Ezell worked at the door and made my experience in VIP amazing! Would def. recommend this place and paying the extra for VIP because of him!

This bar was the worst place I've ever been. If I could give one star I would. They charged me and my friend $50 for 2 shots. 2 shots total not 2 each. They were rude and had terrible service before charging this much. They charged $10 "entertainment fee" and $10 for "covid". Just go across the street instead. Never waste money or time there. read more

As others have said: DO NOT BOOK JOY DISTRICT FOR ANY GROUP EVENT! They do not honor group reservations, and will not honor any agreements you may make with them beforehand. As has happened to many others, we made reservations beforehand, but when we showed up, they told us no such reservations had been made and that the negotiated drink deals would not be honored. You risk having your night ruined if you make plans to go here with your party, so strongly consider going somewhere else. read more

This bar is a joke, they will take ur money for bottle Service but kick you out a hour later to turn the table for the next idiot stay away no customer service place is a joke read more

I went to Joy District last weekend and an employee told us that we had to pay 1000-3000 dollars to come inside. The bouncers and employees are very rude. Wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. read more

Bathrooms were dirty but a better treatment than the bouncers. Fire all bouncers effective 08/07/22. Treated women customers like men. Man handling at its finest if that's what you're looking for. read more

Had dinner at Joy about a week ago with my boyfriend. The design of this place is great! This is a very different venue from anything else in river north. Great food, strong drink & I love that you can go upstairs after dinner. Looking forward to an event that I am hosting here in a few months. read more

This is the best club in Chicago the bouncer tae is the best and nicest bouncer there is. They have the best music too

LADIES! DONT COME HERE! I've been here twice with my group of girls. The first time we came here we had a section waiting for us. The men preyed on us and 1 security did nothing about it (when they knew and seen) then 2 of my girlfriends were drugged right after I left. This happened about 2 months ago. The day after my friend called joy district and turns out they knew what had happened and said they even got some stuff on their cameras. Did nothing about it! Let my friends leave with these men. Fast forward to last night, I went back and almost the same thing happened with different men! One of the guys even went as far as touching my friends back side making all of us uncomfortable. No one was drugged! We made it clear to them and said that wasn't okay and they responded by telling all of us to get the hell out. Mind you they were in the section next to us. On our way out, we told the promoter Chris who invited us there what happened and he tried to diffuse the situation as best he could. He told us that our complaint wasn't the first one and those guys usually come there and spend a lot of money. We took his info and he told us to send him everything that happened in detail, I just don't believe that anything will happen even if we do send the info because if that was the case something should have happened while we were all there. Them spending a lot of money there l shouldn't make it ok and Joy Districk should do more and ban men like this to protect the women who come into their establishments to have a good time. I'll never come back here and hopefully any other women who see this review will think twice about going here too. read more

Joy District is horrible; literally go to any other bar on Hubbard. The drinks are expensive, the service is beyond subpar, and the general atmosphere was sad. Deserted on a Saturday night? Expected. I repeat, literally go to any other bar on the street. This goes on a short list of bad, and I mean BAD Chicago bars. read more

I will never go back to Joy District ever again and I plan on telling all my friends about the horrible experience I had yesterday on a Saturday night. I was with a large group of friends, an equal mix of women and men in our mid 20s, to finish the night with great drinks and dancing at Joy District. This did not happen at Joy District! The worst experience by far was the lack of communication and poor customer service by the bouncers. The second floor, which consisted of the main dance floor, had a 4:1 ratio of men to women. The music was terrible and the atmosphere was awkward, with no dancing or fun to be had by any those who obviously regretted paying the $40 entrance to the second floor. Most of the women in the group did not have to pay a cover to enter the bar or to get the stamp to enter the second floor. The men, however, had to pay $40 to gain entrance to the second floor. Two of the guys were not aware of the entrance fee and entered the second floor when the overly aggressive blonde bouncer was not covering the stairs. They were promptly escorted out with no verbal explanation. Another male of our group was kicked out 30 seconds after entering the first floor bar because the bouncers did not like how he looked? He didn't fit the profile of the Canada Goose wearing male with a comb over. Then, another male who had a stamp got kicked out of the second floor by the blonde bouncer who kept sarcastically asking: "How bad did you want to be here?" At this point, we had paid for several entrance fees for the men of our group to be on the second floor just to dance. Some other women in our group arrived late to the bar and were told the cover for women was $20. At this point, we all left and went to Mercer. The music there was great, the crowd was dancing, and the bouncers were kind. In summary: We wasted a lot of money at Joy District trying to gain entrance to dance on the second floor. The bouncers did not communicate about pricing, stamps, and the expectations regarding dress code. I can't believe the men in our group were treated this unfairly. read more

