The Best Patios In Chicago
After a brutal winter and the “will it or won’t it” continual cliffhanger of spring, there is nothing like the reward of Chicago in the summertime. So naturally, every day it’s nice out, you’re going to want to be outside. Here’s our list of the quintessential places for you to do that.
Karisha Desai
Grabbing one of the colorful chairs on Omarcito’s patio is the best way to have a meal here. This Logan Square spot, operating out of a bright yellow shipping container, makes fantastic Latin food, like saucy ropa vieja sandwiches, steak jibaritos, and peppery fried catfish with a crunchy cornbread crust. Pair it with their summer weekend DJ sets—plus their frozen limeade mixers for your BYOB choice—and that's an ideal way to spend an afternoon.
Allison Gallese
This Japanese restaurant is on the rooftop of the $800-a-night St. Regis Hotel in Lakeshore East. The view of the skyline is incredible, and the service is even better. Miru's food isn't amazing (the long menu ranges from just-OK sushi to not-very-good entrees like burnt miso cod), but great food isn't why you're here. It's to admire the view, have a bunch of drinks or dessert, and feel like you can afford to throw money off said rooftop.
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Kim Kovacik
We’re big fans of Best Intentions’ fun space covered in knickknacks, but during the warmer months, the prime seating at this Logan Square dive is their secluded back patio. And that cute outdoor space happens to be an ideal place to drink $10 cocktails (which are way better than they have a right to be) and eat $6 smashburgers—you can even get a baker’s dozen for $72. But if all you want to do this drink a crisp champagne of beers while enjoying the breeze, they have that too.
Sandy Noto
The inside of Middle Brow in Logan Square is decorated like a DIY wedding—with tea lights, reclaimed wooden tables, and decorative plants in birdcages. And this brewpub/pizza spot’s huge patio has the same charming instead-of-wedding-cake-let’s-make-s’mores aesthetic. It’s a partially covered mish-mash of picnic tables and rustic outdoor furniture with a cute wooden bar and fire pits. It’s perfect for small groups of friends, or anytime you feel sad that you don’t have a giant backyard of your own. Order anything that involves the housemade bread (like the toasts and spreads), plus the pepperoni pizza, and plenty of their light, hoppy beers.
Sandy Noto
Hopleaf in Andersonville has plenty to love—they have over 60 beers on tap and lots of delicious dishes to pair with them, like mac and cheese, mussels with crusty bread, and an excellent cashew butter and fig jam sandwich. And our favorite place to enjoy all of that is their backyard beer garden. It’s secluded, which provides a nice break from the parade of strollers rolling down Clark, and has a massive umbrella to keep you safe if you forgot to apply some SPF.
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Kim Kovacik
RPM Seafood checks all the boxes. It has great seafood, solid cocktails, a lively crowd, and a large riverfront patio with umbrellas to protect you from the elements. And because it’s at street level, it doesn’t suffer from the smell of sewage wafting from the underside of the Clark Street bridge. Instead, you’re treated to an elevated river view surrounded by beautiful architecture and high rises reflecting the water. Go for a golden hour dinner, and watch the sunset shining in the glassy buildings melt into a twinkly backdrop.
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Jeff Marini
Yes, Aba can be kind of a scene. Thankfully, it’s one with great food and a huge rooftop patio full of firepits and comfortable couches. And as with its sister restaurant Ema, a lot of things (like the hummuses and spreads) on the Mediterranean menu are meant to be shared.
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Susie Lacocque
This Lincoln Park spot is famous for its take-no-shit staff and wild late-night atmosphere now, but its personality-filled back patio is equally iconic. The partially-covered backyard has tons of tables, a full bar, a mini basketball court, ping pong table, TVs, and heaters. Just know that you can’t order food from the bar, so hit up the regular ol’ Wiener Circle line for a char dog and some good-natured verbal abuse—then head towards that great patio.
