The Joynt

Just re-​opened at 440 N State. Bigger and better than ever.

Had great fun in this place, twice. It changes much from a weekday to Fri-​Sat; either way it was one of my favorite places to go to when in Chicago. This location however has closed and was supposed to relocate but didn’t. Too bad, it was a good one.
On the bright side, we are talking about Chicago so you still have plenty of great places to go.

The Joynt is really fun but only sometimes. Some nights the music is good and the atmosphere is fun. But other times, you find yourself wondering why you’re there. The crowd is older on some nights which isn’t a bad thing. Its fun to remember that older folks like to party too. :) If you want to just have a few drinks, people watch or do some dancing, this is a good choice!

I went here with my friend and it was a nice classy place. I seen a lot of old timers here but I didn’t care because I just didn’t want to be harassed by young men. Wings are good!

Came here on a Saturday night without a reservation JUST before it got busy. After some negotiation, the girls in our group were let in without the $ 10 cover, but the guys didn’t get so lucky. We were seated at a table with the promise of a 2 drink/​person/​hour minimum… which we ended up doing, but it seemed a bit uptight. That said, they did have amazing live music, and it ended up being a fun place to hang out. Next time I’ll try a Tuesday evening though.

FRAUDULENT THEFT. This establishment does not accept credit cards, so therefore we used the ATM to withdrawal money. After 2 declines and waiting 4 minutes for it to «process», the machine allowed him to withdrawal. This ATM stole my boyfriend’s card information and used it to swipe about $ 600 out of his personal checking account within 2 hours of leaving this bar. This establishment was the only place my boyfriend has used his card at in 2 weeks.

The atmosphere was great. There was a $ 10 cover but it was well worth it. There are three different areas. The life band area was great. They played some really good Jazz songs although they didn’t know any of the ones i requested.
there is also a larger dance floor downstairs for more mainstream music. I went on a Saturday and it was great.
The bartender was super nice!

This is a personal favorite of mine for many reasons… I think its kinda chilled out.
it’s an old style lounge where everyone is just out to have fun.
The guy at the door is friendly and will crack jokes with you and at you (in a good way) when you first walk in.
That does not happen in many places.
I think the best night is Friday Night.
They got a band in the piano lounge that usually starts like at 9:30 or 9:45
Sometimes famous or quasi famous people hang out here.
I was there a few months ago and Chazz Palminteri from «A bronx tale» was there just hanging out doing his thing.
The place when you first come in has a DJ who gets started after 10:30 and he plays 80’s and 90’s dance classics and gets the crowd thumping and
jumping and then it progresses into current dance hits.
Its a good place to let it all hang out and dance on a Friday Night.
Can I dance? maybe. Everyone has good moves after 12 midnight having injested 2 white russians.
It is well worth the cover on Friday and Saturday Nights.
It’s a well dressed crowd

The Joynt is supposed to be part «piano bar» but it’s actually a deafening echo chamber with a bad lounge act on one side masquerading as entertainment and pop music dive bar trying hard to be trendy on the other.
My wife and I were looking for a great piano bar we had never tried for some Saturday night fun while visiting Chicago, so walked in and heard radio hits BLASTING from crackly speakers in the entryway… NOT a good start.
Confused if we were even in the right place, I asked the cover charge girl about the piano bar. She said it was on the other side but $ 10 cover to get in each. I paid the $ 20 and after working our way to the other side and reluctantly ordering a drink, realized this is no «howl at the moon» or even «Red Head» and realized paying the cover had been an expensive experiment to find out the real nature of this dump. Already having decided to leave, We quickly finished our 1 drink which took 5 minutes and asked the covercharge girl for a refund based on the misleading name and description. No luck but she directed me to Russ the the mafioso who was outside the front door waiving a bunch of people freely in, past the cover charge station… A refund should’ve been in order, but Russ, with the business sense of a hockey puck, could have fixed things very easily yet chose not to.
SO, Basically we paid $ 35 for 10 minutes of ear torture, 2 lousy drinks, and a lesson to never go back to this place. Thanks Russ!

Great little lounge and bar– live music tonight from Sinatra to the Stones and Rod Stewart. fun wait staff and bartenders… great place to listen to liv e music and dance… small dance floor, have to slam dance because of the size of the dance floor!

Awesome place to go for a drink and some good music. It is a very small Joynt thou.
Live music which was nice. It was an older crowd (but we fit right in!)
Matt Meyer was on the nite we went. Had no place to sit thou. Had to stand by bar area. Was attended to quickly thou. Drinks — 1 Lemon Martin — 1 — Whisky Neat — $ 32.00
It was a nice place. Good to hang out with friends.

