Chicago’s Best Bars for St. Patrick’s Day

Irish immigrants made up about a fifth of Chicago's population by 1850, and the city still has an Irish pub in nearly every neighborhood. Some are the real thing, run by families who've poured pints on the same corner for generations. Some are chains with shamrock garlands. On St. Patrick's Day weekend, both will be packed. Here's how to pick.

A few ground rules. Many of the bigger places sell tickets or charge a cover on parade day, and the details change every year, so check each bar's site or social accounts in early March. Lines form in the morning. And the parade Saturday is the busiest day, not March 17 itself, unless the 17th falls on a weekend.

If you want green beer and a wild party

Wrigleyville is the frat party. Clark Street around Wrigley Field fills with twenty-somethings in plastic bowler hats, and nobody cares whether the pub is Irish. The anchor is the Cubby Bear, a sports bar and music venue at Clark and Addison, across the street from the ballpark, and the bars on that stretch of Clark are all doing some version of the same thing. Red Line to Addison, and expect to wait.

A little farther south on Clark, Galway Arms at 2442 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park is an Irish bar and restaurant with live music, a step up in pub credentials from Wrigleyville without losing the party.

Two places from our old list in this section are gone. The Goose Island brewpub in Wrigleyville closed in 2015, and Harry Caray's no longer has a Wrigleyville location. Its group still runs the 7th Inning Stretch on the Mag Mile and a restaurant at Navy Pier.

If you want to stay downtown and don't mind a crowd

Fadó Irish Pub at 100 W. Grand Ave. in River North is part of a national chain, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. It's three floors, with a century-old wooden bar on the top level that was shipped over from Ireland, and it has long thrown one of the bigger St. Patrick's parties in the city. Time Out Chicago suggests the black velveteen, Guinness mixed with cider.

Around the corner, O'Callaghan's at 29 W. Hubbard St. draws a similar crowd. The Kerryman at 661 N. Clark St. is the more grown-up River North option, a gastropub in a building that was once a gangster-era saloon, with live Irish music upstairs on Thursday and Sunday evenings.

For the river itself, Lizzie McNeill's at 400 N. McClurg Court in Streeterville sits on the bank of the Chicago River, a few blocks east of the best viewing spots on Upper Wacker. It's the obvious choice on dyeing morning, which is exactly why it's mobbed. It has sold advance tickets for its St. Patrick's tent in recent years.

The Loop's Poag Mahone's, which we used to send people to for no-cover live music, has closed.

If you want a real Irish experience

The Irish American Heritage Center at 4626 N. Knox Ave. in Mayfair is still the most Irish place in Chicago. It opened its building in 1985 and has a library, museum, art gallery, auditorium and classrooms, plus its own pub. Year-round it runs Irish music, dance and literature programs, and it hosts events in the run-up to St. Patrick's Day. Check its calendar for the holiday schedule.

Chief O'Neill's at 3471 N. Elston Ave. in Avondale is named for Francis O'Neill, the Cork-born Chicago police chief who became the great collector of Irish traditional music, so it's fitting that fiddlers and pipers turn up here. It has one of the best beer gardens in the city, if March lets you use it. Book ahead. A couple of miles east, Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro at 3905 N. Lincoln Ave. in North Center does modern Dublin-style food and has a serious whiskey list.

On the South Side, where the Irish roots run deepest, go to Bridgeport or Beverly. Shinnick's Pub at 3758 S. Union Ave. in Bridgeport has been run by the Shinnick family since Prohibition ended, and it's cash only. Cork & Kerry at 10614 S. Western Ave. in Beverly has been open since 1988 and sits right on the route of the South Side Irish Parade, which marches on the Sunday. It has a second bar, Cork & Kerry at the Park, at 3258 S. Princeton Ave. near the White Sox ballpark.

If you just want a good beer

Skip the green food coloring. Guinness Open Gate Brewery at 901 W. Kinzie St. in the West Loop opened in 2023, and it pours Guinness alongside beers brewed only for Chicago. It takes reservations, and on St. Patrick's weekend you'll want one.

On the North Side, the Long Room, from our original list, is still pouring. It does coffee as well as beer and opens at 8am on weekdays and 10am on weekends, which suits a parade-day start. Our old pick in Bucktown, Quenchers, closed in 2018. For more, see our guide to Chicago's breweries and brewpubs, or unique bars in Chicago if you'd rather avoid the holiday altogether.

For the rest of the weekend, our St. Patrick's Day in Chicago page covers the river dyeing and the parades, and nightlife has the rest of the city.

Photo by Somewhat Frank