When Beauty Bar Chicago, 1444 West Chicago Avenue, opened several years ago, there was a picture in the RedEye showing some gals sitting at a bar getting their nails done while sipping martinis—at an incredible price: just $10 for a martini along with a manicure!
As if that wasn’t draw enough, someone had the bright idea of also adding karaoke to the mix, rendering this a truly multi-faceted and novel experience. Pictured was a woman sitting at the bar, martini beside her, getting her nails done on one hand, holding a mike with the other and singing. How could this not be fun!
Happily, years later, the glamorous Beauty Bar is still around, and still offering their $10 martini/manicure special! They don’t do the manicures at the bar itself, however. As one enters, there are a couple of manicure tables set up for that. If you’re someone who’s had a crummy manicure job in a similar setting, give this a chance: these manicurists do a fab job, tackling those cuticles, trimming and filing to perfection, and topping it all off with high-qual OPI nail polish. Waiting for nails to dry is the perfect excuse to hang around for more drinking.
The evening we happened in, we were extra lucky: the bar waived the $10 fee for the martini/manicure combo to promote a new vodka. That night’s specialty martini was the “Skinny Pink,” a super luscious lemonade-like concoction that was guzzle-good! Who says pink is demure! Their regular drink menu featuring cocktails named after beauty treatments beguiles me to return someday.
The retro beauty parlor theme fully encompasses the place: from the old school hooded hair dryer chairs and classic couches to the pictures and decorative mirrors on the wall and even the wallpaper itself. There’s a photo booth too!
Scoping out Beauty Bar Chicago’s website, it’s very obviously a popular club with the young and hip, but not right after work. At the time we were there, a few guys and gals encompassing a wide age range lined the bar and it was a fairly mellow scene. Early Motown classics gave the feel of having stepped back in time.
As this place is quite spacious with a large dance room, disco ball and all, in the back, it’s easy to imagine it filling up later at night and morphing into one gigantic dance floor. Check out Beauty Bar’s special events; they still do karaoke from time to time.
Before or after a trip to the Beauty Bar, one can dine at one of the several restaurants just steps away, from Cuban to Asian to Italian. Wandering too far west, however, will land one in a very different neighborhood so watch where you park and stay aware, especially after drinking!
I would definitely go back to Chicago Beauty Bar again and get my nails done while sampling all their interesting house drinks.
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