This place is a scam! We paid for bottle service and they tried to move our VIP before we finished our bottle . Super rude super racist. I will be contacting their manager to see about refunding us for their poor customer service. Beware! read more

The service at Joy District is impeccable! The door staff is fantastic and provides the best customer service. Best place to go on a Saturday night in Chicago!!! read more

Came here on a Friday night. There was a long line to get in but no order in who got in and who waited. Strike one. When we finally get to the door we have to decide right then and there if we want to go upstairs or stay downstairs. Fine. Guys had to pay $30 for upstairs or $10 for downstairs. Girls were free. MAKE SURE you get a stamp if you go upstairs or else you [men] pay for nothing. Strike two. Inside was smelly, sticky, and not too jam packed [no reason for there to be a line at the door]. When I got my drink the [plastic] cup was dirty. When I looked at the pile of [plastic] cups on the bar they also all looked muggy and dirty. A couple "washed" cups had lipstick stains. I paid for, but didn't take, a shot because of how nasty those cups were. Strike three. For the cherry on top of an already horrible experience, the girls looked like they were 18 and totally illegal/underage, and the guys looked like they were 40 and creeping on the illegal girls. This place not only sent shivers down my spine but it's attempt at modern decor also made me cringe. Clearly whoever owns it doesn't care about quality over quantity in every regard. Don't even get me started on the two DJ's that night, who literally played the same song four times - without request. COMPLETELY done with this place. Never again will I step foot here for the nightlife. read more

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! The negative reviews here regarding the security staff/bouncers are right on par with this place. I regret ever going Joy District and will not be returning, as I witnessed several unwarranted and very discomforting actions while there. I was personally followed to the restroom by one staffer and "watched" as I relieved myself. I'm not certain as to what this was about, but I felt very uncomfortable. Save your money and go across the street to Celeste. read more

A friend of mine got turned away for dress code after he'd paid. He was wearing button up, nice jeans, and boots. The bouncer told us he could get in if he paid extra, and when we said no thanks he literally said he hadn't paid and wouldn't give him his money back. WTF kind of shit is this. Do not patronize this bullshit establishment. read more

Had a friend in town, wanted to show him a good time. I figured that Joy District would be a good fit, because everyone I work with has had great things to say. I knew there was a club upstairs, and I figured we should check it out at the very least. My reservation was made, and then I called to inquire about the club upstairs. The hostess was great, and she said she'd make sure my friend and I could get a complimentary stamp to go upstairs and enjoy ourselves. We get to Joy District, and the music, service (hospitality and quickness, and everything else was wonderful. My friend and I got some drinks in us over the next hour and half, and we closed our tab. This is where the confusion begins: The hostess on the phone told us to talk to the waitress about the stamp, and then the waitress sent us back to the hostess. The hostess then told us to talk to the door guy who then gave me a 30 dollar quote. As I walked out, I heard him quoting people at 50 dollars. I don't want to sit here and harp on all of this like other reviewers. Good business is honest business...just peep my reviews of Studio Paris and Sub 51. read more

Came here the other night with some friends to check it out! We had dinner downstairs first, we ordered some sushi rolls and some chicken lollipops. Everything was delicious! Then we headed upstairs to the rooftop. The rooftop has a gorgeous view of the city! Our bartender, Colin, recommended we try some of their frozen drinks. I had the frose which was frozen rose! It was delicious. Colin was super attentive and really made our experience at joy special. He recommended we come check out the club on the weekend! Going to come back soon and check it out! read more

LOOOVEE Joy District!!! Me and my girlfriends had dinner here last weekend. This place is so cool! It has a variety of art pieces and good music! Food was GREAT! Our server took good care of us. I dont remember his name but he was very polite with a big smile! I ordered a white Riesling and Crispy Phyllo wrapped tiger shrimp. This is now our Spot! read more

I made a reservation for my 21st hoping the rooftop was open. It was not. When I emailed about my reservation I was told no minimum was required. My friends and I show up and we had a $250 minimum. After being stuck on the first floor (very mediocre) we were charged $101 for 5 vegas bombs. ANNNDDD they couldn't do mixed drinks and we could only choose from the most basic drinks. Sucks how I spent my 21st this way. read more

Bitchy waitress Angelica (or similar) did her best to be a bitch and make me want to leave. For a $75 party, not to be expected.

