I came as things wound down in the evening and was pleasantly surprised when I heard there was an open mic and then karaoke. I met some very cool people and the bartenders were great! I don't remember how many times I said, "I'll leave after this.." and was told to stay and hang with other bar goers. We had an awesome time and i definitely want to pay a visit to Trace again. read more

Just went while it was Clover. $10 for men? You are not a club on Hubbard. No one is seriously gonna pay that. When it was Trace it was free and there was darts and games to play, and now there's just nothing except a bar. Just go to literally anywhere else on the Wrigley strip that doesn't charge a cover. Ridiculous. read more

Went here for the colts game. The bartender was hilarious and approachable. We loved being around the other fans there. I won part of the raffle and got free beer for the rest of the game it was awesome. Popcorn on standby. Nice colts bar read more

Conveniently located close to Wrigleyville, this place is underrated! The bartenders were quick, kind, efficient, and honest, which is hard to find in this big city. We loved the laid back, down to earth, good vibes! Come check out Martin! He was so awesome to us! This is him; met him tonight but show him some love when you can! read more

Trace - Sports Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

One star -- would give zero if I could. Trace is the kind of place you only go to once -- either because you've learned your lesson or because they've double-charged you and you're not going back. The bar itself is outdated, smells musty, and the counters are sticky (gross). But my biggest issue? They overcharge and DOUBLE charge your card. They take your card to "open a tab," and instead of a small hold like most places, they charge you the full amount right away. Okay, weird but fine -- except then they run the full charge AGAIN when you close out. I've had this happen before and got it fixed with a GM, but recently when I called about it, some guy (who wouldn't even give me his name) tried to lie and say he's the only one who can reverse charges, and it's been over a year since he's done that. Wrong -- because I literally got it fixed not that long ago. If you're into dusty bars with shady billing practices, this place is for you. Maybe it's fine if you're over 50 and pay strictly in cash, but I'm done. Don't even care if I get "banned" -- there's a fuck ton other bars in Wrigley. read more

MAKE SURE TO LOCK YOUR PHONE BEFORE YOU HAND IT TO THE BARTENDER TO APPLE PAY. The bartender added a picture of himself to my Snapchat story without my consent. This was a complete breach of privacy and highly unprofessional. I also asked to speak to someone about this incident and they were very unhelpful and disregarded my complaint. I am in the US on holiday so the photo of this random man on my Snapchat story raised huge concerns for my family who are back at home. Not funny. read more

Popped into this bar just for a couple shots while walking around Wrigleyville. The vibes were fine and the staff was nice, but we were charged $60 for two tequila shots and 3 tequila sodas because the bartender decided to up-charge us on tequila and didn't use well. I get making the business a little extra cash, but I've been a bartender and that kind of behavior is just dishonest. This bar is fine if you want to spend a ton of money for small pours of $10 Jose Cuervo (?!). read more

We LOVEEEE Jennie such a queen. Very good bar. Solid games. Good drinks as well. Love a grapefruit Siegel

Poor pours with hefty prices won't be back. 3 Maker's Mark @ $18 each in plastic glasses.

I've Been Working At Wrigley Field For The Past 4 Years, And I'm A Well Known Customer And Die Hard Cubs Fan! Trace Banned Me For Unknown Reasons, I Never Caused Any Problems With The Public Or Staff. They Wouldn't Even Tell Me The Reason Why I'm Not Allowed There. The Bartenders Here Are Unprofessional And I Believe Security Here Racial Profiles. If You Love The Cubs As Much As I Do , DO NOT GO HERE! TRACE SUCKS! read more

When da homies link up it's always GUD TIMEZ!!! We love a great Silent party, so we decided to give Chicago a try. Tickets purchased online, flight booked & bags packed. I must say the event was organized very well. Tickets are scanned at the door, sanitized headphones given & you can party up or downstairs. The bartenders (Meg, Megan, & I didn't catch the other bartenders name) & two DJ's with plenty of energy & awesome conversation. I must say the venue was very well air conditioned for the amount of people that attended. PRAISE DA LORRRRD-T!!! The drinks were strong & price effective which was a delight. Our liquid poison for the night was crown 'n' Coke, Malibu 'n' pineapple, & maker's mark w/Coke. Plus shots of Flor de Cana rum. Needless to say we were LITTY N DA CITY!!! The music was EPIC old school R& B or New skoo TRAP. Three hours later, 4 drinks & two shots each we were all danced out. But we definitely enjoyed ourselves at this event. read more

