Spent a couple of hours here and wow! So much fun! Drinks are a little pricey at $12 for their signature drinks but you're in Chicago and the arcade games are free (with the exception of a couple $1 ones). The OG Bloody Mary and the Basic AF were delicious! We didn't get any grub but it smelled and looked great! The bartender was really nice and helped me decide on a drink! Would love to come back next time we are in Chicago! read more

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This place is a combination of your childhood and college. Play old school video games and drink copious amounts of craft beer either on the tap or in a can/bottle. Had a great time playing the games and drinking the beers... All the beers! Food was setup as Buffett as it was a work event and that was great too. They had some mo I burgers, bruschetta and the best thing was this meat and cheese platter which was to die for. The other cool thing is the actual environment of the bar. It has the feel of a collector of vintage items garage or basement, in a good way. If I am looking to have a good time, drink good craft beer (or any because they have a huge list) and play some video games with friends this is the place to go! read more

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Had a blast at this place from the time I walked in to the time I walked out! Awesome collection of old school games available with a great crowd! Good times. read more

Headquarters Beercade River North - Cool game selection - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Super cool! The beer menu was great and all the beers my boyfriend and I had were great. Our bartender was very helpful. Only bummer was a couple games still cost money after the cover charge and the menu didn't have too many options. Really fun place and cool atmosphere. read more

Absolutely love this place. Free games arcade games with all the classics like PAC-MAN, NBA Jams, Air Hockey, etc. I wish the "Assault & Peppar" cocktail came by the bucket, so heckin good. Be careful with the Apple Cinnamon Housed Infused Jameson, got Karen frisky real quick at the company holiday party. Dope Buffalo Cauliflower. Cool cassette wall. read more

Come for games with friends, cheap, dates, and techno music. Cant go wrong. Savage bingo on Wednesday is fun and never a boring night

Great beer selection, awesome cocktails (seriously check out the Brandy Old Fashioned and the Irish Coffee). Can't go wrong with a large venue (two floors) with tons of free games to remind you of those times you were shoved into a locker as a child, amirite? In all seriousness, you'll get a huge wave of nostalgia as you test your skills playing TMNT, NBA Jam or any of the pinball games. I've been to both locations (the other being in Lakeview) and I hate saying it but this is the superior location. You can get food and the venue seems a bit less cramped! read more

I had a thought the other day that kind of scared me. College kids (at the time of this writing) did not grow up with arcades. Like REAL arcades. They never knew the pain of bugging their parents for more quarters or the excitement of finding the arcade room at a hotel. They might know about NBA Jam, but they don't KNOW NBA Jam. They didn't grow up playing it for hours on hours with allowance money in the food court of their local mall. Headquarters Beercade brings it all back. It lets the 80s kids take out their scrunchies and let their hair down. It gives a younger generation a taste of what life was like when pop culture was everything and Sega had the best graphics on the market. It's honestly one of the better places to go for groups because they allow reservations so you can setup a homebase between drinking craft beer (from one of the better selections in the area I might add) and attempting to beat all those games you didn't have enough quarters for when you were younger. They are constantly moving around games and adding new ones to keep things fresh, but obviously all of the champions of their time remain constant: The Simpsons, TMNT, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Off Road, and a little game called Tapper (which is probably the best game ever of all time for adults that are drinking.) And unlike some other iterations of the bar/drinking idea, all the arcades - with the exception of some specialty pinball machines - are totally FREE. Sometimes the weekends can get a little nutty and people squat on arcades for a long time, but if you choose your times wisely, you should be playing your favorite arcade in no time. Otherwise just culture yourself and play a game you've never played before. But most importantly: have fun. And follow your dreams. read more

Good beer selection. IMO Bloody Mary had too many spices. Truffle fries were amazing!! Husband had zesty wings and loved them. We spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get change for the games when the guy walking around let us know thru were all free!! Very fun atmosphere and a great variety of games. Oldies like MsPacman & Mortal Kombat & newer games like Walking Dead & Game of Thrones. A great place for a fun adult outing!! read more

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Great service - a great kickback into a nostalgic time of my life which involved video games that were played solo, or with many friends/family members that involved lots of money and hours of lack of sleep. A nice combination of food, libations, time spent with friends with all of your amenities (including the loo), within footsteps. Thank you for a great time read more

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I went here with a girl and it was a really nice place to hang out. It's a normal bar but they have free arcade games that you can get lost in. Definitely the best place to start the night and break the ice. I really like their craft beer selection as well read more

