We came here for a celebration, visiting from out of state and realized how busy this place can get. It is a very diverse crowd, ranging from ages 21-60s. It was so interesting to people watch and also participate in karaoke. It felt like a judgement-free zone, which gave me the courage to go up and sing. I like that the place is crowded, but not crazy. We secured our spots by coming in early. The bartenders were nice and the drinks were reasonably priced. It is not a fancy bar, it is a "mom & pop's" hence the name Mom's Place. We didn't get a chance to check out the live music on the other side, but it seems people were having fun in every room. read more

Quiet enough to talk but rowdy enough to have fun! The music and atmosphere hit that sweet spot where it feels energetic without being overwhelming. Just make sure you know what you signed up for with the karaoke room :) It definitely gets crowded on weekends and usually charges a cover. Regardless, no other bar quite does it like Mom's Place! - AD read more

Mom's Place - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is one of my favorite bars I've been to in Chicago so far. Whenever I have a friend visiting me from out of town I take them here! There is usually live music in one room and karaoke going on in the other. I love how there are Christmas lights hung up year round it always puts me in a good mood read more

Mom's Place - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Garbage karaoke bar. I promise you, you can be the very first person to show up, there is zero chance you'll get to sing your song. Look elsewhere. read more

Great bar! Loved the live band karaoke - we went on Wednesday, added our name to the list and then when our names never came up we were told we could pay the band $20 to boost our place in the queue and many did that so eventually we did as well but then were later told we needed to tip $40 to get our name up there...that was a bit too much for us. I would recommend bringing earplugs bc it gets very loud in there but it was definitely a good time. We ended up going back a second night and there was a band playing and then regular karaoke on either side of the bar. Very cool, but again very loud read more

Mom's Place - Such great vibes - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I really loved this place for live band karaoke so we came back for my birthday. Wasn't live band, was a total rip off. On a Friday night, we arrived at ten. The gf signed up and was told 30 minutes, watching the DJ manipulate the list openly. About 30 minutes later after watching several people sing that signed up after her, she checked in. 22 minutes. Another 30 minutes go by with more faces that came in afterwards. Lots of terrible singers and some pretty good ones but not her. Now she is a cute little thing that sings regularly back home - doesn't matter - but wasn't like some ogre asking for stairway to heaven. She returns again - now she is 28 minutes away. Keep in mind that you pay a cover fee and downtown drink prices. We listen to a bunch of guys talk about only being able to afford to move up to #4. So if you don't mind dropping Benjamins for a chance to get up there after a couple of hours, cover fee and expensive drink menu - then this is the place for you. And if management reads this - the DJ is David. We will return for live band karaoke but never come near this place if they have a DJ planning to fund his early retirement from a corrupt and polarizing system. UPDATE: from reading other reviews, the owner Ron never owns his negative reviews. Always a deflection. If I got the Friday night, 7/10/26 Kareoke dj name wrong or if he is an independent contractor, doesn't matter. The quite detailed review stands and the reader can judge by the owners response. Apparently, he is aware and accepting of the practice. So again, if that is what you are looking for, at least you know exactly what to expect. read more

Nice big spot to get your drink on and have a great time! A group of us ventured out to Mom's Place after a few in the group had been before and wanted to go back. This was about 3 weeks before Christmas in 2025 on a Saturday night. As soon as you walk in and up the stairs, you are greeted by a ceiling hung Christmas lights display like you've never seen. It has to have been a nightmare to put these all up or, God forbid, have to chase down a bad bulb! I'd have to assume that these are up year-round. But look closely at the ceiling for all the additional bits-and-bobs hanging about. Several saxophones and other instruments along with statues and other "things". You could spend all night just walking around looking at the ceiling. There are several TV's, tuned to sporting events during my visit, to choose from. When we arrived, it was moderately busy. Throughout the two hours we were there, it probably tripled in capacity. But still comfortable. A band had been setting up and you never know what you're going to get with a cover band. I wish I knew the name of the band because they were great. Guitar, Bass, Fiddle, 3 Female Singers and I believe the Guitar player was singing periodically. I've seen and played in a lot of bands over the years. It's sometimes hard to pull off the multiple singer thing, especially when applying vocal harmonies. Again, I hate that I don't recall the name of this band because they absolutely crushed it. Their vocals and sound were tight and on point. Great band. It was Dec 08, 2025, if that's any help. There's also a downstairs but I didn't go down there. Some in my group did and they said it was more of the same, so I didn't give up my real estate that I was comfortable in and stuck where I was at. Would I go back? Yes. Great spot with good drinks and great people working the bar. A plus, for me, was that they had the real Strongbow Dry Cider, in the black cans, which is difficult to find in the US anymore. read more

