The Anthem

Our first stop in Chicago!
Based on the waitresses suggestions I had my first old fashioned here! I found myself ordering these throughout my trip.
They had a DJ playing really loud which I found odd for the type of place and the time we went in. At 9pm I don’t expect music blaring in my face just yet but maybe that’s just me. We opted to go elsewhere for food.

Would not recommend this for Hawks fans. Unlike the Google search we did prior to going that named this one of the top Blackhawks bars, they would not put the game on tonight until the blowout Packers game (38 – 8) was over — which by the way meant Hawks fans would miss the entire first period. This is Chicago! We will not be back and will not recommend this to any Chicago sports fans.

Great place to watch a game. The staff at anthem were great — they for sure are the reason I would come back. Chad was super friendly and gracious, there are tons of tvs, and some apps are pretty cheap (and delicious) — the rest of the menu is a little expensive, but the food was good!

Sat there for just under 10 minutes at 5pm. They were dead… yet no one seemed to care. Needless to say, My friend and I walked out. Shitty service. Went across the street to Zakopane… GREAT dive bar! It’s cheap and Anna is a great bartender.

Me and my friends got wings as the appetizers and I ordered the buffalo wrap and he ordered the southwest wrap! The wings were delicious! My friend and I’s wraps were really good, only company is the chicken was kinda of dry but bearable! The chips and French fries were very good and crunchy! I also ordered a Long Island which was as well pretty good! Will come back again!

We were passing by this place on our way to another lunch spot but decided to give Anthem a try instead. We were warmly greeted and seated on their patio (which is dog friendly), ordered drinks and shortly thereafter some food. The drinks arrived quickly, but after waiting almost 30 minutes, we inquired after the food. Unfortunately, someone dropped the ball and the food order somehow wasnt put into the system. This is where most people (me included) get disappointed, but the waiter handled it really well and within about 5 – 10 minutes our food arrived. They were very apologetic and «comped» the food. The sign of well trained staff and an owner that cares is how they perform when somethimng goes wrong. These guys did it right. By the way, the food was excellent!

The only reason for 3 stars: China the waitress. She is rude and condescending to customers and always has a scowl/​angry look on her face which makes me wonder why/​how she works in the service industry. For reference: I was once with a group of 5 others on the patio, she was serving us. The table next to us (also around 5 people) struck up a conversation with us about how rude the waitress was! We continued making eye contact after every time she came by. We couldn’t get over it. It’s that bad. These consistently negative experiences (3 – 4 times) with the same waitress make me question returning to Anthem.
Besides that: Anthem is a bro-​y sports bar in wicker park where you can always catch the sport of the season on one of their 100 (exaggeration) flat screens. Good food, good beer, nice patio and open air interior in the warmer months. Nice staff too, with one exception. Sadly I can’t think anthem without thinking about my negative experiences with her.

My Saturday night @The Anthem: I had a great time because of the people I was with, but this is a «I JUST TURNED 21» FRAT BOY HOTSPOT. So drinks are spilling all over the place as guys gather enough beer balls to shove people out of the way in their hot pursuit to talk to girls, yup I witnessed this first hand at The Anthem.
Service: No service here its a free for all. at least it might as well be. I was with a group of 10 and we were there for about 2hrs and as we finished our last drinks (which we all got at the bar) a server surprises us with menus and asks if we would like to order anything to eat, that didn’t happen.
To be honest people who worked here Saturday night didn’t give off the vibe that they worked here, they blended in with the crowd so nicely by being loud conversing, flirting, cursing, etc. (if it weren’t for the red t-​shirts, and the bartenders having to actually stand behind the bar you wouldn’t know anyone worked here). I say this with the exception of the guy checking IDs at the front, he actually stood by the door the whole night and checked everyone. One of my friend’s almost didn’t get in because she couldn’t find it (she did find it) but he did his job.
I gave 2 stars instead of one for the size of this place, despite the shoving and drunken drink spilling that went on here, we were able to get a table real quick, and the girls bathroom was clean.