This place is awesome. One of the best bar ambiances in the area if you're into WWF, American Gladiators, and a bunch of other 90s nostalgia. I live across the street and come here every time I have friends come in town. Along with having a great arcade they have an amazing food and bar menu. The chicken and waffles are amazing. They also have a great happy hour on Tuesday night. My only wish is that they had a few craft options on the beer menu. Though I get it, and it fits the demographic, not everyone enjoys a menu full of craft beers. read more

There's a great selection of beer and tons of old school arcade games. All of the games are free except for pinball machines. Co-op and competitive games are available which makes going with a group that much better. Most games are capped at 4 players at one time however. Their food menu is pretty good too with some decent vegetarian options. read more

Acrade Bar, where the arcade games are for the most part free! (only a few cost money like air hockey) The drinks are maybe $2 more expensive than drive bars, but they're really quite reasonable, especially for the River North neighborhood. They have 2 floors, and both are huge, so you shouldn't have trouble finding space/tables. Wednesday nights they have "Savage Bingo" which is fun if you go w/friends who don't take themselves too seriously. Their beer selection is impressive, and the staff are really nice! read more

Are you in need of a date idea? Especially early on in the dating process? This is the spot for a few reasons. 1) the food is delicious 2) the drinks are great as well (try the drink menu in the books) 3) it's 2 floors of arcade games that are FREE to play. So you can take your date to one place and feed her, give her a drink or two and play games all night, without breaking your bank. She'll think you're cool and fun and you totally win by helping your date relax in a fun and chill environment. Ok, not on a date, but just want to chill with friends, and tired of the same bar scene? This place is great for parties and events. Only negatives are that it gets pretty crowded and then you have to elbow the punk rocker dude next to you to get a turn at Ms. Pacman, I guess it's hard to keep a good thing a secret. read more

I'm going to have to go against the grain. While there is definitely a lot of 80's era games and loud music, and lots of young people from the nearby startup community, I haven't had the best experience, despite friendly service and pretty good pub food. So what's the problem? Both times I've made the trip to HQ I've checked out the beer selection on beermenus and was impressed that they had some new locals that I wanted to try. Both times the beers that I wanted were served in the basement bar. First time the basement bar was closed, the second time it was rented for a private party, and BOTH times they wouldn't serve beer from the basement if you're on the main level. Why? This makes no sense to me, and in fact is annoying. If your going to treat your bar like two separate places, put it on BM's like that. So, a place that has a great vibe, decent food, friendly service (they were polite while they told me they wouldn't sell me what I wanted) awesome games and - in total - a pretty decent beer selection, drops from a 4-4.5 to a 2-2.5. read more

The low rating is based on the issues I faced trying to plan an event at the River North location. I went once with some friends and had such a great time that I decided to book my birthday party there. Nothing big, 15 people - but I wanted to reserve space, and was ready to pay in advance for several rounds of appetizers. I filled out the online form (for parties/events) 6/7 weeks before my preferred date. After not hearing back from anyone for two weeks, I called the number from the website. Got a hold of a friendly team member at the Lakeview location. He apologized for the mix-up and said that he would forward my info to the River North person who handled parties. Never heard back from anyone. At all. No v-mails, or return e-mails. Nothing* *FYI: I am writing this review 2 days before the day that I wanted to have the party. read more

Came here last night for Nerd-lesque, which was held in the downstairs section. The aesthetic was fun and cool, with Banksy-inspired graffiti art mixing DC, Marvel, LEGO, and other pop culture references. Friend had an Ex-on-the-Beach (much like an ex, friend was disappointed) I got a Bacardi and Coke (soda was flat). Since the drinks weren't so great we left after the show. Still think this would be a cool place to come hang out; maybe better for beer drinkers? read more

I love it here. Free entry and soooo many arcade games. FOR THE FREE. Yeah, for the free. Pac Man. Mortal Combat. Astroids (though, it wasn't working when I was there). So many pinball machines (brought me back to the windows playing days). Ms. Pac Man. Frogger. Etc. I couldn't believe it was all free to play! The space was humungo too, with 2 floors and 3 bar sections. There were a lot of tables reserved for parties but you could still find places to sit. They also had a charging station for your phone! I'll be back. And no quarters needed. *Shout out to my friend for taking rec'ding this place. read more

