My son and I visited on Friday, July 10, at roughly 2/3pm, and I believe the person assisting us…read morewas Mike (?). He was the bartender as well as person assisting with the games. He was fantastic and very helpful. My son and I played for just about an hour, and went through a variety of games, including: golf, football, soccer, zombie shooting game and maybe one more. It was a good time and a nice way to have some fun after shopping. We were told on Mondays the games are much cheaper so that would be a nice day to try this if you're in the area.

Really great way to spend an hour. Great staff, reasonable prices, and you can get a small cheval…read moreburger or a drink. Very relaxing even when I'm golfing poorly, which is always.

The ice cream hotdog was nasty and the smoked salt that was on the peach Paloma made the whole…read moredrink horrible

What a fun time!! The staff is very energetic and seem to enjoy their job. I wish there were more…read morerooms to explore but you can eat all the nice cream you want. While the hot dog ice cream was the worst thing I ever tasted, it will be a lasting memory for my family and the laughs we had trying it. This a fun stop to explore for all ages. Signed- Le'Mon Keezy (my ice cream name) . This isn't a spot I'd continually visit but you should definitely give it a try!!

A monumental view of one of the world's great cities…read more The Hancock Tower is an architectural masterpiece and an iconic destination in the Windy City. The tour is designed to allow the visitors to experience the city's grandeur from above. Having said that, it's also a tourist spot and some of its features are also bothersome. I got the Sip, Tilt and View Ticket and that allowed for a drink at the bar, the views from the observation floor, and the tilt experience as you sit and the floor tilts about 30° outward. The views are jaw dropping. The drinks are good. The Tilt is a fun experience but a "been there, done that" moment. The photographers are like flies on day-old fish. A few less would have improved the quality of the visit. Overall a great experience.

I bought tickets on Groupon, which I highly recommend, you definitely save a few dollars. I bought…read morethe basic Observation Deck tickets. I wanted to do Tilt 360 but my husband didn't so I didn't want to waste money and thought I would just add it on once I get to the location... WRONG! Sold out (unless I wanted to wait 9:30pm... it was 5pm). No thanks. It was nice - nothing more, nothing less. I was really disappointed I couldn't do Tilt 360. The observation deck does have great views and they have a really nice bar at the top called the 'Cloud Bar'. It is expensive and I was also disappointed I barely saw any merch with Tilt 360 on it. I thought that would be a hit for merchandise. I personally wouldn't go back, but it was okay for what it was. My husband enjoyed it even though he was scared just being at the top of the building.

Taste of Chicago happened to be going on when we were visiting, so we had to check it out!…read more And it was a fun time! We found several things to try, including pierogis, pizza, beer and ice cream. For the record, Rainbow Cone was our favorite, and the mac and cheese, which featured nacho cheese, was our least favorite. (Forget where the mac and cheese came from.) We found some shade under trees, which was a nice respite. And there seemed to be a great lineup of live entertainment. I also wish we had had time to better partake of the kids area. This is a must visit, especially if you like to try lots of foods and the summer heat isn't too intense.

Remember being a teenager with 20 dollars and a few friends. Going downtown to the Taste of Chicago…read morewas such a treat. You had a hand full of tickets and thought you were on top the world. It was always a good time walking around laughing, embracing the good times. Always running into someone else you knew. If you were lucky, you also enjoyed a free concert. I remember the year Stevie Wonder performed, I couldn't even get close to the stage. So glad I could hear him! As the years have passed the Taste has been through many changes; some good and some bad. It had even been cancelled before. I'm glad it's back and here to stay. A great place to visit in the summertime and get that sweet or savory bite of something new. There are no more tickets and the event is cashless but watch your receipts. Some venders are charging surcharges, including gratuities and a fee for using a card. I love that it was so crowded my most used words were "excuse me". I was on break so I only had time to stand in two lines. One for corn and another one for empanadas. They were both fresh and delicious. See you next year.

So fun! Right on the water; first (and best!) Chicago hotdog of the whole trip!…read more Food comes right out to your table; staff are considerate! The area can be a bit loud - but it's the vibe, and we were able to have conversation comfortably.

Above average (traditional) beer selection…read more Great outdoor seating on the water. Food is just OK. The fact that the sausage sampler is pre-cut is a huge bummer. Makes you feel like 4-year old again. Half of the fun of putting a firm sausage in your mouth is biting into it and feeling it "pop" inside.

We started our Chicago adventures by visiting the sky deck and Willis Tower. We had a great time…read morelearning about the history of Chicago. We purchased city pass tickets since we were visiting for a couple of days and chose the sky deck as one of our activities. They recommend making a reservation through the app so you can book the time you'd like to visit. Once we were in we went through the experience where we got to see exhibits and take fun pictures throughout. From there we took the elevator to the 103 floor to see the sky deck. The views of the city are super beautiful and of course we have to get our fun photos from the ledge!