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My 1st bad review ever.This place just lost alot of business from us after what we saw here last night. Manager was drunk and yelling at an employee from across the bar while he was trying to take care of our order. Huge shout out to him on how he handled this situation he was a true professional. We were told to come here by a friend who had a friend who worked there. " This friend" turned out was the employee who was getting yelled at for no reason from what we saw except the fact the manager was drunk. Kudos to him for not standing for this type of treatment and walking out. We were coming here to set up some weekly events as we do alot of business happy hours and client get togethers. I would not be writing this review except for this reason. Do not support businesses that management treats their employees disrespectful. There is soo many other places to go that treat their employees respectfully. read more

The bouncer named Angel helped me find my Lyft ride home- thank you for keeping me safe! Also fun games in the bar. :)

Who would've thought that they have industry discounts on Sunday? Had great time there and bearded bartender was SO much fun! Very interactive and personal. read more

I would give this place 0 stars if it would let me. They allow their female customers to get harassed and sexually assaulted by men and do nothing about it. In the short time I was there (maybe an hour), myself and my friend were harassed by three men. We told security and they allowed them to stay. Then we witnessed another female get sexually assaulted by a man while sitting at the bar and they kicked her out. This place is absolutely ridiculous. We didn't even feel comfortable going outside to get our Uber alone. I have never felt so uncomfortable in a bar in my entire life. And to have the security not do anything after we told you we were uncomfortable bc three men were harassing us and being aggressive. I would not ever go to this bar as a female. The type of customers are horrible and the staff are horrible as well for not taking control of these types of situations. read more

I was here once in 2007 and I didn't think it was anything special. Some buddies of mine were hanging here and invited me over during that terrible storm on Friday afternoon a week ago. Real chill, down to earth people here and the service was cool. They had a guy playing the guitar near the front window which was ok. It got the crowd excited! They also carry one of my favorite beers here: La Fin Du Monde. I introduced my buddies to it and they loved it! I had 3 and my night seemed to coming to an end due to the 9% alcohol content that particular beer carries. Very close to Wrigley and a pretty cool spot! read more

I went here last night (7/4/13) for the second time. I went at 2 am and stayed till 4 as it's an afterbar. Pros: * It gets packed with drunk people so your bound to end your night with some laughs or interesting events to say the least haha. * Fun dive bar Cons: * The female bartender with crazy hair (looks like a black hair piece/wig with a white bow type thing in the back) is AWFUL! 3 prominent things happened last night that make me say this. 1. We ordered car bombs and vegas bombs and she used a very short plastic glass and put the bomb part in a small shot glass... Usually with vegas bombs, you can just add the red bull right in... It didn't fit in the cup and overflowed. 2. She spilled my friends glass that was half way full with a vodka cran and just said "sorry".. didn't even replace it!. 3. The bus boy took my gin and tonic that was more than halfway full as well as my friends beer (I have NO CLUE why as it obviously wasn't empty). I told her about it and she replied with "the bus boy took that, not me"... OKAY, well you're still an employee here so do something about it! That's NO excuse... 4. My friend ordered a miller light and paid for it, she put it in front of the wrong person so my friend never knew... he said "can I have the miller light I ordered", she said "4.25, and popped one open. He mentioned that he already paid for it, and she said, oh well I put it over there (wrong person).. She made him pay for another one anyway.. (shouldn't be charging people for your mistakes). Anyway, I will come here again because this is a fun after hours bar, but if I have that bartender again, I won't leaving her any tips.. She was just AWFUL. read more

Great spot if your looking for a late night hangout!! We proudly part of Last Call Tavern Group Open late & we play all genres of music! Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: TraceChicago | Don't forget to tag us & you might be featured on our IG. Also, now booking parties we got great package deals for any size group & event. Hope to meet y'all soon!! #WrigleyBars read more

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This place has a large crowd, decent beer list, and even an upstairs so there is plenty of room. It is a pretty typical 4AM bar that gets flooded when all of the other bars close. The bar tending is so so. It is hard to tell when it is pretty busy, so when mistakes were made, I tried to give the benefit of the doubt. The biggest complaint is that the bouncers were very rude and unreasonably pushy! I understand that as a bouncer, you're dealing with extremely drunk people all the time and probably get jaded from that kind of job. But seriously, you don't have to be an asshole to every person that walks in. And when people are leaving, you don't have to help them by grabbing them by the neck and tossing them out. Trying to finish my beer by the door before leaving, I was "escorted" out briskly. Once outside, I also saw them being dicks to other people, as they were flipping them off for whatever reason. I mean, really?? I feel like this review will probably fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes?), but I just don't want to go to a place where I have to put up with people who have personal issues they need to take out on others. Thought we'd give this 4AM bar a try, but not gonna go back. Tai's til 4 it is. read more

Trace. Interesting name for a bar. Came here the other night after a Cubs game as an alternative to all the other sports bars in the area. Huge bar on the first floor and a quieter second floor which surprisingly wasn't open on the night I was there. Plenty of beers to choose from (15 in bottle, 12 or so on tap) so you won't go thirsty. Well, maybe you will - cuz just getting a bartender to acknowledge you is a feat in this place. read more

