Zebra Lounge

This is my first Unilocal ever. I’ve come to this place before but tonight was the absolute best. I met the bartender named Nicki last time I was here. I walk in with my girl and she immediately greeted me with a smile. I met her ONCE, she knew my drink (Boddingtons) and my GFs (stoli blue with water). Everytime I come here I’m welcomed with the best bar staff ever. Nicki is gem. She deserves a raise. I also love George on Sunday nights. Best piano guy I’ve met in a long time. Rosie is also a doll on Monday nights. Can’t wait to come back here! They nail the neighborhood hospitality! Love u Zebra… Don’t change!!!

Where to begin? I guess with the good things.
It’s a speakeasy bar which is cool. It’s also nice and clean.
We went on a Sunday and it wasn’t very busy. Seems like most of the people there were friends with the piano player or bartender.
The friends of the piano player were beyond wasted and being super obnoxious, so we decided to leave.
The bartender asked us for a card to open up a tab, we got 3 old fashioned and depending what you want, it can be $ 10 or $ 13. She didn’t ask us. Whatever. The main issue was at the end of the night she ended charging my boyfriend for shots I had already paid and for the three drinks.
So we ended up calling to let her know. She said she would fix it. Instead she ended up just charging him again, both cleared and no refund was made.
Maybe on another night when the bartender isn’t busy with her friends or the vibe is different it might be actually be a fun place.

This seems more like a small dive-​bar kind of piano lounge. When we were there, it was one guy on the keys, taking requests if people tipped him. I saw some people getting him drinks too, which is cool. Seems like a pretty fun gig if you get to drink and do what you love (if singing and playing fun songs on the keys is what you love, that is). We requested some rap tunes, and he actually did his own versions of some rap songs by singing the lyrics instead of rapping them. What a fun guy! He busted out his harmonica during one of the songs, which was pretty awesome.

Great spot. Bartenders great, music as well. Always a fun time. Check it out when you’re in town!

Great crowd, but this spot is TINY. Despite waiting patiently at the bar with cash, it took a while for one of the three bartenders to get to me. And I was clearly charged for an extra drink, but it honestly wasn’t worth the hassle of waiting for someone to notice me again. The music was terrific to a point, but it seemed like the crowd really wanted more upbeat songs and the pianist was more into moody tunes. Overall seems like it’s a fun spot, but on the right night.

This place is small but super fun. The staff does a great job of managing a crowd and they have a ton of personality. I wish I lived closer but it is worth the trip. I’ll definitely be back!

Where to begin. The piano thing is cool, but how many times can you listen to someone doing an iffy rendition of «Tiny Dancer»? Seems it to be a rare thing when a song actually gets played through and in a decent manner.
That brings me to the piano players. The cute short gal is fun. Thought I heard her name was Cassandra. Not sure. Another night we got Steve the creepy player with a kind of goth-​look thing going on complete with eyeliner. Yuck!
The place itself is cramped when they fill up and getting a drink it pretty tough at those times. Best to go on an off night like Sunday or Monday. The other nights are bad wedding gone totally shit show.
Speaking of drinks. We’ve noticed that the drinks are almost always priced differently. It feels like they raise prices when people get their buzz on and don’t really seem to notice or care. We’ve gone on Thursday nights for 3 weeks in a row and have paid anywhere from $ 12 to 18 for the exact same martinis.
Another thing is the bathroom situation. There is only one! One bathroom to be used by men and women! Be ready ladies. When you’re there late, you can almost always count on some guy to leave the seat down and pee all over it. We usually just run next door to use the bathroom at the other bar.
Hopefully the owners do something about the shadiness that goes on there.

5 stars for the piano man. He started his show at 9ish. The place needs entertainment for the diverse sets of clients that come in.
3 stars on drinks. Their menu is scant but you could probably request
2 stars on service. you may be better off ordering at the bar when it gets crowded. The place is small and there aren’t too many seats.
Overall was not too crazy for the place after giving it a try

First time visiting Chicago while LALAPALOOZA was in town (yikes!)…so a small bunch of us ladies were looking for an adult piano bar without kids running around and FOUND IT HERE! It’s a small old school venue, nothing fancy, small crowd, dark, red lights, the gal behind the bar wasn’t skimpy on the drinks, and the guy behind the piano was really fun! Sorry guys, I can’t remember your names (the drinks were that good lol!).
You can yell out requests, but don’t get bummed if he can’t play something, he tries to find a compromise. :) BEST way to end our weekend, we definitely plan to go back for our next trip!
Also, although this was off the beaten path (and a Sunday), it wasn’t hard for Über to find us after business hours… which came in handy with just us girls. When going here, just look for an apartment building, you’ll see the sign on the wall. We were second guessing it when we arrived but it turned out to be a fun experience…

Great little hidden spot inside an apartment building! Strong drinks, great service, dim lighting for that romantic setting or date night that you don’t need to feel like you are under a bright magnifying glass! Great spot to kick back, hang out, and grab a drink.
The Sunday night performer was quite comical and entertaining too… definitely kept everyones’ interest. Receptive to requests of all kinds.

