Chicago City Limits boasts friendly staff, great specials

Bars that are serious about music are few and far in between in the suburbs. If you haven't yet stumbled upon Chicago City Limits in Schaumburg, you have no idea how serious they are about their tunes and their customers.

Motif: Located in a strip mall off Wise Road in Schaumburg, the interior of Chicago City Limits somewhat resembles a dive-bar. Don't get me wrong - the place is nice. But for being in a town with such extravagant bars as Alumni Club, Heat and John Barleycorn, Chicago City Limits is a dive, and frankly, that's awesome.

The bar is made up of one large room. Right dab in the middle is a big bar, which twists and turns throughout the building. Behind the bar is a plethora of liquor just waiting to be consumed. The walls throughout are covered with 38 televisions, 14 plasma screens, three big screens and beer and sports memorabilia. To the right of the entrance is a sit-down, restaurant-like section with tables and booths. Near the entrance are darts, Golden Tee machines and a pool table. Did I mention that the darts and Golden Tee are free to play? They are - you read that correctly.

To the left of the entrance is Chicago City Limits' large stage, where all the music goes down. For a suburban bar in a strip mall, the stage is quite impressive and could easily support larger bands. Maybe not the 20 or so members of Polyphonic Spree, but you get the idea.

Be sure to also notice the lottery machine in the back next to the restrooms. I cannot say that on any of my bar-reviewing trips I have come-upon a lottery machine in a bar, but there it was. Alcohol and scratch-off lottery tickets, a winning combination!

Sounds: Music is a primary focus at Chicago City Limits. Expect live music Tuesday through Saturday night blasting from the bar's stage. That's right, five whole nights a week. Chicago City Limits is not messing around when it comes to music; they laugh at other bars that just have live bands on Friday and Saturday. Tuesday night is acoustic night, with no door cover necessary. On Thursday, it's your turn with live band karaoke, or as the sign at the bar suspiciously spells it, 'kareokee.' Different rock and cover bands are scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays. Check out the calendar on Chicago City Limits' Web site to see who's playing. The variety of upcoming bands shows that Chicago City Limits is dedicated to music, and their bookings are probably going to get even more exciting, further establishing the bar as a suburban music venue that means business.

Service: Great, friendly service. I have gone to many bars where the staff was friendly, possibly overly so, but the people here were genuinely nice. They were quick to get me another drink and the food came out faster than I was expecting it to. What's not to love?

Crowd: Chicago City Limits draws a colorful crowd. A wide variety of folks hang out here on any given night. For instance, you might run into wannabe Grammy Award-winning superstars during live band karaoke nights, die-hard fans of various bands one night and a friendly, welcoming group pretty much all the time. The bar truly is very neighborly. While sitting at the bar and having a drink, people around me conversed with one another, sometimes from across the bar. You got the feeling that these people had been here, frequently. Watching the staff bust these patrons chops, and vice versa, showed a great camaraderie that is just not seen at too many bars today.

Liquid consumption: There is a lot of booze behind Chicago City Limit's bar. Enough to fill a swimming pool. Not an Olympic-sized pool, but you get the point. Beer on tap and in bottles includes Coors, Bud Light, Blue Moon, 312, Millet Lite, MGD and Leinenkugel Summer Shandy.

For a bar that already has fairly cheap booze and food, Chicago City Limits' specials somehow find a way to one-up themselves. For example, $1 Bud Select drafts, all day, every day. A special like that is just unheard of nowadays. There are also $2.75 individual Miller Lite and MGD pitchers on Tuesday with the same deal for Budweiser and Bud Light on Thursday.

Food: The food at Chicago City Limits is typical bar food, but then they throw a curveball at you with a breakfast section on their menu. Sure, items such as French toast, eggs, omelets and a breakfast sandwich are only served Saturday and Sunday morning before noon, but how many bars do you know of that do that?

Lunchtime, (11 a.m. - 2 p.m. weekdays), even has its own specials on the menu with a variety of items such as Italian beef, meatball sandwich, BLT, gyros, tuna sandwich and others, all priced at $4.29.

For dinner, Chicago City Limits has such choices as pizza, New York strip steak, ribs, salads, wraps, burgers and tacos (which are 99 cents on Tuesdays), to name a few items. Also be on the lookout for an all-you-can-eat fish fry on Friday and other food specials throughout the week.

I should add that most of these choices are really cheap. This bar has a ridiculous amount of great deals.

Parking: Chicago City Limits is located in a strip mall, so parking spots are abundant. No worries here.

Overall: Chicago City Limits, (while not necessarily near Chicago's city limits), is a unique bar for Schaumburg. It is not flashy like other bars in the area, but it does not need to be - it sells itself in other ways. The bar seems to be focused on giving its patrons maximum enjoyment. How else can you explain cheap food, great drink specials, free darts, free Golden Tee, loads of live music and an excellent atmosphere? Schaumburg is lucky to have a bar like this. Whether or not that luck translate over to scratch-off lottery tickets, I can't say.

Chicago City Limits

1712 Wise Road

Schaumburg

847-524-9910

www.chicagocitylimits.net

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 a.m. Friday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. Sunday - Thursday