Swirl Wine Bar

Recommends

jtripoli

Joined 5 years ago

Great atmosphere, awesome food, love this place!. Love this place! Chill contemporary lounge atmosphere. I guess I've just outgrown the places where you stand all night and can't sit unless you play for a $300 bottle and then have to yell at the top of your lungs to talk to the person next to you. This is the place to go if you agree with me! They have the BEST chef here. The menu is small, but everything on it is good! They have great weekday specials too. You can dress up or go casual. This is a great meeting place for my friends and I because the music isn't as intrusive as most places. Lots of comfy sofas and chairs arranged liked little living room setups. Oh, and the service and staff were very nice and friendly. I hate places with snooty staff who are too busy unless you're someone special. In conclusion. I love this place!

Recommends

maryjatkinson

Joined 7 years ago

Fabulous service & great band!. I went here with friends while visiting Chicago, and we fell in love with the place! It's tastefully decorated with an extensive wine list, incredible service, and a great band! We tried lots of different wines by the glass, but our favorite experience of the night was the Brazilian band. Sergio, the lead, came over and chatted with us, and we had a great time. In fact, we liked them so much that I bought a CD! We would definitely go back!

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

There's no room for snootiness--or much else--at this unassuming River North wine bar.. In Short
This addition to the River North bar scene is situated on a cozy strip of Hubbard Street in the old Minx space. The sliver-sized lounge gets more coziness from dim lighting, squashy couches and low-rise tables stacked with chunky candles. Couples squeeze together at the bar, where a tiered tea tray coddles complimentary domestic cheese and crackers. The wine list proffers 25 varieties by the glass, quartino and flight (plus more bottles) catering to amateurs and aficionados alike.

Doesn't Recommend

vegitoboi

Joined 7 years ago

HIGHLY OVERRATED!. First off, if you're going to be a wine bar then you best have different varieties of wine available and not just one from each catagory. Furthermore, each glass of wine shouldn't be in the double digits. With that said, I think you can put 2 and 2 together that this isn't a happy review. I went here only because I was invited for some Flamenco night event. It wasn't enough that I had to pay $25 for parking in the nearby lot, but I had to get my 2 hrs worth of parking in an overcramped lounge. The bartender was a nice guy, but the staff literally was pushy. I was pushed out of the way by who I guess was the manager lady before she even said excuse me. If she wasn't a lady, I would've started something. The prices are high, especially for 1 glass of wine. Like I said from the top, they don't have all the varieties of wine available. The food, which is mainly tapas, was oversalted and not worth their double digit prices. The place itself was SMALL, small enough that I barely caught glimpses of the performances that were going on. I guess I shouldn't blame the place itself, but maybe the organizer of the event for picking such a small place. But still, the place is not worth the time of money. Besides, have you seen the surrounding businesses: adult bookstores galore. Really eye appealing for tourists, eh?

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dicklandings

Joined 5 years ago

Five Star Rating. Great spot! People are nice.

Ojos Gitanos on Saturdays makes this place light up the night! Dancers are artistic-they move like flowers as they are dancing.

Must See! 10 Stars for Ojos Gitanos !

Recommends

chitowngrl

Joined 7 years ago

Great service!. I too was served by Greg this past weekend (different party). He was attentive and sweet. I was very impressed with Swirl Wine bar as I had heard a lot about them and finally decided to check it out. I always get nervous when I have people from out of town come visit. I like to take people to the best places. Luckily taking them here was an excellent decision. We went to a few different places but the service we received and the ambience was very inviting. Needless to say they were very impressed with not only the service but the selection of drinks at Swirl. We will definitely be back AND when we have out of town guests we will have a place that we KNOW is quality.

Recommends

ltr

Joined 6 years ago

Excellent Service!. I had a party here with about 30 people on Saturday night. Since this bar is pretty small, the staff was VERY accommodating and made sure that we had enough space and seating for everyone who came. Our waiter, Greg was the best waiter I've ever had. He did everything possible to make us happy such as keeping track of all of our separate tabs, serving everyone their food and drinks right away, and just making sure we were all having a good time. The service was excellent, good pizza and drinks. The atmosphere is laid-back and classy. I would definately recommend going here- especially for the good service.

Doesn't Recommend

jlee99

Joined 6 years ago

I would give ZERO STARS if I could!. I would give ZERO STARS to Swirl Wine Bar if I could.

This was a very unfortunate situation. Had it not been for the absolutely horrible owner, I WOULD'VE loved the place, but instead, I absolutely HATE this place.

A large group of friends decided to hang out at Swirl Wine Bar. One of the owners (a female, name unknown), was insanely pushy. She said there was a two drink minimum (at least $16) because there was a live performance that night (which I guess is fine).

So to annoy everyone of our guests, the second one of our guests walked in the door, she would request a credit card so they had to start a tab, and if they didn't want to drink, she said she would have to charge $16 anyway - as cover. Or the second you finished a drink, she would come ask you to buy another - again REMINDING you that you had to pay a $16 minimum. ARE YOU SERIOUS? How are you supposed to enjoy the night like that with someone watching your every sip and move???

She even KICKED OUT two of our designated drivers because they weren't drinking. HOW CAN YOU KICK OUT A DESIGNATED DRIVER??? How irresponsible is it of a bar to not encourage designated drivers amongst the drinkers? And we filled 1/3 of the place, so clearly we were giving them more business than usual - granted maybe making it a little bit crowded, but not crazily crowded by any means. Why would you prefer an empty wine bar to an almost filled one?

Aside from the horrible owner and rude service from her only (the other bartenders and servers were very nice), the decor was great. The paintings on the wall were part of the 300Heads project (very cool!). The wine was great, and the live performance was enchanting.

But I hate the owner and would NEVER try to bring them business again. Very unfortunate.