Exit

I’ve been a fan of this place for a year or two. It’s fun. Good music for alternative without being metal heads.
One bit of warning, parking across the street has had a few car break-​ins. My car was broken into last weekend. I also saw glass on the pavement from another break in in the next parking space.

I loved coming here back in the day… when people appreciated good music. Came here for New Years Eve and the heavyset losercrowd were unforgiving and unkind assholes to someone who has actually made beautiful and important music and has sold hundreds of thousands of records. I live in L.A. now and miss the acceptance and warmth of the Midwest. You are loser assholes who made me thankful that I now live in a beautiful place where people are not nearly as entitled and snobby as they are at this place.

I love love love this bar. It’s grungy, but fun. Friday’s & Saturday’s upstairs are generally great for dancing, Tuesday & Thursday nights might be out of some people’s comfort zone, but nevertheless, a unique experience! I’d recommend checking the schedule firsthand. The security guard, Jesus, is probably one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. The crowd is super friendly as well — literally, the nicest people I’ve met in Chicago.

First trip to EXIT in a while. What happened? It used to be hot chicks and bikers; now it’s duck dynasty with jewelry. Love the scene, but they need to ditch the beards.

First time a was ever chained and whipped. First time I ever drank Malort. First time I ever heard «head hunter» while dry fucking my ex chained against the wall. First One night stand with a goth stripper. Exit you are the lust in my heart and the fire behind my eyes…

First time in this place and the bartender Shavron was amazing. Although my friend was being a total D-​bag since he was obliterated she understood. We ended up getting kicked out, but that was on us. I highly recommend to go here. You won’t be disappointed.

decent rocker bar, especially if you are looking for 4am.
to be honest tho, everyone tries a little too hard here. the bar, the staff, the customers. metal and punk aren’t about all the bullshit, guys, lol.
you’ll hear better music here than most other bars though, and it’s overall chill.

Interesting place. In fact I’m really pretty sure you won’t find another quite like this one. There is nearly always something obscene going on in this place and it’s often mind-​blowing loud. If you are a get-​so-​drunk you can’t remember it kinda person you’ll fit right in with the sh*tty drunks and obnoxious perverts.
Perverts you ask? Well it’s open til… crap does this place ever even close? And there is usually something pornographic going on behind the bar– right next to the vintage gas masks… and half dressed drunk bartenders… and other weird stuff. So yeah perverts.
The bathrooms– well that’s just one gross mess.
Staff– mostly drunk slamming shots all night and whoring themselves all over the customers… enough so that it can be difficult to get a drink if you aren’t in their site for the night.
I literally had the bartender walk past me about a dozen times and get drinks for her «regulars» or «friends» and then proceed to chat up some dude while groping her boobs for about 20 minutes before she finally decided to begrudgingly take my order. When I say take my order I mean I wouldn’t dare order anything but beer because I can only imagine how annoyed she’d look for having to do any real type of work.
The quirkiness is refreshing but sometimes a bit over-​the-​top…

By far my #1 favorite bar in the Chicagoland area.
While it may appear dark and sinister, you won’t find a more welcoming crowd.
Different nights have different themes, but there’s usually something to dance to upstairs, and something to drink/​headbang to downstairs.
It’s definitely a little grimy and grungy LOOKING, but that’s by design. It’s part of the charm!
The bartenders (I’ve met Ashley, Donna, Kelly, Frenchie, Lacey, and several more) are all fun, friendly, and goregous (even Billy and Jerome haha), but I always park myself by the charismatic, sassy, and beautiful Shavon («The Daymaker»). She’s always rocking out, chatting people up, slinging drinks in every direction, and just making sure everyone is having a good time. I wish she worked there more.
If you’re looking for a great dive with great music, people, and atmosphere, look no further.
Exit to the EXIT.

Went back here for a friend’s CD release party and was dreading another experience like the one I had last time (cunty bartender, watered-​down drinks)…but I was pleasantly surprised. The bartender who served me last time was nowhere to be seen; instead it was a friendly (!) girl named Ashley (hope I spelled it right). She apologized for being slow, but at least it wasn’t because she was taking her time flirting with customers, taking shots with male patrons, doing a clumsy look-​at-​me dance on top of the bar… nope, she actually did her job, poured some decently strong drinks, and even checked on us when she saw our cups were getting close to empty.
TLDR: the bartender can make or break your experience here; my only good experience has been with a badass chick named Ashley, and I appreciate the hell out of her for it.

