The Violet Hour

Absolutely wonderful experience. The ambiance is quiet, candle lit, and wonderful for having a conversation. The drinks are out-of-this-world creative and tasty. The bartenders are very inviting and clearly love and are deeply knowledgeable about their craft. We got to meet Ryan and Nikita behind the bar and both were utterly lovely and made us feel so welcome. Now our favorite bar in the city!

Katherine and I have visited the Violet Hour numerous times over the last 5 to 6 years, and I will provide you my first comprehensive review on our behalf. For both of us, there was an evolution of becoming connoisseurs of craft cocktails. Katherine and I have journeyed and taken many day trips, road trips, and travels in between. Discovering The Violet Hour, for us, was initially the result of well-crafted Internet searches via the likes of numerous articles and the Yelp app, Later on, I would incorporate Google search and reviews into the mix for seeking out even more nuanced craft cocktail bars throughout Chicagoland and in every state we visited. The Violet Hour represents the high holy ground of craft cocktail bars in the city of Chicago. Just like Gene and Judes in River Grove, Illinois is the high holy ground for hot dogs and fries in all Chicagoland (and subsequently the entire USA), The Violet Hour is the quintessential craft cocktail bar in all of Chicagoland, and in essence, one of the BEST we have frequented in all of America. In our most recent visit, we confirmed what we have consistently experienced at the Violet Hour every visit: well-crafted, meticulously balanced craft cocktails with unmatched , innovative, nuanced, and refined ingredients. For a lover of mixology as myself, I am always in awe of not only the spirit selection of the Violet Hour, but of the innumerable handcrafted ingredients, bitters and herbs, and everything in between as you observe and peruse the bars and interact with the mixologists. We were pleased to see the more expansive food offerings, and the truffle fries with lemon aioli were as good as ever and the chorizo stuffed dates were off the culinary charts!!! Our sever Madison was as pleasant and balanced as every aspect and experience at the Violet Hour, and offered authentic customer service right on point Concerning the atmosphere, Katherine added that it was just a tad brighter inside than the usual lower lit atmosphere that she prefers there, but I contended and she agreed that the pretty and festive Christmas holiday lights at the bar was adding more of that light. We loved the individual lamp at our table that you can tap and have three illumination settings: low-lit, medium, or high—-and also turn off. Out of all our Google Reviews, the Violet hour achieves some of our highest ratings for all establishments and places visited: Drinks: 5 stars Cuisine: 4.9 stars Atmosphere: 4.5 stars Service: 5 stars