McGinny’s Tap

It’s a great neighborhood bar, lots of TVs, but the place just smells like a bathroom. Looks like they have a nice patio, so will have to checkout the place in the summer.
The service was quick and the buckets of beer were cold, but with all the places in Chicago they have to compete with I would think they would fix the smell of the place. Yes you get used to it after awhile.

A great simple Chicago bar. Decent selection attentive staff, jukebox isn’t overwhelming.
The pub-​grub is decent but nothing remarkable. Meet here with friends or after a 2^nd city show– like I did.

Great neighborhood bar in Old Town. The bartenders are always friendly and welcoming, no matter how busy they are. Great drink specials every night. I believe Mondays are $ 18 buckets and $ 5 fireball shots. It seems like the fireball shots are always a special. We went recently for MNF and they were serving complimentary fried turkey, tater tots, potato salad, and brownies buffet style. Haven’t tried anything on the menu but I hear it’s pretty good for bar food!

Best neighborhood bar in Old Town. Great bar food, especially the steak tacos & BLTs. Bartenders are AWESOME.

Meh… Only 1 waitress on a Saturday night and the kitchen closes rather early. Food was ok.

Meh.

I’ve been here once and its enough.
First impressions: interior designer said «neon beer signs are an acceptable form of lighting» and its really loud.
That alone wouldve earned a neutral rating — some bars just believe in neon and violating OSHA noise requirements. But then drinks were ordered. According to the beer drinkers in my group, the draft beer was skunky and they don’t clean their taps. My girlie-​drink loving friend ordered an amaretto sour. They dont have amaretto. The bar doesnt have amaretto. What? Ok. We think, what is another drink this lover of amaretto sours could order? A tom collins! The bartender didn’t know what that was. My jaw on the floor. What? This prompted me to vow to my disappointed friend that our experience would be documented on Unilocal.3 bartenders there — not one knew how to make that drink.
Sidebar: This is why sexism exisits people. Girls get hired for their looks (they were normal looking girls) and dont know how to do shit besides use a bottle opener. Meanwhile skilled girls get sterotyped as shitty bartenders cuz bars like this one have no standards when it comes to essential staff.
So they make us (and charge us) for some cloudy looking thing that maybe has vodka in it? Tasters described it as… watered down wine cooler to melted snow cone to melted red-​white-​blue popsicle. They also charged $ 2 for a cup full of ice with some diet coke splashed in it.
Also, they dont enforce health dept codes that say smokers need to smoke 15 ft from the entrance. That means if youre sitting at the table in the front of the bar, you get to inhale disgusting second hand cancer for the whole time from the window — lovely!
Better to stay at the crowded Ale House on a busy Fri night than suffer here. Bleh.

The bartender there on Sunday afternoons is the best. Not a huge beer selection, but the Goose Island IPA makes up for it. Good burgers, too.

No. Just no. The only reason I am giving this 2 stars is because they had Goose Island IPA on tap so I had something decent to drink. And not just the sissy Green Line. Maybe I’m just too old for this kind of dive, but I was not a fan. (Just know, I will go in to the diveiest of dives to get some good beer, so I’m not usually this picky but the bar smells like a sewer, the bartenders aren’t very friendly, and the beer list is sub-​par. I didn’t even dare go to the bathroom here but I’m sure that’s disgusting too judging the rest of the place.). Yes, I know I’m a super snob when it comes to beer lists, but if you’re IN the city, you should have some city brews. Other reviewers claim there is food here but I would NEVER eat here. NEVER. If I am ever around Wells again, you can be sure I won’t be in here. Sorry, McGinny’s.

To the McGinny’s waitress who recommended I get the veggie tacos (which turned out to be guac and lettuce) at what is admittedly an Irish pub: hubris.
I didn’t even care that their jukebox accepted my money without playing my requested D12 selections. I won’t be back because I live in Logan and old town is far, but you’re all right with me McGinny’s. Let’s do this again soon.
Yours Forever,
Danny

