Intimate candle-lit atmosphere, with a friendly and knowledgeable bartender that has few enough seats that she's able to chat with everyone. Incredibly well-mixed drinks with great balance. Some truly rare (and delicious) spirits that I've never seen before in person. Sam's Mai Tai was a treat!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
luljeta terzija
Our birthday celebration at this bar exceeded our expectations in every way. Despite our tardiness, the staff graciously accommodated us after we called ahead. Our bartender, Sam, crafted drinks tailored to our taste preferences. The spicy and citrusy concoctions she whipped up were nothing short of extraordinary. Sam’s attentive service added an extra layer of enjoyment to our evening. The ambiance of the bar, coupled with Sam’s exceptional mixology skills, created an unforgettable birthday experience for us. We’ll definitely be returning to indulge in more of her creative libations!
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Cody Hansen
Booked this as a part of a birthday celebration with my fiancé. It was a wonderful experience with unique drinks and presentation. Very intimate setting with only 8 seats and cozy lighting.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Eric Lundquist
Look, either you love their premis or you don’t. They execute it perfectly.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Chenxi
Very cozy and private atmosphere. Nice cocktails, the staff told us some interesting stories about them, sweet!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Steven Parsons
Fantastic bourbon selection and quarter ounce
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Four Roses Single Barrel
Panagiotis-Alexandros Bokaris
They cancelled my reservation for no reason the day before. No explanation and impossible to reach out on phone. Shame.
Camila Aldana Crudo
Very expensive and overpriced.The cheapest cocktails is up $30 (++).The place is nothing like social media show us. Small, with few seatings and the bar is ugly.The only thing positive is where it is located but not recommend at all.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Katie Clark
We had an amazing experience! The bartender made us our own hand crafted cocktails. However, there was a very loud couple next to us that made the 8 seat speakeasy not as good of an experience as we would have liked.
Is it difficult to get in here? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Affirmative. It was our anniversary so we decided in our tour of the city's speakeasies, we include this exclusive one. The bartenders were some of the sweetest, most kind and knowledgeable the industry has. To sample the Pimms bottle they had from the 1960's was worth its weight in gold. This can get very pricey with the average cocktail hovering around $39 and a 2 oz pour of aged rare product can go upwards of $500. It's an exemplary experience and a beautiful end to our anniversary evening/speakeasy tour of Chicago.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Anthony Anderson
Awesome experience. Great tenders, super friendly and helpful. Not cheap but worth every penny!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sage Mazian
This has to be my favorite bar in Chicago. It has the coolest vibe, the nicest service, and I always seem to make a new friend with every visit. The drinks are fantastic, so unique and specifically crafted. It’s obvious a lot of care and thought are put into the cocktails. If you’re looking for a unique and special experience, Milkroom is the go-to spot!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Stephanie V.
Let me begin by saying how excited I was to visit the Milk Room. It's an 8-seat speakeasy inside the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. Unfortunately, it lived up to none of the hype. It was seriously underwhelming. About an hour before my reservation, I got an email saying my reservation had been modified. I booked 1 of the 8 seats. With the modification it now saying I had 2. Knowing that there was a $50 no show fee, I was particularly concerned. I tried to change it through Resy, but it wouldn't let me. When I showed up for the reservation, I explained this situation and how some error must have been made in the last hour, since I was just one person and not two and didn't call or modify my reservation online. The host was dismissive. She treated me like I made it up and that it wasn't a thing. She quickly informed me that I would have my seat at the bar for 1 hour only before I would need to vacate it. Resy booked 1.5 hours on my Google calendar. So, 2/3 of this time seemed aggressive. Nowhere was 1 hour noted in the options to reserve nor in any reservation I actually made. It was just a bad way to start. Even without