really just another shell of a good bar hiding one set up with bad food, bad service, and overpriced menus and drinks. Specials are ok but not amazing. The food has very low quality. The stake sandwich was by far the worst sandwich I have ever had. They charge more money for healthy items and sell frozen gross wings and fish as headliners. The only thing that kinda saves them is they some times have a bar full underage and annoying Bros and joes from Loyola that it can be funny to watch them act like idiots. It’s more a comic seen than a bar.

This place has the best burgers in the neighborhood and that’s saying a lot since Moody’s is right down the street. The bar 63 burger is my favorite! Love the pork belly and over easy egg on top!

The food is decent. I keep coming back because of their specials throughout the week. The beer selection is not bad. Thankfully they don’t have a surplus of craft beers that have flooded Chicago. The help is generally uninterested or not well trained. I’ve only been waited on by one really friendly server in the times I’ve been there. On some days you have to put up with really shitty R&B/Hip Hop music that people play on the jukebox. This really is more of a student hangout. It could use some improvements as far as food and service. But with a pool table and a large space, it makes for a good group hangout.

6÷25÷15 — Was with a group (20) of mostly men of color that stood in the middle of the bar for 30 minutes before leaving. We got passed up on both sides, multiple times, by people who had just gotten there. People were having their drinks refilled.
After waiting patiently, someone finally yelled «Yo!» The bartender goes up to a bouncer a little «concerned.» So we all rolled out.
Tl;dr: Racist af because they can be.

Sat for 10 minutes at bar before even approached for a drink. When I asked for and Orange slice for my blue moon I was told «if I have to cut one your not getting one»

Came here a few days ago with a friend of mine. It was my first time and I have been living in area for almost two years now. The environment was decent they had plenty of TVs with the Cubs game on. The bartender was terrible though! We got two beers finished those then had to basically flag him down again to get another beer. Even though the bar maybe had 5 people in it. My friend was fairly upset cause they started to clean over us as we were still trying to finish our beers even though it was still about 30 min before closing. Overall not the best experience not sure if I will be back.

I am a Loyola alum from back when Hamilton’s was in its heyday (think early 2000’s). I moved back to this neighborhood in mid-​2012, shortly before H closed and later reopened as Bar 63. My initial thoughts were that they painted the place to make it look better, the bathrooms were still the smallest on the planet (but at least didn’t smell), and that was about it. But then I started going for the drink specials and food and found myself surprisingly impressed by it. I used to go for $ 10 Monday burger nights and $ 2 Taco Tuesday quite frequently, as well as $ 5 martini Thursdays. It wasn’t stellar but I was happy to have a neighborhood joint for those nights when I didn’t feel like cooking or hanging out in my apt alone.
That was almost two years ago.
In the last year or so, things have taken a downturn. Talking with one of the bartenders and a server one night, I was told that the investors and chef of this place flipped their majority/​minority stake in the restaurant. When they did that, a bunch of the specials went completely away. Then they came back. Then they changed the menu. Then the specials went away again. One of the other reviewers said this place needs to figure out what it’s trying to be. I would agree. They can’t even keep a consistent website up. The most recent iteration just has the hours and a note that they are cooking up something «special».
Hamilton’s knew it was Hamilton’s – a place for cheap, greasy, crappy bar food where if you looked like you were 21 if I squinted my eyes and stood on my head, they let you in. My understanding was that Loyola (who owns most of the real estate in that area) pulled the lease to bring in something more upscale. I applaud the move but it’s been a bit of a yo-​yo ever since. You guys gotta figure out what you are trying to do – serve good food? Be a sportsbar? Become Hamilton’s #2?
Some of the staff are great. Some don’t know how to serve. At all. So I think your experience of that depends on who you get during your visit. I was just there last week and service was abysmal; it took forever to track down a server.
I keep rooting for this place to survive though, as the only other options are Nori Sushi (which is now packed on Mondays) or Uncommon Ground (which has taken an equally noticeable dive in quality and service). I find myself increasingly bringing my business to Andersonville…

The set up of the bar: great. They did a lot to the old Hams (RIP Hamiltons)
However, I don’t think it will ever get the crowd the bar wants to receive. It is either almost dead, or its Thursday night and brimming with undergrads and bad decisions.
Their food is also mediocre. I cannot speak to the catering food but I’ve yet to order anything there that was to die for. It tries to be up scale, but comes off bland. Hamilton’s food might have been basic, but they gave you exactly what you would expect from bar food.
It’s just all set up and poor follow through.

I just moved into the area. Grew up in the city. I like 50c wing night. This place sucks for that. Bait and switch. You don’t get the same hefty meaty wings on regular menu.
So, screw that.
Beer selection is good. Pool table. Bla bla bla. Same old college bar. They can do better. Maybe this is as good as it gets.
Yay
I’ll be back. But, there isn’t much in the area to choose from. Thanks for the multiple big screens.
Aaak
Side note.
Cute red head serving Wings that came with no celery or carrots. Some week old lettuce.
Bore.