I think reviews should be short and sweet so let's start by saying Joy District, you should consider investing in some better bartenders. Terrible service in the upstairs club area. Two bartenders were working the bar, one male, one female, neither acknowledged my girlfriend and I, nor cared to express a friendly disposition. Is smiling painful nowadays? These bartenders looked miserable and agitated. Not to mention when both bartenders DID make eye contact with us, they turned away and assisted new customers at the farthest end of the bar even though we'd been waiting 10+ minutes and had gotten there before. Attempted twice to flag them down. No success. Finally, Alpi J took our order, charged us $21 dollars for a vodka soda and beer, only for us to find out from a friend that it was OPEN BAR until 10 P.M. You know, some people might cause a scene over this type of service, but we simply finished our drinks, grabbed our coats, and went to Celeste across the street. Joy District, your atmosphere was fantastic and the bit of performances we saw delightfully entertaining, yet it wasn't enough to wash that acrid taste of first impression away or enough to get us to stay. Customers should be made to feel welcome and if they're not, they'll go somewhere else. It's pretty simple, and as my girlfriend and I are both bartenders, that's something we remind ourselves every time we're behind the bar. Joy District bartenders, maybe you should start to do the same. read more

Joy District - Receipt from date of experience at Joy District - Dance Clubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This was my first experience trying this particular club/restaurant venue in Chicago and I was happily surprised with this experience. I had just moved to River North and wanted to hear more about the scene so a close friend and I went out to the check out the place. Atmosphere - great music selection that catered to the general vibe of the place well. The down stairs has a good restaurant area. The club upstairs was immaculate with some really cool hanging fixtures and pictures on the walls. High-end and lots of beautiful people; I was happy that the place was so stylish. Food- I ordered the Octopus tacos, which I was unsure about at first due to consistency and how different it is, but it ended up being amazing and very tasty. My friend got the NY strip steak which was perfectly cooked. Drinks - I ended up getting the manzinita which was a perfectly sweet cocktail. The bartender was absolutely killing it. My friend said the same about her margarita and I'm not gonna like I stole a few drinks from her!!! Service - aside from the great bartending, the staff was so friendly! Our server lee was an absolute doll and made sure everything came out on time. We were extremely pleased. We are certain to be back after the holiday and I highly recommend trying this spot! It is not often I take yime out of my days to do a review for some random place I tried! read more

I had such a great time, and made a great friend! Our waiter Scott was busy with many tables, but somehow made it to ours before we could think to ask. Thanks Scott, and thank you Joy District. I couldn't be happier. Great food by the way read more

If I could rate this shit show a .03 I would. Horrible horrible process for getting people in and out. Been trapped in the exit process for 30 minutes. Why do uou have stairs when you can't use them? Ridiculous read more

$30 for "brunch" buffet and $50 for all you can drink "mimosas". First drink is a mimosa, everything to follow is 95%OJ so orange it's offensive. Buffet was also blah with mediocre food that resembled a hotel continental breakfast. Server was offensive. Don't know much about Chicago brunch but this isn't how the rest of the country does it. read more

Booked a birthday brunch here for a large group. I called shot District and was immediately given great service by Ezell. He made sure both my sections were booked in a timely manner and provided a bottle list. It was not stressful at all working with Ezell. He is GREAT. If you're looking to book a reservation, ask for Ezell. He'll take great care of you make sure your experience is enjoyable. read more

Pay attention to your bill. Bartender charged me for 4 drinks when I bought 3. They have yet to call me back after 5 attempts to fix it. So I'm disputing the entire bill. It's the principle at this point read more

A total fun place to be. 3 floors and a roof top.. great people all around, great dj selections- We met Amir at the door- very helpful Highly recommend this place for a fun night out in Chicago. read more

The food is amazing! Must try their lollipops (especially the phylo-dough tiger shrimp), brussel sprout salad, creamed corn and truffle mac and cheese gnocchi! The bar/ club upstairs has a great vibe! Whether you want a fun place to dance or a calmer place to sit and talk, it has it all! In summer, the rooftop is also a fun spot to hit in River North! read more

Terrible experience. Period. 9 of us had reservations at 8pm. Got there at 7:30 for a drink. Didn't get seated till 8:45. Ok. Ok. So you're busy understandable it happens... We sit down and proceed to order. We thought we'd splurge a bit since we had some out of town friends with us. The Seafood Tower and the Tomahawk Steak! Yes! ehm.... NO! The steak was not seasoned and over cooked. $225.00 down the drain. Seafood Tower?? Not bad I guess, but ended up not being enough to share with everyone... Sad! had some other pasta dishes to share, which was reasonable and tasty... So definitely asked to see the manager about the food. Not wanting anything in return, but felt obligated at the least to inform them of the quality of the dishes that were served... Manager told the waitress that he was too busy to come see us but that they can give us free dessert... WTF? Give us the check we're done. Left the place at 11:30pm, by the way. Awesome 4 hour dinner. PS Waitress was kind and we felt bad... read more