I have never written a one star review before but this place deserves it!
Well, at least my bartender and whoever hired her deserves it. I came here last weekend with a friend of mine for a couple of drinks and to have a good time, he wanted to cheer me up after a recent break up. It was my first time there, he is a regular. Since I was driving both him and I for the night I decided to not drink too much and started out with a water. He ordered his beer next to me, I ordered the water and she said «Honey, this is a bar, we don’t serve water», I gave her a puzzled look and told her I was the designated driver for the night. After she stared me down awkwardly she finally poured me a cup of water. This was awkward for everyone around us, awkward enough for everyone to go outside and want a smoke.
I join everyone outside where there’s a large group of people and we smoke and talk out there for maybe 20 minutes. We get back inside and continue our night. Maybe an hour into the night I reached for my water and remembered that I had left it unattended while we were outside and decided to play it safe and order another water, I also ordered a beer. Same bartender, this time she got up halfway on the actual bar and said «Honey, you can’t just keep ordering water, this is a bar, we don’t serve water» and then pushed my old water back to me. When I explained that I had left it unattended and didn’t feel comfortable drinking it she dumped it out, gave me a water bottle and charged me $ 2. Then she served me my beer. I watched her do shots all night. Climb up on the bar with her dirty knock off Doc Martens to whisper in customers ears all night and just plain be a terrible employee. Later through the night we discovered that the reason she was so rude to me was because she wanted to bang the guy I came with and was upset that he had come with a female friend. WTF are we 18 year olds? The entire night I felt like I was in some weird teenage drama with some weird bartender giving me death stares over a crush on my friend. FRIEND. It was awkward for everyone around, not just me. While my friend was interested in her large fake tits she kept jiggling around, her craziness eventually drove us all away. She was telling other customers to ask him if he was single, and ask me if I was okay with them talking and… it was all just very juvenile and strange. My friend is 29 and I am 24, we’re both military veterans and I guess we just expect our bartender to act like at least a semi young adult.
At one point throughout the night one of friends ordered shots for everyone, she forgot my shot glass and maybe 10 minutes later I was able to get her attention and ask her for one.
OH, at the other end of the bar, with the other normal bartenders we joined some friends who had come in a group. One girl was the DD and she ordered water, she was given a large red solo cup of water FREE OF CHARGE and when I asked her to go ask for another one, she got another one FOR FREE.
When I needed to pay my tab she just scribbled on a piece of paper in font of me and told me my total was $ 20. At this point I just wanted to leave.
Overall terrible experience.
The place was nice, the people were awesome, the music was awesome, didn’t go upstairs. Doubt I’ll go back.

This bar is unique. I had never been to a place like this before.
I didn’t like it because it’s
style of music nor scene, but I can say that the people there were having fun. I don’t think I would go back but if your into electronic, hard rock, ect. Then YOU might Want to. come here. Something to experience. ⁴⁄₅ stars for its uniqueness

Best punk rock bar ever! I’ve been coming to Exit for years and its my favorite place to grab a cocktail and listen to some rad punk rock. Dark and dingy perhaps resembling a castles dungeon. Behind the bar on Fridays is the lovely and wise cracking Ms Donna who has been my friend via Exit for 13 years now and I specifically go on Fridays when Im in town to see her. Tell her Big John sent you !

Ahh it was the best of times and the worst of times and the times you just couldnt remember if it was the best or worst. After coming here for about 8+ years What can you say about this place other than it’s an iconic piece of chicago history and what used to be primarily leaning towards punk patrons now has subsided into the more annoying hipsters taking over certain times. BUT It’s still a completely awesome place to go and I love it and Ill probably always end up here in the end!
Oh and Blacklight Blackout is always a hoot, The Annihilist is the best!

Wanna get away from every stereotypical Chicago nightlife scene? Go to Exit. It’s one of the only places in town that isn’t a Big 10 sports bar, bro lounge, or hipster cocktail spot.
Sure, they play ear bleeding metal music, but even if that isn’t your thing this place is a pretty awesome time. They’ve got a surprisingly super nice staff from the door guy to the bartenders, its some of the best people watching you’ll witness anywhere, and the crowd that comes through is unexpectedly friendly considering the tunes sound like something you’d sacrifice a goat to.
Overall a pretty damn cool experience. Especially if you’re sick of the same old stupid bars that you always end up going to.

Went to this place for the first time with a couple friends on a Saturday night.
My first impression of the place was Filthy.
It has been open since 1981 and it sure LOOKS like it has been not seen a remodeling since then!
There are bras and panties hanging from the ceiling downstairs in the main bar. There are also many stickers behind the bar, as well as an Elvis statue. Pretty cool. The music they play here is my kind of music so I really liked it :)
My friend told me there was an ‘upstairs’ so we decided to check it out. I have to admit the music was pretty awesome. The dance floor was dead and there was probably no more than 15 people… bummer.
We went ahead and decided to sit at the smaller bar. As I was pulling the bar stool out to take a seat, to my disgust, I felt something sticky at the bottom of the stool… it was gross and I needed to find the nearest bathroom ASAP! I didn’t end up getting anything, but one of my friends decided to get a beer that cost him $ 5.
After being disappointed with the lack of ambience upstairs, we decided to go back downstairs. We talked about trying some Irish carbombs and asked for a few… to my discontent, the bartender handed out napkins to place our drinks and gave my friend a dirty napkin! Yuck…
Overall, I didn’t experience anything bad with the service at this place… the bartenders seemed cool and so was the bouncer.
I am giving this place 3 stars for the music that it plays! Awesome :)
Exit just needs to clean!!!