Got a quick drink here before the Cubs game on a Friday afternoon. They had a nice selection of beers on tap or bottles. Prices ranged from 5 to 7 dollars per beer. Service was fast and place looks well maintained. Place has alot of ample seating and appears to have a second floor, which I didn't check out. They also had food specials as well. read more

Trace - Guinness on tap - Sports Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Jay the bartender was a super friendly dude. I left my pool stick there and he took the liberty to check if there was a name on the stick (which there was) to make sure the wrong person didn't claim it. Don't find honesty and service like that much these days. I'll definitely be a frequent for the good times! read more

Awesome drinks, great music and super friendly staff!!! Love Stephanie, badass mgr!!!!! read more

Trace - a bar with beer taps and a television in the background - Sports Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

If I knew how rude the bartender was going to be I wouldn't have even bothered to walk into this bar in the first place. The service was horrible and the vibe wasn't good, I can see why it was absolutely dead when my friends and I walked in. One of my friends ordered a drink and when the bartender asked if anyone else was going to order we said not right now since we just sat down and had pregamed a little beforehand. He told us that this wasn't a "lounging place" even though the only 2 other customers in there were also lounging around and apparently he had no problem with them two. 1/10 wouldn't recommend. read more

My rating is based on Trace now, in late 2018. The original owner sold it and it's turned into a standard Clark street, bullsh*t tourist trap. The bartender that made all the groovy rock videos playlists, and all the rest of the original crew, were summarily sent packing. All that's left are a bunch of money-hungry 20-something tenders that are the typical "I'll lean over the bar if you give me a big tip" type. The idiots from the The Full Shilling bought it. Skip it, it's not what you remember or even what you want to see anymore. Sad. read more

Definitely a step up from other bars on the Wrigley Strip of Bros*. My friends and I were not the most experienced Wrigley-goers, so we followed a few people when they said that Trace was a fun bar that they liked. We had a nice time at Trace. It was not too crowded or too loud, but far from dead or boring. There could've been more seating, but somehow we managed. The bartender was nice and very prompt. Her pours were a bit weak, which was fine by me since I'm a lightweight, but it's just a helpful tip for all of you normal people out there. :) Needless to say, it was a good vodka soda. I thought she said it was $9, so I handed her a $10, but then she gave me $5 in singles. Although I thought it was $9, apparently it was a loud bar since the weak vodka soda was really $5. That sort of surprise is always fun. (But $5 for a drink in Wrigleyville? I'm starting to think that that's a decent price. Good for them.) The upstairs area had bartenders that were much less attentive. It took about 15 minutes just to get shots, but it might also be because a bunch of men were sitting at the bar and slowly sipping beers, not, you know, letting other people order. Ugh. Trace was overall a lot of fun, and around 2am, it gets a bit crazy, but it was a fun time, and I'd probably go back. *I may sound snarky, but let's be real, some of the bros we observed were good looking. Embarrassing. If you know of a help line I can call for counseling, please advise me. Thanks. read more

I had a good time music was good cover was only $5 and they are open late till 5 A.M on the weekends which is cool.

Hands down the best industry bar on Clark st. The staff is beyond amazing. When you are greeted by your name and someone already is grabbing your drink before you ask, that is phenomenal. read more

I went into this bar on a Saturday night to watch a Clemson game with friends. As soon as we sat at the bar, the bartender was rude to my girlfriend and I. I later won a raffle of Clemson gear, my prize being a dog bowl full of beer. It seemed like a fun prize and I chugged as much as I could before my girlfriend tried to take a sip and she was immediately told by the bartender, who we later found out was a GM, that she would kick her out if she had any of my prize. Mind you, we were also buying other drinks and generally just having a good time before she rudely threatened to throw us out. After I couldn't finish the second dog bowl full of beer on top of my other drink, she came by and took my prize away from me and said she was going to re-raffle it to someone else. I told this to another bartender and she was quite perplexed why the GM would even do that. After receiving more verbal abuse for over an hour, I eventually asked her why she was being so rude and told her that it doesn't seem very professional. Ultimately it ended in a scene as she threw me out despite me asking to close out my tab with the nice bartender. This place sucks. read more

I am a neighborhood industry person. I haven't been in month or two and while I understand cleaning house with leadership changes, the bartenders are the worst in Chicago. I got there at 4 after a shift and it took 22 minutes to get a drink and even after that it was wrong. The bartenders never communicated and who I presume to be the GM just went back there and distracted the girls. I miss the days of Steph, Eddie, the Morgans, Taylor, etc. I've seen Taylor work solo days with way more people. I've seen Steph and Eddie rebuild the clientele. Sad that this is happening to a neighborhood staple. Hope the owners can bring some of those old people back. read more

