Hidden Cove

This place is probably one of my top favorite karaōke places in the city. The drinks are averaged priced and you see the same people there. Very divey. Buuuuuut, if you wanna bring like 10 – 20 of your friends for karaōke, not wait a fucking hour to sing and basically take over the bar… Go here!!! Love it! I had a reunion here and it was a blast!

Hidden Cove is in its own world. It’s like a towny Kenosha dive, but really close to the heart of Lincoln Square. When we were there, it was a mix of locals, a huge birthday party, and 20-​something hipsters. The sound is great and the time between songs varies since the bartender is also the KJ. Fairly strong cheap drinks. The women’s bathrom is teeny tiny and no mirror! Overall a great dive bar karaōke experience that is way less crowded that Alice’s.

I want to preface this by saying I’ve never written a Unilocal review in my life, but after my experience here, I felt I had to say something. I’m a newcomer to Chicago, and was excited to hear that a friend had picked a karaōke place for his birthday, since I’ve been singing back home for my whole life and on the karaōke circuit for over 10 years. The first couple of hours were great, and then the «clique» showed up and one singer took it upon herself to let everyone know she was following a professional and this «is how it’s done.» It alienated all of the other singers on the other side of the room. I’m a professional singer as well, and at home I have a karaōke «clique» as well, but we LOVE new blood, new singers, and I don’t take it upon myself to announce how wonderful I am. We don’t make half the bar feel unwelcome. And she did. NO one from the other side signed up the rest of the night, and I signed up again and my sheet disappeared and after 2 hours of waiting, my name was never called again. Then I decided to pay my tab and go home. I had 4 drinks, one of which a friend paid for. The bartender took it upon herself to tell me I «got off easy» with only having to pay for 3 drinks. Um, I had 4 drinks of Bacardi. What did you want, for me to spend a ton of $$ and get wasted? Was my patronage not enough for you? I have never in my life had a bartender act like I hadn’t drank enough. Really, I just felt really unwelcome at this bar, and I’ve never felt that way at a freakin’ bar before where everyone is supposed to just have a good time. I know Unilocal reviews are a dime a dozen, but Hidden Cove certainly lost my business tonight.

Ok so I’m all for Kareoke & booze till 4am & this place is pretty awesome. The ONLY reason I’m giving it one star is as follows. I was on my way home one night from work, decided to stop in for a drink or two, I’ve been here a few times & it was always a good time, yet in this instance I was highly unimpressed with the skills (or lack thereof) of the girl behind the bar who calls herself «jelly». With Literally only 3 people in the bar & I imagine 2 of them were employees, I had to wait 20 minutes for a bottle of beer. Now had it been a complicated order I would have given her the benefit of the doubt, but she seemed more interested in talking to her friends or immersing herself in social media rather than serve me my beverage. If any of the owners/​bosses ACTUALLY read these reviews, I suggest you replace her with a COMPETENT bartender A.S.A.P. for I will not be visiting this establishment, nor will anyone I know, during her shift. Good luck Hidden Cove.

If you desire to sing your feelings out, you can do it here, even at 4 in the morning.
Yup! Free karaōke basically at any time, cold, full bar, and the barkeeper is one cool dude.
Local divy bar, with people from all walks of life.
This place is reminiscent of someone’s ol’ school garage or basement.
A decent chill spot.

Obnoxiously awful. The bartender was rude as all hell, and on my first day, he said «you can’t do karaōke unless you tip well» and «you didn’t even buy single drink, sent should I talk to a faggot like you?»

I came here at around 2am on NYE, they were open till 4am. What a great crowd of people!
Obviously not the fanciest place, it’s your normal run of the mill neighborhood, dive karaōke place with a little flair! Drinks were fairly priced, bartenders were busy but still managed to be courteous and make sure we had our drinks. A previous commenter mentioned that the mic doesn’t work-​definitely worked just fine for us. Ended the early morning with an all time classic-​Bohemian Rhapsody that everyone, including the staff joined in on.
I only docked a star due to the cleanliness, you can divey and still clean, guys!
The vibe was great and I will definitely be back!

I love this little hidden gem. Lol Its cosy and small and never gets too packed. The staff is amazing and the karaōke is even better. Especially on Friday nights.