I feel this place is okay, but nothing special.
The drinks are usually watered down and a bit pricey. The crowd the times I have been in there is a 40+ crowd. The one time, the singer was pretty good but others the bad was meh.
Certain nights they charge you a cover, not worth it.
I’ve never been in there when the basement was open, the back room is pretty cool.
I don’t know, I might give it one more chance but it hasn’t impressed me so far.

So rude! I don’t give bad reviews very often but this place takes the cake. I came as part of a package last Saturday night. We did come a bit early and there were plenty of tables involved. We asked about getting one and they guy showing us back (really greasy and almost Mafia-​esque) would not let us get a table. He told us that they were all reserved.
The poor cocktail. waitress came by asking us about tables and she said he was the only one who can seat us. We asked about the dancing portion and no one seemed to know anything. We finally were able to get the Mafia-​like guy to give in, but we had to buy 2 drinks plus our free shots in 20 minutes! We decided to be out of there and go next door to Castle. The only saving grace was that the bartender, Anthony, was nice.

I was at The Joynt on a Saturday for a birthday party. I gave the hostess the name of the birthday girl and I was charged a $ 10 cover, not exactly sure what the regular cover is… Anyway it was super crowded, pushing-​past-​and-​squeezing-​through-​crowd crowded! The downstairs was closed which meant the musical choices were limited: (
I ordered a lemon drop martini at the bar and it was delicious but then when I ordered from the waitress at the table where the birthday girl was sitting, the lemon drop martini was gross; watered down, no sugar-​rimmed glass and the waitress was pissed when I sent it back! The waitress was really pushy about getting drinks with her and not at the bar, I understand she wants the tips but when the drinks are better at the bar and the waitress is rude…
All in all it was an OK night.

I love this place. Can’t tell you which nights to go because I don’t remember. Yes, wasted that badly. I know one night we went it was a Sunday. I’ve been during live music sessions, I’ve partied in the basement dancing for hours and I’ve chilled upstairs at the bar. Any night, whatever floor, you’ll have a ball. I absolutely love this place. Parking is cool also. Sometimes there is a cover charge but who cares! Nice drinks also.
Funny story… Was there with a guy who was mingling with friends. This other guy, who had to be like 60 invites me to his table for a drink. Ahhh ok. LOL. He is ordering bottles of champagne and tells me get whatever you want. Blah blah blah. My date returns to find me at the table with some senior citizens and had nerve to be jealous! LOL really?

Your Funniest Friends, Saturdays @ 8pm, pretty funny for $ 10 a pop. Walked through the bar on the way to the comedy show downstairs and there were like 3 bachelorette parties going on. so I guess if you’re looking to book a party there maybe make sure they’re not triple booking that time slot. Also ordered chicken fingers with fries and they were tasty for what they are. :)

This place was just ok
Came over because a friend recommended this joint, plus I couldn’t get in to Underground that night. Sort of an older crowd (40s & 50s) on a pre-​St. Patty’s Day evening… not that anything is wrong with that but was just a little shocked.
They have different levels that play different music, which is cool.
Me and my group stayed for maybe 45 mins as we just were not feeling it.
Not sure if I will return… gets really cramped in here FYI…

Hahahah ummm, what to say… the whole experience was «interesting», to say the least! They have a couple of rooms here with different types of music. Oddly enough, none of it is current music (for good measure, they were playing Ja Rule at one point!) and the singers here are even slightly out of tune.
This «joynt» pretty much just feels like a club for 40 somethings. We felt completely out of place here!!! There seemed to be a lot of sugar daddies roaming around for some younger ladies. We enjoyed watching the pick-​up attempts, as well as the unique dancing.hehehe. The waitresses were pretty friendly and even gave us a booth, even though we barely ordered anything. Too bad it was just crowded, difficult to hear, and the whole scene got old pretty quickly. After awhile, there’s only so many renditions of old school soul songs I can take! At least they don’t charge a cover fee for the ladies… but gentlemen, I don’t think you’re missing out on much anyway!

SHAAA-​LARIOUS! This place was F-​U-​N! Mind you, it was Fat Tuesday and it was the end of the night, but we rocked it out.
They have a little band and people were dancing. I think most of the people were either tourists or regulars. It was fun! I definitely say its a last call kind of place :)

I think this is a great venue for various types of performances! The food menu wasn’t extensive but did have vegetarian options. There was no drinks menu though?
The acoustics and seating were both good/​comfortable!