The Best Bars in Fulton Market District & around

Velvet booths, globe lights, and wallpaper that belongs in a Left Bank salon set the mood at this Fulton Market cocktail bar, one of the few standalone drinking spots on a street that is otherwise all restaurants. The Paris-in-the-sixties premise runs through everything: French wines, classic martinis, caviar with chips. Named to North America's 50 Best Bars and a James Beard semifinalist, Bisous earns its kisses.

1. The 50 #30 · North America's 50 Best Bars
2. Esquire The Best Bars in America
3. The Banchets Winner · Bar of the Year

1. The Infatuation The Best Cocktail Bars In Chicago
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Speakeasies and Secret Bars
3. Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central

The checkered tile floors and art-lined stone walls make it look like a Parisian bistro that wandered into the West Loop and decided to stay. Creepies is a neighborhood French restaurant from the team behind Elske next door, with a concise menu that leans classic and slides Midwestern where it can. The vesper martini landed on Esquire's list of the best in the country, which is not nothing for a place called Creepies.

1. Esquire Vesper · The Best Martinis in America
2. The New York Times 2026 · The Restaurant List
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Esquire The Best Bars in America

1. The 50 One to Watch Award
2. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central

The bar at Au Cheval is the part of the diner you can sit at without a two-hour wait, assuming the wait stays tolerable, and the whole place runs on dim lighting, a cocktail list, and the knowledge that a griddled burger with a fried egg is coming either way. It's a moody, no-frills diner-bar, and the cocktails do real work while you stare at the people who got the table. Difford's Guide gives it four stars.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Burgers

1. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central

1. Midwest Living 2023 · Best of the Midwest
2. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide
3. The Infatuation The Best Cocktail Bars In Chicago

1. Difford's Guide 4.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Speakeasies and Secret Bars

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Speakeasies and Secret Bars

Pizz'amici is a tavern-style pizza shop in West Town, where the thin, cracker-crisp crust gets charred on the bottom and cut into squares. It's a nostalgic room with a pepperoni Negroni on the menu, plus tall focaccia and sausage and peppers for the old-school completists. Tables go quickly, so plan ahead or order carryout, which is easier than winning the lottery and only slightly less crowded.

1. The Infatuation #10 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
2. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Chicago

Professor Pizza is a casual West Town pizzeria run by a competitive pizza maker, which means the pies come with a résumé. The tavern-style thin crust cuts to cracker-snap, and the deluxe pepperoni gets hot honey and whipped ricotta, as if the sausage needed a little more going on. The Grand Avenue spot adds two more pie styles, and the pizzas turn up backstage at comedy clubs around town. Eater includes it among Chicago's best tavern-style thin-crust spots.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Speakeasies and Secret Bars