I can put up with the surly staff, the crap beer selection, the non-​functional pinball machines. I’ll even allow the awful movies playing in the background instead of, say, sports.
But I cannot abide a karaōke bar having one — ONE — functioning microphone. Want to sing a duet? You’ll have to crowd around the mic and hope people can hear you (they can’t).
I mean, come on – you’re a karaōke bar. Take $ 50, go the Best Buy, and pick up another mic. It’s not that hard.

Our family lives in the area so we decided to try this place — BIG MISTAKE!!! We waited for our songs for more than 3 hours but the bartenders/​karaōke hosts never called our names. Instead, they kept calling the same people over and over again. We knew we were skipped twice because we remembered who were on the song list before and after us. Never going back to this place again and will definitely let our karaōke lover friends know about our experience if they ask for our opinion.

Not a drinker, so it’s hard for me to really rate on alcoholic selection or prices, but the karaōke here is pretty interesting. No KJ, it’s run by the bartenders and instead of a song book, you can look up your favorite tune or artist on the computer, just as if you’re the KJ. Difficult, maybe, if you really don’t have any idea what you want to sing and you just want to browse a huge list to get a clue… but a novel idea, nonetheless.
The sound system is decent enough, with a large dance floor area to spotlight the singer. Plenty of space, though it can get a bit crowded, especially if there is a party or two underway.
They’ve got a couple of games, a somewhat beatup pinball machine and something like pacman or other that is decent enough at a quarter a play.
The staff is always very friendly and there’s a real neighborhood feel to the place. Even the bouncer (when there is one) is really nice, though I can tell how he could be intimidating enough if the situation called for it.
One of my favorite memories here is when they had some sort of street festival going on and there was LITERALLY no one else in the bar besides the two bartenders… they still let me and my friends sing, even though we were all just drinking pop. Very unpretentious and easy to get along with people here, I like that.
When I actually want to SING (and not wait an eternity to sing a song) and feel comfortable at karaōke (and not like I’m in a pro competition with ridiculously good singers or obnoxiously drunk barhoppers), but don’t want to go out to the near burbs for dive bar karaōke, this is where I come.

Wow. What a sh*thole. The over priced beer is warm, the bathrooms are so tiny you hit your knees on the stall doors (at least the ladies room had doors, rumor has it the men’s stall doesn’t), and it’s so loud without any music on that you have to yell to hear anyone. The bartender was nice, but they had a super duper crappy beer list (again, way over priced for a place this divey). Some people might describe this place as having «character» or «Chicago flavor» but really that’s just a way to cover up how crappy the environment is but somehow stylish pretty girls show up on occasion. They do get points for having weird silver glitter on black walls, makes me feel like I’m part of a third grader’s art project.

This place is great for a fun night out with friends. The place is big enough that most likely you’ll be able to snag a hightop table with bar stools. In the center of the bar is the mic and a good sized dance floor. The crowd looked like regulars that come here to sing and have fun. The crowd was friendly and supportive of everyone’s songs. The music selection was pretty good. The bartenders were friendly and unpretentious. They looked like they were having as much fun as the people — pouring drinks and seeing everyone have a good time. The crowd was mixed, with all nationalities. Most of the crowd was 20’s and 30’s but there were a couple of older folks who looked like they were having fun too. The drinks were generous and priced right at $ 5. I’d definitely come back for a fun silly night with friends.

The epidemy of a neighborhood karaōke dive bar. Thanks to my buddy Casey M. for bringing me here last Thursday after the Unilocal bash.
I must have drank more than a normal human being should because a first happened for me. I put a song in, got in front of the fellow bar goers, plopped my self down in the chair, crossed my legs and rapped Dear Mama. And later that night, I did a repeat performance on stage to the tune of Jump Jump by 90s backwards pants dynamic duo Kris Kross. I’m facepalming right now — one hand typing and one placed firmly on my forehead.
Either way, I had a fabulous time! It’s a bar that’s open until 4am but just keep in mind you will hear idiots like myself on stage belting their hearts out. The crowd here was friggin phenomenal for people watching. My favorite was the larger lady singing sexy songs & her man video taping her, all up in her face, hanging on her every sung word. Amazing.
You will run into some creepy guys, you will run into some shady people, you will hear really bad karaōke but you will also get some good cheap drinks. Know what you’re getting yourself into here.

