If you're ever in Hegewish, the southeast corner of Chicago, then you should absolutely make time…read morefor a stop at Old Time Tap. This truly is a neighborhood bar like you might remember from your childhood or that you may only see now in older movies or tv shows set in the 70s or 80s. Everybody knows everybody else. They laugh with each other, get annoyed with the guy who is there a little too long every day (but also love him), and just enjoy leaving their cares outside and being with each other. In that way, as well as the group outings they do and the nondescript exterior, this really is an old time tavern. But, in some ways, that name misses something. The old time may be in the vibe or the original floors or ceilings, but there's something fresh here, from the surprisingly great selection of drinks (at half the price or less of the places up here on the north side), to the way this neighborhood staple has been ushered into the 21st century by its newer owners. We stuck out like a sore thumb but were made to feel at home within 30 seconds. You could feel the family vibe, and it immediately made you wish you had something similar in your neighborhood. And, maybe you can't - there's something that can only come from a bunch of people who have lived in the same corner of the world for decades convening in one spot. I don't know, it was kind of beautiful. Not everyone there has the same views on life, the same income, or the same goals. Some are old timers reveling in their glory days, some are middle aged parents, and some of twenty somethings trying to live their best lives. It didn't matter - it was like one big family reunion. Again, the bartender was incredible, talking to us, answering questions, filling us in on the neighborhood and giving us some tips. There are bars we've been going to in this city for seven years where they may know our names, but where we've never been treated with such kindness and welcoming. I don't know how often we'll get down to Hegewish, which sort of reminded me of the old port neighborhood of Baltimore, Canton. But, I'll tell you what; if we're ever even remotely close, we're going to pop in here. Maybe even make an afternoon of it alongside skipping over to Hammond, IN. Go in and (temporarily) be a part of the family. If you're just looking for a nice place to have a drink, watch a game, listen to some music, and have fun conversation with some locals, you'd be hard pressed to find a better place to do it.

Great neighborhood bar. Also friendly bartenders. Only has pizza to eat that they will heat up for…read moreyou. There are several restaurants in the area that you can order from that will deliver or you can pick up and eat here with your favorite drink. They have food during special events at times.

I love this little place! The food is always delicious and the waitresses are delightful! I wish…read morethey stayed open later though.

It seems every time I go there, I look around and something doesn't seem right. I ventured into…read morethe Men's room and for some reason I noticed this time that I failed to notice last time was the completely rusted out baseboard heating unit running under the window. It was crumbling just one good kick and the whole unit would end up being a pile of rusty scrapes! Great customer visuals! On yet another time, I visited I was informed by the female bartender that the decided to go home early. Therefore, the kitchen was closed as we drove out for nothing, wasting our time and gas. Oh well! Not even a I'm sorry! The best time to come here is about 3pm when the city of Chicago workers will assure your safety and a good time eating and drinking. Nobody wants to eat good food in a questionable place. I wish this place would clean up their act.

So I really don't recommend this place for anyone, just open minded good people who dont pass…read morejudgement.So stuck up yelpers who think they have standards. Don't read this it's not for you ! So beers are 2.50 and so are shots. Of course not the good stuff,but the good stuff only 5.00 still not bad. I don't think this place has a proper floor who cares ! This bar is truly something out of a Nelson Algren book. I come hear all the time and every time there's something wacky happening here.Weather it's fighting or old ladies getting jiggy with it on the dance floor.Then you have your crazy ladies as well, flashing there tig ol' bitties,your always gonna see something weird in here.The bartenders are extremley down to earth, and security is always on point but then again working there I guess you have to be on point. I love that the bartenders there don't measure out your shots. It's whatever and whats left over they still serve it to you and dont charge you for it. God I love this place. Then the wacky hours come 2-4 am,thats when it starts to get packed and everyone's outta there mind and doing crazy shit. Outta everything going on the bartenders are still on point. Yes people this goes on Monday-Sunday all the time.So if you want one night of debauchery and wackyness just come to the hole.Oh yah just in case they start to shooting there's a side door just run outta there. HA ! HA! HA! Yah this place gets five stars from me. Thank you for the influence behind this lovely review you know who you are :)

You get what you pay for…read more Drinks are dirt cheap. Shots are dirt cheap. Come to think of it, this place is nothing but dirty. Don't get me wrong, many of my friends go here after hours to get plastered once the clubs or bars close at 2am. If all you want is to drink, drink, and drink, come here. Please note, their beer selection is not great at all... You won't find great music. This is not a swanky place by any means.

