River North, Chicago
Drinking in a Leaning Landmark Since 1921
The Green Door Tavern occupies 678 N Orleans Street in River North, a five minute walk from the Chicago Brown Line stop. James McCole raised the wood frame building in 1872, one year after the Great Chicago Fire, and the structure still leans visibly off plumb.
Vito Giacomoni opened a restaurant on the ground floor in 1921, and his sons ran the basement as one of downtown's first speakeasies through Prohibition, per Wikipedia. The green door itself signaled the way in, and that basement room now operates as The Drifter cocktail bar.
Anyone who wants Americana, craft beer, and a half pound burger under a century of memorabilia will love it. Anyone hunting refined cocktails should book the basement instead and treat the tavern as the warm up.
Every surface carries signs, pennants, and artifacts collected across a century, and the Chicago Bar Project credits the clutter with bedazzling first timers. Ask about the framed Prohibition era ledger that lists root beer at 625 dollars, the house code for the real stock.
About 20 craft taps rotate Midwest breweries at 7 to 8 dollars a pour. The kitchen's Green Door Burger runs about 17 dollars and anchors a pub menu the Chicago Bar Project rates among River North's most reliable. Keep it to beer and bourbon upstairs and save cocktails for downstairs.
Planning a longer night? Start with our guide to the best after work bars in Chicago and build the crawl from there.
Office workers fill it from 5pm on weekdays and tourists take over on weekends. Google Maps reviews average 4.4 across 2,000+ ratings and repeat one line: you feel like you stepped back in time.
- Chicago Bar Project: visitors "stay because they are bedazzled" by the Americana in every corner.
- Google Maps reviewers consistently recommend booking The Drifter downstairs for after dinner.
- Practical Chicago covers the original disguised speakeasy door, still in place in the basement.
- After work beers with a century of cover
- Out of towners who want Chicago history with a burger
- Avoid if you want a quiet, minimal room
