I love coming here for lunch or happy hour! One of my favorite go-to dishes is the Orchard Salad;…read moreit's always fresh & delicious. Their happy hour Monday through Friday from 4-6 PM is a great deal, and you can't beat the views! It's such a beautiful spot to relax, enjoy a drink, and take in the lakefront atmosphere. Definitely worth checking out!

I came here for a site inspection for work, and stayed at their restaurant for lunch and it was a…read moregreat experience! Anna gave us a wonderful tour of the event space and then we had lunch, also with great service. We both had salads for lunch and they were full of flavor and presentable. (Great with allergies) lastly, the views were beautiful of Lake Michigan!

I've been dancing here for about 2 months. At first, I was nervous, since I have NO dance…read moreexperience. I have experience with music and a lot of energy, and I needed a new hobby since my work was taking up all of my time, and I needed a way to de-stress. When I found TextureDance in my neighborhood, I decided to give dance a try, since it was convenient for me, and dancing always looked fun. I have LOVED going here! I didn't really know what to expect when I started dancing, but this place managed to exceed my expectations. Damon is a fantastic dance instructor. Even though he's a very experienced and skilled dancer, he is great at explaining things to beginners, and encouraging everybody to do their best, regardless of skill level. Every time I go to a class, I leave feeling great, and my body feels excellent for the rest of the night after having a good workout. Since starting here, I have gotten myself back in much better shape. I use the monthly membership option, where I get unlimited classes for 30 days, then register again. This option has been great, as it's allowed me to go to 3-4 classes a week, as my schedule allows. They're great for people with busy schedules, since you can attend as many or as few classes as you can, and you can register for each one individually. Anyway, I just want to encourage anyone who's in Chicago and wants to learn to dance, or to get in better shape, try TextureDance! It's a great environment for everyone, regardless of your level of experience.

Listen - I don't ever offer bad reviews, and I try to be kind. I'm also aware that *my* specific…read moreexperience is rare, so I'm sure *you* will probably have a great time dancing here, but I just had to share my personal experience. Two vogue classes I've taken here were low-key kind of traumatizing for me. I've been dancing for a while and I normally enjoy my dance classes, but I hate the way that Damon often attacks the idea of masculinity in this class and it left me feeling deeply disrespected as an enby person. I hadn't felt that energetically misaligned and uncomfortable in a space in 10 years. I felt pressured to mask autistic traits because I was singled out for not masking those traits, making the environment very ableist. That day, I felt on the non-speaking spectrum and it was like he was trying to explain to me what was happening in the room socially, as if I didn't know. I *did* know, I just did not want to engage in the social dynamics as an autistic person who came to dance, not to socialize verbally that night. I feel perfectly fine not "fitting in" in a space, just let me not fit in! Just let me exist! I felt consistently projected upon instead of *seen*. I came in, confident and empowered as usual, and left feeling worse. My favorite vogue teacher here only teaches advanced classes now and I'm looking to figure out how I can test into her class so I can continue having an autistic-friendly, enby-friendly voguing space again.

Very cute theatre and has great prices and concession stand! My favorite nachos !! way better than…read moreAMC

this place is awesome. calm, quiet, well appointed. I love it. and the connections are scrump!read more

Found this gem by accident when I was walking around in this neighborhood but soo glad that I…read moredecided to check this place out. Come here for 1. Great shows - they seem to have shows almost everyday. I went for the stand up at 730 pm on a Saturday and it was great with a lot of out of town performers. there was a live music show after 9 too. 2. Affordable drinks. Most of their beer selection were reasonably priced for the area and they had weekend specials ( $2 hamm's, etx.) 3. Diverse and entertaining crowd.

Multiple friends were telling me about the events at this bar. Came in on Monday night to hear a…read morejazz band. It was a big band style jazz band with many members. The way my friends were describing it didn't initially think of it as a dive bar+ corner tavern. It's definitely a dive lol! There are some craft beer options, few ciders. Some liquor bottles, bitters. It's not a cocktail bar though. I really enjoyed listening to the big band. Ordered a high life, old fashioned, gimlet. There was too much simple syrup in the old fashioned. I was impressed by inclusion of large cube. Looks like they sell frozen pizza as well.

A passionate, Chicago based theatre company. Halcyon is dedicated to producing works by women as…read morewell as other underrepresented communities. Halcyons casts, crew, and productions are as beautiful and diverse as the Chicago. Halcyon Theatre was formed in 2006 to connect people, transform our borders and ascend toward a more just union. Halcyons mission is "to be fiercely committed to making the stage as diverse as the city of Chicago--presenting new voices from inadequately represented communities and recasting classic works to showcase their contemporary relevance". Halcyon believes that no artist can fully represent a community; however, a community of artists can. Halcyon works continuously to connect artists and organizations from across all of our communities to accomplish their mission. I have seen Halcyon continue to grow over the past four years and respect that they have not lost site of their mission. Halcyon has a radical hospitality program -- which means that a portion of tickets for each performance are set aside for FREE first come first serve seating. For many a $20 ticket is a huge barrier to entry and Halcyon has made sure that anyone who wants to come and experience theatre can and is welcome to do so. Halcyon Theatre has their own space on the third floor of Christ Lutheran Church (Wilson and Spaulding) in Albany Park. Two blocks west of Kedzie Ave and two blocks north of Montrose Ave. For performances, use the side entrance on Spaulding Ave. Theatre is one block south of the Kedzie Ave. brown line station (exit at the Spaulding Avenue side.) It is also within two blocks of the #78 Monrose bus, the #81 Lawrence bus and the Blue Line via the #82 Kimball/Homan bus.