I imagined this place to be way more than it led on to be. It is a very cute place to take cool pictures but overall, the service is bad, the food and drinks were over priced and mediocre and the music/dj is the same. My first and only time here was for a friend's birthday. We had a party of about 15-20 people. The hostess gave us a really tight section with wobbly tables. Everyone ordered drinks first and then our waitress came back and took our food order. While we waited, we went to the terrace to take pictures. Came back down to the tables 10 minutes later and the drinks still weren't there. Waited another 10 and then we asked where our drinks were and the waitress said that the bar was under staffed with one bartender... on a Thursday night!! 5 minutes later, she came back with a round of about 8 shots, complimentary from the manager which was nice a nice gesture but not enough for everyone in our party. When we told her we needed more shots, she didn't want to give them to us, despite every single person waiting on their drink and being inconvenienced. Fast forward to when the bill came, the waitress added extra items to our bill and was argumentative . All in all, the experience was not good and will not be returning. I can see why this place has 3 stars. read more

Came to Joy w 2 of my girls for my 21st birthday yesterday. I didn't know what to expect, having heard it was the hottest club in the city, yet reading a lot of bad reviews.. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint. Vibes were immaculate. Music was great & so danceable, my favorite part. Bartenders & staff were nice & friendly. The ambiance is awesome, with lots of nice places to take pictures, mirrors throughout, & such friendly club goers (25 y/o seemed to be the average age). Security was security.. The only downside, drinks are insanely expensive.. averaging around $20 each. Very much over priced. They were also very watered down so you definitely get ripped off in that aspect. Luckily, we knew to pregame before. However, we did get in for free, with access to the rooftop, so there are definitely pros & cons. Overall, great experience, so I'll be coming back. read more

Joy District is definitely one of the better clubs in River North. They have multiple levels and each level is pretty unique and distinctive. **Bonus** they have a rooftop bar! Extra points for that - it's great in the summer months. Tip: the rooftop is very Instagram-worthy. The main level is called Parlay, and is pretty laid back for a happy hour or quick drink. The upstairs is the actual club. They usually have pretty good DJ's and they have cool lighting and decor. There are VIP areas for bottle service and all that jazz. Only thing I'd say to be careful about is the $20 cover that they like to charge on the weekends. I get in about 50% of the time without paying cover, but it depends on who's working at the door. But it's definitely a fun time! Great music and fun atmosphere. read more

Went to this place with my friends and had a great time until the end. All of my friends had left and I came out of the bathroom and the bouncer grabbed me and would not let me leave until I paid "my friends" tab. Completely felt attacked. I paid the tab thinking my friends really didn't pay even tho I gave my friends money for the tab already. Sure enough when I go to collect money from my friends he sends me a receipt of our tab. This wasn't cheap either we both were charged $1500. I have left voicemails and have called ten times trying to resolve this issue. No responses. People go here to drink and have fun. The establishments job is to take care of the guests. I did not feel taken care of at all. I felt targeted and attacked as said before. If you go here only bring cash so they don't try and screw you. I won't be back though. And will be telling all my friends to be careful there because they are shady. read more

We had our office summer party here and the rooftop was the perfect setting. Fun atmosphere. Great food (the salmon was delicious!!). The staff were outstanding. Eileen was our contact and she had everything ready and waiting for us. Bartender and and the rest of the team just great. Reasonably priced for our group of 40 too. Highly recommend! read more

Charged me 40$ for cover, just to get in and find a bunch of pretentious people inside. Never returning. Plus the drinks are unnecessarily expensive. The atmosphere was nice but now worth the cover charge. read more

Very cool on the inside. Great music. Very frustrating that you need to pay to get up. Insane prices. $60 for men? I'm a woman so I don't recall paying but $60 for men??? Only cash??? Wowza ! read more

Never been a big club person, but Joy District is an exception for me. Every time I go I am treated so well by the bartenders/staff. Especially Lucci! Her energy is AMAZING! read more

This bar has some INCREDIBLY racist bouncers. We were at the front of the line, after the rest of our party was let in. They proceeded to treat us like 2nd class citizens. We were told there was a cover charge, although the rest of the group got in for free. I'm wondering if it's because my girlfriend and the rest of the girls they didn't let in were black...you tell me read more