I've been here a few times, it's great. Normally I'd say the drinks were delicious but unfortunately the server yesterday was a little stingy with alcohol, it basically was a glass of juice. But it's festive and usually hosts a live band. We like it. read more

Mom's Place - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Unfortunately this is my fav karaoke bar. The atmosphere is so cool, the patrons are ALWAYS nice, personable, and overall just a great vibe. They def need new mics though The reason for 4 stars is because sometimes the karaoke song request guy doesn't go in order of when the songs are requested and sometimes you'll wait 2+ hours for your song to come. Not great. But other than that; cool spot! read more

Went to see a baseball game with my son, stopped into mom's place and fell in love. Has great food and if you stop there tell Chelsea that Nicole sent you. read more

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A very fun bar. When you first walk in there are a ton of Christmas lights that line the bar/room. The bartender was upbeat and very friendly. There is a second level as well. We only had a few drinks here, not sure if they serve food or not. I would definitely go back next time I am in the area. read more

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Great vibes but I paid to pay a song on TouchTunes but they skipped it so that's a boo from me

We came to Chicago for a fun weekend. After dinner we went to mom's place. Had a few drinks, bought a round for 3 women, who moved so we could sit together. Cece was really nice. The next bartender was not. She has a short fuse.watch the video .5/8/26 read more

Mom's place is always super crowded, and the wait for karaoke is always super long, but it's a good spot. The bartenders are efficient for how crowded it is, and it's great that they have multiple bars on both floors and bathrooms on both floors. Front room has a live band, while back room has karaoke and downstairs has pool and shuffleboard. A bar with a little something for everybody read more

Super cute place, and gets busy on a weekend. Came here on a Friday night and it was packed! Cover was $10 and well worth it. The band preforming that night was amazing!! We came to do karaoke but it was packed but we stayed to watch the band and it was so nice. The bartenders were very kind as well. The bathrooms and place overall was clean given it's a bar. I love that the karaoke and band room are separate. It would be nice to jump back and forth when I come back!! Highly reccomend read more

R-CIST AND RUDE EXPERIENCE!!! After the St. Patrick's Day parade, my co-ed group of five Black people wanted to go to Mom's Place. While waiting in line, I approached the doorman and asked if we could enter with our book bags. He said yes, as long as there was nothing inside them. So, my friends and I decided to finish the drinks we had leftover from a BYOB boat ride in our bags since we couldn't take them inside. As we stood in line drinking, a man in Mom's Place uniform(I assume the owner) walked up and immediately yelled, "Get the f--k out of my f--king line with that sh-t! I'm not getting a f--king fine for your b-lls--t." We were caught off guard and responded, "Huh?" He doubled down: "Take that sh-t across the street! I'm not getting a f--King fine." I calmly told him, "Hey, we didn't know there was a fine. We'll throw it away, but please don't curse at us, just talk to us with respect." We tossed the drinks in the trash can. His response? "I didn't curse you out." I replied, "Yes, you did. You walked up yelling at us to get the f--k out of your f--king line." His response: "Well, it is my F--KING LINE!" before storming off. At this point, we figured he was just rude, but since we have already been waiting, we still wanted to go in. That's when we noticed the group behind us, several white women, also had alcohol in their hands. Again we just assumed he didn't see them. The guy returned a few minutes later, walked up to them, and in a completely different tone, politely asked, "Hey guys, are you in line for Mom's Place?" They said yes. He then said, "I can get in trouble for y'all drinking in line. Can you go across the street with that?" I stood there and watched the whole thing. It was calm. It was respectful. It was the exact opposite of how he spoke to us. After he finished talking to them, I approached him and said, "Hey, you see how respectful that interaction was? We could've had that same courtesy." His response? "I told them to get the f--k out of my line, same as I told you!" I told him, "No, you didn't. I just watched you politely ask them to leave. Why the different approach for their group?" Instead of answering, he snapped, "How about you just find another f--king bar to go to!" and walked away. Immediately, the group of women behind us that he politely told to go across the street came up and said, "That was so f--ked up and r-cist." Another couple behind them also approached us, saying they were leaving because of what they had just witnessed. We had no issue throwing away our drinks, didn't give him any backlash for making the request of us. All we wanted was basic respect. Watching him aggressively curse out our Black group, then turn around and treat the all-white group directly behind us with kindness for the exact same thing was hurtful and r-cist Response to Owner: You're first interaction with us was yelling cursing us out. Which is why we were startled and didn't even know you were talking to us. So stop with this lie you approached us any kind of way except disrespectfully. We literally threw the TWO bottles away as soon as we figured it was the alcohol that was the problem. And we left a boat it was barely anything in them with no cups how else are we going to drink except from a bottle I've already addressed this. And then the second group you kindly spoke to didn't throw anything away or get out of line. They literally walked off AFTER I asked you why did their group get a polite interaction with you but ours didn't. They left WITH their bottles in hand and threw nothing away. We're actually from Louisiana/NOLA visiting Chicago. So it's not uncommon to us to see multiple people walking around with drinks. We had No Problem tossing our Liqour that is not the issue here and did throw it away as soon as we knew what you were talking about. So stop this lie that we did nothing after you yelled at us to throw it away Regardless I understand you deal with a lot and I'm sure it's annoying having people constantly put your business in jeopardy but you still cannot explain WHY DID THE GROUP OF WHITE WOMEN DESERVE GRACE LITERALLY MOMENTS AFTER OUR GROUP OF BLACK PEOPLE RECEIVED DISRESPECT. I don't care that you have people of color that you may tolerate you showed me and I hope anyone else who's reading this that you lack integrity and who you truly are. read more

