After Chicago — Attraction in West Chicago Township

After has really good drinks and a nice atmosphere, but unfortunately their service is not good. I went here with some friends visiting from Europe, and we were sat in a semi-private little room with couches and a fireplace. It is VERY dark in this place, but I actually liked it a lot, the music was very good, and our waiter was excellent. We ordered our first round of drinks, which were excellent, and while I agree with some other reviewers that these were not the strongest cocktails I've ever had, I was not complaining. They were very good. About halfway through his first drink, one of my friends, who suffers from chronic fatigue issues and had been walking around the city all day, fell asleep on the cozy couch. He was not drunk, he was not laying on the couch, he was sleeping sitting down. The other three people in my party (including myself) continued to talk and have a good time. The waiter came in multiple times to check on us, and the three of us ordered a second round of drinks. About halfway through our second round, the manager or somebody comes in and rudely informs us that my friends sleeping is a problem and that they "cant have that here", and that we need to wake him up NOW, and then proceeded to tap her wrist like she was wearing a watch. Now, I understand that they don't want people sleeping there, and if this was a regular bar I wouldn't have really cared, but this is supposed to be a luxurious atmosphere. We made a reservation, and these cocktails are at MINIMUM 18 dollars a piece. We did not come in off the street and get blasted and then pass out, and if Im going to drop 50 dollars on just drinks (we didn't order food), I expect not to be treated like a common criminal or an out-of-line employee or something. The waiter witnessed my friend sleeping multiple times and said nothing; if the manager wanted to "deal with the problem", she simply could have asked the waiter to politely tell us to wake him up. But instead we were treated like out of control drunk people causing a ruckus. We promptly left after this, and I won't be coming back. This not the only bougie cocktail bar...

We went for restaurant week to try the place out. It was 59 dollars for 3 courses plus the cocktail pairing addition was another 50 dollars per person. It’s not a fantastic value (the dinner) bc we did the duck legs, the chicken, and the dessert. The duck legs go for 20, the chicken 32. And the dessert 8. We saved 1 dollar by doing restaurant week. That’s fine. I don’t have to save money. But the issue here is the regular duck legs came with 2. The restaurant week portion was 1 (even though the menu said plural). So if they’re going to give significantly smaller portions, they should price it accordingly. Then comes the cocktail pairing. When we asked if they could describe the cocktails paired they refused to do it just saying they’re paired well. So the one paired with the chicken was some sort chicken grease martini with chicken skin, and I’m not doing it justice. It’s by far the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten or drank in my entire life. I’ve never sent anything back before. But this one had to be sent back. I don’t even understand how a mixologist or bartender or owner of an establishment can allow it on the menu. It makes me question everything. Anyway the service outside of those issues was fairly good. They did replace the drinks with something different. And the ambiance and atmosphere is fairly nice. Just whatever you do avoid the restaurant week menu like the plague considering it’s almost the exact same cost as the regular menu but half the food and the drinks are far worse quality than the normal menu drinks. If my party of 4 2 had dates lined up for a couple weeks from now at After (and this was sort of testing it out before taking their significant others) and it’s just not happening now they’ll go elsewhere. Anyway wish the place the best. It has potential, just needs some sort of quality control. Maybe they trusted their head bartender too much. Maybe they didn’t realize how they’re giving half the portion for the same price. Whatever it is I hope they...

If you like cocktail theatre then try around the corner. If you like spirit forward cocktails with exceptional ingredients perfectly curated then this is your place. The menu has a pretty wide range of things to suit (and tempt) however price sensitive you are, but if you want to get the best out of this without food expect $150 a couple as a baseline.

The food was exceptional for the fries and the dessert we tried. For the skewers I felt although good and looked really cool wasn’t worth the price tag. The drinks however, I’d say if you are scared by the price tag that’s understandable but try at least one of the fine spirits drinks if you can stomach it, it’s worth the splurge. The regular cocktails are a little more than chicago average but you get what you pay for here, no well drinks.

For a super high end venue the staff were extremely nice, not pushy or inconsiderate to if you came with a stack of hundreds or just a keen interest in your local bar scene like myself. I recommend asking questions as some of the explanations on Spirits were really interesting and unexpected.

Busy crowd but not too noisy, nice date ambience. I recommend booking, as it helped us snag one of the non bar booth areas, but the huge semi circular bar is also cool.

Also an easy walk into west loop proper or a two second hike to the newest Small Cheval if you want something quick before you get to the good stuff here:). Do try the fries though, and the crème brûlée.

Minor weirdness was that they didn’t seem to have a cloak room which might have been nice but wasn’t a big deal.

Wonderful place, great addition to the neighborhood and easily the best...