First Expression Cafe & Lounge

A nice looking bar in a not so nice looking neighborhood on the North side. Hurry up gentrification. This place deserves it.

This is probably the best kept secret on Irving Park road. It’s a beautiful bar — the owner put A LOT of money into rehabbing it. He’s owned the diner/​fast food joint next door for years. He’s had some trouble getting a new sign on the place which hasn’t helped. I think he’s also talking about changing the name at some point to Brickhouse.
Their food is excellent and generous — good drink specials and nice people. The owner has been really generous to the community, so I think folks in the area should definitely spend their time and money here.

This is a cute neighborhood bar drink prices are ok juke box is juking and on Friday and Saturday they have a pretty good DJ.

So last Saturday night we were looking for a place to watch the Fighting Pride of the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao, vs. Joshua Clottey. Our first thought is Queen Albert’s, but for some reason they didn’t feel like supporting their hometown hero and didn’t order the fight. Not knowing where else to go, we start heading back east when we pass by First Expression. We poke our heads in and lo-​and-​behold they’ve ordered the fight! You would probably never notice this place on your every day drive down Irving Park but it was actually quite nice and spacious inside. The bar featured warm wood accents while the opposite wall was all exposed brick to give it that nice urban/​loft feel. There were enough flat screen TV’s placed throughout the room to have a good view of the fight (we got there pretty early so we had our choice of seating). The drinks were very reasonably priced (no more than $ 5 for bottles of Blue Moon, 312, etc.) and they also serve pretty standard bar food and coffee drinks. Service was extra nice and one of the managers (he might have been an owner) even came outside to extend his thanks for our business as we walked out. All in all, it was a great place to catch the pay per view, and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here for the next big fight.

Attended an event here last night. First off they had some great specials ($ 4 Ketel and soda or Cap and coke). Typical bar food. The place looks great and the staff was friendly.