Mom's Place - Response pt 2 to owner editing his messages - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Great vibe! Bartender was very attentive and fast at making drinks. Very chill spot with three different sections. We only got to check out the first two sections and did not check out downstairs. The first room is full of people just chatting having a beer or two. The second room is a lot livelier, that is the room that the karaoke takes place in. We checked out 2/3 and they were both great depending on the vibe you were going for that night. We loved all the punny decor along the walls. read more

Mom's Place - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Food, service and ambiance. This place has it all. Service was on point. Didn't wait a second for a drink and the food came out quick and tasted amazing. There Christmas decorations are a must see. read more

Mom's Place - Breaded spicy chicken sandwich - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Was holding the door open for a moment to talking to some children seeking shelter from a downpour during a flood warning and the bouncer who should have been seated outside the door, who was instead at the top of the stairs more than 12 feet inside the bar shouted "SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR!" Ruined my evening. Never going there again, fortunately. Guy should have been doing his job. Didn't card me or my fellow colleagues either for the function we paid who knows how much for either. Waste of money. read more

Updated to 4 stars because I don't want there to be any confusion, i really do love it here! Honestly my fave bar in the city! I do not blame them for the stolen items at all, just happens in a city! Very fun bar!! But a place where you do have to watch your stuff, and your friends, we came here two phones and an ID were stolen and credit cards opened in their names and money taken from their accounts so just beware here! Aside from that I love this place, the live music is great and the drinks are good!! It's such a fun place to dance! read more

mom's place is by far the BEST bar i've been to in chicago. it offers a wide variety of experiences, and they are all well-executed. there's live music, karaoke, and pool. i had an amazing time doing karaoke and playing pool. the bartenders were kind and attentive. mom's place is a must-go spot! i will definitely be going back. read more

Super fun karaoke, long queue! I stopped here with some coworkers after we found out Bub City didn't have karaoke on Friday. Once we set our hearts on karaoke, we were determined to find a spot! We got here around 10pm, so still relatively early, but the queue to sing was hours long. We ended up signing up anyway and had a great time listening to, singing with everyone else. All of the picks were fun, classic, and easy to jam along to. We had a couple rounds of beer/wine while we were here and when it was our turn to perform, we had a blast. I would 100% come back here for another karaoke night! read more

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the most DISRESPECTFUL man I've ever met in my whole life is the bouncer here. As soon as my group hopped off our party bus he already came at us yelling for having drinks. Give us a minute geez??????? We're literally ON THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK. So after him yelling at everyone for a good chunk of time and not even letting us have a second to breathe, I start to get in line. I was holding my drink and my boyfriend's drink, NOT EVEN SIPPING THEM, just holding them to throw away. The crazy old man comes up to me and says "did you not f***ing hear me I said to throw that s*** away". Hold up??? You're talking to women like that??? So uncalled for. He's obviously so miserable that he's 50+ years old and a bouncer at a bar that he has to treat people so horribly. After looking at other reviews, I see there's a pattern in the way he treats possible clients. As someone in the service industry, I'm literally appalled at his behavior and not even sure why people would support this place. Attaching a picture of him that I found on here watch out yall Response: aw busy night at the bar? Clearly not if you're just gonna reply in 5 mins on a Saturday night. You're blissfully unaware of how terrible of a business you run there and how you treat people. Just because I didn't hear you/didn't see the trash bin you have to come at me swearing and yelling? Nah. The fact you respond to people in such a hostile way just shows the type of person you are. You're so miserable and THAT is what is embarrassingly laughable. Lame ass bar anyway wasn't gonna give you my money. read more