Ill show up to catch a Bulls game here any day of the week. Its a sports bar with of course plenty of TVs and sports to catch while enjoying a dope turkey sandwich that looks like Shrek himself would make. Well rounded beer selection catering the basics to Chicago’s finest flags like Une Anne and some Revolution of course. Back to food, a juicy Lucy can be the way to go stuffed with cheese or a BBQ chicken flatbread that I can never finish by myself. Still hungry!!! They got a Twinkie, yes a Twinkie. Who wouldn’t. While you scarf this down, watch em make sure that you can enjoy Stacey Kings zingers and music instead of another terrible Bud light commercial, no I am not up for what happens next.

Great environment to watch the Hawks bring home the Stanley Cup — for the most part.
We were told by management to arrive as early as possible as no more reservations were being taken, so someone in our party arrived at 3:50 (they open at 4) and there was already a line to get in. I actually thought it was a good thing, means the bar will be packed with Hawks fans and a great loud party!
When I arrived at 4:30, the bouncer was already telling people standing room only. Luckily, my main squeeze had a table ready and waiting.
There were some logistical issues, we had a table for 4 and one of the girls in our party had to wait in line outside in the rain due to capacity issues. When we told our server, she helped to get our friend inside, as we already had a seat waiting for her. Definitely a communication issue (or lack of listening) on the part of the bouncer.)
They may need to have their sanitation systems checked, apparently, the kitchen flooded during the game, causing them to shut down. I get there was a lot of rain, but shouldn’t there be systems in place to prevent that?
The crowd can be a little douchey, yeah. I expected to get covered in beer if we won, I didn’t expect the table next to us to start table surfing, causing all of the GLASS bottles to crash to the floor, cutting my foot. Yeah, yeah, don’t wear sandals. How about don’t be a d*bag and essentially throw bottles on the floor?
Worst part by far was the food — which was great while I was eating it, but made me violently ill (I’ll spare you the details) within an hour or so of being home.
So.
Food — 0 stars.
Ambiance — 5 stars (for Hawks games.)
Crowd — 2 – 3 stars
Service — 4 stars

People knock on this place all the time who have never even been here.
Best wings in the city. It’s a bold statement but true. Friendly neighborhood bar — the bartenders, door guys and waitresses are always friendly. They remember my friends and myself and are always great.
Great place to watch games in the summer with the patio and they TV’s everywhere.
My only drawback is that they don’t have that many beers on tap.

Fun, lively environment. Our waitress was super nice and sweet– 5 stars for her. She was attentive on a busy Saturday night.
The food was «meh». Nothing spectacular. Just more of the same over priced bar food, that is advertised as being spectacular when it’s not.
3 stars is mainly for the food. Burger was bland and boring, fries were –fries…so what if their shaped like mini waffles.
5 stars for the TV’s!!! Huge screens everywhere. Watching sports at this bar was really nice. No squinting to see the score even sitting in their sidewalk patio seating.
Also very nice beer selection, always a plus.
3 stars for the clientele. .I’m getting old so I guess dining with extremely drunk obnoxious people is not my thing anymore. But if it’s yours this is the place for you. I do not fault the business for this, just want to inform.
3 stars is mainly for the food. Everything else was decent to good. Again the TV’S for watching events are great!

2.75 stars
I used to live around the corner on Division & Hermitage when the place kept changing names 2 – 3 times within a 1.5 year span (I recall Fuel and a Japanese place). A year or so after I moved this place opened up on a street where actual cool places existed (have since closed due to these type of places popping up and the gentrification of the area). I often refused to come here until last Friday as it was the closest place that had available seating to get a drink after watching a show @ Chopin Theater.
The place is exactly what I thought it was… brochacha palace!
TVs from every angle (not that bad of a thing) which is good for playoffs and March Madness tourneys. I think they open the windows in the warmer months so that itself is a plus
The music is so loud we had to scream @ each for conversation which is def not cool. They give you big ass water cups; so big that I had to stick my mouth into the cup to find the very short straw. I would like my straw to extend well beyond the top of the cup please. They surprisingly had a pretty decent whiskey list. Would I come back? I dont know

Was really hoping to find a good bar to call my own for Blackhawks games after recently moving to the city.
Food was really good, lots of TVs, but our server killed the whole experience. Stopped by our table maybe 5 times throughout the 2.5hr game. Dropped off our check when the game ended but then proceeded to not come near our table again for 20mins. Flagged down another server to try and cash us out because ours was was standing and talking with another table. When our waitress was handed our bill, by the other server, she proceeded to finish talking to her table for another couple mins before cashing us out.
This is a situation where, coming from the service industry myself, I would have at least liked to «feel» like we mattered, even if we didn’t. Just, really soured my first experience and I guess I’ll keep looking for that bar to call home.