Sadly, it's no longer the same. The new owners have no clue how to run a bar They don't spend time…read morethere and at one point (maybe still do) had a manager who also had no clue how to run a business. The employees that stayed on when they took over were all either fired or got fed up and left. I can't imagine it can stay open much longer. It's sad to see a family business that had been well for over 75 years with loyal employees and customers who became like family run into the ground like this.

New owners are horrible. They need to change name because they are ruining previous owners names…read morewith the kind of food they are serving. Fish and fries were cooked in old oil. Different kind of fries too. Fish had fishy taste and dark. Fries burnt. Side salads different taste too. Never going back. Miss previous owners which I believed was run by their son. Rate Zero!!!

William I had my first shot and beer here at age 19, may I…read moresay I am now 76. Worked at Ford, I and a test driver went over for a liquid lunch and it was great! I also have fond memories of the 505 club and Hot Dog Joe's. Must admit I loved the whole hood!

I really didnt wanna go but i did, the beacon is like the best and then i go threw my stages of…read morehating it when i know i love it . I know its pretty psychotic and bipolar, so one thursday night i go in there to meet my scum crew. The night starts out slow as usual and then it starts to get worst, cause now they decide to bring there gurlfriends so i kinda got stuck at the bar with the new bartender.BOOO!!!!! no bueno.So the bartender tells me that " i guess it just me and you tonight kid " I go smoke and 2 old ladies come outta there car,start walkin towards the beacon.I heard my bartender scream and apprentley they were all friends who grew up together so whateve's.Then my bartender starts pouring me FREE shots of my fav. tequila.awesome !! Then shes giving me pitchers, her friends must have brought the ROCKAFELLER outta her. Now im a bit in the zone and im partying with old ladies. So now were drinking and kicking the bo bo's as they say, my bestie the squirrel master said the bartender had pepperoni's and she over heard him. Now she's showing us her chi-chi's and really didnt have pepperoni's, i kinda thought she would of .Now shes gotten threw her first flash she wont stop yah !!!! Then she takes the pitcher of water and pour's it down her low cut WHITE shirt omg. I literally lost it and made it rain on her. I got so excitied i threw my debit card at her i dont know why i did this but i just did. The beacon is one of those dives that ppl assume there not gonna have fun but you always see sumthing wacky for free and beers are always cheap shots are as well. I love this place and everytime something wacky happenes totally writing bout it on yelp. Hopefully yelp snobs aren't affended at what I write !!!!! cochina time

Call me an old timer if you will, but I love this place. Its like walking back in time. Piggy's is…read morea dive. A shithole even. But its my kind of shithole. And I love Indiana for not caving into the anti-smoking, fascist bastards who've been pushing their anti-tobacco agenda down our throats. It was so nice to be in a bar where I could light a Cigar and not get taken away in handcuffs. Piggy's reminds me of the old neighborhood taverns of yesteryear. The place was dark, dingy and comfy. I have to admit, I enjoyed my walk down the memory lane of booze. If you find yourself in Whiting and have the urge for a cold one, give Piggy's a try. Its a dingy, smokey delight. If I'm in the Whiting area, I'm definitely stopping back in. The first round is on me.

This is definately one of my favorite hangouts. It's one of the most fun bars in Lake County, and…read moreNW Indiana I'm sure. If you have a pretty big group of people though and try to sit atthe tables, it can get a little cramped. I think that the bowling machine more than compensates for tht flaw though. They have this arcade bowling game where you roll this sort of puck type thing and hit bowling pins, it's really fun. I'm pretty good at it naturally which is probably part of why I love it, hehe. The jukebox here is marvelous! I've sat there hearing great tune after great tune, usually hard rock and metal; Black Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC and so forth. The bartenders are really nice as well. There's quite a few bikers in there, but it's not like they claim it as their turf or anything, they just chill and hangout like the rest of us. Piggy's is just good fun.

