Martini Bar

Went here after work on a Wednesday. The waitress kept disappearing on us, and it wasn’t even crowded. She gave 1 menu– and there were 5 people on our table. Very limited drink selection. Definitely not going back. Average ambiance.

This place wasn’t quite what I expected. I’m still not sure if that is good or bad, but it makes sense after I discovered that the place is owned by the same folks that own Cactus just up the street.
I expected something weird, pretentious and expensive. Come to find out it is just a pretty normal bar of the beaten path in the loop. I would say this place is fantastic to grab a drink after work. Martini selection is good, full bar, and decent beer selection for such a small place. I would recommend trying one of the three Southern Tiers on tap. They have some decent drink specials throughout the week as well. I think Wed is $ 4 Southern Tier for that matter. Pretty average for the area.
The food is decent. It is pretty typical bar food. I liked the Quesadillas. Pretty filling and cheap. Chicken tenders were also good (very salty and a little more spice that I expected).
As previously mentioned, great for a quick drink after work. I wouldn’t go on weekends (they might not even be open).
Service was okay. No comment either way there.

I never noticed this place until I started drinking with traders. Tucked away in the South Loop, Martini Bar offers a swanky atmosphere with decent drink specials. Tuesday is $ 5 wine, and the pinot noir was delicious. They also have New Holland on tap for those that like the hoppy 2 Below. One thing that bothers me is that you have to walk down a flight of stairs to get to the bathroom. This is never fun when you’re drinking, and it could also be a little dangerous :)

We stopped in with a group on a Friday evening for happy hour. It wasn’t overly busy, but most of the seats were full. Our waitress took our order quickly, but somehow failed to return to notice others had arrived at our table. They eventually had to find someone at the bar to order from.
The list of happy hour martinis is questionable — most of them looking to be of the overly sweet variety. You might be better off ordering a traditional cocktail. I ordered a glass of wine — pinot grigio or sauv blanc — it wasn’t any good. Apparently since I can’t remember what kind it even was.
This is a decent spot to run in for a quick drink — but nothing I’d go out of my way for.

Omg… it took us 30 minutes just to find this bar.(that should of been a sign). *Urr!*
We waited fifteen minutes (at the bar) for a drink, the floor was sticky/​dirty and the patrons looked shifty. Please get me out a here!
M bar doesn’t deserve a star let alone one. This dtown hole in the wall back alley is disgusting and as much as I love martini’s I would never go back. Ever!
Don’t waste your time.

I was there with Jeremy B. this past Friday. The bar’s staff was terribly unprepared for the crowd that was there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people waiting to so long to order drinks (literally 15 – 20 minutes). This could have partly been caused by the clearly over-​served patrons cutting the line, but who knows. The bar itself was a mess, no one was bussing the tables and a lot of the customers looked and acted as if it was their first time in a bar.
Maybe the problems were due to a lot of people showing up with Groupons, but it was a Friday happy hour.
Get it together.

How can I turn down a Groupon to a place called «Martini Bar»? That’s right kids, I can’t and that’s why I dragged my Unilocal bestie there on a Thursday night.
My first impressions were mixed. I was thanking my lucky stars that they had the free appetizers when I got there, otherwise I would have been passed out after my first drink. And they were a lot better than I expected, an assortment of cheese & crackers, mini sandwiches & veggies. Get there early though, because with pigs like me there wasn’t much left at 6:30 and 7pm.
I go to order my our first two drinks and my excitement went down a couple notches. When I’m at a Martini Bar and order a drink, I want the bartender to whip something up fast and effortlessly. Instead, I had what I assume was a new bartender, staring at a recipe mix for a good couple minutes. It took several minutes for her to mix our two drinks and it was quite painful to watch. In the end, my jolly rancher martini was horrible. All I tasted was pucker. Interestingly, there was no pucker in the recipe that was on the table. I went back, complained and ultimately got a better and stronger drink.
The next two drinks for both my Unilocalster and I were much better, especially the chocolate ones. Mmmm. The place started karaōke a around 7 or 7:30. Overall, I had a pretty good time while there, but I’m not sure I would go out of my way to go again with all the other places in the city. Thursdays are $ 7 dollar martini nights, not a bad deal.

Awful awful awful experience.
Walked in and the place was packed. Happy hour crowd. Drunk traders slurring their speach and hitting on girls that are way out of their league. Overwhelmingly hot to the point that me and my friends were sweating. Waited at the bar FOREVER to get a drink. Finally get up to the bar and the bartender is rude and slow. 20+ minutes after waiting, finally get our drinks. Close the tab and the bartender lies about the Groupon (he said tip wasn’t inlcuded even though it clearly states 18% gratuity is added to the bill — I was going to tip cash on top of the 18% despite the rudeness and long wait, and still did despite his shadiness). Fine. I can get over all that now that I have my liquid happiness in my hand. The martinis were warm, and the olives have no blue cheese or anything in them. On top of all this, they taste awful! Then they run out of martini glasses. You’re a martini bar — hello? Go back for a second round of drinks — after 20+ minutes of waiting again, order a bucket of beers since Martini Bar can’t get a martini right. Buckets come without ice. Its friggin 80 degrees in this place and no ice to keep the beers cold?
This happy hour was not so happy.