A group of friends and I reserved the winter rooftop igloo experience. We were supposed to have the entire igloo to ourselves for 3 hours. However, after about an hour a gentleman, who we later found out to be the manager, came into the igloo telling us that they had overbooked their reservations and told us we had two options: to either close out the bill and leave the premises or move to a different table. He let us know that there was a much larger party that needed the space. He was very rude and extremely unapologetic. I was flabbergasted that this is how Joy district does it's business. A few minutes lady our waitress came in and was extremely apologetic and told us that she did not agree with what the manager was trying to do and that she would see if she could do anything about it. A few minutes later they both came back to the igloo and offered to move us to a table outside of the igloo and give us a free bottle of our choice. Again, the manager, very rudely told us that we needed to make a decision "right now!". His attitude was horrible and still no apology for the inconvenience or disappointment. We finally negotiated on terms that we both agreed to after about 30 minutes or so. We decided to stay and move from the private igloo to a table amongst everyone else. The sole reason that we booked the igloo was to stay away from the larger crowd to avoid the risking covid. We were essentially forced out of the igloo, unfortunately. We didn't want to ruin the evening because we were celebrating which is why we decided to move to a standard table. At the end of the eve being a security guard told us that the reason we got kicked out of the igloo is because the larger group that needed the space were his friends. I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone else. Definitely not whole the current manager is still employed there's read more

First - let me start off with VERY JUDGE-MENTAL PLACE IF IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERENT KIM KARDASHIAN AND HAD KANYE WEST MONEY THEY DIDNT CARE ABOUT YOU - VERY UNORGANIZED AND UNPROFESSIONAL. We had a TABLE reserved for 9pm. We got there a few minutes before.. They then proceeded to tell us that we are going to have to wait an additional 30 minutes.. What was the point in even making a reservation for a TABLE? So five other girls and I proceeded to wait as we continued to see other people get brought up that showed up after us. We are frustrated at this point and I brought it to there attention. They explained we can eat downstairs EVEN THOUGH WE HAD A TABLE FOR BOTTLES UPSTAIRS FOR WHAT WE RESERVED FOR OUR FRIENDS BIRTHDAY BUT WANTED TO GIVE IT TO OTHER PEOPLE. The lady manager wearing a black dress in flats yesterday seemed to not know what she was doing. She was running like her head was cut off like a chicken. We decided, we will wait inside and order drinks till we got told to move upstairs because we are fuming. The server was RUDE - she told us in attitude the food closes in 5 so if u want something i need to know right now like we didn't just get seated and we're never given a menu or a barcode to scan and she rarely came back after food and drinks were ordered. MANAGEMENT NEVER CAME ONCE AGAIN FOR THE TABLE WE RESERVED!! Don't bother to waste your time or energy on this place, please take your business else where. read more

My friend and I got to the spot around 8pm. We wanted to go to upstairs and they said it was already closed like how???? when you clearly can see on their bio their rooftop hours are 5pm-11pm. Whole time we just seen people with suits and all going upstairs like they could've just told us the truth. I would not recommend this place at all. if i could rate 0 stars i would. read more

Cozy atmosphere (the cutest holiday set up!) with awesome cocktails. I absolutely loved the Brie lollipops and Brussels sprout salad - altogether, they have wide array of delicious food options for any palette. Five thumbs up! As a side note, I showed up with a huge group for my brothers birthday. We had to wait a few minutes in line but not too long. The door staff apologized for the wait and bought us drinks. Thank you! read more

We had our Holiday party here. It was just okay. The bartenders were not quick and staff was a bit rude at the end of the night.

So I came here on an earlier Friday night with my cousins from New York who looooved this spot. Beautiful people and coconut sake, can't get any better then this. I really hope the door staff is always this Friendly and stays this friendly. Not your typical river north attitude which I loved. The downstairs bar area has a nice seating area with tables and then tables in the back for dining. Perfect after work spot, nice mixed crowd there which was nice to see. There as a private event going on upstairs on the rooftop until 730 so at 731 we headed on up! The rooftop was adorable!!! Not much seating but a fun view and very lively. Definitely check out their coconut sake- I'm not a huge sake person but it was amazing!!!!! Will definitely be coming back!! read more