This is my first yelp review ever. I do not normally take the time to do this but, If i could give 0 stars i would. Absolute worst restaurant experience I've ever had. I came here about a month ago and had a good time. We decided to bring some friends on Saturday night because we enjoyed it the first time. Party of 9 total. First of all, the restaurant was at least 90 degrees. It was cooler outside than it was in the restaurant. We asked the manager about this and he said they were having a/c problems. Ok fine. He came to the table with a small fan, but this was just for show. He told us that he would be setting up fans around and attempting to better the situation. This never happened. Next our server left the table without taking everyones drink order. Once againg this is not a huge deal by itself. I have worked in the service industry and i understand things get hectic. After we finally got our food, they brought one of my friends the wrong dish, he sent this back and asked for what he ordered. 45 mins later, it still never came. When we asked the server about this, she replied with attitude "why dont i just go cook it myself". My friend then told him he did not want the food or her attitude and just to bring the bill. After paying, one of our group is friends with one of the bartenders upstairs and we decided we would go for a drink. For some reason we thought spending more than the hundreds of dollars we'd already dropped was a good idea. We were told that all of the guys would have to pay $20 a head to get upstairs after we all just bought dinner. Upon deciding this was ludacris, we all walked out very unhappy and griping about this. This is when the bouncer outside proceeded to insult us and say "you can't have it all" and then make fun of what peeople in our group were wearing (absurd, everyone was dressed just fine for this establishment). I have never been treated so poorly as a paying customer ina restaurant. We were supposed to go out for to a club and for more drinks after and everyone just wanted to call it quits at that point. My girlfriend and I were both extremely embarrased for bring our friends to a place like this. I went from a satisfied customer to being insulted and embarrassed by this place. I would not reccomend this to anyone that actually wants to have a good evening. They need to re-think their customer service strategy. read more

Atmosphere is super cool... Asian cuisine... specialty drinks served by friendly bartender....happy hour rocks.. Will repeat visit read more

Joy District - Dance Clubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Love the giant cocktails and the rooftop. Will def recommend this place to all my friends when they're in town. Perfect Chicago summer rooftop, I always have a great time here. read more

What's there not to like about joy? You have everything in one building. An amazing restaurant, beautiful rooftop and a very unique club. Great venue to host events and parties. Staff is excellent and the place is always lively. If you haven't already checked out joy district, make sure you do because it's a must! Nothing else like it! read more

Joy District - Did I mention the happy hour?!?! 5$ don Julio 1942 shots. Unheard of! - Dance Clubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Would not recommend their brunch. They've taken a similar road as other popular brunch places in the area(buffet package with optional mimosa package) but food is gross and not a lot of option, and they use cheap Prosecco. read more

The female manager is terrible and incredibly rude and unprofessional. It's apparent no one taught her how to talk to people growing up.

Ah, thank goodness EPIC is over. Love the rooftop- the restaurant was a fail. BUT - Joy District is just bringing JOY. An eclectic menu - I was so happy to have walked in with my husband on a weeknight and it was busy. The restaurant has an edgy feel which introduces a lounge type feel turning into a night life feel as the evening continues! Greeted by two friendly hosts we were seated at a high top and our waitress was excited to serve us. She seemed to be happy in her environment in a new restaurant and loved the chef as much as we did. Matt Wilde brought his international experience and passion to the table. Must Do: Hawaiian Tuna Poke Cones! First the presentation is just gorgeous. What's more important is that fresh tasting tuna diced up perfectly and it just freshens your palette. With the crispiness of the cone - you do feel like you are in Hawaii. Deviled Eggs seem popular here- so I will have to get that on my second trip but the Chef Matt raved about them. I would come with a group so I could try something from each part of the menu. And ask to meet Chef Matt! He's so charismatic! After having a few dishes we had to get the Sundae. And we did get the gold leaf - primarily for presentation. Could have gone without the chocolate covered pretzels but ah, it was so filling and so good! Best SUNDAE in Chicago! They also have very neat cocktails- and they are strong. Get recommendations! Can't wait to return. read more

The food here is average. I could cook any of their dishes basically. We ordered the Spare rib lollipop, they brought us the Shrimp. We finally got the Spare rib, and it was the best thing we had. We shared a steak and the Pork Loin sandwich, Just okay. The service was acceptable. The servers were young women, who did not seem to know much about food or the menu. We went upstairs after dinner to check out the rooftop. A lot of young people,who were very loud and rude. I guess I'm too old for this place. No thanks. read more

Went Friday night for happy hour $7 dollar shots can't go wrong with that. Music was great had a great mix of Modern and 2000s music on. Can't wait to go back. read more

