Archie’s Iowa & Rockwell Tavern

Great neighborhood bar. Cheap drinks, free pool, free cheese balls, and there are always cute dogs!
I go here for a relaxed time and good company. It is not fancy but it is tried and true.

Love this place.
Its like cheers for hipsters. Get in on the free pool. One bartender is a little loony but still nice enough unless she gets really hammered. Adds to the ambiance of the place. Prices are fabulous. Board games are a great time over there too, free to grab and play whatever you want (yes ive been the one of two people playing board games when everyone else is acting «cool» there before) Items on special are always changing and Im always trying them. Great shot and beer specials all the time. Dog friendly which is great except for the occasional mishap. There is some interesting guy from neighborhood who they have come to clean
stuff up sometimes and Im sure it is a mutually beneficial arrangement. Again all part of ambiance and reallness of the place.
Good people and good drinks.

Cute local neighborhood Dog friendly bar! Good prices and people:) games available to play and beer for purchase!

Great little spot down the block from my place. Stopped by today to catch a cubs game and despite being alone and not a bar usual I felt welcomed and at home. Dog friendly :)

Go here for the small neighborhood dive bar feel, stay for the cheese puffs & puppy dog company.

Not only did Archie’s lend me a phone cord so I could charge my phone, but when I got a bit carried away and forgot the phone at the bar, Archie’s posted on my Facebook page from my phone saying that it had been found and they wanted to make sure it got returned to me. I was so impressed — thank you Archie’s! Thanks for a great night of cheap, good drinks!

This is a dive bar, not a gastropub. It’s not fancy craft cocktails and wines, so understand what type of place this is if your not from the neighborhood
It is a neighborhood joint, the place has been here since prohibition
Sometimes it’s packed, sometimes it’s dead
Free pool
Cheap drinks, good craft beer selection, $ 3 craft beers of the month

This is the epitome of a neighborhood bar. They recently took out some of the bulky decorations which opened up the back tables. Beware when you go during the summer, they have a window unit to a/​c the whole bar. Ask the bar tender for a basket of cheese balls with your beer.
The pricing of the beers are affordable and decent list. They have a pool table and no food. There are a lot of local regulars which is their base clientele. The problem is that the staff can be a little uptight when outsiders come in and they are not the most accomodating.

I live just down the street from this place and have been there several times and had a great experience.
The last time I went there wasn’t so.
I brought my dog in this time and thought it would be a fun idea to bring his tennis ball. About 5min after I get through the door another dog completely tore his ball to shreds. I confront his owner to which he gave a pathetic «oh I thought that was the bar’s ball. we could like pay you for it or something.» Of course there was no sincerity in that whatsoever. Then a bar tender guy comes up to me and blames my dog for another dog vomiting. They then asked me to leave saying they were concerned for my pooch. I had been watching my dog for the whole 5min that we were there and he did not in fact vomit whatsoever. However, I didn’t argue because I didn’t want to cause a scene especially since this guy made it clear my say didn’t matter. They offered to hold my beer so I took my dog home. Obviously he was completely fine and was sad when I left again to go finish my beer. When I got back they acted concerned asking if he was okay and the whole fakeness just really annoyed me.
Bottom line: if you’re not the guy with the dog who eats every tennis ball he comes in contact with or any regular patron for that matter — DO NOT BRING YOUR DOG.
These people are pretentious and cliquey as hell.

I love neighborhood and dive bars, but this is truly the worst smelling bar I’ve ever been to. Prices and the beer list are decent, but again, the smell is horrific. One beer and we had to leave.

I have a couple of friends that love this bar, but they only love it because they are regulars. To someone who doesn’t come here often, Archie’s is about as bad as it gets. As I mentioned, I know a couple of regulars here, but I don’t know many other regulars. And those that I don’t know have given me the stink eye on a few occasions. If you’re not a regular, the only thing that Archies has to offer is that it is a bar.
It reminds me of drinking in a stranger’s garage. There is a random wall of knick-​knacks and non-​functional beer signs that have probably been gathering dust for 20 years. There’s also board games that are missing a varying number of pieces.
The prices are good, but you can drink for less at home, and do it comfortably. And that’s just «Drinking 101: Saving money at the bar by maximizing the pre-​heat»

Really nice people in here. Totally a dive but not completely disgusting nor is the selection bad (plenty of good craft beers from Brooklyn Brewery, Three Floyds, Dogfish Head, etc.). I would like at least a few drafts but again… it’s a dive. The dogs in here running around make it feel like it’s a big living room. I don’t mind it!
Would certainly come back on a cold night!