Trace is not what I would have expected from an after-hours Wrigleyville bar. Not even close. We arrived just slightly before the 2am rush and were able to snag a booth on the first floor of the chic little lounge. The elevated U shaped booths are HUGE and easily fit 6 people while being wide enough for the 3 remaining standing members of our group plenty of room to stand around the outer edge. It was a great setup for a large amount of people to be able to talk to one another while remaining stationery. The music wasn't very loud, so we could actually hear what the person next to us was saying. Has that ever been true of any late night bar? The crowd also isn't what you'd expect. Apparently the patrons of Barleycorn and Moe's Cantina haven't gotten the memo about the newest late night bar on the block yet. Gone were the Chads and Trixies and in their place, an older (if only by a few years) more chilled out scene. The average age of a patron here is probably 28 and isn't killing time trying to sober up before heading back out to the burbs. I have found my new late night stomping grounds. read more

CHILLIN' ON CLARK Trace is the perfect place to grab a few drinks pre-game and to chill out post-game when you want a relaxed vibe in a douche-bag free environment. It's also a great place to meet your friends before you head out to other bars since there's no line to get in and it's never obnoxiously crowded like Casey Moran's or the Cubby Bear. read more

Oh Trace, the last time I went here it was dead af. There was one time where a few girls were dancing but usually this place is dead

I really didn't like it. I went for a party upstairs...the music was too loud...by the time I left i had a SPLITTING headache. I guess to each his own regarding bars/lounges/clubs what not, so here is MINE....i didn't like it. I would 500x more love to be at Smartbar...which is a few doors down. Long live house music!!! read more

As a former General Manager of a bar and over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry the owner of the bar is the main thing that ruined my experience. Here's the plus side of the place. 1. Very good to selection of beer for a late night place. 2. Good room to move throughout the spot. Bad: The owner. Stay out of your own bar. read more

When the 2am bar closes, just go home. I didn't take my own advice. Shots always seem like a good idea at the after hours bar. Rarely are shots ever a good way to cap off a night of drinking. I had a good time here and I made a ton of friends (don't we all when booze is involved). I typically hate going out in the area but sometimes I like to pretend like i'm back in a college town and I think this is the perfect location to do that. You might roll your eyes a lot but I think you'll have an ok time if not better. Consider this useful, funny and cool. read more

Picture you're in wrigleyville at 2:00 on friday and your bar is closed. You'll no doubt see 2 things:1. A huge group of people rush north even past taco bell and mcdonalds. 2. Rando people asking you where Trace is. Trace is a decent spot if you're in Wrigleyville and want a late night spot. Key words are "late night" and "wrigleyville" so you can conclude that you're gonna get some random riff raff from drunk frat boy types but the security handles them fairly easy. You can also conclude from those key words that this place is gonna be packed, and it is especially after 2:00 am or 3:00 am on saturday night. It gets really hard to move around there and if you don't have a table it kinda sucks. This is like the only spot I've never closed. Trace is good if you just wanna go drink, for the ladies, I didn't notice too many "creepy guys" so its ok. But I'd prefer to hit up smartbar down the street to close up my night. read more

This is a great Wrigleyville bar. If you want away from the crowds and something a little more chill and cheaper- Trace is the best choice. The music is generally softer so you can actually hear each other. Because it's close, I go year round. The bartenders are nice and attentive as well as the ownership. The upstairs bar is available for rent and has live music sometimes. This is a 4 o'clock bar so arrive before 2 to skip the line... I get there about 9 to have time to chat with friends before it gets crazy! Hope to see you there :) read more

Was happy to find a 4 am bar, not happy to be forcibly removed. Weirdest crowd of people and if you want young people to come to your business don't yell at them for vaping??? What a weird rule to have at such a divey bar. Literally ruined my friend's 21st birthday because they are such a-holes. If you are like under 30 don't go here lol save your time and money. read more

Actual text from my phone: Friend "Just got off work. Where are you guys?" Me "Trace Trace in your face. Get your ass here now.com" So, as we all know, 4am bars may not be the best decision you can make all night. But, if you are going here, at least you are making a better decision then going to Tai's til 4 or Big Shitty. This place is actually clean, including the bathrooms. And they play great music. There is no jukebox or dj, just someone's really good collection of rock music. The doormen are great. If some skeezy guy is bothering you, they will actually deal with him. All the guy bartenders are great. Kelly is great. Some of the other girl bartenders are not my favorite people in the world. Which is too bad for them. Finally, if you are into concert poster art, you will really appreciate the collection at Trace. Easily one of the better collections of any bar in the city. read more