Kristen Mendiola
Pizza Lobo’s original Logan Square location has great pizza-by-the-slice, pitchers of beer, and a large outdoor patio. And their Andersonville location is the same, including an enormous back patio that has firepits, astroturf, and (probably) a bunch of cute dogs. They serve thin crust (for Chicago at least) pies, and have solid red sauce options like the Borgata (ricotta, basil, and Calabrian chile honey), and white pies. Plus, they're open until midnight.
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Rose Mary is a great Croatian spot in the West Loop, and reservations are hard to get. But now they’re a little bit easier thanks to extra seating on their outdoor patio. Those outdoor tables are all covered with large umbrellas to protect you from the sun, and decorated with string lights to distract you from noticing all the construction cranes swinging around the neighborhood. The menu has dishes like a grilled asparagus risotto, delicious crni rizot topped with grilled squid, and incredible pastas. And the service here is great—both inside and outside.
Reservations are released one month in advance, but the bar area is reserved for walk-ins. If you get there close to or before opening time (5pm), you’ll most likely find an empty seat or two.
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As its name suggests, The Hi-Lo’s drink menu has plenty of range with high and low ABV options for all types of cocktail sipper. And their outdoor area follows suit, offering something for every species of patio dweller in Humboldt Park. For the sun sprites who are adamant that they can photosynthesize, they have tables out in the open. For those trying to spend time away from the great fiery ball in the sky, they have a roofed area with a fireplace and comfy furniture with cushions. And for everyone in between, Hi-Lo’s patio has a partially covered bar.
Kim Kovacik
Aside from being one of the city’s best slashies (a bar-liquor store combo), Maria’s Packaged Goods has one of our favorite patios in Bridgeport. There’s plenty of room, so it’s great for spontaneous group hangs while sipping a spicy house margarita or any of their unique seasonal concoctions. Plus, if anyone gets hungry, you can always visit Kimski next door and bring over a bulgogi cheesesteak, a housemade polish topped with a kimchi-sauerkraut hybrid, and other Korean-Polish dishes.
VHT Studio
We’re big fans of Volo’s $1 oyster happy hour and good wine, but we’re even bigger fans of enjoying both while sitting at this Roscoe Village spot’s back patio. It’s spacious, covered, and has private cabanas with cushioned benches. For colder nights, heat lamps ensure that you don’t have to rely on the spicy creole sauce surrounding a boudin-stuffed chicken leg for warmth. The back does fill up quickly in the summer, but their less-secret front patio is still just as good for knocking back oysters.
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Andrea Zelen
The Lardon is a salumeria, so the menu is full of salumi, cheese, and various meats they cure in-house. Basically, a bunch of fun, snack foods that are perfect for a solo meal while getting some work done, or a casual date. Sit out on their patio, order a meat and cheese spread (which comes with housemade accouterments like onion jam), some wine, and wave a cornichon around to emphasize a hilarious-yet-charmingly-relatable point you’re making.
Kim Kovacik
Every summer, we tell people to go hang out at the outdoor space at Green Street Smoked Meats. You should still do that, but now you should also check out Trivoli Tavern. It’s owned by the same team, and they’re also a part of Gin Alley. This means they have a twinkly lit cobblestoned patio that’s very cute for a date. Trivoli serves upscale bar food like fish and chips (they have a very good steak frites), and dinner here just might take the sting out of your canceled European vacation.
Sandy Chen
Le Sud is a patio MVP. The Roscoe Village Mediterranean spot asks, “Why only have one patio?”, and gives you the option of trying their chicken tagine on a covered sidewalk space or on their smaller rooftop deck. So when you need a reliable summer date spot or want to eat juicy Iberico pork outside while your parents subject you to multiple rounds of 20 Questions (you might need some wine), head to Le Sud.