If you’re in the neighborhood you might consider stopping in to Martini Bar for a drink, but don’t go out of your way to visit.
I went on a Thursday night and found the bar to be surprisingly full. It took a while to get drinks from the not-​so-​friendly bartenders. Also, the bar area did not seem that clean. There were many fruit flies flying around, and the bartenders kept holding the glasses up to the light before pouring drinks into them to check that they were clean?
Our group stayed for three martinis, so between us we sampled a large portion of the specialty martini menu. Most were okay, but nothing spectacular. This is not the place to go for a «classy evening among martini connoisseurs» as the website claims. Instead, Martini Bar is a run of the mill bar that happens to have a specialty martini list.
Things Martini Bar has going for it:
On Thursdays martinis are $ 7 instead of $ 10. There was a buffet with free appetizers/​small sandwiches (but it was pretty much picked over by the time we got there at 7:00).

A snowy walk and a hankerin’ for some booze. Yep, that sounds about right.
Enter (kinda, by way of a door to another door): Martini Bar. After cruising the specialty martini list ($ 10 each and tons of them) I opted for my old standby, a medium dirty vodka martini. Made well, just the right amount of dirty, and presented quickly. What more could I ask for?
It’s great for after work or cocktail hour drinks but it’s not open late at night so get there on the earlier side. Also, if you’re not into martinis, there are several beers available, domestics and even two different Chimays. There’s an ok wine list including port, and pretty much your standard booze offerings for your mixed drinks. The televisions are nestled discreetly in the corners of the bar, fairly unobtrusively.
It has an older school vibe which is unfortunately promptly lost upon descending to the loo which has paint color and a smell reminiscent of my high school lavatories. Not the bar’s fault, just a break in the continuity.
There are nightly specials such as $ 5 domestics, $ 6 glasses of wine, $ 7 martinis, etc depending on the night. And word on the street has it that the ‘mos are starting to make it a Friday night spot, fyi.

So, all good things do come to an end I guess. I recently visited the bar again, but my favorite bartender, Veronica, no longer works there. My friends and I had two groupons, so we were determined to still have a good time. When we first arrived, there was a decent handful of people there, I’m guessing the after work crowd. After a while, most of them left.
The manager Mark was really cool, played music, made our drinks, even gave us a round of shots of Patron since one of my friends was celebrating her birthday. The drinks were pretty good, the martinis were $ 10, Patron shots were $ 6 and there were some martini specials for $ 8. My friend and I each had our own groupon and therefore had individual tabs.
At the end of the night, I was supposed to pay gratuity (18%) and tax only, because my tab came out to exactly $ 50. So, I paid 15.92 by credit card, making sure I put the dash on the tip line and wrote 15.92 on the total line. I left thinking, «Maybe I will come back after all. We had a good time.» Well, to my dismay, I checked my bank account the next day, only to see that Martini Bar charged me 56.74! I was livid! I could not believe this was happening to me, again. Sidenote: I’ve had this experience with other businesses a few times in the past two months. Needless to say, I’m fed up. I have emailed Martini Bar and left them messages. It has only been a day, but I can’t wait until Monday. I hope they don’t think I’m taking time to go back down there. If I have to do that, I’m not going to be a happy camper.

I’m am olive. A very happy olive as I am sunk in the bottom of a very dirty martini at the Martini Bar. And my olive life is complete. Cuz where else would I want to be?
As I peer out of the glass, I am entranced by this room. Original checkerboard tile floor, wood carved fireplace that is big enough for a person to stand in, raised pattern ceiling and 50’s style bar stools and high tops. Looks perfect out of my singular pimento filled eye!
My little olive self likes that this is a bit hard to find– hidden in the Financial district on a go no where stretch of La Salle. Keeps all the non– serious martini drinkers away. As I continue to gaze around the room– I notice that they also served a pretty nice complimentary buffet for the after work crowd no doubt, with sandwiches, cheese and crackers and crudite. Hey! I think I see some of my olive cousins back on that tray!
Martini’s rule the day here. There is a specials list where they pour some pretty fancy ones for only $ 8 versus the $ 14 usual price. But those come with all kinds of my fancy friends from the condiment container like my friend «lemon peel» or even my little buddy «snickers» who comes with something called a snickertini. Ahh…youth!
Ooooo. .. . I am being swirled around my drink on a stick. That’s always the fun part of being an olive. And then my little olive world is all askew as I am lifted into the air and then all goes dark.
But for that one moment that I was in that perfectly poured dirty martini at the Martini Bar. .. . my olive life was complete.

With the name of this place, I was expecting a suburban type bar that is trying too hard to be sophisticated when it’s not, but it’s really a pretty normal bar.
There is a free «buffet» on Wednesday-​Friday, which just consists of chicken wings and cheese sticks, but is still good to have.
This a pretty good option if you are looking for a drink in the South Loop. It’s a bit hard to find on La Salle, south of Van Buren, on the east side of the street.
On Wednesday there are $ 2 pints of all three beers they have on tap. I should probably try the martini some time.