I’ll try any bar once. My friends will vouch for me on this, as I’ve actually compiled a lengthy blacklist of places that will never again see my business. One such place, McFadden’s, actually got me started on Unilocal.So a little credit where credit is due, even if it’s evil.
I don’t want to associate McGinny’s with evil, though. It’s just a simple little North Ave bar. I stopped in on an NFL Sunday afternoon. That part is important, because they had at least three different NFL games going. That’s about the max for my attention span. I guess if you need all the games in the league on, you can go to Buffalo Wild Wings and talk about how awesome their commercials are. Oh! That fuckin’ sprinkler came out of nowhere!
The draught list is basic, including Guinness, Green Line, Blue Moon, and a few domestic macrobrews. There is a $ 5 burger and fry deal for the aforementioned NFL Sundays, and it’s alright.
There was one bartender on hand, and she doubled as the waitress. It wasn’t too hopping before the Bears game, but it became an issue later. Unless the bartender is an absolute pro – and there are precious few of them in existence – one bartender is almost never enough for a crowded bar. Everyone wins with a second bartender present. Better service, faster refills, better tips, what have you.
I noticed that $ 17 buckets were one of the «specials» advertised for Bears games. I don’t want to pick on McGinny’s, as this silly idea is endemic to bars everywhere, but something needs to be said. Unless you have a group of six, and you all enjoy bad light beer, and you’re all going to drink your individual bottles right away, and you’re only going to see your waitress once every hour, buckets are never a good idea. The type of beer that is sold in buckets is only tolerable when it’s just above freezing and right after being opened. They’d be less of a bad idea if there weren’t some goofy city ordinance about needing to uncap all the beers in a bucket before selling them and bars’ absolute rigidity in adhering to this stupid practice. Fortunately for purveyors of buckets, enough people like stale, shitty beer, so it’s not going anywhere. And in fact, I will pick on McGinny’s a bit, because I was sitting by myself and still given the bucket pitch. I’m thirsty, and a little dumb, but I’m not desperate.
A short walk off the Sedgwick Brown Line stop.

My experience with McGinny’s was a unique and memorable one…
I was visiting Chicago and, through Facebook, found out that a buddy of mine who is an aspiring comic was also in town. He said to meet him at McGinny’s.
After some sketchy navigation and a fair bit of walking — more than I had bargained for, but enjoyable because I got a real sense for Chicago walking through it – I arrived at this quaint bar on West North Avenue.
Given that it was a weeknight, it was no surprise that the only patrons were my buddy and his friends and someone who seemed to be a regular chatting with the lone bartender at the bar.
After finishing a couple of beers (very economical), I went back up for seconds. I noticed that the the bartender and his buddy were watching an old Lakers game from the 1980’s and inquired why. It came out that I was from LA but hated the Lakers — all while being a devote Clippers fan. From that moment on, a friendship was spawned. I ended up abandoning my friend’s group, opting instead to camp out at the bar and talk hoops. Eventually, this lead to free drinks and me and Judd, the bartender’s buddy, heading out on a wild night on the town.
I don’t know how all this pertains to Unilocal,but I guess what I’m trying to say is that the beer is cheap, the surroundings are comfortable, and the clientele and staff couldn’t be any more friendlier.
Next time I’m in Chicago, I’m definitely stopping by.

All I have to say is BACON CHEESE FRIES. Order them.
Other than that… the place is just alright. Sometimes the waitresses are douchey and sometimes they aren’t. I guess you just luck up if you get a nice one.

First off I thought this bar was going to be filled with a bunch of popped collars because of its location. Don’t have an answer as to why I thought that, just did. I walk in and my buddies are already there with a bucket of buds. Perfect timing, gotta love walking into a bar and there’s already a bucket waiting. The place was pretty empty but it was early and the few other patrons there looked much older. We finish the bucket then leave to go eat up the way and I thought to myself that was an OK bar and I guess it draws a low key crowd.
After dinner we go back to this place and walk in and its filled with girls. For a minute thought it was girl night. The thing with being in a bar with a bunch of girls is that as a dude you assume the majority of them are on their guard and one will probably snub you and if she does then most likely the other girls see it and probably all think to themselves «well I cant talk to that guy because that other girl didn’t find him interesting» but that wasn’t the case at this bar. All the girls were friendly and chatty and some almost too chatty. Turns out some of them were from Second City and were sketch comics.
Talk about trying to be funny when the girl your chatting with is probably funnier than you and gets paid for it. I guess for already being drunk from dinner, and the fact that people in the bar were pretty friendly and easy to talk to, I give this bar an OK review and would go maybe go back because we didn’t get to utilize the patio since it was rainy and it seemed cool. Oh and one more thing, do not do the grape bomb special unless you like Benadryl cough medicine and gagging.