I LOVE Hidden Cove! Yes, it’s a total dive and the bathroom is not very pleasant but for me, Hidden Cove is the best place to get your karaōke on!
The beers are cold, the bartenders are just awesome, the crowd is eclectic and friendly, the song selection is top-​notch, and you actually get a chance to sing! I stopped in late on a Saturday night and people were up and dancing along and just having a great time. You get a nice long microphone cord so you can work the stage/​dance floor all you want… obviously I enjoy workin’ it! Even if you suck at karaōke or just singing in general, you will feel more than welcome at the Hidden Cove and it will definitely be a night to remember!

The palm trees on the sign might lure you in… but once you step inside the disconnect between what you find and the sign will be just one of the many things that make you wonder, «Hmmm» at Hiden Cove Lounge.
I did not expect to encounter anything upscale, trendy, or pretentious here… and in that sense it lived up to my expectations. But it is also not your average neighborhood dive bar… though I wish it was.
Based on the handful of occasions I’ve been here, my take home message is, «You never know what you’re going to get.» The clientele seems to vary with the entertainment. The night I watched a Beatles cover band play, it was mostly a crowd from the Old Town School of Folk Music. The time we stopped on the way home from Lincoln Karaōke, it was a bizarre mix of hard core and hard-​living karaōke singers, girls in cheerleader uniforms, and men in shiny track suits drinking glasses of wine.
If you’re looking to write a screenplay about a place where quirky characters and worlds collide, this might be a good place to spend some time. If you’re looking for a good place to sip a pint, you might be better off traveling a bit further South on Lincoln Ave.

It’s really hard for me to give a bad review. By the time I got to Hidden Cove last night I was totally drunk already. However, the bar tender gave me a free drink because it was my birthday outing.
Negatives.the whacky crowd. there were some really creepy men in that bar. one practically introduced himself by shaking hands with my chest. There was also a men older woman who was kind of a bully and stole the microphone from my friend. She didn’t have any teeth or manners. I thought the bartender was skipping my songs. but REALLY it was some chick who was crossing off other people’s karaōke songs so she could sing.
When I did FINALLY get to sing everyone was on the dance floor. I had fun. I got cheered on. people sang along. A lot of people were really friendly there. It was fun. I would definitely recommend the place and probably would want to go earlier in the evening or maybe on a less crowded weeknight to check out karaōke.

My friend Nelis, Maria F. and I had stopped at three bars before this one and Nelis got it in his head that he wanted to do karaōke, which is pretty much what he ALWAYS wants to do when we drink. I’m a fan, so I was like, «Let’s make this happen!» Only we didn’t. Well, I should say Hidden Cove didn’t.
The beer prices weren’t bad, but the service was slow and the KJ wasn’t very helpful. I don’t completely blame him. The place was packed. But I saw people going up multiple times and none of us ever got to sing in the hour and a half we spent there. The only reason we really stayed was because all the drunk dancing people were actually pretty entertaining and we held out hope we’d get a chance to sing. No such luck. We gave up and left for Golden Nugget, which was an upgrade.
If I just want a drink then I’d return, but if I want to do karaōke I’m going to head somewhere else. The letdown of the night was only multiplied by the fact that I had not one, not two, but three separate drive-​by ass grabs. Granted, I had on my awesome jeggings and I’ve been working out, but that was uncalled for. The graber (s) didn’t even have the cajones to man up and say something or even approach me (except secretly from behind). I still have no clue who did it. It was pretty tacky and quite frankly, kinda creepy.

Ahhh hahahaha… The Hidden Cove!
I fucking love this place!
HUGE dive bar… But… awesome!
This place isn’t clean… the food isn’t great…
The beer is cheap, the floors are sticky, and the singers CAN sing.
It’s not like I say «Hey, ya wanna go to Hidden Cove?». It just kinda happens.
Christine Approved

I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to walk into: a terrible cover of the equally horrific original, LFO’s «Summer Girls.» Don’t remember that one? Well, let me jog your memory… «I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch.» LFO = LOL.
Anyway, this bar is bad. It’s seedy. You’ll run into some shady characters. But, the beer is cold, and the karaōke is so amusing.
I’m a fan.