HVAC Pub — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Most overpriced bar in Wrigleyville and the owner is incredibly rude. They charge $5 per drink for "rocks" aka ice.

I left my credit card there after playing a show and forgetting to close out while cleaning up after the show and then they were closed for the next 4 days so I couldn't call to ask about my card.

I got a charge for $185 dollars which I found incredibly surprising so I went over there right when they opened to get my card and figure out what I got charged for.

When the owner (I found out he's the owner later) opened the door, I told him I was there to get my card and he asked me if I had called first because if I didn't call then there's no guarantee that it's there. I said can you just check and also give me an itemized receipt. When I asked for the itemized receipt, he got upset and said I was coming in hot asking for that and was offending to him because it implied to him that they had stolen my card and had been using it or mischarged me in some way. I don't feel like I came in hot initially, but I even tried to de-escalate by admitting that I could have come in hot and not realized it and that I was upset because I got a $185 charge that I wasn't expecting. I said can I just please get my card and the receipt and I'll be on my way. He continued to escalate from there by continuing to complain that I asked for an itemized receipt "right away" and that they would never screw any customer over and that it's probably just my fault for getting too drunk and not closing out. Any normal owner would simply say sure I'll check for your card and get you that receipt. Even if I came in and implied that they screwed me, he shouldn't be the one escalating. He should simply hand me the card and receipt and explain the charges and leave it at that. This guy immediately came in hot and ready to gaslight instead.

From there, when I got the receipt, I started to total up the values on my phone because I wanted to double check and understand how the charges got so high and the whole time I was doing that, he kept saying that it's a computer and it's not going to change anything and that there's no reason for me to do that. I asked him to just leave me alone then and let me do the math, but he continued to speak in an annoyed tone and tell me there's no point and that it's offensive that I think something could be wrong.

After looking at the receipt, I noticed that $15 dollars of the charges alone were on ice from 3 drinks which no one told me about when I ordered. This place is going to slip in extra charges wherever they can and not give you a heads up about them ahead of time. I certainly wouldn't have gotten ice in my drink if I knew it cost $5 a drink. When I asked the owner if they charged me $15 for ice, he initially said no then looked at it and was like oh well you got a makers mark double on the rocks! We charge for that! You should have known!

To be fair to them, they didn't charge anything incorrectly. They simply hide fees from the customer that you don't see until you go to pay like the shady ice charge and a whole host of fees (restaurant surcharge when it's a bar and I didn't order any food and there was a concert going on??) and overpriced drinks. They did add a 20% tip for themselves which I found out they automatically add to everyone's bill and don't point out. My friends who didn't notice it ended up double tipping for a total of 40% of the bill. I'm sure the owner would blame the customer for not noticing. It's a predatory place and there are far better options in Wrigley.

I will never go to this bar again and I highly recommend you don't either because best case scenario you will get overcharged, but worst case scenario you will have an issue and the owner will get defensive before hearing the issue and then fully blame you when you react to...

Absolutely do NOT go to HVAC. The bouncers love to pick fights with drunk and vulnerable people then if you react in any way they’ll try to fight/jump you. I went with my boyfriend after a cubs game we were there for an hour maybe. Went outside for a second just to catch some air and talk about where the next spot would be. Went to go back in and we didn’t think there’d be a problem because the was NO line and it was literally half empty there was barely anyone there and they claimed that they saw us come out but we couldn’t come back in because we had ripped jeans on. Made no sense but I left all of my things in the bar so I asked to go back in a get my stuff and let our friends know we were leaving. They then said “well how do we know your stuff’s in there” after they just admitted that they saw us come out 15 second earlier just to talk. As we’re leaving I just tried asking again just because all of our friends were there and I just wanted to get all of them together to leave but they kept being aggressive with us and one of the bigger bouncers actually grabbed me and when I pushed his arms off and told him there was no reason to get that way over jeans we were wearing he started yelling at me that I was the one being aggressive and I wasn’t allowed in. I assume they were trying to get a rise out of my boyfriend because this entire time the 2 male bouncers were just looking at him all while putting their hands on me. And my boyfriend will always defend me but he also knew what their game was and when he just stayed calm and didn’t react the female bouncer said “let me handle her” and starts putting her hair up. I started cracking up and just said “really all of this over jeans you must be bored tonight with your empty bar” the same bouncer then grabbed me AGAIN before my boyfriend grabbed me and my friends and I all left. I used to love this bar I would go probably every weekend but I will never be returning and I’m going to be seeing if there’s anything I can do because the way your bouncers handle themselves and touched me and threatened me was completely wrong when I wasn’t doing anything. You’re going to start losing a lot of business if something...

while trying to enter the establishment i experienced the most distasteful encounter. my friends and I were enjoying a bachelorette party (an evening on the town in our cowgirl themed outfits ). half the party arrived prior to us and were already inside. Once we arrived, we were told they don’t do themes and we could not enter. This was confusing to me since the other part of our group was allowed to enter with the exact same attire. I simply asked were they being discriminatory since part of our group was allowed to enter with the same attire on. the owner then proceeded to say he didn’t want to let us in because we used the word ”discriminatory.” It was as if they were finding any excuse to not let us in even though the other part of our group could visibly be seen through the window wearing the exact same attire that the owner mentioned was not allowed. To put the icing on the cake, I took a photo of their “rules“ and it mentioned ”NO BASEBALL CAPS.” Despite the rules printed on the front of their establishment, they allowed 5+ people inside with baseball caps. funny though how the owner was acting offended by the question “are you discriminating against the rules you want to enforce “ while discriminating and picking and choosing which rules to enforce. I guess it depended on who was wearing what and what he felt like giving a pass. All I’m going to say is, people of lighter persuasions we allowed entry despite not adhering to the rules (I.e.: base ball caps ) and no they were not CUBS base ball caps. I am extremely disappointed in my experience and will probably never come...