Mom's Place - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Very welcoming place. Karaoke with KJ Ray was fantastic. He let us sing a lot, even though there were only a few of us! (Most KJ's waste precious karaoke singer time playing songs in between singers. Not Ray! It's karaoke and only karaoke! Good for him! Karaoke singers wanna sing, not sit and listen to music we can hear at home or at DJ dance night! Duh!) Bartender J.R. was very attentive and a good singer as well! Ergys at the front bar was fantastic. I brought a small concern to his attention, and he had it fixed within 10 minutes! Thanks also to barback Jimmy for his hard work and help! read more

Mom's Place - a bar with christmas lights - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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This place is so very fun, everybody who works there is offer for everybody having a good time reasonable price prices. Andrea, who is one of the folks who is part of the leadership there deserves the highest applause, as someone who goes out of their way to help others, I truly star employer at any place you would ever work deserves all the credit that she embraces every day with her Work ethic character and integrity can't stand enough about this person read more

it was amazing, service was great and food was very good and fulfilling. will definitely come back. it was not packed and the ambience was like being in the kitchen of your house. read more

I love this place ,i end up here almost each week . it's always a good vibe and great ambiance with games ,music,good food ,karaoke and the staff it's always nice . Ergys the bartender it's always super nice and make sure you're all right. In the weekend it's always crowded because it's a fun place to be. Totally recommend read more

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If you are considering going to Mom's place for an afterparty, DON'T. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else more deserving of your money. My now-husband and I organized our wedding afterparty at Mom's Place. In our many email conversations with staff about the afterparty, no one mentioned a cover; when we went earlier to check it out, there was no cover. Fast forward to our wedding night, and the bouncer tried to charge $10 for some of my guests and $5 for others according to some sort of "agreement." What? Then an aggressive and condescending bouncer escalated the situation by yelling and mocking us, saying, "well, it wasn't NOT in your email communications..." What a crooked establishment trying to rob us of our joy on our wedding night. I feel sick when I think of them. The funny thing is, they lost money by trying to exploit us with the cover. We had 50-60 people ready to spend a LOT of money that night, but we moved to another bar across the street that was a lot friendlier to us. And it's not like Mom's Place wasn't expecting us. What a dumb business model on top of a rude and disgusting experience. read more

Cozy feel to this bar that has a downstairs with shuffle board, pool table, and giant scrabble. Upstairs they usually have a band playing live music. One of the better bars in the river north Gold Coast area. read more

I have never met a more unprofessional bouncer. The bald guy out front tonight said he felt "uncomfortable" with my id when it is a state issued id and I am 23 years old. He asked if I have a picture of my id and I said yes even though I thought, how would that change anything. As I was pulling up the picture he claimed that suddenly now, the picture wouldn't help anything. We asked for a manager to double check it and he rudely said "no, i'm the guy". After reading the reviews and seeing how the owner responds, I can see why the rest of his employees act the same. They are all extremely rude, incompetent, and disrespectful to their customers. I honestly don't understand how they are still in business. I will never be back. EDIT: Ron responded back and apparently didn't take the time to even read my review. I HAD my actual id with me and the bald man outside decided I also needed to show him a picture that I had of my id... I had both my REAL STATE ISSUED ID and a photo of my id on me. He acted like he wanted me to just pull my passport out. Why on earth would I carry a passport to a bar... read more

I'll be honest after reading a few reviews on how certain artists like JLo or Rap Artists were not in the Karaoke list, I didn't care for that. Then the owner responded to that review in a very defensive tone mentioning those genres aren't real music and then slammed Yelp reviews. However, Friday night was fun for several of us. There was some Whitney and John Legend played which was good along with a deep karaoke playlist. In the front is live music and downstairs is a chill vibe with pool tables. In the back room is where you'll find the Karaoke. Make sure you tip the host!! Drinks are a fair price but note that night we went brought a few influx of adults in their early to mid 20's. You may wanna Uber here because parking is scare and the drinks flow. read more