The overall experience and the downstairs museum detailing the city's history (with its great…read moredisplays and model train) are wonderful. However, the operations leave a lot to be desired. While a 90-second time limit makes sense on a packed day, on a slow day with only 10-20 people in line and 4 decks available, they should easily extend it. Instead, they cram multiple groups into one deck--forcing our party of four adults to share tight space with two strangers--and strictly require everyone to enter simultaneously. By the time you get settled and overcome any nerves, your 90 seconds are already up. We would have rated our experience much higher, but an employee soured the end of our visit. When we politely asked him to take a photo, he rudely and repeatedly barked that he would only do so if we left immediately afterward, even though we had timed our visit and were barely over the limit. Great attraction, but better customer service and flexibility are desperately needed.

Fabulous and free jazz festival over Labor Day weekend in Chicago…read more Although it is not as big as other jazz festivals that I've been to like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival (my personal favorite), or Montreal Jazz Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival was perfect for a couple of hours to relax and enjoy some jazz. We walked to Millenium Park and then had a short wait to go through a limited security screen. Took a few photos of Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain and Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) before heading to the pavilions to enjoy some cool jazz. Loved the Sharel Cassity Alliance. So nice to see an all female jazz group. The Charlie Johnson Quartet was also quite good. Plenty of seating was available, but you could bring lawn chairs or even snacks into the park. Will have to come back again when we can spend more time enjoying some cool jazz on a hot summer day. Great way to end the summer in Chicago.

Jazz fest 2025 was fun. The fist band Ben Waltzer Quartet was amazing. But it went downhill from…read morethere. Abigail Richard's has a terrific voice but she had poor song selection and I think the sound was off a bit for her. The Beatles song was not good though people seemed to enjoy it. The Madison Electronique was not for me. And I don't think jazz fest liked the political commentary. We only saw one band on the main stage. They seemed mediocre. Overall a fun day for a few hours. We went to a great local jazz bar that night and the band was awesome.

This was me and The Heiress Apparent (La J) first time at this event. We are both lovers of Mac…read moreand Cheese, so of course when we heard about this event, we were in. Tickets were $65 for General Admission and and $105 for VIP. Both tickets got you all you can eat samples and five drink tickets. We got the VIP tickets because there was priority check in, free tee shirts and a VIP section we could sit in so we could be comfortable eating our mac and cheese. The VIP section was good, plenty of seats. This was our first time at the fest, so we have no comparison in terms of organization. But I would say that the event was very well organized. There were a good number of vendors representing different types of mac and cheese, very creative. The samples were a good size for getting a flavor of eat one. It was a brilliant idea to have the samples already out on the table ready to pick up. The only vendor that had a line was Public House (Chef Jeremy Tannehill) for the Chicken, Mac, & Waffles. It eventually settled down and we go to sample it...waffle cone, mac/cheese and a chicken meatball in hot sauce. It was good. Millie's Supper Club had a a great Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese. Texican (Chef Kim Dalton) Texas Chili Mac, Warren's Ale House (Chef Kevin Hay) Ghost Pepper Mac with Smoked BBQ Brisket (wasn't that hot and that was good), and ConeCepts (Chef Turn Cummings) Beer Braised Brisket Mac & Cheese were all good. Another favorite for me was Carmine's. They came up with a Mac and Cheese slider and it was so good. Other favorites were Carnivale's (Chef Rodolfo Cuadios) Mac & Cheese Cake Pops. I could not wrap my mind around a mac and cheese dessert, but it was like eating cheese cake. That was my personal favorite of all the vendors. La J enjoyed Mahoney's Pub & Grille's (Chef Alex Gomez) Strawberry Mac & Cheesecake and Kitty O'Sheas at the Hilton Chicago's (Chef Mario Garcia & Chef Erica McGhee) something like an apple crumble. Again, not thinking of mac and cheese as a dessert, but both worked. The five drink tickets were good and I ended up getting more from some nice people. Not sure what all was there for adult beverages as I hit the table serving wine. Pretty decent whites and they have a sparkling, so I was in heaven. The pours were very generous. We didn't get to hit all of the restaurants as we got so full! We had a plan of attack for hitting all of the vendors, but made the mistake of repeating samples that we liked. All and all, it was a good time and I look forward to doing this next year.

Tubular elbow pasta has been one of America's favorite comfort foods ever since Yankee Doodle stuck…read morea feather in his cap. This annual one-day indoor festival provides a venue for talented local chefs to flex their creative muscles and compete for the Golden Noodle Award, and for foodies to sample something potentially more awesome than the familiar Kraft product. Tickets are pricey but the event donates a portion of the proceeds to a worthy charity. This was the first time the Missus and I attended the Fest (we were invited as VIP lunch guests). Many of the offerings we tasted were truly a quantum leap above the comparatively bland grocery aisle version. Some had unusual twists. For example, mac & cheese cake pops (Carnivale), whose flavor is best described as cheddar cheesecake. My personal fave was the sweet-and-savory concoction of Kitty O'Shea's (a past award recipient); it was redolent of caramelized onions. Several of the booths were elaborately decorated. To wash down the high-carb repast, participants could choose from an array of 5 oz. pours of beers, wines, and hard ciders. A deejay spun contemporary songs. The feeding frenzy concluded with the announcement of the winner and runners-up (by popular vote) for the Golden Noodle Award, a trophy that looks like a drainpipe on a pedestal. What a hoot! We're longtime fans of food festivals, and this exceptionally well-run event was among the best we've attended.