Cole's Bar — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

May 25th. Open a tab, see a local band, chill out a bit. Bartender is busy but professional and nice. Go outside for some air+coffee from the 7/11. Walk around the block. Come back. About to go back inside and buy another drink and start to relax, for once.

Doorman flicks his burnt cigarette at me and it hits me. Ignore it and try to make a joke.

Go inside, spend another $12 and tip well, but after the whole cigarette thing I guess people knew (before me) my heart was no longer in it. Get home and realize to myself that it is pretty hard to accidentally fling your cigarette at someone.

Leave a review at 2am as psychological consolation ... and I do feel better after writing this, unfortunately. I don't think this is a common experience! I am not sure what I did to incur the cigarette-flinging wrath, and overall the rest of the...

I love Cole's so much. Live bands most nights and open-mic comedy on Wednesdays (having a female comic hosting draws a good mix of comedians). Never a cover and always good quality local entertainment.

It has the vibe of dive (no frills decor and epic bathroom grafitti), but has a decent beer selection sure to please anyone. Cheap drinks. Everyone who works here, including the owner, is so nice. The atmosphere is laid-back. The crowd is mostly young, creative folks who likely to be talking about music and art rather than sports. Some critical reviewers are clearly bothered by this or assume its a judgemental hipster scene. I'm a middle aged nerdy dad and I always feel at home at Cole's. I've had so many memorable...

It's a cool venue for music & booze. The bands were great. They lost stars because the bartenders all walked away from me standing there waiting to order a drink for over 5 minutes, having served people to my left and my right. Even with no people beside me, they one by one looked at me and walked away. I had to ask my friend to get me a drink because they wouldn't talk to me.

Side note: I started the evening drinking water, because I take medication that contains a diuretic, so I have to be well hydrated before I drink alcohol so that I won't get side effects. I have vision loss due to my condition the meds are for, and don't drive. They may have wrongly assumed I was a DD. This is why you never make...