Meh. I’ve been to McGinnys on two occasions. The first time, we stopped in after the Air & Water show this past summer, just to avoid traffic. We didn’t eat, but had a few beers, and the bartender was portly, angry, and possessed a snotty demeanor. Why you ask? I don’t know; I guess Curves cancelled her membership.
Now, our second visit was this past Saturday after a charitable kickball tournament for kids with Cancer. Afterwards, most of the teams met up at McGinnys. Granted, it was a beautiful day, and McGinnys does have a great outside patio with HD TV’s — 2 STARS only for the outside setup.
Frustrated that they were understaffed, I went inside to the bar to get some drinks. I asked what the specials they were offering. Tall, ugly bartender who was a true BITCH, said in a pissed off tone «Domestic buckets for $ 17.» Okay, so I was thinking what the «special» here was – $ 17 for a domestic bucket? Funny!
Neverthless, I ordered a «special» bucket of delicious Miller Lite & a Blacksmith. Bartender, with a perplexed look asked what a Blacksmith was. Guiness & Smithwicks. She stated «We don’t have that.» I looked at the taps, and corrected her. Obviously, disgruntled, she asked another employee what I was talking about. I flagged her, and politely asked her to waive the troublesome Blacksmith and that the bucket of diet Miller would be just fine.
When leaving, I asked for my tab. Tall, ugly (looks & personality) bartender with an attitude, ran my credit card and threw it on the counter. BAD SERVICE & BAD ATTITUDE = BAD TIPS!
I have NO desire to return, ever!

This place is all about the patio. It’s off to the side of the bar, but raised above street level and surrounded by a brick wall for the semi-​private feeling. I kind of felt like a spy, watching all the semi-​naked people walk, run, or bicycle by while they didn’t even know I was there. It’s a buffet!
The food and drink offerings are standard bar fare. The place is ridiculously understaffed, so on a weekend afternoon, the bartender was also the food and cocktail waitress. This was fine until midafternoon when she got slammed and service went in the toilet. Not really her fault, though. The kitchen is tiny, and it looked like there was one guy working in there. C’mon McG, pony up for a couple of extra employees!
The inside of the bar is kind of dark and cramped, and the day I was there, full of the standard Old Town crowd. A dicey mix. If I was forced to sit inside, my head would explode or I would end up punching someone in the throat. I’m just sayin’.

I like McGinny’s Tap. They make the best steak tacos ever (well, the best that I have ever had in a bar) and the beer is cheap and cold. They also have Absolut Ruby Red, which is my new favorite summer drink.
I love the beer garden patio outside. It’s close to the street, but surrounded by a brick wall and raised up so you don’t feel like people are staring at you as they walk by. Also, they have TV’s outside if you want to watch the Cubs/​Sox game.

Is this where you go to hunt the elusive cougar?
tis the question in the minds of many on this fair day in July.
Was it Zak’s birthday or the anniversary of the day he hit on cougars successfully or unsuccessfully? I don’t know.
But you don’t really need to know what you’re celebrating to have a good time right? I just know that Amy’s friend Jewel (wink) made cake and cupcakes and Vodka and lemonade were special and present ($ 5).
Cool.

Oh McGinnys!
I have been here before about three times. It seems to be pretty empty everytime I go and the inside tables always look disorganized and crooked. I understand that people push tables together if they have a big crowd but someone needs to put them back to normal when that big group leaves… you look so unkempt McGinnys!
The patio is the best part. There is a brick wall that divides the bar from the sidewalk but its only about chest high so there is still an easy view of north ave and people walking by… unfortunately said wall makes me think people can’t hear me when I run my mouth but oh yeah they sure can, I get evil stares and then I remember that they can hear me because they are only about 2 feet away from me… my bad McGinnys. Liquid courage I guess…
The service was okay, the waitress seemed a bit frazzled because she was the only one handling about 50 people. The food, I had the veggie tacos and they were good but seeing Mandi eat the steak tacos made me wish I had ordered them! They seemed so delicious.
I’ll be back one day, if nothing but the fix those darn tables!

One waitress in the whole place on a Friday night? C’mon McGinny’s get it together :)
However, I will say she made a very valiant effort to keep everyone happy. It was not her fault that the food was lackluster. (Duh, it’s a bar, I know, I know, but the sandwiches were all so dry that we had to ask for dipping sauce… for our sandwiches/​burritos/​burgers). She managed to get everyone’s order right and keep the drinks coming… so for that, bravo to you single waitress on a Friday night, bravo.
But seriously, this is a bar in a rather well pounded part of town on a Friday night, near a movie theater, Old Town and Second City. One person hardly seems adequate.
The layout is fine for a bar, comfy enough, large enough to accommodate a large group, which we had. Clean enough, though a bit rough around the edges. Decent juke box, bar-​side games to keep everyone happy.
I noticed an outside patio, which would have been a great way to sip away the evening had it not been 12 degrees. I’ll have to check back in the summer months…
Until then, yeah it’s a bar, and it’s got a good location… I just suggest dining elsewhere if you can :)