I love Joy District, the food and drinks are so good. Me and my girls had the Moscow Mule & our fav appetizer was the lollipop chicken. Music is poppin and very good looking crowd comes here. read more

Fun spot but we spent $1300 and were rushed off. 2 bottles, shots and drinks but were told they needed the table for a res. Manager was too busy to talk to us. Will gladly blow my stacks elsewhere going forward. read more

I was visiting Chicago with my bestie and we heard about this place. Seemed alright, the music was good. I was chatting with a bouncer and after a while I asked if I could smoke a cigarette. He told me sure light it up and before I knew it this other bouncer that looked like the Mountain from game of thrones told me I had to leave. What was that all about!!???!??? It was already almost 2 in the morning so it wasn't such a big deal. What a douche. They really need to get the whole staff on the same page. If you're reading this Mountain You SUCK!!! read more

Pretentious and rude. I used to like this place but they're racist and terrible. We came in, 3 girls, and they gave us a stamp to go to the rooftop. We walk up to the secobnd floor and the guy tells us that's the wrong stamp and to go back to the bouncer and he goes "no you can't go up we close in TWO HOURS" and then instantly let's three blond girls in. When I addressed that, he goes well I don't know. TERRIBLE. Sorry I'm not blond and showing my butt and boobs. Won't be back, don't recommend anyone to go either read more

Well, what to say about this place? Let's put it nicely... This is your run of the mill river north bar. I've heard the rooftop is pretty cool. But just speaking on the floor level. Decent music, overly crowded, and a mixture of people just off of work and tourists. I will give it a point for an alright happy hour. But I just couldn't get into the place. Like I said, there are literally about 20 other bars in River North just like it. read more

I took my boyfriend here for brunch and we both loved it! You should probably book a reservation a couple days before, however if is possible to walk in with a small group 2-4. We were taken to the second floor which included a small bar and DJ. It was a fun, uplifting atmosphere so I recommend coming here with a small group of friends. We ordered the $30 brunch and $20 unlimited mimosa deal which was SO GOOD! The brunch included hot salmon, ribs, pulled pork, sausage, eggs, bacon, shrimp, make your own omelette station, waffle bar, cereal bar, and an amazing array of desserts with marshmallows, donuts, cupcakes, etc. The total for 2 people was 118 dollars including tip. read more

Checked it out this past weekend. I was there at night and didn't eat there. Here's what you need to know. 3 floors including the rooftop. -1st floor is a chill environment. Good ambience and you can have an actual conversation. -2nd floor is more clubby. If you ask anyone about this place, they will mention the moving vertical chandeliers. They are pretty impressive. Gives a good vibe and energy for the night. -3rd floor/roof is really cool. It is well lit. Really bright and large. They also play music up there too. It is another chill environment. But beware roof closes at 11:30 pm. Definitely going back. you are going to hear a lot about it soon which is what lead you to reading my review in the first place, so go check it out. read more

Finally made it to Joy district for lunch, dinner, and late night drinks. They've done an amazing job with the renovations and have really taken advantage of the space, making all levels including the roof accessible. (Makes you think, WTH were you doing Epic??)They also have two half floors that are considered lofts. One overseeing the dining room and the other overseeing the 2nd floor dance floor. Each room/floor makes you feel as if you were in a different bar. The decor is a very eclectic blend made up of colorful suede, images and paintings of women, and changes from room to room while staying in the same central theme. A place to go for a good Happy hour that leads you into late night. I'd like to add that the food is amazing, the menu has a fun circus like twist serving Tuna tataki in a waffle cone and their deviled eggs in egg cartons. Management did an amazing job getting this place up to speed. In less than a month or so, I can tell they've made a good reputation! read more

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This place is so cute! Great for dinner, but also has an awesome cocktail list if you're just looking for some drinks. The bartenders are super friendly (and have cool haircuts). It's great for date night or a girls night out. Awesome music and atmosphere! read more

Joy District - Dance Clubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Fun bar, but I used their coat check for the first time and they gave my North Face parka away. When I checked back in (in person) the next day, they said there was nothing matching my description downstairs and that was that. read more

I went to Joy for the first time as part of Sunday Funday with friends - the rooftop is officially one of my favorites! The artwork, stringed lights and comfortable booths make for a great place to go and enJOY (get it? haha) all that Chicago has to offer. As it got later the lights of the city light up around the rooftop and the ambiance only gets better. We danced, drank, and had a great time. The crowd was a mix of hipster, people read to full on go clubbing, casual Sunday Funday people and a couple people who clearly had migrated down from the Pride Parade which was happening that day as well. I will be back for sure! read more