Time has truly forgotten about this place…read more You drive by an old brick building on the corner of a not-so-nice neighborhood. The only indication that it's even a bar is that it has a small Bud Light neon. If you look closely, you might notice the antique Schlitz stained glass. Park the car next to the crumbling sidewalk with a 7 food pothole - it's time for a drink. Try and walk in - but the two front doors are locked. Just go around to the side door next to the half-torn down houses, garbage cans full of old clothes, and old marina on the Calumet River. Good, you finally found your way in - welcome to the 1950's. Your cell phone is temporarily out of service. It's poorly lit - maybe three lights in the whole place. Nothing's changed in here for decades. Beautiful antique ceiling, wooden back bar, and beer taps. If you look above the bar you'll notice a hanging bamboo structure where the bar gets it's name. Even a pool table if you are ready to throw down. Feeling lazy? Got a TV if you want to catch the game. They don't have Schlitz, but Old Style cans are only $2.50. There's several arcade machines tucked away in the corner which are unplugged to save money. Doubt they will ever be plugged in again. The heat is barely on, with the place hovering around a cool fifty-five degrees. If you're a VIP - they will give you a personal space heater on a stool. Their TV is so fuzzy that it makes standard definition look like a luxury. Most people stopped coming here when the bridge was closed in early 2011, and the people in the bar don't even like the neighborhood that they live in - one mile from Indiana. The floors and bar haven't been cleaned in years, but you can't tell because it's so dark. Credit cards aren't even a figment of anyone's imagination in this place. The outdated "personal hygiene" vending machine is the men's restroom toilet paper holder, and the faucet puts out a heavy drip every two seconds. This bar is one of the most depressing I've ever been to, however, at the same time it had an air of mystery and authenticity about it that you'd never get elsewhere.

This place was so shitty and offensive. They are so racist and I can't even go into detail at this…read moremoment because I'm too upset. Don't go here-- as a twenty two year old woman, who is semi attractive (if not more) they were so rude to me at the door that it turned me off to even purchasing a single thing from them. I hold myself to a high standard when I got out to have fun and whether you are old or young I do NOT think this place is for you. The police swarm the entrance and the bouncers are especially rude as shit, who tried to report me to the police when I was clearly of age! Don't go here unless you would like to feel like you're 16 trying to get into a bar

We have been coming to Whiting the past four years for Pierogifest and we always start our days…read morehere. The bartender is friendly and we enjoy playing their bowling game before going to the festival. It is usually pretty empty other than regulars but we had fun watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with the small group. They have a lot of plants and trees near the front window. In 2023 we tried to sit at a table by the window, but my friend accidentally touched a tree when trying to sit down because it was so crowded with plants. Not a problem, right? She didn't snap it in half or knock it over. The owner saw this and started yelling at my friend and kicked us out of the (already empty) bar. Then this year after the festival we went in to have one more beer. The owner again was in there, and we started to play music on their Touch Tunes and we were singing along ( to Bob Marley, the most chill of all music). The owner yelled that this was "not a karaoke bar" and that if we continued to sing she would shut the jukebox off. We continued singing and she turned it off. We left the establishment despite full beers and she locked the door behind us at 10pm on a Saturday. It is clear that the owner of this tired, dirty and rundown bar is not interested in having any patrons other than her regulars, even during the town's biggest events of the year. We enjoyed this hole in the wall in the past, despite the bathrooms being dirty and flooded, despite there being no draft beer, and despite having to clear our own tables. But this was the last straw and we will not be back because the owner is not worthy of our money.

Well, the three stars depend on what you are looking for. Dive bar? Check. Smoking inside?…read more Check. Pool table? Check. Electronic dart boards? Check. Bathrooms with tp? Check. We were in Whiting for Pierogi Fest and after the parade, it was just bat-shit crazy on 119th. The Clipper, which from the outside looks like it was originally a funeral home, was our refuge. And a place to use the loo. There is absolutely nothing special about this place but it saved me from tragedy. Porta-potty tragedy.