This is one of the last hold out, true Punk Clubs. The dark metal S&M feel is the charm. If you like: Dark” vibes, then this is the place.
I have been coming here for years. When I was 18 I had a movie show here (at the old location on Wells), and it showed every Sunday. So I came here a lot.
this was (and maybe still is) a great place for a dancing date.
If you like a decent into the darker reaches of the Music/​Club World, then come here.

I always make a point to stop here when I’m in town, but it can be so hit or miss. One night it was just crazy and packed. The downstairs focuses on punk, oi and rock music. The wait staff is all very beautiful regardless of gender. Upstairs they had electronic and industrial music playing with a small dance floor and a smaller bar. The entire thing has a great vibe of a post-​apolcolyrpic punk rock cult classic extravaganza. It can be corny if it’s not as hoppin’ as it could be.
The bouncer was really friendly and talkative and so were the rest of the people in the bar.

I thought I’d give this place another chance, but of course, no good deed goes unpunished:
Sit down and order my usual, a Guinness and a shot of Jameson, the latter of which I was appalled to see placed before me in a phthalate-​laden plastic thimble (see pic). On the hierarchy of glassware, this is a few rungs below the plastic measuring cups that come with a bottle Vicks, and in the hierarchy of drinking establishments, it’s something you’d expect to see at a post-​frat douche bar on Rush Street –maybe that’s what Exit is aspiring to be now. I’d never seen a shot served up that way here before, and I’d like to say that I never will again because that’s the last chance I’ll be giving this once quasi-​sacred place, but sadly that’s probably not true (see below). All the criticisms in the previous review remain in effect, though I guess some old staff members still work here.
Seriously, this is now officially the most un-​punk spectacle in town, and makes The Alley look like Ian MacKaye. It’s now basically Tais Til 4 for people with sightly better taste in music and more interesting pasts. The exact same criteria (4 a.m. license, inebriated judgment, etc.) are the only reasons that would ever lead someone to darken the door of either shithole.

«So say good night to the bad guy… The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you.»
Every great evening needs a strong finish and ‘Exit’ is one hell of a nightcap when you’ve wound yourself up elsewhere and just aren’t ready to call it quits. The female bartenders are sexy and fun… the crowd seems diverse and there’s this come-​as-​you-​are feel. a welcome freeness about the place that I had honestly forgotten since I’d last darkened this dive’s doorway; I say that with the utmost affection.
I often joke that the thick heels on my boots are for kicking hillbilly heads in, but the truth is, I’m rather fond of hillbillies and some of my closest friends wear that badge proudly (and loudly); the 2^nd story dance floor here has made it painfully clear that those heels are intended for Hipsters. I kid… I kid. Ladies shouldn’t fight. *deep breath* The bummer for me was the unsavory sea of feel-​ya-​up Frat boys and drunk chicks that drifted in as the wee hours approached. You know the type: completely clueless while bumping into you,.repeatedly, sloshing beverage in your hair… then fawning over you while waiting for the bathroom as if you were some sort of novelty. Serenity now! The DJ played some choice tunes (Depeche Mode, The Clash, Nitzer Ebb), but wouldn’t drop any Ministry for me… so while it was suggested by a patron that I pop out my breasts to get a request met, I’d much rather just pop in my own tunes on the ride home. I’ve always got a Little River Band loaded up here! As others have pointed out, the odor that envelopes the 2^nd floor over time is nasty. No doubt I made some small contribution in that regard, because despite I’m mad fresh, I had my share of fun… and part of that was losing myself in rhythm.
In summation, she certainly ain’t what she used to be and that’s a damn shame, but I still enjoyed the time I spent here so a solid three stars it is. Bonus points for their extended hours, some whiskey on the house, having Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale on tap and Ultraman vs Godzilla on the tube! Wat?! I came with *great* company (a nod to Maria C.) and met some cool peeps in the mix that made my night at Exit worthwhile. I dug just chillin’ at the bar on the first floor and exchanging conversation to dat sweet sound of old school metal. On your way out, if your heart so desires, you can snag a bite from the quirky, but endearing street vendor or gather round their cart to chat a spell. Will I be back? Hmmm…“Me? I always tell the truth… even when I lie.”