Fuck it, I met my husband here. Archie’s will always hold a special place in my heart — as long as they keep on with the free cheese balls, anyways.
Some people seem to be confused about what a dive bar is. They probably think Tuman’s is a dive bar. Dive bars are dirty. If you’re complaining about dirt in a dive bar, you shouldn’t be there. The floor should never have been refinished, and be sticky to walk on, it’s supposed to smell weird, and the regulars are supposed to give you the hairy eye. Dive bars are supposed to be shady places, so really, as dive bars go, Archie’s is pretty nice — they actually have top shelf liquors, microbrews, buffalo grass vodka, etc.
If you’re there, be nice to Elvis. He’s a real cool dude and is pretty much the eyes and ears of the neighborhood. When I was trying to decide if my future husband was worth talking to, I watched him hold a ten-​minute conversation with Elvis, and that showed me he was good people.
Minus one star because sometimes there are just too many boring hipsters.

Good drinks on the cheap at classic tucked away neighborhood locale.

Archies is the perfect neighborhood bar. I feel lucky to live close by but would make this a destination regardless. Great beers, per my husband, or unique ciders for the gluten challenged, like me. Happy cheerful people and we always feel welcome! It’s like our living room away from home.

How this bar has 4.5 stars on average I cannot fathom. I dared to venture west of Western and I was disappointed, per usual. Like many of you mentioned, it is a dive, and it’s supposed to be dirty. But this dirty? Really? I mean what is that smell and what is the floor made of? Add in some creepily filthy hipsters and I’m out.
If I’m Dive Crawling (patent pending), I’m staying on the east side in UKV and doing Stella’s, J&M, & Innertown. Peace.
FYI: I would have given a single star if not for the canines welcome status.

Archie’s is one of the friendliest bars in Chicago. Rae is one of the best bartenders in Chicago. Do the math.
If you walk in, you’re likely to be met by a number of dogs who are very happy to see you and get plenty of attention. There’s free pool, a relaxed crowd, and plenty of cheap beer. Oh, and there are board games as well.
It’s the kind of neighborhood bar I wish were near me. You can just drop in, get a few drinks, hang out, and actually make a few acquaintances. I’m just sad it’s taken me this long to have visited, and it’s even worse that I can’t just wander by on a regular basis.

Mama does not approve.
Then again, as the «bar that came after Scofflaw» (as I’ll now refer to it)…did it really have a shot? I was literally wrenched from the arms of my gin-​soaked lover and thrown into armpit Archie’s.
Here’s the deal:
*The regulars do not want you here. At all. Ever. I’m not even terribly offensive on that type of «anti-​regular» level, but I could feel the icy stares. Sorry, do I smell like gin? No, stop staring at me. Yes? Well, you smell like cheap beer and hatred.
*It’s gross. I’m sorry it is. It’s a dive bar, it’s supposed to be… so I surely won’t hold this against it, but the dilapidated card tables/​chairs, cement floors (I think that was cement?) and a strange mix of it feeling really dark but too bright at the same time.
I didn’t find it memorable, and besides the great company I ventured here to meet… found it nearly intolerable and time to bolt. Perhaps it was a collision of circumstance and just made for a bad night, but I won’t be rushing to return. And I can get into a good dive bar. I’m guessing this establishment won’t be sad that I am not going to return… nor the regulars, so no harm, no foul. That’s the deal.
One beer and OUT.

Welp,
I’m less of a young girl than I was when I wrote my original review, but I still love an old man bar, and now that I have a dog, it’s nice to bring puppy to a place where he can meet other doggies and I can have a few beers and possibly more than a few (baskets of) cheese balls. Archie’s has sort of become a default because we can bring Mr. Gonzo, and let a sweet Frenchie hump his face, but that doesn’t make it any less of a great night. I’ll order in some Phil’s Last Stand next time, and maybe only eat one or two baskets o’ balls.

You can drink cheap beer, eat snacks and play with puppies here.
There’s a table full of board games and a pool table too. Jenga! Jenga! Jenga! Jenga!