the weird screw up of modifying my reservation to add a fake guest. Obviously, it doesn't make me feel valued to be immediately told I'll be kicked out in an hour. There are some small bites available at this bar. Unfortunately, it happened to be everything I'm allergic too/refuse to eat due to bad experiences (i.e., fish/seafood, eggs, and olives). So, that was not great, but I only had 60 minutes anyway. The barback brought me a glass of water. The bartender later placed a glass of "sparkling" before me with no other explanation. I like sparkling wine, particularly champagne, prosecco, and cava. I've done extensive tasting in Europe as I've lived there, and am always game to learn more. Unfortunately, I never found out what kind of sparkling wine this was or why it was special. This continued with the next cocktail I ordered. The Gin Fizz Tropical was fine. The bottles of the items used to make the cocktail were sat before me on the bar, none of which were explained to me. Look, if I'm going to pay $30 a cocktail, you better tell me why it's the bees' knees. There are only 10 of us in the bar at any given moment - 8 patrons and 2 bartenders/barbacks - so why wouldn't you want to build community and provide the best experience possible?About 45 minutes into my time, I finally got some attention. I wasn't sure if I should order another cocktail because I honestly didn't have time to enjoy it. But when asking the bartender where to go after the cocktail I had just consumed, she said, "let me make make you something special." I figured, what's the harm? This drink was only $18 dollars (compared with $30 for the first one) and was a Fitzgerald. It was good. I was told to be on the lookout for Sipsmith in the future. I could have done with more explanation. I wanted to know why it's cool and how to find it in the future. By advocating for myself and asking the bartender to explain the drink she had made me, I got basics, essentially what it was made of, not why it was special/relevant/fun. Why I go to a bar where I know I'll pay double per cocktail is to learn something and try something special. So, sell me those things. 55 minutes into my time in the bar, a check was presented. I spoke with the bartender about the bar's weird scheduling screw up and she insisted I would not be held accountable for a no-show that never was a thing. She gave me her card and told me to contact her if there were issues moving forward. I honestly didn't have the heart to tell her my whole experience was rubbish. But it was. It wasn't even mediocre. It fell short. I ended up gulping down my second cocktail just so I could get out of there in time.
Paul “The Expert”
Walked there from my hotel for 15 minutes to have one quick drink. When I arrived at 22:35 - 25 minutes before they do close, they refused to serve because they were closing. Might give them another try someday in the future, but customer service need to improve.You want to close at 22:00 - change your hours to that on google and your website. Such a shame.
Intimate candle-lit atmosphere, with a friendly and knowledgeable bartender that has few enough seats that she's able to chat with everyone. Incredibly well-mixed drinks with great balance. Some truly rare (and delicious) spirits that I've never seen before in person. Sam's Mai Tai was a treat!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Our birthday celebration at this bar exceeded our expectations in every way. Despite our tardiness, the staff graciously accommodated us after we called ahead. Our bartender, Sam, crafted drinks tailored to our taste preferences. The spicy and citrusy concoctions she whipped up were nothing short of extraordinary. Sam’s attentive service added an extra layer of enjoyment to our evening. The ambiance of the bar, coupled with Sam’s exceptional mixology skills, created an unforgettable birthday experience for us. We’ll definitely be returning to indulge in more of her creative libations!
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Booked this as a part of a birthday celebration with my fiancé. It was a wonderful experience with unique drinks and presentation. Very intimate setting with only 8 seats and cozy lighting.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Look, either you love their premis or you don’t. They execute it perfectly.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Very cozy and private atmosphere. Nice cocktails, the staff told us some interesting stories about them, sweet!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Fantastic bourbon selection and quarter ounce
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Four Roses Single Barrel
They cancelled my reservation for no reason the day before. No explanation and impossible to reach out on phone. Shame.
