Tonic Room

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erinsteph

Joined 5 years ago

Best spot in the city. Not to big, not to small. Great music, live music during the week, reggae, punk, acoustic sounds, great DJ on the weekends. Hits me between a small bar and a downtown club, minus the dumb people that sit at a club and think they look cool but there not having any fun. And I think we all know what I'm talkin about. Okay, so Tonic Room rocks.

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Straightforward Lincoln Park nightspot that fits comfortably between neighborhood hang and hip lounge.. The Scene
Despite dark red walls and cubic black leather banquettes, the sparse one-room space possesses a surprisingly unpretentious ambience. Ineffective bubble panels in the front windows and empty tonic bottles on a ledge around the ceiling provide some of the only decoration. An art-deco bar runs along the back-right of the venue, across from a handful of booths and a fireplace.

The Draw
What Tonic Room lacks in decorative amenities it makes up for in comfortable service and atmosphere. Area college students and young professionals blithely chat amid eclectic jukebox gems (think Wilco, Talking Heads and Allman Brothers) or DJ-spun hip-hop. A Golden Tee machine provides diversion, if needed--though that's not likely. The full bar offers a long list of specialty martinis, though its selection of five draft beers and more than two-dozen bottled varieties gets the most play.