Mom's Place - Ext - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

It's the best live music and karaoke bar that I've been to in downtown. A true hidden gem with great music that's on all 7 days a week!! Everyone there is sweet and we were surprised by how well people can sing!! It's a complete vibe! We also tried the cheese curds which went well with our drinks!! read more

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The bouncer pulled a knife on our bridal party. We organized a wedding after party here with management weeks before the event. The whole wedding (50+ people) walked up and the bouncer insisted on charging cover ($10pp) for the entire group. We asked to speak to a manager and the bouncer immediately pulled a knife on us. It was truly one of the most shocking, overly aggressive moments of my life. I'm sure there was an obvious miscommunication, but he was extremely aggressive and unstable. read more

Me and my friends showed up (we're all 23.) the bouncer out front refused to let us in due to my friends ID being from Kansas. Her drivers license is real and state issued. He waited until she pulled money from the ATM for a cover fee to decide her ID was fake which it is not. We kindly asked to speak to a manager to double check her ID and he refused and told us that wasn't an option. If anyone double checked the ID we would have been allowed in.We even considered calling the police just to tell him that our ID's were obviously real but it wasnt worth our time. The bouncer was bald and extremely rude. Edit: My friends and I are 23 years old. There was not a single fake ID used. My ID was a passport due to not having a drivers license. Bald bouncer was completely okay with 2/3 of the ID's. The 1 Kansas state drivers license was denied yet not once did he scan the ID. If you're so sure the ID was fake why would you refuse manager approval on the ID? read more

The bouncer outside was extremely rude and condescending. He rejected my 23 year old friend who had a perfectly valid ID because he had no idea what a real ID looked like. He clearly wasn't confident in what he was doing and his only response was to be rude. I asked for a manager or literally anyone else to look at her ID and he said no because he was "that guy". Mom's place turned what should've been a great night into a horrible experience and they are completely to blame. A joke of a bar. Edit: for the owner Ron who is asking why not show a second form of ID. First of all why should we have to, she was literally 23, second of all we were going to until he decided he didn't want to see it and told us to leave the line before we could get it out, and third of all we are thinking of people who don't carry multiple ways to ID themselves and would be completely at a loss when up against your bartender who clearly didn't know what he was doing. Ron is a child, just look at his responses to other reviews. It's almost funny until you realize it's an actual person. Then you realize it's sad. read more

A cool nighttime hang out with a little bit of everything. It was also one of the only spots in the area that was accessible, meaning no line and no insane cover charge. Once inside, there are three different areas with a slightly different vibe in each. You walk into the first bar area with all of the Christmas lights and a live band. That night it was a Grateful Dead cover band so the crowd chilling in this area averaged in the older range. This includes myself, I am older. Downstairs there was another bar, but also pool and quite a few other bar games. A mixed group of people socializing and having fun. Music is not too loud so if you are looking to catch up, this might be a better choice. The third area was back upstairs around the corner from the first bar. This space seemed to be smaller than the other two and was packed. The night we were there it was a younger crowd taking shots and killing karaoke! Just about every level of energy and vibe to choose from. read more

Mom's Place - The first bar/entrance area. - Pubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We came to Mom's Place on our weekly quest to explore all of Chicago's bars because it was where on my friends took his first shot of Malort. It's somewhat divey but I really liked the lights. The drinks were good but the real star of the show was the French fries. Mom's Place undoubtedly has the best fries we have ordered so far and would recommend anyone get them if you want a little to eat with your drinks. read more

This place is an abomination! The owner does not have respect for the patrons. If only he could read these reviews, then maybe he would improve the place. It's disappointing. Amazing burger though. Oh, look at that. Here comes the big, bad owner commenting on my post. And what is this nonsense about $2 bills? Can a person be more insecure than this guy? Update: Burger the second time was even better. Good selection of drinks. Heard a second location was going up in Wrigley named Dad's Place. As long as the crotchety old owner isn't there giving out counterfeit money, should be fun. read more

My goodness what a fun pace to go any night of the week. The live band karaoke on Monday and Tuesday is absolutely blast that will lift your spirits and have you leaving with a smile on your face. It is the perfect place for after work happy hour or to chill and enjoy some music at the end of the night. Whether you want to eat, drink, dance, or meet some new friends Mom's and the great team working there will have something for you! read more

Great dive bar with a lot to offer. Staff is nice, welcoming and really down to earth. Great food!!!!!