Fiya in Andersonville is a wonderful Israeli restaurant. From the pillowy pita to the tahini-rich hummus that’s slick with olive oil to a khachapuri filled with shakshuka—it’s all delicious. And you can’t see it from the street, but they have a large, quiet courtyard behind the restaurant that’s filled with string lights and trees. It’s exactly the kind of relaxing spot that’s perfect for a low-key summer dinner.
Recess in the West Loop is a theme bar, and the theme is basically “adult playground." The outdoor space is huge (14,500 square feet), and includes tables situated inside repurposed shipping containers, giant games of things like Connect Four. In conclusion, come here, get drunk, and repeat all summer long.
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This West Town spot’s giant patio is a fun place to sip beer while playing games. They have a variety of options from four different breweries and a pour-your-own taproom setup, so you can taste just a small amount of each without getting so buzzed it throws off your Jenga game. Need something to eat? They also have tasty BBQ and fried chicken from Lillie’s Q.
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Parson’s has some pretty good fried chicken and fish, but our main motivation for visits during the warmer months is their patio. It's big and enclosed, so you don’t feel like you’re sitting on the street. Plus, there’s an outdoor bar serving negroni slushies. The large picnic tables make it perfect for groups, and there are big umbrellas to shade you from the sun. Basically, if there is an inside to this restaurant, we don’t want to know about it.
Christina Slaton
Bistro Campagne’s courtyard is charming, with brick walls, ivy, and lots of plants and trees. It’s one of our favorite summertime spots, and it happens to also be one of the best-kept secrets in Lincoln Square. This means the crowd (to the extent that there is one) seems to be filled with mostly regulars. Stick with French classics like escargot and boeuf bourguignon, and plan on ordering a second bottle of wine as an excuse to spend more time here. Who knows, maybe you’ll become a regular, too.
One of our favorite summertime spots is the enclosed backyard patio at The Duck Inn in Bridgeport—it’s easy to forget you’re in the city. Order anything involving duck (including the whole rotisserie duck, which needs to be arranged ahead of time), or the duck-inn dog (a hot dog cooked in duck fat). Just make sure you have enough time to hang out after dinner and have drinks. The space has fire pits and comfortable chairs that will make you want to stay a while.
We like the Asian fusion food at Mott Street in Wicker Park more and more every time we eat here. And we enjoy this place the most when we get to sit on the outdoor patio. It’s large enough for a group, but still calm enough for date night. Plus, if you come for brunch, you can eat the delicious burger outside (normally it’s reserved for those sitting at the bar).
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As the name suggests, this place has a theme—it’s decorated like a cabin from the 1800s, and there’s a lot of game on the menu. The all-weather outdoor area at Frontier in West Town will protect you from the elements, which is more than we can say about the poor pioneers who lived on the actual frontier. And while you will find things like antelope and elk on the menu, thankfully, their commitment to the theme stops there since pioneers didn’t have hand sanitizer. Or air conditioning.
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Sandy Noto
This Edgewater classic has been around since 1959, and while we weren’t regulars back then, it feels like it probably hasn’t changed a lot. The menu is short, focusing on drinks and a small selection of sandwiches and burgers, all of which are solid. But what makes Moody’s particularly special is its outdoor area. The patio, surrounded by large trees and decorated with twinkly lights, is huge, so come with a group and camp out.
For an easy romantic Italian meal outside, the answer is Piccolo Sogno every time. The patio here is covered with string-lit trees, sequestered from the street, and large enough to accommodate a lot of people without feeling too crowded. As mentioned, it’s great for dates, but it also works for dinner with just about anyone else—parents, colleagues, friends, time-share salespeople, etc.
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Do a few sets of tables and chairs outside a seafood shack count as outdoor dining? We vote yes. And those tables and chairs are the best place to enjoy the smoked fish at Calumet Fisheries on the 95th Street Bridge. Also valid: eating while leaning against your car, or sitting in the trunk with the back door open (don’t eat it with the windows closed unless you want your whole car to smell like fish). Get the smoked salmon and fried shrimp.
