The Tasting Room is a neighborhood wine lounge and restaurant in downtown Chicago. Striving to be the most comprehensive, comfortable, and attitude-free environment for the enjoyment of fine wines, brews, spirits, as well as for innovative nouveau-American dining, The Tasting Room has been a destination wine bar in Chicago and the nation at large since we opened in 2000. Situated at the western portal to Randolph Street’s nationally recognized “Restaurant Row” in Chicago’s hip West Loop district, we are a bar conveniently located near the United Center, and within blocks of the Ashland stop on the CTA Green and Pink Lines.
selection
Our award-winning wine list is easily one of the most extensive in Chicago. Featuring hundreds of wines by the glass, taste, flight and bottle, an interesting assortment of rare and aged spirits, a selection of international craft brews, and an array of seasonal cocktails, you’ll find a potion for any palate. Our dining menu features a full selection of imaginative small plates, housemade flatbreads, market greens, fondues, entrée-sized large plates, and desserts.
service
Our expert team of sommeliers and wine consultants is easily the most educated and friendly staff of any Chicago wine bar or restaurant. Whether providing you with excellent service at table, or educating you and your companions as your private sommelier, our wine professionals will use their expertise to find you the aperitif, wine-food pairing, or varietal you’re looking for.
ambience
Our space is arguably one of our greatest assets: exposed ducts and brickwork hearken to our building’s previous incarnation as a factory in the warehouse district; in our upstairs lounge, large windows overlook tree-lined Randolph Street and offer spectacular views of the Chicago skyline; low tables are flanked by overstuffed couches and interspersed between more conventional dining tables lit by serene candlelight and warm floor lighting. We are a classic Chicago lounge, not only ideal for wine and cheese tasting and casual dining, but especially perfect as a date or engagement spot, or as a venue for any sort of
private event—from wedding receptions to fundraisers to corporate holiday parties.
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Given our selection, service, and ambience, it is no wonder that the community of wine enthusiasts in Chicago consider us not only Chicago’s most romantic bar, but the best wine bar in Chicago.
• "Favorite Wine Bar" — Fox News Chicago, 2008
• "Best Wine Bar" — Citysearch, 2007, 2005
• "One of the Sexiest Places on Earth" — Cosmopolitan Magazine, 2007
• "Most Romantic Bar in Chicago" — Citysearch, 2002, 2006