Haven't had the food yet, but the bartenders & staff are great & now that they have the pay to play games upstairs, how can you go wrong with a bunch of free to play games and pinball machines? The best part of this place is that the old machines all have new buttons/joysticks, no lag. read more

Amazing bar that is free to get in and free video games from the 80s and 90s.., mba jam, mortal kombat, tons of pinball, pac man, off road, nfl blitz, frogger, all games were free cept a few were a buck like bubble hockey but def would go back, drinks were expensive but the free games made up for it in spades... I Will return maybe even tomorrow lol i wish there was one of these in nyc! read more

Headquarters Beercade River North - Offroad! - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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While I can't speak much for the food, this place brought out the kid in me. Came here on a Saturday night and enjoyed the games, big space, wasn't too busy and a great selection of old school arcade games that definitely threw me in for a throwback. Can't wait to come back read more

My fiance and I come here every few months, we're big fans. Love the atmosphere, drinks are great (they make a really tasty Old Fashioned) AND I'd like to give a huge THANK YOU to Jen who is a manager here. My fiance and I took some of our engagement photos here on a Sunday afternoon and she was GREAT. We had called ahead a week before and spoke to the host and he said "no problem" but when we arrived the host wasn't on duty and the bouncer had to get the manager on duty. We had planned the day around coming into Headquarters with our amazing photographer in tow so we were nervous, but Jen came over, listened and simply said, "no problem, please let me know if you guys need anything." Amazing - thank you so much, our photos there turned out so great. We made sure not to get in anyone's way and went as quickly as we coud and the patrons there are so cool no one minded and we got a lot of "congrats" from people who figured out what we were up to. Thanks again Jen and to the staff of Headquarters, see you again soon!! read more

Went to the Beercade last night for the first time. We had the jerk wings, barbecue wings and the loaded fries. The fries were good the wings not at all. It was fun playing the games and it's a plus that they are free. read more

I really enjoy this place. I like it better than other arcade bars. I've been here twice and the beer selection is decent and the games are awesome. It also does not get too crowded. read more

This is an absolute gem in River North. Everyone from the bouncers to the bar backs are polite and always willing to go above and beyond. Great place to take young (21+) and old alike. Can get a bit loud but even older generations enjoy playing Ms Pac-Man, Tron, and a plethora of pinball machines. Beer prices are pretty comparable for the area especially taking into account that 99% of the games are playable for free. Great food as well, crowd is mostly twenty-thirty somethings drinking craft beer, a few people dancing, and the rest are blowing away aliens, jamming in NBA jams, or throwing impossible 60 yard passes on NFL blitz. Must see Chicago! read more

Headquarters Beercade River North - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Much better than Emporium. The games are free and way more attentive bar staff. Kelly in particular was the best.

Been here twice within the last 2 months - seems like a decent spot... Food & beer - food menu is a bit subpar; not much to choose from if you want either a snack or a meal. I did have the chili or soup or something - I don't recall the name of it but I know one thing for certain, it was sub-par and lacked any decent tastes. Beer selection was okay, as they had a changing repertoire of different craft beers and other similar dainties. Service - it was okay, but since I was there during after work hours, it was busy. But as Mr Pink would say, "too f-in busy shouldn't be in their vocabulary". I would agree with him but to a point - it seemed if the wait staff were too busy and were close to being overloaded. Hire some more ladies and lads for crissakes! Games - seems to have a decent selection of 1980s-2000s games, but I apparently had more fun with the pinball machines, even though some of them were a bit cliche in their themes. Not bad, but I had more fun at Barcade in Brooklyn, and they had less number of games and no pinball machines, oddly enough. Maybe I'm getting too old for the 'old' games. Meh. Not a bad experience, but had the hassle of the bouncers, getting carded and bags checked - what is this, a Bulls game at the United Center? Felt like I was getting pinched. I think I like the Lakeview location better, had less hassles, and strangely enough, more room to sit, drink, and play. read more

This place is just plain awesome! We just come here for beer not food. But....Free video games and a decent beer list....I mean what else could you ask for? Super friendly staff, close to where I live (although it is your typical River north crowd) who cares it's still really chill. I came twice in one week and I plan on returning many more soon! Love it here! I suggest you check it out too. read more