Located in a building that looks like it has seen better days this is the piano bar located next to mcfaddens. Supposedly this is one of the «hidden» gems of chicago. Its only hidden if you have had 24 beers at McFaddens and were trying to find the next bar but you are lost. Whoops.
Tom Petty had a song called «refugee» and he could have been singing about this bar.
You might want to come to this bar: You need more beer
You want to find out where the neighborhood alchies live and play.
You are hard of hearing is always very LOUD.
Have been here 5 times since December.-not sure why.
I reccomend you getting shit faced right away upon entering because you will be like «WTF why am I here»
Sometimes the piano player screams. I know because I am a neighbor. What for? There is a microphone and the place is smaller than my college rec room at Yeshiva University (back in the day)
The drinks? affordable but meh ok so so

Good live music. But they charged me $ 28 for three drinks and two hours into the night charged me $ 13 for one of the same one drinks and wouldn’t let me use my card.
#shady.

What a fun little bar! The staff is extremely friendly. If you are looking for a fun place post dinner or a night out with friends I would definitely put this place on your radar and sit back, relax and sing a long with the piano man.

Cool little gem!

Hole in the wall, but great. never had a bad experience. good drinks, good price always friendly people in there. if you ever want to hide from someone this would be the place. this is not a trendy place to be seen. this is a place to get drunk and sing with the piano player.
now I want to go back…

We stepped in to a bar… all quiet and blackened with 5 customers and most of the talking coming from behind the bar. Nary a cigarette or piano key being played. A long debate about a drink lagged on… and on. Then without looking up, a key rang out. The servers silenced and 2 of the now 7 cantered to the «dance» floor, aka our personal space. Songs began to spill forth, sloshing over the sides of the piano, like a wave over the sides of our boat, soaking our feet and drowning us in memories from fun songs. We ended our debate, tanqueray and tonics; stay a little while.

An intimate piano bar that gets ridiculously crowded and loud but in my opinion, this just goes to show how great the place is. The entrance is tucked away in the lobby of the Canterbury Court building on State St with a small sign, marking it’s location. It can be tricky to locate unless you are paying attention.
Be sure to bring cash for tips — the talent is incredible. Some pianists are better than others, but all are great at their job. Playing, singing and entertaining the crowd.
The Zebra Lounge is great early in the evening, when you have the run of place.
A disgusting bathroom and inconsistent drinks (some watery, some not) are the only negatives.

Great drinks, live music and a fun crowd? Say hello to the Zebra Lounge!
How this little place escaped me up to now is easy as it it kind of hidden with a discreet sign which is in contrast to all the other places that it competes with. But that discreet sign is an oxymoron for once you pull open the door, the loud music and people jostling for position will keep you entertained all night.
We sang, we laughed, we danced (well, more of a shake and wiggle given the space is so tight, but I’m pretty sure the guy behind me liked it!) and had just a great time.
And the age range is all over the place so the people playing the piano really are talented as the requests come from all over the place. One minute it’s NY show tunes and the next it’s Top 40 ballads.
So, pull open that door and join us. You might just find yourself wiggling and shaking and singing with the rest of us. Beer bottles up, sing into the neck, yep, it’s almost a microphone!

I’ve always been a big fan of this place and look forward to bringing out of town visitors here to give them a cool and historic perspective of Chicago. Located smack dab on the section of «State Street that great street» that Frank Sinatra sings about, this place will not disappoint even your «coolest» out of town friend.
I recently had a bad experience here with a bartender. Frustrated because I was entertaining work clients I was trying to close a deal with and the service affected the mood of the entire night, I wrote a very detailed account of what had happened and expressed how disappointed I was in a Unilocal review. Almost immediately I received a private message from Michael, the owner. Not only was his response swift and professional, it showed a sensitivity to my situation and a genuine desire to right the wrong that had happened.
I considered leaving my previous review up with a few amendments, but I realized that everyone has off days. How terrible would it be if others followed us around at our office jobs and kept track of the times we weren’t at our best? it just didn’t feel right to leave the review up. On top of that the bartender who had treated us rudely messaged me, not because she was angry but because she was sorry for having behaved this way and wanted to make sure I knew it was «her not me.»
Here are a few things I know: there are wonderful places in Chicago to take friends or go out to have a good time, and Zebra Lounge is at the top of that list. Having worked in the service industry for 10 years I know that it’s next to impossible to never have an off day. You can pretty much guarantee that if you frequent a favorite spot enough there’s bound to be one not-​so-​perfect experience. But when that happens, and you express your dissatisfaction and the entire staff works so hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again, you know you’re dealing with a classy joint.
I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a cool vibe, great music and genuinely nice people (both in the lounge and behind the bar).

Come for the piano music, stay for the snack mix.
Hands down my favorite neighborhood spot. Interesting mix of people and strong drinks.