Imagine you're at a party. Quirky theme. Fun vibe. All of a sudden, a woman kills the music and…read moretells everyone at the party that she miscarried a week ago. Before you have time to understand what just happened, the music clicks back on. Someone yells "let's do a line dance!" No one misses a beat. Everyone starts dancing. You are bewildered and vaguely upset. You consider joining the dance, but you can't because the music clicks off again. A guy grabs a mic talks about how his uncle assaulted him when he was 14. You begin to think that maybe this party isn't intended to be fun. But then, suddenly, the party music clicks back on and someone shouts "let's play musical chairs!" It goes on like this. If you ever begin to enjoy yourself, you know that at any second a partygoer will cut the electricity and monologue about gun violence or Palestine or climate change. You try to wrap your head around it. Maybe it's supposed to be a critique of parties in general? Before you can figure it out, the party is over. Everyone says they loved it. Anyway, that's what the Infinite Wrench feels like. $25 bucks. 5 stars I guess I don't know anymore.

This review is for the theater itself, not the performing group…read more The entrance to the Neo-Futurarium Theater is on Ashland Thrift the red doors in the middle of the building. Then you climb three flights of stairs (I did not see an elevator), down a long corridor to head into the waiting area. This has been the permanent performance space since 1992 of the Neo-Futurist Theater company. The theater is a comfortable size and seats from 140-154. We saw a performance of That's Weird Grandma's 25th Birthday. It's not the worst, and it's not the nicest theater that we've ever been in, but, it looks like the whole building is in sore need of refurbishment. It does seem to be the perfect venue for experimental theater.

I would see anything by this company. Caged Dames at the Wit was hilarious The use of puppets was…read moreinnovative and endearing

I have a degree in English Literature. I took opera lessons as a child. I have been to the Prado…read moreand the Musee D'orsay. Yet somehow Hell in a Handbag Productions knows JUST what trashy and tacky pop culture button to press for my maximum lowbrow pleasure. I just attended their fourth annual screening The Poseidon Adventure at the Music Box for NYE. Best NYE ever! Great crowd, charmingly smarmy host (sloppy smooches to the one and only Dick O'Day), and signature outbursts of drunken public irreverence. My favorite part of the evening was the fact that the audience was encouraged to yell "Shut the f*ck up!" whenever a particular character said his lines. For some reason, bellowing "Shut the f*ck up!" at the top of my lungs with a bunch of other classless moviegoers cracked me up everytime. I also will say without a trace of irony that attending their "Sing Along Xanadu" was one of the greatest nights of my life. Say what you will, scoffers and haters, but Xanadu is AWESOME. The soundtrack is like sugar-spun clouds of sassy sunshine with a twist of fabulousless. And screeching the lyrics along with other inebriated Xanadu enthusiasts gave my life purpose and meaning. You deign to disagree? Shut the f*ck up! Other notable productions include an interactive Mommy Dearest (can you imagine the sheer joy of howling, "No wire hangers, EVER!") , as well as a staged version of The Poseidon Adventure. It's not Shakespeare, but so what? The HIAH crew hustles like a one-armed paper hanger to ensure everyone has a good time. And that, dear reader, is more than good enough for me.

Another cool spot I have discovered on my way to the Alamo Drafthouse, it is like the gift that…read morekeeps on giving. The Queen and I are regulars at Alamo and usually take Clark Street to get there. The space that The Check Out is in use to be a 7-Eleven, then a hang out for the cops to get you when you sped down Clark once the 7-Eleven closed. Not sure when they opened, but going to The Alamo one night, The Queen and I saw the lit sign advertising a live performance, so I thought I would go online and see what they were about. On their website they state they are the only dedicated chamber music venue on Chicago's North Side. As I was looking at their website, I saw that they had an upcoming performance of the score from A Charlie Brown Christmas Special with the Kevin Fort Trio. For me Xmas is all about two main things for putting me in the mood: watch the Charlie Brown show and The Grinch (original). Those are two things I have to see. So an opportunity to hear the score in person was something I wanted to hear as I am a big fan of Vince Guaraldi. The price of tickets were not bad as I purchased a Family ticket for $41, for four seats. The Check Out has a small parking lot, which makes sense since it was a 7-Eleven. I had to pay $10 for parking (didn't know I had to) but was lucky to get one. I noticed that there were two spots marked for Spot Hero, so I will keep that in mind. The venue is located right at the 22 Clark Street bus stop where Southport joins Clark, so public transportation is an option as well as street parking. As The Queen and I walked into the venue, we were greeted by a nice woman who scanned our barcode for the tickets. The space itself is small, seating maybe 50-60 people. There were table throughout the space, with four chairs around each one, although it looked like there was a row of chairs towards the back. There is also small bar where you can purchase beer, wine, cocktails, mocktails and a variety of alcoholic/non-alcoholic slushees coffee/hot chocolate and snacks. We were pointed in the direction of several tables in the front that had reserved signs on them for parties of four, which was in front of the musicians. The performance itself was just wonderful as this was my first exposure to this jazz trio. I was very impressed with their arrangements of some of the selections and asked after the performance if there was a plan to record and release them, they were that good. It was also interesting to hear in between selections the back story of how the Christmas Special and the score came into fruition. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening of live music. If you are a fan of live musical events and intimate spaces, this is the place for you. There is a website where you can see the upcoming events and tickets are stored on an app called Dice, which was easy to use. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for upcoming events and just booked a ticket for an event in January 2026 while doing this review. Looking forward to it.

I love this place! After a year in our neighborhood, I can say they've made it a better place! From…read moreclassical music to jazz to cabaret, to a monthly sing along series for singers at any level, they have become a go to place for live music in our community. I'm so glad you took that empty 7-11 and created a listening room (with bar) from it. I'm your number one fan!