The bar at the Intercontinental is the quintessential hotel lobby bar. For one, it is located on the ground floor of this four-story lobby, off to your right as you enter the revolving doors. Secondly, the hotel itself is located in the heart of Chicago’s hotel and shopping district.

That being said, the bar is a testament to function over fashion. While there’s a certain understated old-world class harkening back to its days as the Medinah Athletic Club in the 1920s, the bar has everything one would expect from a lobby bar: impractically high shelves of liquor staring down at you (martinis run $11.50), a long and inviting bar, a light food menu (that doesn't come cheap...nachos cost $12), and a lone plasma screen television for the occasional big game.

Centerstage Reviewer: Larry Majewski