We (my GF and I) purchased a $ 50 groupon for Martini bar. These are supposed to encourage you to try new places, right?
Well, they were out of olive juice so they couldn’t make any dirty martinis (seriously?).
When we ended up drinking $ 44 of the $ 50 groupon, we decided we were done. We tipped Veronica, the one bartender $ 5 and said we were finished. She then handed us a bill for $ 9 «gratuity» on the $ 50 groupon.
Since when do bars charge gratuity on small parties? Considering we had just gotten done NOT USING $ 6 of the coupon we purchased, and then tipped her $ 5 on top of that, I considered it covered. She then claimed that we ‘willingly’ gave her the $ 5 and it doesn’t count towards the $ 9 extra. She turned into this raving bitch. It takes a lot for me to write a poor review, but here I am.

Martini Bar is… odd. Not bad, but odd.
Why?
Well, for starters, you really don’t know it’s there. There’s no direct entrance from the street — you have to go in through the lobby of their building. If I hadn’t gone with someone who’d already been there, I promise you, I would never have found this place.
They have a nice martini list, and the prices were a pleasant surprise. The music was a little dance-​club-​ish, which isn’t really my taste, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The drinks themselves were fine, but service was a little slow, as apparently everyone in the city waited until the last possible day to use their Groupon. So that’s not the fault of the bar.
Here’s what bothered me. They kept reusing the martini shakers without washing them. And I was sitting at the bar right in front of where they make the martinis, so I had a good view. The bartenders would literally pick up the shaker, smell it, and make something else. Now, it’s not like someone was drinking out of the martini shaker or anything, so I’m not saying it was germy… But your chocolate martini might end up having olive juice in it from someone else’s dirty. I kind of think they don’t have running water behind the bar — they seem to have a pitcher of water, and all the sodas are bottled, not out of the little sprayer-​gun-​thingy that all bars have.
Anyway, the bartenders, though busy, were very nice and the drinks were decent and well priced, so I’d be willing to give Martini Bar a go on another (non-​Groupon) night. But I’ll be keeping an eye on those martini shakers.

I think that I had higher expectations for a place called «Martini Bar.»
My martinis were weak (with lots of juice and left for 5 – 8 minutes in the shaker with melting ice) and the food was brought in and served in plastic to-​go containers from Cactus, another establishment owned by the same people. Martinis are cheap (only $ 8) but you definitely get what you pay for. Don’t go here for a high-​class experience.
The bartender (Mark) was personable (and drinking all night). He did give a us a round a free shots and was nice about kicking us out at 8:30, when he had to go work at Cactus.

Great place to grab a drink after work, bring a date or kick off a fun night. The place has a nice classic retro décor. One of the best bar in the Loop.

I did not like this place.
My company had a charity happy hour here last night for a group of 30 people or so. We had our own separate area that could probably accommodate half our group comfortably. Of course this is not the bar’s fault, but maybe they should have warned us. Visually, the bar was nice and the place had a nice atmosphere.
It’s the bartenders that were absolutely terrible. They were nothing but rude. We were basically the only people in the bar and received crap service. (Don’t spin this into a gender thing… the bartenders were two ladies and most of my work peeps are men.) The bartenders were on the side talking to their friends or texting on their cell phones basically the whole time. We’d say ‘excuse me’ or something, they’d look up to acknowledge us, then look away. It took most people a good 10 minutes to get a beer. Honestly, there were 30 of us there and 2 bartenders. Our party package included beer, wine, and drinks under $ 8, so there was no reason to wait so long. Gratuity and everything was included, so it’s not like they even had to handle money.
Then, when I ordered a Diet Coke (I don’t drink), the bartenders looked at me like I had three heads and said ‘seriously?’ Yeah, seriously.
It was about 5 minutes before the event ended and the two bartenders completely ignored the crowded bar. Then, finally, one of the lovely ladies shoved her phone in people’s faces and said ‘look, it’s 7:31…party’s over.’ I’m not kidding or exaggerating.
Maybe we just got bad bartenders, but needless to say, there are much better bars in the loop that I’ll go to and suggest for happy hours. It’s too bad b/​c the bar looks nice and has such great potential.

You wouldn’t even know a bar is here if not for the people outside smoking. I go here on Wednesdays for $ 2 domestic pints and the place reminds me a little of a hotel bar back home.
Another after work bar which means most of the patrons are in established groups, so you fellas looking to hook it up would be better advised to hit up Cactus down the street.

This place is easy to miss, but that can be part of its charm. Its smaller than most of its south loop competition, but it only adds to its cozy «this is our bar» feel. The bartenders are excellent and in my experience, the martinis are good and strong.
Martini bar is my first choice for a round of drinks after work, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re not in mixed company. Both times I’ve gone some creepy (but otherwise normal looking) dudes annoyed our female co-​workers so much we were obliged to kindly ask them to screw off.