Let me start by saying we didn’t order food, started drinking early afternoon on St Patrick’s day, with a party that started with 5 & grew to 25. Decent selection of liquor. The service was efficient. The décor in the restaurant was confusing. Obviously going for a vintage theme with old sports flags but it didn’t quite work. The setup & restrooms were adequate. Server was friendly & if she was overwhelmed with our obnoxious group, it didn’t show. We were pretty much the only patrons & had the place to ourselves most of the afternoon & early evening. We had a pleasant experience but nothing that stood out from any other bar.

This place claims to be a Michigan State bar in Chicago and that is not the way many of us felt for the Sweet 16 game. The manager refused to play the State basketball game on the big TV in our half of the bar. After multiple complaints and many of us threatening to leave, the manager finally put the State Sweet 16 game on. I will not be coming back here EVER again after today’s experience.
EDIT: I gave this bar a second chance for the Elite 8 game with some friends. The GM came up to me and asked «if I had a problem» and proceeded to fight with me about the above review. After I explained what led to my review he began cursing and telling me to ‘change the f — ing review’ or take it down. Instead of exhibiting any form of hospitality or customer service, he asked me why I was even there again. I asked him to stop swearing at me and he got our check and told us to leave!
I would have been happy to change or delete my review had the GM actually been reasonable and showed some customer service, but he was aggressive, completely inappropriate, and out of line from the beginning of our exchange. I DO NOT support establishments that are managed by people like this man. I will absolutely never return to this bar.

The anthem is an alright place mainly for watching sports. I didn’t get food here and drink prices were about normal. There were about six beers on tap. Normal Chicago stuff.
Bartender was sneezing a lot and blowing his nose into a napkin. This is alright until he proceeded to make drinks, handle food, and basically touch all the liquors behind the bar without washing his hands once. Handling ice for drinking bare-​handed as well. Our luck, there was another bar tender.
**update**
Bartender is now coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth at all. Pretty gross and unsafe at this point.

This place is great and the service couldn’t be better!!! We had the pleasure of being served by Samantha who is an absolute doll! She was very attentive and extremely helpful. She made excellent food recommendations based on what we were looking for including their signature burger the «Juicy Lucy». O M G that burger!!! So delicious! We originally ordered just one round of sliders but after the first we HAD to have another! The bartender that evening is a true professional. Very skilled and makes EXCELLENT cocktails! This place is great if you want to watch a sporting event or just drop by for a bite! If you don’t love this place I’m sorry… Your crazy! Lol thanks Chad and Samantha for a wonderful evening!

Oh my god. The Jucy Lucy is amazing. This isn’t a place you’ll go to for foodie-​style delicate cuisine, but if you’re in the mood for a great burger definitely go for the Jucy Lucy. Wow. Also, the waffle fries were cooked perfectly. My hubby and I shared just this one entrée and we were stuffed — so great value for the money!
The staff is super attentive, we were there in a large group for a going away party and everyone was moving around but the servers always make sure we had a full drink in our hands and kept all of our different tabs straight which was really nice.
I highly recommend this place!

I thought I had hit a low point with the Anthem when they had been progressively going down to two stars, but I was wrong… Yesterday evening, I decided to give it another chance. In previous weeks, Anthem had hosted a trivia night on Wednesdays run by Brain Sportz. In their weekly Facebook blast, Brain Sportz had tagged the Anthem, indicating they were going to be having trivia there. I love trivia, and the Anthem is close to my place, so I thought to myself, why not? Figured I’d make a date out of it.
I walked into the Anthem to find familiar surroundings. The place was dead, with maybe 8 people in the whole bar. I thought to myself, it’s our lucky night! We will surely win trivia. However, the hostess basically had no idea what I was talking about and said they hadn’t done trivia there in months.
Get your shit straight. If you don’t do trivia, don’t advertise that you do! If you enjoy burned attempts at juicy lucys, ridiculous wait times for food and drinks, a poorly stocked drink/​beer list, plus clueless service and management, this is your kind of bar. Thank God the ownership has Bangers across the street, because I’m convinced the Anthem would have closed by now if they didn’t… Surely I will not be returning.