This place is fun! We rented out the bar for an afternoon celebration. All the staff was super helpful and pleasant. They made our afternoon fun! First, all the games are FREE - so grab a drink, walk around, and get transported back to the old school days of gaming. The decor is adorable - make sure to snap a pic of the "Don't Grow Up, It's a Trap" sign above the pinball machines. The bar offers drink specials, get a recommendation from the bartender if you're not sure what to try. The menus are in old children's books which add to the old school atmosphere. For passed appetizers we chose Buffalo Cauliflower (so good), Mozzarella in Crispy Fillo (AMAZING) and Mahi Mahi tacos (delicious). For my lunch, I opted for the chicken dish and it tasted great. read more

I see a lot of good reviews but no one talks about how their is no place to sit if you don't have a reservation you're pretty much standing their and if you see an empty table you can't even sit at it because people (who didn't show all night table was empty) reserved it. Pretty much 80% of the place was reserved and a lot of the games have no reset button and 9999 tokens so you can't even start a new game until you die so you basically gotta finish someone else's game. Over all my first time being their I was pretty excited and the place was a fucking shitshow read more

Food was good. Drinks were good. The place had a fun atmosphere. My reason for writing a 3 is the people at the door. My girlfriend and I were standing in the little outside tent area waiting for a cab and they rudely were like you need to get in or leave. I said, "you're going to make people go into ten below weather when they just spent money at your bar?". One of them said, " I don't need your snarky comments". In my opinion rude people and bad customer service. read more

So much fun! Always my go-to when friends are in town. Great, relaxed environment where you can play old style arcade and pinball games for free! Always interesting beers on tap to have while you play pinball. read more

We are here on vacation and wanted to have an afternoon or evening of arcade time with our 12 year old. We showed up and were turned away because it was 21 and up. My wife and I were all over their website when planning our trip and didn't see anything about an age restriction. The website wasn't great to begin with. I guess we should have known there would be problems. read more

Apparently they have a rule that prohibits people from entering who have on jogging pants on Friday and Saturday nights. A group of black men were trying to enter but were told they can't enter due to their attire. There was a white woman in the window wearing jogging pants. Moral of the story is this is a racist establishment. Policing attire at a place that claims to be casual is racist. They lost 10 black customers because they refused to let in people with jogging pants. I guess the only thing I can do about this is make their yelp rating go down... read more

I am a big fan of the Bucktown location. However, when I learned there was another location in my hood I quickly went to check it out. I came here with a friend from out-of-town who fell in love with this place!! The decor is a throwback to the 80's which I loved. There were many options to choose from for beer and at a a reasonable price. The best part...most of the games were free!! The one clear exception was GOT pinball which I thought was silly. Overall, a great place at a great price and free hours of entertainment. We went on a Saturday afternoon, so this might be a different situation at night. Regardless, I know where I am going again soon!!! read more

Headquarters Beercade River North - Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Great games, awesome beer selection, and run by super nice people. A fantastic place to kill some time and escape the summer heat (or winter cold!) read more

I've been here a few times since it's opened, but not for food yet. I reserved a table for 8 for a Saturday morning. I wasn't sure if I could make a reservation, so I asked on their Facebook page, which seemed very active. I received a response the same day! I then emailed their event coordinator and received an email within 24 hours that the reservation had been made. We arrived a little early, but everyone on staff greeted us and sat us down within a couple minutes. Our server, Mike, was FANTASTIC. He was extremely nice and attentive. We had some of our party show up late, we didn't order food right away, and enjoyed the games for quite awhile. He told us it was no problem. He also asked ahead of time if we wanted to split the check, which made everything so easy for us. The entire group said they wanted to come back for brunch. Thanks for everything! read more

Awesome place, and great for a date with the right girl or buddies. Dude, the games are free to play. The craft beer selection is rock solid and it's full of nostalgia. It's a fun place whether you're an experienced old-school gamer looking for Mortal Kombat 2 or NBA Jam or just looking for a good time. read more

With all of the glowing reviews, I was so excited to try this place out and was quickly disappointed. My friends wanted to watch the Superbowl and HQ were promoting a watch party for $20. ( It included their nacho bar and 2 drinks.) It sounded like a good deal so we emailed them for table reservations and no one responded. Ok, no big deal. On our way to HQ, our Uber driver told us about a horrible experience he had at the Lakeview location. Yikes! We had already pre-paid for the ticket so hopefully, our experience was better. Once we got there, everyone from the hostess to the bartender was very rude. And don't even get me started on the nacho bar. I could not get passed the bag of El Milagro Tortilla Chips and the pulled pork that tasted like hot dogs. Since the nachos were horrible, we were going to order something from the menu except, our server came over once to bring us water and never came back. The only upside was the games were free. read more