If I could give zero stars, I would! After having a great evening with our colleagues and spending well over $3,000 on a section and drinks, we were literally yelled out of the venue into the pouring down rain, with frequent lightning strikes. My husband and I had yet to physically leave the building before we noticed the pouring rain that awaited us outside, our uber was 1 min away, so we tried to wait near the door. We were yelled at by 5 security guards to "move, move, move!","leave!", "get out!". This was disorienting as they were standing on both sides and yelling full force. We step out under the short awning, yet the yelling continued for us to move. My husband made a comment that this wasn't right for us to have to stand in that rain and lightening, especially after spending an exorbitant amount of money. They wouldn't even put a dog into this weather, but here they are ushering us out. One guard in particular, proceeded to escalate things with my husband by responding he didnt give a fk about our money and proceeded to call my husband a "bi+ch a$$ ni**a". My husband told him he wasn't lying about us being put into the rain being wrong. He clearly was trying to provoke my husband into a fight bc he proceeded to ask my husband if he thought he was a tough guy. We're still standing in the downpour of rain at this point, and the security came out to really get into my husband's face. I was standing in front of my husband to begin with, so this positioned the huge guard behind me, with me being between the two. So if he had succeeded at luring my husband into a fight I would've definitely been hit. We were unmistakably out of their business's door, yet this guard took it upon himself to come into the rain and lightening and further degrade us (as if the treatment of standing in inclement weather wasn't enough). I would NEVER suggest anyone patron this establishment because the security can't decipher who is a threat and who isn't (again, we were in the club so we had been thoroughly checked, i mean I've never had a club guard empty my entire purse upon entry, so they knew we didn't have weapons), tries to turn you into a threat, and doesn't care about anything but ego. read more

I was over at joy district for dinner with my girlfriend I must say the food was right on the money and service was also very nice. I liked the atmosphere at dinner with very good music playing and after dinner it turned into a club which the nice part is you don't got to wait and pay cover if you fine there . The staff of friendly and professional which is very rare in the industry world I will definitely go back and recommend it to others Great job all around read more

Had a great time here last night. The bouncer named yuri was very polite as well as all of the other staff. It was free for ladies and we didn't have to wait long in line. I went to the club level and had a great time. The music was good. They played mainly hip hop, top 40 and the occasional techno mix. The drinks were a tad bit pricey but that's normal for river north. A pineapple vodka was 13.00 so not entirely Bad. Huge place. They even had a surprise marching band. Definitely will be back! read more

Haven't eaten there, only cocktails. Music mediocre sometimes,' but I've jammed once or twice. Aesthetically pleasing space, the rooftop is whimsical...IF you avoid 75 men in plaid bumping into you and 90 women in heels stepping on your toes. In summation: go upstairs early and when the crowd comes book it. Then the downstairs is a second best if you're with a good group. Otherwise I'd say skip the hoopla and go to Paris if you're looking for a social up or boss bar if you wanna come back down to earth. read more

Take the elevator up to the roof if it's warm. If it's cold then sit at the bar and get a shot of Clooneys vodka and warm up. Clooneys the man and Joy knows that. read more

In the makeup of a well-rounded individual, Joy District has as many sides to offer as us folks do. Joy is a perfect spot for: After work happy hour Drinks on a rooftop Dinner with adults Happy hour that turned into late night Dancing to rap and R&B Dancing to EDM Acting like you're in a club Ordering bottle service Having a really good time It's a beautiful, multi-functional space that caters to just about every kind of experience you are looking for in a bar. Just don't expect the dive vibe. Divey, it is not. The rooftop is spacious enough to actually hold a crowd, and the levels ascend to the degree of rowdiness you're looking for. Joy District has become one of my favorite weekend spots; brave the line and give it a try! read more

I came here recently for a special event. The patio/rooftop is gorgeous but the drinks and food could be improved. It's possible this was specific to the event I attended but all the appetizers were cold and the wine wasn't chilled. Service was solid and the bathrooms were clean so no complaints on that end! read more

Previous Epic but worst service ever, server was extremely slow, I had to get drinks from the bar because he took so long. Basic 80's music played the whole time which seemed ok. We ordered a roll of Sushi for $15...Jesus Christ, you can get rolls from the cafe of Chase Tower for less that tastes better than this garbage. Also, the roll included 5 pieces....eggh read more

Drag brunch was fun but the music was way too loud before and after the show. Left with a migraine.

I always have a blast here! The people in my experience have been friendly and it's just a great place to be. With the location in River North right at the center of everything, Joy District is definitely a place where everyone should go at least once! read more

I moved to River North about a year ago.. I visit Joy District almost weekly and always have so much fun. The staff is amazing! If you're ever looking for a place to hang out downtown Chi, this bar is a must! read more

Joy is so great and so fun. Great atmosphere and people! Shoutout to Tae the bouncer he was very friendly and made me and my friends feel very comfortabl!! We love Tae! read more

Writing my first review because this place should be shut down. Ridiculous prices, terrible service, even worse "management." They should be ashamed and embarrassed. They won't give you water, even if you're purchasing hundreds of dollars of drinks or if you're sick to your stomach. And half the guys who work there are genuinely terrible human beings. read more

This place is a scam! We paid for bottle service and they tried to move our VIP before we finished our bottle . Super rude super racist. I will be contacting their manager to see about refunding us for their poor customer service. Beware! read more