Very expensive and overpriced.The cheapest cocktails is up $30 (++).The place is nothing like social media show us. Small, with few seatings and the bar is ugly.The only thing positive is where it is located but not recommend at all.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We had an amazing experience! The bartender made us our own hand crafted cocktails. However, there was a very loud couple next to us that made the 8 seat speakeasy not as good of an experience as we would have liked.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 5
An absolutely matchless experience, highly
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Is it difficult to get in here? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Affirmative. It was our anniversary so we decided in our tour of the city's speakeasies, we include this exclusive one. The bartenders were some of the sweetest, most kind and knowledgeable the industry has. To sample the Pimms bottle they had from the 1960's was worth its weight in gold. This can get very pricey with the average cocktail hovering around $39 and a 2 oz pour of aged rare product can go upwards of $500. It's an exemplary experience and a beautiful end to our anniversary evening/speakeasy tour of Chicago.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Awesome experience. Great tenders, super friendly and helpful. Not cheap but worth every penny!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This has to be my favorite bar in Chicago. It has the coolest vibe, the nicest service, and I always seem to make a new friend with every visit. The drinks are fantastic, so unique and specifically crafted. It’s obvious a lot of care and thought are put into the cocktails. If you’re looking for a unique and special experience, Milkroom is the go-to spot!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Let me begin by saying how excited I was to visit the Milk Room. It's an 8-seat speakeasy inside the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. Unfortunately, it lived up to none of the hype. It was seriously underwhelming. About an hour before my reservation, I got an email saying my reservation had been modified. I booked 1 of the 8 seats. With the modification it now saying I had 2. Knowing that there was a $50 no show fee, I was particularly concerned. I tried to change it through Resy, but it wouldn't let me. When I showed up for the reservation, I explained this situation and how some error must have been made in the last hour, since I was just one person and not two and didn't call or modify my reservation online. The host was dismissive. She treated me like I made it up and that it wasn't a thing. She quickly informed me that I would have my seat at the bar for 1 hour only before I would need to vacate it. Resy booked 1.5 hours on my Google calendar. So, 2/3 of this time seemed aggressive. Nowhere was 1 hour noted in the options to reserve nor in any reservation I actually made. It was just a bad way to start. Even without the weird screw up of modifying my reservation to add a fake guest. Obviously, it doesn't make me feel valued to be immediately told I'll be kicked out in an hour. There are some small bites available at this bar. Unfortunately, it happened to be everything I'm allergic too/refuse to eat due to bad experiences (i.e., fish/seafood, eggs, and olives). So, that was not great, but I only had 60 minutes anyway. The barback brought me a glass of water. The bartender later placed a glass of "sparkling" before me with no other explanation. I like sparkling wine, particularly champagne, prosecco, and cava. I've done extensive tasting in Europe as I've lived there, and am always game to learn more. Unfortunately, I never found out what kind of sparkling wine this was or why it was special. This continued with the next cocktail I ordered. The Gin Fizz Tropical was fine. The bottles of the items used to make the cocktail were sat before me on the bar, none of which were explained to me. Look, if I'm going to pay $30 a cocktail, you better tell me why it's the bees' knees. There are only 10 of us in the bar at any given moment - 8 patrons and 2 bartenders/barbacks - so why wouldn't you want to build community and provide the best experience possible?About 45 minutes into my time, I finally got some attention. I wasn't sure if I should order another cocktail because I honestly didn't have time to enjoy it. But when asking the bartender where to go after the cocktail I had just consumed, she said, "let me make make you something special." I figured, what's the harm? This drink was only $18 dollars (compared with $30 for the first one) and was a Fitzgerald. It was good. I was told to be on the lookout for Sipsmith in the future. I could have done with more explanation. I wanted to know why it's cool and how to find it in the future. By advocating for myself and asking the bartender to explain the drink she had made me, I got basics, essentially what it was made of, not why it was special/relevant/fun. Why I go to a bar where I know I'll pay double per cocktail is to learn something and try something special. So, sell me those things. 55 minutes into my time in the bar, a check was presented. I spoke with the bartender about the bar's weird scheduling screw up and she insisted I would not be held accountable for a no-show that never was a thing. She gave me her card and told me to contact her if there were issues moving forward. I honestly didn't have the heart to tell her my whole experience was rubbish. But it was. It wasn't even mediocre. It fell short. I ended up gulping down my second cocktail just so I could get out of there in time.
Walked there from my hotel for 15 minutes to have one quick drink. When I arrived at 22:35 - 25 minutes before they do close, they refused to serve because they were closing. Might give them another try someday in the future, but customer service need to improve.You want to close at 22:00 - change your hours to that on google and your website. Such a shame.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 1