L’etage Wine and Cocktail Bar

Ode To L’etage By Casey C. McCowan
Late night cocktails after the rain has ceased,
The bartenders here will leave you pleased.
Whiskey, Gin, Wine; Red or White,
It was very nice to see old friends that night.
Dark and sexy, from the walls to the chairs,
L’etage translated means «Upstairs.»
Charcuterie, Fromage and little nibbles,
My white shirt stained from Whiskey dribbles.
Charlie was great, very warm and nice,
Don’t order what you want, take his advice.
An Old Fashioned, Brandy and Côtes du Rhôné,
Such great conversations, put down that phone!
So order that Whiskey, order The Last Word with lime,
Let’s go the L’etage for a really, really great time.
c’était agréable de vous rencontrer, L’etage. Charlie, merci pour votre gentillesse.

Came here last night after dinner with 2 friends. How did we NOT know this place existed!!! Dark and sexy interior with a very chill vibe. Huge, comfy couch that I could have fallen asleep on. Drinks– go for the Summer Solstice! Bartender recommended and drinker approved! I think I had 4. Not much of a beer selection but the bartender was happy to get my friend something from the tap downstairs in the restaurant. Looking forward to going back when the weather is nice and sipping a Summer Solstice on their balcony :)

Love the cocktail choices. Constantly changing with the season. Friendly bartender who will make anything you want. Nice atmosphere with great sitting areas for conversation. Overlooked place in the heart of Andersonville.

I have been here a couple of times for cocktails. Wether it was to start the evening or to end the evening, I have loved the drinks made for me. Plus the bartender takes pride in what he produces and honestly takes the time to explain the flavor profiles before ordering. Overall I enjoy my time when drinking here.

I am not one to write a review, so I will try to do this in the most constructive way possible. I am a huge fan of brasserie 54 — the food is fantastic, the décor is simple and modern, and the prices are far from intimidating, in fact, their price points are the reason I continue to come back. I truly believe you can find great food and atmosphere within reasonable prices here in Chicago and Brasserie 54 is a great example of that.
So perhaps I was expecting a similar experience when I walked upstairs with friends a couple of weeks ago, however we ended up leaving before we even ordered drinks. The first problem is the lack of beer, at the time they had one or two in bottle. Beer is always a nice, fairly affordable option. However, the server was kind enough to let two of my friends order from downstairs. The rest of us perused the menu and noticed that the prices for both the cocktails and wines were significantly more expensive. As a whole, cocktails downstairs are from 7 to 10 and the cocktails upstairs are 10 to 13 (this was a couple of weeks ago, so I could be off slightly). Furthermore, the downstairs has a wine menu of both whites and reds for $ 8 in addition to their more higher end selections. 8 bucks is a great price. Alternatively, the upstairs had one or two glasses of wine for $ 9 (whites only) and then all the rest were $ 10+. Though I would not have asked, my friend did ask if she could also order a glass of wine from downstairs as they allowed the beers, but our server said that was not allowed — with good reason (yes — we became those people — I’m sorry for that). In this economy, I can rationalize a $ 8 glass of wine. Needless to say, we decided to just leave.
Sure — anyone reading this would just say — go downstairs! However, we wanted to just have one round of drinks in an atmosphere that allowed for cohesive group conversation — hard to do at a bar.
I just found the overall experience to be awkward and a let down. I realize that I am probably paying for the ability to sit in comfortable chairs upstairs, but the stark price juxtaposition from downstairs did not sit well with me. I realize that they are separate restaurants, but when they are tied together and clearly operated by the same people, it can be confusing for those who are familiar with downstairs. I will continue dining at Brasserie 54 with delight, however the upstairs known as L’etage is not worth another visit. But hey — if money is not an issue — I’m sure you’d love it!

Dark, cozy interior? Check. Equally cozy seating? Check. Adventurous cocktails that please the palate and take you in new directions? Triple check! We’ve been to L’etage several times now and have not been disappointed, and it’s our new place to bring friends for after dinner drinks. Nick has always taken fantastic care of us — he’s got a creative knack for this stuff, and is great at finding just the right libation to suit your mood. We’ll be back soon…

Loved this place! Went upstairs from eating in Brasserie 54 below for after dinner drinks and couldn’t have been happier. The wait staff was knowledgeable and kind, plus attentative. I will say though, that I don’t think the décor and furniture layout was highly thought out. The biggest glaring design mistake was painting the fireplace’s brick hearth a speckled black and white, which caused this nice feature to look cheap and plastic. I highly recommend doing a wine flight for $ 11 and then order by the glass after you find a great wine to enjoy. Will definitely be back and hope that putrid black and white fireplace has a new surround.

3 stars or 4 stars, 3 stars or 4 stars, 3 stars or 4 stars
I’ve only been once so it’s hard to say with certain how good it really is but I went with 3 because they’ve only been open a couple of weeks and while it seemed like it was going to one day be really good, it wasn’t quite there yet.
The wait staff is very nice, they were okay with a table hopping when some of the cozier seats. The place wasn’t ever too crowd, people came and went quite regularly, it seemed most people were waiting for table downstairs. The one wine drinker in our group appreciated that the cheaper wine was recommended instead of the more expensive ones.
But the cocktails is what we are all wondering about right?
They were hit and miss.
The stormy gale is good… but not as good as a regular dark and stormy, not enough ginger.
The first When Life Hands You a Leatherbee was delicious the second one was much too much gin.
Tarts & Vicars very syrupy sweet. The girl who ordered it didn’t even finish.
Luna Violeta no. Just no. I can’t remember a cocktail I’ve liked less.
And I think the last one of the group was De Beaux Reves, I thought they had ordered a gin based drink but this the only one one the menu with lemon grass. The original orderer traded it for the too strong Leatherbee drink.
I know everyone has different tastes when it comes to cocktails, but there were 5 of us, and we all felt about the same way about most of the drinks.
So I can see it one day being a place serving great cocktails, but I think they need a little more refining first